What makes a SMBX episode so good

[Calamityguy1987]

If you have played a lot of episodes in the past, especially pre-Lunalua, A question would have probably came into your mind; What makes a SMBX Episode so
good and Amazing? while the other bland ones aren't? A lot of episodes are either just bad in general or is at least good and amazing; its not your'e playing The Invasion 1 & 2 all over again with a new name; while its effective, its more bland and more to be expected. SMBW flipped the bucket to probably the contrary normal linear boring game like the NSMB series has been. 70% of SMBX Episodes are bland, boring, predictable episodes. I think what makes a episode good; no matter if its a world map or a hub; it needs at least a degree unlinearity; if the player downloaded that game, per say, the only objective is to beat the final boss and rescue princess peach, no sidequests, secret exits (if you are going with an SMB3 classic feel), no bonus worlds, no collectables, then there is no replayiblility at all and is just a bland and cheap move per say. If you want to improve your SMBX episodes to be superior than decent or bad, then this are the 3 main points to making a SMBX episode:

• Replayability - How much will the player play?

• Linearity - How much sidestuff are gonna be when pogressing the main route?

• Dificulty - How hard it will be when the player pogresses?

----- Replayability ----
After the player finishes main-game, You should add a postgame with one or two special worlds for them to play, you could add fun challenges or bonuses, maybe transform the leftover ideas would result in exta levels or challenging bonuses, keep in mind you want the player to play more of the game, this could be a good strategical move for the creator.
----- Linearity ---
this is simmilar to the last one, but the question now is: How much sidestuff are gonna be when pogressing the main route? you can't just slap in 8 worlds without any extra levels and call it a day, you WILL need to make extra levels for people who want to challenge themselves or are looking for more levels.
Many good ideas can improve like: add a alternative route. not only but this can be great for casual players who are not only struggling for the roadblock level and try another alternative if that level is causing trouble, but also adding extra levels that you missed due to you going to the main route instead of the optional route.
--- Difficulty ---
How hard it will be when the player pogresses? I know you probably will know this, but most episodes/levels have either insane kaizo level or straight up unfair. Now, let me tell you for the 99% of Episodes from the 09 to 14 era. MAKE THE LEVELS PLAUSIBLE!! There is a lot of people who never played SMBX (heck, probably never played a Mario fangame), is it unfair to die in a horrible situation of rinka spam? Also Please, make a difficulty curve, its not just baby easy to Only Possible with TAS. as time goes on the player will get better at the game/episode so basically right after World 5 or 6 i think it should be easily hard. Also give them good powerups early, as they will act like a easy mode for people who are getting trouble with
something hard for them.

Anyways, you can make any type of episode, although keep in mind with these 3 points and your episode will be fine. (unless youre making a troll/joke episode or anything else since its your episode) and always renember, Episodes are made with love and care, not just getting rushed. Take your time, even if its school or work thats interfering your episode work time, and as always, i encourage you to make good episodes like the Restoration or the Great Castle Adventure. May Allah guide you to the right path. X3

[Emral]

It's actually much simpler: the good episodes have a high ratio of fun levels

Just make whatever you find fun and don't worry about level counts, bonuses or difficulty. If it's fun to you, someone else will find it fun as well.

[cold soup]

what enjl said. i think having a strict set of rules as to what makes an episode good is precisely what results in a scenario where 70% of smbx episodes are bland, boring and predictable as you said. a good smbx episode in my opinion is one where the creator clearly made the episode they wanted to make, and most of my favorite episodes are the ones that play by their own rules.
plus like. linearity has absolutely zero correlation to quality, it's just a structural choice. and yeah you don't want to make your levels straight up unfair and unfun, but some people like really hard episodes. if someone finds something too hard, it just might not be for them and that's fine!
overall everyone has different tastes and trying to think of objective criteria for something like smbx is a losing battle. this might be what makes a good episode to you, but that doesn't mean it's what makes a good episode to everyone else. just make something that's fun to you

[Idunn]

For one I agree with both posts above me.
As for myself, I find this post kind of strange tbh.
"if the player downloaded that game, per say, the only objective is to beat the final boss and rescue princess peach, no sidequests, secret exits (if you are going with an SMB3 classic feel), no bonus worlds, no collectables, then there is no replayiblility at all and is just a bland and cheap move per say. "

There are tons of episodes out there which don't have the go save princess peach scenario, even some of the official mario games don't have that.
I find it kind of odd saying that if you don't have sidequests/collectables/bonus worlds etc that it's a bland and cheap move. That's kinda unfair to some creators here who put their heart into what they make.
Plus why would we need sidequests? Most games that have them just have them to longer the time of the game and they just fill like.. filler?
Not every episode needs bonus worlds, not every episodes needs some kind of collectable. Sometimes you just wanna be the Mario and go through levels and have fun playing someones episode/demo/level.

"i encourage you to make good episodes like the Restoration or the Great Castle Adventure."
Or just make something of your own Ideas?`If you make a episode like those two it feels like you just copied them and changed some stuff.

"I know you probably will know this, but most episodes/levels have either insane kaizo level or straight up unfair. Now, let me tell you for the 99% of Episodes from the 09 to 14 era. MAKE THE LEVELS PLAUSIBLE!! There is a lot of people who never played SMBX (heck, probably never played a Mario fangame), is it unfair to die in a horrible situation of rinka spam?"

Uh no? I have no idea what episodes you are even talking about, but most of them don't have insane kaizo difficulty.. also 09-14 era wasn't just rinka spam and unfair design, we actually had some peak episodes back then also.

Also I just don't like the overall tone of this post the whole "Most are bad episodes and some are good" everyone starts somewhere, and if people aren't gonna give them any feedback on critic on what they made how are they supposed to make something better anyway.

[Calamityguy1987]

Plus why would we need sidequests? Most games that have them just have them to longer the time of the game and they just fill like.. filler?
Not every episode needs bonus worlds, not every episodes needs some kind of collectable. Sometimes you just wanna be the Mario and go through levels and have fun playing someones episode/demo/level.

Sidequest are Sidequests, and they can do everything they want with it; no bonus or bonus.

Uh no? I have no idea what episodes you are even talking about, but most of them don't have insane kaizo difficulty.. also 09-14 era wasn't just rinka spam and unfair design, we actually had some peak episodes back then also.

You do have a point in here; like you said, we did have some good episodes; its just that some of the episodes like The Universe War or Pie Island just feel so rushed in time or that they have unfair level design. Renember that one level that has rigged metroid background (in The Universe War) or that the planets mentioned in the New Toadiko Castle mostly aren't acsessible (although it might have been for fun or that they forgot to do it)?

"i encourage you to make good episodes like the Restoration or the Great Castle Adventure."
Or just make something of your own Ideas?`If you make a episode like those two it feels like you just copied them and changed some stuff.

Did i say to copy them? what i actually mean is that you can make a episode that would be popular like the said episodes. Was it unclear of what i said?

Still, im not forcing anybody in my style and i made the post for fun; you do you.