Since I haven't posted to this place in almost a decade, I might as well get people up to speed on what I have here.
This is UNORIGINAL, a project that originally started as a Super Mario World hack back in 2020, then progress halted in 2022 due to getting bored, then I tried to start it back up this month in SMW, then I decided to go to SMBX2 because I felt like the engine had the tools I needed to get what I wanted to accomplish done.
The goal of UNORIGINAL is to make a game that is similar to Super Mario World and have that charm that came with playing the original game. Maybe it's the old fart in me, but some newer fan projects haven't really what I've been looking for. As I'm a fan of SMW, I wanted to take my own spin on the formula while putting in some new things that still keep that charm.
I'm rambling, I know, but long story short, I wanted to do a SMW-like project and have fun with it. If people like it too, then the more the merrier.
If you're coming from the new thread from SMW Central (and if you aren't, click here for that), a lot of the following text may be familiar to you, but I need to build this up a little bit, so bare with me.
With UNORIGINAL, I plan to make four episodes in total, each with 6 or 7 levels based around a certain theme. I feel going this approach will not only make it easier to get more content done, but it will make it easier to stick with a certain theme for a world and not get so jumbled up in the process. The reason behind me losing interest in 2022 was that I planned on making one big hack, filled with as many levels as I could. However, that quickly led to me getting burned out, churning out levels that were gimmicky as hell and just did not work at all.
The first episode that I am currently working on is called The Shores of Serenity. Here is a brief description of the episode's plot:
Mario gets a letter from an unknown sender that is covered in what looks to be Hawaiian-esq. decorations but in a professional way. It reads as follows:
"Mario,
It's time for the trip of a lifetime. I am inviting you to an island located in a faraway region, farther than the Mushroom Kingdom, father than you can ever imagine. Getaway Island. There are rides, food, and much more. Like an off-the-radar amusement park.
I hope you can come.
Sincerely,
B."
It sounds too good to be true. Curious, Mario decides to take Princess Peach, his companion Yoshi, and the eight Yoshi eggs that were rescued from Bowser's clutches back on Dinosaur Land on a boat all the way to the island.
However, halfway through the trip, the boat gets caught in a rough storm, and before they know it, the ship crashes onto the shore.
Mario wakes up to find that Peach, Yoshi, and the eggs are nowhere to be found. Yelling for their attention brings no response... if you don't count the hundreds of minions you fought while in Dinosaur Land. Surely enough, you've been tricked. That letter turned out to be from none other than Bowser, whose clown car landed on this originally-uninhabited territory after what-you-thought-to-be your final confrontation with him.
While you seem to be outnumbered and you have no idea where to go, thankfully, you spot a familiar figure not far from your landing spot: Toad.
Turned out, he hid on the boat after being told not to come and help protect the Mushroom Kingdom from danger. It seems like the little guy doesn't take 'no' for an answer. Now it's up to Mario with the help of Toad to find Peach, Yoshi, and the eggs and defeat Bowser once again while getting off this island. First stop: The Shores of Serenity.
It's cheesy, sure, but it's Super Mario, are you really going to treat it as if it's an award-winning story?
My idea with this project back in 2020 was to just have fun with what I had, and while I lost that concept when the project was dead in 2022, I feel like I have a grasp on what I want to accomplish.
So yes, this project is finally moving forward again, and while we're in the early stages of it, I do have a couple of videos already on it. These are what I plan to be the first two levels of the episode:
Getting Started
As you would guess, this level is supposed to gear players into the gameplay, thus it's pretty easy, although I do through some curveballs when it comes to finding some Yoshi coins (This may change slightly because I don't want to have similar puzzles in the same level, especially ones that can be tricky).
Critters and More
I tried to really get atmospheric with this level while making this more of a slightly-slow stroll, as there are some tricks that casual players may get caught off guard.
I plan to have levels that encourage exploration, thus why I'm planning to disable the timer in each level. The idea is that you're on an island in the middle of nowhere, so you have all the time in the world get your bearings straight. I also want players to play at their own pace and not worry about designing a level to make it a quick dash, although I definitely won't make players be at a standstill for most of it. I also want to make the levels feel more... alive, I guess is the best way to describe it. I want to make sure the player is not engaged just by the gameplay, but also the story, hence the little message boxes throughout the entire levels. Also note the transitions to the new locations toward the end of each level.
Additionally, the third level is currently being worked on. It is tentatively titled The Cave of Wonder, and I plan for it to be the only level in this episode to have a secret exit (or will it? You'll have to find out.). Here are some screenshots at the moment:
If you want to check out the original thread for UNORIGINAL on SMW Central that shows a little bit of what I had planned and the several different directions I went in, you can find it by clicking here.
I don't know how frequently I'll be posting in this thread, as I want to make sure I am not showing every single piece of content every five seconds. As I get further into the project, I'll elaborate more on the expectations of each episode, but for now, I'm going to work one episode one only, just so I don't get ahead of myself.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you continue following this project.
Last edited by Lotica on Fri Nov 22, 2024 9:15 am, edited 4 times in total.
This is intended to be the first level of the project with a secret exit, thus I amped up the difficulty a little bit. The idea is that players would be focused on finding the secret exit that they'll be distracted and the obstacles will catch them off guard.
This was a fun level to make, and I hope you enjoy.
Looks great so far. Hoewer, i might suggest some "optional" suggestions that would make the game more better: could you remove the message box? I know it appears in the og games, but if this message box is on every level, then it would ruin the fun to players to spill what you can do. You could make some communication such as non interactable signs to show what is going on, a reacurring gimmick first appearing farther than the player's reach, coins to show the player what to do... Please just include message boxes only if its early game or the level has a complicated settings. Im not forcing you to change this, but it will be ceirtanly be a better experience for the players.
Looks great so far. Hoewer, i might suggest some "optional" suggestions that would make the game more better: could you remove the message box? I know it appears in the og games, but if this message box is on every level, then it would ruin the fun to players to spill what you can do. You could make some communication such as non interactable signs to show what is going on, a reacurring gimmick first appearing farther than the player's reach, coins to show the player what to do... Please just include message boxes only if its early game or the level has a complicated settings. Im not forcing you to change this, but it will be ceirtanly be a better experience for the players.
Yeah, going back and watching the videos I've posted so far, I certainly overdid it on the message blocks being a bit spoilery. I plan on reducing them as I get closer to finishing the episode. Thanks for the suggestion!
Here's video of another level, Lakeside Antics. The obligatory lake level in a Mario project. I wanted this to be more of a quick-paced sort of level after the longer cave level, hence why this level is quick, it's actually one of the quickest so far. I still made sure that there was some challenge so people didn't speed right through it.
This will be the last video I'll post on a level in this episode, as I want to keep the other levels in suspense for players. At this moment, five of the seven main levels for the episode are completed, but there's still a number of things that need to be done before the episode is ready for release:
-Creating the world map
-Switching out the Mario graphics for the SMW version, as the project is more geared toward that game's style, but there will be a mixture of other graphics as the project goes on
-Refining the levels to make sure they flow well and are difficulty-appropriate
-Creating an intro cutscene to help flow into the first episode
-Creating a boss for the first castle (It's unclear if I'll go the Koopa Kid approach or go with something else, given how this will overall be a smaller length and not have as many castles as SMW)
-Compiling all the resources and packing it into the final product for release
There's a lot to do, but I'm hopeful that the first episode will be out soon. I want to say by the end of the year, but I'm not giving any promises.
Thanks for keeping up with the project, and have a good one!
Well, either I'm feeling very confident or too cocky, but I decided to put together a little trailer to drum up some excitement for the first episode. It might even include a few snippets of some levels you haven't seen before. Check it out!
Been about a week since the last update, but I have some good news.
Episode 1's levels are complete. I just did a playthrough of all of them, ironing out some of the quirks and so forth to make them approachable and fun to play.
I am shooting for either November or December to release the first episode, which will seem a bit short, considering its seven levels (One of which will act as the rough intro to the episode), but consider it a proof of concept more than anything. I want to make sure with each episode, I'm not overstaying my welcome with the levels, basically focus on quality over quantity. You can have all the levels you want, but if you don't make each one enjoyable, why bother?
My checklist now as is follows:
-Modify the world map, making sure to have proper revealing paths
-Refine the first world boss, have a proper ending that teases the second episode
-Continue playtesting to refine the levels even more
-Compiling all the resources and pack them into the final product for release
As for what's next for the second episode, you'll have to wait a little bit longer to know what's in store. I'll just say that hard hats will be required.
If you want some more content, go check out my recent playthrough of my first publicly released Super Mario World hack from 2007. I had fun making this video. Take care!
"Okay. Either Lotica has too much time on his hands, or he's just too excited about UNORIGINAL."
Yes, I am on both, hence why I have another video tonight. As I'm working on finishing up Episode 1 before release (which is November 15th if you didn't see the trailer), I am working on the early stages of Episode 2, hence I'm going to give you a sneak peek at one of the levels being made. I'm not going to reveal more than what I'm showing here until after the release of Episode 1, so savor it while you can.
Welp, it's time for an update! Don't worry, it's all good. I just wanted to get people up to speed on what's going on right now.
Currently, I am going through several playthroughs of Episode 1, trying to refine the gameplay as I am a little more familiar with SMBX2 now that I have completed several levels in the engine. I want to make sure the gameplay is fluent and, most importantly, fun.
If you have seen videos of the episode so far, you may notice some significant changes in the level design. I kind of feel it gives a little more mystery to those familiar with the project.
Just to give you an idea of where I'm at in terms of completed levels, here is my current checklist (This is also a spoiler of all the levels in the episode, some of which you may have seen in the trailers):
Crash Landing (the prologue level) - COMPLETELY DONE! Getting Started - COMPLETELY DONE! Critters and More - COMPLETELY DONE! The Cave of Wonder - COMPLETELY DONE! Mole Mountain - DONE, BUT REFINING LEVEL! Lakeside Antics - COMPLETELY DONE! Fuzzy Vision - DONE, BUT NOT REFINED YET! Spike's Domain - DONE, BUT NOT REFINED YET! To the Below (transition to next episode) - COMPLETELY DONE!
I'm also going back and forth between the refinements and starting to experiment on how I want to go about doing Episode 2, as you saw from the previous video. I won't go all in on it until I release Episode 1, so don't expect any significant developments until after November 15th.
I will say that a lot of the elements in Episode 1 are subject to change, such as the prologue and transition levels, the boss, etc., so don't think this is going to be the final product, especially with what I want to include with complete edition, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Other than that, I don't have much to say. I do plan on recording a commentary video on the original UNORIGINAL Super Mario World hack demo that I did back in 2020, kind of like how I did the King Boo Takeover commentary soon. I'll probably do that tomorrow or Friday, depends on how I feel.
Another update to show off what has been going on with the first episode.
At this point in time, all the levels have been completely play tested through and refined to hell and back (or at least what I think is that). I want to make sure the gameplay is consistent but also fun. I also want to make sure I balance the difficulty properly, because as you play test your levels over and over again, you tend to find them boring and want to make them more interesting. That temptation to make the levels too difficult then rises, and you ruin the point of your levels in terms of difficulty.
Also, as you may have seen on the SMBX2 Discord, I've been showing off the first world map. Now, I want to preface that while making levels comes naturally to me (That's not bragging, by the way), world maps are something I have less experience with, mainly because I don't get far in many of my projects.
As you'll come to see, the biggest issue that I came across was perspective. You can make this big world with all these interesting formations, but if the perspective is not correct, then it's going to annoy some people.
So let me take you through the various versions of the map from the conception to what will be the final version for this episode (Things will definitely change when it comes to the complete edition.
Here's the final version for now, with the perspective issues fixed. I also decided to make the bridge be surrounded by a proper lake since that's where the level Lakeside Antics:
I would love to thank those who gave the feedback, specifically Mushroom King and SprouSprou who did a good job breaking down the issues in a simple way. I appreciate it!
I'm also slowly but surely working on Episode 2 as I wrap things up on Episode 1. I plan on being more focused in terms of level design on the rest of the episodes, having an emphasis on gimmicks throughout the levels. I'm treating Episode 1 as a sampler for what's to come, hence why the theme may not be as consistent as you would think (Or maybe it is and I'm being nitpicky).
Again, the release date is Friday, November 15th, so not much longer then!
The final files for Episode 1 have been packed up and the ZIP file is waiting to be uploaded (I plan to do it the night before release just to be safe).
As for now, the only thing that needs to be done before release is making the launch trailer and that's it. I plan on taking a little break before starting to go all in on Episode 2, maybe a week break, just so I can figure out what to do next.
We have less than five days now until the release, so I hope you check it out.
Well, I decided to get the commentary for the original UNORIGINAL demo done tonight and uploaded it.
As you could probably guess by the thumbnail, things didn't go as planned, but I decided to upload it anyway because why not?
Enjoy!
Make sure to be here around 12 a.m. (central time) this Friday for the release of Episode 1!
Cool! One Question, will you have smwmap.lua for your project? Your original Unoriginal map looks very SMW-ish (since it was made in that engine) so i was wondering, will you do the same? here's the post just in case.
Included in this episode are six levels, along with two levels meant to serve as the intro and outro of the package.
While this episode is officially public, do note that with the Complete Edition that will be released along with Episode 5, there will be changes to this episode due to some "special" additions along the way. As for now, this is more of a testing ground of what's to come.
The world is meant to be more of a melting pot than having a general theme. There are grassland, forest, mountain, and cave levels in the mix. This is supposed to get the player adjusted to the gameplay style and ready for what's to come in the future episodes. The powerup department is also intentionally basic here, relying solely on a fire flower, as the idea is Mario is trying to get his baring on this island and only has access to the flower (It's a stretch, but it's Mario, the writing has never been perfect).
Also, I will admit I do plan on retooling with the boss, as I'm still getting used to SMBX2 and I don't want to just use the default bosses if I have to. I plan on using some time after the release of Episode 1 to figure out some of the basics of making a boss and hopefully come up with something better.
I am happy to get this episode out and I'm looking forward to working on the next one. Episode 2 is where the project will start to focus on specific themes and the levels will become more complex (At least that's the hope). I will talk more about Episode 2 and what to expect next week.
As for now, give the first episode a try and tell me what you think. I'm sure there are a lot of things people will like and won't like, but I'm open to feedback.
Well, I decided to get the commentary for the original UNORIGINAL demo done tonight and uploaded it.
As you could probably guess by the thumbnail, things didn't go as planned, but I decided to upload it anyway because why not?
Enjoy!
Make sure to be here around 12 a.m. (central time) this Friday for the release of Episode 1!
Cool! One Question, will you have smwmap.lua for your project? Your original Unoriginal map looks very SMW-ish (since it was made in that engine) so i was wondering, will you do the same? here's the post just in case.
I do plan on using smwmap.lua, but that will be when I start working on the Complete Edition (i.e. the one with Episode 5). I want to focus purely on the levels at the moment and create a rough idea of what I want each map to be like, then when I get to working on Episode 5, I'll start implementing it.
Ive played this, and this is a really decent episode, each level is unique in gimmicks and really good usage of level design. This is a really good short episode to try. Still, not all things are perfect. I have a few problems and oversights for episodes to come. I'ts good to see playing a SMW-Themed episode after abandoning playing SMW hacks.
When playing as luigi, It dosen't use the SMW costume unlike mario does. Please fix that :3 And some of the levels are a bit rough, especially 1-3 and 1-Castle. While i know you are a begginer in making SMBX games, Could you improve the boss fight? its WAY to easy. Maybe a few more hits and making it harder to reach as the boss goes on?
Still, this is a really solid minisode and i will love to see more! - Certainly, Kuriboshoe
Ive played this, and this is a really decent episode, each level is unique in gimmicks and really good usage of level design. This is a really good short episode to try. Still, not all things are perfect. I have a few problems and oversights for episodes to come. I'ts good to see playing a SMW-Themed episode after abandoning playing SMW hacks.
When playing as luigi, It dosen't use the SMW costume unlike mario does. Please fix that :3 And some of the levels are a bit rough, especially 1-3 and 1-Castle. While i know you are a begginer in making SMBX games, Could you improve the boss fight? its WAY to easy. Maybe a few more hits and making it harder to reach as the boss goes on?
Still, this is a really solid minisode and i will love to see more! - Certainly, Kuriboshoe
Thanks for the feedback. That's weird that Luigi isn't using the SMW costume, I thought I did the right title, but I'll have to fix that sometime soon.
I do plan on improving the boss as I said, those are some good ways to do so. Also, what were some of the issues with 1-3, if you don't mind elaborating.
I plan on making a hotfix to address some of the issues next week, so stay tuned for that!
Ive played this, and this is a really decent episode, each level is unique in gimmicks and really good usage of level design. This is a really good short episode to try. Still, not all things are perfect. I have a few problems and oversights for episodes to come. I'ts good to see playing a SMW-Themed episode after abandoning playing SMW hacks.
When playing as luigi, It dosen't use the SMW costume unlike mario does. Please fix that :3 And some of the levels are a bit rough, especially 1-3 and 1-Castle. While i know you are a begginer in making SMBX games, Could you improve the boss fight? its WAY to easy. Maybe a few more hits and making it harder to reach as the boss goes on?
Still, this is a really solid minisode and i will love to see more! - Certainly, Kuriboshoe
Thanks for the feedback. That's weird that Luigi isn't using the SMW costume, I thought I did the right title, but I'll have to fix that sometime soon.
I do plan on improving the boss as I said, those are some good ways to do so. Also, what were some of the issues with 1-3, if you don't mind elaborating.
I plan on making a hotfix to address some of the issues next week, so stay tuned for that!
The level was kind of iffy and difficult to complete, and i had no idea where the secret exit is. Perhaps fix the part with the two koopas and a spike top and make a hint on where the secret exit is? And oh, i forgot to mention this but, the world map seems great so far. There's a little cutoff in the unwalkable path tiles (the grey ones) and a bit stale. 1-Castle has some unpredictable spike balls rolling and seems to have the only unique gameover jingle in the whole episode.
Ive played this, and this is a really decent episode, each level is unique in gimmicks and really good usage of level design. This is a really good short episode to try. Still, not all things are perfect. I have a few problems and oversights for episodes to come. I'ts good to see playing a SMW-Themed episode after abandoning playing SMW hacks.
When playing as luigi, It dosen't use the SMW costume unlike mario does. Please fix that :3 And some of the levels are a bit rough, especially 1-3 and 1-Castle. While i know you are a begginer in making SMBX games, Could you improve the boss fight? its WAY to easy. Maybe a few more hits and making it harder to reach as the boss goes on?
Still, this is a really solid minisode and i will love to see more! - Certainly, Kuriboshoe
Thanks for the feedback. That's weird that Luigi isn't using the SMW costume, I thought I did the right title, but I'll have to fix that sometime soon.
I do plan on improving the boss as I said, those are some good ways to do so. Also, what were some of the issues with 1-3, if you don't mind elaborating.
I plan on making a hotfix to address some of the issues next week, so stay tuned for that!
The level was kind of iffy and difficult to complete, and i had no idea where the secret exit is. Perhaps fix the part with the two koopas and a spike top and make a hint on where it is? And oh, i forgot to mention this but, the world map seems great so far. There's a little cutoff in the unwalkable path tiles (the grey ones) and a bit stale.
Yeah, the path tiles were meant to serve as a shadow for the bridge much like the original SMW, but they didn't really work upon further glance. I may add some custom graphics to help with that effect.
As for the secret exit, I'm going to put a spoiler tag on this one just because of obvious reasons:
The secret exit is obtained by taking the P-Switch in the pipe after the first ride. What you'll do is take the switch to the four question mark boxes after the checkpoint, hit it there, and you'll have some invisible blocks appear that will lead you to a pipe to get to a key for the secret exit. I may place a coin in an obstructed but slightly easy to see place to make it easier to find it. I can also go with the route you talked about. I'll have to experiment with it since puzzles and secrets are not always my best strong suit.
Now we're back from spoiler territory. Going back to 1-3, the level itself was actually based on one of the levels from the original UNORIGINAL demo, and if you probably saw in the commentary I released recently, I lost my mind when playing it. It was bad.
With this version, I attempted to make things simpler while trying to stay true to the original design, and while, in my opinion, it's not as sadistic as the original version, there will still need to be some tweaks considering this is first world territory.
As for what is updated in this version, here are the release notes:
[GENERAL UPDATES]
-Fixed it to where the proper graphics for Luigi appear instead of the SMB3 graphics
-Removed the unused tiles underneath the bridge on the world map as they had cutoff and looked tacky
[LEVEL-SPECIFIC UPDATES] THE CAVE OF WONDER
-Significantly reduced the difficulty at sections, making it easier to play
-Made it easier to find the secret exit (vines have been added as a clue)
-Fixed an issue with the secret exit where if you hit all four question blocks after the checkpoint, it would be difficult to get to the question blocks that come up when the P-Switch is hit
BIG SPIKE'S DOMAIN
-Significantly updated the boss, as it was too easy for players
--Made it a phase-three boss
---Every time you hit Big Spike, he'll disappear and a passage will open, leading you to the next phase which will be harder
-Different death music was put in for this level, so it was changed to the standard SMW death sound
-Removed the room before the Big Spike Boss because it slowed down the pace of the level
-Removed some obstacles to make parts less difficult and tedious
-Renamed level to Big Spike's Domain
I have a few problems and oversights for episodes to come. I'ts good to see playing a SMW-Themed episode after abandoning playing SMW hacks.
