I'd like a bit of feedback on this level I've made, Tick Tick Boom. It's a series of short agility and puzzle challenges, the twist being a fireball on a track which sets off a p-switch destroying the room if you're not quick enough. I'd like to know where the difficulty sits, I thought it was pretty reasonable but my wife found it really difficult.
Liked it, not that hard for a 'trained' player. Died at the part with the 3 POW's because I accidentally smashed one, if the door was more to the right I could have reset that would be great.
I played a level called something like "Things you should know" just before playing this, and it taught me exactly what to do. I wasn't a huge fan of the ending, but I can see you took care to place everything in exactly the right place. I love that you made the level fairly short. It could have maybe used 1 more challenge, but is definitely good enough as is. Fun level that should stump quite a few people.
A new level, once again. It started off as just messing around, but I ended up deciding to make a level. There's a couple paths you can choose and some small platforming challenges. Hope for some feedback!
I enjoy all your thwomp levels. This one gave me issues for some reason, but it wasn't the level's fault. The boss was nearly impossible until I figured out how to do it. I actually didn't know I could
I didn't really enjoy this one, which is a shame since the general layout is quite good. There's a combination of things that lead to major problems. The slow auto-scrolling and pure black background make it incredibly tough to judge where projectiles are. The fireballs are the worst, especially when they go off the top of the screen and you don't even realize you have moved directly into their path. Then at the mid-point it's super difficult to keep track of everything, and it's almost set up for you to take a mandatory hit with the firebars, seeking bullet bills, and a fireball. This is compounded right before the boss when you have the random fire coming at you. Sometimes there's just no escaping and you either take a mandatory hit or die. The worst part is the troll ending. I got trapped up top the first time I got there and had to die. When I finally got there a second time you have the fire bar set up to hit someone if they go right for the goal. Usually this means death. On top of all of this, there aren't any other power-ups that I saw besides the flower at the beginning.
There's quite a few things you could do to fix the level, and you don't need to do all of them. First, choose a different theme, or use semi-solid platforms to break up the background. Second, indicate where the fireballs paths are. There's multiple ways to do this including making a line with a track, using a few coins along its path, or using a narrow semi-solid platform right behind the fireballs. Third and easiest is just adding a flying fire flower or mushroom at least once in the level. Maybe just after the middle point.
I'd like a bit of feedback on this level I've made, Tick Tick Boom. It's a series of short agility and puzzle challenges, the twist being a fireball on a track which sets off a p-switch destroying the room if you're not quick enough. I'd like to know where the difficulty sits, I thought it was pretty reasonable but my wife found it really difficult.
Wonderful level! I can see where it would be really difficult for some. Panic is going to cause people to make mistakes too. The part with the pow blocks was a little tight, especially if someone doesn't fully understand the mechanics you're going for. The ending was right too, but that's kind of the point. Plus you have the checkpoint just before it. Honestly, if you're going for "expert" difficulty, everything is quite balanced and perfect.
Liked it, not that hard for a 'trained' player. Died at the part with the 3 POW's because I accidentally smashed one, if the door was more to the right I could have reset that would be great.
Cool, glad you liked it, it's a pain about the pow blocks, I really hope they make them shakable at some point to make a non-breakable stackable block like the silver ones in SMB3.
Wonderful level! I can see where it would be really difficult for some. Panic is going to cause people to make mistakes too. The part with the pow blocks was a little tight, especially if someone doesn't fully understand the mechanics you're going for. The ending was right too, but that's kind of the point. Plus you have the checkpoint just before it. Honestly, if you're going for "expert" difficulty, everything is quite balanced and perfect.
I'd like a bit of feedback on this level I've made, Tick Tick Boom. It's a series of short agility and puzzle challenges, the twist being a fireball on a track which sets off a p-switch destroying the room if you're not quick enough. I'd like to know where the difficulty sits, I thought it was pretty reasonable but my wife found it really difficult.
Fun and tense. The room right before the second checkpoint was perhaps leaning a bit too much on the evil side, but the finale was amazing. Great stuff.
I've also just uploaded a remaster of my very first level, Welcome to Retroland 1-1 v3. Besides a slew of improvements here and there, I've added 10 "red coins" to find (normal looking coins with a SFX added to them), similar to the ones in Yoshi's Island, to make things more interesting.
Lastly, Wario & Waluigi: The Bank Heist is now my second most starred level, with 270+ stars. Thanks everyone for the extremely kind comments
I've been talking a little bit of a break from Super Mario Maker lately to work on my backlog of other games, but I started working on a new level this week and wanted to incorporate some of the recently added elements & costumes. The level is all done for now, but I'm always open to critique!
Very fun fortress stage, just the right balance of difficulty. The boss room was very interesting
and I almost ran out of time because at first I thought there was lava under the donut lifts until I realized there wasn't and there was actually floor leading to the escape, well played.
Please try one of my recent stages if you have time, I'm always looking for more feedback.
I normally hate them as enemies but these ace Thwomp Gaf stages make me appreciate them more and more.
Starting tonight I think I'm taking a hiatus from Mario Maker so I can focus on finishing Wooly World. 4 1/2 months of building and playing stages = backlog impacted.
Great autoscroll stage, smart but also laid back and just fun, has a "mini playground" feel to it. I could see a longer stage making even more involved and devious use of the note block barrier mechanic. btw I challenge you to go back and conquer my Capt Bobomb stage, channel your inner shmup.
This is a spin off of my other puzzle stage: I've been here before. Unlike the original, this doesnt have a confusing layout, and it's much more easy to navigate.
Edit: For some reason I had 2 versions of the stage up. There were no differences in gameplay really. Also edited the title
I've been talking a little bit of a break from Super Mario Maker lately to work on my backlog of other games, but I started working on a new level this week and wanted to incorporate some of the recently added elements & costumes. The level is all done for now, but I'm always open to critique!
This is a spin off of my other puzzle stage: I've been here before. Unlike the original, this doesnt have a confusing layout, and it's much more easy to navigate.
Pretty good puzzle level. It was fairly easy, but I much prefer that than very confusing maze-like puzzle levels. I found a way to cheese the level though.
Pretty good puzzle level. It was fairly easy, but I much prefer that than very confusing maze-like puzzle levels. I found a way to cheese the level though.
l am asuming that was spring in the pilars. I wasnt sure if I should leave it in or remove. was it subtle enough that most players would not think about it?. Originally the exit had a bunch of blocks that you needed to break with tanoki mario for this reason. My other puzzle stage has even mor eposible shortcuts so I thought this one needed some too
I haven't posted here in a while since I haven't had much time to play and some of the ideas I tried didn't work out. Here are a couple of new levels, though, using plenty of tracks. I like tracks.
This is an on-tracks level where I try to play with the interactions between moving platforms, Thwomps, and bricks. Sometimes you ride the platform, sometimes you follow it on foot. The level is all about iterating on a theme and mixing up as the level advances. It's not very difficult once you know what is coming, as the platform moves fairly slowly, but the first time you have to stay alert and decide fast how to pass each trap.
On this level you dodge some obstacles traveling on tracks, and hop on the tracks in the end as well. I threw this together pretty quickly with the kids, but hey.
This is actually a reworking of one of my previous levels, Double-crosser Jnr, which threw together a ton of ideas that either impressed or annoyed depending on your tolerance for new ideas in the same level. One Gaffer (CrisKre) hit the nail on the head when he called it "whimsical"!
Anyway, it featured a speed section that completely inspired my previous level 'Near Miss', so it had to go for that reason alone. Problem was, once I started tweaking it was hard to stop, and I've ended up with quite a different level that has dispensed with Bowser Jnr altogether. In compensation, and at my son's request (read: constant whingeing) I've included his entire Smash Bros' Amiibo collection for you to play with at the end. It serves as a painful reminder how much money I've spent on these things...
Hope you enjoy
and yes, you don't need me to tell you by now, it's not a cake walk!
l am asuming that was spring in the pilars. I wasnt sure if I should leave it in or remove. was it subtle enough that most players would not think about it?. Originally the exit had a bunch of blocks that you needed to break with tanoki mario for this reason. My other puzzle stage has even mor eposible shortcuts so I thought this one needed some too
I've been playing through some of the last few levels posted, I really liked Thwomp Rollercoaster and The Golden Bridge. The Bank Heist was a very clever idea but I couldn't finish it, the pow block always seemed to kill the bomb I needed. Super Smashing Castle Capers was too hard for me, but I can appreciate the quality of the design.
I haven't posted many of my levels here on gaf before, so I thought I'd put up three of my favourites.
Downside Up is a gravity puzzle level, it's a bit short though because of the pipe/door limit.
Anyone have any good ideas on how to take advantage of Bowser's behavior in the SMB3 style to craft a good boss encounter? I'm trying to make a good castle course and I've seem to hit a creative wall.
- Super Mario Maker Bookmark
- ID: 75CD-0000-01AA-5603
- Comment: I focused on building a cohesive level with traditional progression and a memorable finale.
I'd also like to share three really good levels of a friend of mine who used to post here on GAF.
- Super Mario Maker Bookmark
- ID: 2FCD-0000-0145-8691
- D-e-f-'s comment: "Ghosts love to fly. The feather is your friend. And P-Switches. But shhhhh!"
- Super Mario Maker Bookmark
- ID: 9A0D-0000-0145-5F60
- D-e-f-'s comment: " It's not "if" you reach the end, it's how you get there. Multiple interesting routes, all viable with different types of challenges."
Anyone have any good ideas on how to take advantage of Bowser's behavior in the SMB3 style to craft a good boss encounter? I'm trying to make a good castle course and I've seem to hit a creative wall.
There are 2 things, either use the fireballs he spits while the player is aproaching, or make it so you need him to destroy a path for you.
The problem with the former: you need to design a section of the course that is super hard for bowser to RNG screw you.
The problem with the later. It is not consistent. The player can kill bowser with fire or tanooki and would have to reset. Bowser can open the path, then stay on said path making it imposible to go in.
I'd go with the former, I used it in one of my levels but I build the level around the idea of hazzards that come offscreens and you need to deal with, with slow auto scroll.
Edit: Maybe give the alternative for the player to retrieve a P switch near bowser if he doenst open the path? Make them get a spring to get said P switch, all in the boss area. I guess it would be hard to tell the player what they have to do.
Anyone have any good ideas on how to take advantage of Bowser's behavior in the SMB3 style to craft a good boss encounter? I'm trying to make a good castle course and I've seem to hit a creative wall.
I used him in the third level of my Bowser's Dark Palace trilogy. Just as someone suggested, I made him clear a path for the player but tried to avoid scenarios where the player could get stuck by killing him beforehand.
There are 2 things, either use the fireballs he spits while the player is aproaching, or make it so you need him to destroy a path for you.
The problem with the former: you need to design a section of the course that is super hard for bowser to RNG screw you.
The problem with the later. It is not consistent. The player can kill bowser with fire or tanooki and would have to reset. Bowser can open the path, then stay on said path making it imposible to go in.
I'd go with the former, I used it in one of my levels but I build the level around the idea of hazzards that come offscreens and you need to deal with, with slow auto scroll.
Edit: Maybe give the alternative for the player to retrieve a P switch near bowser if he doenst open the path? Make them get a spring to get said P switch, all in the boss area. I guess it would be hard to tell the player what they have to do.
How would people feel about an arena setup similar to SMB3's Final Battle with a doorway blocked by alternating flamethrowers to slow the player down to give them incentive to drop Bowser through the floor leading to the Castle axe?
How would people feel about an arena setup similar to SMB3's Final Battle with a doorway blocked by alternating flamethrowers to slow the player down to give them incentive to drop Bowser through the floor leading to the Castle axe?
I had a level once where the player's goal was to get Bowser to bust through a SMB3 style arena floor to activate P-Switches that would open the way. I deprived players of power ups beyond the Mushroom to avoid them cheesing the battle.
How would people feel about an arena setup similar to SMB3's Final Battle with a doorway blocked by alternating flamethrowers to slow the player down to give them incentive to drop Bowser through the floor leading to the Castle axe?
Wait you mean the axe is in a area below the battle with bowser? What happens with bowser when he drops? Wouldnt he still be there, potentially blocking the Axe?
I guess it is the kind of thing you need to see to understand how it would work.
Wait you mean the axe is in a area below the battle with bowser? What happens with bowser when he drops? Wouldnt he still be there, potentially blocking the Axe?
I guess it is the kind of thing you need to see to understand how it would work.
Do you guys have any tricks for keeping boos in place until the character gets to them? I'm making a ghost house level and there's a section with boos, but they drift way out of position by the time the player gets to them. They seem to track Mario from any distance and they move through walls so I don't know how to keep them in place until the player gets to them. I guess I could put them in pipes but I'm hoping someone knows of a more elegant solution.
Do you guys have any tricks for keeping boos in place until the character gets to them? I'm making a ghost house level and there's a section with boos, but they drift way out of position by the time the player gets to them. They seem to track Mario from any distance and they move through walls so I don't know how to keep them in place until the player gets to them. I guess I could put them in pipes but I'm hoping someone knows of a more elegant solution.
Their position reset when you go through a pipe/door. That's the only thing I can think of. I experimetned with that a bit and that's the only thing that helped. Building the level with big rooms connected by doors/pipes
Do you guys have any tricks for keeping boos in place until the character gets to them? I'm making a ghost house level and there's a section with boos, but they drift way out of position by the time the player gets to them. They seem to track Mario from any distance and they move through walls so I don't know how to keep them in place until the player gets to them. I guess I could put them in pipes but I'm hoping someone knows of a more elegant solution.
You could have Thwomps spawn them from note blocks or have a shell trigger them.
But I think that door solution might work best. Make a simple wall so the player has to use the door and have the exit be right there on the other side to avoid adding a whole section.
Do you guys have any tricks for keeping boos in place until the character gets to them? I'm making a ghost house level and there's a section with boos, but they drift way out of position by the time the player gets to them. They seem to track Mario from any distance and they move through walls so I don't know how to keep them in place until the player gets to them. I guess I could put them in pipes but I'm hoping someone knows of a more elegant solution.
Played a ton of levels on this page with my scribble pad ready, but I needn't have bothered because so many of them were memorable. Really, the standard here just gets better and better. Only those levels with bookmarks were played, although I plan on revisiting this page and playing the levels that I missed.
A new level, once again. It started off as just messing around, but I ended up deciding to make a level. There's a couple paths you can choose and some small platforming challenges. Hope for some feedback!
I was like, "what the hell?" when confronted with the long pipe and nowhere to go, but saw you exploited an interesting glitch with tracks overlaid on pipes. A very peculiar level overall, but I did really enjoy its weirdness. One thing I'd point out is that if you accidentally activate the POW block in the last segment, as I did, there's no way of getting it back without a restart.
After a long pause, the second chapter of "Third Party Quest" has been released. The pitch of the series is this:
Tired of kidnapping Peach to have Mario save her right away, Bowser finally decided to kidnap Mario himself, lock him in a cell, then wall off that cell. Worried of not seeing him at the Smash Bros. dojo, Sonic, Pac-Man and Mega Man come to Mario's rescue: they'll go on a quest for Bowser's castle to free Mario from his prison and help him get revenge on the Koopa King.
At first, I was puzzled about what to do with the character's legacy in a Super Mario Bros. context. Then I replayed Pac-Land and experimented a bit, and decided to divide the level into two sorts of sections: the top ones pay homage to each main area of Pac-Land, and the bottom ones are underwater and pay homage to classic Pac-Man gameplay.
I must say it worked much better than I expected, the underwater sequences in particular are IMO pretty fun (I'm not flattering myself, I feel more like I discovered them rather than I created them).
You're right to be pleased with the underwater sections, they are indeed excellent, as is the rest of your level. The tight corridors work well with the enemies you used, and Pacman flattens nicely to avoid trouble. Really liked the ghost-hopping finale! Quite a few players don't know about this mechanic though, which may affect completion.
I've got 'Start!' scribbled under your level. Basically, for those who come out charging at the start like a bull in a china shop, that first Thwomp is certain death. In fact, I ran into him 4 times, so hard-wired are my habits. Appreciate you were trying to introduce players to the mechanic though, there may not be a way around that. Otherwise it was a fun level. Took me a while to figure out the flying Thwomp bit, I kept riding on him trying to enter the pipe! My own stupidity though, it was a pretty ingenious section.
Not bad, but a few issues with this one. Those flames give almost no reaction time and are too easy to hit on a blind run if you're anyway past halfway on the screen. A visual cue would be useful to give players an idea where they might pop up. The difficulty is also a little unbalanced, the beginning has more hazards than anywhere else until the end. Lastly, the boss fight with Bowser is a bit redundant. I spent an awful lot of time at the top of the screen firing at Bowser, only to realise I needn't have put the effort in with the goal a few blocks away near the bottom. I did like the different hazards if you were at the top or bottom of the screen though, it gives players genuine choice on how to tackle the level.
I'd like a bit of feedback on this level I've made, Tick Tick Boom. It's a series of short agility and puzzle challenges, the twist being a fireball on a track which sets off a p-switch destroying the room if you're not quick enough. I'd like to know where the difficulty sits, I thought it was pretty reasonable but my wife found it really difficult.
A great idea and enormous fun. What I liked most was how instinctive it was. I picked up what I needed to do from the word go, and never looked back. Only criticism is in the room with the POW blocks,
if one of the stack falls it is too tight to pick it back up again, causing a restart.
The levels I've played of yours have a really distinctive style. Lots of enemies and tight spaces that look more chaotic than they actually are. I did enjoy this one, it had lots of variety and kept me on my toes. I missed the POW block near Bowser Jnr first time by taking one too many jumps, but other than that each sequence was well worked. I thought the door hidden in the clouds was particularly clever.
First of all, give over on the star begging! It makes you sound desperate when there is no need. This is an excellent level. One of the things I love the most about Mario is the sheer range of jumps available from a simple button press. This exploits that to the fullest, and hits just the right difficulty while also encouraging players to take it on at full speed.
I've also just uploaded a remaster of my very first level, Welcome to Retroland 1-1 v3. Besides a slew of improvements here and there, I've added 10 "red coins" to find (normal looking coins with a SFX added to them), similar to the ones in Yoshi's Island, to make things more interesting.
Fun, free-flowing level. As a traditional 1-1 level it certainly works. Looking at your level preview now I realised there was a load of real estate at the top of the screen that I missed.
I've been talking a little bit of a break from Super Mario Maker lately to work on my backlog of other games, but I started working on a new level this week and wanted to incorporate some of the recently added elements & costumes. The level is all done for now, but I'm always open to critique!
Vroom vroom! If I could toot my horn in appreciation I would, as this was really enjoyable. For once I got along well with the bumpers, but probably because you made it difficult to fall down anywhere.
I liked this one a lot, a lot of to-ing and fro-ing to begin with, but once you get that all important mushroom you've worked the rest out because you've already seen what's ahead. Very neat.
I haven't posted here in a while since I haven't had much time to play and some of the ideas I tried didn't work out. Here are a couple of new levels, though, using plenty of tracks. I like tracks.
This is an on-tracks level where I try to play with the interactions between moving platforms, Thwomps, and bricks. Sometimes you ride the platform, sometimes you follow it on foot. The level is all about iterating on a theme and mixing up as the level advances. It's not very difficult once you know what is coming, as the platform moves fairly slowly, but the first time you have to stay alert and decide fast how to pass each trap.
A relaxing level where you could almost make a cup of tea waiting for the platform to come around! As you say though it means players can plan their next move and trial and error is kept to a minimum. Only bits I wasn't sure about was the row of 4(?) Thwomps that I ended up just damage-boosting my way past, and the bit with the P block, which is all too easy to activate the first time around due to the subtlety of the Thwomp above it and your eyes being fixed on the platform you have just parted from. Otherwise it was a brilliantly designed level that I enjoyed working my way around..
I liked this one a lot, a lot of to-ing and fro-ing to begin with, but once you get that all important mushroom you've worked the rest out because you've already seen what's ahead. Very neat.
The basic idea of this level was to make the players go back and forth in an area that seems harmless, but on the last time it something different would happen, that's why a fake golden bridge collapses after getting the Leaf. The whole stage is me just working around this idea, given the limitations of the game. But no one mentioned it! lol, I guess most players either found the spring skip or didnt care about the event. (I reuploaded the level with a small edit on one room, that's why the play count is super low now, but it had like 1 star / 11 plays before.)
The basic idea of this level was to make the players go back and forth in an area that seems harmless, but on the last time it something different would happen, that's why a fake golden bridge collapses after getting the Leaf. The whole stage is me just working around this idea, given the limitations of the game. But no one mentioned it! lol, I guess most players either found the spring skip or didnt care about the event. (I reuploaded the level with a small edit on one room, that's why the play count is super low now, but it had like 1 star / 11 plays before.)
Ah yes, I remember that bridge now. I wondered what it was for. I initially thought "where's the Koopa shell", didn't see one and carried on. It never occurred to me I was skipping part of the level with the spring! Oh well, it's a good level regardless.
Ah yes, I remember that bridge now. I wondered what it was for. I initially thought "where's the Koopa shell", didn't see one and carried on. It never occurred to me I was skipping part of the level with the spring! Oh well, it's a good level regardless.
That really worries me, I wanted it to be subtle, but I guess it was a little bit too obvious. I may have to think on another skip for the playres, or remove it and just leave the first one as the only skip of the level. I guess anything that doesnt skip the leaf should be fine.
The layout is definitely wrong if that is the case. I have to admit I rushed this level. My other haunted house uses way less blocks and has way more rooms. I may have to rework it.
I'm trying to be less gimmicky and just try to concentrate on an enjoyable, cohesive level. Something that feels sensible and fun.
I played a really cool Castlevania remix level that treated raccoon Mario's tail as Simon's whip. I was enchanted by the idea of trying to rely on it more as a weapon. Even included some armor lol. Just silly fun but I'm trying to learn.
Their position reset when you go through a pipe/door. That's the only thing I can think of. I experimetned with that a bit and that's the only thing that helped. Building the level with big rooms connected by doors/pipes
You could have Thwomps spawn them from note blocks or have a shell trigger them.
But I think that door solution might work best. Make a simple wall so the player has to use the door and have the exit be right there on the other side to avoid adding a whole section.
I haven't posted here in a while since I haven't had much time to play and some of the ideas I tried didn't work out. Here are a couple of new levels, though, using plenty of tracks. I like tracks.
This is an on-tracks level where I try to play with the interactions between moving platforms, Thwomps, and bricks. Sometimes you ride the platform, sometimes you follow it on foot. The level is all about iterating on a theme and mixing up as the level advances. It's not very difficult once you know what is coming, as the platform moves fairly slowly, but the first time you have to stay alert and decide fast how to pass each trap.
On this level you dodge some obstacles traveling on tracks, and hop on the tracks in the end as well. I threw this together pretty quickly with the kids, but hey.
I enjoyed playing both of your levels. Thwomp Rollercoaster was fun, but I felt there was a little bit of trial and error. That p-switch part was quite devious. I really loved Track Record until the spring section. It felt a little more awkward than fun, but the rest of the level was pretty great.
This is actually a reworking of one of my previous levels, Double-crosser Jnr, which threw together a ton of ideas that either impressed or annoyed depending on your tolerance for new ideas in the same level. One Gaffer (CrisKre) hit the nail on the head when he called it "whimsical"!
Anyway, it featured a speed section that completely inspired my previous level 'Near Miss', so it had to go for that reason alone. Problem was, once I started tweaking it was hard to stop, and I've ended up with quite a different level that has dispensed with Bowser Jnr altogether. In compensation, and at my son's request (read: constant whingeing) I've included his entire Smash Bros' Amiibo collection for you to play with at the end. It serves as a painful reminder how much money I've spent on these things...
Hope you enjoy
and yes, you don't need me to tell you by now, it's not a cake walk!
I remember playing the older version and to be honest I don't remember liking it very much. This version was much better though. Maybe it's because I had a better idea of what to expect, but it flowed much better and felt fairly balanced for a difficult level. It's one of those challenging levels where you feel like you have to finish it no matter how long it takes. Fortunately it didn't take me too long.
I've been playing through some of the last few levels posted, I really liked Thwomp Rollercoaster and The Golden Bridge. The Bank Heist was a very clever idea but I couldn't finish it, the pow block always seemed to kill the bomb I needed. Super Smashing Castle Capers was too hard for me, but I can appreciate the quality of the design.
I haven't posted many of my levels here on gaf before, so I thought I'd put up three of my favourites.
Downside Up is a gravity puzzle level, it's a bit short though because of the pipe/door limit.
I hate you for a couple of reasons. First, you make much better levels than I do. I thought all 3 of these were just fantastic. Second, I've been wanting to make a level like curtain call for a while, and just recently wanted to do a sky/cloud themed level. Both of yours are much better than what I would have come up with. I'm actually pretty jealous.
Just uploaded my fourth level! Please give it a try!
Koopa Cavern
- Super Mario Maker Bookmark
- ID: 75CD-0000-01AA-5603
- Comment: I focused on building a cohesive level with traditional progression and a memorable finale.
Very good level! This was pretty much the perfect difficulty for me. It's not one of those insanely hard levels, but there was enough traps and challenges to keep me on my toes.
I'd also like to share three really good levels of a friend of mine who used to post here on GAF.
Escape the Gauntlet, Please?!
- Super Mario Maker Bookmark
- ID: 46C5-0000-0147-A15C
- D-e-f-'s comment: "A short & sweet speedrun level. Not too complex but optimized for speed!"
Ghosts Ain't Afraid of Flying
- Super Mario Maker Bookmark
- ID: 2FCD-0000-0145-8691
- D-e-f-'s comment: "Ghosts love to fly. The feather is your friend. And P-Switches. But shhhhh!"
So Many Ways feat. Bouncy Cavern
- Super Mario Maker Bookmark
- ID: 9A0D-0000-0145-5F60
- D-e-f-'s comment: " It's not "if" you reach the end, it's how you get there. Multiple interesting routes, all viable with different types of challenges."
I enjoyed Escape the Gauntlet Please?!, but not the other ones so much. The ghost house seemed ok, but I only noticed how much extra level there was when I finished it. I'm not sure if it's meant to throw people off, but it's kind of set up to use the door near the beginning making everything else superfluous. The last one felt a bit too chaotic and messy for me.
Hi everyone!
I just made 2 new levels and was hoping someone here can check 'em out and give me some feedback on them. If any of you would like to play and comment on either or both of them and let me know what you think, that'd be much appreciated!
Bowser's Bill Blaster Fortress (5A1D-0000-01A3-0668)
A great idea and enormous fun. What I liked most was how instinctive it was. I picked up what I needed to do from the word go, and never looked back. Only criticism is in the room with the POW blocks,
if one of the stack falls it is too tight to pick it back up again, causing a restart.
I hate you for a couple of reasons. First, you make much better levels than I do. I thought all 3 of these were just fantastic. Second, I've been wanting to make a level like curtain call for a while, and just recently wanted to do a sky/cloud themed level. Both of yours are much better than what I would have come up with. I'm actually pretty jealous.
Liked it, not that hard for a 'trained' player. Died at the part with the 3 POW's because I accidentally smashed one, if the door was more to the right I could have reset that would be great.
I remember playing the older version and to be honest I don't remember liking it very much. This version was much better though. Maybe it's because I had a better idea of what to expect, but it flowed much better and felt fairly balanced for a difficult level. It's one of those challenging levels where you feel like you have to finish it no matter how long it takes. Fortunately it didn't take me too long.
That's good to hear, thanks. I made too many changes to list here, but they did centre around improving readability and making the design more coherent.
Can I just say at this juncture how great it is to have someone who plays every single level posted here on Gaf - and gives feedback. I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say it hasn't gone unnoticed!
That's where my wife got annoyed with it too, I wish there was a non-breakable alternative to the POW blocks as a stackable item.It's funny but I never even considered using the doors to reset the rooms when I was making the level, the only reason the door is off the ground in that room is to give the player a chance to see where the POW blocks are as they drop down.
After an extended break, I came back hard to Super Mario Maker. My inspiration this time? Motherfuckin' One Punch Man! I recently watched the entire first season in a big marathon session and got so pumped up, so I decided to mix some One Punch Man elements into a Mario Maker level in a little thing I like to call ONE PUNCH MARIO.
I don't think this level is quite finished, but The Witness is out today. This has been my most anticipated game for years. The game seems crazy long if I want to complete everything (I do), so the majority of my gaming time will probably go to this. I wanted to get this level out there before my Mario Maker break. I might pop in here and play a level here and there.
By the way, the level may not seem like it, but the majority of it is set up for speed-running.
I'm trying to be less gimmicky and just try to concentrate on an enjoyable, cohesive level. Something that feels sensible and fun.
I played a really cool Castlevania remix level that treated raccoon Mario's tail as Simon's whip. I was enchanted by the idea of trying to rely on it more as a weapon. Even included some armor lol. Just silly fun but I'm trying to learn.
Some of the level design felt a bit awkward with odd jumps. I can see you tried to make the terrain a bit more interesting than lots of flat surfaces. You may have gone a little too far though. Other than that it was pretty decent.
Hi everyone!
I just made 2 new levels and was hoping someone here can check 'em out and give me some feedback on them. If any of you would like to play and comment on either or both of them and let me know what you think, that'd be much appreciated!
Bowser's Bill Blaster Fortress (5A1D-0000-01A3-0668)
Both of these are very creative and quite good. Really, really difficult too. I think Bill Blaster Fortress starts of a little more difficult than it should when you compare the difficulty to the rest of the level, but it's not too bad since you can keep practicing that part.
Cannonball Blitz is a bit strange though, but it is my favorite of the 2. I completed the first half really easily, but the second half came down to a little too much trial and error. The issue comes from 2 places. First, the platform placement is really awkward. I never once found a smooth route through everything and it always felt off. Second, you require the player to slow down at some parts but keep running at others. When it switches between the 2, you pretty much have to die, come up with a different strategy, and try again. Some people like this kind of difficulty, and it's great for games like Super Meat Boy where you can immediately restart and there's extremely short levels. I'm not a fan of it for Mario games though. It was a very clever level though, and a unique way to make an auto-scroller.
That's good to hear, thanks. I made too many changes to list here, but they did centre around improving readability and making the design more coherent.
Can I just say at this juncture how great it is to have someone who plays every single level posted here on Gaf - and gives feedback. I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say it hasn't gone unnoticed!
Thanks! I don't think I catch quite everything, but I do try to play it all. Even the worst levels here are way better than the garbage you get from 100 Mario runs. Like I said earlier, I'll probably be taking a break from the game, but I'll try to stop in here to play levels and give feedback.
The pow block room was a nightmare to balance to make sure it wasn't too punishing and the path was obvious in a way.
In a better level it would be the climax of the level.
Still the same:
-Ending. Red Cheep Cheep cannon by the P switches is too harsh if you don't have squirrel costume. You have to stand there and wait for the timer to run out while anticipating the cannon firing. The problem with that though is that there are Cheeps Cheeps underneath that often force you to jump at the wrong time.
-Checkpoint anomaly. I did an experiment where I died near the end without touching the checkpoint, so restarted at the beginning. I found that I was almost as quick starting from the beginning as I was from the checkpoint.
The ending need to be scrapped, no one ever got to the boss fight anyway and it's more interesting than the normal path anyway.
The 1rst check point is intentional.
I mean the checkpoint makes you come back in a longer path so the quickest path is really without dying on the lower path.
Actually worse:
-Boo circle room. Less hanging around for the gap, but by placing the door at the bottom you don't even have to enter the circle - the star comes to you. Negates any challenge of this room whatsoever.
Going back to times, I'm a bit confused with how it is calculated. I went for two World record runs, the first one ended in death right at the end, but I posted a time of 1.31 on my second life. My second attempt was a flawless one life clear but I only managed 1.30. Something broken there.
I was pretty much out of ideas in how to make it work without making it too punishing.
Well water levels wasn't that fun to make so I guess a break was kinda needed....
In the next few days I guess I'll try to play some of GAF levels to get back into gears.
e: damn it all I'll make a last update and post it anyway!
I tried to improve it as much as I could based on the feedback you all provided Here it is!
Time to bookmark and play some Gaf goodness now
and then back to making levels!
I think it's pretty good, but I also thought my Airship course was pretty good and it was critically panned so... :/
I'm not sure if I'm gonna make any Super Mario World or New Super Mario Bros. courses just yet. My SMB3 stages got significantly less love than my SMB1 courses did and it kinda crushed my spirit. We'll see how I feel in a few days though.
Both of these are very creative and quite good. Really, really difficult too. I think Bill Blaster Fortress starts of a little more difficult than it should when you compare the difficulty to the rest of the level, but it's not too bad since you can keep practicing that part.
Cannonball Blitz is a bit strange though, but it is my favorite of the 2. I completed the first half really easily, but the second half came down to a little too much trial and error. The issue comes from 2 places. First, the platform placement is really awkward. I never once found a smooth route through everything and it always felt off. Second, you require the player to slow down at some parts but keep running at others. When it switches between the 2, you pretty much have to die, come up with a different strategy, and try again. Some people like this kind of difficulty, and it's great for games like Super Meat Boy where you can immediately restart and there's extremely short levels. I'm not a fan of it for Mario games though. It was a very clever level though, and a unique way to make an auto-scroller.
Thank you so much for playing and your comments! Much appreciated!!
About the Bill Blaster Fortress being harder in the 1st section than the 2nd and 3rd, I think it's a habit of mine when I create level as I do that quite a lot. Many times I have to consciously remind myself to increment the difficultly instead.
Also thank you for the advise on the Cannonball Blitz level! Yeah I knew the level wasn't perfect when I uploaded it, but I really wanted to upload it as I've been sitting on this one for a while! I'll likely make a revision later on and make a part 2 to the level! I personally DO NOT like trail and error type levels either!
Thanks again and I'll check out some of your levels later tonight after work!
Cheers!!
Ok so I just published a new level.
This one is based on the new whatever its called shooting vessel from SMW. Its was since a long time I also wanted to make a water level but I never was satisfied with what I tried before. Needless to say, a fun underwater level is hard to make but I think I got one now
