About a year ago, I started a hack that was meant to be vanilla (and got 1 world of it done); think the transformative 2010-2011 VLDCs era. Not only are level's graphics being constantly remixed to create a brand new environment (see screens 1 and 4 for such examples), I'm also hoping to incorporate interesting level gimmicks as even in vanilla SMW, there are lots of obscure level design possibilities.
Also, I'm setting up a quick yes/no poll as to what direction Skullpepper/#13 should be taken:
- Should there be custom music?
- Should ExGFX be used to do graphical corrections?
- Should the future worlds be playable in any order?
- Should some World 1 levels be rethought? If so, which ones and why?
I personally am totally for custom music (because SMW's original music can get repetitive).
I'm not sure what graphical corrections you mean. If you can avoid graphical errors without editing the graphics, I'd say no. But if these graphical errors would bother the player and destroy the aesthetics, I'd say yes.
I'm looking forward to play the demo later.
Oh wait, I have to play the demo to answer the other questions. Uh, see you later I guess.
Back. So yeah the vanilla music is annoying to me.
The first level has ugly glitch animations when the koopas land in lava. I think now I know what graphical corrections are needed. On the other hand this could be easily fixed by removing the lava or via ExAnimations (if any slots are still free). The cutoffs at the end of the lava could be fixed via the lines from the line levels.
Other than that it's very nice.
The second level as well! Very creative. Though, I have to note stuff: The design of the arch ledges was very cool, however the palette of it in combination with the background seems...weird. Maybe it's just me, but it's kinda harder to see them with this palette the first time you see them. Also, I really appreciate how you used the dolphins in different ways. I like the idea of avoiding the dolphins so they don't press you up to the munchers, but they never were a danger in these 2 occasions in the level and were so easy to avoid that you had to intentionally place yourself above the dolphins, so they they can push you up to the munchers.
The second part was nice, however the disco shell part was...hard. Also, I hoped that the time would reset when redoing the puzzle, because it's frustrating if you screw up when you're near the p-switch but then will eventually die anyway, because you're running out of time. Maybe it's better for me anyway that I died, because due to that I found a nice secret the second time I played the level.
Reverse Ideology is not a completely new concept, but is still interesting to play as it spins things around and is well-designed, challenging and fun. There's a midpoint tile missing, btw.
Salem's a nice level as well. My favourite part was the 'ahhh' moment I got when that turnblockbridge turned up (though that was also a thing at one of your Christmas levels?). Blue shell guys are nicely placed, but they're jerks for always hitting me with their shells :< The gimmick of the second part was nice as well.
The Castle was very creative and really does remind me of the 2010/2011 VLDC era. The tileset was used very well. A+ background in the second part. Though the lines looked weird. I have no clue what the plot of Skullpepper will be like, but that Castle level just told me a story with the graphics it depicted. Sidethought: Couldn't you just make the lines invisible, instead of them being glitched? Like, the grinders just move a square way anyway, so it's not hard to figure out where they move to (especially with them turning when the ground ends). Or add them via ExAnimation. Whatever.
So yeah, finished it. (except the missing levels I skipped by using the shortcut. Maybe I'll play them later, when I want to attempt the disco part again. But first I'll post.)
I like the idea of the worlds being playable in any order, because of the different ideas they have and therefore the different gimmicks. And yeah, due to the goal in the current castle, I see no reason why that should not be the case.
I don't think any of the W1 levels have to be rethought; they're all fine.
Great vanilla hack
So here's a haiku for you
I miss buckethead
Anyways, Creative, creative. Kudos to you for the awesome levels. So yeah, nice hack!
I'll write a review once I finish this hack, but is this supposed to be really hard? Like, Anikiti hard? Rockythetigre didn't seem to have as much trouble as I did, though I don't know how skilled he is with SMW hacks. I've gotten rusty from lack of SMW over the years, so I want to know if it's just me. The first level was tough, but I only died once somehow. Second one was a lot harder, but doable once I bashed my head against it enough. Now it's Skull Maze kicking my butt.
I think you should include custom music, as the transformative 2010-2011 VLDCs allows it. ExGFX correction should be allowed, but only how VLDC7/8 did it with tile recoloring. Are you making this hack within the confines of the VLDC contests? It would be interesting to see that in a full hack.
