[ACCEPTED] Good Question! - MercuryPenny - Hacks

Permanent link to IPS - Updated, again!

Hack Submission's description

What is this? Good question!

A really tough hack I made out of boredom. I tried to make it as frustratingly difficult as possible without ever becoming unfair. Have fun!

Nice! While the hack shows a hard difficulty as supposed to, I can't say the hack was frustating at all, but I still liked the idea of the hack even though it's plotless. While I found your work on the hack nice overall, I've found flaws you should take a look on, as I feel ambivalent about this hack and its verdict coming.

Pros:
- Good level design, always counts for the fun factor.
- Reasonable amount and length of levels.
- The usage of the gimmicks in some levels were excellent in my opinion, so kudos on that!
- The hack didn't have boring spots at all.

Cons:
- This isn't a good spot to the player fall from a pipe, as if you don't react way too quickly you'll get hurt by the Green Koopa.
- The boiling water is buggy. And unfair if we move a little bit to the right side.
- [1] [2] [3] I agree this spot is frustating, but not in a way I'd call "fun" but that the player might fall in rage if not experienced at playing SMW.
- [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] The sprite header in this level is obviously wrong. Either change the header to something compatible, apply this patch to your ROM, or use SA-1.
- Well, read above.
- Let's be honest, the palette of the ground and lava are a bit eye-searing. It'd be good if you could change it a bit.

Unfortunately, I've found many Cons and for a short hack like this, there shouldn't be many bad issues like those. I'd say this hack has to be rejected for now. I'd gladly accept the hack if the issues were gone though.
Difficulty should be Hard, for obvious reasons.

I'll be waiting for an update of the hack with the issues fixed, so I'll be claiming the submission as free for now. Let me know when (if) you're done fixing them!

+1'd users:
- Everest (+6'd for reviewing updates of the hack)
- Sokobansolver
- Wakana-chan (+5'd for reviewing an update of the hack)
- JackTheSpades (+5'd for reviewing an update of the hack)

Originally posted by Mirann

Cons:
- This isn't a good spot to the player fall from a pipe, as if you don't react way too quickly you'll get hurt by the Green Koopa.
- The boiling water is buggy. And unfair if we move a little bit to the right side.
- [1] [2] [3] I agree this spot is frustating, but not in a way I'd call "fun" but that the player might fall in rage if not experienced at playing SMW.
- [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] The sprite header in this level is obviously wrong. Either change the header to something compatible, apply this patch to your ROM, or use SA-1.
- Well, read above.
- Let's be honest, the palette of the ground and lava are a bit eye-searing. It'd be good if you could change it a bit.

1) Good idea. I'll fix that.
2) Ah, simple fix.
3) I'll see what I can do.
4) What header should I use?
5) ~~blame nintendo's jimmycode~~ I'll try to fix that.
6) I...don't see how it is. How is it eye searing?

c3 winter 2021 | music stuff | youtube

Quote

What header should I use?

For this one I'll suggest you to use 0E, since the sprites that mainly bug at this level are the rotating platforms. I'll suggest to remove a few sprites near to the platforms too in case they cause some conflict or get gone due to the sprite header.

Quote

I...don't see how it is. How is it eye searing?

Well, while it in most part is more a preference of mine, it doesn't look good at all. It's a bit too satured and doesn't give a lava feel at all, not to mention the gradient order of this one is wrong. That's why I suggest you to change it a bit.

Good question here! Should this hack be accepted or not?

While I did find this hack to be pretty fun, it had its fair share of problems in addition to being slightly short so I will mention only the basics here along with some other things. Beginning with the level design, I could already tell that it was quite hard though I never felt it was unfair. I also felt that it got better as the hack progressed which sort of implies you were lazy in the beginning though that may not be true due to obvious reasons. The difficulty seems to be balanced despite it being hard so that is good enough. I must say though some parts seemed slightly repetitive and so I urge you to vary it as loss of inspiration means loss of interest both for you and the player. Vary your levels a bit more and you will succeed. Some glitches were annoying however but I will get into that later. That is pretty much it for the level design since the concept at core remains the same for each level.

The aesthetics were okay for the most part but I feel your could have adjusted them a bit more to create a totally consistent hack. What I mean by that would be the palette of the sprites and other miscellaneous items no matter how small they are. Palettes in hacks like these can the hack a sense of completion even though you may not be willing to do that. What Mirann meant for the "eye-searing" part was not really "eye-searing" but the colors you have for the foreground and background do not really match and the foreground color it not pleasing for the eye (I believe calling it "eye-searing" would be taking it too far however). There are also glitches in this hack that need to be fix such as that boiling water and a few other minor bugs. Get testers to look through the hack. The other elements such as the overworld (and so on) are fine but I would appreciate it if you had put more effort into them. That is it for this part then.

Difficulty: Hard (see the first paragraph for the reasons)

I think it would be best to go with rejection as to fix the glitches and improve the design a bit. I wish you good luck in whatever decision you are going to make.

Originally posted by Mirann

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

I really doubt a No Sprite Tile Limits patch for non-normal sprites does anything useful to a Diggin' Chuck.

Originally posted by Mirann

I'd say there's a better chance of the Sumo Brother Flame Fix doing anything valid here.

<blm> zsnes users are the flatearthers of emulation

My review:

There were some unfair spots, such as exiting the pipe in the first level only to land a few feet away from a Koopa, and the global problem of disappearing sprites created fake difficulty. There was also a spot with an oncoming Banzai Bill in a tunnel and I'm not sure I could have even gotten to safety in time.
I don't know why the ending areas featured random, unfitting music, but it was kinda inconsistent.
I think the gimmick of Thermostat Cavern could have been used for more things than just getting the midway point and some of the Dragon Coins. It just kinda seemed to me like adding a gimmick for the sake of adding a gimmick.
Pokeys and Moles has slowdown, glitchy Sumo Brother flames, and a Pokey that sometimes turns invisible, and it even killed me one time while it was invisible. The secret exit was a standard item babysitting lock and key puzzle, but at least it wasn't for the whole level. Actually I didn't have to go all the way to where the keyhole was, because the Sumo Brother was nice enough to glitch it over for me:

I think I will go with rejection mainly because of the graphical glitches.

Legacy custom music
A site with a non-useless dislike button
SMW hacking channel

Updated. Should be the same thing with some bugs fixed.

c3 winter 2021 | music stuff | youtube

Permanent link to IPS - Updated version

While most of the bugs have been fixed, the sprite tilemap glitches are still happening, all the same from the level Rotating Platforms! and this new one I didn't spot before. The hack still has to be denied IMO, I really think you should make the hack be functional and run with no bugs as supposed to, since it's a short hack.
Difficulty should be Hard. Again, the reason is very obvious.

EDIT: Claimed the submission as free again, the author is free to update the IPS and let me know when done with it.

That didn't feel much different overall.

By that, I am referring to the level design and you can see my previous review here do get an idea of what the design is. With that aside, I can actually say that while some of the bugs a glitches are fixed, I have noticed that there are some very noticeable ones and these can affect the level design. The main culprits of this problem were Rotating Platforms! and Pokeys and Moles. The former has a very big problem with the sprites. Rotating platform pieces disappear sometimes which does not give a very good impression but a more major one would be the problems of the disappearing chucks. They create a big problem as they exasperate the difficulty and that would be in a pretty bad way. While I knew what to do in that situation, others may not be able to enjoy the hack and figure a way to pass those segments of the level. The latter also sprite memory problems especially with the sumo brothers and (sometimes) their flames. Both hinder the good aspects of the level design and need to be fixed immediately in my opinion. On a final note, I can still say that the background palette of Thermostat Caverns is completely unfitting. Why not set the background palette to a more appropriate one and make that change to suit the other environment when the ON/OFF switch is hit? That would be better.

Difficulty: Hard as there basically is no change in that aspect.

Short hacks need to be more "perfect" (if I could say that) and what I mean is that minor glitches are very noticeable in short hacks. Therefore, it is advisable to fix them so I will go with rejection this time.

Pretty short hack overall, I must say that, even if it's my favourite kind of hack, I didn't liked it much.
I won't blame level design: instead, I found it executed pretty well overall, you give to the player a nice challenge in each level. My favourite level is the one where you used the rotating platforms (forget me for not remembering level names >w<). I wonder why you used a key in the level before the last one: I mean, I managed to put the key in the keyhole, though no secret exit appeared, plus, I wasn't able to do the next level. Unless I missed something, all this was pointless, though I liked how you put both key and keyhole in the level.
Aesthetics were nice, though I feel like some palettes could have used more work (like the ON/OFF cave level, the red ground's palette isn't the best). Besides this small complaint, it was good overall.
As glitch, the only one I noticed is the sprite tile limits in certain levels (aka the level with the rotating platforms and the moles/pokeys level).
Another complaint may be the lenght: your hack is too short, too few levels. I'm not saying to add more levels (though that may be cool) but at least, you should make these levels look perfect. As it is now, I don't think the hack deserves to be accepted, so...yep, I'll stick for rejection. Fix the mentioned issues and if you can, add more level and also a proper ending for it (since it has no plot, a level saying END OF HACK, THANKS FOR PLAYING should be enough).
As difficult, of course, it's hard.

Ugh, finally getting some time for reviews again :<
So, about this one:
I kinda liked a lot of the ideas you put into this. As far as the gameplay goes, this one was pretty neat. I had fun playing this and I can tell, that if you just work on the small details, this hack will be even better.

One of these "small" details would be the imense problems you seem to have with sprite tile limitations. You probably select the wrong sprite memory here

.
For example, I'd say it's pretty much impossible for this to occur if you had the proper memory selected:

(Edit: Not necessary, but you could add a cement block or something for this platform to spin around of)
You also had lot's of those in Pokeys and Moles. Leading to entire sprites vanishing. Not to missunderstand, they were still there, but just invisible.
I recommend either different settings and/or the No More Sprite Tile Limitations patch. Either should work.

Another thing is the slowdown. Again, in Pokeys and Moles. This one wasn't as bad as the sprite memory issue but still kinda annoying. I think removing either some sumo bro's or the pokeys next to them would already improve the situation gravly.
Having those flames with other sprites onscreen can mess up things like here:

The mole just turned into a keyhole-coin thingy after having been hit with a fireball.

Lastly, I liked the idea in the last level with the frozen lava, though I think you could have build the level to make more use of the gimmik. It was more of a thing that you just could use or not. Also, there was no harm done in having it in ice state the entire time. So you might want to work around that.
I also don't really get why you used normal lava in this level sometimes:

I take it you did it so that the rocks spawned by the diggin' chuck could despawn, but I'd just build a hole for them to fall into, so that the gimmik of the level isn't broken.
You might also want to rework those custom blocks a little. The way I see them, they just act as plain kill blocks for Mario and something else for sprites in lava state.
Instead, you could just use $1693 and Y to make them act like lava blocks for better effect

I'll go with rejection for now, as I like this hack and would like to see those things fixed before accepting it.
The difficulty strikes me mostly as normal, which seems to fit fine.

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Permanent link to IPS

The tilemaps of the last Sumo Bro of the level Pokeys and Moles still has its tilemaps disappearing sometimes.

Please get rid of that Pokey near to the Sumo Bro and you're good

But that doesn't mean I'd deny the hack, but I'm ambivalent so I'll wait for yet another updated IPS more functional than this most recent one I've moderated.
Difficulty should be Hard.

Claimed submission as free again, you know what to do.

Get testers for short works, it's a good idea!

TAKE 3!

Nothing much has changed here except some glitches that were fixed (I sense laziness MercuryPenny!). I am glad to see they were fixed. My least favorite level would be Pokeys and Moles due to its design and I did experience the odd tile glitch with some Sumo Brothers. I see you simply fixed those and did not take other criticism of the hack. Test next time and make sure you take everything into consideration. The discussions in certain threads about improving hack quality happened for a reason and it was not simply "make the hack barely acceptable, submit and forget" as some people like to interpret it. Make hacks better by taking everything into consideration for the future.

Difficulty: Hard (see my first review for the reason)

I could say this is acceptable now but I would like to see an update sometime taking into consideration about what I had just said here as well as fixing a few leftover glitches.

Played the new version: overall, nothing big changed. The level design is untouched, as well as the aesthetics. I'm happy to see that the sprite tile limits have been fixed...although I saw you didn't added new levels. If I were you, I would have added some, since my complaint about the lenght is still here: that may be me, but I don't think you did enough to make an acceptable product, levels are good but it's not enough for a hack to be submitted.
Sorry for being a little bit bothering but I'm still for rejection, because it's short and not this great to be submitted.
I would suggest to add new levels: use the secret exit in the Pokey and Moles level for something, put a secret castle maybe; if you don't want, maybe make each level longer, it'll be a nice solution too.
...ah, and difficult is hard, since no level design changes.

I'll be changing the levels as more reviews come in, and I'll be looking through all the past reviews as well to see what I missed. I have this strange laziness that comes over me when I'm done with a hack where it's basically "I've put so much work into the hack and people are nitpicking" and I am going to leave that mindset now.

Continue making reviews, please. I'd like to know more about what I can improve. Also:

Originally posted by Everest

(I sense laziness MercuryPenny!)

~~it runs in my family~~

c3 winter 2021 | music stuff | youtube

Welp, second time I'm playing this today :>

As far as the update goes, you seem to have changed the level with the rotating platforms to have no more sprite memorie issues.
I guess that's one step in the right direction.
As for Pokeys and Moles though, that level didn't improve at all. Sill slowdown and sprite disappearing left and right.
I said it before, but I'll just say it again: You should remove some of the sprites near the fire of the sumo bros. Or just some of the bros themselfs.

The last level also has it's issues remaining. That is for one: that there are some lava parts, that don't turn to ice when the switch is flipped (which kinda breaks the gimmik).
And second and more importantly: THAT GIMMIK IS USELESS. As nice as it is, there is just no point to it. I can pass the whole level just fine with the switch being off (ice) the entire time, why would I make it hard on myself by reenabling the lava?
Try giving the player a readon to do so, maybe some ON/OFF blocks or other crazy reasons.

All in all, there are 2 levels I have problems with. Normally no big deal, but in your case they make up 1/3 of your hack, which kinda... well, you can guess it.
I'll still go with rejection on this one. Difficulty remaining at normal, for the levels themselfes didn't seem to have changed at all... have they?

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... what even am I doing with my life?

Originally posted by JackTheSpades

normal

You have a very screwed up meaning of normal.

I'm remaking one level (because everyone thinks it sucks), and making a completely new 7th level (BECAUSE WAKANA). It'll take some time to make these levels, but feel free to continue making reviews.

c3 winter 2021 | music stuff | youtube

update finally made

c3 winter 2021 | music stuff | youtube

Permanent link to IPS

While the previous bad issues were fixed, it seems that new ones appeared by since you've added the level Madness Fortress in your hack.

- [1] [2] The Thwomp got stuck into the stones of the castle as the L2 pushed it there, and he didn't come back after this.
- In this boss room the throw blocks act like solid ones sometimes and I can't grab them to throw at the Big Boo, it happened after the Jumping Bowser Statue fell in one of the holes I made.
- The music crashes at this cutscene. Double check things like this next time and make sure it doesn't crash else the hack won't get accepted.

Instant denial due to the music crash.
While I don't need to say it again, difficulty should be Hard.

Submission claimed as free, please fix this music issue. In a sad note for myself, I've lost my 69 score.

fml

Fixed two of the bugs noted, no idea how to fix the throw block issue.

c3 winter 2021 | music stuff | youtube