raocow's talkhaus

S.N.N. wrote: -The glitchy vanishing boss. It looks like I'm just echoing what has been said a billion times already, but if this was seriously reported twice and not fixed, I'm a bit concerned.

I didn't see such reports, I apologize if it was reported. However, I tested this boss a trillion and a half times in the editor and none of these glitches appeared. The only glitch that appeared was the boss sometime glitching, dying, and skipping to it's square form after being killed in the circle form. This was unfixable and didn't hurt the player, so I let it go. Pentagon disappearing, circle being invis, and ect. I did not have occur once in the editor. All I can guess if that either Redigit messed something up with the coding, raocow had incredibly bad luck, something was ported wrong, or I somehow had really good luck.

S.N.N. wrote: -I think the entire last room (with the rainbow blob chasing you) was a waste of time and space. raocow made it look easy in the video, but most people would be pretty tired and/or have no powerup, and to force them to do a chase scene (which honestly isn't that good anyway) is a little bit uncalled for.

I argue this section worked exactly as intended. It was designed to be a "OH SHIT, OH SHIT, OH MY GOD WHAT IS HAPPENING WAIT WHAT I JUST WON HAHA" section. Which is exactly the reaction I got. It's honestly not as hard as it looks. The speed doesn't let you screw around, but it's lenient enough.

Ignoritus wrote:I argue this section worked exactly as intended. It was designed to be a "OH SHIT, OH SHIT, OH MY GOD WHAT IS HAPPENING WAIT WHAT I JUST WON HAHA" section.

And then after that reaction, you die and get a "Oh, come on! Now I have to play through that 10 minute puzzle boss again just to give the escape sequence a second shot? And who the hell knows how long that will be or if there's something else after it. What if the escape sequence is really tough and I end up spending hours fighting through that boring boss dozens of times just to die in a few seconds at the escape sequence? Maybe I should just play something else ..." reaction.

The Doctor wrote:

Ignoritus wrote:I argue this section worked exactly as intended. It was designed to be a "OH SHIT, OH SHIT, OH MY GOD WHAT IS HAPPENING WAIT WHAT I JUST WON HAHA" section.

And then after that reaction, you die and get a "Oh, come on! Now I have to play through that 10 minute puzzle boss again just to give the escape sequence a second shot? And who the hell knows how long that will be or if there's something else after it. What if the escape sequence is really tough and I end up spending hours fighting through that boring boss dozens of times just to die in a few seconds at the escape sequence? Maybe I should just play something else ..." reaction.

The reaction time given is pretty reasonable I'd say. raocow caught on immediatly it seems, his death was because he fucked up platforming. Same with Frozelar.

Sorry if you don't like it though.

Nice level, got no complaints besides the unfortunate bug

I'm going to have to agree with the doctor one this one. While it is great for dramatic effect, a lot of people wouldn't be able to adjust to the sudden shift in gameplay. The boss is finally defeated then you get a crappy looking chase sequence that might make you fight that boss all over again, and again.

I really enjoyed this level (might just be my favorite of the game so far), but The Doctor does have a point. If you mar that escape sequence, you don't just fail the level. You have to play fifteen minutes all over again, and to beat such a difficult boss and then flub the escape sequence so close to the end is the equivalent of giving a person a pat on the back and a kick in the groin immediately afterward. It wouldn't be so bad if the boss weren't so long and hard and it could easily be made up, but sometimes you've gotta just keep it to one tough challenge and reward the player after it. Because having a player clear a tough challenge, only to fail a more meager challenge immediately afterward sucks, and that doesn't do much to make the level more fun, and a player's reaction to flubbing that segment, at best, is going to be, "UGH, I've gotta go through that boss AGAIN?".

That said, don't get me wrong. I really did enjoy this level. Fantastic platforming, great atmosphere, brilliant use of a gimmick that adds to the gameplay without completely rewriting it for the sole purpose of being "unique", and difficulty that feels good and genuine rather than some of the, uh, other stuff we've seen. The boss and escape sequence might've been long-winded, but you seem to know how to put a good Mario level together. Fantastic job.

That section would be better if it were made so you can't fail it (or the multiple midpoint thing, as mentioned in many levels)

So does this mean if Demo and Boki ever met, the universe would break?

Edge of the Universe was beautiful, through-and-through. The first half felt like it had just the right amount of difficulty for a postgame stage, was wonderfully atmospheric and put some emphasis on skills you should've picked on during your playthrough, like looking for safe spots, timing your jumps and using whatever projectiles you can get your hands(legs?) on. The midpoint seemed to be in just the right place; while it would make more sense to have it right before the boss fight, that would mean messing up the puzzle - which raocow did - would land you back at the beginning. The puzzle is short too, so it's fine where it is. The boss also manages to be difficult without being unfair, and considering the platforming challenges earlier in the stage, the final escape is rather tame and thus readily doable... though to lessen the rage of failing right at the end, perhaps make it so the only danger is the boss (i.e. no pits or enemies)?

Jolpengammler wrote:I think today's "Edge of the Universe"
should have been the last level of the post-game...
Not aterraformer's level. (I like his level, though)

While I agree that Edge of the Universe would've been a fitting final-final level, I think doing that would've been jumping the shark. I mean really, you guys have several more ASMT games planned, and ending one of the games with defeating the universe itself is a rather hard-to-top finale. It's probably better as something random and ultimately insignificant, as is befitting the series.

There is no way that beating the Universe can be beaten in terms of ending a Thing, right? Right? Of course, this wasn't the final level, but still.
Though, I guess there is a way of beating that. Screw beating the Universe, what about all of Existence? That would be destroying the world in its ultimate sense.

SL the Pyro wrote:So does this mean if Demo and Boki ever met, the universe would break?

Well, Demo destroyed the Universe, and Boki destroyed the World... so together they could probably destroy Existence.

Just a one level video again.

"Deltinus Castle" (what does that mean?) looks lacking in terms of art, but at least it creates focus on the actual dangers of the level. Looking at it, the "lovefrog" at that switch and kamikaze koopa/disco shell combo looks like a hard thing to avoid while in motion.
The secret exit is at least short, and can be "cheesed" with the right timing. The midpoint is quite fitting for the level, with two particular parts of the level being the most difficult to pass without being hit. The boss just kinda came out of nowhere with the fire donuts being the most worrying thing you need to acknowledge.
Overall a fitting level for postgame, but has it's frustrating parts.

I'm still not sure if raocow updated his version or not. You should do so, if you haven't.

EDIT: Looks like I'll need to release an update later today. I'll do this when I back, as I have to head out right now. (raocow. hold off on a recording until I get this update out in ~2 hours)

SMBX gives you more control over your jumps? that seems wrong. Except for jumping off bouncy enemies like that, well the Charlie doesn't even exist in SMBX so that doesn't count.

Overall I much prefer the physics of SMW, it's more straightforward and the jump arcs in SMBX are really awkward.

A well-placed midpoint saves this from being any harder than it need be; a badly-placed frog makes the disco section much harder than it should be. Good thing that the tail-end of that sequence, the third disco shell ride, can be tanked. The radish before the amusing-but-somewhat-unnecessary boss is a godsend - if it were my hands on the level editor, the leek would be where the boss door is right now. Sod rinkas all the way to heckageddon.

The Secret Exit route has a neat gimmick (using time stop during a raft ride) that is mercifully cheeseable with hits, which are an effort to hold onto anyway, so it can hardly be said to be totally cheesing it. I'm surprised we haven't seen a level to really use time-stops as a primary gimmick throughout, only Lusco Fusco's Lakitu bridge comes to mind. The big box with a radish in it is just (amusing) trolling, though!

I get the physics comment with regard to the shell-bouncing and aerial control, but I just loathe SMBX ice/slippery physics. There's a lot of good in SMBX, but vines, ice, and lava hit-detection are all heavy marks against it that make me wish the whole thing was open-source or at least still under development - here's hoping kil's interception/extension work leads to something good in that direction? (I have no idea just how feasible/complex physics-level alterations may be with a DLL interception approach).

Nice MAGL reference at the end there, you are right to dread Jolpe's contest entry! That said, hats off to the man for Deltinus Castle, it went far better than I feared (even if it did bring out the French sacrilege) and certainly didn't seem to torture raocow the way it did Frozelar.

Only three leeks left, and two actual levels! PS. raocow you can now access Top Secret Area!

Lovefrogs are like fake difficulty incarnate.

And doughnuts. If I were in a satirical mood I'd make a level full of lovefrogs and doughnuts and call it POSTGAME.

dr_kraid wrote:Lovefrogs are like fake difficulty incarnate. And doughnuts. If I were in a satirical mood I'd make a level full of lovefrogs and doughnuts and call it POSTGAME.

You have my blessing to make "Toad Central 2: Toadhaus" if you want to. Don't forget to add platform layers tied to enemies!

Why is the love frog "bad placed"?
you know what, I should just make a video...

the term fact difficulty does tend to get thrown around a lot. I don't see how it applies to donut shooters as they are literally as straight forward as things get. Sure it might be lazy design, but the result is easy to dodge bullet hell.

I tend to think of 'fake difficulty' as difficulty that is very contrived rather than a natural consequence of the level design, so slapping lovefrogs and doughnuts around the place would make for fake difficulty in my book.

Well, I don't know what Deltinus Castle means, (It's Sunitled backwards, so that's not important, I guess?), but this level seems to be solidly difficult for a postgame level. Love frogs are annoying as usual as well as disco shell riding, but it could be worse, right?
I am really dreading when I actually have to play this level myself later...

Validon98 wrote:(It's Sunitled backwards, so that's not important, I guess?)

That's not far off "Untitled"... Jolpe?

Jolpengammler wrote:Why is the love frog "bad placed"?
you know what, I should just make a video...

Disco shell riding is hard. Disco shell riding around obstacles is harder, but reasonable. Disco shell riding through the gaps in moving projectiles which hang in the air is on the boundary of reasonable, especially when you are forced to do it three times (turning once without a safe landing), while also managing a second disco shell and the state of the switch it collides with...

...that said, a video showing your approach to it and commentary would be lovely!

I should note that Synthetic Nightmare had a disco jumping section, but then I replaced it with Poochy. Also, the music is the SMW castle music in Reverse.

Also, I'm uploading the final update to ASMBXT

Fixes a HUB mistake, and updates Everything Switch Palace.

Well I am ye olde Shitface in video, because I can't sleep well the last few weeks and it really is destroying me, but there you go. Have a shitty video everyone (this was my 7th try)
(Playing in SMBX, not ASMBXT because I
A: Haven't reached postgame in that game because it crashes to frequently
B: It crashes even in ASMBXT's editor)
Deltshitnus Craple
I am THE shithead.
P.S.:
"Deltinus Castle" because I originally wanted to call it Deltitnu castle, because "deltitnu" backwards is "untitled". But I changed it due to shitsounding

I don't agree with the comments about the "love frogs" being fake in terms of difficulty. I think if they are placed in a strategic manner and not littered about then they can actually be a legit challenge .. and I believe Jolp was pretty fair with his placement of them. That being said, I think my problems with this level stem from the flashing shell hopping instead. It's like partway through designing an interesting level, the author just said "screw it" and drew out a line of spikes with a couple little obstacles to jump over.

The first half was good - the second half was not.

I haven't watched today's video yet, but I absolutely loved Deltinus Castle. It may not have been the flashiest level, but it's pure platforming action. I love that type of level.