CCM1: Abandoned (v1.0.1) [SMBX2]

[AppleTheTomato]

Wow. This is technically the first fully complete episode I have ever posted.
KoD from ages ago was finished, but not complete. Many other projects of mine were never fully finished or complete, either. Funny that this episode is one I truly finished: a minisode focused mainly on the assets in the SMB1 tab with about 6 levels, area lore, and a story that, while kinda cheesy, is I also think really wholesome.

Notes/Facts:

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*This will only work with the latest version of SMBX2.
*This episode could be considered harder in terms of typical Mario episodes. Like, 3 out of 5 star difficulty? I'd compare it to something like ATWE.
*Co-op does work!
*There are 9 achievements, but 4 aren't required for what's considered 100% completetion.
*I was going to add a 10th achievement for finding all the lore, but it was going to take just enough effort that I said "nah" (might at some point).
*I started this episode technically at the start of this year, and sketched the levels while on a school trip in South Africa.
*I came up with the levels by writing down all the assets in the SMB1 tab (along with a couple others) and coming up with levels by mixing those together, so every level uses the SMB1-tabbed assets at least once (minus the 1up because I don't use lives in the episode).
*Funny enough, the 1up is reskinned as the Gold Flower, which is why it gives you 10 coins while grabbing it (low-key kinda fitting).
*Originally this episode wasn't going to have any lore and story, but that really demotivated me from working on this, so then I added all of that.
*This took I guess 5 months due to school and trying to avoid burn-out.

Screenshots:

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MAP:

CLOUDY COME-FORTH:

RUDDY RED-SANDS:


PSYCHEDELIC SURFWALK:
New:

Old:

PLANTS, PIPES, & PRISMARINE:

FREEZE-EM-UP FREEWAY:

BLUE-ROCK BRICK-FIELD:

MEGAMIND MINES:

New:

Old:

Credits/Shoutouts:

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There are various credits files around and on the main page, so I won't post that all here, but I do want to specifically thank:
*The SMBX Community for all the GFX, Lua-Scripts, and inspiration.
*The folks behind SMBX and SMBX2's development over the years; thank you for making an engine where I can truly express my love and ideas surrounding Super Mario.
*Redeyetreefrog and KittenQuest6 who beta-tested and gave helpful feedback.
*Retro for providing really good feedback here.
*The people of places like MFGG and SMWCentral for posting good sprites, rips, and music.
*My good friends who encouraged me and, in ways, helped me make the episode while I was at school (love y'all).

Changelog:

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v1.0.0:
*First released version lol


v1.0.1:
*Added credits for Redeyetreefrog and KittenQuest6 beta-testing in the launcher

*Removed the dizzy-fuzzy shader and replaced it with a weaker substitude
*Increased the lakitu spawn delay timers in Megamind Mines
*Moved a couple hammer bro positions in Ruddy Red-Sands
*Added a "flag-like-magic" icon to the Megamind entrance door
*Upped the intensity of the Wavy screen effect in the final room of Megamind
*Shrunk the castle-tile-piece in the "frozen bridge" room of Megamind
*Increased spawn timers for some of the Flying Koopas in Megamind
*Changed a couple enemy placements and added a checkpoint in Freeze-Em-Up Freeway

Downloads:

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v1.0.1 DL:

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https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iiFQtb ... sp=sharing

v1.0.0 DL:

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https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lFEHXj ... sp=sharing

Latest Patch (used to update ANY old version):

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https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oqQXK- ... sp=sharing

I really hope y'all enjoy this; I personally do.
Please please PLEASE also post your thoughts and critiques. It will really help me improve future levels and stories of mine (Also post bugs lol).
Hope you're having a good day, and take care!

[Retro]

Looks very SMB1 SMAS ish, ill notify you when i finish it!

[Retro]

CCM1: Abandoned Review because why not.

First impressions:
overall this episode was a really fun one to first play, the SMB1 visual design (which many people, including me, like or love). Although this episode might be for players who have high skills (if u intended it to be like that) i had a rough time passing the first level which i saw, Ruddy Red-Sands. That level costed me like 15 deaths before finishing it (the first attempt at finishing the normal route, and the other one which i thought there was a secret route) because of the Hammer brothers. please remove them or add them in a another place that isn't close to spawn (The exception is Megamind Mines, because that is a final level of course)

Gameplay

I liked the other levels, they were fun to go through. There's other levels that i don't like (for example, Plants, Pipes, and Prismarine which confused me at first but all u really have to do is enter some pipes) And Psychedelic Surfwalk which made me dizzy. Still it was a really good level to be really honest, Really great job.

As for the level that i mostly fucking hate, Megamind Mines. The level layout is so infuriating to me and to put the cherry on cake, the wavey effect on the screen (from Psychedelic Surfwalk) makes a return, which makes me hard to put the ice blocks properly. Please remove that, plus add a cooldown on the lakitus so that they dont spawn too much. Beside that the level was kinda mid (im sorry, but im serious...)

Conclusion

Overall i liked the story, the levels and i think it was a kind of a ok episode. The only problem was some levels having bad level design, so i recommend that you betatest frequently and send the levels to your friends for feedback. (or i guess do it yourself if you dont have friends?) Greatly made episode with really interesting lore.

3/5 Not bad but not really great either.

[AppleTheTomato]

CCM1: Abandoned Review because why not.

Dude, thank you so much for the review! That genuinely means a lot. I have some thoughts on it tho:
- I suppose I do intend this to be a little harder. I'll make a note of that in the episode facts.
- I don't think any of the Hammer Bros are close to spawn, unless you're talking about the checkpoint or the inside of the castles? I could try and move them in that case.
- Lowkey might remove the dizzy effect. I've had a couple people now say it's a little much.
- Can you go into more detail on why Megamind Mines' layout was bad? I'm not completely sure what you mean by that.
- Can definitely increase the lakitu spawn delay timers.
- I do have good friends/family test the episode beforehand, but I can definately extend that process.

[Retro]

CCM1: Abandoned Review because why not.

Dude, thank you so much for the review! That genuinely means a lot. I have some thoughts on it tho:
- I suppose I do intend this to be a little harder. I'll make a note of that in the episode facts.
- I don't think any of the Hammer Bros are close to spawn, unless you're talking about the checkpoint or the inside of the castles? I could try and move them in that case.
- Lowkey might remove the dizzy effect. I've had a couple people now say it's a little much.
- Can you go into more detail on why Megamind Mines' layout was bad? I'm not completely sure what you mean by that.
- Can definitely increase the lakitu spawn delay timers.
- I do have good friends/family test the episode beforehand, but I can definitely extend that process.

Yes, i do mean the ones near checkpoints and the castle. I had a hard time trying to find anything useful there.
Firstably, the dizzy effect (yeah you probably know already) secondly, the lakitu and the chasing parakoopas make it really hard to get through. Especially there's a part where its hard to go through because there is a short roof near the pit where you put ice blocks in order to progress. I guess u could make it more shorter.

Thats all. I hope this feedback helps aswell

[AppleTheTomato]

CCM1: Abandoned Review because why not.

Dude, thank you so much for the review! That genuinely means a lot. I have some thoughts on it tho:
- I suppose I do intend this to be a little harder. I'll make a note of that in the episode facts.
- I don't think any of the Hammer Bros are close to spawn, unless you're talking about the checkpoint or the inside of the castles? I could try and move them in that case.
- Lowkey might remove the dizzy effect. I've had a couple people now say it's a little much.
- Can you go into more detail on why Megamind Mines' layout was bad? I'm not completely sure what you mean by that.
- Can definitely increase the lakitu spawn delay timers.
- I do have good friends/family test the episode beforehand, but I can definitely extend that process.

Yes, i do mean the ones near checkpoints and the castle. I had a hard time trying to find anything useful there.
Firstably, the dizzy effect (yeah you probably know already) secondly, the lakitu and the chasing parakoopas make it really hard to get through. Especially there's a part where its hard to go through because there is a short roof near the pit where you put ice blocks in order to progress. I guess u could make it more shorter.

Thats all. I hope this feedback helps aswell

Ah gotcha. Can definitely do stuff about that as well. Thank you again so much!

Added in 1 hour 47 minutes 57 seconds:
Re: CCM1: Abandoned (v1.0.1) [SMBX2]
I'll make a quick post to say I have updated this to v1.0.1! This seeks to address the problems Retro brought up in their review, and thank you to them for posting good feedback! (Also addresses a couple other random things I found in my latest playthrough).