Generic Forest

[SONICTEAM]

This is a level I created for a episode I never completed a long time ago (a.k.a 3-5 months ago)
With the possible revival of this episode, I decided to release the first level of the episode.
This was the only stage I completed in that limited time I had with this episode. So I hope you enjoy!

Download
https://www.dropbox.com/s/p8diui8add9xy ... t.zip?dl=0

Screenies

Spoiler: show

All critism will be noted of as I would like to make this as good as possible!

[Jacob Turbo]

This looks very nice, But the big goomba and The big block are just resized (AKA 4x4 pixels), And those roses and that big block have 1x1 pixels, and the roses seem to have improper masking.

[SONICTEAM]

Thanks for telling me, I will fix these ASAP!

EDIT: Quick update, I fixed the masking and I have removed unnecessary files from the Download.

[JupiHornet]

UNOFFICIAL REVIEW of GENERIC FOREST by SONICTEAM

Design (5/10)

Generic forest indeed. I probably sound like Imaynotehere4long, but this level doesn't really do much to stand out from other forest levels. The other sections were nice, but they don't do much besides give the player some Dragon Coins. This whole level had a perfect setup for a second exit, but you didn't use it. The design wasn't bad by any means, but it was a bit boring.
By the way, you can use the Green Yoshi's tongue to eat and spit out the red egg at the end, giving you the Red Yoshi. I'm pretty sure this wasn't intended.

Atmosphere (6.5/10)

You sure you tested this level? Because there's no music. I can see a song put into the "custom" section, but nothing's playing. Anyway, this level looked pretty nice , but some things are messed up. First of all, the background. The SMB3 hills background? This doesn't fit a forest level at ALL, let alone a forest level with the graphics you used. Also, it's very difficult to tell which blocks are sizables and which ones aren't.

Other Comments: Judging by the dialogue, is this level meant for World 1 of an episode? Seems a tad difficult for that

Overall 5.75/10 (Average)
Not a bad level, just a "generic forest" with nothing really special.

[SONICTEAM]

Thank you for the review!
I will have to recheck the zip, I did test it, and the music worked fine... I'll update the download when I find the problem.
EDIT: Figured out the problem, the custom music wasnt included in the zip, I'll update it when I get back on my own pc as I am using a different one.

[Zipper]

Well, generic is the right term. It's a theme we've seen and played many times before. That's not a BAD THING(TM) though.

Aesthetics : 8/10
Visually, this level is GREAT. The replaced enemy sprites don't clash together, the updated versions of existing grass tiles are easy on the eyes, and nothing really stands out as "different from the rest". The few issues I did have are; The grass tiling on the "forest leaves" at the first area tend to get a little repetetive sometimes, not an urgent fix though. The big goombas are just upscales, as previously mentioned. There seems to be....uh...an awful lot of skulls for a calm grass level. I'd say switch the amount of moss tiles and skull tiles in the ground, for theme's sake. Also, the water rising up and down is really pleasant, but I don't think lakes and puddles naturally do that. The SEA does it, but not small pools of water. Not at this intensity at least.

Music : ?/10
Couldn't get it to play lmaooooooo

Gameplay : 6/10
It's above average. Nothing truly stands out, it's a hop&bop level like most vanilla SMB3 levels, but it's not frustrating or tedious to finish at all so I'm not complaining. There were quite a few secrets to go for, and they actually had thought put behind their positioning as well(okay yeah I'm really just talking about the Yoshi Coins and that one water passage, but "secrets" sounds cooler, yeah?). The detours themselves, while rewarding, would've been nice if they worked as alternate paths instead, rather than dead ends. Other than that, I felt like the Bob-ombs were unnecessary. They didn't make enough of a presence in the level. You can replicate their work with uh...something else, I dunno.

This is just a suggestion by the way, but I feel like you can do cool things with the Big Goombas, seeing how they can't be stomp killed. Just put them in an area before a fire flower and do cool gimmicks, it might work out!

Final Score: who cares lol
seriously scores mean nothing.
But yeah, there's nothing I actively HATED about this level, so there's a job well done. However, you can do even better than this. I await more cool stuff from ya.

[SONICTEAM]

Ok, I got a update from all the feedback I've gotten from you guys ^^:
-Water no longer rises up and down so fast
-There are no longer so many skulls under the ground.
-Music is finally added
-The red Yoshi can no longer be nabbed by the green Yoshi.

Also thanks for the wonderful feedback, Zipper!
Bob-ombs are mostly found in the first part of the level, I might remove them soon.

[CopyLeft]

REVIEW OF GENERIC FOREST BY SONICTEAM

GAMEPLAY
75% of grade.

Awesome! I really had a lot of fun playing this. It IS a bit challenging for what seems like a 1-1-esque level, but maybe that's just me. I had to play this twice to find all the secrets, and you designed them quite nicely. I did like how you used bubble NPCs, which you almost never see nowadays. Quite fun!

There is criticism to be had, though. First of all, the shell-kicking Koopa placement (here) was a bit too close to the shell. Also, in the beginning, there are no off-screen blocks, so the mushroom can easily go off-screen. Your coin placement was not too bad, but there were area lacking of coins, and there was a lot in the area where you are supposed to fly up with a leaf. You can reach that area by jumping off a Yoshi, also. The first bonus section was additionally pretty bland. In section two, if you end up there, you cannot get out if you play as Peach, Toad, or Link. I don't know if you can play as them in your episode, though. You had a bit too many coins in that area.

All that criticism was rather minor, and I would not mind playing that level again.
6.5/7.5

EVERYTHING ELSE
25% of grade.

In the overworld, your BGO placement was perfect. You didn't spam it everywhere, and while there was a lot of backgrounds, it looked nice.
Your music choice was on-point as well, so good on that.

There is a lot of flaws, though.
First of all, the trees in the beginning had cutoff all over. That isn't really noticeable, until you get to the end of the forest section, where the leaves are completely cut off!

In section two, the graphic that replaces the SMB1 Green Pipe base floats above the ground, which does not look good. The pipe you come out of is also a different color than the one you come in. The pipe end doesn't fit with the base (here). There are no BGOs to be seen in this section.

In section three, the water cuts off in the middle of the stone tiles. (here). There are also no BGOs to be seen there.

The fourth section is bad. As I said, it is bland. Not to mention it looks ugly, and the yellow SMB3 Bridge tiles do not match up with the other ones.

Finally, while this maybe be preference, the end goal is very short. What isn't preference is that there are way too many cloud BGOs in the end goal.

1.3/2.5
The main level looked good, everywhere else didn't. Music was fitting.

FINAL SCORE

7/10 (rounded from 7.8/10)
Pretty Good

This level had its flaws, but was not too bad.

[ShadowStarX]

Generic Forest review

Design & Gameplay: Good
+ This level was quite fun to play, it has lots of positive or average aspects in it. The difficulty is fair, there is nothing frustrating or boring in the level. The level is also quite explorable, considering the high amount of secrets.
| The NPC placement in the level was sometimes a bit too sparse, but sometimes it was a bit too spammy. Try to make the NPC amount a bit more consistent next time.
- The player should be able to go back in a warp pipe, unless the level is a maze. (or the entrance of the warp was in an autoscrolling or a rising lava section) There is a second flaw which didn't really hurt the gameplay, but it's still a design flaw: if a wall seems to go off-screen visually meanwhile playing, it should also go off-screen physically. (basically you should do something like I did in the screenshot with 2 blocks)

Spoiler: show

Atmosphere & Visuals: Good
+ The atmosphere in this level is relatively nice. The music fits in the level, it looks nice and the level didn't clash anywhere.
| In the overworld section, there is a VERY SLIGHT background object (scenery) spam. (at least for me) The treetop section's background was also a bit too bland.
- In the overworld section, between the exit of the last blue pipe and the exit, there was a cutoff at the slopes.

Score: 6.75/10
A relatively nice forest level with calming atmosphere and gameplay, but with some minor flaws too
Moved to 'Pretty Good'

[SamyPlaysSMBX]

Video Made: