Hi everyone, this is my first post here even though I've had this account for a while. I mostly hang around the Talkhaus (raocow's forum) these days, but I'd like to try to become active in other communities too. When I was in high school I used to love posting on forums, and I kind of miss the experience. Speaking of which, I used to be very active on numerous video game ezboards from about 2000 to 2005. Anyone here remember ezboard? Please let me know... I might remember you! For what it's worth, I used to go by Verch Torcitec on the internet.
Anyway, I've had the sudden urge to start hacking SMW after watching raocow's replay of ASMT. Literally began messing around in Lunar Magic about two weeks ago, only worrying about the pure vanilla stuff. I noticed that there's an Old-School Level Design Contest coming up, which seems perfect for a beginner like me to enter. Let's see if I'll have the confidence to actually submit something.
Thanks all, and welcome to the new user above me! Creating accounts that don't get used until years later is a bad habit of mine.
I finished laying out my first SMW level using cement blocks, and I just need to pretty it up with actual landscapes. Trying to keep things strictly vanilla (no Map16 manipulation or even Super GFX Bypass), and it's challenging. If I want feedback on just a single level, can I still post it in the Works in Progress forum? Or is that just reserved for multi-level hacks?
The first time I played Super Mario World was around 1992, when my older cousin got his Super Nintendo. I received my own SNES and SMW cartridge for my birthday the following year, along with Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts (imagine playing that as a six-year-old child). I even had the Mario Mania Player's Guide, which is in tatters now. I loved that book, as well as the Link to the Past Player's Guide.
As for SMW hacks, I didn't discover them until 2005. The first hacks I played were Super Demo World and a random one called SMW: Symphony of the Night (nothing to do with Castlevania). I don't really remember how I came across SMW hacks in the first place. I may have seen a TAS of Super Demo World on TASVideos.org, and I wanted to check it out for myself.
Finally, I just started hacking SMW a few weeks ago. I'm trying to make my first level using purely vanilla assets, and then later make levels with ExGFX, custom blocks, and ASM. Eventually, I want to learn 65c816 assembly programming. I have some experience with MIPS and IA-32, so hopefully a lot of the concepts can transfer over.
Thanks for the advice. I imposed these restrictions on myself (at least in the beginning) because I thought it would help me to better retain and understand what limitations exist. But I caved in and started editing Map16 tiles anyway, haha. I prefer to apply what I've learned little by little, because otherwise I think I would be overwhelmed by features. I'm definitely not averse to the more advanced tools and techniques, and I'm looking forward to going deeper soon.
I would love to play some PS1 RPGs not developed by Square, like Suikoden, The Legend of Dragoon, and Valkyrie Profile. Because I was more into Nintendo back then, I missed out on a lot of them, and I only played the RPGs made by Square. I got excellent deals on a bunch of these games at various conventions about 10 years ago (before they started to take off in price), but they've been sitting on my shelf ever since. There's just no time for me to really sit down and immerse myself in these types of games any more.
I'm still a rookie at Lunar Magic and getting used to the terminology, so I have several questions while I finish my own submission. I've been using version 3.21, by the way.
1) The subject of palettes have been brought up a couple of times, and the rules say that you can only use the original palette presets. So in other words, this means that it's okay to select any combination of palettes using the dropdowns in the "Level Header Settings" section of the "Palette Editor" window, correct? Just needed a bit of clarification.
2) In the "Change Other Properties" dialog, are you allowed to mess with the options in the "Layer 2 (BG) Initial Position for Relative Method" section? Like change the "BG Height in Tiles" or "Set BG relative to FG only"?
3) If you don't want to use a background, is that allowed? (i.e., Deleting all of the tiles in the "Background Layer 2 Editor" window.) I'm asking because I used the options I talked about in question #2 to make the background "work" with the vertical level I'm making. So if the options mentioned in question #2 are forbidden, I think I would rather have no background than have one that looks off.
Here's my entry (and the second level I ever made): Coasting Redwoods
This is my first time entering an LDC, so I'm kind of anxious. I hope I didn't inadvertently break any rules.
My level (Coasting Redwoods) got 76th place, which is higher than I expected. Based on the fan judging comments, I thought I would've placed closer to the bottom. This was the second level I ever made (and the first time I ever entered an LDC), after starting SMW hacking in late March. I took a risk by submitting something with so little experience, but with the low barrier to entry of this contest, at least it was good motivation to start creating things in an engine I love.
After reading my reviews, I understand where I went wrong. I think I was just having so much fun coming up with different setups, that I got carried away and it ended up being a relentless gauntlet. And I never really considered what would happen if you took your time at each setup, instead of rushing through them like when I playtested my level. That must have been a reason why there were enemy spawning shenanigans that gave people some trouble. In any case, I just wanted to make a skinny vertical level, because I don't think I've seen too many of those lately. Though I've learned that they can be temperamental.
Despite not placing in the top half, I'm happy enough that some people saw the potential in my ideas. Good job to everyone who placed high and to those who did better than they thought.
Here are some demos that I liked. I haven't kept up with the SMW hacking scene for years (outside of what JUMP Team makes), so these are pretty old.
Mario's Lost World: This was the first hack I remember that used the Redrawn graphics. I liked the prehistoric theme it was going for, which it pulled off much better than the original game. I've always wanted to see this one finished.
Super Mario TKO: I recall this one having some strange music. This hack gave off some weird vibes, which I liked, and I wanted more of it.
Also, way back on the 2006 version of SMWC, I remember following a thread about a hack with Yoshi's Island graphics. Basically, it looked like YI translated directly to SMW and it looked amazing. I think you controlled a Yoshi and you could flutter? I'm pretty sure it was made by A Yoshi, but I don't remember the name of the hack or if there even ended up being a demo of it.
It's nice to see this project finally get some closure after 11 years of development. In an online community, lots of members will come and go in that period of time. I wonder how many of the original people who worked on this hack are aware that SMWCP2 has now been officially released.
I silently followed the project for the first couple of years, and I was present on the site the moment that level signups were first opened. Unfortunately for me, I was too shy to join in at the time. I remember witnessing the huge rush of signups, where some people with joke accounts sniped some of the level slots. I also remember random things like the "A SMWC Production" vs. "An SMWC Production" debate. Fun times. I actually took some screenshots of the forums on Day 1 of level signups. Just for fun, I thought I'd share these with you in the collapsed text below (click the thumbnails to enlarge).
Regarding the hack, I played through the first three worlds, and I'm really enjoying it so far. The levels are pretty long and extensive! Since I'm going for all of the SMWC coins, it takes a while to explore each level for them. That's not a complaint, though; just an observation. Also, I can confirm what erpster2 said, that when you take the pipes leading from World 3 to World 4, there's no connection to any of the World 4 level tiles.
I couldn't finish everything I wanted, but this will have to do.
And Another Thing (AAT) is the third in a series of SMW collab hacks produced by the Talkhaus featuring Demo Roseclair, a blue-haired Armless Bipedal Cycloptic Demon who also serves as the community's mascot. Demo and her sister Iris are tasked with preparing an enormous feast for an important holiday... only to discover that there's no food left in their fridge! Will they find a grocery store in time?
Highlights:
- Standard: Very Hard difficulty
- 122 exits
- 8 MB SA-1 ROM
- Play as Demo or Iris
- Several new custom bosses
- Collectibles tracking
- Death counter
- And more...
Recommended emulators: This hack was tested extensively using both Mesen 2 and Snes9x v1.62.3, so we recommend these emulators for playing. There may be some graphical glitches present when using bsnes v115, although there shouldn't be anything game-breaking.
