Going to check out a few of the levels here in a bit, and I will be sure to write up my thoughts on them.
Ok, so I have been having some trouble with my levels. From what I gather, completion rate wise, I am making my levels quite difficult, even though to me they feel like medium difficulty at worst. They've all had a gimmick of some sort, so I thought, let me try and make a Nintendo style Mario level instead. I am hoping that this isn't too difficult, although I still tried to make it a challenge.
"Sham's Path"
Traditional Mario level. Multiple paths. A few secrets. A fair, non BS challenge for sure.
493F-0000-007D-D655
Would appreciate any critique, particularly on the difficulty of the level.
I had no problem with it, so I would say you succeeded at getting it to be a medium difficulty. Easier still with Yoshi to make up for any possible mistakes. At least on the ground level.
Secret area however will prove more difficult for others due to it's slippery nature and not all that forgiving for those who haven't really learned how to do wall jumping quickly. My problem with it lies in the fact it doesn't feel like it's either needed or all the rewarding. I completed it and it didn't get me to the ending all that quicker or provide a truly challenging aspect I wanted from such things.
Perhaps that's where three 1 Ups could be located rather than elsewhere in the stage, for those on the 100 lives endeavourer. If you meant for the helmet to be the reward, other than it being required as not to take damage in the secret area, it didn't provide much out of it. That and it hilariously knocked my Mario down to near death when I hit one of the buzzsaws, but that's on my end as a fault.
One game convention that gets a lot of use is making two paths, one harder and one easier, usually higher being the more difficult yet fastest way to the end.
If you are going for a more Nintendo style. Remember most of the time they build their stages so that a player can have a sense of momentum and constant "moving forward". Your stage entertained me to be sure, but it came with a lot of stops both due to exploration and having to wait on things like enemies or hazards not because I didn't know they were there, but rather not being timed like a Nintendo style level (see speed runs of Mario stages for what I'm talking about).
A complaint I do have with your stage is that of the start. So much of the starting real estate is taken up by the spinning fire flowers and the other decorations bellow. Reducing how much space one sees of Mario and the stage at the start can put people off as Mario games so often show off so much right away. It's an interesting sight due to that, but I just don't see your stage benefiting from it any.
This perspective at the start would be better off for a haunted house or a castle, to help feelings of confined spaces/claustrophobia.
Fun little airship level I put together tonight
Lucy in the Sky with Donuts
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Let me know what you think!
Not bad. I'm glad there were plenty of power ups to go through as I found it best to just go as quickly as possible in that stage. Some might be annoyed by leaping blind into the path of the cannonballs however.
Well, I hit the 10-level cap after a couple weeks of experimentation. Now that I have to actually delete levels to upload new ones, here are the ones I think are any good. Hope you enjoy; feedback is appreciated.
Sunken Treasure! (E735-0000-003B-67A5)
This is the first level I made that wasn't just a gauntlet of random stuff, and the first one that I consciously tried to make easier. It's pretty simple; try to get the treasure or just complete the level.
Das Ghost Haus (83BC-0000-0049-5A06)
My attempt at making a classic Mario World ghost house level. You'll have to find the secret if you don't want to keep running in circles...
Run! Run!! (C7D0-0000-005B-89EB)
Pretty straightforward. Keep running; there's no time to walk.
The Pretty Good Cave Offensive (1466-0000-007B-C870)
Inspired by Kirby Super Star, this is by far the biggest and most complicated level I've made. (Did you know there's a limit to how many blocks you can place in a level? I didn't until about halfway through this one.) It should be pretty easy just to complete the level, but finding all the 1-ups is a little bit trickier.
I'm not a big fan of water levels in general. So a nice and simple, yet with some exploration, and a generous fire flower made me enjoy Sunken Treasure.
Not too complicated that Das Ghost Haus. Bit short though.
Were the ghost cannons at the end just to make me lose the power-up?
Run! Run!! , exactly what it says on the tin I guess.
Of them all I would say The Pretty Good Cave Offensive is my favourite. It felt like just a good Mario stage in general, Kirby influence or not, between the platforming and the "boss rooms".
The only thing I would recommend you to change is after the wizard, it would just be a straight fall with coins leading straight down. Too easy to die there, especially without a cape, with how the coins are laid out currently.
Keep up the good work.
Heavily inspired by one of the stages in Super Mario Bros. 3, I thought I'd take a shot at it. Not a tricky level but one I hope people find fun (if you actually play with the mechanic).
New Giant Land (FD79-0000-007F-0880)
Ah switching between sizes, always one of my favourite elements from SMB3. Nice work, I feel you captured it.
Here's my take on a SMB 3 "tank" level. Should be moderate/hard difficulty. Let me know what you folks think!
Tank! Tank! Tank!
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A difficult one to be sure, close to requiring memorisation for a few sections, but otherwise quite manageable. Though I think it wouldn't hurt the challenge any to spread some of the moles out just so that the player has more room to jump when between tanks.
Ok, I'll give this a shot.
I would appreciate some feedback for my level:
The Flying Fortress of.....Love
Course ID: D5F3-0000-007E-40A3
An intermediate-level type of course.
It's not: chaotic, gimmick, auto-play, music, amiibo display, extra easy, nor insanely hard.
My goal was to create a level that is fun to play. But without the characteristics described above. I wanted to create a stage as if it was part of an actual Mario game.
I hope you guys enjoy it.
Later tonight I'll give some of the stages you guys have been posting here a try
While it's true it's not any of those things, it does fall into the camp of requiring memorisation, such as the P-Block, and that causes the stage to suffer some personally. Enough I didn't finish it simply because I didn't want to go through some of those sections again at least.
How the spiny enemies was nice though. It was fun to have to hop between though, even if the buzzsaws right afterwards weren't so enjoyable.
Another Toad in the Wall (F3C2-0000-0080-207D)
Leave them Toads alone! It's a small puzzle level.
Nice one. Ended sooner than I thought it would, but took me a nice short ride that Captain Toad would be proud of.