The Senate ~ 3 Level Demo Released!

Welcome to the C3 thread for my hack "The Senate".

So this hack started in may 2012, when I discovered how to use Custom Graphics. At first, I tried to use as many custom shiz as I could. Fortunately, I realized that wouldn't work out and started to make levels around more different styles. Now, about 14 months later, the hack is nearing it's completion.

At the moment about 90% of the levels is completed and the Overworld is finished. The story is thought out and will be written in a poetic mood. If that's done, only the beta testing is left. If the time is there, my thread will be updated and you can PM me for the 0.? version.

In the meantime, I've made a gameplay video containing short clips of many levels. I'm sorry, no demo yet, but stay tuned!

Oh hey, video link. The music is not that loud, so turn up you volume to hear the music.

*Known cutoff at the last clip (2:30)

Sincerely,
Oh Hell NOPE Chuck Testa

I was pretty impressed with what I saw. Interesting level design, a decent looking overworld are the main two things that caught my attention.

While I do like to see a hack with custom graphics and the likes, the first level you showed really didn't give a good first impression graphics-wise, for me. The redrawn graphics with the standard Super Mario World sprites and pipes really didn't look that appealing. My reaction was "is it all going to be like this?" Thankfully, it wasn't and I was very impressed afterwards. To be honest, I've never been a fan of redrawn graphics anyway, but that's just my personal preference. But yeah, the two styles in that level really didn't go. Maybe I can suggest something along the lines of the original Super Mario Bros. 3 foreground instead?

The blue castle level, which was around 1:02, looked pretty good. My only complaint there would be that the palette used doesn't look all that icy. Possibly lightening it a bit would work so it looked more slippery? Though, the blue does give a hint of ice, but with it being nighttime and all in that level, it was something that caught me by surprise when you started sliding off all over the place

As I already mentioned, your level design looks good and I like the aesthetics. You seem to have a good mix and that makes the level look that bit more appealing, I think.

As I also already mentioned at the start, the overworld looks decent, too. I noticed when you scrolled around the main overworld a bit that that were a couple of already showing red dots, while the levels were not actually opened up. My personal preference for overworlds would be to have the level tiles show up once the level has been opened up, but it's completely up to you how you do it, your style of overworlds at the end of the day. It's not a bad thing or anything.

So yeah, what I've seen does look very promising and it is something I will be sure to play upon release. Good luck with finishing it!

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Oh Hell Yes.
Honestly, based on the preview video, this definitely looks like something I would want to play. Using that Daft Punk/Pharrell song really gave the video an epic quality - I got goosebumps. I'll be checking this out as soon whenever I can. I would echo some of Tahixham's comments regarding clashiness but if the level design is solid (which it looks like it is) that doesn't bother me so much.

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[?] Miscellaneous Helpful Hints
If I moderated your hack, there was apparently a 90 percent chance it was rejected.

@Tahixham

Thank you so much for the detailed review! First, I didn't understand why that level clashed, because over the countless times I've seen it I never thought it did. Then I watched it for a minute and understood what you meant. In my opinion especially the background caused most of the trouble. Does this look better?



Also you were completely right about the not-so-icy palette of Castle 6. I hope this modification helped recognizing the slippyness.




@andy_k_250
Thank you so much. This really motivates me to improve and finally finish this hack. I'm shaking now

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Anyway, I decided to release a demo later this C3 containing 3 or 4 levels from different worlds. I hope it gets just as well-recieved as this did. Thanks again guys, this made my day.

Judging by the trailer, this really looks like this is going to be a promising hack. You really made a good use of the sprites out there, and you also have some nice level design.

My only complaint is that you seem to be using several graphic styles, which makes your hack look inconsistent visually. While I personally don't mind this, since I don't really care about visuals, you should try to stick to one style to have more consistence.

@AxemJinx
Thank you for spotting that, I'll keep it in mind.

@aj6666
Many thanks. Unfortunately the inconsistent visuality can't really be fixed anymore, but I will sure remember it when I start to make my next hack sometime in the future.

So the moment you've all been waiting for, has arrived! A demo was requested a lot, so I pulled together a 3 level playable demo containing a level from the first world, the third world and the sixth world.

Link coming in a minute

Here it is!
Link

Also 400th Post!