Escape From Prison Island (Cancelled)

[NintenYoshi]

Hello! This project was started a while after experimenting with SMBX a little.
Presenting...
Escape From Prison Island!

The episode is fairly simple. It has 2 worlds where the 18 levels lie within, and a small story.

Story:

Spoiler: show

Bowser caught Mario and locked him in his Prison Island! Now Mario must trek through it rescuing innocent prisoners, escaping before the last ship leaves, and save the Mushroom Kingdom once more!

Screenshots:

Spoiler: show

Progress:
Levels:
W1: Bowser's Prison Island: 7/11 Levels have been made.
W2: Mushroom Kingdom: 0/7 levels have been made.

For major proof, I made a small demo so you can play the 5 levels that have been made so far. I would love some advice on level designing.
Despite the project's simplicity and length I might take a while to finish it due to ideas, school, and other things in life.

Demo: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8woi2g2rugas3 ... O.zip?dl=0

Please comment any thoughts and criticism! I want to improve as I make this episode.
UPDATE: Project is dead. I lost interest in SMBX to be honest. Feel free to use the concept if you want or somethin.
Credits to Mudkip for the rain custom graphic in one of the levels.

[ADMAndrew]

A question for which smbx engine works this demo?

[NintenYoshi]

A question for which smbx engine works this demo?

For 1.3 and 2.0.

[CoinKillerL]

is that a sonic adventure 2 reference?

[NintenYoshi]

is that a sonic adventure 2 reference?

Perhaps an unintended one... Just noticed that!

[erkyp3rky]

Not exactly a fan of the screenshots, you've got some improvements to make.

Also, the worldmap has some cutoff. At the bottom left hand corner of the island on the left, the tile improperly ends.

[The Dwarven Digger]

Not exactly a fan of the screenshots, you've got some improvements to make.

Also, the worldmap has some cutoff. At the bottom left hand corner of the island on the left, the tile improperly ends.

On that note, I have another couple of things to note:
The first major one is the shape of the left island. Try to keep the cliffs on one section the same height, otherwise it looks unnatural. The right side also looks odd with a dividing line (indicating a change in level) between two areas that seem to be the same height. Again, making that central section the same height will fix that too.
That curved bit at the very front ends abruptly in some major cutoff (which I think is what The Loaf Lord is referring to). Replacing that with a 45 degree diagonal section should fix it. Some of the inside corners I can understand though, as there aren't any inside corner tiles in the default SMBX graphics.

The castle on the bridge to me looks just wrong. IMO it should probably be placed on land. The path to the top of the left island hangs off the cliff in an unnatural way, but I see you didn't have much space to work with. Speaking of space, the overworld as a whole looks a bit claustrophobic. I would recommend enlarging it to give the player more room, and to give you more room to make the paths and decorations. The right island actually seems fine to me, but could be made slightly bigger.

Some smaller things include the path off the left of the raised section on the left island. I can see you made the ground continue through to indicate a slope or smooth terrain, but to me it just looks odd. Personally I would continue the cliff along and turn that corner next to the castle into an end piece. Although the paths going into the sides of the castles don't look too bad, I would probably either turn those into end paths or add a path background to the level tile. This is more noticeable with the airship, however I guess there's nothing wrong with 'square ends'. This is just what I would prefer, you can follow or ignore it.

In terms of levels, I'll probably play the demo before giving proper feedback. But going from the screenshots, the bottom one has some minor cutoff with the left of the fence and the ground at the top (which could be solved using the inside corner tile of that tileset).
EDIT: I'm not sure if it's Dropbox being funny or not, but I can't seem to access the download. I'll try again later to see if it's the website.

[Jerrysmbxworld]

Looks pretty good, i like the escape concept of the game. I will definitely play when it's completed.

[ElectriKong]

Don't place path tiles directly adjacent to each other where you don't want the player to move. You can access the toad house right at the start, defeating the purpose of having the secret exit in the first level. And there is no reason to have 2 exits in the final level, because you unlock both the pipe and airship with either exit.

[NintenYoshi]

Not exactly a fan of the screenshots, you've got some improvements to make.

Also, the worldmap has some cutoff. At the bottom left hand corner of the island on the left, the tile improperly ends.

Noted. I'll be sure to post more screenshots as I go on making the project.

Not exactly a fan of the screenshots, you've got some improvements to make.

Also, the worldmap has some cutoff. At the bottom left hand corner of the island on the left, the tile improperly ends.

On that note, I have another couple of things to note:
The first major one is the shape of the left island. Try to keep the cliffs on one section the same height, otherwise it looks unnatural. The right side also looks odd with a dividing line (indicating a change in level) between two areas that seem to be the same height. Again, making that central section the same height will fix that too.
That curved bit at the very front ends abruptly in some major cutoff (which I think is what The Loaf Lord is referring to). Replacing that with a 45 degree diagonal section should fix it. Some of the inside corners I can understand though, as there aren't any inside corner tiles in the default SMBX graphics.

The castle on the bridge to me looks just wrong. IMO it should probably be placed on land. The path to the top of the left island hangs off the cliff in an unnatural way, but I see you didn't have much space to work with. Speaking of space, the overworld as a whole looks a bit claustrophobic. I would recommend enlarging it to give the player more room, and to give you more room to make the paths and decorations. The right island actually seems fine to me, but could be made slightly bigger.

Some smaller things include the path off the left of the raised section on the left island. I can see you made the ground continue through to indicate a slope or smooth terrain, but to me it just looks odd. Personally I would continue the cliff along and turn that corner next to the castle into an end piece. Although the paths going into the sides of the castles don't look too bad, I would probably either turn those into end paths or add a path background to the level tile. This is more noticeable with the airship, however I guess there's nothing wrong with 'square ends'. This is just what I would prefer, you can follow or ignore it.

In terms of levels, I'll probably play the demo before giving proper feedback. But going from the screenshots, the bottom one has some minor cutoff with the left of the fence and the ground at the top (which could be solved using the inside corner tile of that tileset).
EDIT: I'm not sure if it's Dropbox being funny or not, but I can't seem to access the download. I'll try again later to see if it's the website.

Thanks for the current feedback and advice! I'll be sure to fix the mistakes.

Looks pretty good, i like the escape concept of the game. I will definitely play when it's completed.

Thanks! I'm happy to hear that.

Don't place path tiles directly adjacent to each other where you don't want the player to move. You can access the toad house right at the start, defeating the purpose of having the secret exit in the first level. And there is no reason to have 2 exits in the final level, because you unlock both the pipe and airship with either exit.

I see what you mean by the Toad House issue. Since I'm fixing the world map I'll fix that as well. As for the two exits, the thing is the pipe is a secret exit that acts as a shortcut towards the final level, while the airship is the normal exit. I may change that though. Thanks for the comment!

[erkyp3rky]

Spoiler: show

Not exactly a fan of the screenshots, you've got some improvements to make.

Also, the worldmap has some cutoff. At the bottom left hand corner of the island on the left, the tile improperly ends.

Noted. I'll be sure to post more screenshots as I go on making the project.

Not exactly a fan of the screenshots, you've got some improvements to make.

Also, the worldmap has some cutoff. At the bottom left hand corner of the island on the left, the tile improperly ends.

On that note, I have another couple of things to note:
The first major one is the shape of the left island. Try to keep the cliffs on one section the same height, otherwise it looks unnatural. The right side also looks odd with a dividing line (indicating a change in level) between two areas that seem to be the same height. Again, making that central section the same height will fix that too.
That curved bit at the very front ends abruptly in some major cutoff (which I think is what The Loaf Lord is referring to). Replacing that with a 45 degree diagonal section should fix it. Some of the inside corners I can understand though, as there aren't any inside corner tiles in the default SMBX graphics.

The castle on the bridge to me looks just wrong. IMO it should probably be placed on land. The path to the top of the left island hangs off the cliff in an unnatural way, but I see you didn't have much space to work with. Speaking of space, the overworld as a whole looks a bit claustrophobic. I would recommend enlarging it to give the player more room, and to give you more room to make the paths and decorations. The right island actually seems fine to me, but could be made slightly bigger.

Some smaller things include the path off the left of the raised section on the left island. I can see you made the ground continue through to indicate a slope or smooth terrain, but to me it just looks odd. Personally I would continue the cliff along and turn that corner next to the castle into an end piece. Although the paths going into the sides of the castles don't look too bad, I would probably either turn those into end paths or add a path background to the level tile. This is more noticeable with the airship, however I guess there's nothing wrong with 'square ends'. This is just what I would prefer, you can follow or ignore it.

In terms of levels, I'll probably play the demo before giving proper feedback. But going from the screenshots, the bottom one has some minor cutoff with the left of the fence and the ground at the top (which could be solved using the inside corner tile of that tileset).
EDIT: I'm not sure if it's Dropbox being funny or not, but I can't seem to access the download. I'll try again later to see if it's the website.

Thanks for the current feedback and advice! I'll be sure to fix the mistakes.

Looks pretty good, i like the escape concept of the game. I will definitely play when it's completed.

Thanks! I'm happy to hear that.

Don't place path tiles directly adjacent to each other where you don't want the player to move. You can access the toad house right at the start, defeating the purpose of having the secret exit in the first level. And there is no reason to have 2 exits in the final level, because you unlock both the pipe and airship with either exit.

I see what you mean by the Toad House issue. Since I'm fixing the world map I'll fix that as well. As for the two exits, the thing is the pipe is a secret exit that acts as a shortcut towards the final level, while the airship is the normal exit. I may change that though. Thanks for the comment!

Alright, good luck! I'll check in every now and then and help you out.

[PixelPest]

Spoiler: show

Not exactly a fan of the screenshots, you've got some improvements to make.

Also, the worldmap has some cutoff. At the bottom left hand corner of the island on the left, the tile improperly ends.

Noted. I'll be sure to post more screenshots as I go on making the project.

On that note, I have another couple of things to note:
The first major one is the shape of the left island. Try to keep the cliffs on one section the same height, otherwise it looks unnatural. The right side also looks odd with a dividing line (indicating a change in level) between two areas that seem to be the same height. Again, making that central section the same height will fix that too.
That curved bit at the very front ends abruptly in some major cutoff (which I think is what The Loaf Lord is referring to). Replacing that with a 45 degree diagonal section should fix it. Some of the inside corners I can understand though, as there aren't any inside corner tiles in the default SMBX graphics.

The castle on the bridge to me looks just wrong. IMO it should probably be placed on land. The path to the top of the left island hangs off the cliff in an unnatural way, but I see you didn't have much space to work with. Speaking of space, the overworld as a whole looks a bit claustrophobic. I would recommend enlarging it to give the player more room, and to give you more room to make the paths and decorations. The right island actually seems fine to me, but could be made slightly bigger.

Some smaller things include the path off the left of the raised section on the left island. I can see you made the ground continue through to indicate a slope or smooth terrain, but to me it just looks odd. Personally I would continue the cliff along and turn that corner next to the castle into an end piece. Although the paths going into the sides of the castles don't look too bad, I would probably either turn those into end paths or add a path background to the level tile. This is more noticeable with the airship, however I guess there's nothing wrong with 'square ends'. This is just what I would prefer, you can follow or ignore it.

In terms of levels, I'll probably play the demo before giving proper feedback. But going from the screenshots, the bottom one has some minor cutoff with the left of the fence and the ground at the top (which could be solved using the inside corner tile of that tileset).
EDIT: I'm not sure if it's Dropbox being funny or not, but I can't seem to access the download. I'll try again later to see if it's the website.

Thanks for the current feedback and advice! I'll be sure to fix the mistakes.

Looks pretty good, i like the escape concept of the game. I will definitely play when it's completed.

Thanks! I'm happy to hear that.

Don't place path tiles directly adjacent to each other where you don't want the player to move. You can access the toad house right at the start, defeating the purpose of having the secret exit in the first level. And there is no reason to have 2 exits in the final level, because you unlock both the pipe and airship with either exit.

I see what you mean by the Toad House issue. Since I'm fixing the world map I'll fix that as well. As for the two exits, the thing is the pipe is a secret exit that acts as a shortcut towards the final level, while the airship is the normal exit. I may change that though. Thanks for the comment!

Alright, good luck! I'll check in every now and then and help you out.

Please don't quote such a long piece of text in the future if you aren't responding to all of that and if so, make sure you spoiler it

[ElectriKong]

As for the two exits, the thing is the pipe is a secret exit that acts as a shortcut towards the final level, while the airship is the normal exit. I may change that though. Thanks for the comment!

The problem is that the path goes directly adjacent to the normal exit path, so one would not need to go through the effort of finding the secret exit as the normal exit unlocks both anyway (the secret exit would also do the same).