Super Mario Bros. X Forums

FireyPaperMario wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 21, 2020 7:12 pm

Question about the levels you displayed in the screenshots, are they made for Toad?

CD20Superness wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 22, 2020 10:32 pm

It looks better than the old one obviously. But are you willing to finish it?

Teemster2 wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 04, 2020 12:53 pm

This is a good learning experience so just have fun and see if you can complete it. That's the biggest challenge. Most people can't do that.

Add in some background objects. Your levels could use some. That's the only advice I have for now.

BroccoliRampage wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 24, 2020 11:54 pm

Nice!

I just finished playing World 1, and here's my conclusions.

Gameplay:

- First, a big thumbs up for focusing on implementing a basic gameplay rule, introducing a challenge, increasing that challenge and then a variation on it. It's enough enough to just throw stuff at the player haphazardly, but it's obvious you've taken the idea of introduction & escalation to heart. The levels aren't overly complex and instead offer an evolving series of obstacles.

- Playtest when combining elements you don't often see used together. For instance, the volcano lotus in the castle wasn't by itself an issue but the spike next to it seems to have a hitbox that extends too far to the left, that combined with the low ceiling, forces the player to jump over the lotus from too far away. The lotus' fireballs create a unique challenge that doesn't play well with both the low ceiling & the (accidental?) inability to get anywhere near to the plant to time one's jumps.

- Learn the term "Kaizo". An essential rule of gameplay is to avoid placing "surprises" where you know the player is going to encounter them while not in control. For instance, you added an invisible block over a pit precisely where you expect the player would need to jump. Avoid the temptation to create those kind of "haha gotcha" moments. Introduce a new challenge, let the player encounter it, and then offer variations upon it. Your goal is not to anger them. I personally think that's one reason the Sonic games always worked so well...it offers a means for you to encounter the evil buzzy/nasty thing, get hit, pop back up and adapt to it without it making you want to throw your Sega Genesis across the room.

- Other surprises are fine & welcome once the player is able to predict and look out for them. The pirahna plants coming out of the bushes was a nice touch, but you want to set up some kind of signal or cue the first time that's gonna happen, or time it to happen when the area first comes onto the screen, because you come upon them so suddenly. Learn by playing is good. Getting killed by a Charging Chuck, just for an example, is annoying the first time you try to jump over him and discover he's been rigged to shoot you with a fireball lol. It's for this reason Nintendo had a rule in place for the first Mario Bros game: you'll notice that at the start of each level, nothing is immediately in the frame that's an imminent danger, not until you've moved forward some. That's because they didn't want the player to be able to get hit until they demonstrated they were actively playing.

Technical stuff:

You may be aware of some or all of this.

The "story" level at the start locks up towards the end.
The warp pipe out of World 1 takes you to World 2 and then immediately sends you back.
Again, would check the hitbox on the spike in the Castle, if that's causing problems perhaps use a different obstacle.

I think this is an ideal start on a 1st world, difficulty is on par with SMB3 World 1, I'm looking forward to more (once I can get that tunnel to World 2 to work haha).

Chanceux2 wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 25, 2020 7:40 pm

BroccoliRampage wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 24, 2020 11:54 pm

Nice!

I just finished playing World 1, and here's my conclusions.

Gameplay:

- First, a big thumbs up for focusing on implementing a basic gameplay rule, introducing a challenge, increasing that challenge and then a variation on it. It's enough enough to just throw stuff at the player haphazardly, but it's obvious you've taken the idea of introduction & escalation to heart. The levels aren't overly complex and instead offer an evolving series of obstacles.

- Playtest when combining elements you don't often see used together. For instance, the volcano lotus in the castle wasn't by itself an issue but the spike next to it seems to have a hitbox that extends too far to the left, that combined with the low ceiling, forces the player to jump over the lotus from too far away. The lotus' fireballs create a unique challenge that doesn't play well with both the low ceiling & the (accidental?) inability to get anywhere near to the plant to time one's jumps.

- Learn the term "Kaizo". An essential rule of gameplay is to avoid placing "surprises" where you know the player is going to encounter them while not in control. For instance, you added an invisible block over a pit precisely where you expect the player would need to jump. Avoid the temptation to create those kind of "haha gotcha" moments. Introduce a new challenge, let the player encounter it, and then offer variations upon it. Your goal is not to anger them. I personally think that's one reason the Sonic games always worked so well...it offers a means for you to encounter the evil buzzy/nasty thing, get hit, pop back up and adapt to it without it making you want to throw your Sega Genesis across the room.

- Other surprises are fine & welcome once the player is able to predict and look out for them. The pirahna plants coming out of the bushes was a nice touch, but you want to set up some kind of signal or cue the first time that's gonna happen, or time it to happen when the area first comes onto the screen, because you come upon them so suddenly. Learn by playing is good. Getting killed by a Charging Chuck, just for an example, is annoying the first time you try to jump over him and discover he's been rigged to shoot you with a fireball lol. It's for this reason Nintendo had a rule in place for the first Mario Bros game: you'll notice that at the start of each level, nothing is immediately in the frame that's an imminent danger, not until you've moved forward some. That's because they didn't want the player to be able to get hit until they demonstrated they were actively playing.

Technical stuff:

You may be aware of some or all of this.

The "story" level at the start locks up towards the end.
The warp pipe out of World 1 takes you to World 2 and then immediately sends you back.
Again, would check the hitbox on the spike in the Castle, if that's causing problems perhaps use a different obstacle.

I think this is an ideal start on a 1st world, difficulty is on par with SMB3 World 1, I'm looking forward to more (once I can get that tunnel to World 2 to work haha).

So you saying the World 1 pipe to World 2 is a problem? It works fine for me. I should change that just in case

Added in 8 hours 33 minutes 53 seconds:
Sneak Peek of World 7. (NOT A PLAYTHROUGH OF WORLD 7 IM NOT DONE WITH WORLD 7)



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGC7L5kgKkA&t=15s

BroccoliRampage wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 26, 2020 12:54 pm

Chanceux2 wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 25, 2020 7:40 pm

So you saying the World 1 pipe to World 2 is a problem? It works fine for me. I should change that just in case

Added in 8 hours 33 minutes 53 seconds:
Sneak Peek of World 7. (NOT A PLAYTHROUGH OF WORLD 7 IM NOT DONE WITH WORLD 7)



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGC7L5kgKkA&t=15s

Yes. I looked at one of your gamesaves & it looks like you've added the pipe at the entry point of World 2 since then, so I'm guessing you instituted an instant warp when you placed it.