Forest of Magic

[litchh]

I always wanted to create something Super Marisa Land themed.
So, this is exactly it.
All SML objects except shroom & Marisa were recreated by me to 2x2
This version is also has fixed music.

Screenshots:

Spoiler: show

Video playthrough:

Spoiler: show

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/download/vxi9t ... +Magic.zip

[SONICTEAM]

I like the style of this level! It really has a lot of potential in it! But, to be honest, the level doesn't feel unique gameplay wise, and the stage is bland, like very bland. For example, there is no sceneries whatsoever. Also, the level just follows this pattern al the way through, Walk across a platform, jump to the next one, sometimes with the platforming getting smaller then larger.

To improve, I would suggest trying to make the stage feel more unique, add some pipes, more enimies rather than just fairys and... whatever those blobs were (Sorry, I don't know the name because I don't play the game this is based off of xD), anything! It will make the level a lot more exciting to play. Also, try and add more sceneries to the level, it looks bland without any, adding more would really improve the looks of the level too!

Overall, I would give this level a rating of 3.5.
The level has a lot to improve on in its current state, try and improve the level by how I mentioned above.
Like I said at the top of the post, this level has a lot of potential in it. Good luck on this level if you consider to work on it more!

[Reiuji Utsuho]

Like SONICTEAM said I too think this level has potential to it! The style isn't bad and I think it's pretty cool you did the tile work yourself.

The first thing I'd like to note is the style. The graphics aren't bad, but a little curiosity about the mushrooms that kill you are that they're not the standard 2x2 SMBX graphics are usually done in but 1x1. That just particularly stood out to me and I didn't know if was an oversight but it didn't detract from my experience, just wanted to let you know.

My first issue with this level is going to be lack of scenery. I put it first because I consider good scenery very important in a level and from what I see this level has no background scenery objects. It makes the level look more bland and feel a lot more empty. It doesn't take a copious amount, but a consistent usage of background object will easily add more life to the level and make it look better too.

The next issue I faced was enemy placement. While I will grant you for it being consistent and not spamming (not counting the two "stacks" I noticed during my cursory glance) I feel there should be more variety in the enemies. It's either angels, the circle ones you can jump on or over, or mushrooms you have to avoid. Given that about 90% of the level's enemies are strictly on the ground I feel it's empty. The angels are placed only over any pits so otherwise there is a lack of variety in what you actually face, making an unremarkable level a little more forgettable to me.

On a positive note though I do like your music choice but it would seem much more fitting for a bonus/ secret area or a different type of level.

Overall I feel sad about this level. The potential is there and it's clear you put in the effort to get things done but this needs work. What's been done so far is a good starting point, but changes and additions need to be made to make it much better, imo:

~Adding needed scenery.
~Maybe adding a secret area or a bonus area of some kind.
~Having more types of enemies.
~Changing the main level area's music to something more fitting.

I hope this level is improved because while I didn't have a bad time with it I can't say I really enjoyed it very much. Cheers. ~

[PixelPest]

Spoiler: show

Like SONICTEAM said I too think this level has potential to it! The style isn't bad and I think it's pretty cool you did the tile work yourself.

The first thing I'd like to note is the style. The graphics aren't bad, but a little curiosity about the mushrooms that kill you are that they're not the standard 2x2 SMBX graphics are usually done in but 1x1. That just particularly stood out to me and I didn't know if was an oversight but it didn't detract from my experience, just wanted to let you know.

My first issue with this level is going to be lack of scenery. I put it first because I consider good scenery very important in a level and from what I see this level has no background scenery objects. It makes the level look more bland and feel a lot more empty. It doesn't take a copious amount, but a consistent usage of background object will easily add more life to the level and make it look better too.

The next issue I faced was enemy placement. While I will grant you for it being consistent and not spamming (not counting the two "stacks" I noticed during my cursory glance) I feel there should be more variety in the enemies. It's either angels, the circle ones you can jump on or over, or mushrooms you have to avoid. Given that about 90% of the level's enemies are strictly on the ground I feel it's empty. The angels are placed only over any pits so otherwise there is a lack of variety in what you actually face, making an unremarkable level a little more forgettable to me.

On a positive note though I do like your music choice but it would seem much more fitting for a bonus/ secret area or a different type of level.

Overall I feel sad about this level. The potential is there and it's clear you put in the effort to get things done but this needs work. What's been done so far is a good starting point, but changes and additions need to be made to make it much better, imo:

~Adding needed scenery.
~Maybe adding a secret area or a bonus area of some kind.
~Having more types of enemies.
~Changing the main level area's music to something more fitting.

I hope this level is improved because while I didn't have a bad time with it I can't say I really enjoyed it very much. Cheers. ~

If you actually played the level, there is quite the variation in enemies because the different ball enemies (red, white, black, etc.) all do different things.

[Reiuji Utsuho]

Spoiler: show

Like SONICTEAM said I too think this level has potential to it! The style isn't bad and I think it's pretty cool you did the tile work yourself.

The first thing I'd like to note is the style. The graphics aren't bad, but a little curiosity about the mushrooms that kill you are that they're not the standard 2x2 SMBX graphics are usually done in but 1x1. That just particularly stood out to me and I didn't know if was an oversight but it didn't detract from my experience, just wanted to let you know.

My first issue with this level is going to be lack of scenery. I put it first because I consider good scenery very important in a level and from what I see this level has no background scenery objects. It makes the level look more bland and feel a lot more empty. It doesn't take a copious amount, but a consistent usage of background object will easily add more life to the level and make it look better too.

The next issue I faced was enemy placement. While I will grant you for it being consistent and not spamming (not counting the two "stacks" I noticed during my cursory glance) I feel there should be more variety in the enemies. It's either angels, the circle ones you can jump on or over, or mushrooms you have to avoid. Given that about 90% of the level's enemies are strictly on the ground I feel it's empty. The angels are placed only over any pits so otherwise there is a lack of variety in what you actually face, making an unremarkable level a little more forgettable to me.

On a positive note though I do like your music choice but it would seem much more fitting for a bonus/ secret area or a different type of level.

Overall I feel sad about this level. The potential is there and it's clear you put in the effort to get things done but this needs work. What's been done so far is a good starting point, but changes and additions need to be made to make it much better, imo:

~Adding needed scenery.
~Maybe adding a secret area or a bonus area of some kind.
~Having more types of enemies.
~Changing the main level area's music to something more fitting.

I hope this level is improved because while I didn't have a bad time with it I can't say I really enjoyed it very much. Cheers. ~

If you actually played the level, there is quite the variation in enemies because the different ball enemies (red, white, black, etc.) all do different things.

Ah!

I apologize. I do see they do have variation in behaviours, but that isn't what I was trying to refer too... better wording on my part would've helped, I suppose.

What I meant was I wanted more variety of enemies on the ground and in the air and yes they are also different colors, but I like seeing enemies of different shapes as well as colours. In what I see there's the angels, the circles shaped enemies, and the deadly mushrooms. Shape was mainly what I was referring to but I didn't note shape specifically in my post.

Once again, my apologies. ~

[litchh]

This level has almost all overworld NPCs from Super Marisa Land.
The only thing, I couldn't recreate fairies, so I just recolored Zelda Fairy & removed her horns

[Reiuji Utsuho]

This level has almost all overworld NPCs from Super Marisa Land.
The only thing, I couldn't recreate fairies, so I just recolored Zelda Fairy & removed her horns

Ah well fair enough. I wasn't trying to be rude, it was just an observation I had made.~ ^_^

[PersonNamedUser]

UNOFFICAL REVIEW OF FOREST OF MAGIC BY LITCHH

Design(4.5/10)

I'd say the level design is pretty OK, you honestly should have put power-ups in the level and I think the level was a little too
short and it should have been a little bit longer. The poisonous mushroom item was kind of unnecessary considering that there
was no power-ups in the level. The level was very open and very linear and even though the ball enemies and fairies were pretty cool ideas,
i still think there should have been more enemies. I should also mention that it didn't really have much(if any) scenery in it.
I think that the level design feels a little rushed and there wasn't enough effort put in.

Atmosphre (8/10)

I'd say that you made the atmosphere pretty good. It really feels like your actually, as the name implies, in a magical forest.
The graphics fit together pretty good even the poisonous mushroom really clashes with the environment.
And the music you picked fits alot with the atmosphere
I would say that this level captured the forest feel pretty good.

Overall 6.631/10(Average)
This level does have some potential but i think it can be improved on.

[PixelPest]

Official Review of Forest of Magic

Level Design and Gameplay (weighed 70%): 4.0/10
This level was very unique but short and not overly well done. NPC placement was okay, although it seemed kind of random and didn’t present much of a challenge or an interesting gameplay experience. Coins were quite sparse and the level lacked BGOs. The atmosphere of a magical forest was cpatured pretty well though even without the BGOs. The poison mushrooms were used in an interesting way, but didn't present much of a challenge. Even though the level was short, I don’t think I really would’ve wanted it to be longer because of the level’s linear-ness and overall boring gameplay.

Graphics and Music (weighed 30%): 6.2/10
The unique graphical style for the most part was very interesting but some vanilla elements like the normal Super Mushroom and SMB1 coins did not fit at all. There also should have been more variety to the NPCs to keep the level interesting--don't just make them all blobs along with a few fairies. The graphics were pretty cool though!
The music fit fine throughout the single section.

Overall: 4.66/10 (Average)
- interesting concepts and graphics
- coins were too sparse
- captured the atmosphere well
- a little bit too short, but a little bit too boring by the end to be much longer
- needs more variety of NPCs and better placement techniques to present a challenge
- the few vanilla graphics really didn't fit the unique style of this level