This is 1-C of my episode, Castle of Greed! The video is uploading while I make this post and it is entirely typed out on my phone, all links, bcc, excetera! The video shows it is possible with Mario!
this is supposed to be a world 1 castle. Also the level was pretty dragged out and pretty cryptic for first time players. I already gave my review of this level on skype. My score was 6/10. Atmosphere saved it.
I mean really more graficks==better levl ritee??????? But when you have a tileset like the SMW castle where it has no inherent BGOs it's hard to win against claims like these so uh
SilverDeoxys563 wrote:lol are we REALLY having this argument right now.
I mean really more graficks==better levl ritee??????? But when you have a tileset like the SMW castle where it has no inherent BGOs it's hard to win against claims like these so uh
The star in the first section seems rather cryptic to me, as, I assume (video), the object which hides the blocks, is far into the level, requiring players to backtrack quite a bit. I think leaving those later-deactivated stones out altogether might be a good idea.
Guys there are no elaborate scenery objects for castle levels. Deal with it and stop whining. Nobody complained about SMW having virtually no scenery in it's castles.
I have a method against using looping events which might help you get rid of the super annoying noise, although it's situational and doesn't go well with standing in place, as well as backtracking: Invisible axes at every key point in the level, activating the event for smasher cycle A/B/C, despawning when one is collected and respawning once the cycle is over (so that they're immediately collected). It might be painful to pull through and not optimal, but easier on the ears.
Emral wrote:The star in the first section seems rather cryptic to me, as, I assume (video), the object which hides the blocks, is far into the level, requiring players to backtrack quite a bit. I think leaving those later-deactivated stones out altogether might be a good idea.
Guys there are no elaborate scenery objects for castle levels. Deal with it and stop whining. Nobody complained about SMW having virtually no scenery in it's castles.
I have a method against using looping events which might help you get rid of the super annoying noise, although it's situational and doesn't go well with standing in place, as well as backtracking: Invisible axes at every key point in the level, activating the event for smasher cycle A/B/C, despawning when one is collected and respawning once the cycle is over (so that they're immediately collected). It might be painful to pull through and not optimal, but easier on the ears.
Emral wrote:The star in the first section seems rather cryptic to me, as, I assume (video), the object which hides the blocks, is far into the level, requiring players to backtrack quite a bit. I think leaving those later-deactivated stones out altogether might be a good idea.
Guys there are no elaborate scenery objects for castle levels. Deal with it and stop whining. Nobody complained about SMW having virtually no scenery in its castles.
The thing is Emral, this isn't SMW it's SMBX, there are plenty of BGOs to choose from, BGOs especially should be used in a bland looking hard level like this, ghoSt and goblins, has hard as it is, even that game used BGOS. Plus the level feels blast even with the spike pillars because there aren't many enemies to avoid, I can see the gimmick you were going for but it isn't very well executed due to the annoying sound and the unfair deaths I had because the sounds set me off track.
Emral wrote:The star in the first section seems rather cryptic to me, as, I assume (video), the object which hides the blocks, is far into the level, requiring players to backtrack quite a bit. I think leaving those later-deactivated stones out altogether might be a good idea.
Guys there are no elaborate scenery objects for castle levels. Deal with it and stop whining. Nobody complained about SMW having virtually no scenery in its castles.
The thing is Emral, this isn't SMW it's SMBX, there are plenty of BGOs to choose from, BGOs especially should be used in a bland looking hard level like this, ghoSt and goblins, has hard as it is, even that game used BGOS. Plus the level feels blast even with the spike pillars because there aren't many enemies to avoid, I can see the gimmick you were going for but it isn't very well executed due to the annoying sound and the unfair deaths I had because the sounds set me off track.
A: Had no backgrounds besides Skewers
B: You do bot need backgrounds objects in SMW Castles!
C: This is an attempt at making an easy level
D: The sound is not how I keep track, I use visual cues!
E: Name one unfair death causing area that is not to get a moon coin, star, or secret exit!
Emral wrote:The star in the first section seems rather cryptic to me, as, I assume (video), the object which hides the blocks, is far into the level, requiring players to backtrack quite a bit. I think leaving those later-deactivated stones out altogether might be a good idea.
Guys there are no elaborate scenery objects for castle levels. Deal with it and stop whining. Nobody complained about SMW having virtually no scenery in its castles.
The thing is Emral, this isn't SMW it's SMBX, there are plenty of BGOs to choose from, BGOs especially should be used in a bland looking hard level like this, ghoSt and goblins, has hard as it is, even that game used BGOS. Plus the level feels blast even with the spike pillars because there aren't many enemies to avoid, I can see the gimmick you were going for but it isn't very well executed due to the annoying sound and the unfair deaths I had because the sounds set me off track.
A: Had no backgrounds besides Skewers
B: You do bot need backgrounds objects in SMW Castles!
C: This is an attempt at making an easy level
D: The sound is not how I keep track, I use visual cues!
E: Name one unfair death causing area that is not to get a moon coin, star, or secret exit!
I named quite a few unfair deaths while I was reviewing your level on skype.
Emral wrote:The star in the first section seems rather cryptic to me, as, I assume (video), the object which hides the blocks, is far into the level, requiring players to backtrack quite a bit. I think leaving those later-deactivated stones out altogether might be a good idea.
Guys there are no elaborate scenery objects for castle levels. Deal with it and stop whining. Nobody complained about SMW having virtually no scenery in its castles.
The thing is Emral, this isn't SMW it's SMBX, there are plenty of BGOs to choose from, BGOs especially should be used in a bland looking hard level like this, ghoSt and goblins, has hard as it is, even that game used BGOS. Plus the level feels blast even with the spike pillars because there aren't many enemies to avoid, I can see the gimmick you were going for but it isn't very well executed due to the annoying sound and the unfair deaths I had because the sounds set me off track.
You fail to see my point: If this level is supposed to be a SMW Castle, which it is, there's nothing wrong in using as much scenery as a SMW Castle uses.
LordKofu wrote:Ugh, the constant noise of those spike pillars is annoying as hell.
I agree with LordKofu. On top of that, you forgot to include the custom song in the download, so the only sound the player hears throughout the level is the repeated "ka-pow"s of the spike pillars. You should remove the sound effects from all the events.
Anyway, my review:
This level is quite bland, not because it lacks scenery (I really couldn't care less about whether a level is well decorated), but because it lacks NPC variety, even more so than Ludwig's Flaming Fortress. The only hazards are Dry-Bones, Podobos, 9 spikes, 4 lava tiles, and the spike pillars, which are more annoying than threatening since it seemed like you have them placed just far enough away from each other so that the player doesn't have enough time to make it past the second one and is forced to wait for it to rise again (and waiting = boring = not fun). Plus, the level is quite short; only two sections before the level-ending door.
Sure, the level has stars and a secret exit, but they really serve to pad the level out more than anything since the player can only collect them in a certain order. The one in section 3 isn't too bad, but then the player has to backtrack through section 2 to get the second star, then has to go back through section 2 again to get the third star, then has to play the entire level a second time to get the secret exit! Forcing the player to backtrack is bad design already, but this is just ridiculous. Maybe if the stars changed the level in some fundamental way, this would be passable, but they just make the player go through the same sections multiple times, and that's just tedious.
Summary:
GOOD:
-Graphics aren't terrible.
BAD:
-Sound effects in event loops. --NO MUSIC. --LITTLE NPC VARIETY.
-Level is short, not counting the padding. --PADDING.
In conclusion: I know you want each level in your episode to have three stars, but it is rarely a good idea to make the player backtrack for them. The only time it works is if the block placement and NPC placement are designed in such a way that going through a level backward is inherently different than going though it forwards, and even then, it only works once; forcing multiple backtracks and multiple play-throughs of a level just to get everything is never good design. I'd say this deserves a 3.5/10.
LordKofu wrote:Ugh, the constant noise of those spike pillars is annoying as hell.
I agree with LordKofu. On top of that, you forgot to include the custom song in the download, so the only sound the player hears throughout the level is the repeated "ka-pow"s of the spike pillars. You should remove the sound effects from all the events.
Anyway, my review:
This level is quite bland, not because it lacks scenery (I really couldn't care less about whether a level is well decorated), but because it lacks NPC variety, even more so than Ludwig's Flaming Fortress. The only hazards are Dry-Bones, Podobos, 9 spikes, 4 lava tiles, and the spike pillars, which are more annoying than threatening since it seemed like you have them placed just far enough away from each other so that the player doesn't have enough time to make it past the second one and is forced to wait for it to rise again (and waiting = boring = not fun). Plus, the level is quite short; only two sections before the level-ending door.
Sure, the level has stars and a secret exit, but they really serve to pad the level out more than anything since the player can only collect them in a certain order. The one in section 3 isn't too bad, but then the player has to backtrack through section 2 to get the second star, then has to go back through section 2 again to get the third star, then has to play the entire level a second time to get the secret exit! Forcing the player to backtrack is bad design already, but this is just ridiculous. Maybe if the stars changed the level in some fundamental way, this would be passable, but they just make the player go through the same sections multiple times, and that's just tedious.
Summary:
GOOD:
-Graphics aren't terrible.
BAD:
-Sound effects in event loops. --NO MUSIC. --LITTLE NPC VARIETY.
-Level is short, not counting the padding. --PADDING.
In conclusion: I know you want each level in your episode to have three stars, but it is rarely a good idea to make the player backtrack for them. The only time it works is if the block placement and NPC placement are designed in such a way that going through a level backward is inherently different than going though it forwards, and even then, it only works once; forcing multiple backtracks and multiple play-throughs of a level just to get everything is never good design. I'd say this deserves a 3.5/10.
