The Clocktower (25% Milestone!) BETA v1 RELEASED

[IcarusBen]

Screenshots

Spoiler: show

The Clocktower

PROGRESS:
World Design: 25% (finished World 1 section of map)
Levels:
World 1: 99%
World 2: 0%
World 3: 0%
World 4: 0%

PRODUCTION TEAM:
Lead Producer: IcarusBen
Secondary Level Design: EMPTY
Graphics from the NEW SMBX CGFX Pack by Squishy Rex

LEVELS:
World 1: Mushroom Island
Sunrise Pass (complete: IcarusBen)
Midway Valley (complete: IcarusBen)
Redshroom Heights (complete: IcarusBen)
Mushroom Castle (complete: Icarus)

World 2: Pyramid Island
Port Agrabah
Wonderous Cave
Sandy Cliffs (Being worked on by FanofSMBX)
Tomb of al-Jazari

World 3: Frozen Island
Icepoint Mountain
Frozentree Forests
Dragonsnow Lake
Fort Frostsword

World 4: Bowser's Island
Obsidian Tower
Valley of Death
Mount Saint BoomBoom
Bowser's Castle
The Clocktower

If anyone wants to join, just post here with an example of what you can do.

BETA v1.0 OUT NOW!!!

Changelog:

Spoiler: show

-Removed many places where you can get stuck
-Moved and altered the secret boss fight
-Many bug fixes

DOWNLOAD HERE:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xacn25vvm23fk ... a%20v1.zip

Critics say;

I noticed you didn't use any custom songs in your episode.

In general:
Some things aren't recolored

[FanofSMBX]

Can I be graphic designer?
http://www.smbxgame.com/forums/v ... =31&t=3404
I specialize in NPCs.

[IcarusBen]

UPDATE: Just redid the world map and the first level. I've also redone the structure of the episode itself; it's now four worlds with 3 levels and a castle each, with a fifth world consisting of one level and the Clocktower itself.

I haven't redone the screenshots yet, so they're inaccurate.

And Fan, I'll need to see some non-NPC examples, such as blocks, backgrounds and other stuff.

[FanofSMBX]

Are you talking about custom backgrounds?

And there *are* some backgrounds and blocks in my pack.

[IcarusBen]

I actually mean more like background objects. Also, I'm relying only on screenshots, since I spend most of my time on a tablet and not on my laptop.

[bossedit8]

This seems like a short SMBX Episode. Looks nice. I like classical (retro) moments that SMBX is capeable of (more specific, having no custom graphics). Looking forward to it.

[IcarusBen]

I just updated the screenshots, from both Sunrise Pass and Mushroom Castle, the first and last levels of world one.

I want to get to the 50% percent point in total completion before I ask people to be beta testers, but if anyone wants to help design levels, I'll post a list of what levels need to be done and I'll update the list whenever I or another level designer finishes them.

Remember, the levels are designed for Mario only, so if you want to design a level, make sure Mario can complete it.

EDIT: Posted the level list. If you couldn't guess it, world 1 is a grassland, world 2 is an Arabian desert, world 3 is an icy world, and world 4 is Bowser's volcano island.

[IcarusBen]

Just reached the 25% milestone! I also have a release date for the very first beta release. In the mean-time, I'll be working on World Two. If anyone has any level they want to be put in this, just look over the level list, see if your level fits the list, and post the level here. I'll look it over, and if I like it, I'll put it in the episode.

[FanofSMBX]

I review the first demo.

In general:
Some things aren't recolored (like castle and bridge), but I think they are in the pack I sent you. You also didn't place the effects in for the Koopas I think. The exits could also use some swirly clouds.
Level 1: The warp out of the underwater part is not placed on the ground
Level 2: Nothing bad here!
Level 3: The sizeable on the first section exit pipe, you can walk through.
Level 4: The "secret" boss isn't all that secret. The boss is also anticlimactic because it's same boss as level 3, but in a BIGGER arena! I also think it would be funny for the shopkeeper to hop up and down if you destroyed his koopa shell

[IcarusBen]

I review the first demo.

In general:
Some things aren't recolored (like castle and bridge), but I think they are in the pack I sent you. You also didn't place the effects in for the Koopas I think. The exits could also use some swirly clouds.
Level 1: The warp out of the underwater part is not placed on the ground
Level 2: Nothing bad here!
Level 3: The sizeable on the first section exit pipe, you can walk through.
Level 4: The "secret" boss isn't all that secret. The boss is also anticlimactic because it's same boss as level 3, but in a BIGGER arena! I also think it would be funny for the shopkeeper to hop up and down if you destroyed his koopa shell

Okay... Here's my response:

Level 1: I'll fix that by Beta release.

Level 2: Great!

Level 3: Yeah, I put that there simply for aesthetics, I didn't think anyone would try to walk through it. I might put a cool little secret there.

Level 4: The first secret boss isn't meant to be secret, it's just to introduce the concept. The BoomBoom at the end actually has a funny story behind it. There was actually supposed to be a boss fight in 1-2, but I accidentally put one in 1-2, 1-3 and 1-4. I kept it in 1-3 because that level needed something to give it some extra strength. I'll swap the two levels around in the full release, but each world will have a BoomBoom in the second world, it's could that the first world has the BoomBoom as both it's midway boss and it's world boss. And yes, I will fix up the events, but it won't be a hopping Toad, I'll actually change him to one of those dagger wielding thingies from Zelda II and you get a 1-up if you beat him. But that's only gonna be in the beta release.

[Imaynotbehere4long]

Over 2000 years ago

That was 2000 years ago.

OKAY, I GET IT!

the levels are designed for Mario only

Then why is Luigi also playable? It can also mess up the story slightly, as NPCs refer to you as "Mario."

Level 3: The sizeable on the first section exit pipe, you can walk through.

Same with the sizeables in the first level, now that you mention it.

I will fix up the events, but it won't be a hopping Toad, I'll actually change him to one of those dagger wielding thingies from Zelda II

You mean an Armos Knight or npc-125? If it's the latter, I doubt a 1-up is necessary.

And now, my review of The Clocktower, not to be confused with Clock Tower:

I actually didn't read the back-story you had in the first post until after I finished the demo, so when I saw this message, I laughed:

Spoiler: show

In fact, I suggest that you remove the back-story from your post altogether and have this be what players first see as the episode's plot (the back-story can be explained later in the episode). However, I must say that the semicolon should be a regular colon, and that, unless it's part of the message, "ahem" should have an asterisk on each side to indicate that it is a sound effect. Also,

I feel the need to point out a few things about this whole situation: Why is Mario the only one who knows the combination? It is the imperial refrigerator, after all; shouldn't the combination be passed down through the royal lineage? Even if that's the case, the episode never states that Peach is on vacation, or even away from the castle, so why can't she get it herself? Or was Mario the one who designed the lock and he did this as a giant prank?

Moving on:

Spoiler: show

The warp here should be moved half a unit down; otherwise, it looks like Mario is walking face-first into that brick.

And now, my random English lesson for the day: one "-" is a hyphen, and is used to connect two words. Examples are "back-story" and "uh-oh." Two "-"s, on the other hand, is a dash, and it is used to show an interruption in a sentence. What I'm trying to say is that for the following message, you should use two hyphens instead of one. Also, why you should block Luigi or design the episode around both characters:

So, I guess Mario lives in space? There's no water, so he can't be on an island on Earth. Wait, there are stars in space, so that can't be it, either.

All right, on to the first level:

Spoiler: show

Wait, I thought Koopas were loyal to King Koopa, aka Bowser. If the Koopas are rogue, wouldn't that mean they're on our side?

Another thing: secrets aren't uncommon in SMBX. If someone were to jump past the pipe, or even in the space between the toad and the pipe, he/she would not be able to get back up. I can understand this for the exit pipe, but the entrance pipe should be lowered by two units.

Finally, you forgot to put the water background behind these blocks:

On to level two:

Spoiler: show

"comprehensive security system" my rear! It's just two bullet bill blasters and two "hover up-down" Paratroopas. At least be honest about it. Maybe you could have another Toad say something like "Don't tell the other Toad, but his "comprehensive" security system is actually really pathetic."

On to level three:

Spoiler: show

Okay, two things: 1) Like I said before, you need two hyphens in a row on each side of "coincidentally" to represent dashes. For this message, I would just use commas, honestly. 2) the propeller background objects on the left side of the ship are facing the wrong direction.

...and I'm stuck again. You really need to keep an eye out for these locations to prevent unnecessary restarts. Perhaps you could move the pipe one unit to the left and add a ? block so the player can jump back up on the pipe.

I like how, as soon as you exit the pipe, you fall right on top of Boom-Boom and damage him. Wait, where's the automated defense system? All I see are pipes and rocks.

All right, on to the final level:

every world has a secret boss...They're also harder than regular boss fights.

That's not saying much if the "regular boss fights" are just recolors and sprite swaps, even if it isn't just Boom-Boom.

Spoiler: show

Grrr....

And now, my second random English lesson for the day: when typing slang, use apostrophes in place of missing letters. Examples include somethin' and fo'.

Okay, two things: 1) When using the ax as an event trigger in this way, it should be invisible and have nogravity=1.

2) I'm not sure what you're trying to represent by having the wire foreground images going away from Mother Brain. In the original Super Metroid, the wires were physically going into the brain, representing the fact that it's basically on life-support because it's literally just a brain and nothing else (also, because the wires connect directly to the brain, they represent how it can control the machines on Zebes):

One last thing: Bowser's motive for capturing the princess was never marriage; it was so he could take over her kingdom. In fact, according to the manual for the first Super Mario Bros., he wouldn't have captured her in the first place if it weren't for a prophecy stating that she would be the one to defeat him. What I'm saying is that, for this boss fight, you should leave Bowser's motive ambiguous, only revealing it near the end of the episode (now that I read the back-story, I know that this isn't his real motive, so it should simply be removed).

IN CONCLUSION:

Wow, these were really short levels. I know it's only supposed to be the first world, but I was left with a feeling of "...that's it?" when I beat the last level and got the star. Seriously, it took me longer to type my review than it did to beat your demo.

P.S. I noticed that you didn't use any custom songs in your episode. There's nothing wrong with not using custom songs, but if you decide to use one, I recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx13AbRwfhs

[FanofSMBX]

Response to the criticism:
1. It's not called an Amos Knight, it's a Tinsuit.
2. Re: Security system: Since Toads can't jump as high as Mario I'll bet he thought it was bigger than Mario sees it
3. Re: Wires: They look like they're attaching the glass to the wall.
4. Re: Marriage: This isn't SMB1. In fact it's not even Princess Peach. Maybe Bowser just thought Princess Celeste was hotter than Peach.
@IcarusBen: In level 2 I suggest adding an invisible block by the first pipe. Also I made a boss for 1-4 that's harder than Boom Boom. It's a red double speed Boom Boom.
http://speedy.sh/3DS8z/SMB3-Fast-Fire-R ... ofSMBX.zip
If you want it to be in only 1-4, make a folder titled "1-4" in your episode folder and put it in there.

[IcarusBen]

Okay... My response.

Spoiler: show

In terms of the plot, some elements were changed (in fact, the very first version had Mario already in the Tower and Celeste wasn't even there, I only added her because I'm very lazy and the SMB3 recolors I used changed the Peach sprite.) Also, Peach is probably in her late 20's, and she doesn't have a husband, so she doesn't HAVE any progeny to give the combination lock to, so she'd probably only give it to someone she trusted, like Mario.

The world map isn't finished, but when it is, I'll put as much water as possible in to the map to make sure that there is no blackness.

LEVEL ONE;

King Bowser apparently signed a peace treaty with the Mushroom Kingdom, so this rogue Koopas are working against both. Think of them as Koopa extremists.

As for the pipe, I'll fix that in the beta release. I honestly have no excuse. You know, I could move the secret boss to the space between the pipe.

LEVEL TWO:

Well, yeah, I have no excuse. The security system kinda sucks.

LEVEL THREE:

I can't rotate the propeller blocks, so that's what they look like. If someone has a thing where I can change that, good, I fix it.

Stuck again... I'll try and fix that.

LEVEL FOUR:
Getting stuck seems to be a thing here.

The bosses I have planned are BoomBoom every mid-point, save world 4, which will be a boss rush, and for world 1 boss, then World 2 is Ludwig van Koopa, world 3 is Lenny, and world four will be Bowser and then the avatar of the Ryitarburgk. Secret bosses will consist of Mother Brain, Wendy Koopa, two Bowser Clones at once, and finally something unique. I'll change the World 1 final boss to FanofSMBX's red BoomBoom once I look it over.

I think I know how to make it invisible, but I'll have to double check.

The Mother Brain fight is a prototype, so the appearance isn't final. You still have to admit, this fight is hard. Imagine the process of designing it. I had a helluva time making this fight, and I forgot which way the cables should've gone.

Yeah, I probably should change that. Consider the backstory removed. I'll do that tomorrow.

In conclusion;

World 1 is just to introduce some basic concepts to the player, World 2 and 3 will have longer levels, and World 4 will have even longer levels. So yeah, I guess the levels could be longer, but World One's level are near-final and only subject to tweaking according to reviewer response.

So, thank you for your time, I'll review the feedback and tweak the levels. And Fan, I'll examine your BoomBoom, test it, and see if I like it. Thank you all. Beta v1 releases on Sunday!

[Imaynotbehere4long]

It's not called an Amos Knight, it's a Tinsuit.

I said "an Armos Knight or npc-125."

Now, my response to IcarusBen's spoiler:

Spoiler: show

Peach is probably in her late 20's, and she doesn't have a husband, so she doesn't HAVE any progeny to give the combination lock to, so she'd probably only give it to someone she trusted, like Mario.

Okay, let me try this again:

Even if that's the case, the episode never states that Peach is on vacation, or even away from the castle

You should probably make this more apparent in-game. Maybe you could have the messenger Toad say something like "The Princess Peach and Queen of all the Land requests for you to retrieve her royal blue snack bag from the Castle because she is on vacation and is unable to retrieve it herself. She would have sent a loyal squire, but you are the only other one who knows the combination lock to the Princess's imperial refrigerator besides the royal family themselves." (there's no "d" in "refrigerator")

Oh, that reminds me: If Mario is the only [other] one who knows the combination to the imperial refrigerator, how did Boom-Boom get the snack bag? Was everyone misinformed and the snack bag wasn't in the refrigerator, but laying out in her room the entire time?

King Bowser apparently signed a peace treaty with the Mushroom Kingdom

You should make this fact more apparent in-game, then. Maybe you could have another Toad in the intro (before Luigi, obviously) make a reference to it, like "Hey, Mario, what do you think of the new peace treaty between the Mushroom Kingdom and the Koopa Kingdom?"

I could move the secret boss to the space between the pipe.

That actually sounds like a good idea. You would just need to make sure that the secret boss's entrance couldn't be seen from either pipe; that way, it's not too obvious.

I can't rotate the propeller blocks

Yes, you can! I believe in you! All you have to do is open the file in MS Paint, click Rotate --> Flip Horizontal, then save it as a PNG (don't save it as a GIF or it will make the image grainy). Afterward, put the image through an image converter to turn it into a GIF (it won't be grainy if you do this), then put the new image in the episode's folder. Don't forget to do the same thing with it's "mask" image, but you can save that directly as a GIF since it's only black and white (those two colors don't become grainy as a GIF for some reason); just make sure you don't overwrite SMBX's original graphics when you do this.

Secret bosses will consist of Mother Brain, Wendy Koopa, two Bowser Clones at once, and finally something unique.

I will hold you to this promise.

You still have to admit, this fight is hard.

No, not with the fire flower generator.

Imagine the process of designing it.

Oh, that's what you meant. Even then, it's just a Mother Brain recolor and some Rinka generators. There aren't even any events or layer-attachments to move Mother Brain around.

LEVEL ONE;

In conclusion;

And now, my random English lesson for today: Remember, use colons in this case, not semicolons. Semicolons (;) are used to join sentences in the absence of a conjunction; colons (:) are used to indicate that details of what was spoken about just before the colon are given after the colon.

[FanofSMBX]

I have another idea. In Mario or a Toad's house, maybe you could have a portrait of Bowser and Peach together. I can make this if you want.

[IcarusBen]

That could work. Bowser and Peach shaking hands with a few photographers in the foreground.

Also, I wrote that response on an iPad and while I was exhausted. I forgot a few things. Silly me.

[FanofSMBX]

Can I make Sandy Cliff? PM me what happens in the level okay?

[IcarusBen]

It's a very vertical level. You start at the top of the cliffs and work your way down into the cave system. The cliffs are the biggest part.

The secret boss of World 2 is here, two Bowser Clones at once. It should be like a SMB1 Bowser fight, with the star appearing once the axe is collected.

Remember, desert level. Save the file as 2-3.

[IcarusBen]

We're less than a day away from the Beta release! I've many several changes and we'll be ready for launch any second.

[IcarusBen]

AND THE BETA IS RELEASED! The very first beta release is out now! It contains the first four levels of the game.

The roadmap I have planned is as follows:
Beta v1.0 will contain World 1, Beta v2.0 will add World 2, Beta v3.0 will add World 3, and Beta v4.0 will add World Four and the actual Clocktower.

Then, I'll polish everything up, alter some graphics, etc. etc. and release THAT as Beta v5.0.

After polishing up some more, I'll release what would be Beta v6.0 as the full episode.

Meanwhile, in between each main iteration I'll do little fixes that improve upon the last iteration, which as release as Beta v?.1, v?.2, v?.3, ad infinitum.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I must fix up my signature.