IPS Link
Main Reasons
You know how short stories have to make every word count? This is kind of the same situation. This hack hardly does anything blatantly wrong, but it also feels incomplete and unfulfilling. I think you have to make more of an effort to compensate for the short length with outstanding levels. You should probably also make the hack and/or levels longer.
There are only three levels, and the first two are very similar, with the same tilesets and enemy choices. I'm not saying you have to make completely unrelated levels, but you could differentiate these two more. If you look at the original game, all of the Yoshi's Island levels used different sprites, plus one had more of a vertical structure, one was a tide level with a different tileset, etc.
It's kind of pointless to place a midpoint right before the goal in 105, because (a) the chances of players dying between that spot and the goal is very low, and (b) even if players die, they don't have to repeat anything, so what's the point? Midpoints tend to fit better as a halfway point in the middle of the level somewhere. Also, I don't understand why 106 has no midpoint despite being longer than 105.
101 feels too short. It's easily half the length of the original game's levels, and there isn't enough time to develop a theme. Try to come up with more obstacles that complement what the level already has. The same could be said for 105, to an extent.
There's also the fact that all of these feel like early-game levels, so it doesn't feel like I've accomplished anything in the end. It feels more like World 1 of an incomplete hack than a complete one-world hack, if that makes sense.
You have quite a few long, flat platforms at the same height, such as on 106: 5-8. It's usually more interesting to have varied platforms of different size, shape, height, placement, etc., so long as it's not random and incoherent. I think 105 does better than 106 and 101 in this regard, but you could take it even further than that.
Finally, you could stand to be more creative with sprites. There are plenty of isolated walking enemies that players can easily jump over one after another without any effort (e.g. 106: 7-8, A-B). Using enemies in combination with each other, like you do with the sliding koopas on 105: 1, tends to be more engaging because dealing with them isn't as straightforward. I'm not telling you to spam sliding koopas in your levels, though. Also, the areas around midpoints feel a little too empty.
Basically, what it comes down to is that the hack doesn't impress enough and is over too quickly. It needs to have a much stronger focus if it's going to be this short.
Minor Issues
--Why no background in the first level?
--React fast or die situation at the beginning of 106 (i.e. move the enemy back or remove it)
--Monty mole on 106: B is hard to see because it's behind the grass. This is the only one of its kind (i.e. not introduced properly) and can cause unfair hits.
--Thwomp in 101 partially disappears (probably a sprite memory issue)
"starts in the morning."
"blue-shelled"
"butt, Mario!"
--(sublevel 2) These small gaps between blocks are awkward, especially with Yoshi. I'd suggest spacing them out more or only using one row.
--The overworld paths are so long I feel like using the fast forward key to speed things along. I realize you're trying to maximize space with only three levels, but I still think shorter paths would be better. Something you could do, though, is add more islands for decoration, because right now it looks too plain and functional. I would also stay away from perfectly rectangular islands like two of them are.
--When you defeat Iggy, the overworld music doesn't play. Normally you switch submaps after a boss, but I think there's also some way to make the music play, if you want to go that route. (If anyone remembers how, or if I'm mistaken, feel free to post)
Youtube (Main) | Youtube (Alt) | Bandcamp | DeviantART
Main Reasons
You know how short stories have to make every word count? This is kind of the same situation. This hack hardly does anything blatantly wrong, but it also feels incomplete and unfulfilling. I think you have to make more of an effort to compensate for the short length with outstanding levels. You should probably also make the hack and/or levels longer.
There are only three levels, and the first two are very similar, with the same tilesets and enemy choices. I'm not saying you have to make completely unrelated levels, but you could differentiate these two more. If you look at the original game, all of the Yoshi's Island levels used different sprites, plus one had more of a vertical structure, one was a tide level with a different tileset, etc.
It's kind of pointless to place a midpoint right before the goal in 105, because (a) the chances of players dying between that spot and the goal is very low, and (b) even if players die, they don't have to repeat anything, so what's the point? Midpoints tend to fit better as a halfway point in the middle of the level somewhere. Also, I don't understand why 106 has no midpoint despite being longer than 105.
101 feels too short. It's easily half the length of the original game's levels, and there isn't enough time to develop a theme. Try to come up with more obstacles that complement what the level already has. The same could be said for 105, to an extent.
There's also the fact that all of these feel like early-game levels, so it doesn't feel like I've accomplished anything in the end. It feels more like World 1 of an incomplete hack than a complete one-world hack, if that makes sense.
You have quite a few long, flat platforms at the same height, such as on 106: 5-8. It's usually more interesting to have varied platforms of different size, shape, height, placement, etc., so long as it's not random and incoherent. I think 105 does better than 106 and 101 in this regard, but you could take it even further than that.
Finally, you could stand to be more creative with sprites. There are plenty of isolated walking enemies that players can easily jump over one after another without any effort (e.g. 106: 7-8, A-B). Using enemies in combination with each other, like you do with the sliding koopas on 105: 1, tends to be more engaging because dealing with them isn't as straightforward. I'm not telling you to spam sliding koopas in your levels, though. Also, the areas around midpoints feel a little too empty.
Basically, what it comes down to is that the hack doesn't impress enough and is over too quickly. It needs to have a much stronger focus if it's going to be this short.
Minor Issues
--Why no background in the first level?
--React fast or die situation at the beginning of 106 (i.e. move the enemy back or remove it)
--Monty mole on 106: B is hard to see because it's behind the grass. This is the only one of its kind (i.e. not introduced properly) and can cause unfair hits.
--Thwomp in 101 partially disappears (probably a sprite memory issue)
"starts in the morning."
"blue-shelled"
"butt, Mario!"
--(sublevel 2) These small gaps between blocks are awkward, especially with Yoshi. I'd suggest spacing them out more or only using one row.
--The overworld paths are so long I feel like using the fast forward key to speed things along. I realize you're trying to maximize space with only three levels, but I still think shorter paths would be better. Something you could do, though, is add more islands for decoration, because right now it looks too plain and functional. I would also stay away from perfectly rectangular islands like two of them are.
--When you defeat Iggy, the overworld music doesn't play. Normally you switch submaps after a boss, but I think there's also some way to make the music play, if you want to go that route. (If anyone remembers how, or if I'm mistaken, feel free to post)
Youtube (Main) | Youtube (Alt) | Bandcamp | DeviantART