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12 Day Level Design Marathon

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In the spirit of the 12 Days of Christmas Level Design Contest from two years ago, I've planned another 12 day, 12 level sprint, composed of a huge variety of levels.

Starting this marathon off is December Rain, because let's face it, that's the kind of weather I've been seeing this year. So, how many others have had an overly green Christmas?


December Rain (Dec 25, 2015)
Man, you can make a level in one day? I have a hard time making even two screens in a day.

The level looks pretty good, design-wise. In the beginning, it looked like it was going to be sort of an easy-going world 1-like level, but the difficulty ended up looking like it was on the higher side, with higher enemy density and larger pits than your typical early-game level. I think it works fine. The Piranha Plants and Sparkies were used well. The P-Swtich placed in the level seemed a little pointless, though. Also, I think it would make more sense if you replace the Sparky at the very end with a Shelless Koopa (or another easily killable enemy) That way, the player might accidentally kill it and lose out on the otherwise very easy-to-get 1up at the goal.

Aesthetically, the checkerboard wall thing looks more like it should be in a castle, rather than a grass land. I think it looks cool though! It's unique. What would it look like in a different color? Maybe it could be brown instead. The overall color palette of the level - particularly the BG - is somewhat pale, probably to reflect the level's rainy, overcast nature. The rain graphic is very simple, but it does its job. The darker shades of blue on the light-blue pipes look too bright, especially next to the checkerboard wall, which has higher contrast between its colors. I would play around with the pipe colors to get better contrast.

Anyway, I'm interested in seeing where this project will go. 12 days doesn't sound like a lot of time for a Mario hack, but this is a good start #ab{:)}
So finally, I get around to making an actual winter level, in the spirit of the usual elements of the winter season (snow, cold wind).

The wind blows the player to the right, so it's also a matter of controlling your jumps and movement to dodge the many sparkys and firebars. Difficulty picks up a bit. There are quite a few ways to go about beating the level, such as using the exploding Bob-ombs to your advantage. Just keep in mind no sprite passes through the red outlines.


Now it's winter! (Dec 26, 2015)

EDIT:
Just finished another level (Dec 27, 2015, 4:50 PM), except I have to wait 24 hours before I can double post, or someone else needs to reply.
I think something may be wrong with me because I'm building levels faster than I can post them.
Originally posted by levelengine
So finally, I get around to making an actual winter level, in the spirit of the usual elements of the winter season (snow, cold wind).

The wind blows the player to the right, so it's also a matter of controlling your jumps and movement to dodge the many sparkys and firebars. Difficulty picks up a bit. There are quite a few ways to go about beating the level, such as using the exploding Bob-ombs to your advantage. Just keep in mind no sprite passes through the red outlines.


Now it's winter! (Dec 26, 2015)

EDIT:
Just finished another level (Dec 27, 2015, 4:50 PM), except I have to wait 24 hours before I can double post, or someone else needs to reply.
I think something may be wrong with me because I'm building levels faster than I can post them.


That obnoxious fog man. I wouldn't really enjoy playing a level that has that and wind breeze going against the player when you have enemy placement placed in ways that is there to get a cheap shot at you when you have the other two hinderances to mind about.

Though I do like the colors you used.
Modern Redrawn Mario Bros. 1.5 (last update - February 14, 2023, some new bonus frames, tons of minor touchups to various poses)

On Pixel Art Requests: Depends on what it is and if I have the time for it. If its complex and I don't have the time, don't expect me to accept it.

Projects I support:


Originally posted by StrikeForcer
That obnoxious fog man. I wouldn't really enjoy playing a level that has that and wind breeze going against the player when you have enemy placement placed in ways that is there to get a cheap shot at you when you have the other two hinderances to mind about.

Though I do like the colors you used.


Okay, good point. I never said anything about not going back to fix some levels if needed. I could easily make the later 3 mist more transparent if it's that much of a hindrance.

Now, I've had this level ready for the past hour and thanks to Strike replying I can post it earlier than 10 PM!

Arctic Surfing is a relatively fast-paced level, so you'll want to be holding the run button at all times to keep up with the level. It's mostly about dodging fish and other obstructions, while using the ice platform to get to where you need.


Arctic Surfing (Dec 27, 2015)
This one looks much more creative (not saying its fun as creativity =! fun) to play than the last level shown. I have seen this idea a few times in your hacks but I am thinking that this one appears to be more polished and hopefully less frustrating and more fun to play.
Modern Redrawn Mario Bros. 1.5 (last update - February 14, 2023, some new bonus frames, tons of minor touchups to various poses)

On Pixel Art Requests: Depends on what it is and if I have the time for it. If its complex and I don't have the time, don't expect me to accept it.

Projects I support:


Suddenly, three replies while I was typing this. The first part of this post is about your second level.

Wow the difficulty sure went up! I wonder what the final level will look like, difficulty-wise. It looks like there's more enemies than last time, and the Sparkies are now moving a lot quicker. This level does an alright job at being a fast-paced "dodge everything" kind of level, with the wind literally pushing players to move forward instead of backtrack. If there's one thing I think the level lacks, it would be longer jumps. You used the wind gimmick to scare players into potentially flying right into enemies, but not for making long, wind-assisted jumps. Also, maybe the music is a little too happy. It's a great track, though!

The aesthetics look very cold, which is of course, appropriate. The Yoshi's Island pine trees actually look really nice against the SMW cloud background. If you added ExAnimated grass and bushes swaying in the wind, it would help sell the wind effect even more. Maybe you could make the SMW clouds scroll on their own with parallax scrolling, but the fast-moving mist is fine on its own. Having white and green bushes placed in the level looked odd to me - I would stick with just white bushes. I didn't think the fog looked that obnoxious, but maybe it would be a good idea make it more transparent.

ARCTIC SURFING

I don't have too much to say about Arctic Surfing - It uses its gimmick well, and the difficulty seems to ramp up appropriately in the second-half.
Wow! This project seems great!

Among the presented levels, my preference goes to Arctic surfing. Don't know why but the gimmick is very cool.

I appreciate as well your work with palettes, it's very unique of you I'd say.

Only some oddities I've pointed from Arctic surfing, but fortunately the level is so fast-paced that these oddities don't affect the gameplay. Oddities are air-floating Blurps and Odd-moving pattern Urchins.
Especially at this moment when the Urchin seems to turn around platform and the the platform (moving ice block) leaves, rendering the Urchin finishing his pattern in an odd manner...

That's all.
Also the soundtrack is terrific!
Now we're getting to the fun and experimental stuff.

Day 4 features a thriller ghost house that takes the idea of counting down and makes it fun and also hectic. Most of the level is constructed of numbered cement blocks that count down when you jump off them, until they disappear when they hit 0. This either involves having platforms that shrink or barriers that have to be passed through. And you got to press switches.

And the music is Final Countdown.


The Final Countdown (Dec 28, 2015)
Nice level though Id suggest getting rid of the Lil'sparkies at the beginning as its not a safe introduction to the gimmick and also the arenas with the boo trails in the first quarter of the level should have its blocks be under "3" before going with a more gradual difficulty climb rather than things be hard on the onset.
Modern Redrawn Mario Bros. 1.5 (last update - February 14, 2023, some new bonus frames, tons of minor touchups to various poses)

On Pixel Art Requests: Depends on what it is and if I have the time for it. If its complex and I don't have the time, don't expect me to accept it.

Projects I support:


Oh cool some sort of puzzle level. I actually dislike puzzle levels, except when it comes to see other people solving the puzzle.

I am fond of this Boo Cannon Sprite gimmick!
I had plans for an entirely different level involving flipping the screen or flipping gravity, but got stuck working with the ASM code so I completely changed the level idea three-quarters of the way through the day.
This level was built in just 5 hours, and now revolves around dodging eggplants. Here's what happened:

Day 5:
9:00 AM: Woke up, started work on incorporating Alcaro's flip.asm patch, but tried to restrict it to one level/convert it to levelASM.

10:30 AM: Got stuck, gave up and asked about flip.asm on the forums.

12:00 PM: Switched the flipping screen gimmick to flipping gravity gimmick.

1:00 PM: Visited my cousin till about 4 PM. Talked, played Scrabble and played Guitar Hero.

4:00 PM: 4 PM and next to no level. Continued to lay stuff down.

5:00 PM: Added enemies, then figured out sprite interaction with flipping the gravity was buggy.

7:00 PM: Deleted everything done up to this point, started everything from scratch, and changed level to "Eggplant Soup". Started the foundation of the level / idea.

8:00 PM: Put together a new tileset (from pre-existing SMW graphics), using both layers 1 and 2, and layer 3 for the background. Also implemented eggplant item that hurts the player / eggplant graphic.

9:00 PM: Began to build level; reached first half at 10 PM and finished it at 11 PM.

11:00 PM: Final testing, recording video, taking screenshots, uploading to YouTube and posting here on SMWC.


Eggplant Soup (Dec 29, 2015)

Cutting it real close, finished with just 10 minutes to spare.
Someone please reply so I won't have to stay up till near midnight to post the next level!
Originally posted by levelengine
Someone please reply so I won't have to stay up till near midnight to post the next level!

Done. Also, AlcaRobot have got a feature for a buffer post.
Great level! Level design is very sweet and that tileset is just lovely, palettes are pretty good as well. The vines bother me a bit, though - it looks a bit different from the original ones, fairly sure there were a few additional tiles you could use for some variation. The previous levels seem really neat as well, so good job!
Day 6 features a tough challenge of balancing the level with hitting the ON/OFF blocks to keep the Goomba on the bridge and to not let him die. Maybe it's his friend, or there's this burden of guilt if Mario lets the Goomba die.

You'll probably need a quick set of eyes that can shift attention to both the top half and bottom half of the screen to beat this one. Chances are I may put it to the side if it's that hard for everyone else.


Spiritual Guidance (Dec 30, 2015)

EDIT: The timer always resets to 300 if you screw up and restart one of the level segments.
Another level with a novel idea, though I would probably extend the timer up 300 seconds more at a minimum because from what I saw of that gaffe in the second part would mean little room for error.
Modern Redrawn Mario Bros. 1.5 (last update - February 14, 2023, some new bonus frames, tons of minor touchups to various poses)

On Pixel Art Requests: Depends on what it is and if I have the time for it. If its complex and I don't have the time, don't expect me to accept it.

Projects I support:


So for Day 7, I had taken the level visuals from Psychobaby from Colossus, which was inspired by a Psycho Waluigi level and then expanded upon it with Dead Disco from TSRPR in mind.

So the main ideas are dodging Eeries at various speeds and motions while bouncing on note blocks, and then later avoiding and navigating Layer 2.


Void (Dec 31, 2015)

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