Acmlm's Board - I2 Archive - Super Mario World hacking - Useful hints for SMW hackers.
| User | Post |
Tatrion
Posts: 201/215 |
141. Use blocktool. It's in the stickies. |
ZTaimat
Posts: 100/128 |
140. #138 applies to all OW's except for bowsers place (if you have the lightning). If the tile is rounded you'll have the black pert of the rounded corner NOT flash, and that looks worse than having it square. |
Tatrion
Posts: 46/215 |
This board moves slower then mollasses going uphill... anyway...
#138 Don't make your overworld islands and continents look like perfect squares. It's incredibly boring to look at. The other tiles are there so they look slightly more interesting.
#139 Remember that the first blank map16 map is Tileset specific, so any blocks you make will only appear when you're in that tileset. Use the second and up pages to insert blocks you don't want to change. |
HyperLamer
Posts: 6501/8210 |
I know what you mean. It drove me nuts trying to figure it out. Eventually I just tried every possible FG/BG position combo, only to find NONE worked, and looked at one of the original levels to see what they did different. 
Also, really complex puzzles aren't necessarily good. People like being able to figure them out, you know. 
[edit] AAAAAGH! Bad idea: Open your ROM in a hex editor, edit a bunch of levels, then save something in the hex editor.  |
Tatrion
Posts: 25/215 |
Originally posted by HyperHacker
136. Putting an entrance on an odd-numbered screen in a vertical level will cause background corruption. (Layer 2 levels should be alright.) This may have been posted before, but it's good advice. I found out the hard way. 
THANK YOU. YOU ARE MY SAVIOR. *bows at your feet*
Uhh... I guess I should stay on topic too 
#137 Puzzles are good. The more complex the better. Though I'll admit, it's hard to make good puzzles in SMW (especially if all you use is the original blocks), but it's doable.
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HyperLamer
Posts: 6497/8210 |
136. Putting an entrance on an odd-numbered screen in a vertical level will cause background corruption. (Layer 2 levels should be alright.) This may have been posted before, but it's good advice. I found out the hard way. |
Sukasa
Posts: 1387/1981 |
135. If somebody saya something critical about your hack, take it in stride, and address the problem. Don't get nasty because someone is trying to be productive and give good advice. |
Smallhacker
Posts: 1743/2273 |
Always read this thread before asking. |
Mario_World_Lover
Posts: 14/95 |
Where can I find the latest version of Lunar Magic? |
Sukasa
Posts: 568/1981 |
133. Don't settle. do things like MikeyK and franciospress, and try to learn as much about the SMW engine as you can and never give up, just keep trying to attain your goal.
134. Not everyone here is constructive all the time. If we say or do something offensive, ignore it. Only a select few of us actually want to have/see a flame war.
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Darkmatt
Posts: 196/212 |
*sob* You make me cry. 
*Gets out paper and pencil*
EDIT: I really should add a tip.
132. Lunar Magic ain't perfect. Get other tools like BlockTool, and MWR. If you don't know where they are.....well......you're acting stupid, just look into the sticky posts! |
Slay
Posts: 1/339 |
Tip 131 :: Plan out your levels on paper before you open up Lunar Magic and start editing.
I used to design crappy levels in every game I edited, whether it was using the Warcraft III World Editor, Lunar Magic or even Graal Online, back in the day. Why? Because I'd open the editor, try to place a few tiles and either get flustered by the sheer size of what I was attempting to do, or be dissatisfied with what I ended up with, and re-do little parts a thousand times, which was highly unproductive.
But ever since I started designing my levels on paper, things have become a lot easier. You've already designed the level, so when you sit down to the editor, you're simply making your idea into reality, using the drawing as a template. You don't need artistic skills, I know I have none. Just crudely drawn lines giving a basic idea of how the level looks.
Ringodoggie
Posts: 190/281 |
130. When using custom palettes, don't use the last 8 colours of a palette on the same screen as the goal. They will not fade to black when you pass it. |
ZTaimat
Posts: 17/128 |
I'm against what Darkmatt said in number 30... not entirely though
127. If you wan't to make things slightly easier, you can finish the overworld and sub-maps first, set all the levels to the map, then lastly, look up the level you want to work on in the OW then work.
128. Try to keep the cape power up in farther levels, so people can't fly through your levels.
129. Order Switch Palaces so the Green Switch is NOT Second(or first)
Ex. Red, Yellow, Blue, GREEN |
PumpkinPie
Posts: 77/1158 |
124. DON'T MULTI-TASK!!! If you are working on several BIG projects all at once, it is almost a death sentance to them. Work on one thing at a time. Stay focused on what you are working on, and don't be distracted from it. If you drop it to try something else, even for a little bit, you may never return to the first thing again!  It's happened to me many times before.
125. Put your heart into the game! Care about it! If you really try, and you like your game, and you WANT to make it good, then you shouldn't have that much trouble.
126. Are your hand-drawn ExGFX kind of bland? (Supposing you're not a ripper...you aren't, right? GRR!!!) You might be surprised at what adding small little dots and patterns to foregrounds and backgrounds will do. REALLY. |
Darkmatt
Posts: 180/212 |
That's exactly what I was thinking when I was typing it.
I don't have the faintest idea why I didn't correct it.
123. If you haven't works on your hack for over years, it can pretty likely be called dead.
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HyperLamer
Posts: 3575/8210 |
On #122, it's generally rather boring if you leave out feathers and/or Yoshi entirely. A few well-placed blocks in the sky (look at some levels in the Special world for examples) will thwart people who try to fly through it all.
And in #121, linear-ness is alright but try to avoid having a lot of it. Games are a lot more fun when they're non-linear to some degree. Super Mario 64 is a good example of this; you need to beat a few levels before you can go to levels 6-9 and a few more for 10-15, but among the levels you have access to, you can do pretty much whatever you want in any order. This is especially nice if one part is really hard or long and you don't feel like doing it right away. (For example, I often play Gameboy/DS games on the can, and I'd prefer not to start a really long level when I'm almost done. It's nice to be able to just go play a shorter one instead.) |
Darkmatt
Posts: 179/212 |
NOTE. If you'd like to add on to somebody elses review, PLEASE INCLUDE THE NUMBER. ( Posted guidelines at the beginning. It had to happen. )
*Eyeballs #118*
I'd like to go with Hint #119 for the block please.
119. Like I said about the demo releases, it's completely your choice to include a background story to your hack or not.
Pretty much put.
Good Background Story = YES!
No Real Story = OKAY!
Bad Background Story = NO!
120. THEME YOUR WORLDS. For instance, if your 4th world is a Sky World, create Sky-themed levels if you can. There are some exceptions, I.E. A secret level in the world,
but still, many, many people adds a theme to every world. ( Anitiki, FuSoYa, Sendy, need I go on? ) And so should you.
121. Okay, World help time! Trouble thinking how your levels should be arranged in a
world? There are 3 ways.
STRAIGHT-THROUGH
PROS- Longer "forced" playing time
CONS- Little to none secrets, no real idea to the order equals laziness.
NOTES: Please include a Switch Palace, Star Road, SOMETHING! Because if somebody completes a world with no secrets, it's play value drops dramatically. No no.
MULTI-ROUTE
PROS- Which way? Which way? Easy or Hard?
CONS- Balancing the difficulty of both paths JUST right is a bit difficult.
NOTES: Demo World, Worlds 2, 4, 5, 6, 7. Very good examples of balanced difficulties.
If you don't want somebody to cheat through levels without any strain, follow these easy
steps.
-Make the secret HARD TO FIND. Cheating isn't supposed to be easy.
-Include a Switch Palace or Star Road along the harder path, and of course, make it hard to find.
-If you're making Feather's hard to find, it's ideal to hide one along the harder path.
"FOREST OF ILLUSION"
PROS- A more crazier version of MULTI-ROUTE, play Anitiki's hacks to see my point.
CONS- What's the best place to hide the exit?!? Hard question.
NOTES: If you make the exit too easy, the world's finished fast. If you make it too hard, it's a very tedious world and is also very annoying. Perfection is the key.
122. Feathers, it's easy to cheat an open level when you have a Feather. So you got to
be wise on how you place Feathers. VERY WISE. If you can't perfect the skill, just don't include Feathers, your choice.
Long. |
Sketchie
Posts: 26/356 |
118. Having a creative title for your hack will help you get more people interested in trying your hack. "Super Mario World X: XXXXX" like what Darkflight mentioned above is extremely overused, and it's just reached to the point where it's just boring and annoying.
Tips for making a good title:
a. What is the story?
b. Where will Mario/Luigi (or whatever the main character will be) usually be in?
c. What would the worlds look like? Levels? What's the point of the world(s)? (This may sound silly, but this actually helps you think of a title...)
For instance, let's say that I want to make a hack, and the story would be something like this: "Bowser has failed to take over the world/Peach in the future and the past. So instead he decides to do something extremely darastic: kidnap Peach and escape into TIME."
That would mean that Mario would require a lot of time traveling. The first world would be in the present, and the next world would be about 2 hours in the future, since Bowser has escaped 2 hours in the future with a device. Upon finishing the castle where Bowser has escaped to, Bowser has teleported yet AGAIN, going back into the past, blah blah blah. (I know it sounds stupid, but I'm trying to make an example...) So Mario goes into a time machine to warp to whenever Bowser has gone to.
So, according to what I've thought of, the apporitate title for this hack would NOT be "Super Mario World X: Time Craziness", but more like "Surge of Time" or even "Change of Time".
I hope this helps some...  |
HyperLamer
Posts: 3421/8210 |
I'm surprised nobody mentioned these...
116: Don't use bitmaps for screenshots! PNG is recommended.
117: How to make a link: <a href="[URL HERE]">[TEXT HERE]</a>
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labmaster
