Super Mario Bros. X Forums

I'm still gathering ideas and answers for FAQs about the project, so this post isn't finished yet, I'm also very busy right now to do so, but I'll try to cover some things =P.

Level Intro
All levels should have an intro now, and we're using Section 21 to do that. The current music being used is from Super Paper Mario, but any suggestions on other intro musics are welcome, they must fit the project though.
Here's a link to download the Level Template:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/on2or81eql5drrn/

Keep in mind that the intro uses background2-31 as well as the following BGOs:

• background-11
  background-45
  background-106
  background-139
  background-146
  background-148

Avoid replacing these graphics to make adding the intro sequences more fluid to us.


The Shadow Realm

• The Shadow Realm is a copy of the normal sections of the level but with dimmer lighting and increased difficulty. It's accessed with the SMB2 Magic Potion and it ends with a SMW Star (the Light Realm part ends with the SMB3 Standard Exit). (We use the SMW Star so collecting it can unlock stuff in the light realm version of the level. Enable Off-Screen Exit in the section and block both side borders. Make the wall disappear upon collecting the SMW Star so the player can exit the level after.) Changing the background color will do in some cases but if the light dimension background isn't bright you will have to use a darker tileset in the shadow dimension.
  
  
  We have custom graphics for the SMB2 Magic Potion door:
  
  
  Unlocks Blocks/Dragon Coins
  
  
  Representing on map
  

The Invasion Legacy
You might notice most of the level names in the plan are recurring from the previous Invasion titles. Please look at the original level in the Invasion 2 and try to loosely base your level's style after that. You can find The Invasion 2 file name table here: http://www.smbxgame.com/forums/v ... 82&t=12960 You can pick the general style of the levels whose names aren't from the Invasion series yourself, just try to keep it true to the style of the rest of the levels in that world. However, since the mountain and lava worlds (8 - Parachute Plateau and 9 - Wasteland) are new, you can design in whatever style you find fitting. We will not use custom music. Collectibles
Each level should have five Dragon Coins. You may change the sprite to whatever you deem fit for your level.

Players
Bear in mind that every level should be completable as any character. This means:

• No spinjumping should be required at any point (only Mario, Luigi and Toad can spinjump)
• The Propeller Block/Flame Thrower shouldn't be required as Link can't utilize them.
• Carrying things around like the Spring Board or the SMB2 Mushroom Blocks shouldn't be required as, again, Link lacks the ability to carry things.
• Yoshi shouldn't be required. SMBX automatically replaces Yoshi with a Goomba Shoe near Toad or Peach but if you want to have, for example, a part where you must fly as Yoshi, you will have to keep in mind that Toad and Peach players will get stuck.
• Link can't even mount a Shoe. If your level requires, say, Podoboo's Shoe, Link will get stuck.

You can use the mechanics above, but you must always make sure there's an alternate path for the characters that can't do that part. Or alternatively just block them from your level by telling them to leave and change characters on the map at the beginning of the level (have off-screen exit enabled or something). Or use character blocks.

Naming
Please add a 0 before the numbers in your level title. We do this for sorting purposes. Like this:

• World 4 level 2 would be 04-02, not 4-2.
  World 10 level 3 would be 10-03.

Basically, each side of the hyphen should have two digits. It's a minor thing but you get tired of renaming levels after a while.

Fortress/Dungeon/Castles Ending Cutscenes
We can make bosses defeating trigger cutscenes like in SMW, this is just a suggestion, no plans on it yet. But if most designers think this is cool, then we can achieve this. Also, these don't need to tell a super story about shadow realms and bla bla, we can just make it simple and thanks him for saving... I don't know an egg? lol; Ideas on this are welcome.


Save points
There's a way to create checkpoints through levels, so if your level is really big, create a pipe/door that will take the player to the map(not the level itself, just a temporary location to save), therefore he can save and go back to the level.
THAT IS, IF THE LEVEL IS REALLY REALLY BIG, pwnhammer levels? bowser castle? Dunno...

If you have any questions, please ask!

I like the castle cutscene idea. It would give them a feeling of added significance compared to levels like the Invasion series. It could be very similar, where Mario steps out into an overworld themed after whatever game the castle's styled after, and the castle exterior could be made up of the same tileset as the inside. He comes out of it and auto-steps onto a skull switch that either sends it shooting off into the sky, lowers it into the ground, veers off in a different direction, makes different chunks of it disappear at a time over the course of a few seconds until it's gone, or whatever else we might come up with. The way I picture it, it should be easy enough to accomplish.

However, I would suggest not having an outline for the Dragon Coins. That way, their locations are still a surprise after you've gotten the star. If it's decided that the outline will be used, though, it should at the very least have a symmetrical pixel alignment. All of the corners are different and it's bugging me a little. =P

Also, the checkpoint idea is great. I never thought of a such a system for the world map. It would be a good idea to give players the option of warping back to the main part of the map through a pipe space or something, so they aren't stuck there until they beat the level. The exit side of the pipe space could be revealed only once it's first used, and lead to a space adjacent the main entrance to the level, so it couldn't be used to exploit anything. Just a suggestion.

I'm liking this setup in general, though. It should be great for a unique twist on the classic series.

About the dragon coin, I don't have that "empty" sprite, I just draw that very quickly to show you guys that it appears there after the player gets the shadow star. xD
I suggest not using an outline for them because of:

That way, their locations are still a surprise after you've gotten the star.

However, if all designers think it's best to use outlines for them, it's cool too. Same applies to blocks.

By the way, we don't have graphics or names for:
SMW Star(Shadow Stars)
SMB2 Potion(Potions that will create a door that leads to shadow realm)
SMB2 Potion Door(Doors that lead to shadow realm)
Dragon Coins(Appears after getting the level's shadow star)
Active Star Blocks(Disappears/Appears after getting the level's shadow star)
Unactive Star Blocks(Disappears/Appears after getting the level's shadow star)

are we forced to put shadow dragon coins?

I think all levels should not be shaded dragon coins so it can be boring to repeat all levels 2 times, and idea is pretty good, but if used at all levels, players can get bored easily of the technique is not a major problem, I'm just giving my opinion. As for using of the "not-dragon coin" I agree with the viewpoint of Chad, I think it would be more interesting if you do not know exactly where they will be the other coins dragon, I would do always too easy and predictable, what I would like suggest is:

- Put the "shadow coins dragon" at certain levels, may be the first 3 levels or start each word, or whatnot, something we might happen. By the other would also be next interesting that this "shadow-dragon coin, appear in all levels, what I suggest is add, but not at all levels.
And I have some minor questions, How much should last levels? Need be a very short such as TI2? What is the limit of change of the original level?

Chad wrote:However, I would suggest not having an outline for the Dragon Coins. That way, their locations are still a surprise after you've gotten the star.

I don't think it's a problem. If you're gonna look for the outlines you'll still have to look for them the same as if they were real Dragon Coins.

Dark-Mecha77 wrote:I think all levels should not be shaded dragon coins so it can be boring to repeat all levels 2 times, and idea is pretty good, but if used at all levels, players can get bored easily of the technique is not a major problem, I'm just giving my opinion. As for using of the "not-dragon coin" I agree with the viewpoint of Chad, I think it would be more interesting if you do not know exactly where they will be the other coins dragon, I would do always too easy and predictable, what I would like suggest is:

- Put the "shadow coins dragon" at certain levels, may be the first 3 levels or start each word, or whatnot, something we might happen. By the other would also be next interesting that this "shadow-dragon coin, appear in all levels, what I suggest is add, but not at all levels.

The shadow realm is the main gimmick in the game. It makes the game unique. Applying it in every level makes it consistent, not boring.

Dark-Mecha77 wrote:And I have some minor questions, How much should last levels? Need be a very short such as TI2? What is the limit of change of the original level?

They should be around as long as in Invasion 2, yes. The design should be different from the original levels but the theme has to remain the same. You can do minor changes but the player should be able to recognize the original level's impact.

I've this cool little idea for the Shadow Realm gimmick; Light Seals and Shadow Seals. If you break one of the seals a door will be created to one of the Realms. If you destroy the Light Seals a door to the Light Realm will appear and if you break the Shadow Seals a door to the Shadow Realms would appear. It would be used for some levels as a puzzle mechanic :P

You can available the alphabet and numbers, in that style, you used to write "Super Easy Road"?

How does it work, to let the stars change layers (like SMW-stars are doing it) exactly?
When I tested a level with a layer, that gets shown when the SMB3 star is collected, it didn't show up. I assume that is because the star never really disappears, so such a gimmick seem not to work, or am I wrong?

I'm pretty sure only the SMW star does that. When you collect a SMW star, you can set an event to happen upon its death. When you come back to the level, the collected Star will instantly die and the event will happen. This won't always work in the level editor, but it will work in the main game as long as the Star is visible the whole time. It can't be in a hidden layer.

Valtteri wrote:I'm pretty sure only the SMW star does that. When you collect a SMW star, you can set an event to happen upon its death. When you come back to the level, the collected Star will instantly die and the event will happen. This won't always work in the level editor, but it will work in the main game as long as the Star is visible the whole time. It can't be in a hidden layer.

Sorry for the late reply :-/.

About the SMW-stars I am in the picture, but didn't you say that we shall let the level end with a SMB3-star? So this makes it impossible to have the level changed upon collecting the SMB3-star, which was what I meant. There were suggestions about letting the level change, after the player collected the star at the end of the level, so I got confused about that.

Sednaiur wrote:About the SMW-stars I am in the picture, but didn't you say that we shall let the level end with a SMB3-star? So this makes it impossible to have the level changed upon collecting the SMB3-star, which was what I meant. There were suggestions about letting the level change, after the player collected the star at the end of the level, so I got confused about that.

You're right, we haven't paid thought to that. We'll probably have to change every SMB3 star to a SMW star.

I understand.

So now what we have to do, is to place the SMW-star at the end of the shadow-side path of the level, and as soon as you get it, let a door appear, that brings you to the exit back to the light-side, right?

Sednaiur wrote:I understand.

So now what we have to do, is to place the SMW-star at the end of the shadow-side path of the level, and as soon as you get it, let a door appear, that brings you to the exit back to the light-side, right?

That will do, yes.

Okay then ^^.

I will get the level done until around the 2nd or 3rd of january. The other levels won't take as long as this one takes, so I should be done with all three levels in around a month.

Please download the new level template: http://www.mediafire.com/download/on2or81eql5drrn/

The old one auto holds the run key which causes the player to throw out the Yoshi tongue at the intro sequence if they happen to be riding a Yoshi. This new version no longer holds the run button but only the up key instead. If you're in the middle of creating your level using the old template, just remove the tick from the Run option in each of the events associated with the intro sequence.