Originally posted by srothroc

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You say not to criticize it, but you posted a demo. Are you just not interested in feedback at all? Or do you mean that you don't want mean/pointless criticism?

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Originally posted by icegoom

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Yeah, I'm not really liking walking in the nothingness like that with no visible ground or ledges. What you could maybe do is make it so that the entrance to the hidden area looks like a normal wall with layer priority set, but after you walked through about ten blocks worth, it opened up into a tunnel so you could see where you were doing. You could make a darker background for the tunnel like so:

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Originally posted by Neo

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Uhm, i could go everywhere. I skiped till the Castle
You should fix it.

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Originally posted by srothroc

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Okay, I was a little confused about what you were looking for if you didn't want any criticism at all.

I found your level design a little confusing at times; there would be blocks or coins that seemed to be placed randomly, or for no apparent reason -- they were just there. This was especially apparent in the first level. I don't mind the 'walking through wall' thing that other people complain about, especially since, standing at the question mark, you can easily see the flying goomba; after killing that, you can easily see that there's another goomba coming down stairs. Not hard at all.

Personally, I'd line the far side of that level with blocks so that the key doesn't go flying off the screen if you misthrow as you climb the net, but that might just be me, having done it twice.

My other major problem is the net level; it's pretty repetitive and linear and seems designed such that the only purpose is to annoy and frustrate the player. Players should be challenged, yes, but not frustrated. The nets are the same shapes and sizes, with the only variation being the placement of nets or koopas, for quite some time -- it's monotonous, and frankly, boring. To put up with all of that only to reach a message box that says that you went the wrong way is a little bit of an insult. :-/

Additionally, I accrued no less than 40 lives on the nets. It's easily possible to do more. Having done that, getting two 3-up moons at the end as my only 'award' for getting through the level (incorrectly) is a swift kick in the pants. At the least, a midway point or a pipe to a proper midway point would be nice, rather than forcing the player to go back over the nets (without koopas, having killed them) in vain, searching for an exit in the time left.

So, in short, it seems like it has promise, but still needs a little refinement and extra thought in level design. Keep on working at it, and good luck!

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Originally posted by srothroc

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It's not difficult -- it's monotonous and mind-numbingly easy. I'm not saying that nets are bad, or enemies are bad, but that the level layout is rather bland. Try different sizes of nets set up at different heights, longer/shorter jumps, perhaps sectional jumps where there are falling platforms between nets (landing on a platform will cut the 1-up chain, preventing farming to some extent). Try some different enemies, too -- maybe net koopas.

And it's not about having a midway point, period, but having some way to console the player after reaching that box. Lives aren't hard to come by; it's the time they spent jumping from net to net (which, as I've said, is monotonous), only to find that they've gotten nowhere and are going to have to start from the beginning. It might be a good idea to give them a pipe to the beginning of the level, or even put a Yoshi with some time berries there, or something. Punishing a player for exploring isn't very... I don't know, sporting.

Edit: By the way, I wouldn't spoil your own hack so readily... part of the fun of testing demos is finding paths and secrets for yourself; if the creator just spills the beans at the drop of a hat, it kind of ruins it. Not only that, but it makes it harder for people to judge how difficult something really is if they already know how to do it, so you're sort of ruining your beta test crowd.

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Originally posted by Davros

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Originally posted by icegoom

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Hmm... How'd you change which object Birdo fires?

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If you check the hammer routine from the other custom sprites and change the value in bold:

LDA #$xx
STA $170B,y

Where xx is value shown here:

Type of extended sprite (0-12): 01 - Puff of smoke with various objects, 02 - reznor fireball, 03 - flame left by hopping flame, 04 - hammer, 05 - mario fireball, 06 - bone, 07 - Lava Splash (doesn't hurt, parabolic down), 08 - Torpedo Ted shooter's arm, 09 - Red thing that flickers from 16x16 to 8x8, 0A - coin from cloud game, 0B - piranha fireball, 0C - lava lotus fire, 0D - baseball, 0E - Flower of Wiggler, 0F - Trail of smoke, 10 - Spin Jump star, 11 - yoshi fireballs, 12 - Water bubble

You can make the custom sprite shoot any type of extended sprite.

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Originally posted by Xeruss

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Originally posted by pikaguy900

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I don't want pointless criticism, like "OMG! This hack is only 1 World long! It's the worst hack ever!".

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Ever heard of "Wario World Subcon"? You are vvvvveeeerrrryyyy far from the worst hack ever.

Originally posted by pikaguy900

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Okay, thanks for that. I made the picture, so I'm ready to show it here, BUT ONLY IF YOU GUYS WANT IT.

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Sure, I'd be interested, just be sure to convert the format to a PNG first.


Regarding level design, there isn't much that hasn't already been said... But I find I must agree with changing "Jungle Mesh 2", jumping from net to net is rather repetitive and annoying . There are a few other various flaws with level design, but they aren't so glaringly obvious that they matter much. Otherwise, your hack seems fine and I await the second demo.

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Originally posted by wtfweb

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Originally posted by icegoom

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Fine, so long as you don't make whole mazes where you can't tell where you're walking. I was playing a hack a while back that was a maze made of all the same ice blocks, foreground and background where you just pushed and jumped against blocks at random to make your way through the maze. Extremely frustrating.

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i think that was my hack. i wish you would have posted this in my thread so i knew it was too frusterating (lucky i saw this.) i'll be changing it for the next release, if i get unlazy and there actually is one


anyway i should probably stay on topic. pikaguy, from what i played this hack is boring. there's very little variety (like that once level with like 5000 climbing nets in a row.) seems like you didn't take much time in designing that level.

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Originally posted by srothroc

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Well, he is kind of right... your levels are more or less linear jumping challenges with a couple of enemies thrown in, no real obstacles.

A couple bugs that I forgot to mention; your ghost house; when exiting it, if you run away and dodge bullets, the door and exit of the ghost house flicker on the left side of the screen, for some reason. Additionally, in the castle, sometimes the moving stone platforms don't show up properly; I'm not sure if it's a sprite thing or not.

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Originally posted by wtfweb

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umm.. i guess i can add to my original post that it seems as though you should spend a lot more time making and testing your levels before releasing them...

that's as constructive as i can get without having to play through your hack again, which i'd rather not do right now

but i should add there are some creative aspects to your hack, like those hidden passages. you just need to spend more time making your levels fun throughout (with less repetition specifically) to make your hack enjoyable.

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Originally posted by wtfweb

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no, you can definitely do better

i went back and played more and some of your levels dont suffer from the repetion problem (as badly)

if you catch yourself repeating something, stop and change it

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Originally posted by ibz10g

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You do realize it is possible to get as many lives as you want in the second level, right?

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Originally posted by wtfweb

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by your repetition problem i mean using 5000000 climbing nets in a row that look identical to each other. or, more literally in your cave level, like 8 identical pipes in a row with an upside down pirhana plant in each of them along a flat surface.

i'm not referring to using similiar puzzles more than once.

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Originally posted by KPhoenix

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Request: A Super Mario Bros 3 Breakable Brick that turns into a non-moving coin when a Blue POW is hit.

I'm not sure if there is already one out. If so, please give me a link to where I can get it.

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