Re: The Invasion 3
Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2022 6:37 am
Thanks for the feedback! I'm not sure what exactly I'll do with it but I might build off of some of this.Enjl wrote: ↑Sun Jun 26, 2022 6:52 pmGonna have to be a bit of a party pooper but I'm a bit torn on the maps. It might be because of how they appear from this high up with me being able to see much more than a player would in-game, but there appears to be a certain lack of direction, and a lot of visual clutter to them.
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Again, might be completely overblown and me reading too much into how these are presented in the screenshot, but if any of that ramble makes some remote semblance of sense to you, I hope the ideas I've touched on can help in making the maps even better.
Keep on keeping on either way!
Regarding the Valley of Bowser, I might reconsider reshaping Wet Water Zone to have it be in the center of those islands (perhaps making World 8 have a horseshoe's shape) yes, and when it comes to the inside, I could put the castle on a central peak too, to be rather visible at least a noticeable portion of the time.
For context though I'd like to note that the Nimbus Heights airship level (marked The Invasion 4) is the penultimate level of the game, at least as of now.
And generally, had I been laical or semi-laical, I would've noted similar things, as telling which one is the normal route and which one is the secret isn't always clear and cut. (like in the case of the World 3 cave level with two exits) If somebody plays through the game without finding any secret exits, the maps will feel a bit less square-like I bet. (plus I'm personally weirded out by New Zealand esque islands, I for some reason prefer shapes that are more akin to Iceland, Ireland or Borneo, but with more bays and/or peninsulas) The addition of Switch Palaces and a second side world (namely the sky one) has also innately made branching paths more common, which would just feel super awkward on more stretched out islands than these more squareish ones. And like, while my intention wasn't to go out of my way and mimic a mix of SMW's and NSMBW's structure on a per-world level, the way the paths branch does tangentially remind me of a reshaped version of Donut Plains, in hindsight that is.
But um, placing the Valley of Bowser entrance and Bowser's Castle on central spots on the respective world maps is something I may very well do. Regarding Koopa Kingdom's original shape though: the split of the original made more sense because the first half of the world was basically SMB1 stuff and the second half of the world was used as an uphill of difficulty on the grand scheme of things. (this game's World 3 may also get a redesign map wise,
The eyecandy part: when it comes to the scenery I don't think a lot more is used than TI2 but admittedly, the elevation is much more complex, especially in the case of the desert and forest worlds. (well, the cave world also has a decent chunk of elevation but it's not that radical compared to Vanilla Dome in SMW, considering how the episode's cave world is also home to more levels than SMW's World 3)
In addition to world map remarks though, I understand if there are some concerns about the design as well, but the thing is, I, or anyone on the team really, can't go out of their way to intentionally "casualize" the levels, especially due to the fact that it'd be an oxymoron. The two primary things we kept in mind is to showcase a big chunk of easily accessible SMBX2 features (in other words: a large majority of basegame mechanics) while also providing a nice Mario experience. Levels like Pwnhammer, Painful Playland and The Suck are naturally still returning, but The Short Level for instance has been cut out. (I know you only commented on the world map, but I vaguely remember a few of your remarks from roughly one and a half years ago) Hopefully with the help of the beta testers though, the result will be satisfying.
Either way, anyone from the SMBX2 Dev Team giving feedback is more than welcome, as it'd be nice to have this game be an appropriate way to introduce people to the engine.