Finished another session so here's more feedback!
Inuyasha
Battlecruiser Deluxe
Wow, impressive level! The amount of path options is really astounding. Not only is there a choice of main or sub-area path, but there's often split-paths in each of them. Thanks to pipes being two-way as well as being placed every once in a while, you even offer the choice of switching back and forth! Power-ups weren't too frequent, it seems perfect. My only two gripes with the level are that the fireball cannons near the start feel unfair (so perfectly-placed that they got me from big to dead just trying to figure out their trajectories, hahaha) and that the end of the sub-area has a diagonal-downwards arrow that people can (and have, there were a few X's) assume is yet another split path when in fact it's just a pit. Amazing level, this definitely feels like best-polished level yet! It's the only one I've replayed so many times without losing interest~
Tiden
Mehrio
Good level! It's a blind jump at the beginning (even if you bounce on the lowest paratroopa you can't see the floor), but otherwise the platforming is simple but solid. I quite liked the small nook there for the shell to bounce between coin blocks, haha.
Raspberry
Simple & Sweet
It's very obviously using 1-1 as a base but it's been changed enough that I don't really mind. Good level! Nice and basic, nothing too experimental, definitely felt like it'd fit in with original SMB1 levels.
Pipes & Points
Good cave level. The late placement of the first power-up was a bit weird, as is having a Lakitu underground (it's pretty easy to get its cloud by the way, if that was intentional) but it was nice that you allow for people to break blocks and run on the ceiling if they feel like it, haha.
Heights & Hazards
Nothing complicated, even with the moving platforms. I really liked the coin heaven secret area! Wasn't that hard to reach it, felt just like a SMB1 coin heaven.
Leaps, Lifts, & Lava
Good castle level, and a good end to the SMB1 levels! The bonus with the fire flower was hidden pretty much the same way as the previous level's coin heaven though, but oh well. You're very good at recreating the feel of original SMB1 levels, wow.
High-Up Hammers
I was a bit afraid that the Hammer Bros. would be a bit hard to overcome, but you place power-ups and design the level around them well. I liked that secret area with the fire flower, it's not obvious but it's a good reward! The fire flower hidden earlier near two Bros. (where you can just run over them instead) is also a nice reward for those who bother to go down there.
Puzzle Palace
Good puzzle castle, indeed. I dislike how it's trial-and-error until you find the correct pipe but it's cute that it's still not the end of the puzzle, haha. For a change, the thumbnail is relevant to a puzzle! Anyways, I got to the last pipe with under 100 seconds left and thought to myself, "There better not be a boss left.." and of course there was a boss left, but it wasn't that hard so that's fine. =P
Beetle Shell Battle
Oh dear, I hadn't thought that people would be inspired by that cave puzzle from SMB3, hahaha. (Looks like I'm not the only one that recognized its resemblance, heh.) Not that bad considering there are pipes shooting leaves now, so you wouldn't need to cycle around a separate area for it. Otherwise the platforming and enemy placement is good, I like it!
Cannon Conundrum
Ahahaha, airship level now, saving the best for last, eh? It's a good airship level, cannons and Rocky Wrenches are placed well (I quite liked the one placed on a bolt). It was a giant flying Bowser as a boss though, and that feels way too climactic; please continue making levels!~
Ailure
Tall obstacles!
Those first two piranha plants are fairly mean, considering you either won't have a power-up yet or you'll be failing the trampoline jump a lot (because it's really finicky) and pass in front of it repeatedly. The Goomba tower is also pretty silly? Gotta wait a while for it to fall, haha. I like how you made sure people couldn't get stuck between pipes and placed a trampoline though! Overall there's not much to this level but I suppose it sticks to its theme of vertical stuff, heh.
Mow down the piranha plants!
I don't like how it looks like there's a split path when it's just a dead-end that gives a mushroom... when there's already a mushroom at the path split. Nothing particularly interesting platforming-wise either.
Hazardous waters
Oh hey, someone bothered to make a water level! I'll admit you caught me in your trap, hahaha. "Oh, the first power-up is a fire flower so I'll just burn everything!" so I was confused when I had just burned the giant Koopa meant to break open a way forward. Oops! Still, the level's fairly open and simple even without grabbing any power-ups (which I tested), and it's utterly trivialized if you grab any of the numerous fire flowers, so you should try making it more cramped, or at least designing the level with the assumption that the player has a fire flower (ie, fire-proof enemies, diagonal up-right movement forward so it's hard to burn enemies, no floor so it can't bounce, etc.).
Flying onto the airship
...What!? I was all prepped for an interesting flying level (which would have been great practice because the mechanics are a bit different from SMW), but as soon as I figured out how to get past the beginning obstacles and landed on the cloud platform, it just becomes a regular airship level!? Splitting this into two levels (and developing more, of course) would have earned you two stars, but combining them like this makes the level altogether fairly unfocused, especially considering how easy the platforming is compared to the flight. At least there's a door to retry if you manage to survive!
Kamek's castle
The beginning section of waiting for Magikoopas to open up a path is somewhat tedious, and then it changes to a weird treadmill jumping section? Going back to a Magikoopa boss at the end was cute but didn't make it any less boring when it comes to waiting around, though it was still nice to see the "transforms the goal so you have to kill it" thing in action.
Bowser Junior's armada
That secret bob-omb room is a nice touch, heh. The aesthetic of the very beginning was kinda weird, but the airship level itself was pretty fun. I had a fire flower and just pelted Bowser Jr. until he died, but I figure damage boosting would've been easy as well... but if you don't have a power-up I'm not sure if you could even pass him.
Eerie waveforms
Making people have to endure the super-slow platform ride if they aren't told that there's a miniature map at the beginning is kinda mean (and I'm assuming that comment is from you); it feels less like a puzzle and more like a "haha, made you waste your time!" gotcha. The rest of the level just involves surviving on very slow platforms too, and you're never really in any danger, so in the end the level's just not fun.
Easy applications
This level is fairly strange, iunno why you're trying to depict program windows. Gameplay-wise there are few enemies and barely any platforming, and the P-Switch section is so basic and short that it feels more like a waste of time than anything else.
The Chain Chomp bridge
The very beginning is fairly intimidating even though you're mostly safe by sticking to the ceiling, but it's still a fairly slow start. Also, at one point there's a pipe that spawns giant Chain Chomps and you need to hit an invisible block to continue; if you don't reach it before any spawn and stick to it to prevent spawns, it's so cramped that you're basically forced to take a hit. Otherwise it's a cute level, if kinda boring? It's all flat terrain and it's too easy to avoid all the other chain chomps; I reached a section that I thought was finally pretty interesting, and then it was cut-off by the end of the level...
Watch your head and feet!
Decent level to teach people about the [giant] stiletto's abilities as well as demonstrate the usefulness of the helmet. The one wall of bricks where you just wait around for bob-ombs to blow up is fairly unnecessary though, you're never in danger. You can lose the helmet if you run into the side of a fireball; if you do, not having an extra hit makes passing Bowser really complicated ('cause you've limited his jump with the blocks above so you can't run underneath him).
Yoshi is your friend!
Great level to teach all of Yoshi's abilities! (Man, some of the changes from SMW are weird...) Having comments to explain some things that aren't obvious is very nice of you, but it doesn't help those who don't read English, hahaha. That Lakitu throwing fish is a great obstacle! Didn't think they would start swimming horizontally at a certain point, but they're so slow that you can see 'em coming from above/behind you. Also why do you swim faster when Yoshi eats something underwater!? That's weird!
Overall, Ailure, I'd say the main problem for most of your levels is... not playtesting and redesigning to make levels fun? There are clever ideas as the basis for levels (Magikoopa clearing a path for you, clearing piranha paths with shells, etc.) but you don't really develop those ideas, and you also tend to add a lot of tedious and slow sections that could easily be removed or modified. Your levels aren't the best, but at least they're fair. I never really thought to myself "ugh this is so annoying I want to skip this" (though I suppose that's partly because it's also fairly easy?), the best example being the reset door in your flight level. You could've easily just left it out and doomed people in 100-Mario Expert to dumping lives because they're still figuring out flight controls.
EDIT - You say that as if I've played a ROM hack in the last five years. =P
____________________ The best site hack timing ever. Still unnoticed, though.
|
|
|