The Restoration (little update!! New check-points and more!!!)

[Cedur]

Yes? Some kind of own designing style?

[Emral]

easily my favourite level so far as it's kinda the only one with personality

Excuse me but that's too harsh (unless you mean a different thing with "personality" than I do). The entire episode has tons of personality. I agree that it's repetitive in some way but still it's top quality and some levels did really well in CCs.

To me, personality is basically a recognition factor. How memorable is the level and what makes it memorable? I played the episode last night and I can barely remember anything about World 1. The few things I do remember are low saturation and an out-of-place gloomy level with a surprisingly straightforward secret exit.
The ninji level is the only one so far where recognition for me doesn't hit in a kind of traumatic flashback. To name an example that's not the tree level - there's a pyramid level in the desert where the background tiles are barely distinguishable from the floor. Even knowing this I often mistook pathways for walls and it made progressing through the level more confusing than anything.
I also managed to completely miss a propeller block at the start of a propeller fall section because I literally couldn't see it, nor did I recognise the section for what it was.

Doing well in Community Contests doesn't make levels automatically top tier. It essentially means you did a good job at pandering to the judges of that particular contest. That doesn't mean everyone will enjoy it and it also doesn't serve as a "get out of jail free card" for mistakes that are present in a level.
Not to mention, levels for an episode, unlike contest levels, relate to one another. Having a contest level that isn't repetitive by itself is good for a contest, but says nothing about how well it would do placed next to dozens more levels by the same person. For contests, people often try to give it their all and especially in this community, the trend of combining as many gimmicks as possible isn't rarely seen. The downside is that you burn through your repetroire very quickly and all you have left if you wanna stick to your schedule is repeating what these levels did in the future levels you design for your game.
I won't argue that individual levels, like Ninji Place, have good quality to them. But at the same time I'm not sold on the idea that these levels synergize well in a larger game. The more levels you have, the easier it is to forget some of them, and if that happens to your levels they're pretty much nothing but filler.

[Cedur]

I played the episode last night and I can barely remember anything about World 1.

That's a pretty common thing on big episodes to not remember every single level, heh. I replayed Airship Attack a while ago and it almost felt like playing it for the first time? In some hub episodes like Star Expedition or NGCA the levels are more recognizable solely to the nature of the episode (multiple themes and styles being mixed around, which may also come from a team of multiple designers). The ninji level is obviously memorable by its gimmick. I get your point about problematic visibility, but as a player you're also sometimes encouraged to be concentrated and not view everything superficially (that may also a plausible cause for mistaking foreground and background).

[Emral]

I get your point about problematic visibility, but as a player you're also sometimes encouraged to be concentrated and not view everything superficially (that may also a plausible cause for mistaking foreground and background).

I disagree on your implication that it's the player's duty to make out objects in a level. The designer has full control over how the player will experience their game, and forcing them to adapt a new playstyle just to counteract invasive aesthetics is something that directly makes the gameplay experience less smooth.
For this game I can see it being a result of the lack of testing which is... really unfortunate. Testing is a really important part of finishing your game and it's really where you'd want to make it as accessible and smooth as possible. Fixing all the bugs, adding quality of life stuff, making small tweaks to make the experience better.

I played the episode last night and I can barely remember anything about World 1.

That's a pretty common thing on big episodes to not remember every single level, heh. I replayed Airship Attack a while ago and it almost felt like playing it for the first time? In some hub episodes like Star Expedition or NGCA the levels are more recognizable solely to the nature of the episode (multiple themes and styles being mixed around, which may also come from a team of multiple designers). The ninji level is obviously memorable by its gimmick.

Star Expedition's levels aren't more recognisable due to the nature of the episode, but rather because Chad went out of his way to give each level its own individual look and feel. It definitely is possible to make multiple desaturated levels that feel different, the theming just needs to be more pronounced. The ninji level didn't just have the enemy choice and original character and clever boss fight going for it. Its treetop theming is also very pronounced, making it feel like an area that stands out among the rest. The background even changes colour between sections, which is a small but really neat touch.

On the other hand you have some levels which seem to be confused about their theming and as a result don't feel like believable areas but rather like canvases with gimmicks splattered over them. Just dedicating an earlygame level to, say, monty moles would've helped greatly in giving that level more personality. And selecting any theme at all for a level helps greatly in gathering more ideas for it. Monty moles for example bring some unconventional NPC choices with them and inspire the addition of a mole cave in the level, be it just as a bonus room.

My point is that SMSE and NGCA's levels aren't more memorable because of the episode's "nature", but rather because more thought went into them.

[Shinbison-Kof]

This discussion is interesting, because I can see so many point of view about this episode!!

About the errors:

- Sorry but I don't know how fix the error of the check-point in the star hub, especially because it is warp room.

- About the map of the forest world, I divided it in two ways, because in this world have so many levels, and some them are tiring, therefore, I guess this was a good way for avoid that the player get tired of the episode, or avoid they think that episode is more long than necessary.

Fixed errors

Spoiler: show

Replace this archive in the folder of the episode!

The start point of the castle 3
http://www.mediafire.com/file/59meanwxs ... stle+3.lvl

Error of the level "Submarine Base"
https://www.dropbox.com/s/onwgy6vf19h7b ... e.lvl?dl=0

[bossedit8]

@Bossedit8: Thanks! I really like your videos! :D ( I expected a commentator in these videos XD)

There are videos where I commentate as a let's play, others not. Reason for that is by having variety of either talk about ingame or others to just pure gameplay footage without commentary. Honestly, doing commentary videos takes more effort to do aswell.

Anyway, more to come:


Original link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd_5i_5pWBU

[Shinbison-Kof]

@Bossedit8: Thanks! I really like your videos! ( I expected a commentator in these videos XD)

There are videos where I commentate as a let's play, others not. Reason for that is by having variety of either talk about ingame or others to just pure gameplay footage without commentary. Honestly, doing commentary videos takes more effort to do aswell.

Anyway, more to come:


Original link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd_5i_5pWBU

No problem! Thanks again!!!

[bossedit8]

New video part:



Original link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmyjMOqg-vc

[xelaxon]

Fantastic episode, one of my favorites. I do have one issue, though. The 6th boss of the game is unbeatable for me because of the lag the spark summoning attack generates, resulting in my game freezing up.

[Cedur]

The same happened to me, use the 2.0 beta.

[Shinbison-Kof]

@Bossedit8: Thanks for the new video again!

Fantastic episode, one of my favorites. I do have one issue, though. The 6th boss of the game is unbeatable for me because of the lag the spark summoning attack generates, resulting in my game freezing up.

The same happened to me, use the 2.0 beta.

Thanks for the nice comment, I really appreciate it! I really hope you can play it again, sorry if this part causes lag!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, this guy have played all levels of the episode in single videos, if you have curiosity, let's go see it!

Original link:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... cxWz56Tsju

[Kixubug]

This is really the very best episode, and please how did you make the logo with?

[MacDuckBeat]

This is really the very best episode, and please how did you make the logo with?

If your lazy to experience to making logo, use Paint. Make a title name for your project, add a few decorations there(if you want) and if you are finished, save the image.

[SupahKupah]

It's a great episode of one of my old friends I met long time ago in SMBX. You grew up a lot as a level designer, and sadly you're not going to make any more levels in the game. (Or at least that's what I think, since after that episode, I have not seen any level of you).... I wish good luck in your future projects in your personal life!

[FirestarPlays]

Well, well, well... World 2's boss is unbeatable. Shibinson-Kof, make the boss easier, please. If Bossedit8 couldn't pass without an invincibility cheat, who would ever beat the boss?

[Emral]

Well, well, well... World 2's boss is unbeatable. Shibinson-Kof, make the boss easier, please. If Bossedit8 couldn't pass without an invincibility cheat, who would ever beat the boss?

Sure it is.

[FirestarPlays]

im playing 1 player...

[Emral]

Makes no differece. The boss is beatable. I beat it in singleplayer before.

[FirestarPlays]

nvm i just beat it >.< Thanks for the help Enjl! Really appreciated.

[Shinbison-Kof]

Lol but the boss is easy, sorry if you think that the boss is hard, in the next time I will think better when make the other bosses and their difficulties!!