I've gone through multiple ideas with this level. I originally wanted to build a "downward vertical cave level that leads into a secret underground castle" type of thing, but it wasn't working out, and the sprites I wanted to use were incompatible with the vertical level mode, which killed my motivation for that level. I really really don't want to drop out of ANOTHER contest, So...



I'm posting this now to get a few opinions on the graphics for this level. What do you think of the tileset? I feel that it's a little undecorated, but I do like how the ground turned out. I want to add some flashy palette animations to spice things up, but I haven't found the tiles for that yet. I'll do that later.

The foreground tiles are from the Ghost House crates, the ground is from the Switch Palace, the stair slopes come from the arches in the Grassland tileset, the slanted cross section tiles come from the diagonal pipes from Yoshi's Island 1, and the little decorations inside the wall come from various pieces of the rom. I believe the heart is from the ending sequence with Peach, the diamond is from the Mushroom tileset, the star is from the status bar, I think? Finally, the mushroom comes from the overworld screen. I've recolored a lot of tiles to add shadows and added background color to the cross-section wall decorations.. Is that against the rules?

Chuck's Playhouse will feature a lot of Chargin' Chucks to keep Mario busy. I think there's plenty of gimmicks to explore with Chargin' Chuck and their variations, such as their ability to break through Turn Blocks and their penchant to hop over blocks on the floor. The "subtheme" of this level is jumping enemies (parakoopa, ninji) and note blocks. After all, what fun is a funhouse without some bouncy action? I'm planning to have 3 main rooms in this level, and 1 room for the secret exit.

I was thinking of having this first room take place indoors. Good idea?

I've restarted the design of this level literally a billion times, and I still don't think I've found a decent introduction yet. It still feels bland to play through... Honestly, it's a little frustrating!

I'm also already out of FG Map16 tiles! 750 to 79F all filled up. Oops. I hope I'll find a way to make more space.

Here's the background palette I made for this level. Check out that gradient

The aesthetic style on this one looks amazing. I really love that little shadow you added, it's so simple yet it really adds a lot to the style. The decoration you have is satisfactory, no need to add more, it might begin to look overdecorated. 10/10 for that.



I'm generally not a fan of vanilla gradients (inb4 hyopcrite) and your's isn't really an exception to that. It doesn't really blend all that smoothly, which is something that always bothered me.

Hm, you're right about the stairs. Let me try to fix them...



For some bizarre reason, this image got discolored in the uploading process. Don't mind that. Anyway, I tried to improve the tile choice. I think it looks better.



I know what you mean. I typically prefer real HDMA gradients to vanilla gradients, but there's not too much I can do about its blockiness with vanilla tiles. I'll play around with it once I finish the level design.

I really like the shadow beneath the stair, it's a really nice touch.

For the image you just linked, it really feels like there is a third dimension now; the stairs look 3D.

Also the vanilla gradients don't look terrible for vanilla. There really is no need to worry about that. It's a very small part of your level overall, and the foreground graphics will overshadow the background palettes any day, unless your background palettes are eye-searing.

Woah, that's actually very creative tileset mixing! The foreground walls make me think of a castle level from Yoshi's Island, something I didn't think could be accomplished in Vanilla.

As for palette animation, I dunno. Your tileset already looks good enough to me, I think an animated palette would be overdoing it.

--------------------

Very creative use of both the ghost house and switch palace graphics. I also love the 3D look you've gone for on those stairs.

Interesting palette, I like it a lot. Your graphics mixing is also very nice, especially the shading in the stars. Keep up the great work.

Very nice idea! I hope the level manages to be as interesting as the tileset you've created.

I really like the look of this level. Nice work combining different elements to achieve a funhouse look.



I've got about a quarter page left of unused Map16 if you need it.

Thanks for the replies everybody. I hope my level doesn't dissapoint.



My original vision for this level was to have some small lights on the foreground similar to Tricky Trapeze Theater from Super Mario 3D World. I think I'm heading towards a different direction, though.



Me too!



Thank you for your offer! I may take you up on it soon, but I managed to reduce my Map16 footprint a little bit. I'm pretty sure I'll have enough space now, I hope!

Anyway, I don't have too much to talk about with the level, but I'd say it's coming out okay right now. Still trying to introduce the enemies + gimmicks in a good way. The sunset hills BG will probably be seen in the second part of the level instead, while the first part will take place indoors.

Small question: What original SMW enemies feel "fun" to you guys? Ninjis and Green Paratroopas hop around and that makes me think they're happy!

I was thinking of Thwimps and Mechakoopas, but the tiles they use conflict with the Chargin' Chuck graphics.

--------------------