(shouting)

Level Testing and Reviews

If you lost something come look for it here
User avatar
KayhemMaus
I keep breaking my face on SMBX
Posts: 325
Joined: 11 years ago
First name: KM
Pronouns: they/them/their
Location: England

Re: Level Testing and Reviews

Post by KayhemMaus »

Granix wrote:
KayhemMaus wrote:[EDIT 2] Oh, and as for

Boo Brain slowly going lower

I don't know what to tell you. The tethering to the Invisible Koopa must be at fault, but I don't know why it does it.
There's two invisible Parakoopas instead of one. After removing one of them it's fine now. But Parakoopa cannot have random direction, because it's not moving for some reason.
Dang it I thought I fixed the multiple Koopa problem. I accidentally added a chunk of Koopas when I first started but I thought I got rid of the extras. And yeah, I experienced the Random Direction Problem too and decided to stick to left.
Granix wrote:
KayhemMaus wrote:
Yeah, I tried and I tried to get those cannons to stop firing immediately. I might have to place them on a separate event to stop that. I can get rid of the shell if you think that would improve it but if you get hit it will leave you defenceless. I only added it in because if you don't have ice flower you're gonna struggle while the friction balls destroy your face.

Mother Brain 2 I was considering just making it a Big Boo Boss so it doesn't take as many hits but I don't know if 3 hits for the second stage is too few or something. I did try to make both Mother Brain's health lower but for some reason the LunaDLL refused to co-operate.
Honestly, after getting rid of going lower problem, the 1st half is more enjoyable and not that hard. I tried it without shell and didn't had that much problems. Also I suggest to add mushroom under midpoint bar, so that player get ice flower before boss for sure.
I think 3 hits for 2nd boss is just fine. It's hard to dogde these fireballs and fast moving blocks doesn't help either.
That's why I added two boxes - one is just a mushroom if you die, so you collect the Mushroom first then the Ice flower from the other box. I'm sorry if that's not clear. But I guess adding a mushroom under the midpoint achieves the same result so either works.

Yeah, I've made it a Big Boo with the fireballs and the boss is more enjoyable. Even if you break the Boo by spinjumping the fireballs are still dangerous, so it's not a completely breakable boss... so yeah, I think I'll keep that in for version 2. Still gotta finish those sprite edits though. Once I figure out how to replace exploding MB head with exploding Boo.
nyoro~n n~yoron

I love it
Granix
Posts: 44
Joined: 9 years ago
Location: Poland

Re: Level Testing and Reviews

Post by Granix »

KayhemMaus wrote:
That's why I added two boxes - one is just a mushroom if you die, so you collect the Mushroom first then the Ice flower from the other box. I'm sorry if that's not clear. But I guess adding a mushroom under the midpoint achieves the same result so either works.

Yeah, I've made it a Big Boo with the fireballs and the boss is more enjoyable. Even if you break the Boo by spinjumping the fireballs are still dangerous, so it's not a completely breakable boss... so yeah, I think I'll keep that in for version 2. Still gotta finish those sprite edits though. Once I figure out how to replace exploding MB head with exploding Boo.
No, it was clear, but I just thought that you can by reflex/rushing hit both blocks being small. With extra mushroom, even if you get hit before generators are up you still have a chance to get Ice flower, so you won't be defenceless while waiting for them to appear.

As for Mother Brain exploding effect change "effect-112". Make sure to make text file to correct widht and height.
User avatar
Dragon Fogel
Master of Pointlessness
Posts: 1415
Joined: 10 years ago

Re: Level Testing and Reviews

Post by Dragon Fogel »

A Flying Castle Above the Peaceful Water by acrowdofpeople
I liked the idea. The random power-ups were amusing, and I liked the various "dangers" that actually weren't, and Bowser being so excited that you'd come in to fight him.

There were a few issues, though. First off, if you backtrack when you're at the top of the castle, the "DEFEND ME" event still triggers. In fact, it also triggers if you go off to the left. Using an invisible axe to trigger the event might work better; you can make it tall enough that the player won't be able to just jump over it or something. This might also happen with some other events with an "Activate" trigger where you can leave the screen afterwards, so you may want to check if you have any of those.

Also, when you collect the first star, you can fall through the floor somehow. I'm not sure exactly what happened there. Maybe there was an event and I didn't catch that it was happening?

Finally, Bowser gets kind of glitchy when he chases you, which probably has to do with the fact that the screen is wrapping-around. Maybe redesign the section without the wraparound, or have the chase take place over multiple sections with a new Bowser in each. A midpoint before the chase wouldn't be a bad idea either - it's not super-important, since the level is easy, but it saves time redoing things if you do die.

Overall, a nice, silly, simple level. I liked it.
acrowdofpeople wrote:ping
Not sure if you check here regularly, so I'm doing this to give you a notification.
Image
Click that banner if you like reading words.
Image
Make levels from unused MAGL X names!
acrowdofpeople
Posts: 54
Joined: 8 years ago

Re: Level Testing and Reviews

Post by acrowdofpeople »

Dragon Fogel wrote:A Flying Castle Above the Peaceful Water by acrowdofpeople
I liked the idea. The random power-ups were amusing, and I liked the various "dangers" that actually weren't, and Bowser being so excited that you'd come in to fight him.

There were a few issues, though. First off, if you backtrack when you're at the top of the castle, the "DEFEND ME" event still triggers. In fact, it also triggers if you go off to the left. Using an invisible axe to trigger the event might work better; you can make it tall enough that the player won't be able to just jump over it or something. This might also happen with some other events with an "Activate" trigger where you can leave the screen afterwards, so you may want to check if you have any of those.

Also, when you collect the first star, you can fall through the floor somehow. I'm not sure exactly what happened there. Maybe there was an event and I didn't catch that it was happening?

Finally, Bowser gets kind of glitchy when he chases you, which probably has to do with the fact that the screen is wrapping-around. Maybe redesign the section without the wraparound, or have the chase take place over multiple sections with a new Bowser in each. A midpoint before the chase wouldn't be a bad idea either - it's not super-important, since the level is easy, but it saves time redoing things if you do die.

Overall, a nice, silly, simple level. I liked it.
acrowdofpeople wrote:ping
Not sure if you check here regularly, so I'm doing this to give you a notification.
Invisible Axes, huh? I'll do that and remove the wraparound for the Bowser area. The floor disappearing for the first star was intentional - one of those "false dangers."

I actually added a midpoint to the area with Bowser and moved things around to cause less "SURPRISE!" hits when you wraparound running from Bowser, but forgot to update the file I'd uploaded. I tried to set the midpoint so you'd hit it immediately when entering the area as an attempt to "hide it." I forget if the version you played had the upper floors disappear as you descended.

What precisely was the glitchiness with Bowser? Was it the thing where he jumps upward through solid blocks and lands in them? I hadn't thought about it, but not doing the wraparound might fix that...

At one point in the first castle section I had tried to have a Thwomp that would apparently take the entire bottom segment down with it before hitting two non-moving blocks, but when it went down a second time it killed me... I really wanted to have that fakeout trap, but...
User avatar
Dragon Fogel
Master of Pointlessness
Posts: 1415
Joined: 10 years ago

Re: Level Testing and Reviews

Post by Dragon Fogel »

Yeah, Bowser glitched into blocks. I can't guarantee the wraparound is the cause, but it's a likely place to look.
Image
Click that banner if you like reading words.
Image
Make levels from unused MAGL X names!
acrowdofpeople
Posts: 54
Joined: 8 years ago

Re: Level Testing and Reviews

Post by acrowdofpeople »

Wraparound + falling the way he likely will is likely an indirect cause. Removing the wraparound and restructuring the level should prevent that.
User avatar
Dragon Fogel
Master of Pointlessness
Posts: 1415
Joined: 10 years ago

Re: Level Testing and Reviews

Post by Dragon Fogel »

Do you remember raocow's Karoshi LP? Yeah, this is like that. by 8flight
This is about what I was expecting when I saw you claim this name.

I like the rooms and the basic idea, but starting over from the beginning every time I fail gets tiring pretty fast. I've only gotten as far as the fifth room and it took me a lot of attempts to even get that far because I kept messing up on the third and fourth.

Maybe you could set up a "hub" with doors to all the rooms, and use some Lua trickery to keep track of which rooms you've done? Clearing a room could still move you on to the next right away, but when you tried again the rooms you'd already done would be cleared. That would be closer to the original Flash game, and you could get away with making individual rooms harder.
Image
Click that banner if you like reading words.
Image
Make levels from unused MAGL X names!
S1eth
Posts: 291
Joined: 9 years ago

Re: Level Testing and Reviews

Post by S1eth »

Do you remember raocow's VVVVVV LP? Yeah, this is like that. by Killscreen256
Out of all Lost Levels submissions I've played so far, this is my favourite.

It doesn't do anything special mechanics-wise, but as a platforming level, it's pretty sweet.

My only complaint is the text boxes- There's too much text in general in this stage for my tastes, as it interrupts the gameplay every time.

And the blue textbox clashes with the level's aestethics.

It would be great if you drew black and white textboxes and drew them onto the screen with lua. And have the logs not interrupt your gameplay, just draw text on screen and let the player continue playing at the same time.
Image
User avatar
Dragon Fogel
Master of Pointlessness
Posts: 1415
Joined: 10 years ago

Re: Level Testing and Reviews

Post by Dragon Fogel »

Do you remember raocow's VVVVVV LP? Yeah, this is like that. by Killscreen256
Unlike S1eth, I didn't find the text boxes disruptive, but maybe I'm just used to them.

I enjoyed the level overall and the difficulty was mostly fine. A few issues, though:
-There's some Big Mario Discrimination when you get to the first set of spikes. The ceiling is too low and it messes with jumps. I never made it past there big without losing my power-up.
-The rising spike section feels harder than it should be. I think this is mainly because of the ladders, which inherently tend to slow things down. The last one's fine but I'd suggest reworking it a bit so that for the rest of the room, you're just jumping and not climbing.
-The midpoint feels a bit unbalanced. You have one large and relatively empty section for getting used to things, which is good - then you have to run from spikes, glide down a hazardous shaft, and then do a 30-second survival challenge all on one attempt. That feels like a bit much to me.
Image
Click that banner if you like reading words.
Image
Make levels from unused MAGL X names!
S1eth
Posts: 291
Joined: 9 years ago

Re: Level Testing and Reviews

Post by S1eth »

Dragon Fogel wrote:Do you remember raocow's VVVVVV LP? Yeah, this is like that. by Killscreen256
I think this is mainly because of the ladders, which inherently tend to slow things down.
Never climb ladders, always use them as "infinite jump" areas.
Image
User avatar
Dragon Fogel
Master of Pointlessness
Posts: 1415
Joined: 10 years ago

Re: Level Testing and Reviews

Post by Dragon Fogel »

S1eth wrote:Never climb ladders, always use them as "infinite jump" areas.
While that may be good advice, I don't think it's reasonable to expect that of a player. Plus, I feel like they disrupt the overall flow of the section.
Image
Click that banner if you like reading words.
Image
Make levels from unused MAGL X names!
S1eth
Posts: 291
Joined: 9 years ago

Re: Level Testing and Reviews

Post by S1eth »

Thwomp Castle by acrowdofpeople
First impression:

"What's the point of thwomps if I have a hammer suit and kill everything on the screen instantly?"
"An elevator thwomp? If I accidentally kill that with my hammer suit, I'm stuck and have to kill myself."
"A thwomp spinjump section? Wow, those bullet bills are pretty much unavoidable, even with my ice flower."
"GLITCHES http://imgur.com/zZkiQI6"
"Wow, this boss room is comletely unplayable, 20 message boxes per second. Please end it!"

Second impression:

"No hammer suit this time? How do you get past the 3 thwomps? There are a million mushrooms, so I guess just tank a hit. What, you stand on the thwomps and can't damage boost through them? OK then, this level is now unbeatable. ......... later: What the hell, why can you grab thwomps?"
"The spinjump section... can't I just walk on them? I can. This is suddenly too easy."
"start from midpoint with tanooki: this spinjump section... I'll just fly underneath the thwomps".

The level has glitchy behavior. Given random power ups is bad (see above). The thwomps are not explained. (pick up, stand on top).

Best part: skipping the thwomp section by flying underneath it.
Image
acrowdofpeople
Posts: 54
Joined: 8 years ago

Re: Level Testing and Reviews

Post by acrowdofpeople »

Got it. I'll be working to fix all of that.
User avatar
Dragon Fogel
Master of Pointlessness
Posts: 1415
Joined: 10 years ago

Re: Level Testing and Reviews

Post by Dragon Fogel »

Thwomp Castle by acrowdofpeople
My quick summary is "this level is very confusing, but I think I like it". S1eth covered a lot of the reasons why it's confusing, and I haven't found the second star, but walking on and picking up Thwomps is actually pretty entertaining. Although throwing them is a bit glitchy, but there's probably not much that can be done about that.

I would suggest trying to work with the confusing aspects - yes, make it clearer that you can stand on and pick up Thwomps, but then do more with that. At a first glance, this strikes me as having good potential as a wacky level and I'd like to see that built on.
Edit: Got the second star.
My general opinion stands: "this is confusing, but I think I like it, just needs to be built more around the wackiness". The message spam does need to be fixed, though. The enemy spam is a bit much too, though the random power-up generators made it more wacky than difficult.
Image
Click that banner if you like reading words.
Image
Make levels from unused MAGL X names!
acrowdofpeople
Posts: 54
Joined: 8 years ago

Re: Level Testing and Reviews

Post by acrowdofpeople »

I was actually going to abandon the Thwomp-throwing aspect so that Link could join in the fun and was in the middle of working out an event in Lua so Link could fight the second-star boss. He can fight the first one with some precise timing, but there's no way he can beat the second one as it is now. I'd actually forgotten that NPCs can walk on top of thwomps and thought that the thing with the mushrooms would be plenty of indication that you could...
If I ban Link, the thwomp-grabbing can still happen. I've got the first warp landing the players onto a thwomp so there's no mistaking that one can stand on the thwomps. I'm considering planting some grass on top of that thwomp's head as an indicator that players can lift it - I'd rather have little cues than a sign or a toad straight-out saying "You can lift thwomps!" I'm also removing the sign talking about the shortcut in the fish tank, since with multipoints functioning, there's no need for that shortcut.

Yeah, I'm going to play around with thwomp-grabbing some more - I wish I could find a way to make it less glitchy, though.
User avatar
Mata Hari
Posts: 2522
Joined: 14 years ago
https://matahari.talkhaus.com/

Re: Level Testing and Reviews

Post by Mata Hari »

KayhemMaus wrote:Superman 64 Inspired My Take on Shy Guy In This Level

Stars = 2
Completion = Again, virtually unless feedback raises issues.
This critique is going to be very disjointed because I'm writing my thoughts down as I play. Please excuse!
The Toad giving you a Mushroom on the Thwomp screen only for it to be taken away again on the next is a bit pointless. I'm not sure why he makes a power-down sound when he does, either. The Volcano Lotus on that screen is also a bit useless because the water neuters the pollen.

It is actually possible to get through the 'block-running' screen with a power-up if you do the duck-slide slide, but I don't think you intended that. I actually hit a Gelectrode on the next screen, so it did come in handy.

In general I would like to see at least one more power-up, because there are a lot of rooms you have to get through before the midpoint.

Spelling: 'excersize' -> 'exercise'. The first 'vase' should be lower-case also. Hey, I'm a grammar Nazi.

I like the Koopa shell race room.

I really hate the Spike Top room. Spin-jumping on stuff is always a pain in the ass, especially since you have to watch your head. Luigi powering you up can actually screw you over since you hit your head on the ceiling when you try to leave. And then you have to spin-jump on the saw as well and it's like ugh. It's not an easy level, but that room is disproportionately hard and unfun. Please please change it so I can keep playtesting.

I don't wanna seem like a negative Nancy because from what I've seen so far I like this level quite a bit! The presentation is amazing, you interpreted the level title really well. The computer screen gimmick is great, the backgrounds and tilesets of each room changing is great and really encapsulates the Mario feel. It's really solid overall, I just... really don't like the Spike Top room. Sorry!
User avatar
KayhemMaus
I keep breaking my face on SMBX
Posts: 325
Joined: 11 years ago
First name: KM
Pronouns: they/them/their
Location: England

Re: Level Testing and Reviews

Post by KayhemMaus »

dr_kraid wrote:
KayhemMaus wrote:Superman 64 Inspired My Take on Shy Guy In This Level

Stars = 2
Completion = Again, virtually unless feedback raises issues.
This critique is going to be very disjointed because I'm writing my thoughts down as I play. Please excuse!
The Toad giving you a Mushroom on the Thwomp screen only for it to be taken away again on the next is a bit pointless. I'm not sure why he makes a power-down sound when he does, either. The Volcano Lotus on that screen is also a bit useless because the water neuters the pollen.

It is actually possible to get through the 'block-running' screen with a power-up if you do the duck-slide slide, but I don't think you intended that. I actually hit a Gelectrode on the next screen, so it did come in handy.

In general I would like to see at least one more power-up, because there are a lot of rooms you have to get through before the midpoint.

Spelling: 'excersize' -> 'exercise'. The first 'vase' should be lower-case also. Hey, I'm a grammar Nazi.

I like the Koopa shell race room.

I really hate the Spike Top room. Spin-jumping on stuff is always a pain in the ass, especially since you have to watch your head. Luigi powering you up can actually screw you over since you hit your head on the ceiling when you try to leave. And then you have to spin-jump on the saw as well and it's like ugh. It's not an easy level, but that room is disproportionately hard and unfun. Please please change it so I can keep playtesting.

I don't wanna seem like a negative Nancy because from what I've seen so far I like this level quite a bit! The presentation is amazing, you interpreted the level title really well. The computer screen gimmick is great, the backgrounds and tilesets of each room changing is great and really encapsulates the Mario feel. It's really solid overall, I just... really don't like the Spike Top room. Sorry!
Ok, I have a lot to say in response~
The Toad thing is not pointless - collecting Toad in this manner is the easiest way to clear him from the slate in game - if you get through the level in one life with a cleared off Toad, Link, Luigi and Peach, you get the secret exit.

I always thought the VR in Superman 64 was useless as a thing because it poses no challenge to the real Superman, so I made Shy Guy's tests ineffectual and look scarier than they actually are - the Lava Lotus is supposed to just look imposing rather than be actually dangerous. And I did actually have in mind people taking the duck route over taking the hit - just another example of Shy Guy not thinking it through.

I admit, I made the text at 5am, my spelling does get wonky when I'm tired. Will fix in post.

Thank you! The shell race is influenced by that one shitty Superman 64 level where you had to stop the car from killing someone in very little time. :D

I have never died in the spin jump room. o.o Ever, I must have playtested fifty times and most of my deaths were in the gellectrode room or another you haven't gotten to yet. The spin jumping room never caused me issues at all. I think this might be a personal playstyle issue, but my advice is just use the editor to check the rest of it out in the meantime while more feedback comes in and I have a wider opinion...

Thank you for the kind words about the presentation! I got an instant image in my head but I was afraid how well it would play being a one screen level kind of level with even LESS space thanks to the monitor foreground. But I'm really pleased to hear it works!
EDIT: Oh, and the 'Power Down' SFX is the Pipe SFX to signify him leaving over just being eaten. Weird how those sounds are identical, huh?
nyoro~n n~yoron

I love it
User avatar
Mata Hari
Posts: 2522
Joined: 14 years ago
https://matahari.talkhaus.com/

Re: Level Testing and Reviews

Post by Mata Hari »

Thinking about it I'd be willing to accept that my issues with the

spinjump room

are due to my use of a keyboard instead of a controller. Unless you are also using a keyboard. In which case I might just need to git gud. I mean, it's possible.
User avatar
KayhemMaus
I keep breaking my face on SMBX
Posts: 325
Joined: 11 years ago
First name: KM
Pronouns: they/them/their
Location: England

Re: Level Testing and Reviews

Post by KayhemMaus »

dr_kraid wrote:Thinking about it I'd be willing to accept that my issues with the

spinjump room

are due to my use of a keyboard instead of a controller. Unless you are also using a keyboard. In which case I might just need to git gud. I mean, it's possible.
I use joy2key because I can't figure out how to use the controller on the editor. But yeah, I wouldn't recommend trying anything I make with a keyboard - tested and optimized on a controller will probably make a lot of the things I expect you to do in a level rough if not impossible otherwise.
nyoro~n n~yoron

I love it
User avatar
Mata Hari
Posts: 2522
Joined: 14 years ago
https://matahari.talkhaus.com/

Re: Level Testing and Reviews

Post by Mata Hari »

Yeah. Well... will you forgive my histrionics?
User avatar
Dragon Fogel
Master of Pointlessness
Posts: 1415
Joined: 10 years ago

Re: Level Testing and Reviews

Post by Dragon Fogel »

KayhemMaus wrote:
dr_kraid wrote:Thinking about it I'd be willing to accept that my issues with the

spinjump room

are due to my use of a keyboard instead of a controller. Unless you are also using a keyboard. In which case I might just need to git gud. I mean, it's possible.
I use joy2key because I can't figure out how to use the controller on the editor. But yeah, I wouldn't recommend trying anything I make with a keyboard - tested and optimized on a controller will probably make a lot of the things I expect you to do in a level rough if not impossible otherwise.
I haven't gotten around to testing this level yet, but I want to note that if a level is at a point where it can't feasibly be done with a keyboard, I view that as a problem.
Image
Click that banner if you like reading words.
Image
Make levels from unused MAGL X names!
User avatar
KayhemMaus
I keep breaking my face on SMBX
Posts: 325
Joined: 11 years ago
First name: KM
Pronouns: they/them/their
Location: England

Re: Level Testing and Reviews

Post by KayhemMaus »

Dragon Fogel wrote:
KayhemMaus wrote:
dr_kraid wrote:Thinking about it I'd be willing to accept that my issues with the

spinjump room

are due to my use of a keyboard instead of a controller. Unless you are also using a keyboard. In which case I might just need to git gud. I mean, it's possible.
I use joy2key because I can't figure out how to use the controller on the editor. But yeah, I wouldn't recommend trying anything I make with a keyboard - tested and optimized on a controller will probably make a lot of the things I expect you to do in a level rough if not impossible otherwise.
I haven't gotten around to testing this level yet, but I want to note that if a level is at a point where it can't feasibly be done with a keyboard, I view that as a problem.
Note I said probably not definitely. I view the keyboard controls as fundamentally flawed because you can't physically do half of the things you can do with vanilla Mario on a keyboard and that's annoying and frustrating because there's a line between limited and stupid.

However, if it is seen as impossible with a keyboard of course I will fix that. It's that I program with joypad controls in mind and I don't know how feasible a stunt is to do otherwise - the boss in Show Me The Money! was the first difficult example that came to mind and I didn't get reports of that being impossible to finish on keys.
nyoro~n n~yoron

I love it
S1eth
Posts: 291
Joined: 9 years ago

Re: Level Testing and Reviews

Post by S1eth »

There's no difference between keyboard and gamepad. That part of the level is doable, but
the coins between the first 2 spinies are a bitch to get. I eventually got good at it, and started doing it without problems, but if you first enter that room, you'll be jumping between the first 2 spinies for a long time.

Too much big Mario discrimation in the first part. I glitched through most of it as big Mario anyway, but it's tedious.

Remove the top row of coins from all coin clusters in the first room so you can collect all of them as small Mario without having to jump.
Actually, the whole first room takes too long for my liking. Since there's no challenge to it, you should make it as simple as possible without forcing me to run back and forth and jump. That just wastes my time when I die and have to redo it.

Room with the coins and shell: If you actually do it fast, you die to the shell. You shouldn't be punished for being fast.

The vase room, place blocks between the vases so you don't have to jump between them to enter.

Toad room has weird cutoff. Peach room takes ages to do.

I died a lot in the water lava room in the top right corner, when Mario refused to jump from bubble to bubble and fell into the lava.

In general, you'll die a lot, and you'll have to reply all those tedious rooms over and over again.
I didn't play for good ending, but I assume I have to finished the whole level without dying once, and that's just not gonna happen.
Image
User avatar
KayhemMaus
I keep breaking my face on SMBX
Posts: 325
Joined: 11 years ago
First name: KM
Pronouns: they/them/their
Location: England

Re: Level Testing and Reviews

Post by KayhemMaus »

S1eth wrote:There's no difference between keyboard and gamepad. That part of the level is doable, but
the coins between the first 2 spinies are a bitch to get. I eventually got good at it, and started doing it without problems, but if you first enter that room, you'll be jumping between the first 2 spinies for a long time.

Too much big Mario discrimation in the first part. I glitched through most of it as big Mario anyway, but it's tedious.

Remove the top row of coins from all coin clusters in the first room so you can collect all of them as small Mario without having to jump.
Actually, the whole first room takes too long for my liking. Since there's no challenge to it, you should make it as simple as possible without forcing me to run back and forth and jump. That just wastes my time when I die and have to redo it.

Room with the coins and shell: If you actually do it fast, you die to the shell. You shouldn't be punished for being fast.

The vase room, place blocks between the vases so you don't have to jump between them to enter.

Toad room has weird cutoff. Peach room takes ages to do.

I died a lot in the water lava room in the top right corner, when Mario refused to jump from bubble to bubble and fell into the lava.

In general, you'll die a lot, and you'll have to reply all those tedious rooms over and over again.
I didn't play for good ending, but I assume I have to finished the whole level without dying once, and that's just not gonna happen.
I can't, say, hold run, a direction, try to throw upwards and jump at the same time on a keyboard when I can on a joypad. My keyboard refuses that many inputs. That's a big difference to me.
I admit the first rings set made me have to back and forth occasionally myself, I might get rid of those three just to eliminate that part. It is pretty annoying.

I originally was going to make someone do the whole set without power ups until the second exit came to mind, it's not about discrimination it's about endurance. Shy Guy isn't trying to make it easy for you. He wants you to die.

If you think the first room is so much of a problem with tedium then sure I can change it but I thought it set up the premise of the level rather well and to the point. Perhaps a different layout may help.

Do you mean the one with the leafs and shells or the one with the coinblocks and shell? Because I'm not sure what you're referring to here.

Sure, I'll add blocks. I only had them separated because originally I kept going in the wrong pipes when I was testing and knew they were too close together.

Toad room has cut-off? I'll have to investigate what you mean, I thought it was fine o.o

Peach's room is supposed to be the longest, it's Basic Rinka Dodging but in a setting that's not all that difficult. Plus, it does take less time if you kick the veg as it multi-hits the glass panels which does make it go faster.

I never had a problem going from bubble to bubble but I can test that out some more, see if there's any way to make that less frustrating for you. You did try floating with the leaf if you didn't get as good a jump as you wanted, right...?

Good ending, collect the 4 characters in one life, yeah. Again, I playtested the hell out of this to make sure I could do it and did it multiple times (but not every time, I admit)

I didn't die all that often, and I'm not that good at SMBX *points at flair* So I don't know what to tell you at this point... o.o; I'll put it back in the lab.
nyoro~n n~yoron

I love it
S1eth
Posts: 291
Joined: 9 years ago

Re: Level Testing and Reviews

Post by S1eth »

KayhemMaus wrote:
S1eth wrote:There's no difference between keyboard and gamepad. That part of the level is doable, but
the coins between the first 2 spinies are a bitch to get. I eventually got good at it, and started doing it without problems, but if you first enter that room, you'll be jumping between the first 2 spinies for a long time.

Too much big Mario discrimation in the first part. I glitched through most of it as big Mario anyway, but it's tedious.

Remove the top row of coins from all coin clusters in the first room so you can collect all of them as small Mario without having to jump.
Actually, the whole first room takes too long for my liking. Since there's no challenge to it, you should make it as simple as possible without forcing me to run back and forth and jump. That just wastes my time when I die and have to redo it.

Room with the coins and shell: If you actually do it fast, you die to the shell. You shouldn't be punished for being fast.

The vase room, place blocks between the vases so you don't have to jump between them to enter.

Toad room has weird cutoff. Peach room takes ages to do.

I died a lot in the water lava room in the top right corner, when Mario refused to jump from bubble to bubble and fell into the lava.

In general, you'll die a lot, and you'll have to reply all those tedious rooms over and over again.
I didn't play for good ending, but I assume I have to finished the whole level without dying once, and that's just not gonna happen.
I can't, say, hold run, a direction, try to throw upwards and jump at the same time on a keyboard when I can on a joypad. My keyboard refuses that many inputs. That's a big difference to me.
I admit the first rings set made me have to back and forth occasionally myself, I might get rid of those three just to eliminate that part. It is pretty annoying.

I originally was going to make someone do the whole set without power ups until the second exit came to mind, it's not about discrimination it's about endurance. Shy Guy isn't trying to make it easy for you. He wants you to die.

If you think the first room is so much of a problem with tedium then sure I can change it but I thought it set up the premise of the level rather well and to the point. Perhaps a different layout may help.

Do you mean the one with the leafs and shells or the one with the coinblocks and shell? Because I'm not sure what you're referring to here.

Sure, I'll add blocks. I only had them separated because originally I kept going in the wrong pipes when I was testing and knew they were too close together.

Toad room has cut-off? I'll have to investigate what you mean, I thought it was fine o.o

Peach's room is supposed to be the longest, it's Basic Rinka Dodging but in a setting that's not all that difficult. Plus, it does take less time if you kick the veg as it multi-hits the glass panels which does make it go faster.

I never had a problem going from bubble to bubble but I can test that out some more, see if there's any way to make that less frustrating for you. You did try floating with the leaf if you didn't get as good a jump as you wanted, right...?

Good ending, collect the 4 characters in one life, yeah. Again, I playtested the hell out of this to make sure I could do it and did it multiple times (but not every time, I admit)

I didn't die all that often, and I'm not that good at SMBX *points at flair* So I don't know what to tell you at this point... o.o; I'll put it back in the lab.
You should read this: https://www.microsoft.com/appliedscienc ... ained.mspx
Especially Notebook keyboards seem to suffer from ghosting.
If you buy keyboards designed for gaming, you'll usually have no problems with ghosting for keys around WASD.

Coinblocks and shell.
If you are slow, the shell bumps into a coin block and turns back, you're save.
If you collect all the rings before the shell reaches the center, the teleporter appears, the shell lands on the teleporter, and then kills you.
Image
Post Reply