Super Mario Lost Arts [DEPRECATED]

[HAK0TA538]

Super Mario Lost Arts Alpha has been deprecated, full page with better episode can be found here:
viewtopic.php?t=29311

I will say the game is quite bad and unoptimized as it was my first ever smbx episode, another higher quality episode demo i made with knowledge i gained from lost arts can be found here:

viewtopic.php?p=399064#p399064

[AppleTheTomato]

Ah, nice! You made a post for this like I suggested. Was able to go and play this too, and it was interesting.
To start, I had some weird issues/nitpicks. Should be pretty easy to fix most of these:

Spoiler: show

- This didn't happen to me, but I think you can softlock in Spinning Dizzy Mill Field if the screen scrolls too far at the end. You should just need to shrink the distance between the edge of the right screen and the goal a bit.
- A starcoin counter on the world map would be really nice, that way you can see how many you have before going to the starcoin signs. If you REALLY want to help with that completionist style you were talking about on Discord, a per-level starcoin counter for the map would be cool. I've made one myself for simplifiedHUD if you want that.
- Mario's normal sprites don't match with the "he got hurt" sprites. I believe those go with ones Marioman uses, so I'd see if he can give you those. That, or change the hurt sprites to match the default sprites.
- Because these paths are too close, not only do they unlock weirdly, but they allow you to do this. You should just need to space the paths out. I also want to note that none of the levels unlocked here are playable. Not sure if they just aren't done or if that's a bug, but I figured I should point it out:

- Maybe it's just me, but I don't think there needs to be an up arrow here. The coins already indicate you should go up, and even without those, springs generally launch you up, so I knew I probably was needing to go up:

- The poles I'm standing next to are solid, while the poles all the way to the right aren't. The moving floor also makes those right poles look a tad strange when the floor moves:

- Same sorta deal here, but it's also the floor itself that looks a tad strange:

- Same deal here:

- And here:

- And here:

- There was a Fire Bro here. He fell off lol. You might wanna make him not move:

- Same deal with this Hammer Bro:

- I've encountered this issue before myself. It's something to do with xmap's priority being greater than pauseMenu's. You should just need to change the priority of either of those:

- I will warn you, the floor here can be destroyed with hammers. If the player were to accidentally shoot off some hammers and wreck the "safe floor," it would not be safe anymore lol:

Now, the unforunate part: what I really disliked:

Spoiler: show

- For one, the difficulty of the episode is all over the place. I will be really struggling on one part of the level, and on the very next screen hit a random box and get a hammer suit, one of the best items in the game. I sorta get having hammer suits given as rewards in the optional challenge like levels (even tho that STILL feels like a bit much), but having them in the normal levels in fairly easy to get spots just tips things out of balance. It carries over to the starcoins too. Most were just...in the open. At least to me, the starcoins SEEM to be collectables you have to go out of your way to get, so when most them are on the main path I'm taking, I question why they are even there.
- The levels themselves have way too much going and seem to unfortunately lack focus. There are so many different assets, enemies, and ideas in each level that it's hard to get used to, and some aren't properly introduced. Those hang-ropes in the ghost house caught me way off guard, because I had no idea how they worked, and died MANY times due to it. Or the levels end up like that first grassy one, where the balloons show up right at the start, and then don't appear again until halfway into the grassy ruins tower level?? And after THAT section, they're not in any other levels. Or the levels end up being really empty and enemy spammy, like the end of the grassy level and a good few parts of the lava castle. I can vaguely remember the levels, but only because they looked different. Otherwise, they all played about the same.

To end on a good note, here's the things I did like!

Spoiler: show

- The graphic usage was pretty solid. All the levels visually felt really distinct, and said visuals were really enhanced by dropShadows. I may have to pick that one up for my project lol.
- The bosses are great. That mouser one is especially fun. The only sad part about them is that they too suffer from the difficulty spiking, and it kept me from playing the Reznor rematch. They kept throwing me off for being hard and precise after coming from a fairly easy and chill level. But they otherwise are great!
- The ability system is really interesting. I love that you slowly earn back your powers, and although it was really weird going from motorSkills to the twirl, it's a neat concept!

For a final score: 5/10. I by no means hated this episode, but I didn't fully like it either? I really liked certain parts of it, and then was either bored or overwhelmed with the rest of it. I hope there's a way you can refine what's here, because there's a lot of potential. Good luck with your future work, and have a great day!

[Umj1124]

im glad you uploaded this! but alot of the things that applethetomato are correct. when you had me test it, the difficulty was pretty strange. but i still did enjoy it. im glad i helped you enough for a credit

[HAK0TA538]

Ah, nice! You made a post for this like I suggested. Was able to go and play this too, and it was interesting.
To start, I had some weird issues/nitpicks. Should be pretty easy to fix most of these:

Spoiler: show

- This didn't happen to me, but I think you can softlock in Spinning Dizzy Mill Field if the screen scrolls too far at the end. You should just need to shrink the distance between the edge of the right screen and the goal a bit.
- A starcoin counter on the world map would be really nice, that way you can see how many you have before going to the starcoin signs. If you REALLY want to help with that completionist style you were talking about on Discord, a per-level starcoin counter for the map would be cool. I've made one myself for simplifiedHUD if you want that.
- Mario's normal sprites don't match with the "he got hurt" sprites. I believe those go with ones Marioman uses, so I'd see if he can give you those. That, or change the hurt sprites to match the default sprites.
- Because these paths are too close, not only do they unlock weirdly, but they allow you to do this. You should just need to space the paths out. I also want to note that none of the levels unlocked here are playable. Not sure if they just aren't done or if that's a bug, but I figured I should point it out:

- Maybe it's just me, but I don't think there needs to be an up arrow here. The coins already indicate you should go up, and even without those, springs generally launch you up, so I knew I probably was needing to go up:

- The poles I'm standing next to are solid, while the poles all the way to the right aren't. The moving floor also makes those right poles look a tad strange when the floor moves:

- Same sorta deal here, but it's also the floor itself that looks a tad strange:

- Same deal here:

- And here:

- And here:

- There was a Fire Bro here. He fell off lol. You might wanna make him not move:

- Same deal with this Hammer Bro:

- I've encountered this issue before myself. It's something to do with xmap's priority being greater than pauseMenu's. You should just need to change the priority of either of those:

- I will warn you, the floor here can be destroyed with hammers. If the player were to accidentally shoot off some hammers and wreck the "safe floor," it would not be safe anymore lol:

Now, the unforunate part: what I really disliked:

Spoiler: show

- For one, the difficulty of the episode is all over the place. I will be really struggling on one part of the level, and on the very next screen hit a random box and get a hammer suit, one of the best items in the game. I sorta get having hammer suits given as rewards in the optional challenge like levels (even tho that STILL feels like a bit much), but having them in the normal levels in fairly easy to get spots just tips things out of balance. It carries over to the starcoins too. Most were just...in the open. At least to me, the starcoins SEEM to be collectables you have to go out of your way to get, so when most them are on the main path I'm taking, I question why they are even there.
- The levels themselves have way too much going and seem to unfortunately lack focus. There are so many different assets, enemies, and ideas in each level that it's hard to get used to, and some aren't properly introduced. Those hang-ropes in the ghost house caught me way off guard, because I had no idea how they worked, and died MANY times due to it. Or the levels end up like that first grassy one, where the balloons show up right at the start, and then don't appear again until halfway into the grassy ruins tower level?? And after THAT section, they're not in any other levels. Or the levels end up being really empty and enemy spammy, like the end of the grassy level and a good few parts of the lava castle. I can vaguely remember the levels, but only because they looked different. Otherwise, they all played about the same.

To end on a good note, here's the things I did like!

Spoiler: show

- The graphic usage was pretty solid. All the levels visually felt really distinct, and said visuals were really enhanced by dropShadows. I may have to pick that one up for my project lol.
- The bosses are great. That mouser one is especially fun. The only sad part about them is that they too suffer from the difficulty spiking, and it kept me from playing the Reznor rematch. They kept throwing me off for being hard and precise after coming from a fairly easy and chill level. But they otherwise are great!
- The ability system is really interesting. I love that you slowly earn back your powers, and although it was really weird going from motorSkills to the twirl, it's a neat concept!

For a final score: 5/10. I by no means hated this episode, but I didn't fully like it either? I really liked certain parts of it, and then was either bored or overwhelmed with the rest of it. I hope there's a way you can refine what's here, because there's a lot of potential. Good luck with your future work, and have a great day!

Thanks for the feedback! Im not really sure how i would fix some of this since i dont wanna go back and redesign a bunch of levels but ill keep this advice in mind for future levels and projects! Im not sure how to make a starcoin counter so that would actually be helpful thanks, Ill test spinning mill field. The world map problem is because i underestimated the map size. Can't really fix that now but once again i will keep that in mind. Also the unplayable levels are because they are not finished yet. I admit the difficulty curve in uneven. I thought the hammer suit wasn't too overpowered but i will change things around to balance a bit more. Ill edit starcoin positions. But overall thanks for the feedback and i will attempt to edit things accordingly