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UNORIGINAL - Discussion Thread

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Originally posted by Darolac
This seems actually pretty good. I like the design a lot and every setup seems to be well thought. I'm actually very interested in see how this goes forward.


Appreciate it! Hopefully I can keep the momentum up and not get impatient. :P
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Another level! This time, I'm starting to focus world by world, and this level in particular is going to be a World 1 level if things play out. Speaking of which, included is a brief preview of the first world map for the hack. The level in particular is what happens when you take Yoshi's Island 4 and go more frantic with it. Like many of the levels so far, I'm focused on catching the player off guard, but the biggest issue right now is that since this is a first world level, I've got to focus on not going all out on the difficulty. I'm not creating a Kaizo hack, but I don't want to make it easy. Enjoy!



(P.S. The name is odd. I know. It was originally going to be called "Lakeside Havoc", but I felt that was a bit generic. For some reason, I was thinking of "West Side Story" and decided to come up with a name that rhymed somewhat. Yes. This is true.)
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Loved it, it looks really fun to play. Some of the most hectic setups give me a lowkey Rise to the Challenge vibe. I like the usage of the conveyors as an aggravator. The level looks difficult for most world ones, but I'm all for hacks on the harder side~
It's easily the best thing I've done
So why the empty numb?
Originally posted by Koopster
Loved it, it looks really fun to play. Some of the most hectic setups give me a lowkey Rise to the Challenge vibe. I like the usage of the conveyors as an aggravator. The level looks difficult for most world ones, but I'm all for hacks on the harder side~


Thanks. That hack is actually what really inspired me to go back into making SMW hacks recently. I watched some video of it and it just sparked an idea. I'm planning on toning down the difficulty a bit, because there are some areas that can really throw the player off too much, but it won't be a huge dip in difficulty. It's always difficult to get the difficulty right since the community is always asking for more challenge. :P
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I don't think this music choice is good. Stage 1 of Sky Shark has a dope theme, but in my opinion, it isn't a good fit for a layer 3 water level. I'd suggest that you take more time to look for a better song, preferably using tags.
I have a Discord server as well! (by joining, you agree to the rules)
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Basically, I believe in peace and bashing two bricks together.

Originally posted by 7 up
I don't think this music choice is good. Stage 1 of Sky Shark has a dope theme, but in my opinion, it isn't a good fit for a layer 3 water level. I'd suggest that you take more time to look for a better song, preferably using tags.


Thanks. I'm definitely looking into other options as I'm thinking of ways to restructure the level to create a better feeling with the gameplay. I'm not just there yet with what I'm trying to do with the level and I don't want to make it a repeat of some of the previous levels where it's all about the fast paced action. Since it is a first world level, I'm needing to go with a slower paced feeling.
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Nice! #smw{:TUP:}
Originally posted by loganj551
Nice! #smw{:TUP:}


Thanks bud! All the well on your project!
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Well, it's time for a big update! It's so big, I'll have to put headings on each section to make it easier to read.

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The C3 Experience

If you haven't been on the site as of late or you're on it and just plain lazy, C3 was a thing last weekend. Contrary to what my profile medals show, this was actually the first time I ever attended a C3 (I still don't know why that medal is on there, I need to get it off). I immediately thought to myself, "What's a better way to get exposure and some critical feedback than C3". So, without hesitation, I decided to reverse my plans on the demo that I previously canned, fix it up a bit, and come up with all the promotional material to show it off in the best light. This was actually a multiple day project (I only have two hours per day to really work on this).

The overall reaction to the hack was far past my expectations. The fact that people were enjoying the experience and comparing it to Mario World romps from yesteryear, it basically lined up with the goals I had with the project in the first place. I wanted this to be treated as a throwback, first and foremost. I like it when a player takes what they are given and utilizes it to their advantage. The Vanilla Level Design Contest is a testament to that.

While there was plenty of positive feedback, there was some negative feedback as well, which I welcome. There were issues I had known about before but left in because my play style is different than others. If everyone else had the same issue, then I know it's not just something related to me. So I went through the threads, listened to the SMW Central Twitch stream, and even talked with others about the hack, and I compiled a list of things that need to be addressed with the four levels showcased. They'll seriously be considered!

Overall, I really enjoyed the C3 event. I really felt like I was part of the community and it was one of the main things that brought me to SMW Central in the first place. It was just everyone showing off all their creations and being so enthusiatic about it. There were plenty of impressive items and stuff to look forward to. There seemed to be a lot of quality throughout, and even the things that weren't the best were charming in their own right. It was very positive throughout.

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The UNORIGINAL Goodies at C3

What was revealed for UNORIGINAL at C3, you may ask?

Well, as you read, I had released the demo that I originally planned back in June. If you missed that, it will be below this paragraph. Additionally, it will be featured on the first post of the thread. One of the levels released was never actually shown off until C3, and that was Glimmering Tundra. New videos were also posted of the levels in the demo in the event that people couldn't play it yet, and these were different than the ones posted previously, so the links to the old ones will still be up along with the new ones.

Click here to check out the demo!
ORIGINAL DEMO REMOVED; CHECK NEXT POST FOR NEW DEMO!

Additionally, a new level was shown off: Jogging in Place.



This is aiming to be an early level, perhaps after Simple Enough, but we'll see how that goes. It's another remake of a Super Mario Maker 2 I did last year, but with some compromising here and there to make it feel different than that.

Two other levels were shown to be in production but only a few images were given to the public. These images were too big, so I have to link them unfortunately.

The first was Net Neutrality (Image Here). This level is aiming to be a castle level that is a spin on Iggy's Castle. I always felt that Nintendo missed the potential with the net gimmick in the original Mario World. So, I wanted to experiment with they could be used efficiently. The biggest issue is making the encounters not just a simple "move here and avoid the baddies".

The other was Nightly Hijinks (Image Here) The idea with this level is to utilize the grey rotating platforms in interesting scenarios. This level was just started late last night because I couldn't go to bed, so the details are real fuzzy. I think it started from listening to Tamaki's port of Roller Coaster, and it made me want to make a level utilizing the song. This one will be tough to make, because I want it to be a calm experience, but since it will be a later level, the difficulty will have to ramp up as a result.

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The future of UNORIGINAL (as of now)

As for the future of the project, it's always hard to say what will happen next.

For the time being, I will be taking a small break on the project. It not because of fatigue or anything. It's just I have personal matters to attend to. I will work on it in small chunks, but not a huge amount of progress. In this time, I'll also think of where I want to go with the project and how I want to move forward.

My next goal is to release a bigger chunk of the game by the next Winter C3. With this one, I plan to have a few worlds in place and the levels that were shown should be polished. However, as I said, it's always hard to say what will happen next.

I want to also have some play testers onboard. My goal is to release regular builds to a select group of testers who would give me detailed feedback on a set of levels or other aspects of the project. Detail should be coming on that sooner or later!

One of the bigger concerns I have for the future is the bosses. If you've seen the plot of the hack on the first page, you'll know that it doesn't involve Bowser. The problem comes with how I'll implement them. Do I go a Rise to The Challenge route and not have any? Do I have some but implement the sprites? Or do I try to work the Koopa Kids into the mix? Only time will tell.

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Whew! That was a mouthful. Thank you all once again for the continue support. Have a great day! :)
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IMPORTANT!

The first demo of UNORIGINAL was rejected from SMW Central due to a soft lock in Glimmering Tundra where the player could fly up to pipes in the area where they come across the first question block. From there, the player could head to left and go between the pipes with a cement block the Swoopers fly from. With that, the player would be stuck with no way out except letting the time out.

That version has been removed from the site and the link to it has been removed from the thread. Click the link below to access the new demo:

CLICK HERE!

Thank you!
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I'd suggest using Level Constraint to fix those type of soft locks
Originally posted by Ninja Boy
I'd suggest using Level Constraint to fix those type of soft locks


Man. There's a patch for everything. I really was out of the loop on this hobby, was I? Thanks once again, NB! :)
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I know I said I was going to take a break on the project for awhile, but as my history proves, I can't keep commitments. :P

Here's a sneak preview of one of the new levels I teased at C3: Net Neutrality.

This one is a bit of a departure from the other levels I've posted. Like I said, I wanted to utilize the net gimmick from Mario World in a more unconventional way, just because why not? This is definitely not all the level and is just meant to show off some of the gimmick to the level. It's all VERY rough at the moment. The hardest part is trying to figure out how to keep it expanded throughout the entire level.



Here's a preview of another level I teased: Nightly Hijinks.

This one is supposed to be like you're on a really janky roller coaster. This will be meant for the later world especially, due to all the precise jumps that have to be made, but I'm trying to make it a bit calmed given the music and atmosphere. We'll see how it pans out! Any suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks! :)


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Hey folks!

It has been a couple of weeks since the last update. Things personally have been a bit wonky and I haven't been motivated as much to do anything. Thankfully, I'm getting back into the groove of things and working on the project again.

But first off, some exciting news!

If you haven't seen the Summer C3 2020 results yet, I would like to say that UNORIGINAL won something! It won 2nd Place in the Best Demo SMW Hack category, being tied with Mr. MS' Mario - The Mysterious Gems. It lost again a demo to a hack that is a remaster of one of my favorite hacks (Rilla's New Super Mario World 1), so losing to that, oddly enough, was a bit of an honor. Either way, I thank those that voted for me in the competition. The fact that I won an award at all made me smile. :)

For that, I want to give you guys a little something special. This is a bit of a spoiler for later on, but I'm too excited to keep it a secret that I had to just show it (even though the Discord has seen it, mostly).

Behold! The Last Stop



Yes. It's a Kaizo level inside a SMW hack trying to cater to old-school fans. I've gone mad with power. :P

Let me explain: I'm intending on creating a final challenge as sort of a surprise for the players who manage to complete all of the game, and this would be their reward. Yep. A Kaizo level as a reward. Ironic, don't you think?

I'm aiming on it being a light Kaizo difficulty, because, truth be told, I suck at the hardcore stuff, but I want it difficult enough while still being entertaining. For the Kaizo buffs, tell me what you think. It's my first serious Kaizo level and I would like some suggestions.

And no, the rest of the game will NOT be like this. This is pretty much when the player has beaten the rest of the game. How I'll do that however, only time will tell.

Also, Jogging in Place has been finally finished. I'm working on the levels I showed that were partially finished and not in the demo, so I'm hoping those will be done by next month. When that happens, I'll make sure to provide some screenshots so I won't keep you waiting!

Thanks everyone for the support!
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I'm pretty pleased by the castle. You seem to have some good ideas, but to add a bit more spice to it, you could insert spotlight blocks for you to get through, spinjumpable sprites under nets as a shortcut for a dragon coin, and so forth. You could draw inspiration from The Flipside, an ancient VLDC level focused entirely on nets.

This latest level is an absolute banger for a kaizo level. The obstacles are well spread so far. Make sure to not go too overboard with difficulty since it's supposed to be a kaizo inside a regular hack, and be varied and fun in the level design department.
Windowless ride, feeling alive
Are you alive or just breathing?
Originally posted by Katerpie
I'm pretty pleased by the castle. You seem to have some good ideas, but to add a bit more spice to it, you could insert spotlight blocks for you to get through, spinjumpable sprites under nets as a shortcut for a dragon coin, and so forth. You could draw inspiration from The Flipside, an ancient VLDC level focused entirely on nets.

This latest level is an absolute banger for a kaizo level. The obstacles are well spread so far. Make sure to not go too overboard with difficulty since it's supposed to be a kaizo inside a regular hack, and be varied and fun in the level design department.


I don't know how I didn't realize I could utilize the spotlight blocks in that way. I tend to underestimate some of the exploits you could use to make some interesting gimmicks. I'll definitely have to think about how to utilize them without the setups being very obvious.

Also, yes, I plan not to go overboard on the Kaizo level. It's really difficult not to do that sometimes, but I think I'll be able to pull it off. :P
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Well, I decided to poke around with Net Neturality thanks to suggestions from Katerpie (as seen a few posts ago), and I've come up with a new preview. Take a look!


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Some time has passed for sure. Almost three weeks! Time for an update!

So I haven't been on the project as much as I would have hoped for a couple of reasons:

1) If you haven't seen it, I've finally decided to put myself in a VLDC for once. The level has been completed and you can view that thread here.

2) I've been dealing with some personal issues, some of which are due to "you know what". I'm slowly getting around to them, but needless to say, it has been tough.

I had to take a break from the project because I was starting to get a bit strained on my ideas, and when that happens, you end up with garbage. It's always best to step back and try again later.

With that said, I have some content I would like to share.

First off, a video of the full version of one of the levels I showed off at C3: Jogging in Place.



I'm very satisfied with the first part, but it's always the second part that gets you. For right now, I think it'll do the trick, but I may go back and rework it when I have the time.

Second, I wanted to talk about a couple of concepts I have in the works.

One of them is known as Spirit-Filled Sea.



Can you guess what this is supposed to be?

I want this one to be somewhere midway through the game. It's a take on the Sunken Ghost Ship level from the original Super Mario World, trying to emphasize more on the atmosphere while making the level fun to play. Water makes that hard enough on its own, but when you combine the Boos, it becomes a nightmare. It was originally going to be a fish level, but I wanted to try something different. Even though I'm going for a SMW-style to the hack, it doesn't mean I don't want to try something new (Hence levels like "Net Neutrality").

The other idea is Yoshi in The Sky.



I'm planning on having this be a link between the normal overworld and the special world. Essentially, one half, you'll be on the Yoshi in a typical grass level, then the next half, you'll be in the sky, flying with the blue Yoshi. My issue is how to accomplish this. Do I stick with the Blue Yoshi throughout the ENTIRE level? If I do, that breaks it and limits my options on enemies. If I choose to have a normal Yoshi and use the wings powerup, that would be the ticket, but the issue there is I can't have any gaps or the level will end (Unless there's a patch for that).

Any suggestions would be great on how to advance these levels!

That's all I have for now. Have a great day! :)
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Wow! Two months already? Time certainly does fly, eh?

I just wanted to come here and say that the project is on hold at the moment. Ever since mid-August, things have been... well, a bit hectic personally. Not going into the details of it all, but it's easy to say that many here can relate. It essentially got to the point that I was not motivated to do anything, including talk with others and even go out. I was under some major depression. I'm getting a bit better, but it's still rough.

For the next two months, I'll be pretty much flooded in work. I'll be working on two eight-week courses, a proposal for an independent study for next semester, and assisting my father with teaching him how to write his dissertation (Formatting and the research terms, the works). Needless to say, when I do get free time, it's usually one hour a day, maybe two if I'm lucky. I won't be able to work on the project until December, and even then, I'm still going to have to work on my study since it will have to be completed within three months.

I do apologize for the reality of the matter. Even though I am very proud of the success the project has had (despite the simplicity of it), it's something I can't work on for a regular basis. Things have changed since I first registered here in 2006 (before the wipeout), and I'm constantly working on my priorities. It's a hobby, and nothing more. If it was something that wasn't just a modification of a 30-year-old game and it was my job, then it would be different.

Regardless, I do appreciate the support with the project since the end of May. I didn't even think I would release a demo or participate in a C3, but I finally did and showed what I could do. It's not the most impressive thing, but that's not the point of my project. It's to feel at home. Especially in a time where the world is on literal fire, I think we need a departure from the future and look at what got us here.

Thank you very much, and if you have any suggestions on what I could do for the future of this project, please feel free to send it my way. :)
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Aaaaaand I'm back! Now that I've got a new PC and much of my school out of the way, I can put some focus on this project now. I've already been underway on working with the level I last posted video about: Seeing Some Saws. Well, unfortunately, not much has happened since then, but I've went back and gave the portion I showed off a complete overhaul. More saws, more trickery, the works. I've also went ahead and copied over the second part of the level, because I felt people liked that part more than the first. That's not to say it will be the same. In fact, it's also going to have some major changes to make the level more consistent. You can check it out in the video below.

Also in the video, you can see some footage of the two levels I showed off previously, which now I'm thinking they may be scrapped because they don't offer anything fun for the player. I'm not sure, but I'll have to look into it. Anyways, keep checking for more updates soon!


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