Language…
19 users online:  Alex, DanMario24YT, Dennsen86, derv82, Domokun007, drkrdnk, Fozymandias, GRIMMKIN, h.carrell, iRhyiku, Maw, Metal-Yoshi94, Nayfal, prisvag, Red2010, Silver_Revolver, sinseiga, steelsburg, yno14jax - Guests: 292 - Bots: 379
Users: 64,795 (2,374 active)
Latest user: mathew

Claustrophobia [1-screen kaizo-light challenges]

Kaizo

  • Pages:
  • 1
  • 2
*** changed thread title. Calling it "puzzles" could be misleading.



So this is the 2nd hack im making.
It will be only 1-screen levels, action focused, with some puzzle elements.

for this hack all the sprites will be vanilla (i intend to make a Claustrophobia II using mostly custom sprites and custom blocks)

but ill change all foreground/background with some dark themed stuff, inspired by movies like Saw, Hellraiser, artists like Beksinski, architects like Libeskind, Tadao Ando.
ill probably change the mario gfx with a custom character.

ive already made the levels (96 + 10 bosses)
from now on ill make it look good and try to make some music for it

as of now its just vanilla.. but the setups are basically done.







I wonder if 1-screen-levels mean that the level are really only 1 screen and then you get the goal or if 1 level can consist of multiple 1-screen-puzzles?

Judging the gifs you´ve presented here: The levels seem to be quite well designed. It´s also impressive that you were able to make 96 levels. That´s pretty much for kaizo.

However as you said, you should improve the aesthetics now. Even if floating munchers/spikes aren´t enough for rejecting this hack, it would be nice if you find a decent way to replace these. And maybe some backgrounds would be nice, too #tb{:]}








Originally posted by Sariel
I wonder if 1-screen-levels mean that the level are really only 1 screen and then you get the goal or if 1 level can consist of multiple 1-screen-puzzles?

Judging the gifs you´ve presented here: The levels seem to be quite well designed. It´s also impressive that you were able to make 96 levels. That´s pretty much for kaizo.

However as you said, you should improve the aesthetics now. Even if floating munchers/spikes aren´t enough for rejecting this hack, it would be nice if you find a decent way to replace these. And maybe some backgrounds would be nice, too #tb{:]}


considering the difficulty of some levels (most leves are probably beatable blind in less than 5 minutes, but there were screens that took me over 20 minutes to beat not blind lol) the levels are only 1 screen except for the levels that have bosses that have the 1 screen level + the boss.
im considering making some more levels and have levels with 2 or 3 screens so i can add a 2nd exit for some of them

now im trying to sort the levels so it have a nice difficulty curve and fix some problems caused by a patch i intend to use.

the gfx part will probably not take long since i alredy know how to do it. Im a bit worried with the music since ive never ported anything, but ill try to get this done by the end of this year.


Originally posted by NaroGugul
Im a bit worried with the music since ive never ported anything, but ill try to get this done by the end of this year.

I'd recommend just using the music already on the site for that one. Music porting is somewhat wonky and difficult, especially if you're not already musically-oriented and familiar with certain production techniques. Using other people's ports will give you less control over your choice of music of course, but trying to do everything yourself will be a pretty big strain.


Anyway though, I mentioned this on Discord but it's worth reiterating here, I'm really impressed with the design of the levels you've shown. A lot of "one-screen level" kind of hacks I've seen just kinda have Mario take a generally linear path through the room, which kinda leads to a predictable design. Yours wrap around and reuse parts to make that style more interesting, feeling less like "one-screen" and more like an actual level. If all the levels showcase similar creativity, I'm eager to see the finished hack.

Professional frame-by-frame time wizard. YouTube - Twitter - SMW Glitch List - SMW Randomizer
Originally posted by Thomas
Originally posted by NaroGugul
Im a bit worried with the music since ive never ported anything, but ill try to get this done by the end of this year.

I'd recommend just using the music already on the site for that one. Music porting is somewhat wonky and difficult, especially if you're not already musically-oriented and familiar with certain production techniques. Using other people's ports will give you less control over your choice of music of course, but trying to do everything yourself will be a pretty big strain.


Anyway though, I mentioned this on Discord but it's worth reiterating here, I'm really impressed with the design of the levels you've shown. A lot of "one-screen level" kind of hacks I've seen just kinda have Mario take a generally linear path through the room, which kinda leads to a predictable design. Yours wrap around and reuse parts to make that style more interesting, feeling less like "one-screen" and more like an actual level. If all the levels showcase similar creativity, I'm eager to see the finished hack.


im very familiar with music composing softwares and midi. And ive seen midi can be a source for porting so ill give it a try. Not expecting any really great result for this first time though.

about the levels, the gifs are just some random levels. most have the same feel, but of course the complexity of the levels may vary. Will post more when i have some gfx with the final concept done
so janky ive had to post

Behold
the Incredible Jank Machine:


it took me 43 minutes to beat this screen.. lol

(yes, you have to wait for the right time to throw the block, otherwise it would kill the shell too)
so after yesterdays frustration ive changed that level a bit
only some slight modifications, but the level is so much easier now

Really liking this one-screen concept you thought of here. Some people tend to use it for only very boring shit, but you nailed it.

I personally think having to wait for the throw block to end while doing nothing is kinda boring, but that's just me. Can't wait to see more levels in that style!
Windowless ride, feeling alive
Are you alive or just breathing?
A 96-exit kaizo hack sounds promising! A kaizo hack with 96 distinct challenges, each on just one screen, is a better idea! I know it's the beta aesthetics phase, but when you finish this hack, fix floating munchers, add backgrounds and do something with the cement blocks. They look plain and boring.
I have a Discord server as well! (by joining, you agree to the rules)
-----
Basically, I believe in peace and bashing two bricks together.

Reread the posts above yours. He said he's planning to improve the aesthetics.
Windowless ride, feeling alive
Are you alive or just breathing?
Ive been dealing with a lots of problems with patches and things id like to have in the hack, but now i think ive got almost everything solved.

ive made literally 4 overworlds without great result, then decided to go with the simplest option.



it will look something like this (ill change borders, etc but this is the concept. it was kind of inspired by the movie "Cube")
the ow is something like a lot of dark rooms the player can choose to enter at which order he wants.
the light will turn on when he beat the level.

for every 8 levels there will be a boss fight, doesnt matter which level order its being played. 96 levels + 12 bosses (ive made 2 more bosses to fit the concept)


But for now ive decided to take a little break from this hack to work on an update to my hack The Joy of Kaizo while its still fresh.
so now that ive finished the Joy of Kaizo update im back at it.

Started making some ExGfx. Ive only made the first 5 levels. and by the pace im doing it it will take a LOOONG time to finish, since i want every level to be unique with its own exgfx/palette, and im makin it from scratch.

this first level ive posted the vanilla gif before







Just logging it here as i havent updated in a while

I wasnt very motivated to work on it and had the bright idea to change almost every level, so everything is going very slow.

As posted on Discord, here are a couple of before/after levels (vanilla gfx at the moment)













Anyway.. i believe im almost done with all the levels (again)
Exgfx are about 50% done
Ive started composing some music (im looking forward to compose about 30-40 short songs for it.. mostly influenced by 80s Shrapnel guitarists)
Very simple but creative stuff! Feels like an iwbtg type game, like a rom hack that could be a standalone title, rather than a smw kaizo hack as such. Refreshing to see something that at least looks original, rather than just combining things (and more abstract layouts, structures, and level progression) we've already seen before plenty in other hacks. Fantastic use of non-linearity and I look forward to the finished product :)
I mentioned this in the Discord but I really like how you set this up. I feel like Kaizo levels should be as chaotic as possible and forcing everything to be on one screen really helps with forcing you to pack as much as you can into a tiny space.

I'm definitely interested in the custom music, too!
Well.. i have been working very slowly on this.. but i can show you some of the music..
i havent composed much in years, so the music will probably not be very good.. so far ive wrote about 6 songs and a intro/credits song.. its still unsampled in midi format.. ive converted a couple to mp3 so you can hear it..

https://bin.smwcentral.net/u/32064/1.mp3
https://bin.smwcentral.net/u/32064/2.mp3
https://bin.smwcentral.net/u/32064/Intro.mp3

the intro.mp3 ive originally wrote for 'The Joy of Kaizo' ghost forest level, but i was too lazy to port it. I think it will fit well as a intro/credits music for this hack.

im not sure how much i will change any of this songs.. lets say they are still on beta fase.. but you can have an idea of what im aiming for.
Not really showing anything, but im very happy to say ive finally finished all the levels. #tb{:DD}

Theres more bullshit than you can ever imagine!!

From now on ill just focus on updating the gfx and making the music.
I havent updated here in a while.
but yeah, the hack is finished and ill be releasing it probably on May 1st.

From the original post a few things have changed

- At the beginning i wanted some darker atmosphere, but ive went to the most "colorful" side. Every level has its own palette/foreground/background, and hopefully it fits well with the smw style.

- I havent used my own music. It turned out to be a really time demanding task to make and port all the music, and im not very motivated to do that, so ive ended using music from the smwc music section.

- Pretty much all sprites are vanilla. Ive only inserted one custom sprite, which is the creating/eating thing. But ive ended using asm to slightly change the behavior of some vanilla sprites (mostly just to adapt it to my needs).

- Added a TUTORIAL mode just to show some features you might find in the hack

- Added a RACE mode, which is pretty much a kind of randomizer that select a few random levels based on a given number sequence. Could be used to race the levels with friends or maybe just for some practice.


Thats pretty much it.. there will be jank, there will be tight spots.. hopefully everything will be bearable and doesnt take away the fun out of the hack.

Overall im really proud of what i was able to accomplish here and i really hope you will enjoy it.
really cannot wait for this to be released :D
  • Pages:
  • 1
  • 2

Kaizo