Swine Fields

[Chip Potato]

Since I can't come up with a good description for this level, have a haiku instead:

Linear level
There are many pigs in it
Two stars, one hidden

Download;

Spoiler: show

http://www.mediafire.com/download/cu695 ... Fields.zip

[RudeGuy]

I somehow get out my laziness and make a review...

Level review: Swine Fields by fireflowerhour

Design Usage and Gameplay
You did a very good job designing this level. The design was cool and this level has much variety. The secrets were fine, but I think the secret star wasn't well hidden. Some of the star coins are misplaced in my opinion and under one there are some invisible blocks which are a bit pointless. I liked also the ideas which were put in this level, for example, having 2 path to select in one point. I don't see any flaws in the gameplay and design usage other than those little errors, so great job!
Score: 9.

Atmosphere and Music choice
I liked the music of this level, it fitted well for this it. The atmosphere was pretty good, but I dislike a bit using black BGOs to make a forest theme and I think there are other ways to make it, but it was still a good idea. I liked that you mixed castle and grassland themes and tileset togheter, it was a good idea and executed well. The amount of BGOs overall was good. Overall, the atmosphere was pretty good.
Score: 8.

NPC Placement
I liked the NPC Placement and the variety of NPCs. I didn't feel that there were any lack of enemies or too many enemies in one screen. Also, nice idea to replace the bots with the pigs. The amount of coins was good in this level and I liked their placement as well. I didn't have any problems with the NPC Placement, so great job with this!
Score: 10/10.

Overall
This level was very good and I enjoyed playing it. Your score is 9/10 and this deserves to be moved into the best.

[underFlo]

Swine Fields by Fireflowerhour - Unofficial Review


Looks and Atmosphere

The SMB3 Fortress and Grassland tileset mesh better then you'd expect, I just think like you're overdoing it by adding a third tileset (the SMB1 dungeon blocks). You could've just used the SMB3 Castle again there. Also, the BGOs for the SMB1 dungeon tileset could be a little darker. Another thing that looks kinda weird to me:

Spoiler: show

It doesn't really make sense for such a huge bush to grow on walls.

I also don't really like it if BGOs that should have the same color as the grass on the tileset don't have it, in specific the recolored SMB1 grass and the recolored SMW tileset. Why does such green grass grow on ground that is not so green? This also applies to some other BGOs, but was most obvious for the grass. It also is kinda strange how you used the SMB3 exit BGOs for the dark parts of the forest (especially the parts where it gets brighter). It doesn't really look too good if it just zigzags down. Maybe make it so the black disappears more partially, so it looks more like real shadows?

Spoiler: show

Clever use of Raccoon blocks!

I liked the background tileset (you know, how ou darkened the tileset and used it as a BGO). I really like these things, since they give a lot more variety to levels' looks. I also liked the idea of placing other BGOs on this background tileset, but it kinda feels weird seeing these normally bright BGOs on top of dark BGOs. Aside from that, there was a lot of BGO variety and also quite a few things that were nice to look at. The spikes and lava felt kinda out of place though. Spikes not so much, more the lava. I kinda feel like Lava in Grasslands is pretty strange, especially since there doesn't really seem to be a reason for it, like a fire or a volcano eruption. Also, you should replace the Swine's death effect with something more mario-ish.
I also really like the feel at the beginning of Section 6, with the temple emerging from underground.
The fire bar seems to be SMB1 unless I'm being dumb again, but it fits to the rest of the level so that's completely ok.
The Kirby music really fits this derpy theme of the swines, it gets kinda annoying after hearing it a lot, but on the other hand, I played it more then you'd normally play such a level (maybe also becasue I suck sometimes).
So, since about all of my complaints were minor nitpicks, Looks and Atmosphere gets a

7.75/10

Gameplay and Design (counts double)

This level definitely played out really well, but there was definitely a lack of enemies. There only were Swines, Piranha Plants, Volcano Loti, Cheep-Cheeps, Swoopers and Podobos. If you cut the enemies that either weren't involved in gameplay or only appeared once you're left with Swines, Piranha Plants and Swoopers and - let's face it - Piranha Plants and Swoopers aren't really appropriate to use too often, which makes me stuck with facing thousands of Swines. Maybe put a little bit variety there?

Spoiler: show

This ceiling pipe is stupid and has no point.

This level had a fair amount of secrets that were well hidden (maybe a bit too well, I didn't find the easy way to the first Star Coin and thought, I had to bounce off Swines - which would've been fine. It might sounds strange, but I actually would've prefered it w/o the hidden blocks.), but I kinda feel like the Star Coins were pretty obvious and easy to get for the most parts, except the first which had a pretty nice placement. Also, all pipes have a way back - a nice thing to do incase the player wants to explore a little more, but I didn't even know about that until I checked in the editor. Maybe mention that somewhere in the level? There also are way too many Power-Ups, especially in the first half.
And now, we come to what might be one of my biggest complaints about this level.

Spoiler: show

Why does this exist?

No, I'm not currently spinjumping, these are Tanooki Blocks, without any reason, without any indicator. At first I thought: "Man, what a badly hidden secret, the first one had such a nice challenge in getting it!", then I tried getting it and hit my head at an invisible ceiling and thought, maybe it's supposed to make it a little harder, then the scene on my screen happened and then I realised the invisible blocks were intentional. This really isn't too great, but since it's optional it doesn't hurt the level too bad.
One thing I realised while looking through the level, is that each section feels a lot different, even if it's just by gameplay. Section 1 and 2 felt like an open field, but Section 3 felt really closed-down - even with about the same assets! This is something I really like. Next there's a split of paths ahead (might have been a good point to place a checkpoint, but the level is not too hard once you get used to the Swine's AI - so this level definitely has some kind of learning curve, it would just have been nicer if the first encounter with it would have been in an open area and not in an area where there are special blcks that make them harder to dodge). I like how these work, but I think some kind of indication as to which section houses the star would be nice - I know you can go back, but that'd be unnecessay backtracking.
The vertical section has a hidden ?-Block with an 1-Up I can't grasp how to reveal since it's on ground level and there aren't any Koopas nearby - random Tanooki attacks seems to be the only way to get it, which isn't too great imo. Could've atleast made it visible, it'd keep being hidden to everyone not having a Raccoon Tail and the player would have some kind of indication as to what to do. The section is fairly short, which is a shame since it's pretty fun and - again - switches up the gameplay.
The underground section which you can enter by using the door on the path split also prays fairly well, nothing too groundbreaking, but it really feels like a cave, even though it is - just as the other path - a little on the short side. Next, you get a SMW star for taking the Underground section and nothing for the tower section. I kinda don't see why, since both sections feel equally hard. The rest of the section feels pretty standard, nothing big to point out but solid gameplay. One thing though, the swooper at the end shows you don't have to limit them to the cave area. Why not use them more to give some variety?
Section 7 starts up with a Yoshi coin you have to put no effort into getting, and ends pretty anti-climactic.
One general thing I have to say about this is pretty short sections. It especially sucks if you get into a section and at first it looks like there's gonna be some more gameplay, but then there's the end right after it. Also, I feel like this level could've benefited from a Swine boss, but that's just me and does in no way hurt the level.
So, my score for Gameplay and Design is

7/10

Verdict

A really nice and fun level that doesn't have any big compalints except one unfortunate Star Coin placement, which is only optional, so my final verdict on this is

7.25/10

Edit: Kinda corrected the score since I felt that in retrospective I gave it a little too low of a score on gameplay for how fun it actually was.
Edit2: Fixed stupid format error I didn't notice previously for some reason.

[Chip Potato]

I'm surprised no one's pointed out that the Volcano Lotus was still SMW-colored. Admittedly, I sort of forgot to put in a custom graphic for it. That aside, I really appreciate these reviews.

[Mario38427]

This is a good level, sympathetic, Reminds me of the SMB: Odyssey, furthermore the environment if it fits. Well, good job