an interesting stage, for sure, and i don't have any major knocks against it. it does, however, bother me that it feels a bit disparate. the first half and the second half make the impression of stemming from two different stages, with no connecting element between them aside from the piranhas. that said, both halves are pretty fun in their own right. i liked the idea of clearing out a path by going back to a star dispenser. it was pulled off in a way that didn't feel tacky!
Thanks for playing! Can you elaborate on the notion of the two halves feeling disconnected? I tried to keep the motifs of fire piranhas and moving platforms throughout. The idea of the stage is for the player to struggle through a couple of tough and narrow, fire-filled passages before being released into the open air where they're quickly enabled with the power to easily overcome the obstacles that were previously very difficult to evade-- a quick challenge section followed by a power trip. I tuned the final few leaps after the star to be as satisfying as possible.
Dude, really well done! That was easy but fun, and I really liked the WarioWare jingle. I'd play more if you make more stages with new micro-levels.
Here's a few of mine for everyone:
Don't Press Anything (Again)!
A844-0000-0031-D864
I made it after getting annoyed with some really simple stuff in 100-Mario challenge.
Mt. Helmet
913B-0000-0034-F709
I posted this one last night already, but its the one I put the most time into and I'd like some feedback. It's a bit difficult but hopefully fair, and there are three secrets to find. I know the very end needs some work.
Just like Vikki, if anyone plays any of my levels, go ahead and PM me with your levels and I'll get to them for sure! I love playing GAF's stuff.
PLUMBERS DON'T WEAR TIES!!
......but they wear shoes! Yes! A lot of them! Seriously, A LOT! Use Super Mario Bros 3's most famous items to reach the goal! Destroy Bowser Jr. and then trick his father to an horrible death! A lot of secrets are waiting for Mario in this level inspired by one of the best games ever...obviously I'm talking about that 3DO exclusive everybody loves.
Plumbers Don't Wear Ties... (B6A0-0000-0039-E119)
Stage with a medium difficulty, but sort of relaxing, with a lot of secrets well placed and the right amount of exploration. Try to find a couple of shortcuts to skip the central part of the level in a mysterious cold cave.
Cool level! Be careful putting objects that require powerups to pass, like the leaf with the brick barricade, which would have left the player stranded if they didn't get to the bricks without being hit. Nice flow and I thought I was stuck until I found the hidden area. Pretty fun!
So here's my level:
Destroy the Airship!
DAC2-0000-003A-4224
Lots of action in this explosion-filled level as you snipe bob-ombs from afar. Was quite fun to make!
It means that I will go ahead and make a sequel to it which relies more on my gimmick of "Warp Pipe shows where the invisible blocks are on the Main Map".
I hope everyone who plays it completes it because you can't die in it and even if you are clueless, the damn Warp Pipe shows you where the blocks are!
Plus, if you look hard enough, there's 11 free mushrooms for the 100-Mario Challenge! All my levels will always offer hidden rewards and be a level where you can't die.
Thanks for playing! Can you elaborate on the notion of the two halves feeling disconnected? I tried to keep the motifs of fire piranhas and moving platforms throughout. The idea of the stage is for the player to struggle through a couple of tough and narrow, fire-filled passages before being released into the open air where they're quickly enabled with the power to easily overcome the obstacles that were previously very difficult to evade-- a quick challenge section followed by a power trip. I tuned the final few leaps after the star to be as satisfying as possible.
sure!, so you definitely succeeded in delivering a power trip at the end (or two, since i couldn't clear out everything in one go) but i felt like the exact same shift in tone you describe kind of split the stage in two very inhomogenous parts for me. length also plays a role here. i could see your concept working out if the first part was actually extrapolated into an entire stage's worth of iteration. it's not, though. it's kept short (which is fine) and then, as you said, you're faced with this open area, you're trying to catch the star when it leaves the pipe which takes a bit of fumbling around, and then you clear the path ahead of you. i think the almost shmup-like nature of the first half and the concept of pushing forward from the second half could be combined more smoothly as both ideas are executed carefully and intelligently. hope this clears it up!
Making a good level is so hard! I've only played a handful of levels, and yeah some of been stinkers but some have been pretty fun! I'll have to strategize my next attempt.
So my wife was complaining that the levels I was making were too difficult, so I attempted to make something you might see in the vein of Super Mario World.
Piranha Heights
6C61-0000-003A-5CCB
This is a no bullshit level, with a moderate difficulty of what you might expect of 2 worlds in. There's 3 ways to get 1-ups, the ending flag, a secret 1-up, and exactly 100 coins in the level. There's a couple of semi-challenging spots for your younger Mario players, but I was trying to put something together that would be fun to play.
My wife liked it, but I'm curious if there's other ways that I can improve - or see if other folks enjoy it as well!
sure!, so you definitely succeeded in delivering a power trip at the end (or two, since i couldn't clear out everything in one go) but i felt like the exact same shift in tone you describe kind of split the stage in two very inhomogenous parts for me. length also plays a role here. i could see your concept working out if the first part was actually extrapolated into an entire stage's worth of iteration. it's not, though. it's kept short (which is fine) and then, as you said, you're faced with this open area, you're trying to catch the star when it leaves the pipe which takes a bit of fumbling around, and then you clear the path ahead of you. i think the almost shmup-like nature of the first half and the concept of pushing forward from the second half could be combined more smoothly as both ideas are executed carefully and intelligently. hope this clears it up!
yeah, i saw this earlier. the 3ds version of the stage reminded how great a 3ds client for mario maker would be. by client i basically mean the features of course world.
Making a good level is so hard! I've only played a handful of levels, and yeah some of been stinkers but some have been pretty fun! I'll have to strategize my next attempt.
Finished a level that I have been working on for today.
Reach for the Stars
ID: 47EA-0000-003A-5267
I tried to go for the more classical Mario level rather than an extreme difficult one. Tons of hidden blocks with goodies but still has some difficulty.
As obvious as it was, by the time I saw the arrows I missed it. Doh!
A fun ride with a bit of challenge without truly stupid tricks. I think the Bowser fight was a bit anticlimactic though since you almost couldn't die with a respawning Fire Flower right there. But those are hard to balance because if it is too hard then people quit your level right at the end. Overall I starred the level because I enjoyed it, nice first work.
Thank you for the feedback and the star. I will be more mindful on later stages.
As for the stupid tricks, none should be needed. Everything should be possible to avoid with either standing on the edge of the platforms or following the coins. The Hammer Bros. is the only part that gives me a fit each time, so I might tweak that.
The one up surrounded by arrows used to be surrounded by coins, but it didn't work if you were Super Mario at that point, so I moved it up a block and added arrows.
There is also another hidden one up in the stage one of of the stationary places.
As for Bowser, I intentionally left a flower pipe just to kill him with fireballs. I figured the first half of the stage was punishment enough, so why not make the Bowser fight a bit easier.
There is a secret room that does drop you down onto the axe behind Bowser for the instant kill though. There should be a barely visible hint in the stage. I threw it in as a bonus to get lives and points.
I won't make a habit of bumping my levels for a new page, but it's a little depressing no one seemed to play (or at least comment)! Can't blame people though, the amount of levels coming in here alone is astounding... it boggles my mind how many there must be online total!
This is the second version after my wife kept dying! Added more puzzley bits and made most of the tricky bits just for rewards. I think it's pretty fun and challenging now
Thanks! Adding new micro-games should be easy now I have the rest of the level made. I'll have to try and come up with some more for the sequel!
Unfortunately all the micro-games are stored in the underworld so I can't see which games people found easiest/hardest (hope that is a possibility in a patch). I did see that one of you guys somehow managed to die on the music part though.
If anyone could try my stage and give some feedback, that would be great. I posted this a few pages back but I've refined it a lot since then. Tried to stick to a few basic elements and give the level a satisfying "narrative," so to speak. Let me know if it's too tough! It used to be much tougher.
A Dish Best Served Hot
Not too tough! And that was definitely satisfying when I got about midway through. ;P I liked it. The ending felt a little like there might be a bit too much going on, but I zipped past it anyway so I don't know if it really matters.
Just made what I think might be my masterpiece, "Wario's Mystery Mansion". It involves exploring a mansion as Wario and solving puzzles to escape. Really hope you guys can check it out and give me feedback! I'm super proud of this one.
I spent about five minutes trying to play your level... uhh, I think I am missing something because I can't work out how to progress in the level. I get to the first warp pipe and end up repeating myself. How do you continue from here?
A pretty easy level like my other ones. I noticed that some of the semisolid platforms in some level styles had windows on them and that really made me want to make a city. SMB1's castle theme turned out to fit it best, and it also gave me the opportunity to finally make a castle level. I hope people who get this as a capstone of their 100 Mario Challenge enjoy it!
After emerging from the Coral Corridor, Mario finds himself inside of a dark cavern. Surrounded by undead troopas forgotten from Bowser's ranks, can he make it through with his hat intact?! Keep your eyes peeled and stay aware!
tekno, the stage left me a bit confused. so the first two attempts, i took the vine to the autoscroller part. in my third attempt, i just went straight and reached the exit in what felt like thirty seconds. i think the skull/bone motif is handled pretty well, but yeah, i would reconsider two things: the auto-scroller is way too slow, i would urge you to bump it up to medium. and secondly, there's no real reason for the player to engage with the detour involving the autoscroller if the main path is a lot faster and more straightforward. maybe swapping the two paths would solve that second conundrum.
After emerging from the Coral Corridor, Mario finds himself inside of a dark cavern. Surrounded by undead troopas forgotten from Bowser's ranks, can he make it through with his hat intact?! Keep your eyes peeled and stay aware!
Very nice level! The aesthetics are cool and the platforming is fun. I had a very silly death with a flying ? block that blocked my path. Many hidden secrets and alternate paths. Cool!
I posted this one last night already, but its the one I put the most time into and I'd like some feedback. It's a bit difficult but hopefully fair, and there are three secrets to find. I know the very end needs some work.
Just like Vikki, if anyone plays any of my levels, go ahead and PM me with your levels and I'll get to them for sure! I love playing GAF's stuff.
This level is hard and I feel bad for making it. Even if you can't beat it, I think my bowser/boss idea was pretty cool, and it's right through the first pipe. If you feel like trying your luck:
I made another level!
Unlike my last level, which was tough as nails, this one is very easy to beat! However, the twist is that this level has a "story" to tell. How you interpret it is up to you! The Goomba: A Sad Tale of Madness. BDAB-0000-0033-2697
Theorymon is my man and this level has already got a ton of praise so I wont bore anyone with a lot more. Im not a big fan of really gimmicky levels but this is a real cut above and an absolute must-play. Id recommend turning off Miiverse posts mid-stage because they can spoil some of the surprises.
What's up GAF,
Yesterday I submitted for consideration my first level, "Golden Cliffs" (ID F41D-0000-001D-7020). I got tons of positive and useful feedback from you guys (I've almost hit 50 plays!) that I incorporated into the design of my second level: Ruined Castle Romp 6684-0000-0034-1BD7
This is in the showcase now so my praise may be a little late! Very strong level design with rewards for exploration, with one big exception: the hidden area above the final pipe leads to a lone coin that is essentially fatal because you cant jump back after getting it. Dont put a coin out there if Im not meant to get it! Very good work, though this level feels almost more like a Sonic or Bubsy level because the world feels very open, very airy. Visually this level might be a bit too busy but the design is solid.
Made a low to medium difficulty "airship" level. The fleet is stuck in a frozen ocean and trying to cut their way out. Frozen Ocean
F769-0000-0023-169F
Fantastic use of storytelling with the frozen fleet. Loved going below the ice. Good design, smart use of scrolling. What can I say against it? I guess I wish it was a bit tougher, and I wish it was longer, but you used the whole length! Definitely one of the greats out there.
Visually very neat, but the level involves too much waiting and brute-forcing your way through everything. There are tons of leaf powerups, so I guess you knew this. Everything felt restricting here. Neat concept, but I didnt enjoy the execution. I have a rule of thumb for playtesting that Ive mentioned before, that you should try to beat your level without powerups to make sure its airtight. No way this would pass that bar. This is so close to being a really neat stage, so dont get discouraged here! You have an eye for the dramatic here, and thats so important.
Just finished my first "high concept" level design. It took me quite awhile to make, so please try it out if you have time.
Title: BUT THE FUTURE REFUSED TO CHANGE
ID: 6FCF-0000-0034-6305
It's a take on multiple dimensions, which ended feeling kind of like time-travel when playtesting. Kinda Sonic CD'ish. When I thought of that name, I threw in a Chrono Trigger "cameo" as well. Was going for an intermediate challenge level.
I dont love concept levels, but this was fun! Im a sucker for alternate dimension mechanics so I guess it was easy to make an exception for this and this pulled off the mechanic well. One big pet peeve: vines shouldnt be hard to get off of! I think because of cannon placement it was easier to do the vine jump in the bad future than in the good future. Definitely had a Sonic CD feel and I caught the Chrono Trigger bit at the end subtle but appreciated. Well worth playing.
I just made my second course, if anyone wants to check it out. Like my first course, I kept to a theme and tried to have a gradual ramp-up of difficulty. Koopa Paratroopa Land
A397-0000-0034-680B
Not bad, but it needs a little oomph. Enemy and jump placement seemed too easy, but you dont have a huge clear ratio, so what do I know? Good fundamentals, but I wish something more was going on in the stage. Things never move beyond paratroopers, and theres no payoff variation on the paratroopers. At the end of the day, Nintendos made paratrooper-heavy levels for 30 years so this just didnt stand out. Only real surprise was the one that jumped out of the box. I guess you could say this level lacked drama. Add a dose of inspiration to your craftsmanship and youd have a real winner.
Neat interpretation and we get to see Mega Man swim, and its so weird looking but way too hard at points. Hammer Bros. standing in for the frogs at the beginning is just too mean given the tight jumps you have to make you shouldve tried goombas or something else. The one-ups just appearing on their own is weird. The blooper-spike bit was tough but basically fair and highly reminiscent of the Mega Man 2 stage, so well done there.
On a personal note, it sucks you worked hard on this and Nintendo went and featured someone elses Bubble Man stage today. Given that I busted my ass to get my TMNT dam stage out and someone elses TMNT dam stage got featured, I know how that feels.
Also my stages in no particular order, I always appreciate feedback.
7CD1-0000-034-A2B8 Long Ghost House
B338-0000-002E-C7BE Lovingly titled, Bower Jr's a little ship
B507-0000-0022-0E10
O992-0000-0021-A1C2
(In order) Not your parents ghost house: There is a ton going on in this level, too much maybe. I got really far down the main path, turned around, went down that giant spiky coin hole and found the rest of the stage pretty easy from there. Jumps are well spaced, but the use of giant enemies doesnt fit with the sort of mystery theme I associate with ghost houses. I felt hurried a lot here, whereas most of the time youre supposed to go somewhat slow and think in ghost houses. Still, I think this was good.
Bowser Jrs a little ship: Short and a little unfocused. I really dont like levels that start you right under a powerup give me room to stretch my legs and fetch it myself! You make the stage reach up vertically, but in practise that just means I bang my head against enemies who are above the screen and out of sight until I hit them.
Jrs Fortress: Another one thats way too short. Making the stage one and a half screens tall doesnt give me options so much as it just makes me feel like I dont know where to go. Good placement of firebars, but why are the firebars down low so dinky? They arent threatening so much as amusing. If thats some sort of conceptual dig at Bowser Jr., I can get behind it.
Can you jump it?: Tried the bottom route but its a total pain. Went up high and it was easy. You sure wish there were vertical levels in the game, hunh? Liked the level design once ti flattened out up top, but again its too short. My advice is to maybe spend some more time playtesting, attacking levels from every perspective the player will have, and try to pare down the choices the player makes into meaningful, interesting decisions.
I'd be grateful if you would do either one of the below courses. They're the ones I'm most proud of.
Airship Assault (SMB3 airship level): 32DD-0000-0030-E2B5
Twisted Trial of the Boo Buddies (SMW Ghost House): EF79-0000-0024-75D2
Airship Assault: Good but quite hard stage. Giant Bowser Jr. is a jerk. Dry Bones maybe come up too fast on the player. Mobile cannons are a fun idea. Just a real solid but hard airship stage, well worth playing.
Twisted Trial of the Boo Buddies: Man, you just love those dry bones, dont you? This is probably the best ghost house Ive seen in the game yet. Title room is the highlight, but the rest is good too. Stage has a puzzle feel but maintains the needed linearity. Well done!
I only have one stage I was confident enough to upload, I would be excited if you would try it and give feedback. I will start with your levels right now!
Trial by Fire: 1029-0000-0034-8BC4
The way the fire bars and podobos match up, the only way to get by is through memorization. I used basically no skill to get through this level, just died everywhere until I found the right path through. Even at the beginning you cant move freely because youll get killed by the first fire bar. Too short, too hard and you dont get to enjoy moving Mario around the stage. The hidden area was a neat idea but its a huge hassle for a tiny reward. Ease off on the difficulty thats the first step!
Having unlocked the P-switch and World style, I made a P-switch dash level similar to NSMBU star-2 (I think), which was my favorite level in that game.
Not big on gimmicks but this ones pretty straightforward run to the next P block. Its all about the execution, and this level has it. If you want a P Block chasing level, this is a must-play. Two criticisms: One, in SMW if youre running you pick up P Blocks really easily, which makes the stage unnecessarily hard (not your fault, or course!) The other is that the very last stretch is probably a block too long I had really good runs that fell just short, so it comes down to maybe a little too much memorization of the last bit. Still, very good! Some clever use of whats available if you stay big, it can help you spin jump to break some blocks. If youre small, it means death. Good twist.
Word to the wise: Dont put cakewalk in the title unless you mean it! Seriously though, this is a good level. I like bouncing off cannonballs so I had fun. Alternate paths up top were a nice touch.
Good level, and good advice in the title! You really do need to ride them all! Gimmick level where you ride platforms over lava. Skip one at your own peril. Boss at the end actually rewards good play up to that point you want to stay powered up. Really well done, definite recommend!
Here is my Fourth level that I just uploaded. As always, I appreciate feedback. Name: Dead Sea
Difficulty is on the Normal to Hard-ish side, and I tried to do some kind of Lore-ish level.
Background:
It originally started as a Water level focusing on Boos and Dry Fish, but it ended up evolving into something of a story level.
If there was a plot here I missed it, and I went into the second room (and died on the way out, THANKS). Liked the combo of enemies like dry fish, underwater cannons and boos, but the boo rings just made me stop in my tracks again and again. Water levels are slow, and those made it slower. Still I did enjoy it!
Fair work, but Im not sure that Hammer Bros work in autoscroll levels. I know helmet-dropping pipes dont SMM doesnt handle things exiting from pipes at quite the speed it should. Still, its the closest thing to getting a Hammer Bros suit in this game, so this gets a thumbs up from me. I should try more of your levels!
It's been sometime, but besides Donkey Kong Country stages I'm doing other things as well I swear! First level in SMB Style.
Basically this level started with me wanting to make some kind of up and down level, and I wanted to do something using springs, so I ended up with this. You use springs and vines to climb up and down the trees! There's a bunch of secrets and paths to take, as well as the usual 3 hidden 1-ups. There's also two sub-areas with secrets!
Last segment is a nod to DKC3, with the saws coming up as you climb the tree. Probably could use some modifications but I ran out of blocks.
Would love some feedback on this one.
Barking Up The Wrong Tree
9F8E-0000-0033-3240
Would love feeback.
Pretty happy as well! Sawblade Sneak passed 100 people (300 attempts) and 40 stars!
I'm going to check this out now and report back with some feedback. My first level was a tower/tree concept and I've just now revised it. From the looks of the pic you posted, I already dig the fact that you used the hill-like platform as a wallpaper/background for the inner-tree. I've been frustrated that I haven't been able to create legitimate backgrounds.
Here's my most revised tree-level. Looking for some feedback!
Tree of Genesis: 7679-0000-003A-83D3
EDIT: Good stuff, bud! Dug the fact that it was more than one tree. Liked how underground it was as if you were trying to show bugs in the dirt. Nice ideas with the trampolines on belts, too. Found the bonus room and 2 1-ups, I believe.
That was freaking cool. It's so creative and fun! I expected it to be a short, one-off thing, but you managed to expand it and increase the difficulty a little each time. I'm impressed!
Finished my first stage. I already know one small tweak I want to do at one point, but feedback would be appreciated.
Tracks of Fury 79E6-0000-0035-1631
There are two hidden one ups, as well as a secret sub world. I tried to give hints as to some of that stuff. The first one up is a bit painfully obvious with all the arrows though.
I missed the sub world area. I'm guessing its by the last moving platform. But since I died so many times, I didn't want to take any chances. I enjoyed your stage though, thanks!
I tried to tell the Jurassic Park story as well as I could in the context of a Mario level. You tour the park and notice that something's escaped. You enter the main facilities, try to survive, explore the genetic engineering labs, fight and befriend various giant creatures, and finally battle (or run away from) a big T-rex-ish thing. Of course, it's a Mario level, so... it's pretty much just a Mario level!
Finally managed to concentrate long enough to finish a level.
Didn't see hat coming!
7E4E-0000-003A-0295
There's a trick to doing well, hopefully most people stumble across it, if not you can still hamfist your way through. So many broken levels out there it's insane.
When the family is in bed in going to go through this thread and play/provide feedback on a bunch of levels. In addition I'll share four levels I've made so far.