Devazure's Profile

About Me

My name is Devazure, nickname "Dev." I'm 30 years old and live in Louisiana, U.S. My hobbies include traditional and pixel art, gaming, reading, and writing.
I love to be surrounded by good company, and I enjoy being able to provide good company to others, social battery permitting.

My History at SMW Central

I first registered on October 10, 2006, before the site's Great Wipe™. I've been previously known as A Yoshi, Aquifer, and Azurik throughout my years here at SMW Central. At the time of my original registration, I was only 12 years old - definitely a young, stupid child back then. Always getting into trouble, always being prompted by something.
However, I do owe a lot to this community for all the ups and downs that contributed to my growth as a person. To be a part of something so fun and unique for the last 18 years of my life is something I'll never forget.

My SMW Hacking Niche

I've never exactly been one to design levels. I've always found that to be quite a challenge, though I'm hoping to change that soon by experimenting and getting some feedback.
However, I've always had a natural ease in designing overworlds - my favorite part of any video game - and that's been my defining talent here at the central. I've entered four of the Overworld Design Contests we've held and won two of them, while still placing in the Top 3 of a third. I've also designed the original main overworld for An SMW Central Production 2. On top of this, I've designed numerous overworlds and submaps just for the sake of expressing my joy in creating them. There's just something about that sense of exploration, world-design, and the uncovering of secrets that appeals to me.
Thanks to a more recent revisiting of my love of pixel art, I've also started growing my graphical skills. I'm currently working on a few personal tilesets, and I hope to take my pixel art a step further in the future.

My Overworlds

This is my portfolio of major overworld projects I've done throughout my years here. Click on each to reveal the maps, alongside a short description of each one.

2006 - Luigi's Quest on the Mysterious Island: Show/Hide

My very first overworld from my very first (cancelled) hack. It's amazing to look back on this and see how far I've come. It was going to tell a story of Luigi finding this island out in the ocean, and at the end of the game, learning that the island was never real.

2008 - Seven Fruits of Gold: Show/Hide

My very second (and also cancelled) hack was going to be fully Yoshi's Island styled. This overworld was one of my favorites, being it was such a step up from my first overworld... despite being quite chaotic in design.

2009 - Overworld Design Contest - Sapphire Shores: Show/Hide

I don't know how this won first place, looking back on it. It truly looks like I threw everything and the kitchen sink at this map to impress the judges, but you know what? This is the overworld where I decided that this talent was the one to foster while in this community.

2010 - Downfall of the Mushroom Kingdom: Show/Hide

This was another hack of mine that never came to fruition. A story of Mario's journey throughout the kingdom after Bowser's success. Still suffers the same silly perspective wackiness and overcrowding as my earliest maps, but hey, growth!

2012 - World Bowser: Show/Hide

My first overworld done just for the hobby and not for an actual hack. My idea for this one was to build up to this wild reveal that, woah, we've gone through all six submaps without seeing a Bowser world.... only to learn that he owns the entire main map. That giant hellscape would definitely be a gag to close off a pretty unique Mario adventure.

2012 - Overworld Design Contest - The Spice Isles: Show/Hide

Definitely one of my personal favorites, especially as far as the rainbow and water/tech worlds are concerned. The level names in the graveyard world are all named after the Koopalings, telling the story of a mad king trying to resurrect his children.

2013 - Luigi's Quest on the Mysterious Island REDUX: Show/Hide

Another personal favorite of mine. This is a remake of my very first overworld, showcasing my increase in style and quality. This one was, and still is, very special to me.

2013 - Tropical Vibrancy: Show/Hide

This one was pretty fun to make, what with the delicious candy world and the edgy final world. The floating continent is my favorite, though. Also, fun fact: some of these submaps were happily given to my friend GoldenYoshi to use in his "Hack" series, specifically in Hack 2, Hack 3, Hack 4, and Hack 5. I'm so glad they were put to good use.

2013 - Eternal Night: Show/Hide

Another "just for fun" map, this one tells the story of a curse of endless night cast upon the land. World 9 represents the breaking of the curse, as Mario returns to the castle during the first sunrise in ages. I'm particularly digging the swamp world, because I don't think we get enough of those.

2013 - Oriental Mountain: Show/Hide

I was feeling very inspired to do a loosely Japanese-inspired overworld, and this was the result. I adored the sakura trees and didn't want to stop using them!

2013 - Zoom: Show/Hide

This is called Zoom solely because I made this to test Lunar Magic's then- new zoom feature, which explains some of the reused assets from my 2012 contest entry. Simplistic, but I enjoy the flow of the landscape.

2014 - New Dinosaur Land: Show/Hide

An idea came to me one day, to revitalize the original SMW map. I had a blast with this one, especially breathing life into Star World and Special World. There's tons of ways I could've re-imagined the original game's map, and I hope to create another iteration of it one day.

2021 - Overworld Design Contest - Sapphire Shores REDUX: Show/Hide

Ah, my grand return to hacking after so many years. Honestly, I poured my soul into this one to prove that my capabilities haven't dwindled after all this time.. I'm so, so thankful that it all paid off. This is a remake/re-imagining of my first contest entry from 2009, and a true testament to my dedication to my craft.



All Events Activated:

2021 - Unfinished Cave Experiment: Show/Hide

Immediately after the 2021 Overworld Design Contest, I still had this itch to design something else. I had been sitting on the idea of a cave-focused map for years, and I decided to finally give it a shot. Unfortunately, I put down this overworld for the time being. While being quite unhappy with how the main map was going, the lush cave and water cave submaps were just too good to not show. Who knows, maybe I'll pick this one back up one day? Main map would definitely be overhauled, however.

2021 - Hackjam - Kaizo Park: Show/Hide

This is the overworld I made for my team's Hackjam entry, Breaking SMW. A little different from my usual work, there's open, branching paths to all of the various themed levels. DKC3-styled flags indicate level completion, and a Kirby-styled sky gradient really spruces up the atmosphere... no pun intended.

2022 - Vanilla Pastel: Show/Hide

As long as I've been designing overworlds, it's been a long time since I've done something purely vanilla. So, I took it upon myself to do just that. This was a slight challenge without my staple graphics, but it was very fun to do.

2022 - Overworld Design Contest - Crescent County: Show/Hide

My entry with  Kevin, and honestly, I could not have done this without him. The amount of ASM he put into this overworld, in order to bring our concepts to life and lift so many vanilla limitations, is mind-boggling. Real-time Layer 1 events, instant special world palette switching, dynamic music changes, and a full-blown NPC dialogue system are some of the technical marvels that bring this "game within an overworld" to life. We really made something magical with this one.

Here is a walkthrough video that shows everything in action.



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2022 - The Fan Art Series - Casio Mario World: Show/Hide

My personal spin on - and a tribute to - Casio Mario World, by Wyatt. A mysterious, yet vividly-colored island in an unknown region, ruled by Fennel and her band of insane Kaizo gimmicks. If you look at the castle closely, you can see her standing on the roof!

2022 - The Fan Art Series - Invictus: Show/Hide

My personal spin on - and a tribute to - Invictus, by juzcook. A sprawling set of islands, with danger lurking at every turn. The somber, overcast-like palette really ties it together here! Seems like Kamek has a storm brewing over these lands...

2022 - The Fan Art Series - Grand Poo World 2: Show/Hide

My personal spin on - and a tribute to - Grand Poo World 2, by Barbarian. A very familiar archipelago to almost every Kaizo-goer, this place pushes Mario to his limits, and pushes Luigi... all the way to a lonely fortress in the corner.

2022 - Vanillapocalypse: Show/Hide

Dinosaur Land meets its end in an apocalyptic event! Inspired by

The World of Ruin

in Final Fantasy VI, this world sees the collapse of Vanilla Dome and widespread damage to the islands.

2023 - Perchance: Show/Hide

Made for papanug's upcoming hack, Perchance. A series of floating islands, most definitely inspired by

the Kingdom of Zeal

in Chrono Trigger. The shadowing of the two lower islands is one of my favorite parts, as well as the vastness of the open sky.

2023 - Shell Island: Show/Hide

Requested by l337f00l for his Romhack Races level, "What's in the Shell?" It was quite a lot of fun recreating the shell sprite, but... as an entire overworld. And note the teeny Fishin' Boo!

2023 - Wine About It (Original): Show/Hide

The original overworld for my WIP hack, Wine About It. A vibrant wine-colored world with sprawling, twisting landscapes, I definitely achieved the bold design choices I was hoping to make here. As my level themes and order changed, it has since obsoleted this original overworld, but I decided to keep it and display it for how lovely and magical it looks.

2024 - A Rose for Emily: Show/Hide

Made for  shovda's hack, A Rose for Emily. I gotta admit, this one definitely tested my palette and tile optimization skills. It also took me out of my pixel art comfort zone with that large cloud and pillar structure. Everything came together perfectly - including the palette, the flow of the level pathing, and some bold landscaping choices - to make what is most definitely my best overworld yet.

Disclaimer: I've since lost the source ROMs to all pre-2021 overworlds in a computer hardware failure. Please do not ask me for the original maps for your hacks, as those no longer exist. All modern contest entries and their resources are not to be used without permission.