[download zip]
Review:
I've played mostly the whole hack, and the amount of content you've put into this hack is definitely impressive. It starts out nice and easy, but then quickly, it gets insanely hard. That would be just okay, but the length of the final levels (especially the "Star Road" ones) is simply waay too much for anyone's liking, in my opinion. To be extremely honest, I used the L+A debug "cheat" to finish the "Essential Super Mario World" level, and it took me more than 15 (!!!) minutes to fly through the level. I think any simple (or let's just say, not crazy hardcore) player would get bored after the first few minutes.
Let's talk about the level design and overall gameplay now. You used lots of different elements to build your levels, and they are usually really enjoyable. The structure, the enemy usage, the whole flow of the hack reminds me very much of the original SMW levels, making it feel like a "remix" of the game. You've got a nice talent to build great levels, I just think you went a bit over-the-top at the end of the hack...
True thing, that this reason wouldn't be simply enough to remove the hack. Let's see the actual problems now.
1. the custom music breaks the hack in accurate emulators. Unfortunately, this is a very strong removal reason now. If you read the Hack Submission Guidelines:
I recommend you to test your hack in bsnes before submitting it to the site. If it doesn't break in bsnes, it's not likely that it will anywhere else.
To make your hack SNES-compatible, use Addmusic 4.05, and re-download every song you used from the Music section. If you want to try a newer and more advanced addmusic tool, check out AddmusicK.
2. Glitchy graphics/sprites. Unfortunately, this happened a couple of times.
3. Bad palettes. No offense, but some of your levels weren't really eye-friendly.
4. Confusing/cryptic level design. It's absolutely fine if you put puzzle levels into your hack, but if the player simply cannot figure out, how to beat the level, because it's just a huge pipe maze or some other very hidden thing, it's simply not enjoyable anymore. I had to open the hack in Lunar Magic quite a few times to actually check how to beat the level. You know, it's one thing that you know, how to beat the level, but you have to think about the players, too.
Verdict:
It's unfortunate, that I have to remove this hack because of these reasons, because I actually enjoyed playing most of it. But don't worry, I think these things are actually easily fixable, and if you're done, you'll have a nice, big "traditional" hack! And don't forget one thing: test, test, test! It's very important to have good beta testers, so they can point out every problem for you.
---
To the userbase, who also played the hack: what do you think? Were the endgame levels really that bad? Would you accept this hack if it wasn't for the custom music and other minor things? Feel free to post your opinion. Even if it's removed for now, the author might fix the errors and re-submit the hack, so your thoughts are valuable.
+1
Review:
I've played mostly the whole hack, and the amount of content you've put into this hack is definitely impressive. It starts out nice and easy, but then quickly, it gets insanely hard. That would be just okay, but the length of the final levels (especially the "Star Road" ones) is simply waay too much for anyone's liking, in my opinion. To be extremely honest, I used the L+A debug "cheat" to finish the "Essential Super Mario World" level, and it took me more than 15 (!!!) minutes to fly through the level. I think any simple (or let's just say, not crazy hardcore) player would get bored after the first few minutes.
Let's talk about the level design and overall gameplay now. You used lots of different elements to build your levels, and they are usually really enjoyable. The structure, the enemy usage, the whole flow of the hack reminds me very much of the original SMW levels, making it feel like a "remix" of the game. You've got a nice talent to build great levels, I just think you went a bit over-the-top at the end of the hack...
True thing, that this reason wouldn't be simply enough to remove the hack. Let's see the actual problems now.
1. the custom music breaks the hack in accurate emulators. Unfortunately, this is a very strong removal reason now. If you read the Hack Submission Guidelines:
Quote
4. Your hack must be compatible with the newest version of all major emulators (ZSNES, Snes9x, bsnes).
Exceptions can be made if absolutely necessary so long as you warn players in the description, but easily avoidable incompatibilities (e.g. custom music) will not be accepted.
Exceptions can be made if absolutely necessary so long as you warn players in the description, but easily avoidable incompatibilities (e.g. custom music) will not be accepted.
I recommend you to test your hack in bsnes before submitting it to the site. If it doesn't break in bsnes, it's not likely that it will anywhere else.
To make your hack SNES-compatible, use Addmusic 4.05, and re-download every song you used from the Music section. If you want to try a newer and more advanced addmusic tool, check out AddmusicK.
2. Glitchy graphics/sprites. Unfortunately, this happened a couple of times.
3. Bad palettes. No offense, but some of your levels weren't really eye-friendly.
4. Confusing/cryptic level design. It's absolutely fine if you put puzzle levels into your hack, but if the player simply cannot figure out, how to beat the level, because it's just a huge pipe maze or some other very hidden thing, it's simply not enjoyable anymore. I had to open the hack in Lunar Magic quite a few times to actually check how to beat the level. You know, it's one thing that you know, how to beat the level, but you have to think about the players, too.
Verdict:
It's unfortunate, that I have to remove this hack because of these reasons, because I actually enjoyed playing most of it. But don't worry, I think these things are actually easily fixable, and if you're done, you'll have a nice, big "traditional" hack! And don't forget one thing: test, test, test! It's very important to have good beta testers, so they can point out every problem for you.
---
To the userbase, who also played the hack: what do you think? Were the endgame levels really that bad? Would you accept this hack if it wasn't for the custom music and other minor things? Feel free to post your opinion. Even if it's removed for now, the author might fix the errors and re-submit the hack, so your thoughts are valuable.
+1