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JUMP Level Review Thread

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

Post by Isocitration »

Yeah go ahead and add that code to level E3. I'll submit an update for that level at some point soon as well.
worldpeace125 wrote:I meant the room where you should feed a yoshi with the star and make the fire. I think it's lost.
Oh right, that room was removed in favor of the new feeding puzzle room. Re-integrating it into the design of the current level would probably be difficult.
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worldpeace125
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by worldpeace125 »

Shouldering On:
http://youtu.be/GmddbL6Vhiw

The gimmick of spawning throw blocks is nice, and I think you successfully introduced various obstacles related with the gimmick, which are totally new to smw platformer (like you did in some other levels you created).
I have three things to report.
- Most time you spawn a block you would want to kick the block, rather than put it down gently. But you must get momentum, so when you want to kick the block "in place" you need to move back and forth. I think this isn't naturally done, and the problem arises when you encounter the pokey. Alternatively I should have saved the chance of moving right in front of the pokey.
- After kicking a block, I always wanted to prepare the next block and I tried to spawn it. Sometimes the next block collides with the previously kicked(or put) block and then I'm screwed up.
- In the second half, I smashed by one of the turn blocks but I was pretty sure I hit the block before smashed.

About the level design, I enjoyed the first half so much. It was like intense autoscrolling levels in this collab, some of which are actually my favorites.
I heard your level didn't get a high score from SMWC contest because of the difficulty. But it's okay with me as I really like hard and unique levels. (When I play hacks I always regard mushroom/item as a free pass for hard segments, and sometimes for waiting segments in easy levels. I often tend to take a hit without hesitation. This attitude might be one factor that makes my standard for difficulty/fairness different from other people.)
The second half needs some trials and errors. Knowing what comes next from beyond screen, you should prepare a block or input the spinjump button. I think this is far from decision skills for platformers (it's like blind jump), so I'd say this part is less favorite than the first half. But the trials and errors cannot be a matter considering it's short. I love the segment where you need to hold Y+R.

To aterraformer: The teleport block needs updating with BTSD.
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morsel/morceau
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by morsel/morceau »

In the second half, I smashed by one of the turn blocks but I was pretty sure I hit the block before smashed.
I wonder if you get crushed by the invisible solid block there? If so, replacing the turn block with a custom block that breaks on thrown item might fix it.

The second problem I don't know how to allow for. I think it's up to the player to learn how to manipulate the blocks effectively. There is a problem with blocks spawning at the wrong location sometimes (you can see this in the video at one point) which I have worked out how to fix.

With pokey I want you to "shuffle" back and forward, but there is no harm to allow more room for the "tiptoe" method.

I will make the second half a bit more playable (the part near the beginning where you have to jump above the camera is unforgiving and unforgiveable). There will likely still be some trial and error because of the fast scroll.
dont wanna jihad no more
glitch4
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by glitch4 »

Tactical Ambush Operation

Wow. This is not that hard . The first section has kinda repetitive level design(if it's not, then it's just me).

The last section seems okay , but why ALTTP music ? YOU KNOW MY OPINION - I DON'T Like it. this section IS sky-themed. You should use better music.

EDIT: You know , use SMB3 sky-themed at the last section.
PKBeloved
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by PKBeloved »

"Introduction to Ledges and Edges"
-JUMP Version 1.28-
I had fun playing this level. Its a tad bit hard for a 1-1, but I assume it was intended that way. I found myself getting through the first half quite easily, well besides that hop onto the angel block moment, but I think that was simply my controller. The part I found strange was the spring board hop (nevermind the fact I was holding Y when I first got to that part). It got me a few game overs, but I'm pretty new to rom hacks, so It expected. Part 2 was very simple though. Once I new what to do it, I got through easily.

Bugs: I found one bug well playing, When you enter the room with the mid point, I emerged from the clouds instead of the pipe. I'm not sure if this is just my version, or intended, but it looks strange. other then that I caught no other bugs in this level.
Good lord I said some stupid stuff here when I was younger
Image Ver.2.1 now with a balanced fighting system, that lost of fun to play to be honest. You'll notice when playing that Demo has more HP and Strange, as where Iris has more PP and defense, she also grows just a bit faster, but her states grow slower. Also, furba sprites has been finished!
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worldpeace125
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by worldpeace125 »

Disco Dance Party:
http://youtu.be/_1rpNBf3-pE

This is an endgamey level. It requires you to ride disco shells and doesn't allow you to have a cape, which makes the level harder than some disco-related levels from VIP series (they usually provide capes). But considering that the length of this level isn't that long, the difficulty isn't really an issue for me.

I must say the placement of objects and enemies in the second half was interesting enough for me to play. Personally, I definitely enjoyed the second half and I found exploiting ninji was cleverly done. But trying to be very objective, there's no other attractive thing to make players play this, because riding disco shells and dodging spikes were enoughly done by many mediocre and kaizo levels in early days.

- The first half can be broken easily, check the video.
- It's almost impossible to dodge the disco shell at screen 02 without taking a damage, if you don't have a specific knowledge about existence of the shell. If you try scrolling screen to deal with that, the yellow koopa can be killed quite easily, which makes progress impossible. The best option would be changing the placement of some objects or sprites. Otherwise I recommend to use the custom sprite DA with extra bits 1 to keep yellow koopa from dying. (Examples at level 32 and 137)
- The disco shell obtained from screen 04 can fall into that lava pit easily, especially if you're careful and drop the shell first before going down.
- When you get the P-switch, there's no clue about whether you should press the switch so make the question blocks appear.
- In the second half, if you innocently kill the disco shell (without knowing), you cannot progress more so you must kill yourself.
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worldpeace125
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by worldpeace125 »

While testing, I wasn't able to beat the boss in Shell Shrine. Is it impossible now or did I just fail to figure out the method?
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aterraformer
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by aterraformer »

worldpeace125 wrote:While testing, I wasn't able to beat the boss in Shell Shrine. Is it impossible now or did I just fail to figure out the method?
I couldn't figure out how to get it to work with the sprite clear end level (blaming Wendy) so I just kind of left it unfortunately.
raocow wrote:the plan is to wait for Jump to be released and then replacing the graphics without telling anyone involved with Jump.
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worldpeace125
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by worldpeace125 »

Do you have a plan for the boss there? I think even a simple ASM code can make most options possible - Wendy is simply killed by a shell like dolls or needs 3 hits to die. In a similar way, a doll can be also modified if needed, for example, shells colliding with it will be destroyed.
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worldpeace125
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by worldpeace125 »

Burnt Mountain Tango (v1):
http://youtu.be/BWJa5XLbNB4
Since no bgm for this level is set, I put the vanilla bgm there.

I found mixing line guides with torpedo teds was super cool to begin with. Dodging missiles on moving platforms, I really liked the concept as it introduced essential components to be an interesting platformer. The clever placement of them made the stage more exciting, and its uniqueness made the player think and react fast. Actually I thought ALL obstacles about torpedo teds worked excellent through the level.
The graphic was simply awesome too. Firstly it was functionally good - didn't distract me from focusing on the game. I don't know where the graphic comes from, but it's kinda suitable for the level's theme.

There are also good obstacles which are not related with torpedo teds, for example there are good uses of scrolling pipes and ON/OFF switches.
Though these obstacles were cleverly designed, some of them were 1) unintuitive to guess e.g. line guided platforms blocking you, or 2) way too excessive for human's cognitive ability. You are not given enough information or reaction time for these. Probably the way to deal with them is to have trial & error by dying many times, and you are likely to die at your first trial (which I'd call beginner traps for the reason).
Pure challenges demanding "skill" are favourites of all, but these beginner traps, in contrast, have become an issue for communities and collabs so far. So yeah, I would suggest you fix these things acceptable to more people.
You could watch the video and find something to fix, but this time I think I have to provide a detailed list of problems I encountered (and sometimes suggestions) because there are many of them which can hardly be explained without screenshots. Here's the link: list.zip
I think most of them could be simply improved by small changes such as moving/resizing each object by 1 or 2-tile-size length.

The major issue is difficulty/length difference between the 1st and 2nd half. I think having one more check point seems to be a feasible solution, since this level requires the multiple midpoint patch anyway (the starting leve of the midpoint is different from the main level).

I played this for 3 hours while recording. To evaluate the difficulty of this, I compare it with a level from VIP 4 - Hot Beach Taizer(boss bass level) which I consider a well-designed hard one.
Hot Beach Taizer is ranked E(*). It's secret exit is ranked D. I personally took "much" more time to beat Burnt Mountain Tango than Hot Beach Taizer though the latter was a little denser, which might be due to the length. In conclusion, I think this level would be in "D~C", so congrats!

(*) In VIP's wiki, they classify levels into 10 difficulties - 1 2 3 4 5 E D C B A. 1 is the easiest, and A is the hardest though there are no A levels until now.

Oh almost forgot to say there are only three dragon coins in the level.

Overall, this is a great level, but there are some issues that can be easily fixed.


Technical issues that should be considered:
Making the check point work (by using multiple midpoint patch or etc)
Repairing sfx crash (which arises from $1DFA used by the custom sprite)


ps. I might as well think of a consistent and reliable measure of difficulty.
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mellonpizza
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by mellonpizza »

Thanks for the comments! And yeah, I'm not surprised there are sections that are difficult for first timers- it's hard to judge whether something is understandable/complete-able for a first time player, since the designer knows exactly how to solve it. I will fix up the level. Also, two of the yoshi coins challenges are unfinished- they have donut bridges in their places. I will touch those up too.
List:
1- Will fix.
2- Hard to tell whether you mean they don't telegraph how the enemies will appear or that they can be easily overlooked. If it's the latter I can make a flashy graphic.
3- Bad design on my part. I'll add doors.
4- I may make that change if it's too unreasonable to aim between the torpedoes, but I doubt that. Someone on SMWC made a patch that actually fixes that glitch, but I'm hesitant in the case another JUMP level relies on that bug for a hazard.
5- Can make the disco shell farther back. I can space out the fuzzies in picture 2 or even increase line guide length to make it easier. Can remove the second fuzzy in the third hazard.
6- The red question block will stay because of the fuzzy's weird interaction with tiles: placing a tile where the red block is will make it act like a line guide end, regardless of the tile, but the other tiles are fine. I will remove one fuzzy.
7- If you are big, yes, you can bypass this part. I'm not sure what to do here actually. I'll see what I do.
8- It's kind of a timing puzzle (Run under the fuzzy when there's enough space) And you can survive big if you run and duck, but yes this is a bit much for a first run through. I'll see what I can do.
9.1- Yeah this relies too much on pre-hand knowledge. I will give much more time and make jumping to the second easier.
9.2- I thought that was the fuzzy from the next point you made, but that doesn't make sense so I dunno. It's not supposed to be an obstacle.
10- I will probably update this part of the level entirely, so I will remove that.
11- I think I'll try adding a note block on the right side of the floor. May not work though.
12- This part is sort of a puzzle- you're supposed to wait for the chuck to walk back and forth so you can go up just as he goes over the pipe, though that may be hard for people to figure out.
13- That part is quite hard. I think I'll just increase space between fuzzies.
15- Yeah, that's happened to me a bit. I'll make the torpedo 1 tile lower.
16- I can probably make it easier with some tweaks.
17- The idea is neat but ruined with the problem of blocks being hard to grab. I'll rework.
18- I will rework this whole last part.
Sorry this is a bit long but I have a lot to say.
There were some minor things in the file that you did not put in, like "bg.asm" Which makes the mountain background scroll slowly for a neat effect. Graphic is from Go Go Ackman if you're curious.
Also, the song that was to be used was this since it's already in the ROM; but I'm hesitant since I don't like the port much, it's lacking. I want to use this as a port as it fits the level well but I'm not too familiar with porting. I could probably make it with time, and I'm assuming you're too busy right now and may not take a request.
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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worldpeace125
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by worldpeace125 »

mellonpizza wrote:2- Hard to tell whether you mean they don't telegraph how the enemies will appear or that they can be easily overlooked. If it's the latter I can make a flashy graphic.
Ah, I just meant those tapes seemed to be at the wrong place.
mellonpizza wrote:7- If you are big, yes, you can bypass this part. I'm not sure what to do here actually. I'll see what I do.
It's also possible if you are small. Just wait and make the checkered platform disappear.
mellonpizza wrote:8- It's kind of a timing puzzle (Run under the fuzzy when there's enough space) And you can survive big if you run and duck, but yes this is a bit much for a first run through. I'll see what I can do.
Yes. I think placing a line guide for the fuzzy would work, if you want to make it easier.
In the video, I just didn't try to keep powerup there because I thought the next part might be harder if big.
mellonpizza wrote:12- This part is sort of a puzzle- you're supposed to wait for the chuck to walk back and forth so you can go up just as he goes over the pipe, though that may be hard for people to figure out.
I just managed to get this by making the chuck be offscreen with L/R. But yeah, that solution makes sense.

Oops.. I forgot to numbering 14.
mellonpizza wrote:There were some minor things in the file that you did not put in, like "bg.asm" Which makes the mountain background scroll slowly for a neat effect. Graphic is from Go Go Ackman if you're curious.
Also, the song that was to be used was this since it's already in the ROM; but I'm hesitant since I don't like the port much, it's lacking. I want to use this as a port as it fits the level well but I'm not too familiar with porting. I could probably make it with time, and I'm assuming you're too busy right now and may not take a request.
I was just testing the level, inserting resources into a dummy ROM . The patch should be actually applied.
About porting songs, yeah I seriously need more time for doing it. I already have like 3 songs in a queue. Putting the song that you want in the list, but I'm not sure right now how many of them will be actually made. Sorry.
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mellonpizza
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by mellonpizza »

Got it on everything you said. And to be honest I think I'll port this song because A: You're very busy and B: I want to get into porting songs so I can start with this. But thanks for the offer.
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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worldpeace125
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by worldpeace125 »

Ok.
Anyway I forgot to say about double hit issue of ON/OFF switches you mentioned, and it can be prevented by putting a short code in levelASM. I will give you the code as soon as possible.
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by ravegg »

Thanks for that review worldpeace. What I'll do to fix it is redo that first half and get rid of a lot of the precisiony shell riding throughout the level. I'll make it based more on disco dodging, and playing around with enemies like you said you enjoyed :) . It's kinda hard to design shell riding to be fun unless the player has a cape so I'll work in a few probably.

All those technical details seem to pertain to the first half, so I'll just do a major overhaul on that soon.
I make puzzles for games sometimes check em -> Steam Workshop
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WitherSnow
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by WitherSnow »

I played scaffholding scuffle. It's a really fun but hard level. What is the song used in the level. Also ging throgh the last door kills you. Overall good level.
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Isrieri
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by Isrieri »

How hard is this game supposed to be, exactly?

I went in to test Blockmancy vs Trigonometry only to find a glitch happens if you return to the level after tripping the checkpoint: It lands you in some weird Bonus Game room that's filled with water and you can't escape. Don't know what's up with that. Crossing of ASM streams?

Then I played Think Fast and that stage is kind of ridiculous. Who thought it would be a good idea to make a level that rushes you when you can't see a damn thing all the way down? Because that's a horrible idea.
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worldpeace125
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by worldpeace125 »

Isrieri wrote:I went in to test Blockmancy vs Trigonometry only to find a glitch happens if you return to the level after tripping the checkpoint: It lands you in some weird Bonus Game room that's filled with water and you can't escape. Don't know what's up with that. Crossing of ASM streams?
That's probably because you loaded a sram file or savestate of older base roms. Because of multiple midway point and other asm code, these save files are not compatible with v1.30 any more - the midway state is saved into these files, and if you are using old save files then the state must have some invalid value.

I checked the level and there was no problem.
How hard is this game supposed to be, exactly?
Then I played Think Fast and that stage is kind of ridiculous. Who thought it would be a good idea to make a level that rushes you when you can't see a damn thing all the way down? Because that's a horrible idea.
We are testing all levels in the hack now, and hopefully some levels having various issues will get better as a result. Many levels have potential, but need to have their difficulty toned down. (multiple midpoints would be an easy and good solution) There are some levels that are admittedly hopeless, which I'd like to see scrapped and redesigned. I expect the difficulty of this whole hack will be similar to VIP series.

e: About the level I agree there are several things to be improved. I really liked the gimmick that you have to do spinjump on turn blocks and parakoopas while falling, by reacting fast. But it wasn't executed well - random munchers in cramped space, bullet bills flying to you when you're breaking turn blocks, breaking turn blocks in a wrong way leading you to lose powerup and death.
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WitherSnow
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by WitherSnow »

I too played think fast and didn't have a lot of problems with it. That was a really cool level!
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Ryrir
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by Ryrir »

How to beat Pixel Perfect without tools or midpoint in under a minute

I've ended up playing the latest baserom for the last week or so and I actually think this is a great game! (For the most parts anyway...) You really did a fantastic job on it, and I'm kind of disappointed that I joined too late to submit a level or anything, but oh well.

I think I'd be willing to do some testing if you want me to - you know, just kind of going through some levels and point out some stuff? Or is there going to be some sort of beta release or official testing phase or something?
this is getting laundromatic
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worldpeace125
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by worldpeace125 »

Thank you, and sorry for responding late... If you could review the existing levels, it would be really helpful. About beta release, yes I guess so. Still, there are several things to do before we can get into the testing phase.
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Ryrir
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by Ryrir »

Alright then, here is my opinion on the first three levels of the game:

Introduction to Ledges and Edges:
- 105: Screen 02: Getting the second dragoncoin is pretty hard when you’re big. I suggest adding a second cementblock before the two turnblocks, so you have enough space to throw the blue block at the lower turn block (you might have to move the whole structure to the right if you do that tough, so the player has enough room to jump off the piranha plant)
- Screen 03: Blind jump that could end on top of the muncher or the chargin’ chuck. Add a cointrail that leads onto safe ground and consider replacing the chuck with a goomba/koopa or removing any enemy in this area.
- Screen 03: Make the fake kaizo trap more obvious? I didn’t fell for it at all (only noticed it while looking through the level in lunar magic) so maybe you should use two or three invisible coin blocks in a row and replace the steep slope with a regular horizontal ledge to make sure the player hits the invisible coin blocks
- 1CB: Screen 00: level entrance is at the wrong place
- Screen 00: The player can always get the dragoncoin by getting the midpoint and then using the koopa to jump back up to the ledge (which is perfectly fine, just pointing that out in case you wanted to make it a “challenge” where the player has to keep the mushroom provided in level 105 and doesn’t get hit throughout the first half of the stage)
- Screen 01: Would it be possible to have the midpoint entrance in the cave? That way, the player wouldn’t have to replay the entrance part of the cave every time they die.
- 105: Screen 05: When I got shot out of the pipe, I didn’t press the run button, so the springboard got in my way and I died a cheap death. You should either make an “X” out of coins at the pipe exit so the player will press the run button, or (in my opinion the better solution) remove the springboard and the second textbox altogether (it serves no purpose, it’s kind of terrible level design imho, and how would you even expect the player to bring the springboard that far in the first place?)
- Screen 05/06: There’s so much wrong with this area that I would suggest redesigning the area altogether. First of all, I don’t think glitch abuse in 1-1 is a good idea. I wouldn’t mind it later in the game, and to be fair there are indications as of what you have to do, but still. It just gives the whole game a bad vibe if there are such things that early in the game. Second, the moon spam. Remove it. And last but not least the kaizo-like chuck jump that is very hard to pass by without taking a hit (at least you get a mushroom right beforehand), and if you do fall in the hole you get trapped/die. This is not something you want to have in 1-1, unless you want to scare off any player that is not from the talkhaus.
- Screen 07: Maybe add some flying koopas so the jumps aren’t that repetitive?
- Screen 08: You have to get hit to pass this area, but since it’s cleverly designed, especially the way to the last dragoncoin, I don’t think it’s too bad. I think you should remove the one-ups under the goal, since the goalpost passes the solid ground which looks bad and there’s no way the player can get those one-ups anyway. The way Mario moves against the wall while the victory music plays is kind of weird, but again it’s minor so I don’t mind it too much.

Overall, this feels like what raocow would describe as a youtube level. Even if you remove the springboard, the second text message and redesign screens 05/06, I don’t think it would be a particularly good level, but at least it would be an okay level. It’s kind of too bad because I think that screen 08 and level 1CB are designed in a fun way, but overall, the level just feels kind of bland. Additional suggestions would be to remove the muncher spam in screen 02 or generally make screens 01/02 more interesting / “1-1-appropriate”. Maybe you could design a similar structure like the one in screen 08 in this area?
The Dumbest Cavern:
- General: Give the player at least 200 more seconds on the timer.
- Screen 03: The jump over the two munchers on the lower path could be a little hard, especially when you’re big. Maybe consider removing one of them?
- Screen 04: The player can take the springboard out of the cave-thingy. You don’t want that to happen, because then the player assumes he has to drag it aaaaallll the way through the level to get to the keyhole, which would be a pain and also bad design. I suggest replacing the springboard with one of the green-springy-things. (Also, the player is able to use the springboard to skip parts of the level by using it to jump on the ceiling; another reason to replace it)
- Screen 07: Give the player another powerup in one of the turnblocks. The level is too hard otherwise, given that it is only 1-2.
- Screens 10-13: The p-switch run with the arrows doesn’t work. If the player presses the p-switch where he finds it and follows the arrows, the p-switch will run out on ~screen 11, so the player won’t get the hint where the key is. I would suggest removing all the existing arrows, create one arrow pointing down on screen 13, another one pointing left on screen 13, and then have an arrow on screen 12 under the rope pointing down to where the key is. Alternatively you could have the trail lead back to screen 10, but instead of pointing to the left, have it point to the right, and then have an arrow under the rope showing where the key is. (This version might work better because then you don’t have that much “p-switch-time” going on after you found the hint…) Also, it is not very clear that you have to press the p-switch where you find it. Isn’t there a custom sprite that is essentially a p-switch that you can’t carry around? Maybe you should think about inserting it, since that would also solve the problem where the player would carry the p-switch to screen 15 because they think pressing it there creates ledges to reach the keyhole.
- Screen 17: Place a coin on the bone, so it is clear that there is something there / that the player is able to walk over the ceiling.

All in all this is a good level with funny textboxes, a reasonable secret exit (once the p-switch-arrows get resolved) and a good atmosphere. Maybe a little on the hard side for 1-2, but I think the additional powerup will help a lot. Feels very vip-ish, but in contrast to the first level, this one actually pulls it off in a fun way.
Monty Pit:
- Screen 00: I don’t think the secret one-up works very well. If you manage to collect the points in the wrong order, you end up with an invisible coin block that serves seemingly no purpose. I think it would be a better idea to make it so that there is no edge but a straight wall and have an invisible block with a one-up over the invisible coin block. Unless that’s a too easy place to find a one-up? But even so, it’s only in world one, so I don’t know…
- Screen 03: Fix the problem with the cement block. It just looks off the way it is now, and surely there has to be a way to make it work?
- Screen 09: The goombas can fall off the edge and hurt the player when he tries to jump on the vine. I think removing the first one should solve the problem. The jump off the vine on the ledge is kind of tricky and out of place for this level. You should probably place the vine one or two block to the left.
- Screen 09-12: The second half of the level can be summed up with two words: boring and uncreative. You should definitely consider redesigning the entire second half. This level is one of the first the player will encounter, and levels like this one doesn’t really encourage the player to play on. I’m sorry, but that’s just the way it is.

Overall this feels like it was put together in ten minutes at most. It’s boring, repetitive and overall just… not fun. I think the first half could be left as it is, but someone should definitely look into the second one. If we do keep the second half as it is (which I hope won’t be the case) I should probably mention to remove the red koopa on screen 0E, as he will walk right into the player when he lands on the platform.
I'm sorry if any of this sounds overly harsh or even mean, it is not my intention to criticize the level designer personally but to point out the things that in my opinion are not fun.
Also, I don't have as much time to do this as I'd like to, so expect just two or three levels a week.
Jup.

Edit: Since the next levels are pretty easy and don't have many problems, I decided to do them as well.

Mushroom Ledge:
- General: I had some sound problems with this level: Somehow the spinjump-on-an-enemy-sound was cut off / sounded weird. For the record I’m using zsnes version 1.51
- 102: Screen 04: It’s kind of annoying to get to the dragoncoin because the midpoint is right beforehand so it is almost certain that the player is big, which means he has to duckjump all the way to the coin. You should lower the conveyor belt on title.
- 1BE: Screen 01: Since the timing of the p-switch seems to be pretty close as it is, I would suggest putting the p-switch on the highest hill, so that the player just has to jump on it to go further, instead of jumping on it, then having to jump up the hills.
- Screen 01/02: There is no way that the player could have pressed the blue switch by now, and it seems unlikely that he will press the blue switch first and then comes back to get the secret exit of this level. I suggest getting rid of those blocks. Furthermore, I don’t think the p-switch-run benefits from the invisible blocks screwing with your momentum. I think it would be a good idea to remove the invisible coin blocks and make the invisible note blocks visible from the start, so the player doesn’t get tricked.

Overall, I think this is the best level so far. It is not really memorable, but then again it doesn’t have to be. The level does was it does really well and it’s quite fun to play through.
Musical Grasslands:
- Screen 0A: To get all the dragoncoins the player has to get the one in sublevel 2A and then backtrack through the level to get this one. I think it would be a better idea to put the one one this screen somewhere else, maybe somewhere around screen 11?

Good to see that the quality is definitely improving. This level was really nice, providing cool secret one-ups along the way, and even the first (?) feather of the game. Nice!
Chuckleton Plains:
- General: Isn’t there another way to filter capes using ASM or something? The problem here is that the player can easily burn the red shell by accident, which means that he won’t be able to get the secret exit. So if there is another way to do it, I think you should go for it (you probably should give the player two more powerups in the first half of the game though).
- 1CA: Screen 00: This is the only dragoncoin that is on the way to the secret exit. It doesn’t really matter since you don’t need to collect them all in one go, but nonetheless, I think you should move it to the outside area. Maybe to screen 09/0A or 04/05?
- Screen 03: I think the placement of the first chuck is too hard for world 1. It is easy to do if you have a fireflower, but if you don’t, you can easily get catapulted into the lava.

Aside from the problem with the red shell getting fried, I think this was enyoable. Maybe a bit hard for where it is, but then again, I don’t think it will get easier from here.
this is getting laundromatic
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worldpeace125
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by worldpeace125 »

Thanks for the detailed review, Ryrir! I found many of them helpful and pointing out what I didn't realize.

Just note that most levels were made several months/a year ago, and their authors are gone. If a level cannot be fixed by the author for some reasons, some of us will edit the level. We decided to respect and maintain the original author's original idea or intention. Editing levels created by others will be restricted to only minor tweaks, for example, moving or resizing blocks by 1 tile.
It might not be noticeable visually, but still it's effective in improving quality, as the difference of just 1 tile often makes an obstacle kaizo(really unfair) or not. (And when I create levels, I usually spend more than 50% of time on adjusting those placements.)
If an author is completely gone, it's hard to expect the level to have a totally new design. Also if an author doesn't want a level to be fixed specifically, the level will be left as it is.
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Ryrir
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by Ryrir »

Springity Sproing:
- Gerneal: Give the player something like 50 seconds more on the timer?
- Screen 08/09: Maybe make those jumps over the falling platforms more interesting by adding some flying koopas?
- Screen 0A: Place another springboard on the ledge where the midway entrance is. That way, the player doesn’t have to get all the dragoncoins without getting the midpoint, and is still able to reach the higher areas in the second half of the level when he dies after reaching the midpoint.
- Screen 0B-0D: Maybe make this area more interesting/challenging by adding a few more jumping green koopas?
- Screen 12: The jump over the goal on the way to the last dragoncoin didn’t work for me. Basically what I did was follow the coins as I was supposed to do, but then walked back because I didn’t know what was up with those coins; ending up getting the goal regardless. What I would do is force the player to jump over the goal by adding a gap to the rope so the player has to jump over it. Also maybe it would be a good idea to add some coins at the end of the rope to indicate that the player is expected to jump down there.

Hey, I think this is the first level in the game that has an actual “gimmick” to it. It works reasonably well in my opinion and once the second springboard is added I think this could be pretty fun. I don’t think the level is particularly memorable, but then again I don’t think any of the levels in world one are, so hey.
Bastion in Blue:
- General: Again, there is no way the player has any of those switches pressed at the moment he plays this castle, and again I think it is very unlikely that he will press the switches and then comes back to replay the castle or get the secret exit. I think you should either remove those switchblocks or replace them with cementblocks/blue blocks/solid ground. Speaking of secret exits I think it would be a good idea to indicate on the overworld if a level has a secret exit or not. (ASMT did this by adding a little key icon next to the name of any ghosthouse or castle that has a secret exit, I think this works very well…)
- General: I had a lot of trouble finding the secret exit, because I didn’t assume it would be in the boss room. Maybe it would be a good idea to give the player some sort of hint, for example a messagebox saying “If you want to get the secret, press down at the very last moment” or something like that. I don't know, for me it was just an obscure place to hide a secret.

This was very, very enyobale. Good job, whoever did this, you managed to give the rather mediocre world one at least a good ending.
@worldpeace: Thank you for the review of my review! Of course I know that you can't go ahead and edit a level without the consent of the creator. I think the only parts of world one where at least a partial redesigning of a level would improve the quality of the level are "Introduction of Ledges and Edges" and "Monty Pit" - so I just hope that the creators of those levels read my review and do something about it. Honestly, a lot of my points aside from those two levels are just nitpicking stuff that doesn't necessarily has to change but would make the experience for the player more enjoyable. I think the only thing that really is kind of problematic in world one are the problems in "The Dumbest Cavern" with the springboard and the p-switch arrows.
I have a question though: Would you (or anybody else that isn't the level creator for that matter) actually go and fix those smaller things that I pointed out earlier (for example moving a dragoncoin, adding some enemies or increasing the time limit)? Or is only the level creator "allowed" to do those things? Because as you pointed out some of them are gone / don't watch the progress of this hack anymore, so the chances of them fixing anything are very small...
this is getting laundromatic
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worldpeace125
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Re: JUMP Level Review Thread

Post by worldpeace125 »

I have a question though: Would you (or anybody else that isn't the level creator for that matter) actually go and fix those smaller things that I pointed out earlier (for example moving a dragoncoin, adding some enemies or increasing the time limit)? Or is only the level creator "allowed" to do those things? Because as you pointed out some of them are gone / don't watch the progress of this hack anymore, so the chances of them fixing anything are very small...
If I agree on things pointed out and fixing them is really necessary, then I'm going to do so. If there's anything changed by me, I'm going to state what become different from the original and keep both modified level and unmodified backup, just in case.

About the secret exit of Bastion in Blue, its hint is on a level called "under construction" which is in World 4. I guess a player will re-visit the castle after reading the message, and at the point the blue switch is likely to be pressed. I think the two issues of the level are solved then.
Also speaking of indicating the number of exits, yes I'm planning on it and it will be shown on the overworld border. It's going to be an unlockable feature which is accessible after progress is near world 4~5.

To resolve the P-switch problem in Dumbest Cavern, a simple solution I come up with is to extend the switch timer.
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