For some time now I've been working on a hub and I finally finished the general structure. There might be some more decoration and there will be a lot more NPCs.
The hub is inspired by the hub of Super Mario 64. It's a (big) castle with paintings, and you have to enter the painting to enter the level. A huge thanks to h2643 for making most of the paintings as well as helping me out.
I tried to make all the worlds easily accessible. The hub can also be expanded if we need room for more levels. World 2, 5, 7 and the postgame are more easily expanded than the rest of the worlds. Note that the star doors aren't locked yet, so you can freely look around.

There will also be some secret levels. There is currently room for 5 secret levels, and there are 3 spots open. Secret levels are shorter levels, generally with no midpoint. They will be hidden in the hub and they won't have a painting entrance. A good example of a secret level is pointless filler level by Imaynotbehere4long. I can make room for more secret levels if needed.

And now for some screenshots:





Download Link

Let me know what you like and what you think needs to be improved!

If the hub can be expanded, does that mean that levels can still be submitted even after release, where the extra levels and updated hub would be like expansion patches or something?

The hub is looking good, though. I was feeling doubtful. I was thinking a low quality hub was going to be made. Boy, was I wrong. Great job!

Oops, I didn't see the download link. I judged only based on the screenshots. Still, it looks pretty high quality.

Beautiful hub, really liking it so far! Honestly I feel like the outside area could use some BGOs (maybe flowers, bushes, etc.), as of now it looks a bit bland for me.

A few things:

1) The first section could be condensed since there really isn't anything there. I recommend moving the castle to the edge of the pond and moving World 1's wall to be in front of the right spire. Also, I agree with h2643: the castle could use some BGOs in front of it. I recommend building the castle out of BGOs and making the bushes and grass sprite-swap NPCs so they appear in front of the castle. Also, maybe it's just me, but I feel that it's a bit unintuitive to have to go past the giant castle to get to world 1.

2) I'd prefer if Section 9 had Level Wrap (or some quick way from one end to the other). Also, the pipe in Section 16 doesn't lead anywhere (if it's for Skull Swamp, shouldn't a painting be there instead?).

3) The lava in Section 11 can kill the player (just put bridges made of those Mario 2 bridge tiles that are under the Mario 3 Misc. tab there [the same tiles you used in Section 3]).

4) For Athletic Cave, you can sprite-swap NPC-212 (or heck, even the yellow SMW shell) to give it its own painting if you want.

5) In Section 12, if the player jumps off a ledge, he/she will die; maybe you can place instant warps that lead to one of the 5 secret stars there?

Also, I'd like a Mario filter around Sliiide to the Right and Password since Link and Peach can (break/be unable to beat) those levels (I actually didn't expect Link to be playable at all). Come to think of it, are any levels designed around Link?

Thanks everyone for the comments and feedback. It's much appreciated.


No, I mean that you can still submit levels now, and I can expand the hub to place them in the correct world. There probably won't be an update after the release. I'm also thinking about picking a deadline for submitting levels, but I'm not sure when exactly.


Thanks for the feedback. I will work on the first section having your and Imaynotbehere4long's comments in mind.


I wanted to give the impression of a big castle, so I left a lot of open space. But I also see the benefits of having it a bit more condensed.
It might be unintuitive that the first world is past the castle, but I wanted the first world to be outside. Also note that you will need stars to enter the castle, so you don't have many options left but to explore past the castle and find world 1. If there are more people that don't like this, then I will reconsider it.


The level wrap is a good idea, thanks. The pipe will lead to Skull Swamp, and it's a short secret level (maybe a smidge longer than pointless filler level), so I didn't give it a painting.


I personally don't think the lava is such a big deal. Since it's world 7, and it are 3 tile wide jumps. But I agree that the player shouldn't die in the hub (and the bridges look nice), so I'll change that.


Haha, I know that =) It's just that the painting of Athletic Cave isn't made yet. The current painting is just a placeholder.


It might be a nice idea to have the warps make you fall down to section 1. There could be another hidden place for a secret level in between there, if we get enough secret levels. The current places for the secret levels are:
- The right peach window in section 8.
- The shroomship in section 12.
- The painting in section 15.
- The pipe in section 16 (the key makes it hidden).
- The rex painting in section 19 (rex is subject to change).

I can also have an idea for a secret place in world 1, and with the fall from section 12 to a new hidden place makes a total of 7 secret levels.


The Mario filter is placed. And most levels aren't designed with Link in mind. So I've removed Link from the player block rows.

I've updated the link in the first post with some small changes. I only changed the .lvl file, so if you only want to download that one, click here.
I haven't had any time to work on the outside portion of the castle yet.

Ohhh, that makes sense.




I request that Pointless Filler Level be given a proper painting and a sign with its name by it so that players will be able to fully appreciate the level name's meta-ness. I didn't know that hidden levels would be a thing when I made it and just assumed it would be labeled like all the others (it's not much shorter than Sliiide to the Right if you think about it).

Also, a couple things I forgot to mention: the torches in Section 18 and the screenshot for Sliiide to the Right are quite clever.

--EDIT--

One more thing:

Don't put background objects over other background objects. Use blocks instead. If you go with my idea of having the BGOs swap NPCs, use sprite-swaps of foreground objects, like the SMW Ghost House railings (background-49 through 51), to cover them.

--EDIT 2--

Also, I had another idea regarding Section 1: combine it with Section 3 (and, by extension, World 1), and hang some of the paintings on the outside of the castle. That will help keep it from feeling so empty without condensing it. Plus, it would free up another section should it be needed.

I updated the download link in the first post. The first section has a bit more decoration now.


This will depend on how many secret levels there will be. If there aren't enough levels, then I'll probably give it it's own painting and put it in section 16 (together with a painting of Skull Swamp).
If you want to make a secret level, send me a PM to claim a spot.


Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't really like that idea. I think it would be better to keep the sections seperate (and I don't need a new section at the moment).

Maybe you should have it so the hidden level entrances lead to rooms in which there's a name sign for the level, instead of directly leading there. Like in talkhaus' ASMBXT.

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Very very very shortly, this drab, workaday world and everything in it will be changed forever! Follow us into the golden country, into the empire of the senseless!

Great Idea. I'll certainly do this if we get enough levels to fill a secret world.

Edit: I've made a special world for the secret levels. The link in the first post is updated.

I notice you still haven't done anything about this. I assume that you're waiting to see how many secret levels you get before deciding whether you want them to lead to a secret or back to Section 1.

One more thing:

Since you want one of the secret levels (mine) to be in the Shroomship, you should put a noticeable door on it, because right now, it just looks like the side (or back) of the ship, and players probably won't think they'd be able to enter it (I only knew I could enter because I saw the warp in the editor).

Since I never got any feedback on whether or not my issue with the Shroomship would be fixed or not, I went ahead and made a version with the door open:

Hopefully, this can be polished up and used in the final version.

I was planning on having some more toads on the map hint towards entering the shroomship, but I like the shroomship you made. I might just use that one, thanks!