Scroll's Collection

TheNightingale · Postby **TheNightingale** » Mon Apr 29, 2019 6:33 pm

Since my old level showcase thread wasn't well organized and its levels are as of now outdated as I have improved my level design, I have created this new one for my future single levels. From newest to oldest:

Beanstalk Beams: show

Snowfall Atmosphere: show

Spinning Spiketops: show

Autumn Arrival: show

Above The Cold Clouds: show

SMB3 World 8 Airship: show

Golden Heaven: show

Dangerous Skyway: show

More levels coming soon! Any feedback is welcome, if you find a bug just let me know. Enjoy!

LGLMAKING · Postby **LGLMAKING** » Tue Apr 30, 2019 7:34 am

Seems fun

Postby **krakin** » Tue Apr 30, 2019 5:18 pm

It looks like a lot of stuff is going on there...

TheNightingale · Postby **TheNightingale** » Tue Apr 30, 2019 5:22 pm

Eureka wrote: ↑
Tue Apr 30, 2019 5:18 pm
It looks like a lot of stuff is going on there...

You'd better try it and discover that by yourself :P

Postby **MegaDood** » Wed May 01, 2019 12:27 am

Oh looks nice. I don't know why, but the screenshot reminds me of Super Mario Enigmatic. Perhaps it's the switch blocks.

PopYoshi · Postby **PopYoshi** » Wed May 01, 2019 7:04 am

At the beginning I had doubts when I chose you as a Level Designer
Now I don't have doubts anymore... the level is spectacular

TheNightingale · Postby **TheNightingale** » Wed May 01, 2019 7:39 am

PopYoshi wrote: At the beginning I had doubts when I chose you as a Level Designer
Now I don't have doubts anymore... the level is spectacular

MegaDood wrote: ↑
Wed May 01, 2019 12:27 am
Oh looks nice. I don't know why, but the screenshot reminds me of Super Mario Enigmatic. Perhaps it's the switch blocks.

Thank you guys a lot! Good to hear you enjoyed it PopYoshi

Archived · Postby **Archived** » Fri May 03, 2019 2:17 am

Archived

TheNightingale · Postby **TheNightingale** » Sat May 04, 2019 12:17 am

Eclipsed wrote: ↑
Fri May 03, 2019 2:17 am
Here's a quick review
Spoiler: show
While I do agree that this level is better than the usual levels, this level suffers a lot of replicability effects. It's clear that this level has inspiration from Mario With Gun but it also seems like it decided to use aspects of that level without understanding why they worked, and that produced parts of the level I really did not enjoy.

In Dangerous Skyway, the bullet jumps are the following,
- 4 blocks tall, 4 blocks wide, or -4-5 blocks tall, 6 blocks wide
- 4 blocks tall, 5 blocks wide
- 4 blocks wide, 3 blocks tall
- 5 blocks wide, 4 blocks tall

In all of these cases you had either a shorter width with the same height, the same width with taller height, or a shorter width with a taller height.
In Mario with Gun, the tightest bullet jump is 6 blocks wide, and 3 blocks tall, which the key point was that you could react to when a bullet came out of the canon to when you jump onto it. In all of the bullet jumps in the level you made, you have to time it with the previous bullet since it's nearly impossible to react to with average human reaction time. Because of having to time it with past bullets, this level was kind of annoying to play at these points instead of having fun. There's a reason there's a sudden cut in the video.
In your level people have to pre-empt their bullet jumps, whereas the latter everything was reaction based.

Furthermore, In Mario With Gun, past the introductory section, the bullet jumps had different setups (excluding the introductory) such as going from using a bullet to hit ? blocks, and using a bullet to reach a max peak, to using multiple bullets to jump a gap, whereas in Dangerous Skyway, the setups were essentially jump on a bullet to reach a higher point to hit a switch. Mario with Gun has more diversity with than Dangerous Skyway in the same amount of level time.

Which leads me into my other segways into my next topic: It feels like the pipe pieces were only used because it was used by Waddle Derp. It was neat, but it felt like the idea could have been expanded upon instead of using the basic two setups: hitting a switch and using it as a platform, which is another gripe, there could have been far more interesting setups with the bullet jumps but it's kind of feels the same.

However, something I do like in the level is the short backtracking segment to hit the other switch, the lava lotus placement, and the first four dragon coin placements. It was neat that it was small things that you had to do and was not intrusive to the level.

Also, the boss was mediocore, since it's just mother brain with one rinka, however something I do appreciate is that whenever a bomb hits the generator another one immediately spawns so it doesn't feel like a nuisance to time it with a projectile generator.

Overall, this level was an improvement from your usual levels but unfortunately suffers from the ill-effects of replicability. When designing and gaining inspiration from other sources like these three things should be considered.
1. Did the concept actually work?
2. Why did it work and what would make the concept feel bad?
3. How can the concept be expanded upon what was already seen?

Thank you for the review, it may be useful for my future levels. This time I was just experiencing with the bullet bill gimmick, so I know I should execute it better.

It feels like the pipe pieces were only used because it was used by Waddle Derp.

Wait what are you talking about, I didn't take inspiratiom from him on that..?

Postby **MegaDood** » Sat May 04, 2019 8:17 am

I played your level. I thought aesthetically, it was very visually appealing. Everything was very detailed and looked very good. The difficulty was not too frustrating either, and felt fair. My complaints came from the boss. It felt too boring and generic to really be that unique. I wouldn't rely on only Rinkas to create a challenge. Overall, I did enjoy the level though, so well done!

TheNightingale · Postby **TheNightingale** » Sat May 04, 2019 9:18 am

MegaDood wrote: ↑
Sat May 04, 2019 8:17 am
I played your level. I thought aesthetically, it was very visually appealing. Everything was very detailed and looked very good. The difficulty was not too frustrating either, and felt fair. My complaints came from the boss. It felt too boring and generic to really be that unique. I wouldn't rely on only Rinkas to create a challenge. Overall, I did enjoy the level though, so well done!

Thanks for the review. It was my first custom boss, so I'll try to make a better one next time

Postby **Eri7** » Sat May 04, 2019 3:25 pm

So i played Dangerous Skyway and here are my thoughts. Design wise, breathing rooms don't exist on your level, the places which separate challenges and let you catch a break + give you a power up, even the beginning forces you right into action expecting you to go through it without getting every hit which wouldn't be that much of a problem if it wasn't for the npc spam and tight level design, the level is designed in a way to limit the player's movement and some of the bullet bills setups are a bit too unfair since they can be placed in a better spots like way away from the player and a bit below to match up with his jump and give enough time for the player to prepare his momentum and overall have a good jump without messing it up or getting hit. The first,third, fourth and fifth dragon coin don't feel earned, i liked the challenge involving the second dragon coin and i was expecting the other dragon coins to have some challenges around them as well instead of giving it away to the player. I feel like you introduced a bit too many npcs in the level which ended up heavily underused and were there because you might have not know how to expand upon your current gimmicks, stuff like the nipper plant, thwomp, Bob-ombs, fire lotus, hammer bro and the sideways pirahna plant only appeared like one or two times for no reason other than to add a twist to your current gimmicks which were already heavily underused as well, you would have been better off removing all of these new npcs and just focus on adding more setups based around your gimmicks on their places. The checkpoint zone should have been a breathing room as well with power ups preparing you for the boss, the level felt short because it had a lot of underused gimmicks and was overall a short experience if we don't count the boss. The boss was nothing special, it was a decent addition to the level but i think it didn't fit with the gimmicks established before and its only there to make up for the underused gimmicks which imo shouldn't be a reason to add a boss which has nothing to do with the level's gimmicks, i would have rather have a boss focused on the level's gimmicks or just have the level be longer with more setups around the gimmicks. Aesthetics were decent however i don't really like the gray grass tileset, it just feels dull. I also don't get how there are upside down trees and grass which doesn't make sense aesthetics wise, the random waterfalls which aren't explain why are they there, at least put a sizable behind them so it makes sense they are coming from lakes in caves or something and the most weird thing is the grass/hills/any other bgo grow from the cloud tileset, it doesn't fit at all and it just doesn't make any sense. The background was dull too, a parallax would have been nice but the main problem here was the overall gray color with most of the tiles, i wish everything was well, more colorful. The level had few creative setups but as i said, the gimmicks were heavily underused and i wish the level could have expanded on them. Overall i think this is a decent level but due to all of the flaws, i can't see this be a good level unless you listen to the criticism and decide to improve upon it, anyways i am looking forward to any other level you have got next.

TheNightingale · Postby **TheNightingale** » Sat May 04, 2019 7:33 pm

Eri7 wrote: ↑
Sat May 04, 2019 3:25 pm
So i played Dangerous Skyway and here are my thoughts. Design wise, breathing rooms don't exist on your level, the places which separate challenges and let you catch a break + give you a power up, even the beginning forces you right into action expecting you to go through it without getting every hit which wouldn't be that much of a problem if it wasn't for the npc spam and tight level design, the level is designed in a way to limit the player's movement and some of the bullet bills setups are a bit too unfair since they can be placed in a better spots like way away from the player and a bit below to match up with his jump and give enough time for the player to prepare his momentum and overall have a good jump without messing it up or getting hit. The first,third, fourth and fifth dragon coin don't feel earned, i liked the challenge involving the second dragon coin and i was expecting the other dragon coins to have some challenges around them as well instead of giving it away to the player. I feel like you introduced a bit too many npcs in the level which ended up heavily underused and were there because you might have not know how to expand upon your current gimmicks, stuff like the nipper plant, thwomp, Bob-ombs, fire lotus, hammer bro and the sideways pirahna plant only appeared like one or two times for no reason other than to add a twist to your current gimmicks which were already heavily underused as well, you would have been better off removing all of these new npcs and just focus on adding more setups based around your gimmicks on their places. The checkpoint zone should have been a breathing room as well with power ups preparing you for the boss, the level felt short because it had a lot of underused gimmicks and was overall a short experience if we don't count the boss. The boss was nothing special, it was a decent addition to the level but i think it didn't fit with the gimmicks established before and its only there to make up for the underused gimmicks which imo shouldn't be a reason to add a boss which has nothing to do with the level's gimmicks, i would have rather have a boss focused on the level's gimmicks or just have the level be longer with more setups around the gimmicks. Aesthetics were decent however i don't really like the gray grass tileset, it just feels dull. I also don't get how there are upside down trees and grass which doesn't make sense aesthetics wise, the random waterfalls which aren't explain why are they there, at least put a sizable behind them so it makes sense they are coming from lakes in caves or something and the most weird thing is the grass/hills/any other bgo grow from the cloud tileset, it doesn't fit at all and it just doesn't make any sense. The background was dull too, a parallax would have been nice but the main problem here was the overall gray color with most of the tiles, i wish everything was well, more colorful. The level had few creative setups but as i said, the gimmicks were heavily underused and i wish the level could have expanded on them. Overall i think this is a decent level but due to all of the flaws, i can't see this be a good level unless you listen to the criticism and decide to improve upon it, anyways i am looking forward to any other level you have got next.

I really appreciate that you took your time to do this long review for me. I agree with most of your post, I know I introduced lots of gimmicks and NPCs but then they were overused as the level was short, it was something I was worried about so I decided to see what people thought about it. I think the boss is the part I should improve the most, at first I even thought about doing a few more setups with the gimmicks, but I realized it wouldn't fit good with the layout of the boss arena, and I know I would have improved it but honestly, the level was somewhat rushed because of the LotM deadline as I wanted to participate on it intentionally for the first time (I was on LotM september with my old levels when I didn't even know about it). Thanks for your review, I will listen to it and Eclipsed's so I will improve this level soon!

Postby **Eri7** » Sun May 05, 2019 2:55 am

VanillaDude wrote: ↑
Sat May 04, 2019 7:33 pm

Eri7 wrote: ↑
Sat May 04, 2019 3:25 pm
So i played Dangerous Skyway and here are my thoughts. Design wise, breathing rooms don't exist on your level, the places which separate challenges and let you catch a break + give you a power up, even the beginning forces you right into action expecting you to go through it without getting every hit which wouldn't be that much of a problem if it wasn't for the npc spam and tight level design, the level is designed in a way to limit the player's movement and some of the bullet bills setups are a bit too unfair since they can be placed in a better spots like way away from the player and a bit below to match up with his jump and give enough time for the player to prepare his momentum and overall have a good jump without messing it up or getting hit. The first,third, fourth and fifth dragon coin don't feel earned, i liked the challenge involving the second dragon coin and i was expecting the other dragon coins to have some challenges around them as well instead of giving it away to the player. I feel like you introduced a bit too many npcs in the level which ended up heavily underused and were there because you might have not know how to expand upon your current gimmicks, stuff like the nipper plant, thwomp, Bob-ombs, fire lotus, hammer bro and the sideways pirahna plant only appeared like one or two times for no reason other than to add a twist to your current gimmicks which were already heavily underused as well, you would have been better off removing all of these new npcs and just focus on adding more setups based around your gimmicks on their places. The checkpoint zone should have been a breathing room as well with power ups preparing you for the boss, the level felt short because it had a lot of underused gimmicks and was overall a short experience if we don't count the boss. The boss was nothing special, it was a decent addition to the level but i think it didn't fit with the gimmicks established before and its only there to make up for the underused gimmicks which imo shouldn't be a reason to add a boss which has nothing to do with the level's gimmicks, i would have rather have a boss focused on the level's gimmicks or just have the level be longer with more setups around the gimmicks. Aesthetics were decent however i don't really like the gray grass tileset, it just feels dull. I also don't get how there are upside down trees and grass which doesn't make sense aesthetics wise, the random waterfalls which aren't explain why are they there, at least put a sizable behind them so it makes sense they are coming from lakes in caves or something and the most weird thing is the grass/hills/any other bgo grow from the cloud tileset, it doesn't fit at all and it just doesn't make any sense. The background was dull too, a parallax would have been nice but the main problem here was the overall gray color with most of the tiles, i wish everything was well, more colorful. The level had few creative setups but as i said, the gimmicks were heavily underused and i wish the level could have expanded on them. Overall i think this is a decent level but due to all of the flaws, i can't see this be a good level unless you listen to the criticism and decide to improve upon it, anyways i am looking forward to any other level you have got next.
I really appreciate that you took your time to do this long review for me. I agree with most of your post, I know I introduced lots of gimmicks and NPCs but then they were overused as the level was short, it was something I was worried about so I decided to see what people thought about it. I think the boss is the part I should improve the most, at first I even thought about doing a few more setups with the gimmicks, but I realized it wouldn't fit good with the layout of the boss arena, and I know I would have improved it but honestly, the level was somewhat rushed because of the LotM deadline as I wanted to participate on it intentionally for the first time (I was on LotM september with my old levels when I didn't even know about it). Thanks for your review, I will listen to it and Eclipsed's so I will improve this level soon!

The boss is not the main problem here, everything else is the main problem, the boss could have worked as a change of pace IF the rest of the level was well better however please first improve the level and then the boss.

TheNightingale · Postby **TheNightingale** » Fri May 17, 2019 11:34 pm

Golden Heaven has been added to the collection! It's a level I really feel proud of.

And yes it has the same song as the previous one, which seems to be called the same as my username...

Archived · Postby **Archived** » Sat May 18, 2019 1:18 am

Archived

TheNightingale · Postby **TheNightingale** » Sat May 18, 2019 7:07 am

Eclipsed wrote: ↑
Sat May 18, 2019 1:18 am

Scroll wrote: ↑
Fri May 17, 2019 11:34 pm
Golden Heaven has been added to the collection! It's a level I really feel proud of.

And yes it has the same song as the previous one, which seems to be called the same as my username...
Just a few bugs to report, not going write a review
If you enter the 2nd section while big you become softlocked in the level.
Also, if there's no exit in the 2nd half without the 10 red coins challenge which makes we wonder: Is this an uncompleted version of the level? Since if you attain the midpoint and try to beat the level after dying, it is impossible to since you cannot get the red coins from the first half and you just get softlocked.

I think I added the warp from the 2nd section to the first. But anyway I'll fix that and re-upload the level soon, thanks for letting me know

Archived · Postby **Archived** » Sat May 18, 2019 10:54 am

Archived

TheNightingale · Postby **TheNightingale** » Sat May 18, 2019 1:30 pm

Eclipsed wrote: ↑
Sat May 18, 2019 10:54 am

Scroll wrote: ↑
Sat May 18, 2019 7:07 am

Eclipsed wrote: ↑
Sat May 18, 2019 1:18 am

Just a few bugs to report, not going write a review
If you enter the 2nd section while big you become softlocked in the level.
Also, if there's no exit in the 2nd half without the 10 red coins challenge which makes we wonder: Is this an uncompleted version of the level? Since if you attain the midpoint and try to beat the level after dying, it is impossible to since you cannot get the red coins from the first half and you just get softlocked.
I think I added the warp from the 2nd section to the first. But anyway I'll fix that and re-upload the level soon, thanks for letting me know
What is the point of the midpoint in the level then? There's literally no point with it since you have to play the entire level regardless of if you get a midpoint or not? Essentially, a midpoint is for saving progress halfway including collectibles. 0/10 Red Coins collected at the start is the same progress as 0/10 Red Coins at the beginning. In fact, getting the midpoint and dying actually makes you play more of the level than if you didn't since you have to backtrack in the first section and then go to the midpoint room again instead of just heading to the midpoint room. If you're using a midpoint, please make sure it actually means that if you die, you only have to play half the level and not necessarily the level one and a half time

Also I don't think I made it clear but his part is literally impossible to do as big mario

Thanks for the feedback, I already re-uploaded the level, check the main post
-The softlock in the 2nd section has been removed
-The missing warp was added
-The checkpoint was removed

TheNightingale · Postby **TheNightingale** » Wed May 29, 2019 6:49 pm

New level, a remake of the airship level from SMB3 W8, adding some other improvements to it. Have fun!

Also added graphic and soundtrack credits for every level