MaGL X2 - Cat Planet × Pokemon OTP

[Sebby19]

quality control is a thing. Yay.

Horikawa, did you provide rao's video of the last relay level as a reference? That might have helped. And if you did... then this is even sadder

Also, I'm going to steal your question asking for a moment.
So guys, what was your favorite section?



Mine was Henry Richard's water tunnel that loops behind itself.

[Grounder]

water tunnel

[Dragon Fogel]

Totally agreeing with you here. Designing a screen should be trying to add on to what the previous people did, not trying to milk one screen for all it's worth. It's an issue with the Talkhaus relay too, outside of maybe the first half of section I was in.

There were a few people who didn't hold to the vertical restrictions of their screen, also one person who

added a boss fight in its own larger-than-one-screen section

, but the overall effect of that was pretty mild. I thought it fit together reasonably well, myself.

I'm confident that the Talkhaus relay and boss relay will go much more smoothly than this.

As for today's video... the only thing that could have salvaged this "screen" for me would have been a final gag where you get told there was a way to skip that whole mess, and even then it was too long and difficult for that purpose.

Simply put, if an entire video is your screen on its own, and it's not even its own level, then you overdid it.

[Imaynotbehere4long]

I'm surprised the guy was asking for a pre-review of the thing. Considering a lot of people around here are worse than raocow, did he want it to be disliked even more?

Actually, I just prefer if people tell me their opinions after experiencing it themselves rather than after seeing someone else's experience with it.

I knew the screen would be difficult, but I honestly had NO IDEA anyone would have that much trouble on it (but this is coming from the guy who thought Sharp Objects Are Usually Deadly had reasonable difficulty). I tested my entire screen from start to finish each time without cheating (and as Super Mario) to make sure everything was possible, but I guess in doing that, I got used to everything and didn't realize how difficult it would be for everyone else. Also, remember that, per the rules, I only had a day to make and test this, but I was able to make it past the entire thing without cheating as Super Mario.

And is it just me or did raocow actually kinda brute force that last room there after almost stumbling on what looks to be the intended solution? I think the slime was a red herring and you were actually intended to use the grab+jump deal with the left snifit to give yourself a platform to get back up with the key.

Actually, the bot is there so you can make it TO the Snifit and key without getting hit (raocow tanked that part each time, so he never had to do that). To get back, you had to alternate between spinjump-grabbing the key and spinjump-grabbing the Snifit to slowly build a bridge back to the spinies (set them DOWN, don't throw them). That's also the intended way to get past the second evening screen: alternate between the key and mushroom block.



I'm not a jerk or sadist or anything; I just really suck at balancing difficulty.

[raocow]

and I mean that's fair.

the only real problem is that it kills it's own joke, and I just find that a little unfortunate. moderation!

[Imaynotbehere4long]

Oh, and if anyone's wondering where the music, concept, and background(s) came from:

E: and its actual name is "999999999 screens in 1" not "Serial Murders at Serial Murder Beach"

[Quill]

I think Serial Murders at Serial Murder Beach is a better name.

[TaviTurnip]

I'm not gonna push further trouble onto someone if they only had a day and end their statement with "I guess I didn't do a good job" but... but man, some of that stuff was awful :P

The thing is, and this shows up in other levels too, precision jumps in SMBx aren't "consistent" (I'm sure they are consistent, really) in that there are always quirks or physical positions in order for you to have to do something that are either hard to get a grip on or just hard to understand anyways. Like I'm sure most of us were saying to our screens that raocow had to spin jump off the leftmost pixels of the spiny, but it was probably a lot harder for him to do that than it seemed >_> It's the same with "Koopa jumps" where little things might make them different versus when the maker tested it. In short, I don't think SMBx is as suited for this type of challenge at SMW is where things make more sense.

For that I would sooner recommend people don't try to make challenges like this, or if they do (and aren't on a time limit) try to get multiple people to check it out and see if anyone has a hiccup where others don't. (That and... please don't make it ten screens at the end of a relay? ;D Please?)

[SAJewers]

Totally agreeing with you here. Designing a screen should be trying to add on to what the previous people did, not trying to milk one screen for all it's worth. It's an issue with the Talkhaus relay too, outside of maybe the first half of section I was in.

There were a few people who didn't hold to the vertical restrictions of their screen, also one person who

added a boss fight in its own larger-than-one-screen section

, but the overall effect of that was pretty mild. I thought it fit together reasonably well, myself.

I'm confident that the Talkhaus relay and boss relay will go much more smoothly than this.

Yeah. It's not as bad as the SMBX relay, but there's still a lot of Janky screens that don't even try to fit with the previous, and outside of the one I made, I don't recall many of the section changes being decently coherent transitions. :/

[Emral]

So guys, what was your favorite section?

My favourite screens are HenryRichard's water tunnel, as it's by far the most creative part of the entire relay level (to me) (one could argue about Ninja Bomberman origins), and Wind's Ignoritus fight, because damn I can't get enough of that music!

I feel super bad for how much of a different experience the talkhaus relay went, haha

I figured this would happen.... It's rather sad for the SMBX fourms, really.... There was some neat screens in it, though!

I think the most unfortunate part about it is that people went on to create standalone sections, rather than building upon the base set by the previous designer. I feel like if some of the concepts would've been exploited a bit more, throw in some injokes and references, take some difficulty, it would've been super cool.

But at the same time, it's kind of ironic how it really kind of shows the SMBX community. Everyone's just kinda in their own world and, for the most time, it's about the pretty looks of the level. Or dank memes. Most people who made screens for this are barely even involved with the "community", in terms of visiting IRC, joining a group chat or generally having a fun time together.

[TaviTurnip]

Yeah. It's not as bad as the SMBX relay, but there's still a lot of Janky screens that don't even try to fit with the previous, and outside of the one I made, I don't recall many of the section changes being decently coherent transitions. :/

This happened? :x I don't know much because

I had turn #5 I think, which was during the first section, and I know that at least 5-6 turns after that stayed in the same room

and I stopped testing the relay after about that point, so I just assumed that people followed the same trend as the start. I think that's the best way to have it. I even thought that the first bunch were varied by a lot, in a really cute and creative way. It's kinda disappointing to hear that may not be the case...

But hey, we'll see tomorrow :P Maybe it's not so bad.

[Imaynotbehere4long]

One more thing, and this is to the people who keep asking for quality control:

Believe it or not, the relay collage level WAS tested when everyone's screen was complete. The only complaint about my screen at the time was that if the player hit a star with the Racoon Tail, it would fly up and become uncollectible (and yes, I fixed that).

[Le Neveu de Rameau]

Say what you will, the flat, soulless midi version of Unchained Melody was the perfect touch for adding that subtle hint of madness to Serial Murders at Serial Murder Beach (which is totally its new official name now).

[Emral]

One more thing, and this is to the people who keep asking for quality control:

Believe it or not, the relay collage level WAS tested when everyone's screen was complete. The only complaint about my screen at the time was that if the player hit a star with the Racoon Tail, it would fly up and become uncollectible (and yes, I fixed that).

In hindsight, we were wrong about thinking that a lunar midpoint would fix the insane difficulty issue. I've never even made it to the afternoon during testing.

[Zygl]

I'm not a jerk or sadist or anything; I just really suck at balancing difficulty.

And length, quite frankly. Your screen is the length of a full-fledged level, at the end of a relay level - which is already really big by definition. Furthermore, your difficult level-size screen does not have a midpoint anywhere to speak of. At that length and difficulty you pretty much cannot do that and expect to have any good come of it.
Not gonna dwell too much on how your screen treads in the shallow end of the kaizo pool by the end, you said yourself you're not terribly good at balancing difficulty, but if you wanted to make a difficult thing for the end of the relay you should've either shortened it or looked into using lua to rig up some midpointy shenanigans (you autofiltered to Mario at the start, lua was very clearly on the table).

[SAJewers]

Yeah. It's not as bad as the SMBX relay, but there's still a lot of Janky screens that don't even try to fit with the previous, and outside of the one I made, I don't recall many of the section changes being decently coherent transitions. :/

This happened? I don't know much because

I had turn #5 I think, which was during the first section, and I know that at least 5-6 turns after that stayed in the same room

and I stopped testing the relay after about that point, so I just assumed that people followed the same trend as the start. I think that's the best way to have it. I even thought that the first bunch were varied by a lot, in a really cute and creative way. It's kinda disappointing to hear that may not be the case...

But hey, we'll see tomorrow Maybe it's not so bad.

Here's the last updated copy that's been uploaded:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/b2jvb8wm0qfrt ... C.zip?dl=1

For me, I can see a lot of obvious "screen" boundaries.

[Imaynotbehere4long]

you autofiltered to Mario at the start, lua was very clearly on the table.

That was Horikawa. Basically, I wasn't sure whether to design my screen around Mario or Ninja Bomberman since, at the time, someone messed up the relay collage and it was impossible to make it to The Thwomp King's screen, making me think it was only impossible as Ninja Bomberman, so I went with Mario.

[Kukironosuke]

This stretching one screen idea would have been clever, funny, interesting, (boring) whatever, if the screens were quick and easy, but making each screen a skill based platforming section made the level way un-fun

I wish raocow would give up earlier sometimes, I think there should be regulations about how long you can be expected to consistently not mess up without a check point

At the end of every difficult challenge should be a refreshing breather, not another equally difficult challenge that will kill you and force you to repeat the first challenge over and over again just for the chance to try the second challenge again

[raocow]

For me, I can see a lot of obvious "screen" boundaries.

well I mean this is also true of the a2xt relay level, there are places where it's really obvious where the screen stops and ends. I think it's too be expected and not necessarily a... terrible thing. As long as it flows!

[Ivy]

dude could've used a little more common sense regarding the whole "one screen" thing

[alleightbits]

oh man tedium
Seriously, 4long, what were you thinking? This segment had serious problems with length and difficulty, and in a freaking relay level?!
raocow, you should really put a "death limit" on levels, and when it exceeds that, you should just godmode the whole thing.

[Ivy]

who here hyped for kaizo contest 2 lp???

[TaviTurnip]

If nothing else, I don't think he meant to make it so troublesome, but among all the things I've put a defense in for in this thread, this is a thing that I really hope the author considers for next time :P It's not some kinda coordinated community strike against you, it's just like, yeah, this thing overstayed itself `~`

[ztarwuff]

All this railing against Imaynotbehere4long is all good and well, but it takes more than one person to make a relay level. Let's not be so harsh on the guy.

[Imaynotbehere4long]

Seriously, 4long, what were you thinking?

This.