raocow's talkhaus

I mean, I wouldn't have really factored that into the score of the level, because in the context of a larger hack, you would likely have a life supply. Completely irrelevant. This is a contest of standalone levels - designing them in mind for a greater context serves only to hurt you if said greate...

I'm not really sure he could've made that not confusing without either having the vanish cap switch level actually be part of this one ( and ... probably adding some sort of Banjo-Tooie-style entering area text because otherwise that would still go completely unnoticed ) or just flat-out saying on t...

Well that's certainly one way to make the entire rest of your game seem far less interesting.

I've always gotten the feeling that a "romp" is something you just run through without really doing much of anything. You might jump around pits and on enemies and platforms and you'll maybe even see a new enemy or platform type, but there's no real focus or gimmick or anything and the lev...

Especially at one or two parts where a cavey platform that is solid from the sides was overlapped by a platform that's passable on the sides and the solid one just kinda ended in some unknown place behind it, that kind of stuff just feels terrible. The really bugged me a whole lot. As much as we ca...

stuff That's kind of an interesting point. SMW really did like including some "spectacle" sequences before the bosses that contrasted pretty notably with the previous parts of the level, but those usually went by pretty quickly and mostly added some build-up before the climax of the level...

I don't think that the second half of a level focusing on something new makes the first half feel irrelevant (that argument could be applied to any level with a midway point?) That's ... a really strange statement to make. Have you literally never seen a level with a midpoint that built on the same...

Let me point on the word you used there: "Evolve." Now let's consider the fact that we're not talking about Pokemon or Digimon or the like, we're talking about the general use of evolve. When you look at evolution under that lens, it's a very, very gradual force, with very strong connectio...

i disagree with the idea that the second section felt tacked on. I think it was a very natural progression of the first half (the same thematic design choices, but more difficult and on a much larger scale) I have no idea how pretty precise flying sections that have no other gimmick to them is in a...

to clarify, the level's values lie in what results from the decisions, not what doesn't So ... undefined? Considering the results vary from player to player, from play session to play session, meaning the results vary tremendously based on each player's ability to properly interpret and execute the...

Leet wrote: is that not what happens every time you die in video games?

I too remember how in SMW if you died you went all the way back to Yoshi's Island 1 and 2 because that's the same thing as Game Overing before reaching a save prompt.

It's more the lack of anything acting as a checkpoint with puzzles that are precise and probably entirely consistent but don't really seem to be. Reset doors would've been an easy solution that could've still prevented infinite retries through a non-resetting timer. Outright mocking the player for n...

Today's level was basically a thesis on why reset doors are important and not much else. Neat idea with the sprites and all, but the level's design highlights how they weren't meant to be used this way.

I've never really thought about it, but stopping to talk to random NPCs that don't really have a reason to be there is an incredibly SMBX thing and it feels kind of surreal for it to happen in a regular ol' SMW level.

the more things change, the more things stay the same

if my memory holds out your suffering will be cubed

eventually

Well it's a safe bet that they probably got by specifically because they were harder than the rompy levels judging by what someone said earlier about Pyro preferring too hard over too easy. Even if it's only one judge that could still bias the results somewhat. Nah, it's more like she prefers level...

I hope I win more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I didn't enter either but I still have more hope than Ignoritus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Man, so much of this star just felt like the creator was really angry when he was making it.

So, what you're saying is that the original Legend of Zelda has no Y-axis, and instead is played on a XZ plane?

I can tell when it goes in and out. I just can't tell when it's on the same plane as Mario.

( also I'm pretty sure the Z-axis is the vertical one in SM64 )

Seemed like it immediately shot back up to the ceiling view to me. Heck, he didn't make the jump until after he already switched back to Mario view, iirc.

Does "obtuse" now mean "spelled out for you in a blatant manner?" Because even if I wasn't expecting the fake floor, the first time I saw that picture ( in the first video of the world, even! ) I was all but certain that all the star involved was finding either coral or pillars o...

I'm kind of disappointed that the arrows don't reflect what star your in. That'd seem like a good use of the fact that you can change level geometry between stars, and it doesn't really need to be justified like some of the more extreme usages of that feature in this hack, since it's not like the le...