Koopa Falls

[zioy]

I literally put 12 hours of work into this, mainly because I tried to place seaweed, but it crashed SMBX and gave me a BSOD 3 times. No idea why.
Anyway, this level is a combination of a water level and a grassland/beach level. There are 4 sections, 1 underwater and 3 on the beach. In the underwater section you need 8 red coins to progress, but it won't be easy. I personally find water levels hard, but this underwater section doesn't feel unfair. If anything, it's actually fun for a water section (I suck at water levels). I made most of the custom graphics used in this level, but the tileset was made by Raster and the checkpoint was made by Valtteri. The CGFX are a bit inconsistent, because I ended up using blocks I didn't think I would, so the desaturated theme feels a bit inconsistent, but considering how much work I put into this, and how little difference it makes, I'm not going to change it unless a judge points it out as being significant.
Anyway, time for screenshots:

Spoiler: show

Download Koopa Falls here!

[Superiorstar]

You forgot the lvl.file.

[Murphmario]

You forgot the lvl.file.

[Fuyu]

Judging from the screenshots, it appears to be a decent level. Although I would have used a different tileset for the underwater section. The background makes a cutoff with the environment since the waterfall doesn't reach the water on section 4. Other than that I would love to play this level, but I'm not home yet.

[zioy]

For some reason the .lvl file isn't showing up in the folder, but it shows up when I'm in the level editor.

[zioy]

I added the .lvl file.

The background makes a cutoff with the environment since the waterfall doesn't reach the water on section 4. Other than that I would love to play this level, but I'm not home yet.

The waterfall is supposed to be in the background, as in distanced from the foreground where the player is. I don't see why that would have to match up.

[Fuyu]

That is not my point. It should match. It doesn't look natural at all. If you would leave it like that it would look like the water is just disappearing in mid-air.

[zioy]

Ah, I can see what you mean now. I'll make an edit so the background actually looks like it's in the background.

Is this better?

I included it in the updated download, instead of the other one I used.

[Fuyu]

Well, that water looks extremely lazily made. Wouldn't be easier to modify the level itself so the water BGO reaches the the waterfall end on the background?

[zioy]

Wouldn't be easier to modify the level itself so the water BGO reaches the the waterfall end on the background?

No, because I would have to replace a platform and a few water zones.

And I know the water is lame, but being animated it should show up better. Or I could try to combine it with darkened/desaturated water BGOs.

[Fuyu]

That would look weirder actually. Well, it's your level, you decide what you want to do with it. I can't do much, just give you some advice.

[zioy]

I think I'll keep the lazy edit background, because out of my current solutions, it is the most aesthetically pleasing in-game.

[zioy]

I kind of need a review on this.... judges?

[Beyond]

I will review that. Just wait. I will edit the post when I've finished.

EDIT: Review here:

Spoiler: show

A simple beach level. With a weird tileset (for me). But I can't see anything wrong with the graphics. Anyway, I can say that I don't liked that level. It's not enjoyable. In a part, you can see one, two or three jumping fishes in a tight space of water, in other (two parts as I can remember) with a green fishes flood. And one is a long underwater part with a boring "collect the red coins" system. Without a detailed analysis, I can say that's a boring regular level.

Design - 2.85/5
Boring linear level. Geez, you can add something new, but your level just have annoying fishes (with flood in some parts), por example: two jumping fishes in a pressed water area. It's not good. Using the moving events, you have created some epileptics mini-lands. Annoying as hell. Try to decrease the speed or something like that. It's so hard to avoid the fishes (in the underwater part and in the land part). And to finish, I can look for some cut-offs along the level. Try to fix them.

Placement - 1/5
Ridiculous. A flood of enemies in the land and of fishes in the water parts. It's not good. Try to remove some enemies. Like I have said, we have several jumping fishes and they are hard to avoid. Some land enemies, like in the first step of the level, need to be removed. The flood of the underwater part is useless and unpleasant. Try to remove some enemies, please. And the red coin system is bad as hell. The coin placement is okay, at least.

Atmosphere - 2.35/5
I did not like much, because some factors prejudice the level's atmosphere. It's best if you turn all the enemies and BGOs graphics in the same tonality of the Koopas and Goombas (and the underwater background too). It's good if you change the music too. Try to find something that gives a better ambient to this. And modify the level design structure it's good too.

Aesthetics - 2/5
It's a simple level with a poorly design, some cut-offs, bad enemies placement... I think this category can't have a big grade. But you can upgrade your graphics by letting everything with the same tonality of grey; Polishing the design and removing the cut-offs.

Overall - 8.2/20 or 4.1/10

[zioy]

Thanks

[zioy]

I will review that. Just wait. I will edit the post when I've finished.

EDIT: Review here:

Spoiler: show

A simple beach level. With a weird tileset (for me). But I can't see anything wrong with the graphics. Anyway, I can say that I don't liked that level. It's not enjoyable. In a part, you can see one, two or three jumping fishes in a tight space of water, in other (two parts as I can remember) with a green fishes flood. And one is a long underwater part with a boring "collect the red coins" system. Without a detailed analysis, I can say that's a boring regular level.

Design - 2.85/5
Boring linear level. Geez, you can add something new, but your level just have annoying fishes (with flood in some parts), por example: two jumping fishes in a pressed water area. It's not good. Using the moving events, you have created some epileptics mini-lands. Annoying as hell. Try to decrease the speed or something like that. It's so hard to avoid the fishes (in the underwater part and in the land part). And to finish, I can look for some cut-offs along the level. Try to fix them.

Placement - 1/5
Ridiculous. A flood of enemies in the land and of fishes in the water parts. It's not good. Try to remove some enemies. Like I have said, we have several jumping fishes and they are hard to avoid. Some land enemies, like in the first step of the level, need to be removed. The flood of the underwater part is useless and unpleasant. Try to remove some enemies, please. And the red coin system is bad as hell. The coin placement is okay, at least.

Atmosphere - 2.35/5
I did not like much, because some factors prejudice the level's atmosphere. It's best if you turn all the enemies and BGOs graphics in the same tonality of the Koopas and Goombas (and the underwater background too). It's good if you change the music too. Try to find something that gives a better ambient to this. And modify the level design structure it's good too.

Aesthetics - 2/5
It's a simple level with a poorly design, some cut-offs, bad enemies placement... I think this category can't have a big grade. But you can upgrade your graphics by letting everything with the same tonality of grey; Polishing the design and removing the cut-offs.

Overall - 8.2/20 or 4.1/10

My reasoning/argument/excuses/justifications (please don't take these personally):

-The water enemies/background are not desaturated because they are underwater, and therefore more clean. If you look at a dry rock and a wet one, the wet one will have a more saturated hue.

-No offense, but are you bad at water levels or something? The underwater section actually was easy for an underwater area. I'm awful at playing underwater levels, and I could make this one without losing a power-up on the first try (and so could my friend who sucks at Mario games, period). Maybe it was a bit cramped, a few times it felt that way while playing but since the level was meant to be somewhat hard underwater I left it that way.

-I did not notice the cutoffs (waterfall hitting breakable blocks) but I will fix that in a future update, maybe also nerfing the Cheep-Cheeps a bit. Thanks for pointing that one out.

-The moving islands are just supposed to add a bit of movement to an otherwise incredibly flat and linear level.

-Jumping fish are easy to avoid if you kill them before they jump. Think about SMB1's World 2-1 (I think it was). THAT had hard to dodge fish

-The red coins were my lazy attempt to add non-linearity to the underwater section. Believe me, my linear underwater levels are complete crap.

Anyway, I'll fix some stuff and then update the level. Thanks for the review.