Make a Good Level 4 - The Underworld

[Windslash]

View trophy's/awards in the sense of something that is very remarkable, memorable, or silly about a level. Treat it like the Achievements in Stanley Parable. Now what entry gets the '888888888' achievement.... hmmmm.....

Today's memories:

MAGL4

The Wind supports your victories, even to the end.

Demo's Engine

Iris Observing Train Employees (Colorized: 1988)

[Jolpengammler]

tobe honest all these levels so far are really good for being the alst few places, i can barely believe I am above all tehse lmao

[Crow]

it's not really offensive or unpleasant in any way but today's train level is probably my least favorite so far. it's both really unengaging and also way way way too long, felt i was seeing the same three setups on repeat for like 5 minutes

[KobaBeach]

yeah no SAJewers' level suffers from early!Anikiti-style "let's repeat these setups five times in the same level" which hurts the level quite a bit and drags the fun factor down along with it being a slow autoscroller.

Faust's level looked really nice, it's unfocused yes, but honestly that's fine. Biggest problem is the lack of polish graphically and design wise, though they started it like in the final day or smth.

[Valentine]

So, I've heard the complaints about the "Most Tragic" medal, but I don't exactly know what to do about it, changing it to anything else of a similar vibe almost feels more backhanded, while tragedy, to me at least, implies that the creator ended up being a victim of circumstance. Ultimately I'd remove it but I don't know if it's better to have nothing or something. I'll see what we end up doing.

That being said, this level has the contest's next medal!



I think raocow commented on this enough during the video for everyone to see why this was warranted.

[KobaBeach]

I'm surprised this level is so low, it's really not that bad, just a teensy bit unfocused. Variety is the spice of life though.
Enjoying the Amount of RPG music, Mana, FF, Anikiti's Ragnarok Online port from ASPE... (also a VIP shitpost song ported by gocha)

is good...

Also, the return of Sonikku's ancient ass Frenzied Toroko boss from the depths of the abyss. The boss is super jank by today's standards though, so raocow had to get owned a bit. Toroko I think is a girl though, I've only played Aeon Genesis' translation and I'd like to keep it that way outside of piracy.

Sucks about Ma Pignon being lost forever unless Sonikku or someone else happens to have her lying around. Or Sonikku ends up remaking her, wasn't he working on some Cave Story shit recently? I've tuned out of SMW shit for a while.

The stage's "worldbuilding" also feels a bit edgy, I'd say. But it's the good kind of edgy. Like Kingdom Hearts.

There seems to be a stage later down the road which apparently seems to be the tryhard kind of edgy with peak early 10s VLDC/CLDC energy, but let's keep that between you and me

. Kakyu for Most Friend Shaped 1920.

BOON (C) 5CHANNEL AND THE SMW HACKING GENERAL THREAD THAT VIP AND WALL MIX STARTED IN DON'T KILL US MAKS

[SAJewers]

i find it funny both 28ths ended up with top-teir presentation, used the ghost sprite set, and got low marks from judges for not having a lot going on.

[Scarfley]

28th - The Unknown Depths by Big Brawler:
I'm also a bit surprised that this entry has such a low placement.
The effort that went into the overall presentation of this entry, both inside and outside of the actual level itself, is pretty impressive.
I really like the use of the berries in the level as creepy faces that are watching the player from the darkness. That's super cool and creative!
The level design is simple but solid even if not a whole lot of super remarkable things happen for the most part and it can feel a bit empty at times.
Giving the player access to an optional shortcut as a reward for collecting all the dragon coins is an interesting idea.
Maybe a message block could have hinted at it at the beginning of the level though since there are dragon coins hidden in the first half of the level
and the player has no way of knowing that the dragon coins unlock a shortcut until after the player reaches the area with the midpoint.
The boss fight is a lot more difficult than the rest of the level but the amount of hits required to defeat the boss is very reasonable.
Like raocow, I felt like something was missing at the end of the level. The level created such a foreboding atmosphere right before the boss with the music in the room that had the waterfalls and the message box just before the actual fight begins but after you defeat the boss it simply ends.
Also, congratulations on receiving the "cutest boo" medal Big Brawler! Kakyu's design is pretty cool!

tobe honest all these levels so far are really good for being the alst few places

I agree! Most of the entries we've seen so far are much better than the levels you'd usually see in the last few places of other contests.

[Windslash]

i find it funny both 28ths ended up with top-teir presentation, used the ghost sprite set, and got low marks from judges for not having a lot going on.

What, you think I have something against boos? You think that there is a global conspiracy that goes into the highest levels of the government that is actively suppressing the dead orbs in an a futile effort to stem the flows of "Pondering the Orb" memes of 2021? You think that the active low ranking scores in an contest to send a subtle message to boos in order to dissuade them from rising up and taking the living by storm? Because that, my good chap, is preposterous! Absurd! Based only in fantasy! Probably wrong!

Darkness of the Unknown

Fire Boos with Final Fantasy Music is Just Fire Bombs.


Edit: (I think the surprise of this ranking so low is because presentation only counted 20 towards the total. Fun and concept (70) were more of the focus of judging, so visuals alone can't carry it entirely. This level was I think top 3 in visuals in my book. Its a lovely level, but sort of mercy of the scoring rubric.)

[KobaBeach]

What, you think I have something against boos? You think that there is a global conspiracy that goes into the highest levels of the government that is actively suppressing the dead orbs in an a futile effort to stem the flows of "Pondering the Orb" memes of 2021? You think that the active low ranking scores in an contest to send a subtle message to boos in order to dissuade them from rising up and taking the living by storm? Because that, my good chap, is preposterous! Absurd! Based only in fantasy! Probably wrong!

this is a wendy's

[Big Brawler]

Thanks everyone, I'm pleased with the result. I did the level in a span of 2 days and thought the Boo section was fine until a few days ago when i knew raocow was about to start the MaGL4 videos but there was nothing i could change so yeah. The Insta-Kill munchers were a dumb decision on my end, and the red water with oxygen was an afterthought just to give a bit more pressure in the level. And also as i said in the comment of the video, yeah my main language isn't english, es el español

I'm also flattered a few liked my boo character, i wasn't sure what people would think of her, thanks

[Valentine]

yeah, this levle got a few medals





A couple

I'll be honest i dont remember where the sword drawing is but who am i to question the other medal-givers

edit: ok i remember now

[Sugar]

This level was very close to being my judge favorite, in the end I decided on another level, but oh well, it was close.

[Skye]

.

[KobaBeach]

this feels like an smbx level but it's also mentally ill enough that it has entered my hall of fame of "dumb shit that inspires me"

[tangy]

this is my kind of jank !!

[Scarfley]

26th - chagrin by Engi:
This level was an EXPERIENCE. It felt like a weird fever dream and I like it.
The level is not all that "good" in the conventional sense of what makes a level "good".
So I completely understand why the judges had a difficult time with rating this entry.
Almost every mechanic in this level barely works but it all works just well enough to still be fun.
The aesthetic is so abstract and odd and the narrative is a weird mix of funny and uncomfortable.
It all works together to create one of the most memorable experiences in this contest.
A few of the setups in this level are also pretty cool and I would have liked to see more ways how this level's janky gimmick could be utilised.

When it was announced that this contest will have medals, Engi's level was literally the first one that came to my mind for being an obvious contender for such a prize. And judging by the 3 medals this level received, the medal-givers apparently thought the same.

[idol]

re: most tragic

i'm not too sure what the most responsible action would be, but i think with each new award other levels are getting it really does make that one feel. bad. i think that all the awards and trophies should have some form of a positive spin on it, since it's a little extra Reward, and not a negative / demeaning one. the fact that one level had best boo and another had a trophy for a knife drawing makes me think there was a lot more lespnas level couldve been acknowledged on other than sheer tragedy. what about the silly coin faces that are like :) . i liked those

[PSI Ninja]

I also use YY-CHR. I thought STEAR edited the tile number in the sprite's code... But a tool for something you can do in YY-CHR is valid, YY-CHR is a pain to use for normal people w

Does it really edit the tile numbers? If so, then it sure beats having to do it manually via messing with sprite disassemblies. I'll have to give it another try in the future. I said it was unintuitive to use because of lack of visual confirmation of changes being made. Maybe I was just missing something.

29th - MaGL 4:

My thoughts are exactly the same as Scarfley's. Not really a fan of how all the different gimmick blocks make the level look visually. Like, it gives off a sort of contrived appearance? But the other visual elements (the custom FG and BG) looked really good together.

28th - DEMO'S ENGINE:

I agree with what people said about the repetitiveness and the length. It was kind of a chill level though, and reminds me of your similarly chill White Castle Advent level. The presentation was really nice, with the title screen, submap, and credits level. Also, hey, I thought Iris was supposed to be green!

28th - The Unknown Depths:

MaGL4
Final Fantasy 4 music
"It's been 4 years since you last fought Kirby..."

^ Nice. The use of vanilla SMW graphics was good and it worked well with the custom graphics, too. I liked the sort of "mini hack" presentation here. I'm always impressed with the effort that some people put into the intro stage, overworld, etc. (i.e., the stuff that wouldn't count in the score). I also had trouble with the boss, but I felt it was learnable and you weren't just at the mercy of RNG. I think the projectiles were thrown a bit too fast, though.

26th - chagrin:

considered doing another level, but I saw the author's name and I recall incidentally reading their name attributed to a harder level and I decided to be safe today. today is that kind of day.

Wait, Engi made another level before? I couldn't find anything else they made on the Talkhaus or SMWC.

Anyway, really nice eclectic music choices here (wasn't that "Comfortably Numb" playing in one of the rooms?). The "high jump to your death" gimmick reminds me of the Teetotaler level from YUMP 2 and one of the sections in wyldstrykr's Advent level. Also, the writing makes me think of TheGamer/Ludus' Vanilla Rain level from one of the older VLDCs. That's a really dated comparison, I know, but it's the first thing that came to my mind. The level was really strange and bizarre, but I kind of liked it!

[Engi]

hi i'm the creator of today's romhack. i really liked raocow's playthrough of it and reading all the comments!! i will admit that the dolphin room is my biggest regret in the game text-wise, i made it in a delirious state and the text boxes were supposed to say something else but i found out that having anything on the 3rd layer kills all the dolphins so i felt crazy. thank you for the medals! i based the dynamic between mario and yoshi on some of my previous real life relationships, and the gameplay around some of my old video games where mario gets emotionally tormented!! Thanks everyone, i had fun

here is some of the concept art

[Engi]

Since someone asked here is a full track list for mario's torture gotten from smwcentral: Underwhere - SPM, Guts theme - Susumu Hirasawa, La-Mulana - Fearless Challenger, Moonsetter - Toby fox, Mines B - Spelunky, Comfortably numb - Pinky Floyd, Battle Inside Water (remix) - Ikachan, Mirror Magic - Celeste, Indignant Divinity - Tower of Heaven, Tulips or Roses - Pinci, Sad song - Super mario RPG, Silence, Not Really - Crispy, Elevator music - Jurrasic Park, Boris' Cocktail - Earthbound. there's twice as many songs included in the game files but I wasn't able to use them all :(

[Engi]

im ecstatic right now
also im sorry to enjl i didnt mean to make my name similar to yours on purpose i promise i just picked it because of the green people in ftl

[KobaBeach]

Does it really edit the tile numbers? If so, then it sure beats having to do it manually via messing with sprite disassemblies. I'll have to give it another try in the future. I said it was unintuitive to use because of lack of visual confirmation of changes being made. Maybe I was just missing something.

im not sure, i have it on my hdd but i never used it.

always premade disasms, copying code from all.log for my own disasms, or yychr tileset editing

The presentation was really nice, with the title screen, submap, and credits level. Also, hey, I thought Iris was supposed to be green!

she was purple in a2mt for some reason (maybe she was pseudo-Norted by The Artist or something), might have also been purple in asmt or wth? i forget if they have 2p mode accessible or not

and yeah i didn't mention this but the turbografx cd splash screen felt comfy... played cosmic fantasy 1 (jp only) the past month on there. need to check out tengai makyou, the official legend of heroes 1 translation, tenshi no uta, the remaining cosmic fantasies, and galaxy fraulein yuna 1&2 (those two have translation patches) on there...

mega cd (going by european name rules here, srry) and turbografx cd games have a nice... comfy aesthetic. at least the ones that aren't just mindless fmv trash, no offense to games like night trap that had some strategy

iirc sewer shark seems to be a bit mean on the difficulty. the jumpcuts in surgical strike and the fact it was a cd 32x game IN BRAZIL make it feel like a fake game so it's a guilty pleasure to me

famicom disk system and early famicom also feel very nostalgic and soothing, so fds, mcd and tgcd are the trifecta of comfy addons imo.

"Comfortably Numb"

can't think of pink floyd without thinking of doug walker's aggressively illiterate "review" of the wall.

ive never watched the wall (im a film history philistine thanks to, if nothing, then my inability to sit still for longer than a few seconds) and im just floored at how terrible the review was

Guts theme - Susumu Hirasawa

i was reading susumu hirasawa's wiki article and i've enjoyed what i've heard of p-model's music, not sure if it was from the experimental portion or the mainstream nonsense portion and i was really amazed at his life from the recent nuclear energy protests to his amazement at thailand and his identification with its queer culture

so it hurt a bit when it turns out he believes in big pharma and promotes snake oil :C

hi i'm the creator of today's romhack. i really liked raocow's playthrough of it and reading all the comments!! i will admit that the dolphin room is my biggest regret in the game text-wise, i made it in a delirious state and the text boxes were supposed to say something else but i found out that having anything on the 3rd layer kills all the dolphins so i felt crazy.

im always delirious. let talkhaus swear

i based the dynamic between mario and yoshi on some of my previous real life relationships, and the gameplay around some of my old video games where mario gets emotionally tormented!!

as a self-admitted yoshi in many platonic relationships i felt this hard. very touching

sometimes admitting you're ("i'm" in this case) the problem in the relationship is the hardest part

[Windslash]

chagrin

...


chagrin is an experience, I'll tell you what. It's not a good level in the context of this contest, but it is memorable - and if that's what you're aiming for; you succeeded hands down. That's why you got the coolest sword drawing award. (It is a rather cool sword). As put before - its that lovable level of jank.

[Mata Hari]

hi i'm the creator of today's romhack. i really liked raocow's playthrough of it and reading all the comments!! i will admit that the dolphin room is my biggest regret in the game text-wise, i made it in a delirious state and the text boxes were supposed to say something else but i found out that having anything on the 3rd layer kills all the dolphins so i felt crazy.

If you're regretting it just because there's a swear word, you shouldn't. If you feel it doesn't match your artistic vision or whatever, go ahead