A Second Mario Thing: free alex

[SyStemkraSh5642]

Last thing anyone wants is for A2MT to be called Kaizo-like or unfair again.

The Meaning of Sharp

oh wait you said again....

....still wishful thinking...

Level was already in by the time I came around for manager duty.

[Terry van Feleday]

Alright, so I managed to k-kinda ssoooorta fix the 00C Boss. I think. Basically it still breaks if you die to it and continue from the midpoint, but if you make a savestate right before the fight you can load that instead.

Would someone be so kind to test if it works for people what are not me as well?

Get the relevant .ips here

Be sure to enter with a fresh save with no levels beaten, parrots collected etc, just in case.

[jayScribble]

This level does something really unique with the enemies, especially the mace/gear chains setups. Also, that clock tower must be really high for it to lack oxygen.

I have a hunch that there is a space jump/double jump implemented in that room.

[yoshicookiezeus]

Oh hey, this level.

So this basically came about by me figuring out that you could fairly easily change the angle the ball 'n chain disassembly starts at when it spawns, and exploiting that to combine them in more interesting setups than you can do with just the original sprite. I replayed it myself not too long ago just to check that everything worked, and I must say that I found it to hold up surprisingly well; a couple rough spots here and there, but I'd still consider it one of my better levels.

About the chest: there is indeed a visual hint you didn't notice in the gray room. It shouldn't be all too hard to find now that you know to look for it. And since the treasure I suggested seems to have been replaced by a generic one for some reason, here's what it was supposed to be:

Name: DIY Book
Value: 50 GP
Description: "Space Station Maintenance for Dummies"

(sorry that this isn't all that much content for a developer's commentary, but it's kind of been four years since I created the level)

[MrDeePay]

Originally there was no outline for those invisible coin blocks until a few people bitched about it, I think I was one of them.

Guilty.

I'm not going to let a level riddled with invisible coin blocks in just like that. Last thing anyone wants is for A2MT to be called Kaizo-like or unfair again.

You single-handedly saved that level from being completely awful. Instead it's just awful.

[Willhart]

I'd say there is not much to complain about the level today. The structure of the land and the gimmicks was interesting. It was challenging and I like how the maces looked when placed together. Some of the moving parts were difficult to see with the low contrast difference, but that might be partly due to the video quality.

[Septentrion Pleiades]

I would like to point out the excessive amount of spinjumping required. It's pretty normalized in SMW hacking. There are many times that the designers throw a throwp next to a tall wall and it's really not interesting at all. At least this level was more creative than that.

[Leet]

Kinda glad that this is finally nearing the end. For what it is.

Man. What a video game.

I feel sad that we're leaving the overworld though ;[

[Sebby19]

Didn't raocow make a video drawing one of the sub maps? Did it go unused?

[Bryux]

rip ohverworld

[raocow]

Didn't raocow make a video drawing one of the sub maps? Did it go unused?

there was a theoretical way to split the 'big' overworld in such a way that it could be six submaps instead but it ended up being too impractical.

[KobaBeach]

rip ohverworld

hello fish market my ohld friend

[Mineyl]

there was a theoretical way to split the 'big' overworld in such a way that it could be six submaps instead but it ended up being too impractical.

I'm no ASM programmer, but it seems to me that one could simply disable horizontal and vertical scrolling on the main map and hard-force visual coordinates for the screen relative to which "submap" you're supposed to be on between level-to-map transitions.

I know nothing's that easy in SMW, but if I wanted to do it, that's where I'd start.

[Septentrion Pleiades]

There were so many things in the game which were going to be technically amazing but in the end there wasn't even a boss for each world. With this conversation and something talked about on Skype, I present the new list.

• Thwomps Everywhere
• requiring ASM
• Tails existing (land masses as decoration)
• Tails existing (ineffectual/bad leadership)
• Too many managers
• Overconfidence in peoples abilities to make bosses using assembly coding in their free time.
• Powerup Filter
• Stingy powerups
• Not enough boob foxes
• Unstrict with deadlines
• "Once it's in, it's in" policy
• Themed worlds without much thought
• Aiming for a difficulty level one tier below kaizo
• relying on one person who doesn't keep you updated for a thing.
• Running with every idea someone came up with
• Starting a project right after it's predecessor

[YelseyKing]

[*]Not enough boob foxes cats

Fixing. Before KobaBeach does.

[Septentrion Pleiades]

[*]Not enough boob foxes cats

Fixing. Before KobaBeach does.

Actually, this would be fine.

[Zygl]

[a really long list]

Alternatively, The Short List™:

• Horrendous management
• No QA
• Starting a project right after its predecessor

Had A2MT stuck with one competent manager, had a QA process, and not been started right after ASMT it wouldn't have turned out like this. The Short List™ covers 99.9% of A2MT's problems, guaranteed.*

*Not actually guaranteed

[AUS]

yall got some wierd obsession with ice physics man

Instant Difficulty: Just set flag.

Don't forget to add a generator. It's really quick and easy. It can spruce up any boring level!

[KobaBeach]

[*]Not enough boob foxes cats bara lions and adorable pet kittens

Fixing. Before KobaBeach does.

WRONG WRONG WRONG

[Septentrion Pleiades]

[a really long list]

Alternatively, The Short List™:

• Horrendous management
• No QA
• Starting a project right after its predecessor

Had A2MT stuck with one competent manager, had a QA process, and not been started right after ASMT it wouldn't have turned out like this. The Short List™ covers 99.9% of A2MT's problems, guaranteed.*

*Not actually guaranteed

• Don't suck at making games

There's a huge problem with oversimplification. There was a QA, but it was 2009 hacking style QA. There's a lot to level design theory that is constantly being improved. The management problem is not just a issue of the right person descending from the heavens to solve all the problems that could ever arise.

If we say A2MT sucked because Tails, specific approvers, and time, then we've learned nothing for the next project.

[Fidget]

Can we say that what went wrong was Bad Luck, or even Trying Something New? It doesn't feel bad for being blamed and criticized. "Oh, that's just damned Bad Luck. Well, we worked with Trying Something New, and for whatever reason, it didn't turn out so well.
We can tweak it one way or another and try again, or do something else entirely."

[Voltgloss]

This seems to sum up the "lessons learned." Warning: strong language.

[YelseyKing]

[*]Not enough boob foxes cats bara lions and adorable pet kittens

Fixing. Before KobaBeach does.

WRONG WRONG WRONG

I can live with that.

[Zygl]

• Don't suck at making games

There's a huge problem with oversimplification. There was a QA, but it was 2009 hacking style QA. There's a lot to level design theory that is constantly being improved. The management problem is not just a issue of the right person descending from the heavens to solve all the problems that could ever arise.

If we say A2MT sucked because Tails, specific approvers, and time, then we've learned nothing for the next project.

A2MT died after five years of development hell because it was allowed to become a disorganized mess of spaghetti code and went through so many managers nobody knew what was going on by the end. Maybe I'm fundamentally misunderstanding how that mess even came about, but I believe a competent manager could've resolved the conflicts as they popped up and avoided it entirely.
Assuming that to be the case, it would've come out back in 2009-2010, maybe 2011, and admittedly it probably still would've been bad if some of the things we've seen here actually made it through the QA process somehow like you're saying, but it would've at least been finished and released and met the standards of the time it was released.
So unless I'm completely off-base here (which I'll admit is a legitimate possibility), all the next project needs is time after A2MT before it starts and a manager who can keep things from becoming the same sort of disorganized mess of spaghetti code, and the QA that apparently happened this time will be better next time by virtue of hacking standards not being absolute garbage nowadays. Levels aren't crap, stuff actually works, problem solved, right?

[AUS]

if a3mt happens some smart hackers should team up in secret with PMs, then collaborate offsite somewhere (possibly with a secret forum) to prevent anyone from actually helping

people helping really hurts the project