Mushroom Way

[PixelJustice]

Hey everyone!

This level is an easier, early game level. It is actually the first level in my current project as of right now.


Storyline: Mario has set out from home towards the Mushroom Kingdom, to find that the usual route has been taken over by bandits.
A group called the GoomBandits, lead by Gombor, a large and not so bright Goomba.


Sections: 3 ( Main Level, Bonus stage, Star Stage )
Endings: 3 ( Run to the right exit, Secret key ending, Find the star )
Bosses: (Gombor's Flying Bomber, Hammer Bros. encounter)


A review would be much appreciated! Hope you enjoy!

Download Link: http://www.mediafire.com/download/ng908 ... om+Way.zip

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I'll post a video of me playing through the level soon as well.

[CopyLeft]

First of all, the name 'Mushroom Way' is reeeeeally generic. Try for something more original.

The clash, oh, THE CLASH! You had way too many themes here, and it made the level look horrible. The hidden 1-up can be gotten if you just get the last coin, which is lazy. The green P-switch can make the vines to the right stop spawning, and you have SMB3 Desert Vines and SMW Vines next to each other in a pattern, which looks horrible (along with almost all of the level). In the sky area, you have no way of knowing where the star is. I died so I could restart and go the other path. I did like the Projectile generators firing when jumping. The bonus area has no music. If you go atop the mushrooms instead of climbing the vines, you have blindjump. In the first moving mushroom area, you have a pointless spring. In the second Hammer Bro. fight, the projectile generator fires above the pipe instead of being even with it. The Goombandit fight can be skipped completely. There is also a lot of cutoff. The mushroom that appears after the platforming moving mushroom section has an SMB2 upwards log, which is not supposed to be there. There's probably some more things I missed.

This should go in The Trash Can for sure.

[Reiuji Utsuho]

I like to call myself fair so I'll be fair. This level really isn't that bad.

I don't know perhaps it's been longer than I had thought since I last played a level but this one seems at the very least partially decent. I see this and it looks like effort went into it. Enemy placement is fine and I really had no trouble playing this through.

Unfortunately there is graphics clash in a couple areas but even then it didn't really detract much from my experience. It was actually pretty fun. This is only what I played because apparently there are parts that can be skipped and while that's good for secret areas I didn't end up really fighting a major boss which I think was supposed to happen.

While it's not difficult to place this at a particular point for me, this level does need so work to make it even better. Cheers. ~

[Ness-Wednesday]

You should have probably used some custom graphics via recolors and/or styled graphics (SMW in this cased).

[JupiHornet]

UNOFFICIAL REVIEW of MUSHROOM WAY by PIXELJUSTICE

Design (5/10)

I kinda like the gameplay here, the level was very open and there was a lot of room for you to explore. However, the moving layers and events make things unnecessarily difficult, especially that one springboard jump. There's also a part where you run to the right for a few seconds and it's completely barren. No enemies or anything. The last stretch of the level in general was pretty flat, so the level just feels rushed in general. Also, the part on the bottom was SUPER unnecessary.

Atmosphere (0.75/10)

CLASH. CLASH EVERYWHERE ;A;
And no, I'm not just saying that just because you used graphics from different games. It's because they just don't look GOOD together! The SMB1 Mushrooms don't fit this level at ALL, along with the SMW wooden spike things. And you used SMB1 underground blocks and spikes on the bottom...it just looks ;A;
In addition, some things in the level are broken. The bottom and exit areas have a TON of cutoff, and the vines on the mushrooms don't appear correctly. This whole level needs a makeover, to be honest :/

Other Comments: Why was there only one bandit in the level? The sign at the beginning makes it seem like there should be a whole army of them :P

Overall 2.875/10 (The Trash Can)
I liked your level's design, but the graphics...just...WHY ;A;

[Reiuji Utsuho]

Review: Mushroom Way by PixelJustice
{Gameplay: 10Pts | Scenery/Music: 10Pts}

Gameplay:
3 out of 10
I'm going to say it; Gameplay-wise this level isn't terrible, what drags the score down is the design, because it has a lot of problems and I'll go into more detail about these problems, but first I want you to take a look at these screenshots that I took. I get the impression this level is uninished because of stuff like this.

Now my first gripe will be about that bottom area. First of all it honestly looks terrible, but the major problem about it is that it's inaccessible. I had to actually erase all the blocks there just to test it and it's also not passable either even if you could get it. There's far too many spikes you expect the player to jump and overall it really is just an unfair path.

Now I'll talk about your main level because it doesn't have as many issues, and considering you can actually pass it, I'd say it's a notch up in playability already. Now, the main level isn't terrible, but I say it's not good because it also looks unfinished. Enemy placement is not consistent and is lacking in some areas. Power-up placement is decent though. It isn't a long level and I counted (the ones you could access anyway) about 4 you cant get rather easily.


Scenery/Music:
2.5 out of 10 {.5Pts Scenery | 2Pts Music}
I don't mean to be rude about it, but this level to some extent is ugly. The unfinished areas really detract from any setting or atmosphere you were trying to aim for an your general lack of use of BGOs leaves more to be desired.

The bottom part is unacceptable. In addition to not even being able to go down there, and really being unnecessary it just looks bad. You mixed SMW platform tiles with SMB1 blocks and ground tiles. They clash and don't look any bit fitting.

As a final refresher, unless the level is inside I would consider using the castle tiles as those are used usually for inside of a place. It feels tacked on and also, there aren't any other floor tiles to fill in the black empty space, which I screen'd above, but I felt a note here was necessary.

The music isn't bad, I have no complaints about it.


Conclusion:
5.5 out of 20Pts {2Pts Overall {Rounded from 2.75}}
This level has a ton of work to be done. It's beatable yes, but is it enjoyable? To me the answer would be no. I hate rating levels down, but this one has a lot of design problems, especially that keep me from justifying higher scores. However I can offer up some recommendations on making this level better.

~Go in and remove some of the cut-off of objects, there's a lot of that I noticed as well.
~Use a specific set of graphics in your level or perhaps ask for pointers on any recommended combinations, if you want to use multiple ones.
~Either remove the bottom part entirely or give it it's own section, because at t's current state it's just for appearance, and it doesn't add onto that.
~Add some more scenery to your areas.

*Moved to The Trash Can