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JUMP Level Review Thread

A vanilla VIP-like smw collab!
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morsel/morceau
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by morsel/morceau »

Personally I would make say make it global. There's wall running parts in some of my levels I wouldn't mind the change applying to.
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worldpeace125
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by worldpeace125 »

morsel/morceau wrote:Personally I would make say make it global. There's wall running parts in some of my levels I wouldn't mind the change applying to.
Okay. I don't remember other particular level that might be affected greatly by this. I will do so.


And other minor things..

Crumbling Your Problems Away: I don't think bringing yoshi to this level is intended. When touching the custom block (making you spinjump) with riding yoshi, mario becomes "spinning mode" but there's no graphical difference. Functionally okay, but doesn't look cool to me. The block would also make mario get off yoshi, or there can be no yoshi intro at the beginning.
JUMP_00003.png
JUMP_00003.png (7.33 KiB) Viewed 7860 times
The Smog that Smiles Back: Tiles at the designated height normally explode in reznor battle, and they become empty tiles. But the problem is that their graphics aren't updated in custom battles like this. I think disabling block's explosion would be good, and it doesn't need to have the layout fixed. The screenshot shows a possible situation that mario is falling though there seem no holes.
JUMP_00002.png
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morsel/morceau
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by morsel/morceau »

IMPETUOUS ATHLETIC

This was a very challenging stage. The first half is a lot harder than the second half (~60 lives lost vs. first attempt). You might include some switch blocks in the first half to make it a bit easier. It reminded of the special world stages in a hack called The New Mario World, which are like kaizo mario stages without lots of munchers.

1E7:
some sprites were invisible, using sprite memory 10 fixed it .
infinite climbing on screen 06.

_____

Reznor bridges: probably this is already known, but simply lda #$40 : sta $14A7 in levelasm stops the bridge breaking. Level 5F should require it as well as 5E.

Yoshi intros: levels 0C and 10B use podoboos, so should prohibit yoshis.
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worldpeace125
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by worldpeace125 »

Burnt Mountain Tango v3

Since I had already played this level like a hundred times, I was able to deal with most obstacles without dying and I cannot measure the difficulty. But I see many parts surely become easier.

What I'd like to mention are some bugs I observed during insertion.

- I think page23.map16 is an older version. It doesn't contain MAP16 2320, and the warning tape is still blue unlike what the message box says.
JUMP_00001.png
JUMP_00001.png (8.91 KiB) Viewed 7780 times
- It was almost impossible to dodge two torpedo teds at screen 0C in level 70. When I checked the part with LM, I guess this situation wasn't intended?
JUMP_00000.png
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mellonpizza
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by mellonpizza »

Yep, I knew I would forget some things.
-Forgot to update map16
-Forgot about that part entirely.
I'm not a YTPMV'er. My goal is towards learning music and eventually making my own content with what I like (in this case ponies). I'm still studying how music works and this is what I can do so far, so to all the ytpmv'ers out there: Please stop following my videos, cause I'm not interested in making chiptune music with your rules you set up on how to make YTPMV's. Also I'd appreciate if you guys would lay off bronies in the comment section, cause these are made for them and not for people who
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Ryrir
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by Ryrir »

All the Way from New Jersey:
- General: Some (if not most) of the invisible mushrooms are pretty much impossible to get. The amount of time you spent killing the enemies around it, scrolling the screen to reset it and then come back to actually get the mushroom is just too much, to the point where the player will just go on with the level without the powerup. I think it would work a lot better if you would replace them with actual mushrooms.
- General: The midpoint is pretty lopsided. I would suggest moving it a few tiles to the left, like for example to screens 06/07.
- General: Why are the entrance-points pipes? Those are the only things in the level that you can see without a spotlight, and I think the level would work a lot better if you would remove them, and just start normally without a pipe entrance. The starting point and the midway-area would just look a lot better I think? In addition, I would suggest replacing the exit pipe with a door or something, so that you can’t see the exit / realize the level is over until you actually get to the end.
- Screen 04/0A: The player can’t see the cement blocks the lotus plants are sitting on, and it looks kind of bad. Maybe you could work something out like moving everything one tile upwards, so it would look better?

Getting huge “Cool Kickin’”-flashbacks here, I think you can kind of tell that the levels come from the same author. I guess I can just copy-paste the things I said to that level right here, because my feelings are pretty much the same: “It was frustrating and not very fun, to say the least”. I just don’t like these kinds of levels where you crouch around tight spaces while simultaneously dodging projectiles.
Get the Normal Exit:
- General: Might want to use that midway point? I don’t know, I think it’s pretty doable the way it is now, but maybe other would disagree. I think the main reason to do so would be screen 18, because that trap gets you at least once, so it might be nice to not have to replay the whole level again? Or maybe the traps works so well _because_ you were right at the end and now have to play the whole level again… Yeah, I don’t know. Maybe it would be best to just leave it like this. Alternatively, you could always add more “rooms” - I think the gimmick is fun enough…
- Screen 11: Blind jump at the bottom, mark the note block with a coin or something.

Pretty neat concept, that should be pretty obvious to think of - but I’ve never seen before in a hack, so… yeah. I really liked it. Good stuff, probably a highlight in world six so far.
BALLS:
- Level 12D: Screen 09/0A: Block the upper pathway with to cement blocks on the left, so that the player doesn’t assume that the upper path is the right one. Sure, there are already coins on the bottom route, but I think that this section could be made a bit clearer by blocking the path from the start.
- Level 151: General: I don’t like the balls which are moving one tile above the ground, it just looks… kind of not nice. I think that it wouldn’t hurt in most cases to simply move the ground/the noteblocks one tile upwards, maybe with the exception of screen 0B? And even there, it might be best to use those “object-only-blocks” introduced earlier in the hack, just so the whole situation looks a bit nicer.
- Screen 06-08: The noteblocks don’t display the right color when you jump on them.
- Screen 0D: I would consider moving the space with the blue coin a few rows to the right, because the way it is now, you might just get crushed because of the autoscroll.

A solid gimmick with a solid execution, except for the floating balls in the second half. Nothing more to say about it really, it seemed like a cool little breather level that happened to have a gimmick in it. Nothing too hard, but you still had to be one your toes somewhat because of the autoscroll. I liked it.
THE TREES ARE DEAD:
- General: I have a feeling that the music doesn’t really work on zsnes, some of the notes were clipped short.
- Screen 05: Due to the whole dragoncoin-saving thing, it is almost easier to just get the dragoncoin by jumping in the hole than doing it the way it was intended. Not something you could do much about though.
- Screen 0C/0D: Waiting for the HotHead to circle the log can be quite annoying. Couldn’t you just place two of them on the log so that one would be always ready for the player to spinjump on?
- Screen 0E: A semi-blind jump. Maybe place some coins leading to the safe ground would be better. Also, the jump from the skeleton to the cloud on the left isn’t really clear, maybe putting a coin on or under the cloud would help too?
- Screen 10: Maybe consider placing the wooden spike one tile to the left, because this is the place where you scroll the screen, so it can take you by surprise. (Also “big-mario-discrimination”).

Oh, I liked this level very much. It was simple, vanilla fun, and it was just great. I especially liked the last part, which seems a lot harder than it actually is.
Shell Shrine:
Eugheuhgeugh. I did not enjoy myself in the slightest with this level. In fact, I would say that this is one of those levels where starting over completely would be easier and maybe even faster than fixing the actual problems. I don’t know, it’s just… I really, really disliked this level. But let’s start at the beginning.

- General: The level only has four dragon coins, also both of the messageboxes at the start are empty.
- Level 11C: Screen 00/01: I guess these screens are kind of reasonable. Still, I think everything is just too cramped. A lot of the times when I played the level, I would either destroy both of the shells by hitting them together or would get hit pretty cheaply by the skeleton, because the duckjump you have to do in order to kill it didn’t work properly. While this is annoying, at least you always have a “reset-pit” nearby, but even though that is the case, it’s still a fairly annoying segment. The jump to the first dragoncoin is also kind of dumb because for me, it was difficult to estimate when it would work out with the movements of the shell. Also, getting the second shell to the higher level was fairly difficult to do, but I guess in the end it’s only for a dragoncoin, so it’s okay? That’s another thing, I don’t like about these first screens: If you don’t care about the dragoncoin, you can basically just get hit by the spikes and skip the whole segment. All in all, these first screens just felt way too cramped in my opinion, and while you can still start over at any time, I still think it’s fairly annoying.
- Screen 01: Why is the secondary entrance a pipe entrance? It looks kind of ugly to me. Also, you can kill the first thwomp with the blue shell, but not the second. I suppose this is not supposed to happen…
- Screen 03-05: These jumps are super annoying. Fact. Also, it isn’t clear from the beginning that you aren’t supposed to kill the thwomps, so you have to restart at least once. But I guess that’s why the teleport-blocks are there? In addition to that, you spend a lot of time sitting on the blocks on the right, waiting for the star to run out, which seems kind of pointless. The coins at the bottom-row, which are indicating the teleporter-blocks, are also kind of unnecessary, if you explain the concept at the beginning of the level in the message-boxes. The way to the fourth dragon-coin is kind of broken; instead of spinjumping on the marked tile you could also use the duck-spinjump-glitch a bit further to the right - resulting in a graphical glitch.
- Screen 05-07: You can skip this whole area, simply by dying – the midpoint will take you directly to level C2. The fall on screen 05 ends in a “non-pit” which is… not cool.
- Level C2: I hate these kinds of levels with a passion. Better let someone else review this, because basically… I ragequit at this point.

Yeah. That happened. I really, really don’t want to offend the level-designer(s?), but if I had complete control over the development choices in this hack, I would completely redesign the entire stage without a second thought. It somehow managed to do every single thing I hate in SMW level design. I’m sorry. It’s probably for the best if you ignore everything I said for now, and wait for other people to review this level.
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aterraformer
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by aterraformer »

Then scrap my level. Heck, the project would be better off if all my crap was removed.
raocow wrote:the plan is to wait for Jump to be released and then replacing the graphics without telling anyone involved with Jump.
Image
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morsel/morceau
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by morsel/morceau »

Euphoric Mushroom Backyard
Super Mario World (U) [!]_00000.png
I finished with 1 second left (starting from midpoint) the first time through - maybe reset time in cave?
Super Mario World (U) [!]_00001.png
By carrying the shell, the graphical glitches seem to occur.
Super Mario World (U) [!]_00006.png
The shell kills the pop-up mushroom.

Great level. Very funny stuff.
Last edited by morsel/morceau 9 years ago, edited 1 time in total.
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Ryrir
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by Ryrir »

aterraformer wrote:Then scrap my level. Heck, the project would be better off if all my crap was removed.
Nah, don't say that. I enjoyed most of the stuff you did, for example the cloud level and one in world seven were pretty cool! It's just... I didn't like Shell Shrine in the slightest - but you should always wait for what others have to say.

To add to morsels review: After one quick playthrough of the stage, I think that the yellow pipe near the first p-switch segment should be a reset pipe, in case the player didn't realise that there was a time limit. I agree that it was a fun stage (:
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worldpeace125
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by worldpeace125 »

morsel/morceau wrote:Euphoric Mushroom Backyard
Super Mario World (U) [!]_00000.png
I finished with 1 second left (starting from midpoint) the first time through - maybe reset time in cave?
Super Mario World (U) [!]_00001.png
By carrying the shell, the graphical glitches seem to occur.
Super Mario World (U) [!]_00006.png
The shell kills the pop-up mushroom.

Great level. Very funny stuff.
- will fix the timer and make the mega mole part more obvious.
- I couldn't reproduce this. Probably I'd fix the sprite header via levelasm or just remove the koopas.
- It sometimes happened and sometimes not, like thwomp's interaction. Now it's fixed.
Thanks for the compliment!
Ryrir wrote:To add to morsels review: After one quick playthrough of the stage, I think that the yellow pipe near the first p-switch segment should be a reset pipe, in case the player didn't realise that there was a time limit. I agree that it was a fun stage (:
Yes, that part should be modified a bit. Thank you.
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worldpeace125
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by worldpeace125 »

Spring Green Spelunking

Overall it was a good vertical level. It was enjoyable to carefully take action on the landscape, especially on the steep slopes. One could say it's in the same category as "Think Fast" which is located in world 7, but this one is certainly more enjoyable.
I guess the level could be placed in world 6-7 since it contains green switch blocks.

Here are some minor issues I have with the level:

- At the beginning, mario can be injured by spikes due to blindness. Coins are not really helpful to predict them.
Similarly, screen 09-0D is where you could suffer from blind falling.
If you want, I will fix the camera's position for the falling segments by asm like this: http://youtu.be/M8ogTSDfBXQ?t=1m5s
- Another camera issue is that when mario's moving upward, the camera doesn't follow him until he lands on a ledge. Unless it's an intention, this can be fixed by just a couple of lines in level asm, which is already applied to several levels.
- The timing of two shooters in screen 0B can sometimes be messed up. I guess it's due to gliding down the falling segment with a cape.
- The second half was much easier to me in general.


---
Regarding "Shell Shrine", I had no problem with it. Cramped areas are not my favorite but this one doesn't cause a problem; putting the second shell to the higher land is easily done by bouncing on the dry bone. To me, C2 was quite manageable too.
Still I'm not sure whether it's enjoyable to the public. And if you really don't like your level, scrapping and redesigning the level(either partially or fully) can be an option, like what I did on "Root of Yggdrasil". It can give the level the opportunity to be favored by the majority. You would know the previous version of my level was so bad. And if you played the new version, you would catch which components are much more preferable.
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Isocitration
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by Isocitration »

I think I am going to greatly enjoy reading Ryrir's reviews of the world 8 levels.
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by Virus610 »

I'd be cool with the ASM thing making the screen scroll with you as you jump. How could I apply this ASM for testing on my end? I don't know the first thing about that stuff, but I'd like to make sure the level plays alright with that scrolling method. As for moving the camera for the drops, I've just modified the stage to make those a non-issue, and added a different flavour of difficulty.

Also, one other question: Any thoughts on how I can prevent this minor bug? It's possible to clip into the wall in a part of my stage. You can just walk back out, but it looks dumb. While it doesn't seem to have any gamebreaking potential, if I can make it go away, I'd like to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVRvvXUDFyM
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morsel/morceau
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by morsel/morceau »

Make a solid (acts like 130) map16 tile for the corner where the slope joins the vertical. Another way is to use the solid invisible block sprite there, but these sprites stay in memory and can cause other sprites not to spawn, so you should avoid using them if possible. I don't think there's a 'proper', native way to build these slope structures since the vanilla game doesn't use them, so these workarounds are necessary.
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worldpeace125
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by worldpeace125 »

Virus610 wrote:I'd be cool with the ASM thing making the screen scroll with you as you jump. How could I apply this ASM for testing on my end? I don't know the first thing about that stuff, but I'd like to make sure the level plays alright with that scrolling method. As for moving the camera for the drops, I've just modified the stage to make those a non-issue, and added a different flavour of difficulty.
First open the file named "level_code.asm" in "uberASM\code\". You would see a list of "levelxx:". Find "level138" and put the following code.

Code: Select all

level138:
	LDA #$80
	STA $1406
	RTS
To apply the modification, open "asar.exe" in "uberASM\" then input "asar_patch.asm" for patch name and "JUMP.smc" for ROM name (the rom file should be in the same folder).

I think the second question is well answered by morsel.
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by Isrieri »

Isocitration wrote:I think I am going to greatly enjoy reading Ryrir's reviews of the world 8 levels.
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Ryrir
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by Ryrir »

The Lava Gap:
- General: Lots and lots of slowdown. Like, really, it got to the point where it’s just not that much fun to play anymore. I guess there’s just no other way than to remove some of the sprites…
- Level C0: Screen 06: The second setup with the puntin’ chuck is a bit too hard in my opinion. The chuck just puts out too many footballs, and it’s pretty hard to get through that part without taking a hit. Maybe put him one block to the right? I realize that this is the endgame, so these kinds of scenarios are probably to be expected, but still… I died enough times to that setup until it got to the point where I stopped having fun.

Pretty solid level. Nothing too extraordinary, but still challenging. The major flaw in my opinion is the slowdown, once that is reduced, I think it’s fine. It may be a little on the repetitive side - especially the first half – and it kind of goes on for too long without anything really happening, so you might want to just remove some screens? Just a suggestion, but maybe it would be better. Also, good job on having the second exit right at the start. That gets some brownie points immediately.
Think Fast!
- Screen 00: The shell attack happens ridiculously fast. Couldn’t you move the koopa and the shell further to the right, so that the player has a little bit more time to move away?
- Screen 05: I would put an extra turnblock at the edge on the left (6,93:25). Just to give the player a little bit more leeway.
- Screen 06: The bullet bill shooter needs to go. It shoots a bullet right at the wrong time, so that you can’t do anything except get hit. Maybe it would work if you move it one tile upwards?
- Screen 0C: The change happens too fast. Put an extra turnblock at 21,205:2B.
- Screen 1A: What is the purpose of the blue shell?

I liked this level a lot. It was just this intense, fast platforming where you just had to rely on your instincts. Sure, it was hard, but it was a good kind of hard. You know what I mean? It was fun. A lot of fun.
Blockomancy vs. Trigonometry:
- General: You can skip huge parts of the level (the entire second half) by walking on the ceiling. Sure, the cape helps, but even if you would remove it I’m sure there are lots of other ways to get on the roof. Maybe it would just be best to remove the blue blocks on the upper half of the screen entirely? At least in the second half. I don’t think it would hurt the look of the level too much…

And suddenly we’re in world two again? Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with the level per se (sure, it may not be the most creative or fun one, but it has some good ideas like the star and some of the saw line-ups), but it’s just waaaaay too easy for where it is on the map. Maybe you could switch some levels around and put this one somewhere else?
Industrial Interior:
- General: The fake-pipe-things don’t conceal Mario’s sprite if the player “hugs the wall”, and it looks kind of bad. Is this something that can be fixed?
- Level 114: Screen 10: The setup with the shell doesn’t work 100% of the times. It might be a nice idea, but I think you have to drop it. Or maybe put a multiple coin questionblock instead of a single one?
- Screen 15: I don’t think it’s nice to put the dragoncoin at the upper path. In my opinion it would be fairer to put it somewhere else, maybe after the two path reunite, just so you don’t miss it if you chose the lower path.
- Level 4B: All that for a one-up?

One of these things is not like the other ones…
Don’t get this the wrong way, but this level feels just so out of place for this hack. I mean, all the other levels beforehand where pretty much 100% vanilla, and then this happens. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a very good level, both gameplay-wise and graphically, but it just doesn’t quite fit. You know, the level reminds me of SMWCP or the JDC-Collab (might be the colored coins haha), and all the other levels are basically VIP or ASMT levels. I mean, it’s a very good level, and I’m not trying to get it removed or anything, it’s just… kind of funny.
A good level though. I had lots of fun, really. Might still be too easy (especially with the levels that are still to come), but maybe it’s nice to have the first half of the lava world be kind of a breather, before the really intense stuff happens. Also, awesome music.
Burnt Mountain Tango:
- Level 23: Screen 07: The yellow koopa can’t reach its shell because of the red switch blocks.
- Screen 0D: The chuck sitting on the mucher looks kind of weird. Why don’t you just use one of the “sprite-only” blocks which were used throughout the hack? Maybe that would kind of add some consistency…
- Level 70: Screen 06: It feels kind of weird to close these podobos off with switchblocks. I wouldn’t do it.
- Screen 11: The blue switch blocks don’t really help the player, because you can’t jump from them to the solid ground to the right. Maybe adding another one at 2,283:25 would help?
- Screen 11: What exactly is the point of the green switch block?
- Level 71: Screen 11: The chuck gets propelled in the air by the red switch blocks.
- Screen 1A: What’s the deal with the one saw that just gets propelled in the air for no reason? I don’t think it adds anything to the gameplay, so I would just remove it.
- Screen 1D: I don’t like that you can’t reach the switchblocks if you jump on the higher koopa first. I think it would be better if both koopas were at the same height.
- Level 70: Screen 01: Maybe corner the podobo in with switchblocks?
- Screen 00: Maybe add an up-arrow in the wall near the last dragoncoin? If you don’t know that it’s there, you probably won’t get it on your first try.

Hmm… Why do I get the feeling that the switchblocks were just added in without further testing? Hmm…
Seriously though, this level was fun. Hard, yes, but fair and it keeps being fun so I didn’t mind. Some unique enemy setups, which were just very interesting.
Skulliloquy:
- General: Is it just me or is the midpoint kind of lopsided? On the other hand, putting it anywhere else might interfere with the secret exit, so… Maybe put in on screen 09 in level 1C? The second half isn’t all that hard, so it might work.
- Level 1C: Screen 06: The invisible questionblocks are unnecessary and just in the way. I would remove them.

I liked this level a lot. The atmosphere was just great, the difficulty was alright, it stuck to the general theme, the secret exit was pretty clever… Yeah. It was just good. Enough said.
Root of Yggdrasil:
- General: I got some slowdown because of the green bubbles. Is there anything that can be done about that?
- Level 3C: I feel kind of weird for saying this, but I think there are too many mushrooms in this area? You get two powerups from the previous section, and if you play carefully, the section isn’t that hard… I think you could remove one, maybe even both.
- Screen 0C: I don’t know if the thwomp is really effective here. Maybe lava or sideway-munchers would work better?
- Screen 11: English isn’t my native language, but I’m pretty sure that the word “penetrate” is primarily used to describe sex, isn’t it? (At least it’s that way in German.) Maybe “activate” would work better for the messagebox.
- Screen 14: Maybe put four coins instead of seven for the third option? Also, I would move the Secondary Entrance a bit to the right, so that it is truly in the middle of the equation.

Cool level. Not much else to say about this, it has some clever puzzles, a lot of cool ideas and is generally fun. Good stuff.
Lava World has some pretty cool levels.
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Ryrir
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by Ryrir »

Scaffolding Scuffle:

Unfinished, though I really like the first half. I think it’s worth finishing.

We Haven’t Had Enough Thwomps:
- Level 6C: I think this sublevel needs one more powerup. I would suggest putting another mushroom on screen 0A.
- Level 6C: Screen 09: This is kinda hard. Maybe but another thwimp on one of the lower muchers?
- Screen 0A: Why is that switchblock there? The switch has to be off (because of the gate on screen 08), so there really is no reason for one to be there.
- Screen 0A-0E: There really is no reason for the muncher floor. I think it would look a lot better if you would remove it, the same goes for screens 10-13.
- Screen 0C: I don’t think the thwimp-thingy works very well here because it just jumps to the ground without doing anything.

This was pretty good, hard but pretty short so it wasn’t too much. It somehow found the right mixture between puzzle and platform elements, and I think the result was pretty enjoyable. Yeah.
Ludwig’s Grindhouse:
- Level 111: Screen 02: Oh, there’s supposed to be two saws? In all of my playthroughs, only one spawned.
- Level 36: Screen 04: This jump is too hard. It is nearly impossible to “lure” the thwomp to fall and then land on the saw again, especially when the player is big. Maybe it would work better if you moved the whole saw-setup one tile to the right?
- Level 37: Screen 04: The second saw follows the line to the wrong deriction, leading to some tricky situations on the small circle on screen 03. Maybe moving the saw a bit further to the left would solve the problem?
- Level 38: Screen 01: One of these turnblocks should have a powerup.

Wow, that was pretty hard. I mean, it is to be expected but still… Nonetheless, I think the level is pretty good. At least when you die, you know what you did wrong and can do better next time. Thinking about it, this level is pretty much all about learning the setups and finding a way to avoid the enemies, which can get pretty hard at times.
IMPETOUS ATHLETIC:
- Level 1A: Screen 0F: Maybe you could move the grey platform a bit to the left, so the player realized that he can get the powerup on screen 0E after dying in the second half?
- Level 1E7: Screen 03: I don’t think the first grey platform serves much purpose because the player is almost certainly spinjumping off the piranha plant. I would suggest removing it.
- Screen 04/07: These muchers look like the float in midair. Maybe moving everything up one tile would look better?
- Screen 06: I don’t think the green springy-thing serves much of a purpose, maybe it would be better if you would remove that as well.
- Screen 08: I don’t think connecting the upper and the lower line is a good idea, because it makes it seem like there’s something back on screen 06, and the player will stay on the rope to explore. In my opinion it would work better if they weren’t connected.

Well, that was basically VIP: The level. For the good and for the bad. But I think it serves its purpose in the context of this hack, because everyone playing it will automatically reminded of the VIPs, which is basically the thing that this game tries to do, right? Right. I’m not a huge fan of these kind of wacky, rompy levels, but I can see their nostalgic appeal, so…
Bowser’s Castle:

Unfinished. I’ll play it when all the rooms are there and there’s a HUB and stuff.
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mellonpizza
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by mellonpizza »

Ryrir wrote:Bowser’s Castle:

Unfinished. I’ll play it when all the rooms are there and there’s a HUB and stuff.
You could review the individual rooms of the Bowser/Real final stages.
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by Ryrir »

mellonpizza wrote:
Ryrir wrote:Bowser’s Castle:

Unfinished. I’ll play it when all the rooms are there and there’s a HUB and stuff.
You could review the individual rooms of the Bowser/Real final stages.
Maybe I'll do them once I'm fninshed with all the other stuff. I already plan on doing the levels I skipped / the levels that were inserted after I started playing, so maybe I'll do them after I've finished that. Also, I still haven't figured out the second half of the green switch, so if someone is willing to do a video of the solution or something, I would appreciate it (:

Shell Sitter:


There isn’t a lot to say about this, now is there?



Well, there is no way to say this in a nice way, but I think it needs to be said: This level is terrible. Please remove it / replace it with another level. Maybe the new “Disarray” could work or something, but please just… remove it from this hack. This is basically the one and only level of the whole hack that I think is completely unsalvageable.
Just Patterns:
- Screen 09/0A: I don’t like this setup. For one thing, it’s really hard to actually take off, because you somehow need to jump in the middle of your movement, and it’s just hard and kind of annoying to do. The other thing is that I never actually got the spinjump-flying-thing to work properly. Like, I really tried several times, but I always ended up getting hit. What I did after a while was just “normal-fly” the way up and then using my invincibility frames to jump on the green pipe, which works pretty well but clearly isn’t the intended solution. It might be worth it to somehow redesign these screens?
- Screen 0A/0B: I really, really would put a midpoint here.

Eh, it wasn’t so bad. Pretty much the same way the VIPs did it, which is not bad but not really good either, you know what I mean? I can’t help but compare it to the one in ASMT, which was just so much better / so much more fun. But whatever. It works and is not unreasonably hard, so I guess it’s good to go.
Pixel Perfect:
Unlike “Shell Sitter”, this one might be saved, following three easy steps:

1. Put a midpoint on screen 01 directly after the shell-jump.
2. Completely redesign screen 05.
3. Put yet another midpoint on screen 08.

There. I can’t guarantee that the level somehow becomes super fun after that, but at least it would be somewhat playable. If you fiddle with the level, it might also be a good idea to filter out Yoshi, as he basically breaks the whole thing, which is a good thing looking at the level the way it is now, but if you make it easier / actually playable, it might not be.
Chains of Atrophy:
- Level 8: Screen 01: Getting the timing with the falling block right in order to get the dragon coin is a pain and honestly it’s much easier to just lose a life than go through that. I think it would be better if you but it somewhere else, maybe even one tile higher/to the left would work.
- Screen 02: I don’t see how you get to that keyhole without a cape. I tried scrolling the screen to manipulate the falling block but I can’t get it to stop low enough. Could someone please send me a video or tell me what to do there? Either way, I think this might be worth putting on one of the recordings for the Yoshi houses.
- Screen 0D: I didn’t realize at first that the green pipe where you come from is also a reset pipe. Maybe it would be better to mark it in some way? Also, it’s kind of blind to get to it from above, because the player isn’t really sure where the noteblocks are. I don’t know, maybe it would be better if the reset pipe where somewhere else? Maybe on screen 0F? You would have to move the dragoncoin though…
- Screen 11: You get exactly one chance at getting the last dragon coin, and if you miss it you have to play at least half the level again. Please make the green pipe a reset one.

Interesting. It was fun working out the puzzles and all, but you also get a good deal of frustration out of it… Nothing too bad though. I think the good stuff outweighs the bad anyway. The quick reset really is a good thing though. Music seemed weird at the beginning, but was oddly fitting about halfway through.
Disco Dance Party:
- General: The flashlight and the retry-prompt don’t work well together. Nothing gamebreaking or anything it just looks kind of funky so I thought I’d mention it.
- Level 1B: Screen 02: The “lower” jump (right next to the sign over the lava) is way harder to do when you’re big than when you’re small. Maybe it would be nicer to heighten the stone block on the right a bit.
- Level 3F: Screen 01: The lava lotus seems to be floating in the air. Maybe put it one tile higher?
- Screen 0D: Is the player supposed to lose the feather here?

Pretty good with some interesting ideas, like for example the ninjis in the second half and going back and forth in the first half. Pretty cool graphics and catchy music too.
The retry-prompt-thing is super great. You really don't realize how much time you waste going to the overworld after every death until you don't have to do it anymore. It's really cool. It's so cool in fact, that I still think it would be a swell idea to apply it globally on the whole hack...
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by morsel/morceau »

Ryrir wrote:I still haven't figured out the second half of the green switch, so if someone is willing to do a video of the solution or something, I would appreciate it (:

Chains of Atrophy:
I don’t see how you get to that keyhole without a cape.
I made zsnes movies (using the latest base rom, 1.36a) of these. I don't know if the Chains method is what the author expects.
zmvs.zip
Burnt Mountain Tango
JUMP_00001.png
There is a problem here when big: if you press the button only a little (so you're not going to be holding it down for bouncing under the munchers), Mario can touch the blocks before they've changed from being solid, cancelling the spin jump. Forcing the player small here may be an idea. Also, this tunnel section of the level has some of the toughest obstacles to judge. It might be better to move the previous midpoint nearer here or put an extra one, or make falling at this part less punishing (e.g. teleport blocks).
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by Ryrir »

morsel/morceau wrote:
Ryrir wrote:I still haven't figured out the second half of the green switch, so if someone is willing to do a video of the solution or something, I would appreciate it (:

Chains of Atrophy:
I don’t see how you get to that keyhole without a cape.
I made zsnes movies (using the latest base rom, 1.36a) of these. I don't know if the Chains method is what the author expects.
Thanks so much for sharing!

I gotta say though, they are both kind of... unintuitive. Maybe I just can't get my head around these kinds of puzzels, but in both cases I never would have guessed the solution on my own. Maybe I'm just not patient enough.

So yeah, I think it would be best to have a "yoshi-house-movie" for both of these levels (just for people like me who suck at puzzles and need to be shown exactly what to do haha)
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by Isrieri »

Ryrir wrote: Blockomancy vs. Trigonometry:
- General: You can skip huge parts of the level (the entire second half) by walking on the ceiling. Sure, the cape helps, but even if you would remove it I’m sure there are lots of other ways to get on the roof. Maybe it would just be best to remove the blue blocks on the upper half of the screen entirely? At least in the second half. I don’t think it would hurt the look of the level too much…

And suddenly we’re in world two again? Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with the level per se (sure, it may not be the most creative or fun one, but it has some good ideas like the star and some of the saw line-ups), but it’s just waaaaay too easy for where it is on the map. Maybe you could switch some levels around and put this one somewhere else?
I should have figured it would be too easy given how much tougher all the other levels were. I thought it was hard though! 'Cuz it was my second level ever in Lunar Magic and I haven't played SMW in a very long time.

I'm fine if it needs to be moved to a lower world but I like the ceiling! The whole point of it being there is so that you can, indeed, run over it. Having ways to skip over the level was 2/6s the fun of SMW.

Now that I think about it, my two levels for JUMP are really just excuses to play around with Charging Chucks and Magikoopa, and a bunch of other stuff you can't do in SMBX.
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by worldpeace125 »

Ryrir wrote:The Lava Gap:
- General: Lots and lots of slowdown. Like, really, it got to the point where it’s just not that much fun to play anymore. I guess there’s just no other way than to remove some of the sprites…
Root of Yggdrasil:
- General: I got some slowdown because of the green bubbles. Is there anything that can be done about that?
I tested the levels with 3 major emulators(snes9x, higan aka bsnes, and zsnes v1.51). And I noticed slight slowdown when I played "The Lava Gap" in snes9x and bsnes. It may be improved by disabling buoyancy of most sprites except podoboos.

Overall no crucial slowdown for me. I guess you used zsnes whose setting was per2exec=100 in zsnesw.cfg according to the relative speed of emulators:
zsnes(per2exec=150) > snes9x = bsnes > zsnes(per2exec=100)

zsnes(per2exec=100) is so slow that it usually causes lots of slowdown in typical hacks as far as I know...
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by morsel/morceau »

Super Mario World (U) [!]_00000.png
This door is on the screen boundary.

I made a custom block for the bottom middle two tiles of the the big door to act as (so you can enter it in the centre).
bigdoor.zip
(You can enter the door when not standing on the ground which I don't see how to fix at the moment.)
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