Support NeoGAF

[jholmes]

Hey everybody, here's a new level called The Underground Glass House

635F-0000-007C-7C7D

It's sorta easy but I think I was due for one of these. I think it's fun! Please give it a try and as always I welcome your feedback.

My third upload. Try it Gaf! It's not hard!

Spin Dr. (Mario) 97E3-0000-007A-8F4E

I really like the name and there's some strong design here but I cannot take you seriously saying this level isn't hard. This level works well enough without the ridiculous and inconsistent platforming of the underground section. Thwomps were probably not the right choice here as they don't stay on the rails. I used spinies for that reason in my Caramel Cliffs level.‎
‎

Okay artistic GAF I need help. I just made a pretty hilarious/cool level and I need some overly dramatic Japanese-esque style artwork to go along with it, maybe like those posters you guys make. Here's the level:

¤§ SAMURAI MARIO §¤

(E0F9-0000-007A-5BC1)

Utterly ridiculous and thoroughly enjoyed. Bowser and the plants are almost guaranteed to hit you, and I didn't get the point of the second row of blocks, but I had fun and you got some chuckles out of me. Well done.‎
‎

Fiery Clown Car Escape 
(2FFF-0000-0079-05A3)

Inspired by the Rocket Barrel levels from Donkey Kong Country Returns and Tropical Freeze!

Really good! First thwomp might be a bit tough for an introduction but a very, very solid level. Highly recommended. ‎

3-2 Mount Mushroom
8E69-0000-007C-7E7C

Second level of world 3. Compared to the earlier levels, this one ups the difficulty quite a bit. Still nothing extremely hard, but compared to earlier levels you should definitly feel an increase in difficulty.

Another good one! Moving up vertically is fun because of the layout, and you've done well to eliminate blind jumps. I don't love starting under the piranha plant and the power ups are too common in the first half, but this is a really strong stage.

 

[Stairouais]

I really like the name and there's some strong design here but I cannot take you seriously saying this level isn't hard. This level works well enough without the ridiculous and inconsistent platforming of the underground section. Thwomps were probably not the right choice here as they don't stay on the rails. I used spinies for that reason in my Caramel Cliffs level.‎
‎

Thanks for your comments!

You're not the first one to tell me this. That's really weird, I never had this falling Thwomp problem. I knew there was some challenging parts in the undergound sections, i did no realise it was that hard. I guess I playtested the level too much.

 

[Gotdatmoney]

Thanks for your comments!

You're not the first one to tell me this. That's really weird, I never had this falling Thwomp problem. I knew there was some challenging parts in the undergound sections, i did no realise it was that hard. I guess I playtested the level too much.

I havent played your level but I find a good way to playtest difficulty is to see if you can beat the level with only small Mario giving yourself 2-3 tries. If you cannot beat your own level easily given that handicap, its probably too hard.

This is just a rough test granted but for levels I want to be easier it works.

 

[Sölf]

Another good one! Moving up vertically is fun because of the layout, and you've done well to eliminate blind jumps. I don't love starting under the piranha plant and the power ups are too common in the first half, but this is a really strong stage.

Thanks for playing!
I sort of agree with the many powerups, but sometimes enemies just fall from the top down and may hit you. It's still intended to be somewhat easy though (but it's quite a bit harder than my 1-X and 2-X level, as well as 3-1).

 

[Junahu]

Why don't they just add a menu to add background elements?

You basically have full control over them anyway, it just requires you to make a long stretch of land to get them all to spawn, and then copy and paste them as needed.

Background elements are a property of solid ground. Giving them their own menu icon would allow the player to stick them in midair, which is both ugly and visually dangerous (imagine a blind jump where the player can barely see a background element in the distance, and assumes there must be solid ground there)

 

[R00bot]

Hey guys, I've made a new stage, tell me what you think!

This new stage is based in a cave/mine, filled with many secrets to find, a few puzzles, and some platforming challenges. I also played around with using cannons on the back of enemies to create moving walls to wall jump on or jump across. I think it's a fun idea, and I'm fairly happy with how it came out.
Give it a shot if you want!
2CE1-0000-007C-7F5F

 

[urfe]

So people are posting negative comments of my latest hard level, but they're having to star it is seems.

It seems unfair but I can't figure out how to turn it off.

Any help?

One guy beat the level. If you are from GAF, good job.

 

[Xenoboy]

I haven't been on here or played the game in a few days, so what has been happening lately? Any really standout levels that's been released lately?

 

[aidan]

Guys, try out OwlyKnees' levels! All of them are extremely well designed (especially the later ones, published between the 16th and the 25th of September, that you can find here), and I had a blast playing them. They deserve much more love.

I ought to try out more NeoGAF levels. I didn't play much these last few days, and I only created one new level. And, well, after playing Owly's, I realized I need to step up my game.

I concur! Owly's been making some great levels lately. Highly recommended.

 

[:Motorbass]

So people are posting negative comments of my latest hard level, but they're having to star it is seems.

It seems unfair but I can't figure out how to turn it off.

Any help?

You can't turn it off. However people can comment on Miiverse without starring from the level list (without loading the level). Just check the comments an comment directly on Miiverse. Most people don't seem to know...

 

[Dreweyes]

Two of my all time favorite levels were made by my buddy Codfishery!
Really well crafted and a total blast! Seriously check'm out! ♥

 

[Bjoern the Smexy]

Just a friendly reminder that I'll start streaming your levels in about 30 minutes.
Send me a PM to make sure your level gets played. First come, first serve.
Link to the stream: http://www.twitch.tv/Bjoern_the_Smexy

 

[xandaca]

After having fun doing some improvised Mario parkour in my previous level (Cloudhigh Skyway: 8296-0000-007B-DDC8), I thought I'd try building an entire level around it. The idea is to go from start to finish without breaking your momentum. There are two parkour routes: follow the coins and keep going up, or drop down into the first pipe (there are arrows to help). If you mistime a jump on the upper route and drop down, there's a bog standard World 1-style level to explore with three 1ups to find. There's no time or coin advantage to taking either the upper or lower routes.

PARKOUR PLAINS
Code: 9AA6-0000-007C-A805

Style: NSMBU
Time Limit: 100secs (should take around 20)
Secrets: Three 1ups (only if you're not parkour-ing)
Additional Challenge: Take the subway (aka: go down the first pipe)

 

[Kebiinu]

Been working on a swamp themed level! I really think you guys will enjoy it.

 

[Neki]

I havent played your level but I find a good way to playtest difficulty is to see if you can beat the level with only small Mario giving yourself 2-3 tries. If you cannot beat your own level easily given that handicap, its probably too hard.

This is just a rough test granted but for levels I want to be easier it works.

What if you give a player a lot of power ups? I tuned mine around doing each section with small Mario, worst case scenario, but I give out so many power ups.

 

[Sölf]

Just a friendly reminder that I'll start streaming your levels in about 30 minutes.
Send me a PM to make sure your level gets played. First come, first serve.
Link to the stream: http://www.twitch.tv/Bjoern_the_Smexy

Will PM you stuffzs!

 

[Gotdatmoney]

What if you give a player a lot of power ups? I tuned mine around doing each section with small Mario, worst case scenario, but I give out so many power ups.

For your Rosalina style sections I would probably say it would be the same thing except more dependent on if you can consistently hold the costume for the whole level without powerup refreshes. I generally speaking find your levels to be very fairly designed but not for beginners. For example your last rosalina level I completed on my first attempt and held the costume for 70% of the total playing time. But it was not particularly simple to do so. I think what you made was very generous with powerups actually but its a necessity to maintain theme.

I was mostly just giving a general piece of advice. I think if the creator wants a decent clear rate (15-30%) they need to be able to play the level without taking damage rather easily. The standards of completion for the creator should be moderately more difficult than for the average player. Otherwise you just arent going to capture the true difficulty of your stage. In general I think this is the area gaf struggles with the most.

 

[daakusedo]

My brother finally beat a Panga level. He was so happy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZweNteJWBxY

Made me realize that you have a good mark to throw the koopa when on top of the small cloud.

 

[Cuburt]

I'm starting to get an even better understanding and appreciation of what It's like to be a developer, beyond just designing/QA testing and more along the lines of programming as well.

I just worked on one of the most complicated builds I've ever done which consisted of a contraption that essentially "programmed" a boss level. It was very complex with multiple parts moving together for different purposes (I am very pleased with how it's turned out so far).

At one point I'm basically got it dialed in and I'm just putting the finishing touches with some enemy placement when I realize a game-breaking "glitch". After putting hours of work tweaking things to work just perfectly, I find if you activate 2 P-Switches at the same time (which is easier to do once you know my level as well as I do and you can't shorten the activation time) you can get trapped. After more testing, it realize it's far too easy to do and there are a couple different ways to come to the same outcome so I can't just ignore it.

Eventually, I stumble upon a rather elegant (imo) solution but after more testing I realize that has other problems it introduces since it makes it so people don't get stuck anymore but then they can accidentally activate the switches too quickly. But that also is too easy to do so it breaks the game in a completely different way.

After looking at my design for a while to see where I possibly have some room to tweak it realize that I just barely can stretch it to make the design still work without fundamentally changing it too much. That still means I lost hours of work on enemy placement for the old design but at least the game has been "debugged" and can work as intended.

I never imagined that I'd be diving this deep into getting a small taste of game development with this game but I love it! I've become so intimately familiar with SMB that I will never play a Mario game the same way again.

 

[KooopaKid]

I haven't been on here or played the game in a few days, so what has been happening lately? Any really standout levels that's been released lately?

http://67.227.255.239/forum/showthread.php?t=1115465

 

[Chubzdoomer]

(Fiery Clown Car Escape)
Really good! First thwomp might be a bit tough for an introduction but a very, very solid level. Highly recommended.

Thanks! It's funny you say that about the first thwomp because I originally had it crashing into a row of blocks and raising back up rather than actually threatening (or even killing) the player. I finally decided to just allow it to come falling down freely, though. In retrospect, I probably should've just stuck with the former method and perhaps even modified it in some way.

 

[Franchuzas87]

New level, my first take on the aquatic theme.

CASTLEMARIO: SYMPHONY OF THE SEA
[3B60-0000-007C-DB23]

I was mostly inspired by another level, The Secret Of The Sunken Ship, but I included several ideas and twists of my own. Hope you enjoy it!

 

[Nohar]

OK, I'm genuinely clueless: how does one make bone fish (Super Mario World enemies)?

 

[KingBroly]

OK, I'm genuinely clueless: how does one make bone fish (Super Mario World enemies)?

You place a Dry Bones


I'll post my I Wanna Be The Luigi ID again. No one's beaten it so far. I believe in you!

ID: 107C-0000-007C-0786

 

[Thud]

OK, I'm genuinely clueless: how does one make bone fish (Super Mario World enemies)?

Dry bones in Underwater.

 

[Nohar]

Dry bones in Underwater.

Thank you! The level editor didn't show them changing forms until I actually began play-testing, so I had no way of guessing it would work that way (I even tried feeding flames to the fish...). Once again, thanks!

 

[JPickford]

Village Of The Hidden Lives

(AD48-0000-007C-F2BB)

Easy village exploration type of thing. Lots of 1UPs to find.

 

[Cuburt]

I wish there was a way to place levels into a queue to play later, possibly in a sort of customized/curated 100 Mario playthrough format.

I suppose I could just download and play 4 levels at a time but it's not quiet the same.

Also, I'd love if you could get replay data for level playthroughs. That would be so huge for this game, even more than just seeing where people died.

There are tons of things I'd like to see added but those are the biggest things that are sticking out to me right now.

 

[UncleSporky]

So...I dunno the best way to make posts like this. I don't want to seem braggy in the least, if anything I'm kind of embarrassed...

I've somehow made it up to #4 on the North America all time chart, and I think #22 worldwide. It's pretty nuts!

You can see by the dates on here, it took 9 days to get the first 5000 stars, then the next took only 5, then 2, then 2 again, just now:

I really don't deserve it, because I've seen and played so many great levels here and on other forums, that I'm just like...dude that is a GENIUS idea, and then it's got like 15 stars at most. It's not fair. I think the whole thing is just self-perpetuating.

But if people actually are enjoying my levels then I'm glad to be able to provide them. I know that my most popular levels are all music ones, and they're not too much better than the hated automatic levels, so I hope I'm not perpetuating something that most people are annoyed by. I'm trying to make interesting regular levels too, something with a little more thought than the average thing you come across. And I know they're probably not for everyone either, they're on the easy side and they can't all be winners. But I'm trying to make the best levels I can.

I'm just kind of bewildered. And also appreciative of all the feedback I've gotten here in the past!

 

[jholmes]

I wish there was a way to place levels into a queue to play later, possibly in a sort of customized/curated 100 Mario playthrough format.

I suppose I could just download and play 4 levels at a time but it's not quiet the same.

Also, I'd love if you could get replay data for level playthroughs. That would be so huge for this game, even more than just seeing where people died.

There are tons of things I'd like to see added but those are the biggest things that are sticking out to me right now.

My big problem with the game is the total lack of curation.

The second thing is no death data from subareas.

I really don't deserve it, because I've seen and played so many great levels here and on other forums, that I'm just like...dude that is a GENIUS idea, and then it's got like 15 stars at most. It's not fair. I think the whole thing is just self-perpetuating.

Part of the curation problem is this, where inertia takes hold, people with hot levels get piles upon piles of stars and everyone else struggles to get theirs.

Which is not to say you don't deserve it Spork. I think you do, your levels rock.

 

[B_Bech]

Davy Jones' Bones

(EE4E-0000-007C-B083)

I'm back, this time with a rather unique level. I wanted to make two levels today: a vertical level and a water level people won't hate. Instead of doing both, I combined the ideas into one. What I came up with is Davy Jones' Bones. This is a speed running level, giving you only 150 seconds to get to the top of the level. Using the Airship and Underwater tilesets, I was able to really give off the illusion of progressing higher and higher. I made it so the player will know exactly how high they are, and it all feels very cohesive. It's, in my opinion, normal difficulty, as the dry bones encounters are mixed up pretty well, but I do throw you a bone in the way of power ups.

I think it all feels very natural, climbing upwards underwater. It makes me wonder why there has never been an official Nintendo made level doing this. I wanted it to autoscroll up... but given there is no option, I used a short timer to give that sense of urgency. If you play my level and throw me some feedback (optional) I'll gladly play any of yours! Just send me a code via quote or PM.

Hope you enjoy this one guys. It's not my usual style, but it's actually pretty cool!

 

[zigg]

I think it all feels very natural, climbing upwards underwater. It makes me wonder why there has never been an official Nintendo made level doing this.

I'm pretty sure there has been? You're not landing on platforms, but you're swimming vertically upward at least in certain sections.

 

[cyba89]

Finally had the time to make a new level.

Touch Fuzzy, Get Dizzy!
FFF5-0000-007C-FD11

Mushrooms are not good for your health. Loosly inspired by that Yoshis Island level.

Will play some GAF-levels later.

 

[Bjoern the Smexy]

Thanks for everyone who watched my stream. Played a lot of levels and pretty much every single one was a lot of fun and/or very creative.
If anyone missed the stream, wants to rewatch it or both, you can do so on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUgXNztdJs4

At the time of this writing the video is currently being processed and will probably take a bit of time (it's a bit over two hours long), so you might wanna F5 that tab in a few minutes or hours.

 

[UncleSporky]

Part of the curation problem is this, where inertia takes hold, people with hot levels get piles upon piles of stars and everyone else struggles to get theirs.

Which is not to say you don't deserve it Spork. I think you do, your levels rock.

Yeah, actually I think people play 100 Mario Challenge and get starved for anything interesting that's not a star run or spring room or impossible thwomp nightmare, and they go to the leaderboards.

Thanks for the kind words too.

 

[B_Bech]

I'm pretty sure there has been? You're not landing on platforms, but you're swimming vertically upward at least in certain sections.

Really? Can you show me what you're thinking of? I just meant a pure upward scrolling water level. I played all the Mario games, but I'm sure I could be forgetting a few levels.

 

[Neki]

For your Rosalina style sections I would probably say it would be the same thing except more dependent on if you can consistently hold the costume for the whole level without powerup refreshes. I generally speaking find your levels to be very fairly designed but not for beginners. For example your last rosalina level I completed on my first attempt and held the costume for 70% of the total playing time. But it was not particularly simple to do so. I think what you made was very generous with powerups actually but its a necessity to maintain theme.

I was mostly just giving a general piece of advice. I think if the creator wants a decent clear rate (15-30%) they need to be able to play the level without taking damage rather easily. The standards of completion for the creator should be moderately more difficult than for the average player. Otherwise you just arent going to capture the true difficulty of your stage. In general I think this is the area gaf struggles with the most.

Yeah I can usually get through my stage only getting hit once. It's funny the only area I ever get hit is the platform area with fire bars and cannon balls even though the fire and cannon balls are always in the same place. But looking at my completion rate (below 10%) and the areas where people die, its surprising to me how often people struggle.

I wish I could see deaths in sub areas because there are more deaths in all the other areas before the platform area, where the platform area is definitely the hardest. Maybe it's because once you get to that area, you must be good at the level but who knows. It's really interesting to think about.

 

[Green Mamba]

Aw, you can't put vines on tracks. You can put a ?-block or brick with a vine in it on a track, but it's just not the same.

 

[octopiggy]

I really don't deserve it

For what it's worth, your music levels are the best music levels out there.

As someone who has spent hours struggling to cobble together music levels and then ending up with something that I'm not particularly happy with (

Spoiler

uploaded anyway!

), I think you absolutely deserve your spot.

When you compare your work to some of the stuff that's above you, you should probably be higher! It's probably best not to take chart positions too seriously (

Spoiler

I check my position every day!

). It's just a shame that it promotes levels that aren't necessarily that good.

 

[UncleSporky]

For what it's worth, your music levels are the best music levels out there.

No, there are people better than me!

This guy is awesome. 600 AD Chrono Trigger is legitimately beautiful, and the Phoenix Wright ones are awesome too.

And this guy made a better Sandstorm a couple days before me. I didn't even know someone beat me to it! But my level got the attention on Kotaku. His version sounds a lot better because he asks the player to run so it plays faster and you hear more density of notes, but I don't like doing it that way. You can never count on the player acting the way you want them to, they'll mess it up unless you autoscroll them or use conveyors/tracks (and heck on most of my courses, people get stuck by moving at the beginning...I'm trying to use that method less). I don't like writing messages out in coins either.

As someone who has spent hours struggling to cobble together music levels and then ending up with something that I'm not particularly happy with (

Spoiler

uploaded anyway!

), I think you absolutely deserve your spot.

I've put up a few levels I wasn't totally happy with either, and then a lot of people say they love it anyway. That's how you know the leaderboards aren't all that legit.

Frostfall Caverns is a neat idea but not fair at all to the player because you can't see the blocks before they come falling out of nowhere and flatten you. I kept dying on test runs and made it easier and easier, less blocks, but the core concept just isn't fair. It's like thwomps you can't see, but a little less dangerous.

And the Temple of Midas was kind of aimless, I knew I wanted to do a golden temple and just kind of pieced it together. I put in a lot of time trying to make it good but I don't feel like it works the best.

I need to listen to your music level sometime here.

 

[JinjoUnchained]

For your Rosalina style sections I would probably say it would be the same thing except more dependent on if you can consistently hold the costume for the whole level without powerup refreshes. I generally speaking find your levels to be very fairly designed but not for beginners. For example your last rosalina level I completed on my first attempt and held the costume for 70% of the total playing time. But it was not particularly simple to do so. I think what you made was very generous with powerups actually but its a necessity to maintain theme.

I was mostly just giving a general piece of advice. I think if the creator wants a decent clear rate (15-30%) they need to be able to play the level without taking damage rather easily. The standards of completion for the creator should be moderately more difficult than for the average player. Otherwise you just arent going to capture the true difficulty of your stage. In general I think this is the area gaf struggles with the most.

Not to put words in his mouth, but I don't think Neki gave so many power ups only to "maintain theme", but more as a way to simulate checkpoints. That's the sense I got anyway, from playing and discussing with him, that he's big on player agency and not forcing the player to start over if they've made good progress. Given the generous length and challenge level of each section, I'd say the difficulty is balanced really well with the multiple power ups.

 

[Cuburt]

My big problem with the game is the total lack of curation.

The second thing is no death data from subareas.



Part of the curation problem is this, where inertia takes hold, people with hot levels get piles upon piles of stars and everyone else struggles to get theirs.

Which is not to say you don't deserve it Spork. I think you do, your levels rock.

Yes. It desperately needs death data from sub areas
.
I don't know how it can be popularity based and not have an inertia problem that could eclipse "quality" because that's always going to be a problem with subjective creative works. I hope Nintendo just fleshes out the sharing and searching capabilities in the future so people can at least more easily find the type of levels they want to play without having to find other websites to fill the void.

I've agreed with Nintendo's use of only positive acknowledgement (Yeahs and stars) in the past but I kind of feel that a negative mark (thumbs down) is needed for this game, at the very least just because the disproportionate amount of certain types of levels that get stars (like autolevels) or because of how crappy/kaizo/poorly designed/unfair levels start getting lumped in to the expert 100 mario challenge level. I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with any type of levels but there needs to be something that balances things out so more of the type of levels that Mario is made for can get for focus as well.

 

[Ferrio]

Made this level: Take a break, expert is hard. ♥

Currently has less than a 1% completion rate with like 180 deaths. Let's see if it works the way I hope it does.

 

[Chubzdoomer]

My big problem with the game is the total lack of curation.

The second thing is no death data from subareas.

I couldn't possibly agree more. No death data from subareas is a huge bummer, especially since some levels revolve completely around them.

 

[UncleSporky]

Yes. It desperately needs death data from sub areas.

I couldn't possibly agree more. No death data from subareas is a huge bummer, especially since some levels revolve completely around them.

If you would really like to see your sub area death data, I suggest playing your level yourself and dying in various areas to look at the X's. In some ways it's much better because it's such a close up. Really interesting to look at. You can even take a screenshot!

I've agreed with Nintendo's use of only positive acknowledgement (Yeahs and stars) in the past but I kind of feel that a negative mark (thumbs down) is needed for this game

I don't think they need an actual thumbs down sort of thing, they should simply use the number of skips from 100 Mario Challenge as a measure of that. And not count it as a skip if the person also starred the level, meaning they recognize that it's a good level and went out of their way to star it despite the skip.

 

[Krabboss]

Your p block level was very difficult to me, you have a very strict window to do a jump and you have no time to do it. The timing of kt was excessively strict, and there was no direction what to do so I had to die ten times before I figured out what to do. Also had no idea how to pass the last area properly. Good level though, definitely wouldn't want to do it again lol.

I uploaded the level 5 times making minor revisions and the process of doing that definitely muddied up how you're meant to proceed through it. The problem it has now is there's two solutions when there's only meant to be one and it's a bit confusing as a result. I'd edit it and re-upload it but it's already my most played level so I'll just cop this one.

So instead I made another level where I crammed as much as I could into a single screen.

62D4-0000-0007D-1348

 

[aidan]

My latest level is live! Wild Tanooki Fields is an early-game SMB 3 level that offers an easy main route, and a handful of secrets/shortcuts that require a bit more finesse and timing which should please experienced players. I really wanted to create a level that combines exploration, aesthetics, and tight platforming. I'm very happy with the result.

Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆

B112-0000-007C-FAD6

My Mario Maker Hub profile: http://www.mariomakerhub.com/makers/spacedonkeys

 

[MrBadger]

Does anybody else kind of feel like they should limit how many 1-ups you can put in a stage a bit more? It's not exactly like they have any kind of gameplay functionality and those few levels that spam them everywhere really break 100 Mario challenge.

 

[octopiggy]

No, there are people better than me!

Well, they're the best I've heard at least although I don't really go looking for them. I checked out the Totaka's song that's near the top of the charts today since I hid the same song in one of my levels. I couldn't believe how badly someone could mess up such a simple melody. The timing was just completely off.

I need to listen to your music level sometime here.

That will make you feel more deserving of your place!
My music levels get a high proportion of stars for the amount of plays they get too, despite how average they are. I'll always try to add extra instrumentation but then stuff will end up clashing just as I'm about to finish it so I end up deleting everything I've just done. I usually end up thinking "that will have to do" and then uploading it. It's really frustrating.

 

[Kyzon]

Guysssssssssssssss, I'll be streaming in about an hour and a half



Quote this message for a link to the spreadsheet where you can add a stage.
1 per gaffer please until I've gone through the list.

I'll probably be streaming for about 3-4 hours so that's 1:30pm PST to about 4:30pm or 5:30pm

Can't wait to see what ya have for me this time.

As usual, I'll give levels about 10 or so tries before moving on if I can't beat it right there.