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JUMP Level Review Thread

A vanilla VIP-like smw collab!
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Ryrir
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by Ryrir »

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks for clarifying!
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Ryrir
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

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Rad Rugby Knoll:
- General: The flying hammer brothers sometimes turn invisible, especially at the end when you get the star. I guess this has something to do with too many sprites at the same time in combination with having a star?
- Screen 0A: The cementblocks around the midwaypoint look off and are making the jump to get to the midpoint unnecessarily difficult. Since they serve no real purpose, I would suggest removing them.
- Screen 11/12: I get some lag in this area. I guess it’s not that bad since you are invincible anyway, but if there is some way to fix this… (Maybe remove some of the chucks on the clouds?)

Again, this level felt very much like an early VIP-level. Not much else to say about this, it wasn’t bad but not very outstanding either. What the hell is a knoll anyways?
Pipes in Literally Everyone's Business:
- General: Sometimes I got a weird problem where the moving pipes would move kind of spastically instead of going steadily up and down. I don’t know if that’s just me or if this problem can be fixed; it never really bothered me or got me killed, so I guess this is not a priority to fix.

Oh wow. This is maybe the first level in the game that I think is really, really... good. This is kind of sad if you think about it, since this is world two after all, but man, I love everything about it. Good job to whoever did this, I really enjoyed myself playing through the level.
More to come on the weekend, I hope.
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Ryrir
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

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Aquiferic Pressure:
- General: I don’t like those upside-down piranha plants, because they appear even when you are directly under them. I think this is especially a problem in this level, where you are swimming against the pipes because you want to check them to see if they lead anywhere. Is there a solution where they don’t appear when you are standing/swimming directly under them?
- Level 22: Screen 01: The second textbox doesn’t make any sense. “Can you mystery the sphinx of this puzzle?” What? Is there a joke I’m not getting?
- Screen 00/01: Give the player a powerup in this area. If they go for the secret exit, they have to play a good part of Level 48 without one, and honestly the stage is hard enough as it is.
- Level 48: Screen 01: Cutoff over the pipe.
- Screen 03: Lower the falling platform and the ledge one tile. If you play without the water, you have to jump off the torpedo and it’s quite possible that you encounter the glitch where you get hurt because you spinjump off an enemy while it is halfway in solid ground.
- Level 22: Screen 03: What is up with that green orb? Is there a way to get to it? Is it just a red herring? If so, I think you should remove it; I thought playing the level without the water would lead me there, so I took the exit pipe in level 48, only to come out of the blue pipe and having to restart the whole level.
- General: The secret exit is too hard for where it is on the map. It’s a nice idea and all but this early in the game it’s just way too much. I think a good way to counter that would be to move level 48 without the water to a separate sublevel and then replace the mucherplants on the bottom with teleportblocks, so if the player falls off, he doesn’t have to go all over the worldmap but instead can restart directly from level 48. That way you even would be able to have an additional “midpoint” - for example you would be able to lead the teleportblocks from screens 00-06 back to the start, and the ones from 07-0C to the blue pipe on screen 07. I think it’s a good method to tune down the difficulty without having to change the level layout. Otherwise, you could always add more powerups to the part without the water… I also suggest removing the level exit at the end of the part without the water, so the player doesn’t accidently get to the midpoint and has to replay the whole thing. Also, if 1-1 does get redesigned (which I still think would be a very, very good idea), the whole duck-spinjump-glitch would have to be explained.

In general, this felt like a weird increase in difficulty out of nowhere. It’s not bad per se, it’s just really… unsuspected and I think anyone playing this game will have some trouble getting through this without tools.
TIDES, OK?
Ah, back to normality. It’s kind of funny, because playing this level is like 1000x easier than getting the secret exit in Aquiferic Pressure and they both lead to the same place, but oh well. All in all, this was very easy (the first part even smw-ish), without being overly boring or uncreative, so good job, I guess? The only thing that I think is kind of weird is that the level really, really gives you a lot of lives (four in the secret sublevel in the first part, and then two on the way to the last dragoncoin), so maybe you want to tune that down a bit?
Land of the Jolly Tan:
- General: The level has six dragoncoins.
- Level 125: Screen 03: Remove the blue koopa. You don’t expect the invisible coin blocks to be there, so it’s possible to hit one of them and then get hurt by the koopa in an unfair way.

Not much to say about this one, it has a cool bonus area, good design and it wasn’t overly difficult. Actually, I had fun playing through the level!
Edit:

Effortland:
Not a big fan of this one. It just felt very much like a bad vip-level or even a youtube-level that was thrown together in fifteen minutes or so. I get that that’s the whole joke and/or concept of the level, I’m just not a huge fan of it. But oh well, it’s certainly beatable and not too hard; and I can’t come up with a plan to improve it without basically redesigning the whole thing, so I guess it’s good to go.
Random Blue Switch:
- General: Give the player at least 100 more seconds.
- Level 143: Screen 03-04: I don’t get the point of this area. Basically the bullet launchers and the red koopas serve no real purpose, since the player just stays on the floor and walks by them. I think you should either redesign this area or add holes to the ground so the player is forced to jump in the cementblocks with the koopas.
- Level 144: I really, really don’t like the look of this area. What was wrong with the background and the foreground objects of the first half of the level? The way this looks now is just kind of awful, because the enemys/the p-switch/the vine/Mario just clashes with the look of both foreground and background. Also, the whole “puzzle” of this room is just carrying p-switches around which is not that great in and of itself. Honestly, I think you should redesign this area using the back/- and foreground tiles of the first half, or if that isn’t an option just use the graphics of the first half and keep the design.

Eh. The first half was mediocre, the second half kind of bad. Not really much else to say about this, the only things that were kind of cool was the recreation of the bonusroom and using the switch as a pipe, the rest… Eh.
Beezos in the Trap:
- Screen 11: This chuck is hard to deal with. Maybe replace him with a charging or jumping one?

A silly little level. I had absolutely no problems with this one, and much like the earlier pipe-level I had a lot of fun playing through it.
Roy's Terrible Sadistic Castle:
- Level 120: Screen 08: Not sure how I feel about this thwomp, I think the jump is hard enough as it is?
- Level 66: Screen 08: You can completely ignore the moving grey platform by jumping on the falling one and then koopa-jump to the midpoint. I guess you might as well remove the whole thing?
- Level 120: Screen 0A: Give the player another powerup after the midpoint.

Again, I have no problem with this one. Pretty generic castle level to be honest, but it’s still challenging and fun.
On the overworld, when you come from world two and go to world three, Mario starts walking one tile to high on the world three submap.
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Isrieri
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by Isrieri »

I'm enjoying these reviews. Thanks for taking the time to play the levels.

A knoll is a small hill.
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Ryrir
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

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@ Isrieri: Thank you! I'm enjoying playing through the game (for the most parts anyway), and I want to make this as much fun as possible if it's released.

Siberian Precipice:
- Level 107: Screen 02: When taking the upper path with the powerup and then following the cointrail to the grey platform, the red koopa will most likely block your way, making the jump impossible without taking a hit. I suggest lowering the koopas position a few tiles.
- Screen 07: Make the location of the midway point correspond to the starting position. I think the best way to do this would be to move the midway point to the area where the midway entrance is now, because if you do it the other way around, the second half would be much shorter than the first.
- Screen 07: The sliding koopa glitches itself into the wall.
- Level 1CC: Screen 00: Not sure about the position of the green koopa. I suggest removing the enemy altogether.
- Screen 00: Give the player another powerup in one of those yellow blocks?
- Level 107: Screen 08: I assume the invisible coin block is supposed to be an invisible one-up block? If that is the case, I think the coin underneath the block makes it much too obvious that there is something there; I think it would be better to remove it.
- General: The outside part and the cave part don’t really have anything to do with each other and it feels kind of weird going from one place to another, because the change in the atmosphere is kind of huge. If I can make a suggestion, I think it would work better if you get rid of the whole flashlight-gimmick, change the music to something more up-beat and change the background to an icy cave (basically the way it is if you open the level with lunar magic). I think it would work better with the overall atmosphere of the level and make the outside and the cave part more connected.

I liked this one, actually. It was basically a full on platforming level with a few difficult jumps but nothing out of the ordinary. My main point of criticism is that the atmosphere of both parts of the level doesn’t really go together very well, and I think the level would be a more fun experience if that was changed. It also gets brownie-points for having the secret exit right at the start, which is an excellent design decision and definitely something more levels should have.
PEEK-A-BOO!!
- Level EC: Screen 01: Dodging the moving hole is way too difficult comparing to the rest of the stage. I think you should extend the wooden ledge to the right for a few more tiles.
- Screen 07: What’s the significance of those light blue blocks?
- Level ED: Screen 00: I can’t get past those red koopas without taking a hit. I actually think that’s impossible…? Anyway, it’s kind of cheap, so I suggest removing one of them.
- Screen 03: Remove those brown blocks preventing the player from going back. Since the player doesn’t know which path is the right one, this is just a cheap death trap. Also, in my playthrough of the level the last few coins under the goal weren’t there; I don’t know what’s up with that. Can coins not spawn?
- Screen 04: Glitchy lava.
- Level E4: Maybe give the player another powerup before the bossfight? Also, I would suggest adding teleportblocks at the bottom of the screen so if you manage to fall off, you don’t just die but can restart the fight or something? Also consider removing one of the ghost-trail-thingys and/or slowing the eerie-generator down. I think it’s just a little bit too hard and enemy-spammy the way it is now.
- General: The midway placement is off the way it is now. I think you should replace it around screen 07 of level EC, maybe move everything a bit to the right and add an extra ledge with the midpoint on it on screen 07?

I think the Vips managed to pull of the gimmick in a better and more fun way. That’s not to say that this level is bad, there are just a few problems with it that had hindered my enjoyment.
Slippery Sloppy, Steep Slopes:
- General: Not sure about the instances of the dancing chucks in screen 09/16-17/1C-1D. It just looks weird… But I guess it’s also kind of funny and it doesn’t really impact the gameplay so I guess it’s okay.
- Screen 10: Remove the first buzzy beetle. Every time I played through the stage, I ended up walking down the slope and getting hit by him in a kind of unfair way.

Again, a silly little level without much going on, as it was the case with most world one and world two levels. At least this one had good music and a good level name!
Cryophobia Cavern:
- General: I don’t really agree with the palette of this level. First of all, I think the light blue is kind of ugly (but I agree that that’s subjective), but secondly the enemies are very hard to see. If you want to do this kind of gimmick, you have to make sure it stays fair, and making the palette of the enemies and the palette of the foreground blend together in such a way is just bad difficulty. I think you should reconsider the whole palette of the level or at least the palette of the enemies.
- Level A: Screen 04: This koopa is too hard to doge (in my opinion). Remove it.
- Screen 06/07: Remove some if not all of the fireballs in this area. I don’t know exactly which one it is, but there is one of them that goes directly onto the last edge of screen 06, making it unnecessarily hard. The best solution I had in this area was to wait around on screen 05 until all of the fireballs despawned, but since this involves a lot of time, I think it would be best to get rid of them entirely, at least the ones on screen 06.

I didn’t like this level. It was just too much waiting around in my opinion, and while the second half pulled it off in an at least remotely fun way, the first half just wasn’t fun. I think the changes I suggest would remove some of the frustratingly hard/unfair places, but I just generally think that the gimmick of the level isn’t particularly fun to play.
Peaks of Revolution:
- Level 126: Screen 02/03: I don’t agree with the placement of the red flying koopa. Basically if you jump on the boomerang brother in order to kill him, the koopa will get in the way and hurt you. That would be a legitimate design choice, except that you always see the koopa too late and therefore get hurt in an unfair way.
- Screen 0E: Another case of an invisible coin block that should be an invisible one-up block. Now I’m curious, is that an insertion problem somehow?
- Screen 0F/10: That secret exit is hard to find. How about adding a coin on the ledge on screen 10, so the player knows that it isn’t just a background object but actually a place that he is able to reach?

Hmm, I had fun playing through this. Yes it was hard, but unlike Cryophobia Cavern I always know what I did wrong if I died so it wasn’t unfair or tedious. Good job on designing a hard level that also manages to be fair!
Melt a Meat Locker!
- Level 13A: Second Half: Add reset doors to this area? I know that it’s supposed to be harder than the first half, but still - it’s kind of frustrating to get yourself killed if you lose your fireflower. Maybe you could still have some reset doors, just not as many as in the first half? For example one on screen 09 and one on screen 0E? That way it would still be a challenge to get to the door without dying so I don’t think it would be too easy.

Wow, I really loved this one. Great level design, awesome music, what else can you hope for? I’m impressed with the ability to make this gimmick actually work (I’m usually not a big fan of melting stuff using the fireflower) but man… I just had a blast with this one.
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worldpeace125
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by worldpeace125 »

I appreciate these reviews. I will try to fix the upside-down venus plants in Aquiferic Pressure. And yeah, I agree that "Melt a Meat Locker!" is especially great. I had a lot of fun in the level.
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

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Not much to say about the levels on the alternative route...

Crusher Cavern:
- Level 123: Screen 08/09: Maybe replace the yellow koopa with a red one? You don’t really expect it to fall down, so maybe it could lead to a cheap hit.

Really not much to say about this, it was just a standard level with the yellow smashers. I think it managed to do the gimmick in a good way, a lot of levels with the smashers tend to be kind of unfair because there are no real safespots; this was not a problem at all in this level.
Glacier Soup:
- Level 1F: Screen 0A/0B: I think this part is a bit too unfair / has too many enemies. Basically what happened when I played the level was that I got chased to the left because of the two spike-balls coming from the right, but there was basically no room for me to dodge the two other spike-balls coming from the left. After dying once, it was clear that you were supposed to stay low and swim under them, but there was no way to know this beforehand. I think you should get rid of the lower spike-ball on screen 0A.

Wow. This was so much fun! It really puts an interesting spin to the whole tide-gimmick and it manages to always be fair. I really enjoyed playing through this one; it’s definitely one of the most memorable levels so far. The ending was pretty funny too.
Cool Kickin'
- Screen 09: The dragoncoin is broken (it still shows the upper half when you collect it).
- General: Please give the player another powerup in the second half. The first half had two, and the second half is frustrating enough even with an additional powerup.

Uff. I can’t say I liked this level, but at least it was more reasonable then, say, Cryophobia Cavern. I just don’t like the rugby balls in smw, because there are so unpredictable, and that combined with icy physics and tight spaces… It was frustrating and not very fun, to say the least. I think the secret exit was okay though, kind of clever with the time-limit of the level that doesn’t let you clear the way beforehand.
SWITCH'S YELLOW, YO:
- Level 11A: Screen 01: The Yoshi-sign floating in the air looks pretty ugly. Move it on the ground or if that’s not possible, remove it.
- Screen 02: Not a fan of having to pull off the glitch where you pick up a blue block and jump at the same time. Couldn’t you put a normal hole there to dump Yoshi in and have the rest of the blue blocks over solid ground?
- Level 153: Screen 02: Really? Come on. If you have to do this, at least have the decency to either not make it over a hole or add teleporter blocks at the bottom of the pit that let you retry the jump if you miss. The way it is now is just a big, colossal dick-move.

Eh. I feel this is kind of out of place for world three, but then again it is a switch palace and on the bonus route, so I guess it’s fine. Not gonna lie though, if this was one of the first Mario hacks I’d played, I had no idea what to do and even the way it is now is kind of hard to figure out. Not impossible, but hard. The puzzle itself is actually very clever, the way you think you got everything right but then realize at the end you did something wrong... Kind of cool. The ending was pretty bad though.

Edit: Oh. You're supposed to do that. Would there be a way to make it more obvious that you aren't supposed to shell-jump there? Also, the yoshiegg looks glitchy.
I also played through Cryophobia Cavern again, and I think what would make that stage immensely more fun would be a second midpoint in the first half. I don't think that the stage is particularly hard, it's just so slow and long, and if you were to die two or three screens before the midpoint you had to drag through the first half again, which is just really annoying. Maybe the ledge on screen 07 would be a good place?

@worldpeace: Basically what I said to Isrieri; it's good to see that the things I point out actually help to improve the quality of the game (:
Last edited by Ryrir 9 years ago, edited 1 time in total.
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Ryrir
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

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Crumbling Your Problems Away:
- General: The music doesn’t really fit the theme of the level. I assume it’s a placeholder?
- General: Why is there no midpoint? This feels like it should definitely have one. Maybe place one on screen 0C where the extra mushroom is now and then work something out with those fancy custom blocks to force the player to spinjump after respawning?
- General: If there is enough space, I would mention in the textboxes at the start something about the hands indicating the jumping flames.
- Screen 05/06 & 07: You should definitely replace those koopas with goombas or rexes or whatever, because the way it is now, you can just kick a shell onto the blue landmasses, killing all the enemies on them.

Wow, another one that was very, very good. I remember playing an older version of this that was slightly frustrating, the way it is now is much better. Good use of the customblock-thingy too. The only thing really missing is the midpoint, once that is implemented this is easily one of the better levels of the game.
Perilous Pier:
- General: Looking at the overworld, there is no way the player has the red switch pressed at this point. Replace them with blue or yellow ones (maybe blue is better, since I don’t think you want the player to have additional powerups?)
- Level F: Screen 01: I think the grammar’s off in the second textbox. Shouldn’t the things listed be separated with a comma and not with “and”? Maybe someone else should look into this, since English obviously isn’t my native language.
- Level 33: Screen 01: I don’t think the player gets that you are supposed to slide there. Maybe just make this a regular “dodge-the-enemies-challenge” and remove the lowest green fish?
- Screen 0D: How exactly are you supposed to get that moon?
- Level F: Screen 01: Kind of iffy about the death trap - sure there is a warning and sure, you see those fish when you first start the level, but I can’t shake off the feeling that that’s kind of cheap. But oh well...
- Screen 01: Why would you go all glitch-mode at the ending there? Like… what? Remove it please?

An interesting gimmick there in the first half, with good use of the invisible teleport blocks. Too bad the second half loses that focus and therefore becomes kind of “weak” in relation to the first half. But oh well I guess.
Swim with the Stars:
- General: Same problem with the upside-down piranha plant as in Aquiferic Pressure, they come out even if you are directly under them, causing cheap hits.
- General: The regular piranha plants turn invisible if you swim directly above them.
- General: I suggest to mark every star that hides an invisible mushroom with coins like the one on screen 0A.I played through the stage thinking there are a too few amount of powerups, only to find that there were there all along, just not in places that the player will swim through. (The mushrooms are on screen 04, 0E and 10)
- Screen 11: The secret is very, very well hidden. I think it would be a better idea to move the last dragoncoin somewhere else, and instead give the player a couple of moons and a powerup if they find the area. On the other hand, it gives the player a reason to fully explore the level, so I don’t know… I just didn’t realize it on my second and third playthrough (had to look it up in lunar magic), and I think that’s too difficult for a dragoncoin.
- Screen 13: Big Mario Discrimination!! Seriously though, even as small Mario this is kind of difficult, I think you should remove one of the fishes. (Maybe the lowest one, since then you are still in danger of getting hit via the piranha plant?)

Whew, this was kind of challenging. There are a few places throughout the stage, where it is much easier to be small – to the point where you deliberately get yourself hit. I don’t mind too much, since there were a lot of powerups in the stage (once you actually find them), but still you might want to work on some places like for example screen 0C/0D or screen 0D/0E. Other than that this was pretty okay, it was certainly challenging while being kind of calm with the music and the swimming and whatnot.
Horse Eating Disorder:
- General: I don’t think the gimmick works very well. I was never, NEVER in any sort of stress during the whole time I played through the stage. I could have abandoned my Yoshi on screen 05 and still would have been able to make it through the stage with twenty seconds on the clock. Now, I don’t know how much you really like the gimmick and want to pull it off, but if you want this to be a challenge, you should definitely cut down the amount of green barriers in the first half. The way it is now, it’s just like “oh well there’s a berry might as well eat it but it doesn’t really matter because I have ninety seconds on the timer anyway”. I somehow doubt that that’s the vibe you want to give the player when he plays the level. Seriously though, when I look at this, I think something like three or maybe four barriers in the first half should really suffice. Now there are eight.
- Screen 03: The way I see it, you don’t really need the second cointrail. It is much safer to jump on the clouds, hit the hammer brother from below and get the dragoncoin. The way it is now suggest that you have to hit the hammer brother from above which is much harder to do without losing Yoshi and an unnecessary risk anyway. I think you should remove the cointrail leading to the clouds on screen 04.
- Screen 0A-0C: Is the crossfire generator really necessary? It just kind of happens and then it’s gone…
- Screen 0C: On one playthrough, the second bridge-thing didn’t spawn, making the jump impossible without losing Yoshi. You might want to look into that (maybe it’s because of the generator? One more reason to remove it…)
- Screen 0D: The yoshi-jump to get the dragoncoin is kind of hard the way it is now. Why don’t you put the coin in between the landmasses, so it is for one thing easier to do and more importantly the player realizes that he actually has to yoshi-jump there, something that’s not very clear the way it is now.
- Screen 12: You can just fly under those red koopas. Even if you would fly over them, it’s kind of hard to pull off because yoshi smashes the one in the middle, resulting in the player getting killed in the munchers. I suggest lowering the second koopa and the platform it’s standing on one tile.

A simple gimmick, executed in a fairly nice way. Nice for the player that is, since he can basically ignore it completely. But the level design itself isn’t that bad and I could see the level being pretty challenging and stressful once the amount of berries is cut down.
Tunnel of the Living Rock:
- Screen 10: As nice as the idea may be, it doesn’t work for me. What happened is that I got glitched out and I had to awkwardly rejump to make the triangle work properly. I think you just have to play it safe and put an extra cement block before the triangle.

Another nice level. Really shows how much you depend on spinjumping in these games. It had really creative stuff going on, I especially liked screen 05 and 0D. Good stuff; it’s fun and challenging while always being fair and never boring. Good job! (Also, the custom intro cutscene is really nice!)
The Cave of Layer 2:
- General: I think there’s a space missing on the overwold. Shouldn’t it be “layer 2” instead of “layer2”?
- Level 10B: Screen 07: The thing coming down doesn’t kill you, but you get weirdly glitched inside of it. I think this can be fixed by not having a slope but a straight horizontal ledge coming down?
- Level 58: Screen 06: I don’t know, I think the sign is kind of misleading. The door doesn’t appear after the first pit of fire at all, it’s after the fourth one. Is there something I’m not getting? Anyway, I think the hint should be rewritten to make it clearer. Maybe something along the lines of “between two single coins” or something? Or “on the moving blocks asking many questions” or something? (Okay, I’ll admit, the last one is pretty dumb but my original point still stands)

Wow, this was actually pretty fun. I think it’s pretty hard to make a good level using the layer two stuff, so I’m glad to see an actual good one in this hack (especially after the whole cryophobia cavern experience, which was mediocre to say the least). It’s one of these things that in my opinion the vip-level never really exceled at, they would always use this gimmick but then make an overly hard or kind of unfair level out of it.
-CHARGE!- or –FIRE!-?

Going to wait for the new baserom before playing this, since there has been updates and stuff.

Bridge Engineering:
- Level 146: Screen 01: Wouldn’t it be better if the player could actually get the moon? I don’t know, I just thought that I built the bridge so I could get it, but the ending animation faded out before Mario collected it. Maybe it would be nice to give the player the reward if he chooses to build that bridge?

Wow. The best level so far. Is there really anything I have to add to this? I loved the gimmick, the fact that there were so many midpoints and reset doors so it never became too hard or unfair, the hint rooms… It was all so nice. It really is an awesome level with no second doubt. The only thing I don’t understand is how to get to the secret exit. Like, I understand that you are supposed to feed Yoshi your second item in the itembox, but there seems to be no way to actually get that second item. Is there something I’m not seeing? Or is the one questionblock on screen 12 in level 145 actually supposed to give a powerup instead of a coin? I suppose there is something I’m not getting since this technically is a puzzle level, so if someone could explain it to me that would be nice.
Cynderfyre (red switch):
- Level 11B: Screen 01/07 & Level 1D8: Screen 00: Why aren’t there the normal edges of the “bonus-tileset”? The way this looks now is just kind of ugly and I see on screen 02 of level 1D8 that it is actually possible to have these ledges, so… I suggest using them everywhere.
- Level 11B: Screen 07: You can get yourself trapped in the little room with the moon. Isn’t there a custom block that acts essentially an upside-down cloud? I think this would work here.
- Level 1D8: Screen 01/02: Are those munchers really the best enemies you can come up with? Why not put something more interesting there, like hopping koopas or a banzai bill or something.

Not much else to say about this, it certainly is level that exists. Not a particularly good one, but not a bad one either. It’s just kind of there.
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worldpeace125
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by worldpeace125 »

Thanks for the reviews again.

The moon at the end of bridge engineering is actually obtainable; making the bridge of invisible blocks has nothing to do with the moon. The message the level tries to convey is "invisible coin bridge is so bad that it cannot be recommended at all." And here's the way to feed yoshi:
http://youtu.be/WZEpRtE9vrA (sorry for bad quality)
I intended the secret exit to be a guardian of a precious thing(red switch palace) so I made the puzzle somewhat hard.
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Ryrir
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by Ryrir »

Oh, so that's what you're supposed to do. Huh. I suppose the hint makes more sense now, but man...
I guess what you should do is get more people to test the level to see if they had problems finding the solution, because I couldn't find it on my own and I think if too many people didn't found it as well, the hint needs to be more clear. On the other hand it may very well be that it's just me not being very good at those puzzles, and other people don't have any problems finding it at all.

I played through the secret exit, no problems there, it was pretty stressful but not impossible or overly difficult.

Ignore anything I said about the moon, that was just me being an idiot (:

Also, I have a lot of real life stuff going on in the next few weeks so don't expect another update until the 27th or something.
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by worldpeace125 »

Oh. Though the secret exit was meant to be hard, I wanted to make it possible for all people to find the solution without taking a long time. It was the purpose of two hint rooms, but it seems the hint for the mushroom puzzle wasn't that clear. I will attempt to make the hint room more obvious. Thank you.
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by Ryrir »

Like I said, I wouldn't do anything without waiting on other feedback.

I think this applies to anything I mention on these reviews, either the level designer himself agrees on the points I make and makes the changes himself - or if he is gone or doesn't check the JUMP-subforum there would have to be at least something like three or four different people who agree on a specific point, before you would be able to change the original level-design without waiting on the author. And even then, if the author doesn't agree, you can't change anything.

In this particular situation I really suggest that you wait on the opinion of other people before you change the hint room, because I'm fairly incompetent regarding puzzle level and it could very well be that other people don't have a problem finding the secret at all.
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

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Spike Toss:
- General: Give the player something like 200 more seconds on the timer
- Level 119: Screen 02: I don’t agree with the placement of this dragoncoin. For me it was not very obvious that the player is supposed to fly there and the fact that the questionblock on screen 02 doesn’t contain a feather either makes it just more obscure. If you don’t want to move the position of the dragoncoin, I suggest giving the player a feather instead of a flower in the block on screen 02 and add a cointrail on screen 01 that moves towards the sky, indicating that you are supposed to fly there.
- Screen 0C: Again, I had problems finding this dragoncoin. This time it at least gives the player a feather beforehand, but I still didn’t suspect that you had to glide to the left there. Maybe you could work something out with a single coin that is visible on screen 0D, indicating that there is something on the right?
- Level 1F5: I don’t think those cementblocks are actually necessary…?

Again I had a weird smw-vibe in this level. I can’t say I really liked it; I think it didn’t had much going for it and especially the second half dragged on for quite a bit and it felt like you had to beat the same obstacles over and over and over again. Maybe you could add some diversity to the level, create some new situations in the second half so it isn’t so boring?
UNDER CONSTRUCTION:
- Screen 0F: If you are big, Mario will still get the last dragoncoin without taking the rope under the goal. I don’t know if this is intentional or not, if it’s not you have to move the coin upwards one tile.

Another fun one. I remember seeing this idea in one if the early vips, but this level executed the idea at least graphically a lot better. It was a fun little romp with good level design, a good idea and it felt very focused. I liked it!
Boiling With the Best of Them:
- Screen 00 & 03: There is no way the player has the green switch pressed at this time. (Okay, he could take the other path and then come back to play the other route but that seems unlikely.)
- Screen 0B: The wall of red koopas can catch you by surprise (you jump of the noteblock before you see them coming), causing a cheap death. I think it would be best to move them a few tiles to the left.

Yet another good one. Not much to say about this one, it was fun, it had good design elements and it felt like I had spent a lot less time in the level that I actually did… It was good.
don’t screw up, k:
- Level 2F: Screen 01: The lakitu looks really weird. Basically you can only see the lower half of him if you walk up the slope, and it looks kind of glitchy. I think this can be solved by lowering the lakitu one tile.
- Screen 0E: I don’t agree with the placement of the lakitu here. You can’t see him and if you stand beside him, he throws a spiny on your head without you being able to react. Either remove him or place him somewhere where at least his head looks above the ground.
- Screen 11: You should definitely extend the solid ground before the pipe. The way it is now, you really have to jump at the very last second to jump on the first green koopa, and even then it’s kind of unclear if you can make it to the pipe. If you jump any sooner, it is impossible (and there is no indication that you have to jump that late). So either extend the ground or add an extra green koopa, whichever works best.
- Level 112: Screen 05: The midpoint doesn’t work correctly. It respawns if you die and reenter the level, and also if you fall back down the hole on screen 04.
- Screen 05: Empty textbox.
- Screen 04: You are able to jump over the gap and land in the landmasses on screen 03.

This felt very VIP-like, and while the first half was actually pretty fun (nothing overly exiting, but still pretty good), the second half was a major letdown. If it were up to me, I would redesign it completely and add another cave section instead, but I get why it’s there and I technically don’t think it’s too bad. I just don’t like it. Also, completing the first half took maybe two minutes, the second half twenty seconds. Again, I get why it is the way it is, but still.
Chuck Magnet:
- Level 127: Screen 00: Just a suggestion: I think you should place the powerup in one of the boxes that are only accessible to the chuck. It feels kind of weird that the only price the player gets for hitting those boxes are three single coins.
- Screen 07: This jump can be made far less annoying by simply extending the first ledge on the lower path by one tile to the right. That way I think it would be way easier to make the chuck hit the switchblock. Please do it.
- Screen 08/09: Getting the chuck to hit one of the switchblocks on screen 09 is fairly annoying to do. Why don’t you make it easier by adding another switchblock on screen 08, maybe make the same setup as the powerupblock on screen 07? Or actually I don’t think the player really needs that powerup, so maybe you could even replace the powerupblock with a switchblock?
- Level 60: Screen 05: This jump is by far the most annoying in the whole stage. I think it has something to do with the position of the switchblock, because the way it is now, you hit the switchblock to early/too late, depending on whether you run from the left, hit the switch and then run further to the right, or whether you come from the right, hit the switch and then go back to the right. This is really hard to explain, but what it comes down to is that I believe that this can be made a lot better by moving the switchblock after the “Mario-Barrier”. (Either directly after it or on the corner, I don’t know which will work better. Alternatively I think you could change the layout of the green blocks on the upper path by moving the two vertical blocks further to the right, I think that would work too. (Or you could simply add another cementblock before the “Chuck-only”blocks, but that might make it too easy)

This level really had the potential to be the most annoying one in the whole game, and honestly when I first entered the level I thought it would be. Surprisingly enough, it isn’t. There are only three places in the level that are in my opinion overly annoying, and each one of them can be made a lot better by applying only simple changes. My experience playing through the level the way it is now wasn’t all that fun (entirely because of those three situations), but once those are changed, I think this could be a really good and solid stage. It’ll never be one of my favorites (because it’ll always be about dragging this immobile, stupid chuck around) but I also think it has a lot going for it e. g. the transition-pipes in the first half or the very last puzzle in the second half which are both very well thought out. The level also has a clever level name.
Angry Fish:
- Level 11: Screen 02 & 04: How about adding reset doors on these screens so that you don’t just have to kill yourself if you lose the mushroom?

Pretty solid level with minor puzzle elements. Really not much to say about this, the gimmick is okay, the level design is okay, the difficulty is okay.
Palatable Perturbation:
- Screen 17: I think it would be a good idea to add an extra midpoint before the boss. The boss isn’t overly difficult but I died like three or maybe four times to it, and the thought of having to play the whole second half over and over again doesn’t really fill me with joy. So yeah, I think it would be a good idea to add a second midpoint there.

I’m not a huge fan of these gimmick that mess with your controls. This one isn’t that bad though, because it gives the player a lot of powerups throughout the level so you can take a hit in some situations. I guess for a level that uses this gimmick it’s not too bad, especially the boss is interesting.
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

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Rope is Nightmare:
- Level 12B: Screen 07: The second rope near the fuzzy is unnecessary and (in my opinion) hinders the player more than it helps him.
- Screen 09/0A: Same thing for the rope under the cementblocks, except even worse because this time the rope will definitely mess up your jump. Even if you don’t get rid of the extra rope on screen 07, I would strongly advise getting rid of this one.
- Screen 0B: Again, the rope near the midpoint doesn’t serve any purpose at all.
- Level 150: Screen 01: And one more time: The third rope isn’t really necessary. You can keep it if you want to make the level easy or something, but given this is world 5, I don’t think it is needed.
- Screen 05: The way to the dragoncoin is annoying and tedious. Can’t you come up with another saw-formation or something to make it more interesting than “going up/going down”?

Another level that felt like it could come straight from one of the VIPs. The gimmick isn’t bad or anything, I think it’s even kind of interesting, but I’m sure there will be some people hating this level because it forces the player to abuse glitches and stuff. I think it is fine though, it hasn’t got the best level design in the game but it’s relatively short so I think it’s okay.
6 (notgoodwithusernames):

Unfinished, though I do have a strong dislike for forcing the player to go under the screen boundaries, so whoever will finish this one should maybe watch out for that.

Luminous Leaping:
- Level 109: General: I think the midpoint is kind of lopsided. Maybe you can work something out (switching screens or something) so it feels like both halves of the level take the same amount of time to beat?
- General: The level plays a lot harder if Mario is big, to the point where the player just gets hit voluntarily. I would suggest either remodeling the whole stage so there are two tiles between the pipes and the moving platforms instead of one, or just stop giving the player powerups throughout the stage.
- Screen 00: I don’t know how or why this happened, but sometimes when I tried to go for the secret exit, the p-switch wouldn’t fall down. Now I don’t know if this is just “my” problem but I think you should look into it.
- Screen 00: The multiple coin block sometimes turned invisible. There was still a block there, but it wasn’t visible (sort of like what happens if you hit a coinblock with a single coin above it). Again, I don’t know if this just happened because of my computer of something, but maybe you should check out what causes this.
- Level 190: Screen 02/03: I think this setup is a bit over the top. I suggest removing the fire-spitting piranha plant.

A pretty standard level with some questionable design choices (big Mario discrimination, secret path being kind of dumb etc.), but overall nothing too bad.
Keep a Positive Altitude:
- Level 131: Screen 03: Maybe the trap with the shell killing the torpedo ted is kind of cheap. You’re really not expecting it and you can’t really react to it even if you do see it in time.
- Screen 0D/0A/09: I’m not a huge fan of those ice blocks, because if you stand directly before them and shoot a fireball, only the lower one will get burned but not the upper one. So in order to proceed you either need to duck under it or step back and shoot a fireball from a further distance. I realize that this is something that can’t easily be changed, but if you could come up with something, that would be cool.

Wow, what a great level! Everything about it felt very focused, it had some very original setups and all in all felt just… good. It was hard, yes, but other than the trap on screen 03 and maybe the piranha plant on 0A you always knew what you did wrong and could improve on your next playthrough. I really liked it! Also, it has the single best level name in the whole game so that has to account for something, right?
Polished Pipeline:
- Level 10: Screen 01: You can jump on the grey falling platform from the left side of the pipe, making the jump later impossible. I suggest moving it one tile to the right.

A good level. Certainly on the hard side, but not unfair. Especially getting the dragoncoins was pretty challenging, but once you died one time to an obstacle, you won’t die to it again. I had fun playing through this one, there were some interesting arragements of enemies and the secret exit was an extra challenge, but at the same time the level became easier if you had a feather, so I don’t think it was too hard or anything.
Manky Bridge:
- General: Please, can this level have two additional midpoints, one in the first half and one in the second half? Thank you.
- Level 20: Screen 05/0D: It is super unclear that those blocks are “sprite-only” blocks. I suggest having an introduction of those earlier in the level; maybe just put three in a row and a red koopa on it so their function becomes clear.
- Screen 0C/0D: You can’t jump on a bullet bill while holding a block in 9 out of 10 cases. Please remove these obstacles.
- Level 50: Screen: 0A/09: That’s one tedious mushroom to get. Maybe lower the whole thing down a little, so you don’t have to jump as high to get it, as it’s kind of boring and repetitive?
- Screen 05: What exactly is the purpose of the little room with the note-block?
- Screen 09: (Talking about the jump in the upper-right corner with the normal saw): Super tedious and unfun jump. Please either open the gap one tile or move the “block-generator” somewhere else so it doesn’t get in the way.
- Screen 02/01: Another super tedious jump, because you don’t see where the grey platform is, and if you miss it, you might die because of the jumping bowser statue. Please think of something else to put here.

I really liked the concept of the stage, and I still think it’s a cool gimmick. Unfortunately the execution is… not very good in my opinion. There were just a lot of jumps that were barely possible, along with too few powerups, really hard and kind of stupid enemy setups and… it just wasn’t fun. I don’t know, it’s kind of hard to describe why I disliked this stage so much, but I just had next to no fun and was glad when it was over. Though not all of it was bad, for example I really liked the thing on screen 04, but the annoying parts really overshadowed the good ones. I do think that having at least two more midpoints would help the stage immensely, and maybe if the overly tedious jumps are fixed it will play better?
The Smog that Smiles Back:
- Level 124: Screen 08: If you are small, getting this dragoncoin is kind of hard, because you have to pull off one of those super small hops. I suggest lowering it one tile.

Wow, I liked everything about this level. The gimmick was fun, the leveldesign was good and the boss was pretty clever too. Maybe a bit on the easier side, but then again after Manky Bridge you’re kind of glad for a breather and the boss isn’t that easy so I think it’s fine. I liked it!
Wigglertuff:
- General: I think the generator is kind of overkill honestly. In fact, some jumps can get impossible because there is suddenly a bullet bill in your face which you can’t react to. I would really suggest removing it, the level is hard enough without it.
- Screen 01: I think it would suffice to only have one hammer bro there – again, having two seems a bit like an overkill.
- Screen 05: This is pretty blind. Maybe you could work with a sign that says “wait!” or something like that? Or write it out with coins?
- Screen 10: Kind of hard to get that dragoncoin. Basically on your first playthrough, you have no motivation to leave the cointrail at all, so why would you fly higher to get it? Maybe put it somewhere more obvious?
- Screen 11/12: I don’t get it. You don’t have to jump at all…? This is kind of misleading, I suggest removing it.

It’s not a bad level per se; it just has a few problems. Once those are fixed I’m sure this will be a fun and intense little level.
The Ruins of Challenging Sadness:
Nothing to say about this, really. It was pretty short but felt focused and was fun. No need to change anything here. The boss is glitched though, but I think this is being worked on anyway.
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Ryrir
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by Ryrir »

Coin Guides Are Always Accurate!
- General: Why does this level have its own death/p-switch/victory sounds? Is this something being worked on, or is it something unique in this level or what? It feels kind of out of place though.
- Level 128: Screen 00: I think there is supposed to be a comma instead of a point in the message box.
- Level 7E: Screen 0A: I think it’s kind of unclear that you have to drop on the floor here. In retrospect it makes sense because there are no coins on the bottom, but in my playthrough I didn’t see it and just took a hit, though maybe that is just me? Might wait on other feedback for this one.
- Screen 0E: In my opinion you don’t have to have the second message box here one more time. The player will most likely go for the normal exit first and so will have already read the message.

Kind of iffy on this one. I understand what it’s trying to do, but I don’t think it does so in a fun way. There are some things which are funny, for example the thing on screen 0C/0D, but the overall amount of “walking-under-the-level-boundaries”, “invisible-block-gotcha-traps” and “invisible-floor-situations” just puts me off. But I guess since it’s not something that’s overly annoying and it would take a lot of time to fix the level, it’s fine. It just isn’t my favorite type of level.
Into the Dark Forest:
- Level 129: Screen 06/07: I don’t really agree with these screens. First of all, it’s kind of dumb that you have to be small to reach the silver p-switch and the exit pipe (of course you don’t really have to be small, but it’s a lot less frustrating). Also, the secret exit is ridiculously easy to find – you don’t have to search for anything, everything is just presented to the player right there. I don’t know… It might work better if the pipes are one tile higher and the key is actually hidden somewhere else; somewhere where it’s actually a challenge to find it? I remember this type of level from the VIPs, and in those, the key was often hidden on an invisible platform behind a tree, marked by coins. Maybe that could work?
- Level 13D: I don’t think the exit pipe should skip the midpoint and lead directly into the second half, why don’t you put the exit on screen 07 in level 129?
- Level 129: Screen 0B: Maybe replace the feather with a fireflower? I don’t know, for me the second half was kind of too easy with a feather.
- Level 13C: Screen 0A: Lower the dragon coin a few tiles. As it is, you have to spinjump on the piranha plant on the right in order to get it; I think it would work better if you simply had to jump on the red koopa.

A smaller breather level that is challenging without being too hard and featuring a few interesting jumps. I still think the secret exit is too easy to find and would suggest spicing it up a little, but other than that, this was a fun little platforming level.
House of the Holy:
- Level 21: Screen 00: Give the player an easier opportunity to get a powerup than that? I don’t know, it’s pretty precise to get it and you won’t get it on your first playthorugh of the level, so… Why don’t you go with the theme of the level and put a winged block there instead? Or if you want to make it challenging, you could replace the fireflower with a feather so the player has to wait for it to fall down and it’d be more of a secret?
- Level 55: Screen 06: This is by far the hardest part of the first half, and I don’t know if it isn’t too hard… I think it’d be better if you move the moving hole a bit farther to the right, so it would get a bit easier?
- Screen 08: The first jump on the brown blocks (if you go for the secret exit) is kind of tricky, I think it would work better if there were only two coins in a row instead of three?
- Level 52: Screen 06: It is SUPER unclear that you can shoot a blue block through the wooden blocks under the disco shell – I assumed they were solid and that you had to navigate the shell under the winged block which was pretty tedious. I think there is no other way than making it look clearer graphically, I wouldn’t know how though.
- Level 21: Screen 01: You might want to be a bit more specific with the hint for the secret exit, because technically, there are two midpoints and it might be unclear which one you are cancelling by pausing and pressing L&R (yeah, I know, that might just be me being stupid, but you could still be more specific in the message box by saying that the secret is in the first half; just to avoid misunderstandings).
- Level 53: It’s kind of stupid that the winged block disappears after you defeated the boss. You don’t know the first time around and it’s just a cheap trap. Would it be possible to make it so it doesn’t disappear?

This was pretty good actually. I liked the gimmick with the holes, the moving blocks and the eerie-bullets, it felt very unique and let to some interesting and difficult obstacles. I especially liked the solution to the secret exit (that was pretty clever in my opinion) and the fact that there is a second midpoint. My main problems would be the graphical “unclearness” of screen 06 in level 52 and the issue with the winged block in the boss room. Generally a hard but unique level that also manages to be fair to the player.
Shouldering On:
- General: Maybe consider putting slow instead of medium auto-scroll in the first half of the level? I don’t know if it would work or if it would be too easy, but maybe it would take off some of the trial-and-error-ness the player currently encounters when playing the level. I guess it’s something to try out and see if it works?
- Level 5: Screen 05/06: Honestly, I don’t like this whole setup. To me, hitting the lotus plants didn’t really work because there was always the moving blocks in the way, and even if it did, the plant had already shot its fireballs, and those are really hard to dodge, especially the ones on screen 05. There are also other problems in those screens, like the fact that you can’t see the cementblocks on screen 06, or the setup with the sumo brother, which doesn’t really work that well in my opinion. Also, there are two powerups in those screens, and I don’t think either one is worth dying over. Maybe put one of them in a more accessible location? All in all it might be a good idea to work on these screens some more, at least by only making the cement blocks visible.
- Screen 08: Again, I think it would look a lot better if the yellow pipe at the bottom of the screen was actually visible.
- Screen 0C: Put the lotus plant at the very edge of the ledge. You don’t have enough time to press L or R the way it is now.
- Screen 0D: I don’t think the pokey (and the coin block it’s standing on) is serving any purpose here?
- Level 35: The boss would work a whole lot better if you could actually see the ground under the player. That way it would be easier to dodge the fireballs coming from the chuck and would clear the graphical confusion after you win the battle (the way it is now, it isn’t clear if you would die as well after beating the boss).

I think this was a pretty standard level. It reminded me somewhat of that bridge level in world five in the sense that it certainly had an interesting and fun gimmick but somehow it wasn’t as much fun as I feel it could have been. I think the level design plays a big part in this but it’s hard to actually point out the things that in my opinion don’t work because I just don’t know if it’s just me. But all in all it works the way it is now and I don’t think there’s really a need to change anything aside from a few graphical things.
Old Fogey Skie:
- Screen 04: I think this setup is kind of unfair – it seems really hard to get past it without taking a hit. I suggest moving the wall of blue blocks one tile to the left.
- Screen 09: Again, I’m not a huge fan of this setup. To me it’s very hard to predict when to start running upwards so the shell won’t hit you. Again, I think it would be better to move the blue blocks one or two tiles to the left.

A nice little breather level that felt (again) very VIP-ish. It was very focused and didn’t try to do too many things at once and succeeding at what it was actually trying to be. I liked it.
The Green Switch:
And this is where I have to confess that I suck at puzzle levels. Could someone please explain to me (or upload a video of) how the second half is supposed to work?
I’ll write an extensive review of the level once I actually manage to beat it, but one thing I’d like to mention right now is that you can completely skip the whole “level-15E-thing” by standing on the key right under the invisible noteblock and jumping from there – the event won’t be triggered and you can just continue by going to the right.
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by markyjoe1990 »

Ryrir wrote:Coin Guides Are Always Accurate!
- General: Why does this level have its own death/p-switch/victory sounds? Is this something being worked on, or is it something unique in this level or what? It feels kind of out of place though.
- Level 128: Screen 00: I think there is supposed to be a comma instead of a point in the message box.
- Level 7E: Screen 0A: I think it’s kind of unclear that you have to drop on the floor here. In retrospect it makes sense because there are no coins on the bottom, but in my playthrough I didn’t see it and just took a hit, though maybe that is just me? Might wait on other feedback for this one.
- Screen 0E: In my opinion you don’t have to have the second message box here one more time. The player will most likely go for the normal exit first and so will have already read the message.

Kind of iffy on this one. I understand what it’s trying to do, but I don’t think it does so in a fun way. There are some things which are funny, for example the thing on screen 0C/0D, but the overall amount of “walking-under-the-level-boundaries”, “invisible-block-gotcha-traps” and “invisible-floor-situations” just puts me off. But I guess since it’s not something that’s overly annoying and it would take a lot of time to fix the level, it’s fine. It just isn’t my favorite type of level.
General: I'm not quite sure why there's weird sounds going on in my level. Might be an insertion problem...
level 128 Screen 00: Noted. Will fix.
Level 7E Screen 0A: Wait. Did you see red koopas or green ones? The latest version is supposed to have Green Koopas, making it a lot more forgiving. The most up to date version of the level is much easier and more forgiving than the one with the red koopas.
Screen 0E: I prefer to prepare for any possibility. While it's rare, I suspect a few players will actually do the secret exit first. A player does whatever they want, overall.

The rest:
Of the levels I've made in this hack, this is the one I am least confident in. I did my best to permutate my concepts in a way that keeps them fresh, while maintaining a fair challenge, but I'm not surprised it bothers you. If I can find a way to better implement the overarching theme of the level, I'll apply fixes. If I can't - and am unsatisfied with the end product - I am fully willing to completely remake/redesign the level. I'll just need to work harder.
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by Ryrir »

I'm pretty sure I played the latest version (I'm just using the baserom v1.33 and there were green koopas on screen 0A).

However, I don't think the level needs a lot of work or even has to be scrapped. Maybe just going through the level one more time and replacing some of the notblock-traps with other obsticals would help? I think especially the first few screens of level 7F have some room for improvements, maybe you could scrap the whole "fake-muncher" idea of the first three screens and replace them with something else? Maybe make the player move up and down instead of just to the right, like in level 128?

I still think that it isn't clear that you have to drop to the (invisible) floor on Screen 0A in level 7E though, but like I said you might want to see what other people think.
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by morsel/morceau »

Fortress of Koumei's Trap

Some oddities with this level:
-If you take yoshi in, you don't keep him on the overworld after exiting.
-If you let the yoshi intro run fully, the chuck faces wrong way. (smw problem; fix http://www.smwcentral.net/?p=section&a=details&id=4560)
-The chainsaw in level 165 is not really an obstacle when you have yoshi as it can't hurt you (maybe this is intended).
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worldpeace125
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by worldpeace125 »

Ryrir wrote:- General: Why does this level have its own death/p-switch/victory sounds? Is this something being worked on, or is it something unique in this level or what? It feels kind of out of place though.
It's because of the bnk file of the bgm, the file containing a set of samples for this song. It's missing some samples used by death/p-switch/victory sounds. I will fix it. bnk files are kind of outdated anyway.
morsel/morceau wrote:Fortress of Koumei's Trap

Some oddities with this level:
-If you take yoshi in, you don't keep him on the overworld after exiting.
-If you let the yoshi intro run fully, the chuck faces wrong way. (smw problem; fix http://www.smwcentral.net/?p=section&a=details&id=4560)
-The chainsaw in level 165 is not really an obstacle when you have yoshi as it can't hurt you (maybe this is intended).
-I may not remember correctly because it's been a while. I wanted to allow to bring yoshi to next sublevels unlike levels having castle intro. I put levelasm code that simply manipulates RAM related to this, and the level becomes normal(not a castle intro level) right after the intro (i.e. after getting off yoshi). As a result, that yoshi just will be lost. GTA?
-Acknowledged! I think I can fix it via levelinit.asm, since there can be levels ingeniously using this initial facing bug?
-I didn't notice that. I will find out the way to improve the part.
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morsel/morceau
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by morsel/morceau »

-I may not remember correctly because it's been a while. I wanted to allow to bring yoshi to next sublevels unlike levels having castle intro. I put levelasm code that simply manipulates RAM related to this, and the level becomes normal(not a castle intro level) right after the intro (i.e. after getting off yoshi). As a result, that yoshi just will be lost. GTA?
-Acknowledged! I think I can fix it via levelinit.asm, since there can be levels ingeniously using this initial facing bug?
-Would it be better to run the code only after you get yoshi in the level? If not, I'm not sure what to do (it's not very important anyhow).
-It would be funny to have a secret exit in a ghost house depend on this, with a gas bubble you need to travel to the right. The hint could be 'Note For The Impatient'.
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by worldpeace125 »

morsel/morceau wrote:-Would it be better to run the code only after you get yoshi in the level? If not, I'm not sure what to do (it's not very important anyhow).
Yes. I think it's much better, and probably I should also change some of my other levels using the similar code.


My suggestions for some levels

Horse Eating Disorder: How about restricting time limit to 40 or some other value? For example, if you get a green berry when the timer is 32, then the timer would become 40. It may cover most issues mentioned so far.

Old Fogey Skie: It seems that people except me didn't have trouble to beat this level. Strangely I died so many times here.
I think most parts are okay, but the segments with purple triangle and shell were extremely tough. Moreover the hit box of mario running up the wall doesn't look correct (acts as if mario is standing up). I'm not sure if I tried in a wrong way there.
If you want these obstacles fixed, how about this: You are given 2-3 throw blocks to hit the shell from below, but still have to react fast because of autoscroll.

Sublevel A3(muncher snake): The trajectories of snakes aren't natural sometimes. It required several deaths for me to learn them. I think warning sign effects would make the gimmick more absorbing and fair. Like this (imaginary):
JUMP_00000.png
JUMP_00000.png (9.72 KiB) Viewed 7710 times
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Ryrir
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by Ryrir »

worldpeace125 wrote:Horse Eating Disorder: How about restricting time limit to 40 or some other value? For example, if you get a green berry when the timer is 32, then the timer would become 40. It may cover most issues mentioned so far.
While I think that this is a step in the right direction, I'm not sure that it would solve all problems, because in my opinion there would still be too many green barries in the level. It will probably solve the second half of the level, but I think there will be no other way than to switch some green berries with red ones in order to make it actually challenging.
worldpeace125 wrote:Old Fogey Skie: It seems that people except me didn't have trouble to beat this level. Strangely I died so many times here.
I think most parts are okay, but the segments with purple triangle and shell were extremely tough. Moreover the hit box of mario running up the wall doesn't look correct (acts as if mario is standing up). I'm not sure if I tried in a wrong way there.
If you want these obstacles fixed, how about this: You are given 2-3 throw blocks to hit the shell from below, but still have to react fast because of autoscroll.
Basically I died only to the two situations I mentioned in my review of the level; the rest weren't really problematic in my opinion because the level actually gives the player a lot of mushrooms along the way so in most situations I could take a hit. I do agree however that the part with the triangle is too hard the way it is now, in my opionion placing blue blocks there or moving the wall a few tiles to the left would lead to similar outcomes...
Last edited by Ryrir 9 years ago, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by morsel/morceau »

Maybe one problem with those wall running segments is that smw cancels the wall run if you get hit, so you can't "tank" the sections. I experimented with

Code: Select all

org $00F5C9
	nop #12
and it seems to work okay, allowing you to take a hit and continue wall running, although it's another of those situations where it's a debatable fix.
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Awakenyourmind
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by Awakenyourmind »

That snake caution sign idea is great. Really cool worldpeace!
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by worldpeace125 »

morsel/morceau wrote:Maybe one problem with those wall running segments is that smw cancels the wall run if you get hit, so you can't "tank" the sections. I experimented with

Code: Select all

org $00F5C9
	nop #12
and it seems to work okay, allowing you to take a hit and continue wall running, although it's another of those situations where it's a debatable fix.
Allowing tanking a hit will make it much better. Would it be okay that the tweaked physics's only applied to that level? or globally to keep consistency?
Franky wrote:That snake caution sign idea is great. Really cool worldpeace!
I think we'd better wait for permission from the author first, as we are still in the phase of receiving new levels or updates from authors.
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