A few impressions, but first, since a lot of you slept through this going live last night, my latest:
Caramel Cliffs!
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I've seen enough people on 100-Mario Challenge trying and failing to do a vertical level and I thought, I could do better! Tried to make this a bit harder than my other levels -- I picked up a Super Mario World Special levels vibe and kinda ran with it, difficulty included. I hope you all enjoy!
GAF! Play my level - Pipeflip Airship. Code is
B73D-0000-0047-2D3F
My goal was to invent an interesting mechanic that would be unique to my stage - as that's what Mario games are all about, right? Then it was a case of finding interesting and evolving challenges that derive from that central idea.
Would love to get your feedback!
Really good, neat stage but I would bring up two points: First of all, you need to be really careful about coin placement, because if you get coins in one half and they appear in the other half, it breaks the illusion of it being one stage. I'd only put grabbable coins where they'd be unseen on the other half. The other part is SMM is a pain with stuff coming out of pipes, so maybe you'd want to give a better hint about the pipe where the P blocks come out of, or have a P block sitting below to start. Good stage though! Recommended for sure.
For fans of traditional ghost house levels I made this:
The Ghostly Gauntlet
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I liked it but varying paths might make the level feel too short for the player -- they're not likely to do every single path. I tried to get through the flying part, and I consider myself pretty good with the cape, but I got to a part where they only way through is in the middle of a boo ring -- those things are handled really finnicky by Super Mario Maker, are you sure it's reliably beatable there? Fun stage all the same, it's good to have that SMW ghost house feel without relying on puzzles. They weren't all puzzle stages, guys!
This is my latest level, an expansion on circular platforms. I used few elements, but combined them in different ways to create new situations. There are some challenging jumps, but nothing too crazy and everything is introduced one step at a time. The level is slowly paced with rewarding moments between the different challenges. There are 3 secondary areas with cool rewards that can help you bypass the most difficult spots and in some points there is more than one way to take, so even though the level is mostly built around around platforming, there is some exploration in it too.
No instant deaths, crazy bosses or random chaos in this level
Please let me know your opinion!
Good! You introduce the platforms well. Two points: One, I'd have the exit pipe for the subarea end much higher. It's too easy to go in the other end, and the pipe is pretty long, so I'd shorten it so people can't go in the wrong end. The other point is you probably have one mushroom too many. Your level is fair and has very few enemies, so the only reason someone will take a hit is if they don't understand how the platforms work or they are being careless -- you don't want to reward either!
Two minor points. I definitely would recommend the stage.
Just uploaded a new course. Since my cape level has by far the most stars of all my levels I figured I'd make a level around the raccoon suit this time. Plus I hadn't made a SMB3 level yet. Let me know what you think.
Raccoon Fun - DD54-0000-004A-70DE
Tough but very fair stage. You set up a gauntlet but set it up in a way that the time limit or really poor play are the only ways to die. If you're looking for an SMB3 flying showcase, I certainly recommend you play this. One criticism: as I mentioned about McBacon's stage, SMM is weird with how it handles things like power-ups coming out of pipes. (I learned this too well making Caramel Cliffs!) I wouldn't have the return doors and transit pipes leading directly next to or over the pipes that spit out more raccoon leafs -- it just makes it appear like those pipes do nothing, as Mario has to be far enough from them before the power up comes out.
Still, if you want to test your SMB3 flying skills, get on this stage!