slow-twitch
Member
Went ahead and made Lost Levels 1-1 to 1-4. Level 2 was tricky to make with all the secret exits.
I'll make more if I ever get more level slots.
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Super Mario Maker |OT| Miyamoto Simulator 2015
- Thread starter daydream
- Start date
Went ahead and made Lost Levels 1-1 to 1-4. Level 2 was tricky to make with all the secret exits.
I'll make more if I ever get more level slots.
Ok so I retouched some of my levels tonight. I was deceived my skull ride level attained a "super expert" status, I didn't want it THAT hard. Same thing with my water level, I wanted it to stay like "normal" but it went expert. Oh well, I decided to rework certain parts and I am curious to know what you guys think:
NOW THAT'S A SKULL RIDE (vers. 4)
Bookmark me!
- Now easier (still hard!)
- Completely changed the 2 parts where people were dying more
- New ways to cheat you way through the level
- Improved the sub-levels and made more homogenous
- More power ups and easier to find
OCEAN DEEP FIRING (vers. 3)
Bookmark me!
- Changed the last part of the level for a more evident and forgiving canon pattern.
- Other small touches here and there.
Have fun! I am curious about your feedback.
NOW THAT'S A SKULL RIDE (vers. 4)
Bookmark me!
- Now easier (still hard!)
- Completely changed the 2 parts where people were dying more
- New ways to cheat you way through the level
- Improved the sub-levels and made more homogenous
- More power ups and easier to find
OCEAN DEEP FIRING (vers. 3)
Bookmark me!
- Changed the last part of the level for a more evident and forgiving canon pattern.
- Other small touches here and there.
Have fun! I am curious about your feedback.
KittenMaster
Member
Made a new level. Wanted to make another sequel to Heartfelt Dreams, this time ditching the idea of jumping into springs from below to boost your jump and simply keeping them strictly for turning you around while keeping your speed. I explored a few other ways of augmenting your movement in the level as well.
A warning, this will probably be hard for most players. Also built for going fast!
Heartfelt Dreams 3
A warning, this will probably be hard for most players. Also built for going fast!
Heartfelt Dreams 3
GAME CHANGER!
You can use the home button to (kinda) make Fly Swatter's hard mode a bit more manageable.
(I'd probably finish it by now if my hand wasn't cramped up by my attempts an hour ago.)
You can use the home button to (kinda) make Fly Swatter's hard mode a bit more manageable.
(I'd probably finish it by now if my hand wasn't cramped up by my attempts an hour ago.)
woopWOOP
Member
Alright, booted up Mario Maker again after a month or two and... hold up, there are new Pokemon Mystery Mushrooms? With their SFXs?! Whaaaaa. Must've missed the news thread.
Anyway, it's nice seeing that atleast a few people gave my unpopular levels a shot too during that time. So far nothing deleted yet it seems! It's also obvious to me now that my casual Mario-styled stages are twice as popular than those focusing on a single gimmick, I guess since those actually appear in the normal challenge. Maybe I should churn out a few of those, not having a lot of inspiration right now anyway.
Anyway, it's nice seeing that atleast a few people gave my unpopular levels a shot too during that time. So far nothing deleted yet it seems! It's also obvious to me now that my casual Mario-styled stages are twice as popular than those focusing on a single gimmick, I guess since those actually appear in the normal challenge. Maybe I should churn out a few of those, not having a lot of inspiration right now anyway.
I did that and it still took me a few hours to do it. That minigame is just ridiculous.
However, do NOT use the home button during the final round when the boss is on screen. You need to hammer relentlessly on the bosses. Only use the home button on the boss round when you need to clear away the minions.
I haven't tried different speeds for the elements, but I think it would just mess up the rhythm. You'll end up having safe periods of different lengths and that would make it more difficult. The margin of error is quite small but you are supposed to be able to predict exactly when the platforms are safe, which would break.
Go with the flow is actually a homage to DKC Returns barrel rocket stages, which I like.
Next for some constructive criticism!
This level is brilliant. Perfect difficulty curve, perfect length, and just enough variety with the changing vertical/horizontal sections while still being focused on one thing. A must play. Don't listen to people saying it's too easy. There are many levels that are too long and too difficult.
This was mostly fun and challenging, but the thing that I don't like in this level are the many jumps with a low ceiling. They are not small hops either - there are several places where you need to clear some distance but can't do a full jump. These are really difficult and not in a particularly fun way. Also after the checkpoint, you should give a straight up leaf, not a conditional one, because I want the raccoon when I continue after dying.
Damn, you always manage to find exploits in my levels.Were you able to skip the vines section somehow?
Edit: The level in question, for the new page:
Up in the Clouds, Down in a Cave
Bookmark
I also skipped the vines without having read the comments here, so it's not very difficult to notice you can do that. And Mario is not very mobile on vines in SMB1 style, so you want to skip that part. It's a fun stage, but I think it has unnecessary verticality.
For instance the climb in the very beginning felt sort of meaningless - why not just start the level by the skull track? I understand you want people to drop on spikes instead of a pit, but there are moments of confusion about where to go. I could also mention that at some points there were many moving platforms bunched together so it seemed like there are too many. All in all the cave felt better than the sky.
Skull ride is too difficult and too busy. It starts great. The first few jumps over the buzzsaw etc. feel really good. But then you are quickly surrounded by stuff and don't really know what you are supposed to do. Skull rides are fast and rely on quick reactions from the player, but in this stage you pretty much have to die on an obstacle a few times to figure out what you are supposed to do. The obstacles are too complicated in the first place, and having multiple layers of tracks on top of each other only makes things even more confusing. This has elements of a great stage, but you need to heavily reduce the complexity. Instead of having a bonus sublevel, split your level in two not by putting the second set of track below the first one but instead putting them in the sublevel.
Ocean deep firing on the other hand is quite fun and the difficulty is pretty good. I did run into a problem with the series of cannons: since they appear as you approach, it is possible to make them fire in a sequence that is impossible to avoid. I liked the mechanic of having to leave the vessel to clear a path. Still I think you should add a mushroom by the checkpoint.
It is too hard in my opinion. I felt this has the same problem as skull ride above: you are supposed to go fast but the design is so convoluted it's impossible to do that unless you know exactly what you need to do. I like scripted dash levels but they need to telegraph the required actions to the player better.
That is a great idea. I really wonder why I did not do that. Especially since I want this level to be max "normal" in difficulty.
Kontergurke
Member
I meant this place: As far as I can see, once the thwomps are gone, there is no going forward or backward from that point.
So, I was a bit inspired by redoing my first-ever stage, and I decided to take another crack at another one of my early ones. This one, called Mole Mountain, I liked the first time, but it never got the sort of response I was hoping for. I took another look at it and saw a lot of things I didn't like as much in hindsight, and some opportunities to change some stage elements to make them fit the level better. I had this big jump right at the start, which was a really dumb match for what was otherwise a very easy stage. I also added newer stuff like smart power-ups, a checkpoint and smoothed it out a bit for speedrunning. The result is Mount Molehill!
Please enjoy it!
I like this a lot! This might be my favourite level of yours. It's really good, and then the blue spike tops kick in, and the ramp-up is perfect. Highly recommended.
Yeah, this is pretty hard. But what you've done is really clever. I will say that while I like how this looks with the airship theme, any level that involves stuff really low on the screen is a bad match with it, because the screen will drift and bob above it.
With that said if you want something tough, and a but of puzzle-solving with your nimble platforming, give this a spin.
Please enjoy it!
I like this a lot! This might be my favourite level of yours. It's really good, and then the blue spike tops kick in, and the ramp-up is perfect. Highly recommended.
Made a new level. Wanted to make another sequel to Heartfelt Dreams, this time ditching the idea of jumping into springs from below to boost your jump and simply keeping them strictly for turning you around while keeping your speed. I explored a few other ways of augmenting your movement in the level as well.
A warning, this will probably be hard for most players. Also built for going fast!
Heartfelt Dreams 3
Yeah, this is pretty hard. But what you've done is really clever. I will say that while I like how this looks with the airship theme, any level that involves stuff really low on the screen is a bad match with it, because the screen will drift and bob above it.
With that said if you want something tough, and a but of puzzle-solving with your nimble platforming, give this a spin.
KittenMaster
Member
Oh man, I completely forgot about the screen bobbing thing. What I get for being away from Mario Maker for over two months.
EDIT: As a note, if anybody is having trouble with the level, you don't *have* to go fast except for a couple of parts, and even then those can end up easier going slower than intended.
EDIT: As a note, if anybody is having trouble with the level, you don't *have* to go fast except for a couple of parts, and even then those can end up easier going slower than intended.
I've made a trio of levels called Follow That Shell, and the third one has an abysmal completion rate of 1.58% as of right now. I've posted them in this thread before, but that was many, many pages ago. Give it a shot if you want a challenge, or try one of the earlier ones if 3 is too ridiculous to start off with.
Follow That Shell 3: Revengeance
Follow That Shell!
Follow That Shell 2: Reckoning
Gonna play a bunch of levels in the thread now.
Follow That Shell 3: Revengeance
Follow That Shell!
Follow That Shell 2: Reckoning
Gonna play a bunch of levels in the thread now.
I've made a trio of levels called Follow That Shell, and the third one has an abysmal completion rate of 1.58% as of right now. I've posted them in this thread before, but that was many, many pages ago. Give it a shot if you want a challenge, or try one of the earlier ones if 3 is too ridiculous to start off with.
Follow That Shell 3: Revengeance
Follow That Shell!
Follow That Shell 2: Reckoning
Gonna play a bunch of levels in the thread now.
Bookmarked!
Will try your series. Sounds like it can be a cool gimmick.
I have a series of that kind (sort of). "Easier With Mushroom" its called. Maybe you'd like. Concept is to find and preserve a mushroom, only one mushroom. That mushroom makes you finish the level much easily compared to when you lose it.
Easier With Mushroom 1 (out of 4)
Have fun
Done! Nice series! Let's see how long those world records hold up. Is 02 possible without a mushroom? It's the only one I couldn't beat without it.Bookmarked!
Will try your series. Sounds like it can be a cool gimmick.
I have a series of that kind (sort of). "Easier With Mushroom" its called. Maybe you'd like. Concept is to find and preserve a mushroom, only one mushroom. That mushroom makes you finish the level much easily compared to when you lose it.
Easier With Mushroom 1 (out of 4)
Have fun
Here is my attempt at making a strange level:
https://supermariomakerbookmark.nintendo.net/courses/7393-0000-01D1-3887
https://supermariomakerbookmark.nintendo.net/courses/7393-0000-01D1-3887
I don't usually like forced movement levels that much, but tried to make one that has a flow to it and fun to play once you get the hang of it.
Daring Dungeon Dash
Bookmark: EA3A-0000-01CB-A504
Daring Dungeon Dash
Bookmark: EA3A-0000-01CB-A504
TheLastFantasy
Member
New level!
Stuck Underground - 17F6-0000-01D1-E07E
Hmm.. It's a multi-room level, where there is a pipe at the end of each room that you need to go through in order to proceed. The catch is that there are always objects blocking the pipes that you need to get rid of first (munchers and blocks). The way to do that is simple, but tricky. The rooms are all isolated from each other, so you don't need to worry about back tracking or anything. Just focus on what you have in each room.
Really enjoyed making the level. I hope you guys enjoy it, too.
Let me know what you think of it!
Stuck Underground - 17F6-0000-01D1-E07E
Hmm.. It's a multi-room level, where there is a pipe at the end of each room that you need to go through in order to proceed. The catch is that there are always objects blocking the pipes that you need to get rid of first (munchers and blocks). The way to do that is simple, but tricky. The rooms are all isolated from each other, so you don't need to worry about back tracking or anything. Just focus on what you have in each room.
Really enjoyed making the level. I hope you guys enjoy it, too.
Let me know what you think of it!
NarcissisticJay
Member
Hi guys, sorry of this has been addressed but I didn't see much.
I took some time and built some training levels for my 2 kids.. 2 & 3 year olds.. Have a few built.. Is there any good way to find levels geared for young kids..
They are literally obsessed with it. It's so great.. And nostalgic.
Thanks! Been going through some of the levels here. Great stuff.
I took some time and built some training levels for my 2 kids.. 2 & 3 year olds.. Have a few built.. Is there any good way to find levels geared for young kids..
They are literally obsessed with it. It's so great.. And nostalgic.
Thanks! Been going through some of the levels here. Great stuff.
Made a more traditional level. It's designed to be run fast, but I think even a novice could beat it with patience.
Spin Jump Spike Run
Spin Jump Spike Run
No idea how to beat the first and third puzzle. For the first, I need the shell to jump above. And I'd need the shell again to get across the spikes. Don't know how I'd both bounce on the shell and pick up the shell. For the third, no idea how you get the pow block and keep the shell to open the pipe. The only way I can think to even try to get that to work is to stand just enough into the one-way to jump on the shell as it's coming back on the spikes, and pick it up while you're still invincible. But that's ridiculous. And it would mean having to restart the level if you fail, since there's no mushroom before the puzzle. Clearly lacking some Mario skills.New level!
Stuck Underground - 17F6-0000-01D1-E07E
Hmm.. It's a multi-room level, where there is a pipe at the end of each room that you need to go through in order to proceed. The catch is that there are always objects blocking the pipes that you need to get rid of first (munchers and blocks). The way to do that is simple, but tricky. The rooms are all isolated from each other, so you don't need to worry about back tracking or anything. Just focus on what you have in each room.
Really enjoyed making the level. I hope you guys enjoy it, too.
Let me know what you think of it!
Strange and a bit evil. Went through it again to see if I could get a decent time. The execution isn't too hard once you know what to do.
TheLastFantasy
Member
No crazy jumps needed!
For the first puzzle: It's impossible to achieve the jump with just one koopa.
Try to look around in the area again for a certain inconsistency
For the third puzzle: Again, no crazy kaizo jumps or anything. You only need one koopa to solve it.
Use it somehow to get the POW block without sending the koopa in. There is a reason why the koopa is placed where it is.
I'll post the solutions later. But for now, take your time and think about it. It's not hard. It's just not your typical puzzle level.
One question though: How did you get to the third puzzle without solving the first?
And, how did you manage to solve the second puzzle? Just curious.
A new level:
Test chamber
This one was in development for a while and I completely scrapped it a couple of times. I prefer the traditional jump and run levels to gimmicks, but I wanted to try making a story level. Originally this was supposed to be a quiz-show, but it turned in to an IQ test of sorts. So here's the story: Mario has been invited to Fungal Science to participate in a series of tests to measure his IQ. Even though he has never heard of this institute before, he is always willing to help.
So that's the setup. You get some tests like "continue the pattern" and must choose the pipe/door corresponding to the right answer. These are puzzles but not the typical kind you find in Mario. Maybe there will be some platforming also, who knows? There is definitely a story, and you can always just guess the answers to the tests if you don't care for that kind of stuff. I spent quite some effort on the aesthetics and narrative of the level in a way I usually do not, so please give it a try. I even included three secret 1UPs.
Fun level! Even with all the nods to Portal I somehow didn't see the 2nd half of the level coming.
Ok so I retouched some of my levels tonight. I was deceived my skull ride level attained a "super expert" status, I didn't want it THAT hard. Same thing with my water level, I wanted it to stay like "normal" but it went expert. Oh well, I decided to rework certain parts and I am curious to know what you guys think:
NOW THAT'S A SKULL RIDE (vers. 4)
Bookmark me!
- Now easier (still hard!)
- Completely changed the 2 parts where people were dying more
- New ways to cheat you way through the level
- Improved the sub-levels and made more homogenous
- More power ups and easier to find
OCEAN DEEP FIRING (vers. 3)
Bookmark me!
- Changed the last part of the level for a more evident and forgiving canon pattern.
- Other small touches here and there.
Have fun! I am curious about your feedback.
I can tell you really want these levels to be perfect. I think they both play well enough where they are at now. It's obvious you can make some well designed levels. I'm interested to see what you make next after your experience with these 2.
Made a new level. Wanted to make another sequel to Heartfelt Dreams, this time ditching the idea of jumping into springs from below to boost your jump and simply keeping them strictly for turning you around while keeping your speed. I explored a few other ways of augmenting your movement in the level as well.
A warning, this will probably be hard for most players. Also built for going fast!
Heartfelt Dreams 3
Pretty tough but short. I tried using the springs after clearing the level, but it didn't seem much faster and made the level feel even more difficult. I'm not quite sure what I was supposed to do at the first set of fireballs. All of it was random depending on how you proceeded and loaded in the level. I think I did the section with the thwomps correctly. I did a spin jump on the spiketop and used it and the boo to fly up to the top. If I was supposed to somehow get through the fireballs and thwomps I can't even see how it was possible. The level was pretty fun though.
So, I was a bit inspired by redoing my first-ever stage, and I decided to take another crack at another one of my early ones. This one, called Mole Mountain, I liked the first time, but it never got the sort of response I was hoping for. I took another look at it and saw a lot of things I didn't like as much in hindsight, and some opportunities to change some stage elements to make them fit the level better. I had this big jump right at the start, which was a really dumb match for what was otherwise a very easy stage. I also added newer stuff like smart power-ups, a checkpoint and smoothed it out a bit for speedrunning. The result is Mount Molehill!
Please enjoy it!
That was a nice level. I've been thinking about going back and doing the same to 1 or 2 of my levels. Specifically, I made a castle level that I thought was pretty good at the time. I'm wondering if I'll just see problems when I take another look at it.
I've made a trio of levels called Follow That Shell, and the third one has an abysmal completion rate of 1.58% as of right now. I've posted them in this thread before, but that was many, many pages ago. Give it a shot if you want a challenge, or try one of the earlier ones if 3 is too ridiculous to start off with.
Follow That Shell 3: Revengeance
Follow That Shell!
Follow That Shell 2: Reckoning
Gonna play a bunch of levels in the thread now.
All of your shell levels are really good! I think my favorite is the newest one. I kept loosing the shell in the second one when it would bounce and move backward.
Fun goofy level. Also very true.
Devious little level. I thought it would be an odd but easy story level, but I was very wrong. I need to start paying closer attention to the level screenshots. You really got me at the end. I was so confused.
I don't usually like forced movement levels that much, but tried to make one that has a flow to it and fun to play once you get the hang of it.
Daring Dungeon Dash
Bookmark: EA3A-0000-01CB-A504
Nice speedrun level. I didn't really like the auto-scrolling as it felt a little unnecessary. I think simply decreasing the level time could provide enough panic to push the player forward.
New level!
Stuck Underground - 17F6-0000-01D1-E07E
Hmm.. It's a multi-room level, where there is a pipe at the end of each room that you need to go through in order to proceed. The catch is that there are always objects blocking the pipes that you need to get rid of first (munchers and blocks). The way to do that is simple, but tricky. The rooms are all isolated from each other, so you don't need to worry about back tracking or anything. Just focus on what you have in each room.
Really enjoyed making the level. I hope you guys enjoy it, too.
Let me know what you think of it!
I love puzzle levels, and this one was particularly tricky. You did the right thing by keeping it fairly short, and the puzzles were pretty well done. The one thing I don't like is that the player gets stuck if they do some of it wrong. It could be avoided with a few tweaks.
Made a more traditional level. It's designed to be run fast, but I think even a novice could beat it with patience.
Spin Jump Spike Run
I played the level twice. I was slow and methodical the first time, and tried to speedrun it the second time. Is there a specific line for speedrunning that allows mostly continuous spin-bounces? I had some real trouble keeping things going. Sometimes I would even miss by the slightest bit and take a hit when it felt like I should have landed another bounce. It's a solid level though, and I like how it's designed for both average and advanced skill levels.
KittenMaster
Member
You can usually wait out the fireballs if you have to, they were tested with a set route though.
The springs are mostly without having to build momentum again, I am actually not sure if they're faster, it's just more fun than turning around normally.
What you did for the thwomps wasn't intended, but I'm also not going to condemn it (fastest and easiest strat is to just damage boost through the whole thing and clip through the thwomps as you bounce up). The idea is to use the Thwomps as stair steps and the ones above you would bounce on the beetle hat.
TheLastFantasy
Member
I couldn't find a way to do that, honestly. Adding pipes or reset doors, for example, would make the puzzles cheesable. You'd basically be able to have more of the same item in the same room.
That's why I decided to I add checkpoints. If you lose an item or do something wrong, you can just kill yourself and try again.
Any better ideas you have in mind? Please let me know.
And thanks for your input!
Oh, I understand! Thank you for pointing it out.
Mega Thwomp World 3-3: Hydraulic
This time it's an underwater level, it was actually the first level I made in this series. Difficulty is easy.
Figured all of them out. Helped to come back later with a fresh mind for it. The hints helped too.
Beat the first by grabbing a shell and going back through the pipe so another could spawn. I beat the second by having the wall spikey crawl on the P block to get up and around to drop the POW block. Beat the third when I finally remembered a koopa will stay in its shell if you hit it from below. The only solution I didn't like was having to go back through the pipe to get a second shell. I was pretty set on the whole not having to backtrack thing.
Thanks! My favorite is the newest one too. The second one is a bit too samey to the first, but I do still like it more than the first, which feels a bit short but at least introduces the concept.
There is a specific line I take when speeding through the level that doesn't always involve spin jumping on things. If you spin jump on everything you'll either have to slow down or have very good control of your spin jump height to keep your momentum going. I didn't want it to be just spin jumping on everything to go fast.
TheLastFantasy
Member
Interesting.
You cheesed your way through the first and the third puzzle, btw
First puzzle:
You're supposed to hit the fire block to get a trampoline. The fire block just doesn't belong there if you think about it. Why would I put it there? Just to kill you? It's a puzzle level. Also, the pattern there is weird. A regular block, then a fire block, then two regular block? That was supposed to be the indicator that you have to do something about that fire block.
I guess I shouldn't have used a pipe for the koopas there, haha.
Third puzzle: Wow. I don't even know how you did that! Haha.
You were supposed to get the koopa alive up on the platform on the left side, then jump on it so that the little koopa would get inside the spike cage without its shell. It'll then hit the music block by itself while you still have the shell.
Good job, anyway. xD
Whoops! Well that's exactly what I did for the third puzzle. I just didn't word it very well, I guess.Interesting.
You cheesed your way through the first and the third puzzle, btw
First puzzle:You're supposed to hit the fire block to get a trampoline. The fire block just doesn't belong there if you think about it. Why would I put it there? Just to kill you? It's a puzzle level. Also, the pattern there is weird. A regular block, then a fire block, then two regular block? That was supposed to be the indicator that you have to do something about that fire block.
I guess I shouldn't have used a pipe for the koopas there, haha.
Third puzzle: Wow. I don't even know how you did that! Haha.You were supposed to get the koopa alive up on the platform on the left side, then jump on it so that the little koopa would get inside the spike cage without its shell. It'll then hit the music block by itself while you still have the shell.
Good job, anyway. xD
I knocked its wings off with one jump, hit it from below with one of the yellow blocks, then carried it while it was still in its shell to the top left, waited for it to start walking again, then jumped on it as it was moving right to keep the shell but have the koopa in the spike area.
TheLastFantasy
Member
Oh, haha. I see. I thought you actually managed to get back to the pipe somehow.
Anyway, thanks for playing my level! Glad you liked it.
THIS IS NOT A DRILL ! THIS IS NOT A DRILL !!!
ANIMES HAVE INVADED MARIO MAKER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh79KOyg8SI
RUN FOR THE HILLS
ANIMES HAVE INVADED MARIO MAKER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh79KOyg8SI
RUN FOR THE HILLS
Thanks for the feedback. I didn't expect it be received as evil or devious. lol. My original intent was on making a simple, easy level, but I always subconsciously add a bit more challenge.
wierd.... makes me feel like something came full circle in life now. Its like Super Mario Bros is now Giana Sisters....
Truth is I didn't really think about it that much, but I guess every one of your puzzles can't be fixed. Puzzle levels in mario maker are a pain. I've made a few puzzle levels, but I've always had a conscious design design of not allowing the player to be stuck. It's very limiting. Also, it does mean some puzzles can be cheesed. I think the checkpoints you have are the best option for the types of puzzles you've built.
I like the youtube comment on a vidoe that basicaly says
"this is the first step in a long road that will end in goku in smash bros"
Good level! The wall jump part was a little frustrating, but I suspect my skill to be lacking!
I made it in 25 seconds, is it the correct cheat path?
An hard level, but it was the right length.
The Spinnies were a little too high, I would often end up dead trying to make a spin jump.
Both of those levels were very die and retry, I like this kind of design but I guess it's not for everyone.
I couldn't time my spin jumps well enough, I guess I'm too cautious. The Spinnies are small and often off-screen so you end up avoiding them. Have you tried with giant Spinnies?
Fun level but I feel like the Donut Block waiting is breaking the pace.
Both are well done traditional courses!
I shall try if I can beat that myself. I never really tried my best shot at it
woopWOOP
Member
Getting back into this game. I've decided to make worlds of casual, mostly traditional levels in the #-# format that start off very easy and slowly ramp up the difficulty while introducing different enemy types. Only 2 worlds so far since it'll be awhile until I get the allowed room to upload any more, but I wanted to see if anyone here thinks they're any good, especially since I'll probably accidentally ramp up the difficulty a bit too much too quickly. Constructive feedback appreciated!
I've also tried making the levels easy to speedrun through for the more experienced players, in case you're into that sort of thing.
Click on the images to get to each stage's bookmark page! ...Although it's easier to just bookmark one and get to the others through my ingame profile. Probably should just do that.
I've also tried making the levels easy to speedrun through for the more experienced players, in case you're into that sort of thing.
Simbabbad
Member
Hey, this looks like a great costume to make an Alice in Wonderland level.
We even have a rabbit!
A new level, some picks from the sea, and a wall of feedback.
My level:
Perpetual 'plosion
Edit: remade the level
Explosive escape
This level is sort of similar in theme to the level Heavenly rhythm I posted earlier in that it is based on appearing and disappearing platforms. However, whereas Heavenly gives you all the time in the world (well, a counter of 500 at least) to judge your steps, in this level platforms are promptly destroyed for good as you proceed forcing you to move all the time. It's not a dash level though, since you need to wait for the right moment to proceed sometimes. The idea is that there is constant tension when you know you have to move but at the same time need to wait for the chance. It tries to capture the feeling of action movies where the hero is on a burning car falling off a cliff and has to make that totally impossible jump to a helicopter just before the car explodes - or something like that.
The level works on timed elements moving on tracks, which are a bit of a nightmare to time right in Mario Maker, so it's possible the whole thing breaks at some point. I've tried to play test it, but it's difficult to test a level based on reactions when you know what to do. It's supposed to be challenging but I suspect there may be a couple of spots that are more difficult than intended. I try to teach how the level works in the beginning, and try to avoid unexpected traps. Anyway, feedback appreciated, especially if you happen to break the level of feel the traps are not communicated well.
I played some levels from the recommendations in the bookmark service, and these two were very good in my opinion. The first is a skull ride, the second is a more traditional castle.
https://supermariomakerbookmark.nintendo.net/courses/4DA2-0000-01B2-B6A3
https://supermariomakerbookmark.nintendo.net/courses/A34D-0000-0199-0C22
And here's a castle my girl made:
Castle by Kaisa 5 years old
It's super short and simple but I was actually surprised at how sensible it is. Thought I'd share it as well.
Then some feedback:
(In response to my own level, Test chamber
Thanks! Yeah, it takes a lot from Portal, which I think was a great example of gameplay driven narrative. Of course, the second part is the "real" level. The puzzles in the first part are there more to distract you. They are not terribly exciting, and it's easy to just cheese your way through, but that's ok. I mainly needed a reason to send you to the "results rooms" via pipes, because I needed them to be in the sublevel.
This is a fun and basic level. This could definitely be at the end of world 1 in a Mario game. One thing seemed a little off though: There is wide pit midway through requiring a running jump while nothing else requires running. That's something that probably wouldn't appear out of nowhere in world 1. Of course it's easy for any Mario player, but it felt like it was a more difficult single element than anything else in the course.
These are quite fun. I played 1 and 2 since you said three is difficult and I wasn't in the mood for that. They were different than what I expected, though. I was thinking I would be running after a speeding shell, but in fact the shell goes sometimes really slowly and bounces back. What you need to do is not that difficult, but what makes it challenging is the fact that you have to really keep an eye on how the shell behaves, yourself, and the cannons that spew goombas - elements on three different heights. One thing that was annoying was the fact that the shell sometimes reverses so far back it will disappear unless you backtrack yourself. I felt that happened too easily and I didn't feel I should be punished for not knowing that.
It wasn't fair to drop a giant wiggler on my head out of nowhere almost immediately after emerging from a pipe...
I had this buried in my bookmarks until now. I really like your other levels, so I had high hopes and wasn't disappointed. I think the difficulty is very reasonable for a seasoned player, although you could allow the player to stay big instead of forcing a hit after the checkpoints. The only thing where I had trouble was the first POW block because I didn't know you can drop it without activating it to create a step. I guess that is something you could explicitly teach the player in the very beginning. (I couldn't pass your other puzzle level earlier because of this same mechanic.) Other than that the timer mechanic is brilliant and I use some of your ideas in my level.
My level:
Perpetual 'plosion
Edit: remade the level
Explosive escape
This level is sort of similar in theme to the level Heavenly rhythm I posted earlier in that it is based on appearing and disappearing platforms. However, whereas Heavenly gives you all the time in the world (well, a counter of 500 at least) to judge your steps, in this level platforms are promptly destroyed for good as you proceed forcing you to move all the time. It's not a dash level though, since you need to wait for the right moment to proceed sometimes. The idea is that there is constant tension when you know you have to move but at the same time need to wait for the chance. It tries to capture the feeling of action movies where the hero is on a burning car falling off a cliff and has to make that totally impossible jump to a helicopter just before the car explodes - or something like that.
The level works on timed elements moving on tracks, which are a bit of a nightmare to time right in Mario Maker, so it's possible the whole thing breaks at some point. I've tried to play test it, but it's difficult to test a level based on reactions when you know what to do. It's supposed to be challenging but I suspect there may be a couple of spots that are more difficult than intended. I try to teach how the level works in the beginning, and try to avoid unexpected traps. Anyway, feedback appreciated, especially if you happen to break the level of feel the traps are not communicated well.
I played some levels from the recommendations in the bookmark service, and these two were very good in my opinion. The first is a skull ride, the second is a more traditional castle.
https://supermariomakerbookmark.nintendo.net/courses/4DA2-0000-01B2-B6A3
https://supermariomakerbookmark.nintendo.net/courses/A34D-0000-0199-0C22
And here's a castle my girl made:
Castle by Kaisa 5 years old
It's super short and simple but I was actually surprised at how sensible it is. Thought I'd share it as well.
Then some feedback:
(In response to my own level, Test chamber
Thanks! Yeah, it takes a lot from Portal, which I think was a great example of gameplay driven narrative. Of course, the second part is the "real" level. The puzzles in the first part are there more to distract you. They are not terribly exciting, and it's easy to just cheese your way through, but that's ok. I mainly needed a reason to send you to the "results rooms" via pipes, because I needed them to be in the sublevel.
This level is quite a spectacle. It's hectic at times but not very difficult due to all the powerups. The machinery you've built is quite impressive, but on the other hand it takes some screen real estate so that the actual play rooms are fairly small, limiting what you can do. It's fun, but it's also a little bit long.
This is a fun and basic level. This could definitely be at the end of world 1 in a Mario game. One thing seemed a little off though: There is wide pit midway through requiring a running jump while nothing else requires running. That's something that probably wouldn't appear out of nowhere in world 1. Of course it's easy for any Mario player, but it felt like it was a more difficult single element than anything else in the course.
These are quite fun. I played 1 and 2 since you said three is difficult and I wasn't in the mood for that. They were different than what I expected, though. I was thinking I would be running after a speeding shell, but in fact the shell goes sometimes really slowly and bounces back. What you need to do is not that difficult, but what makes it challenging is the fact that you have to really keep an eye on how the shell behaves, yourself, and the cannons that spew goombas - elements on three different heights. One thing that was annoying was the fact that the shell sometimes reverses so far back it will disappear unless you backtrack yourself. I felt that happened too easily and I didn't feel I should be punished for not knowing that.
I tried to speedrun this, but I couldn't, so I just went slowly. Which was fine, it's a nice level. I then read your comments about having to mix normal and spin jumps to dash through. I really don't see how the player would easily see how this should be done except with a lot of trial and error, because there aren't any cues on when it is safe to do a normal jump. If you want the player to try a speedrun (like the name suggests), there should be something to tell the player how each jump should work: a coin pattern, enemy color etc. And you also need to teach the player how to read this.
It wasn't fair to drop a giant wiggler on my head out of nowhere almost immediately after emerging from a pipe...
I like dash levels, and this was very fun. But I don't think autoscroll is what you want here, because it's too slow and the player either has to hold back or risk running blindly to the very edge of the screen. Instead use the timer of something else that suggests running like a long stretch of thwomps.
The theme is nice. The part where you have trampolines and spinys dropping on you from above the screen felt unfair though. It was pretty much impossible to dodge them without knowing what was coming.
This was tons of fun. I like it how it combines SMB3 castle and airship styles and both really feel and play like they look. It has some challenge, but it's always fair.
This was very fun too. Like the level above, this plays and feels like the theme suggests. Nice ramp up of difficulty, but not too difficult.
I had this buried in my bookmarks until now. I really like your other levels, so I had high hopes and wasn't disappointed. I think the difficulty is very reasonable for a seasoned player, although you could allow the player to stay big instead of forcing a hit after the checkpoints. The only thing where I had trouble was the first POW block because I didn't know you can drop it without activating it to create a step. I guess that is something you could explicitly teach the player in the very beginning. (I couldn't pass your other puzzle level earlier because of this same mechanic.) Other than that the timer mechanic is brilliant and I use some of your ideas in my level.
New course!
Dungeon Duplicity
45AD-0000-01DE-5EE6
I've been messing around with this course for a few months. Wanted to have a course that started with a magikoopa transforming the goal and you have to go look for a p-switch to make him come out of hiding so you can kill him.
I wanted the bulk of the course to be about snaking through various rooms up and down and then returning through the rooms following a shell as it breaks the walls separating them. Last week I played a course by a Japanese player that had this cool concept involving rooms that change when you go through them again after warping and I made it central to this level. The gif above shows the concept. First time through the room thwomps break the floor and you have to climb a vine through the ceiling. On the return path bullet bill blasters have made a floor for the giant buzzy beetle shell and the thwomps are carried upwards by giant winged dry bones where they can't hurt you.
---------------------------------------------
In a crazy coincidence, Kiavik posted a new course that is magikoopa-focused as well:
Kamek's Krazy Kastle
4B35-0000-01D4-CA84
You have to guide magic attacks to open paths and there are a kouple of krazy p-switch dashes where magikoopas will destroy the precious p-switches keeping the floor solid if you don't get to them in time. Very kool kourse. Check it out!
Dungeon Duplicity
45AD-0000-01DE-5EE6
I've been messing around with this course for a few months. Wanted to have a course that started with a magikoopa transforming the goal and you have to go look for a p-switch to make him come out of hiding so you can kill him.
I wanted the bulk of the course to be about snaking through various rooms up and down and then returning through the rooms following a shell as it breaks the walls separating them. Last week I played a course by a Japanese player that had this cool concept involving rooms that change when you go through them again after warping and I made it central to this level. The gif above shows the concept. First time through the room thwomps break the floor and you have to climb a vine through the ceiling. On the return path bullet bill blasters have made a floor for the giant buzzy beetle shell and the thwomps are carried upwards by giant winged dry bones where they can't hurt you.
---------------------------------------------
In a crazy coincidence, Kiavik posted a new course that is magikoopa-focused as well:
Kamek's Krazy Kastle
4B35-0000-01D4-CA84
You have to guide magic attacks to open paths and there are a kouple of krazy p-switch dashes where magikoopas will destroy the precious p-switches keeping the floor solid if you don't get to them in time. Very kool kourse. Check it out!
Simbabbad
Member
One month exactly after the second chapter of "Third Party Quest", the third chapter has been released yesterday. 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.
After a level about Sonic and one about Pac-Man, it's Mega Man's turn to shine:
Mega Man was obviously much easier to adapt to Super Mario Maker than Pac-Man. The level is logically an airship level, but I tried to differentiate it a lot from Sonic's level. This theme really allows some great effects. Of course, the level is pretty hard (it's Mega Man), but it's still quite accessible, with two checkpoints. The level design was mostly thought to be played without using the dash button (to stay close to Mega Man), but obviously, I took its usage into account.
The finale of the series is 75% done already (I started to develop it the day I started the series), but I'll wait for feedback about Mega Man's stage before I publish it.
Screen captures:
----
Feedback time:
----
You can check my levels in:
- My (French) blog
- SUPER MARIO MAKER BOOKMARK
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.
After a level about Sonic and one about Pac-Man, it's Mega Man's turn to shine:
Mega Man was obviously much easier to adapt to Super Mario Maker than Pac-Man. The level is logically an airship level, but I tried to differentiate it a lot from Sonic's level. This theme really allows some great effects. Of course, the level is pretty hard (it's Mega Man), but it's still quite accessible, with two checkpoints. The level design was mostly thought to be played without using the dash button (to stay close to Mega Man), but obviously, I took its usage into account.
The finale of the series is 75% done already (I started to develop it the day I started the series), but I'll wait for feedback about Mega Man's stage before I publish it.
Screen captures:
----
Feedback time:
It may be easy, but it's very pleasant, which isn't always the case with water levels. The launchers on top of Thwomps is a good idea.
It's a good level, but I'm not a fan of its pacing, probably because I'm not too much into spin jumps.
The problem here IMO is that it's too easy to get stuck or to screw up, and redoing everything prior to that point over and over again breaks the pacing. Maybe you should do one room puzzles?
... and you succeeded. The flow and intuitiveness are very good! Maybe the level is a bit short, but it works very well.
I'm not a fan, honestly. The scripts get in the way of gameplay/freedom way too much.
----
You can check my levels in:
- My (French) blog
- SUPER MARIO MAKER BOOKMARK
This was a very pleasant water level. I think water levels are at their best when they are very easy, or when the player can take their time enough to get a handle on the swimming physics to navigate through obstacles. Having a level with tons of fish, homing bills, and bloopers is a potential recipe for disaster.
You have some good levels here. I have a few small nitpicks and suggestions but you don't need to take them too seriously. First, I think the levels are a little too easy until you get to the last 2 of world 2. The first level is fine, but you should have added 1 or 2 bottomless pits in level 2, and then sprinkled a few more in throughout the rest of the levels. Once you hit 2-3 and 2-4 I think the difficulty is right where it needs to be for that point in your set of levels.
I think some of the levels look slightly messy with your use of semi-solid platforms and block placement. There's nothing necessarily wrong with your use of those things, but I think things would look a little better if bricks and ? blocks seemed a little less random, and some of the semi-solid platforms weren't just jutting off to the side where you can see the bottoms just floating there.
Finally, I think you need to reward players with more 1-ups. There's lots of neat areas to get to, but most of the time the reward is just coins. In a normal NSMB level you would have those large coins to collect. Here I think you should use a few more 1-ups. Even though the levels are easy, it helps tell players they found something cool, and will help novice players in 100 Mario runs.
A new level, some picks from the sea, and a wall of feedback.
My level:
Perpetual 'plosion
This level is sort of similar in theme to the level Heavenly rhythm I posted earlier in that it is based on appearing and disappearing platforms. However, whereas Heavenly gives you all the time in the world (well, a counter of 500 at least) to judge your steps, in this level platforms are promptly destroyed for good as you proceed forcing you to move all the time. It's not a dash level though, since you need to wait for the right moment to proceed sometimes. The idea is that there is constant tension when you know you have to move but at the same time need to wait for the chance. It tries to capture the feeling of action movies where the hero is on a burning car falling off a cliff and has to make that totally impossible jump to a helicopter just before the car explodes - or something like that.
The level works on timed elements moving on tracks, which are a bit of a nightmare to time right in Mario Maker, so it's possible the whole thing breaks at some point. I've tried to play test it, but it's difficult to test a level based on reactions when you know what to do. It's supposed to be challenging but I suspect there may be a couple of spots that are more difficult than intended. I try to teach how the level works in the beginning, and try to avoid unexpected traps. Anyway, feedback appreciated, especially if you happen to break the level of feel the traps are not communicated well.
I played some levels from the recommendations in the bookmark service, and these two were very good in my opinion. The first is a skull ride, the second is a more traditional castle.
https://supermariomakerbookmark.nintendo.net/courses/4DA2-0000-01B2-B6A3
https://supermariomakerbookmark.nintendo.net/courses/A34D-0000-0199-0C22
And here's a castle my girl made:
Castle by Kaisa 5 years old
It's super short and simple but I was actually surprised at how sensible it is. Thought I'd share it as well.
Your new level is a bit tough. The first part is fine for the most part, though I'm not sure how I got through the last part with all the descending bob-ombs unscathed. Some seemed really low.
I think the main problem comes into play when the bob-ombs start blowing up the platform. It's very hard to gauge what is going on. I was very unsure of what to do, and wasn't sure what bombs were close enough to kill me. It's a really neat level, but I think it's a bit more tough than you intended.
Also, your daughter's level is probably better than a lot of adults' levels I've played.
New course!
Dungeon Duplicity
2371-0000-01D9-7C16
I've been messing around with this course for a few months. Wanted to have a course that started with a magikoopa transforming the goal and you have to go look for a p-switch to make him come out of hiding so you can kill him.
I wanted the bulk of the course to be about snaking through various rooms up and down and then returning through the rooms following a shell as it breaks the walls separating them. Last week I played a course by a Japanese player that had this cool concept involving rooms that change when you go through them again after warping and I made it central to this level. The gif above shows the concept. First time through the room thwomps break the floor and you have to climb a vine through the ceiling. On the return path bullet bill blasters have made a floor for the giant buzzy beetle shell and the thwomps are carried upwards by giant winged dry bones where they can't hurt you.
---------------------------------------------
In a crazy coincidence, Kiavik posted a new course that is magikoopa-focused as well:
Kamek's Krazy Kastle
4B35-0000-01D4-CA84
You have to guide magic attacks to open paths and there are a kouple of krazy p-switch dashes where magikoopas will destroy the precious p-switches keeping the floor solid if you don't get to them in time. Very kool kourse. Check it out!
Sometimes I had not clue what was going on, but the level was designed well enough to guide me in the right direction, and I was able to make it through on my first attempt.
One month exactly after the second chapter of "Third Party Quest", the third chapter has been released yesterday. 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.
After a level about Sonic and one about Pac-Man, it's Mega Man's turn to shine (CF1D-0000-01D8-E359) (image links to Super Mario Maker Bookmark):
I love the general level design, but I had some issues with enemy timing. I got stuck on that vertical corridor because the cannons and moles had a nearly impossible pattern on my first attempt. I probably could have gotten through, but at my skill level it would have amounted to luck. After that, the canons on the other side were out of sync. It's strange because each set is perfectly aligned vertically and there should be no issues. This isn't a major problem since you can still jump over or dodge them well enough.
My biggest issue was the p-switch section. It felt like the flying spinnies were placed in just wrong way to force very awkward jumps (along with a p-switch timer). Then you have the spines they shoot that mucks things up even more.
I think they level may be a little more difficult than you intended. The general design is fantastic though. It looks and feels like a mega man level.
Simbabbad
Member
First, thanks a lot for playing my level and for the feedback!
It's funny, I expected some people may have some issues with the
conveyor belt + moles
jumping on moving blocks
I'm surprised you had problems with the vertical mole section. There are only two cannons and one of them fires upwards, meaning it can't hurt you unless you run into it. For the moles, taking them out one by one and retreating if necessary is a good way to get rid of them safely, but you can also jump above the wrenches. I tested the section a lot and I never met an unfair situation, as I said, taking one out and retreating simplifies the section little by little and leads to a sure win.
For the cannons, they're in fact handled like standard enemies: when they get off-screen, they freeze, and therefore they can get out of synch. But it's not something I didn't expect, I noticed it and thought it created an interesting challenge: again, I tested it a lot, and being able to bounce on the top cannonball meant the situation never got unfair in my experience.
For the spinies... their positioning was intended to raise the difficulty of the platforming, and I ironed it a lot so the flow is (IMO) right. It's normal that they get in the way, they're part of the challenge. Making Mega Man land on the P-switches right away is a way to synchronise the player with the challenge, so he thinks "OMG OMG" when he lands, and rushes to the blocks at the right time for the patterns to flow well.
I'm sort of torn. I understand the difficulties you ran into and they could be "fixed", but they're actually part of the intended challenge, I designed the level to be a hard Mega Man level. I could tone it down, but that's not what I wanted to do. In, say, my Metroid levels, I did tone down some parts thanks to feedback because the difficulty got in the way of enjoying the typical puzzle/exploration Metroid gameplay, but here, the challenge is the point of the level, there is no additional layer.
But then again, I don't want people to think "he screwed up", I want them to think I'm a bit sadistic. To me, it's part of adapting Mega Man. So if people keep thinking the challenge wasn't done on purpose, I may edit it, but right now I'm confess I'm a bit reluctant to do so. I'll do some testing.
I almost mentioned the
conveyor
the moving blocks
I get your concerns. When I critique someone's level and suggest changes, I usually don't think they should actually make changes and re-release the level. Instead I offer suggestions as a way to help people think about future levels.
It sounds like you put a lot of thought into everything and tested your level a fair bit. Unless there's something seriously game breaking, I think it's better to just own the level's issues and move on. Out of all the levels of yours I've played, there has never been a bad level. I wouldn't worry too much about anything just yet. Hopefully some other people here give it a shot soon and you get some more feedback.
woopWOOP
Member
Thanks for the feedback
I uploadded earlier versions of those stages before and people kept falling in every single bottomless pit. The 2nd and 3rd stage had a completion rate of below 10%... I decided to have the first world completely devoid of those, but maybe I should bring a few back to let people ease in.
The semi-solid platforms is probably referring to 2-3, right? I tried to go for a rough terrain look with a mountain hole. The floaty platforms look a bit funky I agree, but it's the only way I could get it done :V
Anyway, thanks for playing!
TheLastFantasy
Member
Hmm.. Not sure what you mean by redoing everything over again. I made sure the puzzles are super short so that you don't get burned out or frustrated if you get stuck.
I thought about splitting each into separate one-screen puzzle levels first, but that wouldn't be fun since they're short. So I decided to put them all in one level, where your starting point for each puzzle is always the checkpoint (or the beginning of the level if it's the first puzzle).
Which one did you struggle with?
Thanks for the feedback! I had the feeling it would be too difficult. This is the kind of level I can easily clear without taking a hit because I know which bombs are dangerous, but I get that a player does not know this. At the same time the level is literally a blast to play when you know, since it's full of fireworks, so I will try to make an easier, simpler level with these ideas. It's just too easy to get carried away with putting too much stuff in a level.
The ride is not supposed to be that difficult as most of the blasts should be far enough to not touch you and you mostly need to worry about staying on the platform. But I want to have a moment where the player knows the platform will blow up and Mario must bail out. I'll have to be more explicit about what is dangerous, like have the ride fall off the tracks before it explodes, and put the distractions farther away from you.
And I'll surely tell her you played her level.
FORTRESS OF CONFUSION
If you like exploration, this one gives the impression its pretty opened up but there's only one effective way to pass the fortress. Not too hard but you'll need a good deal of the timer to complete it. For the ones who likes a fortress, memorisation, exploration and figuring things out.
Have fun! I would love to have any feedback.
And now its my turn to go play your levels
If you like exploration, this one gives the impression its pretty opened up but there's only one effective way to pass the fortress. Not too hard but you'll need a good deal of the timer to complete it. For the ones who likes a fortress, memorisation, exploration and figuring things out.
Have fun! I would love to have any feedback.
And now its my turn to go play your levels