Strike at the Star Hub

[Army Goomba]

ATTENTION EVERYONE!

The download link was taken down and it's not gonna be on until the next update. If you wanna know why, then read the text in the "SPOILER" section. Oh, and note that i re-wrote the entire text so that it better describes my thoughs on the episode's current state and explains some other stuff.

If you wanna see some screenshots (although they may be outdated), you can go over at http://imgur.com/a/NF6V8#0

Oh, and the "Level Types" pool is up again.

Spoiler: show

Hi, i am from RS-BR, and i made a prototype of a SMBX episode. When i started this thread, I had not made any new level in months. To see if it's worth working on this project, i made this topic to see if anyone's interested in it. If you wanna see any screenshots (even though i don't think they say much), you can check http://imgur.com/a/NF6V8#0 and if you ask me why i couldn't put them in this post, it's because the page crashed when i tried to put 'em in this topic. Also, there's a lot of them, because i feel the need to show too much, and this topic would get very big to read and the page would take longer to load. And please, if the link does not work, report me instead of locking the topic, because everytime this was locked, it took much more time and frustation than i would have if i just had to fix the link.

One of the very first ideas was to NOT make Mario initially avaiable. I was kind of inspired by the "Year of Luigi" thing, despite also including Peach, Toad and Link, and far before this episode even started, i had designed a couple levels to try out some stuff. I don't know what happened to those early levels, but i probably deleted them as i though they weren't all that usefull at the time.

I'm just warning that this episode is hard. For the most time, i think it it actually fun challenge, and i'll touch more on that later, but i don't guarantee that you won't eventually find bull****, as i did not care all that much about the level design, which leads to this episode having a somewhat inconsistent difficulty. If you don't know what i mean, there are levels that are easy and others that are really hard. I swear there are parts that i can't pass through. And unlike some classic games, there is not a level where you understand the basics your gonna need and the difficulty doesn't increase gradually.

Let me explain more clearly my point of view: The levels do have some sort of creativity and uniqueness, and the boss fights are probably going to stick out, because i decided to actually create somewhat gimicky boss fights intead of just putting the player in an arena with the boss. The easy levels, while existent, are not all that memorable, but at least they give you a break from the insane difficulty that this episode is for the most part. Now, while this episode is for the most part beatable with enough persistance, there ARE parts of insane difficulty such as the 2 stars in "Jurassic Mountain" or the Birdo fight in "Cloudy Fortress". And another problem is that there are times where you don't even know what to do in order to get star, such as "Goomba Desert" (and some other levels as well) where all you need to do is kill all the enemies, and Goomba Desert has that part where you have to fall into a pit in the middle of a staircase of blocks to get to the other part of the level and kill the rest of the enemies. I don't see anyone beating that level without a guide of some sort. I'm gonna remove the download link until i think this episode is at least beatable.

Oh, i almost forgot. The levels actually have names, which i think most people don't know about because they don't refer to them by their names in their comments, but usually there is a sign besides the levels entrence that says the level's name, so if you don't know which level i'm talking about, just look for those signs. I think it would be better if i made a video trailer showcasing what this episode has to offer instead of text, but whatever. In the end, this episode, in it's current state, can be a fun distraction, but shouldn't be taken too seriously because it's assumedly not all that well design and needs some polishment. I'll see you guys in the next update.

Something you may like about this episode is that it does not use a LOT of custom graphics, so loading screens shall not last long. Even while possibly lagging because of too much stuff onscreen, it should run fine as long as you don't have a computer from the 80s or a lot of stuff open.

I'd like to ask you people for suggestions on level types, level design, gameplay mecanics, gimmicks or anything.

Current state:

-28 Stars;
-20 Star-Catching Levels;
-2 Hubs;
-As you progress you will find more power ups;
-Some levels are easy, but others are very hard;
-Some levels are linear, others are explorable;
-A world map;
-Mushroom Way, a non-star introduction level based off World 1-1 from SMB1 .

[aero]

Projects need screenshots before a thread can be made. PM a Level Judge/Staff member with screenshots to have this thread unlocked.

[Army Goomba]

Hello, i'm posting this just to notice i'll continue working on this project, so yes, i will not abandom it, at least by now. Oh, and anyone interested in the project can ask for beta levels.

[zlaker]

Locking this cause there's no screens available. PM me or anyone others in the staff to get this unlocked.

[goombaguy]

There is no custom graphics. Like what I said earlier at another topic, you can find tutorials on youtube. Also, there is some things that come from multiple games, but are in the same level. Also, there is a few bugs and some things that just doesn't look good together. Oh, and I forgot to tell you, welcome to the forum, and hope to see you make great games in the future. I will be happy to play your project when finished. I will see you in the meantime!

[RudeGuy]

Why this is still unlocked?

There is no custom graphics.

The custom graphics aren't needed to make a level.

Also, there is some things that come from multiple games, but are in the same level. Also, there is a few bugs and some things that just doesn't look good together.

This isn't a problem. Mixing styles isn't wrong.

[Army Goomba]

There is no custom graphics. Like what I said earlier at another topic, you can find tutorials on youtube. Also, there is some things that come from multiple games, but are in the same level. Also, there is a few bugs and some things that just doesn't look good together. Oh, and I forgot to tell you, welcome to the forum, and hope to see you make great games in the future. I will be happy to play your project when finished. I will see you in the meantime!

What bugs? On what places? I need to know so i can fix 'em.

[MrPunchia]

The 12 Rexes boss is quite unimaginative. And to add insult to injury, the jumps you need to make for goodies are VERY difficult. Aside from those aspects, this vanilla episode is quite astounding.

[Army Goomba]

The 12 Rexes boss is quite unimaginative. And to add insult to injury, the jumps you need to make for goodies are VERY difficult. Aside from those aspects, this vanilla episode is quite astounding.

Yeah, i see it, that boss is pretty much placeholder. And about the hard jumps, i was not all that good of level designer at the time, so all i did was to design challenging things that a skilled enough player could do in charge of a reward. Still needs polishment, however.

Now it's time for updates!

>>>New levels<<<

->Subcon Forest

Screenshots (Outdated): http://imgur.com/a/AzUvl

Description: Currently has 1 star. This level has many coins, but also many spikes. You'll can die a lot before you can get the star. Also, there are some puzzles, and you must explore in order to find the Yoshi.

Again, after you played it tell me your opnion.

>>>Updated Levels<<<

->Mushroom Castle:

*Added a door to Subcon Forest.

Jurassic Mountain:

*Replaced the 12 Rexes Boss with a bomb-throwing Lakitu and 4 paratroopas instead. Warning: This battle is insanelly hard to win. Just try to hit lakitu with a bomb and you'll see why.

A little update here.

Changes:

1)Made a introduction room for Subcon Forest.
2)Removed "allow npc" from inter-level warps, correcting a minor graphical bug.
3)Added a star to Subcon Forest, where you must find the 50 coins.

Change Log: The Check Point Update

I added checkpoints to:

->Lost Cave, before the shell bouncing area.

->Jurassic Mountain, before the yoshi area.

->Koopa Dungeon, before the Bowser area.

Also, i removed useless stuff, like the "allow npc" and .lvl extension from inter-level warps.

The lastest update is always available in the first post, so if you want to download it, just go there.

[goombaguy]

There is no custom graphics. Like what I said earlier at another topic, you can find tutorials on youtube. Also, there is some things that come from multiple games, but are in the same level. Also, there is a few bugs and some things that just doesn't look good together. Oh, and I forgot to tell you, welcome to the forum, and hope to see you make great games in the future. I will be happy to play your project when finished. I will see you in the meantime!

What bugs? On what places? I need to know so i can fix 'em.

Like this one.



The pipes end is upside down. Maybe you can make a graphic of an upside down pipe to help fix that. I think that is the only problem. You should be just fine after that.

[Army Goomba]

There is no custom graphics. Like what I said earlier at another topic, you can find tutorials on youtube. Also, there is some things that come from multiple games, but are in the same level. Also, there is a few bugs and some things that just doesn't look good together. Oh, and I forgot to tell you, welcome to the forum, and hope to see you make great games in the future. I will be happy to play your project when finished. I will see you in the meantime!

What bugs? On what places? I need to know so i can fix 'em.

Like this one.



The pipes end is upside down. Maybe you can make a graphic of an upside down pipe to help fix that. I think that is the only problem. You should be just fine after that.

Okay, you can download the custom graphics below, create a "Mario Brothers Plumbing" folder in the game folder and paste the graphics there.

block-196: http://www.mediafire.com/download/dnglo ... ck-196.gif
block-196m: http://www.mediafire.com/download/9lhhl ... k-196m.gif

Oh, and i removed the troll ending of Lost Cave. To update, just download it and paste in the game folder.

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/download/yvaj8 ... t+Cave.lvl

[goombaguy]

Okay, you can download the custom graphics below, create a "Mario Brothers Plumbing" folder in the game folder and paste the graphics there.

block-196: http://www.mediafire.com/download/dnglo ... ck-196.gif
block-196m: http://www.mediafire.com/download/9lhhl ... k-196m.gif

Oh, and i removed the troll ending of Lost Cave. To update, just download it and paste in the game folder.

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/download/yvaj8 ... t+Cave.lvl

I don't understand what your saying. I don't need the graphics. You can just add them to the level folder. Good job with fixing it though!

[Army Goomba]

Okay, you can download the custom graphics below, create a "Mario Brothers Plumbing" folder in the game folder and paste the graphics there.

block-196: http://www.mediafire.com/download/dnglo ... ck-196.gif
block-196m: http://www.mediafire.com/download/9lhhl ... k-196m.gif

Oh, and i removed the troll ending of Lost Cave. To update, just download it and paste in the game folder.

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/download/yvaj8 ... t+Cave.lvl

I don't understand what your saying. I don't need the graphics. You can just add them to the level folder. Good job with fixing it though!

Okay, thanks.

[Army Goomba]

People, i'm really out of order here. I made levels that can't currently be acessed. So, i think i'll take a long time before posting the next update.

[Army Goomba]

I realise some people might want to know why i said this episode is "challenging". Well, here's the answer:

Spoiler: show

[Army Goomba]

Finally, here's the next update. In it, the first 2 chapters are complete. After collecting all the 14 stars currently collectible, a door unlocks, and after it is a sign telling you that you did beat the currently complete part of the episode.

Here's a little change log:

-Mushroom Castle (The Hub) now plays the background music on all sections;
-Fixed the 1-Up generator in the debug room;
-Added a new level called Cloudy Fortress;
-Added an emergency exit at Koopox's Forest, showed after collecting the star in the Ghost House;
-Replaced some respawn points to avoid glitches.

I only want to warn that the cheat code to access Cloudy Fortress without stars is still not programmed. Apart from this, i think that, for chapters 1 and 2, this episode is complete. And talking about cheat codes, i'll tell you the Master debug code. This shall unlock some warps and doors, and also some item generators. In those codes, i refer to the left hit-block as 1 and the right one as 5. It is 42513. I'm telling you this cause this episode is FREAKING HARD. I could not pass it. So if you want to see what's currently done, but can't get there, the debug code should help. But remember that there are items that you can't take to another levels.

Download is not avaible as of now, however. If you want to know why, then check the first post of the topic.

[underFlo]

Finally, here's the next update. In it, the first 2 chapters are complete. After collecting all the 14 stars currently collectible, a door unlocks, and after it is a sign telling you that you did beat the currently complete part of the episode.

Here's a little change log:

-Mushroom Castle now plays the background music on all sections;
-Fixed the 1UP generator in the debug room;
-Added a new level called Cloudy Fortress;
-Added an emergency exit at Koopox's Forest, showed after collecting the star in the Ghost House;
-Replaced some respawn points to avoid bugs.

I only want to warn that the cheat code to access Cloudy Fortress without stars is still not programmed. Apart from this, i think that, for chapters 1 and 2, this episode is complete. And talking about cheat codes, i'll tell you the Master debug code. This shall unlock some warps and doors, and also some item generators. In those codes, i refer to the left hit-block as 1 and the right one as 5. It is 42513. I'm telling you this cause this episode is FREAKING HARD. I could not pass it. So if you want to see what's currently done, but can't get there, the debug code should help. But remember that there are items that you can't take to another levels.

Download is available at the first post!

>Can't beat his own episode even though he made the levels and knows them in and out
>Expects people that never played these levels before to beat them

The golden rule of Level Design is that you should be able to complete your level w/o using cheat codes

[Army Goomba]

Finally, here's the next update. In it, the first 2 chapters are complete. After collecting all the 14 stars currently collectible, a door unlocks, and after it is a sign telling you that you did beat the currently complete part of the episode.

Here's a little change log:

-Mushroom Castle now plays the background music on all sections;
-Fixed the 1UP generator in the debug room;
-Added a new level called Cloudy Fortress;
-Added an emergency exit at Koopox's Forest, showed after collecting the star in the Ghost House;
-Replaced some respawn points to avoid bugs.

I only want to warn that the cheat code to access Cloudy Fortress without stars is still not programmed. Apart from this, i think that, for chapters 1 and 2, this episode is complete. And talking about cheat codes, i'll tell you the Master debug code. This shall unlock some warps and doors, and also some item generators. In those codes, i refer to the left hit-block as 1 and the right one as 5. It is 42513. I'm telling you this cause this episode is FREAKING HARD. I could not pass it. So if you want to see what's currently done, but can't get there, the debug code should help. But remember that there are items that you can't take to another levels.

Download is available at the first post!

>Can't beat his own episode even though he made the levels and knows them in and out
>Expects people that never played these levels before to beat them

The golden rule of Level Design is that you should be able to complete your level w/o using cheat codes

One thing is to know what you have to do, another is being agile with the controller. I know what to do, but i'm not a hardcore Mario player. It's not just because it was me that made it that it means i'll be able to pass it with ease. Also, this episode is hard, but it's not a Kaizo.

Even with the secrets i did put, it is still hard to win. And if you are a good enough player, you can win even if you never played it. It's a matter of agility or expertness, cause knowledge does not help too much.

[Army Goomba]

As my pool progresses, i see that 3 voters want medium sized and explorable levels. One person wants large ones, and other one wants me to variate. Okay, i think i'll make something based off this current state of the pool. Thanks for the suggestions!

[Army Goomba]

Yet another update. Fast, huh? Even faster because it adds a lot of more progress to be done. To explain, these levels were done a lot of time ago, but they were supposed to appear later. But to make the next update come faster and more complete, i decided to make these levels accessible via the Mushroom Castle hub. The thing is that this episode is losing it's linearity. What do i mean?

Previously, the level entrances in the hub worlds were split in chapters. Now, the path is as follows:

First and second chapters are okay. But after completing chapter 2, chapter 3 is at Mashroom Island. After completing chapter 3, go back to Koopa Dungeon's introduction room and enter the pipe at the right. There you will find star number 21. Then, enter the castle, climb up, enter the double doors and after it you will find the sign that tells you that you did beat the currently complete part of this episode. Oh, and I've changed the "Storage" level's name to "Right way". I think that the level does not look like a storage. I hope you are liking the way this episode is progressing.