Episode 1 Level Review Thread

[Isrieri]

WAITAMINUTE...

Are we reviewing levels again en masse? I think its time for me to bust out SMBX and do some level reviews. Scathing criticism is on the way!

Way Too Highrise
HISSATSU
Here Come The Space Cops

• If I can think of a funny way to implement that at the start, I'll take you up on it.
• Good suggestions! I'll likely just get rid of the bloopers. Not sure how I could squeeze in a caveat about 'redigitiscool' though.
• But I already added more ammunition after Willhart tested it! I could replace all the ammunition with bombs, but I think that would be too easy. I'll do it if enough people are in favor. The fastest I was able to take the ship out was a little under 2 minutes, so it is an endurance match in a narrow sense. It's supposed to be very hard - that's why I wanted it to be the very definitely final boss. If it can't be, it might be better to not include the level.

I'll try and make some easier levels. I have a Big Boo sprite I want to use for something.

[Isrieri]

I reviewed many levels.

Discuss over there to keep this thread from being cluttered.

[kitikami]

I just played through Tag Team Puzzle and found it pretty enjoyable. It took a while to figure out, but even without much experience playing in this engine, I don't think any of it was unreasonable, so it was a good challenge throughout. There were times when I got stuck for a while exploring the wrong solutions, but then once I worked things out, it felt like it was my fault rather than just being too obscure or difficult. In the end, the most frustrating parts turned out to be things I was being dumb about and hadn't thought all the way through (thinking I had to freeze the aliens with raocow's ice flower to make a path to the blue switch instead of just riding one, not realizing Sheath could damage mother brain with her standard attack).

As a puzzle level, I think it works really well in terms of challenging the player mentally without being too difficult in execution.

[GenesisJames]

Hey guys, I've noticed that a few of you have judged Mechanized Mission. That level was cut from Episode 1 and I have no intentions of putting it into Episode 2, so you can just drop that level completely. The only levels I'm submitting for Episode 2 are Desert Dash: Goopa Brigade! and My Heartburn's For You. Thanks!

[Slit08]

Shrine Under the Sea:

That was an awesome level. I really liked both parts. I also liked the fact that each of these parts was entirely different. It's quite a challenging level, but for me it was never unfair. The amount of power-ups it provides is just right. Overall awesome level.
I really loved the transitions from non swimming and swimming during the first part as well as fidning all switches in order to progress near the end. Really well designed. The enemy placement in particular is very well thought out as none of these seem to be put in random places but carefully put there making it a challenge to traverse the room without drifting in the realms of unfairness. Each shell can be avoided in time.
The second area containing the lava has a more platforming focused approach. It remains pretty challenging and the level design remains its high qality for the most part. However I don't like all the one tile jumps near the end as it's just jumping from a one tile platform to the next while avoiding these flying heads. Not a big fan of this. I would have preferred something more diverse there like 2 one tile platforms, then spin jumping on a saw and from there on a platform that sinks into the lava. Something along these lines. But I consider this nitpicking as most of the level is well designed and if you like or don't like the very last stretch is up to the tester's taste in level design.
Visually it's very appealing and I didn't see any cut-offs or ugly transitions between different tileset assets.
Overall I'd give this level a 9/ 10. It's challenging, but never unfair and probably fits into world 6 or 7.
I might not be one of the core testers but here's a first review from me. ;)

[Voltgloss]

Apologies that I haven't had a recent opportunity to continue with level-reviewing. Real life got in the way as it is wont to do. That said, I do expect to have more time to continue with reviewing levels starting in the next week-and-a-half or so and will dive back in then.

I am thinking of rejiggering my randomly-selected-order-of-level-reviewing to first focus on levels that were most recently posted or updated - in particular, levels that have been updated since Isrieri's mammoth level review list. That way there's less of a chance of my review boiling down to "basically what Isrieri and others have said." If anyone thinks that's a bad idea and that I should stick to my original random order, please let me know. Thanks.

[Hoeloe]

If anyone thinks that's a bad idea and that I should stick to my original random order, please let me know. Thanks.

The only thing I will say is that most levels have only been reviewed once or twice, so it may be best to focus on those that have been reviewed least, rather than the most recently changed ones.

[KingTwelveSixteen]

Alright, my first level to be uploaded to the internet: The Tiniest Castle.
It's about as world one as you can get.

I PLAYED AND AM NOW REVIEWING THIS LEVEL:

The boss. Screw the boss. REMOVE THAT BOSS OR REWORK IT MAJORLY.
Seriously.

Also move it far enough away that it doesn't instantly hit you with a fireball as soon as you enter the room, well before you can react to it. Also bosses in small areas are much more dangerous than ones in open areas, so be aware of that if you're going for world 1 difficulty. Also "SUDDENLY THE ROOM YOU'RE IN IS MOVING QUICKLY" IS NOT A FAIR THING TO DO WITHOUT WARNING I AM USING CAPS TO MAKE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND THIS.



Okay.
Okay, full review time:

The ghost at the start is obnoxious the first time. Slightly less obnoxious after that, but still somewhat obnoxious. Also seems a bit out of place?


The secret exit shortcut thing...Nothing actually tells you where it is? If you get it the normal way via speedrunning you have no idea what Calleoca is talking about. You're all like 'huh? shortcut??? Where?'


I don't know what the 'think outside the box' thing is talking about, other than maybe the shortcut? But that's a terrible hint for the shortcut. There's no way of knowing that the secret exit is at an outside area for the player to ever consider running past the castle as an 'outside the box' solution to reaching it. Not without first reaching it, which makes the shortcut pointless.
Speaking of the player not noticing things, the first time speedrunning through I thought that 'beat the entire level' meant 'beat the ENTIRE level', not 'beat the level except for the last room'. That is inconsistent and should be changed somehow.

And maybe make the timer start once you enter the castle (with corresponding dialogue changes) instead of when you start the level to avoid the player feeling it is unfair the first time? They pretty much are guaranteed to fail the speedrun the first time they try, but they shouldn't feel like it's because the designer made it unfair. The player should feel like they failed because they are trying to speedrun a level without playing it normally first of course they're going to fail jeez player get a grip jeeeeez.


I love the idea behind the level. :) Also most of the rooms are pretty cool and simple, and the 'run on the grass' gag is good. (THAT BOSS ROOM THOUGH)
The room before the boss room isn't that great either cause it's so...Generic? Yeah, that's sorta it...it uses the previous tile-set and background and has nothing in it and in a level as minimalist and elegant as this it feels like out-of-place filler and pointless. You can just get rid of it probably.


Powerups are kind of a trap on this level? Because you don't want to waste time picking them up. Ho hum. Sayin things. Maybe make them faster to grab? Like by using grass? Except that would be silly because there's already a potion in grass and putting powerups there too would be confusing...
Yeah, I dunno. Just leave it. If the outside didn't have the timer this would be somewhat alleviated though since then the player could grab those two super-slow-to-grab powerups there before entering.

Placing the two powerups at the start adjacent to each other causes problems due to the player hitting both within quick succession of each other, usually while turning around right when hitting the second one since they see the first one. If small this leads to one beet going to the left and one to the right, making one of them unobtainable. Move at least one of the powerups to one of the side blocks.


...You know this is less a review and more just a straight criticism? Here's a review: around 6/9ths of this level was great. Make the other 1/3rd great too and the whole level will be great.

[Oddwrath]

The boss. Screw the boss. REMOVE THAT BOSS OR REWORK IT MAJORLY.
Seriously.

Also move it far enough away that it doesn't instantly hit you with a fireball as soon as you enter the room, well before you can react to it. Also bosses in small areas are much more dangerous than ones in open areas, so be aware of that if you're going for world 1 difficulty. Also "SUDDENLY THE ROOM YOU'RE IN IS MOVING QUICKLY" IS NOT A FAIR THING TO DO WITHOUT WARNING I AM USING CAPS TO MAKE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND THIS.

Reworked it majorly in a way that seems fitting with the rest of the level.

The ghost at the start is obnoxious the first time. Slightly less obnoxious after that, but still somewhat obnoxious. Also seems a bit out of place?

Part of the whole "OH MAN MARIO CASTLES ARE SURE WEIRD WHEN IT COMES TO THEIR SIZE" joke.

The secret exit shortcut thing...Nothing actually tells you where it is? If you get it the normal way via speedrunning you have no idea what Calleoca is talking about. You're all like 'huh? shortcut??? Where?'

The joke was, that said shortcut would pretty much let you skip everything there is in the level. People would find it by accident and then be angry at Calleoca for not telling them about it. It supposed to be pointless on purpose. Reworded it to make more sense.

I don't know what the 'think outside the box' thing is talking about, other than maybe the shortcut? But that's a terrible hint for the shortcut. There's no way of knowing that the secret exit is at an outside area for the player to ever consider running past the castle as an 'outside the box' solution to reaching it. Not without first reaching it, which makes the shortcut pointless.

The "think outside the box" thing is meant to be a hint to destroy the disco shell to get a more "passive shell". Later, I found out that Kood and Sheath can't destroy shells, so I added two bombs and just kept the disco as an enemy instead. But, yeah, it's kinda misleading. I'll remove it.

Speaking of the player not noticing things, the first time speedrunning through I thought that 'beat the entire level' meant 'beat the ENTIRE level', not 'beat the level except for the last room'. That is inconsistent and should be changed somehow.

Reworded.

And maybe make the timer start once you enter the castle (with corresponding dialogue changes) instead of when you start the level to avoid the player feeling it is unfair the first time? They pretty much are guaranteed to fail the speedrun the first time they try, but they shouldn't feel like it's because the designer made it unfair. The player should feel like they failed because they are trying to speedrun a level without playing it normally first of course they're going to fail jeez player get a grip jeeeeez.

Done.

The room before the boss room isn't that great either cause it's so...Generic? Yeah, that's sorta it...it uses the previous tile-set and background and has nothing in it and in a level as minimalist and elegant as this it feels like out-of-place filler and pointless. You can just get rid of it probably.

It was made specifically to house the secret door. You know, to burn more of player's time? So, if I just remove it and place it in the main section, I will reduce the timer as well. Just a question before I do anything stupid, though, is the problem with the tileset, the room layout or both?

Powerups are kind of a trap on this level? Because you don't want to waste time picking them up. Ho hum. Sayin things. Maybe make them faster to grab? Like by using grass? Except that would be silly because there's already a potion in grass and putting powerups there too would be confusing...
Yeah, I dunno. Just leave it. If the outside didn't have the timer this would be somewhat alleviated though since then the player could grab those two super-slow-to-grab powerups there before entering.

The outside no longer has the timer.

Placing the two powerups at the start adjacent to each other causes problems due to the player hitting both within quick succession of each other, usually while turning around right when hitting the second one since they see the first one. If small this leads to one beet going to the left and one to the right, making one of them unobtainable. Move at least one of the powerups to one of the side blocks.

It's one powerup now.

Big thanks for reviewing my level so quickly. Is there anything I could add, to make it better?

[KingTwelveSixteen]

The "think outside the box" thing is meant to be a hint to destroy the disco shell to get a more "passive shell". Later, I found out that Kood and Sheath can't destroy shells, so I added two bombs and just kept the disco as an enemy instead. But, yeah, it's kinda misleading. I'll remove it.

I always just throw a bomb at the button cause it's faster anyways. (and Sheathe doesn't even need a shell or bomb, she can just whack it with her ponytail. She's still bad for speedrunning though, cause of the big-boo fight.)

It was made specifically to house the secret door. You know, to burn more of player's time? So, if I just remove it and place it in the main section, I will reduce the timer as well. Just a question before I do anything stupid, though, is the problem with the tileset, the room layout or both?

The problem is that it's a minimalist style level, so anything extraneous in it feels out of place, weird, and wrong. It's not very important or distinct from the other rooms, is the problem.

[Oddwrath]

The "think outside the box" thing is meant to be a hint to destroy the disco shell to get a more "passive shell". Later, I found out that Kood and Sheath can't destroy shells, so I added two bombs and just kept the disco as an enemy instead. But, yeah, it's kinda misleading. I'll remove it.

I always just throw a bomb at the button cause it's faster anyways. (and Sheathe doesn't even need a shell or bomb, she can just whack it with her ponytail. She's still bad for speedrunning though, cause of the big-boo fight.)

It was made specifically to house the secret door. You know, to burn more of player's time? So, if I just remove it and place it in the main section, I will reduce the timer as well. Just a question before I do anything stupid, though, is the problem with the tileset, the room layout or both?

The problem is that it's a minimalist style level, so anything extraneous in it feels out of place, weird, and wrong. It's not very important or distinct from the other rooms, is the problem.

Updated.

[Hoeloe]

Finally got some time (mainly from being too ill to properly focus on my work) to update Demo's Journey Through Time.

I think I'll leave The Descent of Nine as-is at the moment, though, until some more people review it and I can get a better idea of what needs to be done to fix it (even if that is in fact a restructuring of the level as a whole).

[KingTwelveSixteen]

Updated.

I laughed at the new boss. :)

And did you change Calleoca's very final dialogue box about not hanging out much? Because it feels less 'snappy' now. Other than that, the whole level seems pretty sweet to me.

[Oddwrath]

And did you change Calleoca's very final dialogue box about not hanging out much? Because it feels less 'snappy' now. Other than that, the whole level seems pretty sweet to me.

Regarding Calleoca, the only things I've changed were "the whole level" to "most of the level" and I added "that did not involved going into the castle at all" after the secret shortcut bit.

[KingTwelveSixteen]

And did you change Calleoca's very final dialogue box about not hanging out much? Because it feels less 'snappy' now. Other than that, the whole level seems pretty sweet to me.

Regarding Calleoca, the only things I've changed were "the whole level" to "most of the level" and I added "that did not involved going into the castle at all" after the secret shortcut bit.

Huh. That's weird.

[Oddwrath]

And did you change Calleoca's very final dialogue box about not hanging out much? Because it feels less 'snappy' now. Other than that, the whole level seems pretty sweet to me.

Regarding Calleoca, the only things I've changed were "the whole level" to "most of the level" and I added "that did not involved going into the castle at all" after the secret shortcut bit.

Huh. That's weird.

It's probably because the "that did not involved going into the castle at all" is too wordy. I could replace it with "outside the castle", I guess.

[Oddwrath]

So, I just played a level and now I have opinions:
WestonSmith's Night Light Fright

What I liked starts with a +
What I didn't starts with a -
General notes are *

-The lights seem to flicker too fast. Maybe slow it down just a little.
-The moving platform dissapears when it goes right idea is terrible. That's from where most of my demos came from. Fix it.
+The whole smaller boos turn into a Big Boo sequence is awesome.
-...Unfortunately, jumping on the one-block platforms that half of the time you can't see because of flickering isn't. I can't even use the fire flower to get the idea of where I am, because they're one-block platforms. Either make the flickering less frequent turn the 1x1 platforms into 3x1 platforms.
+The length is pretty great. At best you may need to extend said level 5 or less screens.
-This jump should be lower.

Mostly because the first time I played this, I stomped the shaman without even realizing that I may need him later. Without him, I couldn't get enough momentum in time to clear the jump. Now, I did clear it later, but it was a pretty close call.
-...Umm, what's Demo standing on here? I can't get up on that ledge, because Demo just doesn't jump that high, but even if I was playing as Iris, this tiny space below the level is kinda pointless.

-So, apparently, neither big Kood nor Sheath can get through this gap. Should probably filter them out then.

*It's a pretty bad coincidence that you've decided to make a "light-gimmick" level, since I have my own light-gimmick level in the making. Except that in my level, it affects the atmosphere more than the gameplay itself, so, ehh?
*Can you tell me where the music is from? It sounds incredibly familiar.

[WestonSmith]

Thanks for the feedback Oddwrath.

-The flicker timing is... a WIP. I'll try and adjust the timing to be more reasonable
-I might drop the moving platforms entirely. Getting them to be even semi-fair has been difficult. I have other ideas to fill the void.
-I trust that fixing the flicker will fix the issue with one tile jumps
-That tall jump is doable without the Shaman, but I suppose I could lower it
-Never tested with other characters. I'll probably make it Demo only
-I'll fix the odds and ends
-The music is from The Minish Cap - Droplet Temple
-I'm curious if your light gimmick level is similar to the one I wanted to do... Well, I have like three of them I wanted to do. Hope yours goes well mate!

[LovelyPenguin]

Can I be of assistance? As the only levels on the wiki at the moment seem to be ones that are already approved (pending some changes), I figured I'd ask if there are any other levels still needing some testing.

[Hoeloe]

Can I be of assistance? As the only levels on the wiki at the moment seem to be ones that are already approved (pending some changes), I figured I'd ask if there are any other levels still needing some testing.

Umm... none of the levels on the wiki are officially approved: http://asmbxt.wikia.com/wiki/A2MBXT_Levels

[LovelyPenguin]

Umm... none of the levels on the wiki are officially approved: http://asmbxt.wikia.com/wiki/A2MBXT_Levels

Ohhhh, my bad. I was looking here: http://asmbxt.wikia.com/wiki/A2MBXT_Levels/Episode2

[Voltgloss]

Umm... none of the levels on the wiki are officially approved: http://asmbxt.wikia.com/wiki/A2MBXT_Levels

Ohhhh, my bad. I was looking here: http://asmbxt.wikia.com/wiki/A2MBXT_Levels/Episode2

No wonder you were confused. Those two pages should be merged somehow. I guess by importing the list of levels in the older page over to the new, Episode 2 specific page.