11C: Artillery Auberge - yoshicookiezeus - World 7

Originally posted by GN

I agree with this, but I also think the girders would look better and more unique if they were a little more green, since Vic Rattlehead already used gray girders(++) in his level.

Edit: Wait a bit. Looking through the thread again, the first girder palette you had was actually really good. Any reason to as why you changed it? :o

Mostly because a gray palette fits the level theme much better than a camouflage brown-and-green one. Also, isn't Velocity Valves all the way back in world 1?

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Got a couple of new screenshots to show:

I'm almost done with the first half of the level, so expect a playable IPS of it soon. Yes, I know I'm a slow level designer D:

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A first version of the first half of the level is done, so here you go:

Artillery Auberge v0.1

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I like the consistency with the hotel's "shape" - that is, you never stray from the constant grid-styled design. You've also somehow managed to make some unique setups with it, so that's pretty cool. I don't actually have any complaints, although I'm curious about:

I was eager that you had included Yoshi in your level, but .. it doesn't look like there is even a way to get him out. What's the point of this little area?

Other than that, I enjoyed it so far. It wasn't overly hard either, despite what I initially assumed. Out of curiosity, are you planning on using those lasers you claimed for the second half of the level?

Originally posted by S.N.N.

I was eager that you had included Yoshi in your level, but .. it doesn't look like there is even a way to get him out. What's the point of this little area?

There's a bullet bill shooter just to the left of your screenshot; bounce on a bullet fired from it to get over the wall. Since you need Yoshi to get to the secret exit path, I didn't want to make it completely obvious how to get him out of there.

Originally posted by S.N.N.

Out of curiosity, are you planning on using those lasers you claimed for the second half of the level?

Indeed. The lasers work best in an autoscroll setting, so I didn't use them for the first half.

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Got quite a bit of the normal exit path done yesterday, so have some more screenshots. Designing levels that only scroll along one axis is always so much faster.

Compared to the relatively slow pace of the first half, this will be a bit more intense; the medium-speed autoscroll tends to have that effect, especially when combined with my slightly sped-up bullet shooters. To make up for this, it will be over rather quickly.

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Well, that's the normal exit path done (not counting that the goal will need to be moved to another sublevel that doesn't have autoscroll; I'm trying to think of a transition that doesn't fell completely forced). Now I just need to design the secret exit path; I'm thinking of making it some sort of low-risk puzzle, since you can't get to it if you die and restart from the midpoint. Given how you absolutely need him to get to that point, Yoshi will most likely be included in one way or another.

Also I got the laser animation fixed :D

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I had at first been hoping that you'd use floating islands a little more than you did, but I really like where this is going. The difficulty may be a little over-the-top(there's no fake difficulty from what I can see), but I have to play it for myself before I can judge that, though.
There's not really much to see yet, so I'll be waiting for the next IPS.

aran - Graces of Heaven

While it might look hard it will be a short, but intense room so I guess that's okay. I really like the lasers since you have to react quickly after getting a glimpse of where they will launch.

Awesome stuff right there, YCZ. So which BG will you be using? Maybe you should wait after someone decides to create a sky BG.

Artillery Auberge v0.2

First draft of the finished level. I'd especially like comments on the puzzle for the secret exit; judging your own puzzles is always hard, since you know the solution by default. Also please don't comment on the lack of background - you can rest assured that there will be one eventually.

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I'm loving the level and I don't have any major concerns with it besides the difficulty in the second half. Even by the standards of world 6, a couple parts are pretty extreme, especially on your first go (namely, screens 05-07). I found it extremely difficult to get past all of those splitting bullets and circle back around past that part. Other than that though, the last section was fair.

As for the secret exit .. very clever usage of Yoshi and the springboards. I was able to figure out how to get up there by dismounting Yoshi at the top platform, but I actually wasn't able to get up there with Yoshi. I probably missed something obvious though.

Anyway, I'm pretty satisfied with the level overall and I think you've done a great job of setting a real construction-like atmosphere, especially with the consistency in the girders (as I've said before). It almost feels more like an airship-styled level, given the constant bombardment from the various cannons.

Good stuff.

I found something weird:

I know there shouldn't be a star when I got the Goal Roulette. Other than that. everything fits.

Originally posted by S.N.N.

difficulty

After doing a bit more testing, I found a bug with the fast bullet shooter that makes parts of the level more annoying than it should be. I'll wait for a new base ROM version with the fixed one I posted, and see if I still need to tone down things after that.

Originally posted by S.N.N.

secret exit

Well, then it seems like I have succeeded with making the puzzle not completely obvious, at least. :V Rest assured, there is a way to get to the top while still keeping Yoshi so that you can fly up and get the SMWC coin.

Originally posted by Ripperon-X

goal

Yeah, the goal roulette doesn't seem to agree well with autoscrolling levels; if you look closely, you'll also notice that Mario slides instead of walking after getting the goal. I'm going to be moving the goal to a separate sublevel as soon as I come up with a transition that doesn't seem completely forced.

So yeah. Expect the new IPS as soon as the next base ROM update is out.

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Extras

I should have something witty to put here (even if it's just to update dated info), shouldn't I?

Advertising Space

With enough persistence, you can farm for lives here.

Not exactly too obvious that we're supposed to go up here.

You're kidding, right? (Precision jumping.)

Pretty annoying jump to make and there's a good chance that it'll be too late before you realize what you have to do.

I'll edit this post later.

Well, it seems like a final version is going to have to wait a while longer, since one of my custom sprites seem to have gone mysteriously absent from the latest base ROM. While I'm waiting for a new update, I'll be working on perfecting the first room.

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Which sprite was that? I updated the base ROM a couple of days ago and made sure I grabbed everything, so if something slipped through the cracks, I'll want to get it fixed immediately.

The missing sprite is the splitting bullet (the download's here, in case you lost the sprite completely). And since the shooter in the base ROM still seems to be the old version, here's the updated one.

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I would like to apologize for the lack of updates; college just started this week, and as such I've been rather busy. Also, I'm going to be gone for Friday evening and most of Saturday, but I'll try to get a new version (the final one?) ready as soon as possible once I get home.

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I've inserted those fixed sprites you sent me the other day. Did you get a chance to test them out yet? I'm a little worried they might still be acting like the old ones, especially since I'm sure I've inserted them several times already.

The laser sound effect is still not triggered at the correct time, although an inspection reveals that that appears to be my fault for not testing the new code properly. :V However, the splitting bullets have returned to the base ROM, which means that I can finally post this:

Artillery Auberge v1.0

Notes:
- The SMWC coins really don't seem to agree well with screen boundaries, especially in vertical levels. I assume that this is going to be fixed at a later date.
- I still don't have a layer 3 background; my request for one seems to have been skimmed over, so I guess it's time to repost it.
- Mario's feet seem to be misaligned with his body while swimming.

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