Hey everyone! We're closing to the end of the contest now, with 1 week left!
I hope i could be helpful with my reviews this far!
I'll keep going with them, and i hope i can still be more helpful before the contest ends (though of course, as we're getting closer to the deadline, there will be little time left for changes to the levels =P).
I still wanna play and review every single entry to this contest, and i'll keep at it after the deadline.
It's been a lot of fun being a Fan-Judge! And i've encountered many great levels!
Anyways, back to the reviews, i still haven't got the time to play through the currently requested levels, as i've been pretty busy, though i plan to have them ready by tomorrow. So i'll be answering a few of the latest posts here!
Originally posted by TweyxxHey I'm not soo good with words so I already feel kinda bad, since this will be too short, but I'm super grateful for your kind words, tips to improve my lvl and for playing my entry.
After playing through it a few times again im seeing what you mean with claustrophobic and hard to see spikes. I tried to nerf some of these jumps a bit, putting the ceiling at some points 1-2 Tiles higher this should help a lot i guess, and removing some spike that were hard to see and not really necessary for the difficulty.
Changed also changed the palette of the water and the mushrooms in the first section to a blue tone tho I'm not sure about it yet since i wanted it to be kinda trist and now it kinda looks too friendly, gonna try some things out later ^-^
Anyway thank you again this means a lot to me :3
Hey! Don't worry man, we don't always need to talk a lot to have a meaningful response!
I'm glad i could be helpful to you! I still wanna see your level become even better!
Yea, feedback can really open our eyes to things we didn't notice before! I get that feeling too! That was one of the main reasons for me to become a Fan-Judge! As i've received a lot of helpful feedback on my level as well! (and, as said in my original post, i like to write detailed reviews, and i guess most people appreciate that!)
Glad to see you're trying to improve it! I look forward to see the final result!
Originally posted by MarkVD100So, let me understand this. I thought of this since yesterday and I'm drawing this logic.
Full Knowledge of the level as a creator <-> Skill Level = Cancel each other out?
Hey! As i said, don't worry too much about that.
I wouldn't say there's actually a definite rule for this, as it's really dependent on many factors.
But basically, when we're testing a level we've created, we already know all the little details of it, and we know how to play it correctly. And, even though we can try to approach it in a different way, we still have a subconscious knowledge of the way the level plays. And this can lead us to miss issues that would seem very obvious to other people playing that level!
That's why it's always nice to have someone play-test your level!
Originally posted by MarkVD100
Well, it depends on a lot of factors, again. But generally, this knowledge of when a level is difficult or not comes with experience. When you play a lot of different hacks, you'll learn to recognize the kind of difficulty you're playing, as well as good and bad examples of difficulty (basically, the difference between when something is hard or unfair). You should also get familiar with your own skill level, like, what you can play easily or not, what kind of difficulty starts to give you problems on a normal playthrough.
And i'd say, generally, a level you created will be easier for you than a level of similar difficulty created by other people (at least until you get familiar with it), so, if you're aiming for a certain difficulty, you'll usually want your level to be slightly easier for you than the levels you play with a similar difficulty.
Now, with that said, it'll also depend on the kind of difficulty you're aiming for with your level.
If you're aiming for a difficulty that's pretty easy and accessible, then your level usually shouldn't be giving you any problems.
As you want your level to have a harder difficulty, you have to be careful, especially if your level is too hard for you. If the difficulty you're aiming for is harder than your usual skill level, that is, you have a lot of problems to complete it, then it might be a good idea to ask a more experienced player about how it plays, as that person will probably have a better feel for how a level with that kind of difficulty should play.
For example, you say your level is supposed to be "World 4-5 difficulty". Then you should compared the way it plays for you with the way a typical World 4-5 level plays. Is the difficulty similar? Or are you having a harder time with your own level than with a typical World 4-5 level? If that's the case, you're probably overshooting the difficulty.
As for your video example, yea, that level is in fact too hard. As i have some experience with playing a lot of hacks, i can recognize some things that don't feel balanced in that level.
For example, Phantos are usually a pretty advanced enemy, as it can fly through anything, it follows you and it's pretty deadly (you can't kill it, and jumping on it damages you), and you always see only one of them used in Super Mario Bros 2/Super Mario USA. So having more than one following you makes that level pretty tough.
Also, their position is pretty hard to manipulate, so having a level based on spin-jumping on them ends up being pretty frustrating, especially because that level seems to require some pretty precise spin jumps. (Especially for the P-Switch. since the opening in the ceiling is small)
And the narrow passages on the upper area don't help as well, as you barely have any space to dodge them up there.
Also, the falling Crabs can get the player by surprise, this seems to be a recurring problem with your level design that you should be careful with. Generally, enemies falling from the top of the screen end up being annoying, as it's hard to react to them.
Also, for the last sentence, i don't know if i fully understand what you mean. But generally, if you find a way to die in your level that's caused by the player's action, you want to prevent it if possible, especially if it can happen on accident (such as the P-Switch block one i found in your level).
Because, just like it was unfair for you, it will be unfair for the player if he finds it.
Again, don't think too negatively of yourself, as i said, part of it comes with experience, so in that case, if you don't feel comfortable with testing it, you can always ask someone to test your level!
Originally posted by MarkVD100I can't think of other threatening sprites for end-part of the level that will be suitable for that head. My level is supposed World 4-5 difficulty after all.
Well, if you want to use Chucks specifically, then it really doesn't give you many options. I still don't think Puntin' Chucks are a good choice, as their projectile is too random. And even though they can make the level hard, they're more in the lines of 'unfair' than actually 'hard'.
I guess Diggin' Chucks would still be a better alternative. Their placement will probably count a lot too. (try to place them so their projectiles won't be falling onto the player, maybe try to place some walls in the platforms to prevent them from falling or something)
Originally posted by MarkVD100BTW, still not happy about the Design score, I expected at the very least between 20 and 30 or something. I mean it's not like those poor ROM Hacks that Ninjaboy played in the past. I also expected it because I am trying to compete with SomeGuy712x's level.
Well, i'm sorry, but again, i can't just change the score because you aren't happy with it. The combination of issues i found was something that affected my experience with it, and it became pretty frustrating overall.
But as i said, you have some great ideas and some pretty nice design going on in a few parts, so by just fixing some of the most noticeable issues it can raise your score by quite a lot.
Also, i don't know about SomeGuy712x's level (didn't even know he was making one), so i can't say much about this competition yet.
But as i said, you still have potential to improve! Don't feel bad because of this, as my review was exactly to help you improve your level!
Originally posted by MarkVD100For standard entrance, instead of Exit Down thing, that's to prevent from players bringing a shell and shell jump up there for example or other ways to break the section.
Well, i imagined that, it makes sense! But it's still weird to have the player appear right below a pipe and not be using a Vertical Pipe Exit Down entrance. If you wanted to use a normal exit, then i'd recommend just removing the pipe and placing the player on the ground, that way it won't feel weird.
Originally posted by MarkVD100About the Spring:
Big Image
Oh right, that Spring. Well, i didn't really think that Spring would be required on the upper area, because i always thought the Spring was actually used to get out of that big hole! (shown in the picture) The area where the Spring is found is really low, so i didn't think of having to take the Spring out of there (And i didn't think of climbing from there because i always reach that area with the Yoshi)
Also, the spring isn't really required, because, as i said, that jump can be made by simply jumping at full speed, or bouncing off of an enemy (and there are a lot of enemies there). If you wanted the Spring to be required, you should've made that jump a lot higher, so we couldn't make it by bouncing off an enemy!
Originally posted by MarkVD100About the Big Mario:
I guess ducking isn't an excusable strategy then, huh. I will raise the ceiling by one tile then.
Yea, ducking isn't really an excuse for segments like this. A power-up is always seen as something convenient, like, something good that you'll always want to get. So the player should always feel it's better to play with a power-up than without it.
But, by requiring the player to duck jump through a segment, you're doing the opposite, you're making the power-up becoming a hassle, as that segment would be easier to play if Mario was small.
You should always avoid this kind of design, a power-up should never make a segment harder to go through, or be something the player wants to avoid.
Originally posted by MarkVD100About the moon: I didn't actually pay attention to you mentioning that, because I never noticed until I tested the moon again. Originally when I tested it acted as a ledge, so I must have changed it without me noticing it somehow, pfft.
Yea, i imagined there was something wrong there. Well, glad i could be helpful! ^^
Also, note that the tiles directly to the left and right of the Moon aren't solid, which means the player could fall there if not landing exactly where the Moon is. I'd suggest you make it so the player can't fall there, as it isn't nice to accidentally die when you're going for a secret reward.
Originally posted by MarkVD100About keeping Lakitu alive, that was actually not the intended solution, but I guess the platform made it too misleading and I already thought of something simpler.
Well, that was the only solution i could think at the moment, as i didn't see any other solid platform there other than the pipe. But it's nice that you found a replacement, as that segment was way too hard compared to the overall difficulty, and brought the level down quite a lot.
Originally posted by MarkVD100About no reset pipe in the last room, that's me being a D-Bomb to the player just to manipulate them which my evil side apparently likes to do something when things don't go as expected.
Well, i'd say this is not a good moment to have your evil side try these things haha.
You should always be sure to make your level nice for the player, as being unfair really only lowers the enjoyability (and score, in this case) of your level.
Originally posted by MarkVD100About the parakoopas coming down after you pass those munchers nearby the Yoshi block and the sliding koopa, I don't remember that happening to me.
Yea, that was kind of a smaller issue, but i mentioned it for the sake of completion. I did get hit a few times by the high jumping ParaKoopa there, but i also found that sometimes it just didn't spawn.
Originally posted by MarkVD100BTW, I argue that I feel like 500 SMW Seconds is too short to be the max limit, 600 should be fine because I find that bull S-Bomb that you can't just add 50 just for the sake of convenience. I wish that was changed to that, but I can't manipulate other people's brains like that.
Well, that's in the rules and should be followed.
That rule is made exactly so no one makes a level that drags on for too long, so it ends up becoming a nuisance due to how long it is. There are examples of levels from previous VLDCs that went on for too long, and it really isn't a nice experience!
You should make your level in a way that it already feels comfortable in the time limit given, already taking into account the "extra 50 just for convenience".
I actually think the 500 seconds rule is pretty fine, especially because that's already pretty long in SMW standards. The max time limit in the original game is 400 seconds, and there's barely any level that you can get close to timing out.
Most people managed to adapt to this rule quite well, as it's already a pretty generous time limit to work with.
Originally posted by MarkVD100Level now updated!
Ok, i'll try to find the time to check it out! I just can't promise to do it too soon as i still have some levels to review and i'm busy with other things as well.
By the way, i hope everything i said was clear enough, there was a lot of stuff to answer, and soemtimes i can get a bit lost in my thoughts xD
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