I now have 12 levels uploaded on my maker account. For the sake of my own improvement, I went back and replayed them all, compiling a list of what I think I did well, what I think I did poorly, and what I learned. Hopefully some of my experiences are interesting to some of you, but if not oh well, it's still a good exercise for myself.
Oooph, this ended up being way longer than I intended.
- Down (No ID)
This was my first level beyond just playing with the maker. Simply put, it was not very good. The idea was pretty simple: enjoy a thrilling freefall merrily bouncing off enemies as you go. The reality is it just became a mess.
The Good: There's a moderately cool bit landing and quickly running from some Thwomps: IMG IMG It's a decent moment where it feels a lot more dangerous than it actually is.
The Bad: Pretty much everything. The first screen gives a terrible impression: IMG The whole level is mostly just layers of enemies: IMG And when it's not layers of enemies, it's overwhelming chaos: IMG And worst of all, I think, is that to use the raccoon tail to slow your fall you have to mash the button CONSTANTLY.
Thoughts: I took this level down because if I had encountered it I would have boo'd it. I think it's possible to do a level with some cool freefall bits in it, but this wasn't even close. At the very least I would use the SMW theme so the player can glide by just holding down the button.
- Princess, I Minimized the Marios (V9R-FKN-MJF)
My first real level. Little Big World from SMB3 was always my favorite from that game, so I figured it would be a good place to start.
The Good: The core idea is solid. I think my level preview idea is a solid one: IMG IMG Most of the platforming bit are fine. I really like how I represented ? blocks and mushrooms in "big world": IMG IMG
The Bad: I figured that if players saw the whole level preview and then entered the "big world" from the start they wouldn't put 2 and 2 together, so to speak, so I had them look at the preview in reverse. Ugh, the door setup looks nonsensically sloppy. Much worse, though is that the first obstacle is crappy. Big Goombas pop into little Goombas, making it way easier to die than I really intended. IMG I bet a lot of people bailed right there.
Thoughts: Good idea to come back to, but next time a. go gentler and b. space out the previewing.
- The Goombas Have Guns! (6C1-T0R-YHF)
In some ways this may still be my best level. There are some definitely flaws, but I think the core idea is great and pretty unique, I'm really happy with the aesthetics, and I like the name I came up with.
The Good: I really like how Goombas hop up and keep pace with Mario. I think it's super neat and I like how my level starts off simple enough for the player to appreciate it: IMG I also really like how it steadily escalates from a mere annoyance to a major threat: IMG By the end it feels like the culmination of a steady progression. Plus, the Goomba carrying a cannon that shoots more Goombas is a moment of excess I'm proud of. IMG Also, I timed it so that the music goes into "uh oh" mode just as the tension ramps up, which is a bit of flair I'm proud of.
The Bad: I put a lot of effort into mixing up the aesthetics, but I think it ended up having too much going on. There's already a lot on the screen, having to parse what is and isn't a platform is too much. It's too easy to cheese the level by just hanging out on the left side of the screen where it's mostly very safe. The end bit is just way too chaotic. There's a pipe in the middle of the level that just doesn't fit at all: IMG There's no checkpoint, when there really, really should be.
Thoughts: This level took a ton of time to get working decently. The behind the scenes mechanisms are pretty simple, just blocks and springs to get the Goombas to hop up the right way: IMG But getting the timing right took a ton of trial and error. I wanted to try again, naively thinking it would be faster to get everything set up next time.
- Monty's Meadow (GHF-CNN-JXF)
This was my first stab at a traditional style level. IMG The idea was just some simple platforming and moles.
The Good: It mostly works alright. The level mostly looks about right for a SMW level. IMG I like watching the moles spring upward. There's a pretty good secret if you're willing to wait for the snake block to circle back around: IMG
The Bad: Moles and springs is significantly more deadly than I expected. IMG It's not TOO hard, but it definitely feels out of place for a traditional level. The end bit is way harder than it should be and includes koopas for no good reason: IMG The snake block can kill you in a way that feels BS: IMG I hid a flower at the very beginning, but the one coin hint was probably too weak: IMG
Thoughts: It's not bad, but definitely pretty meh.
- Goomba Badlands (QFQ-5J9-1VG)
Another try at a pretty traditional level. The only real guiding idea was you can grab Goombas and throw them to make obstacles less deadly.
The Good: When you hit the Chain Chomp with a Goomba it feels pretty good. IMG
The Bad: I think a lot of people didn't realize you could throw the Goombas like that, making the Chomp quite a bit deadlier than intended. The climbing part doesn't have any real flow and just feels bland: IMG Worst of all, when you jump down you can blindly land in here: IMG This part is WAY more chaotic than it should be and doesn't fit the tone of the rest of the level.
Thoughts: Another pretty meh level. It justifiably has my worst like/play ratio.
- Downevator (VTF-4HF-2JF)
The idea is simple, the platforms go down, you jump back and forth from them going through a different mini jumping challenge each time. IMG
The Good: The core rhythm has a simple charm to it. The arrows are clear as to where the player should go. The challenges are pretty fair without being too easy: IMG IMG The money grab bonus at the end is a solid enough denouement: IMG
The Bad: The main problem is that the buzzsaw timing is too tight. You're supposed to wait for the whole challenge to be visible before jumping, but that gives you very little time before the next buzzsaw comes up. I tried to make it more generous, but that just meant that if you went too quickly there was a good chance you'd hit the previous one when you landed after a challenge. In retrospect, I should have kept the platforms a bit higher off the bottom of the screen and used static, easily noticeable barriers between the 'layers'. The lack of a checkpoint is a bummer. I should have put in the effort to have a rest area right in the middle.
Thoughts: Not bad, but not great. I think I'll revisit this idea later.
- Bob-omb Excavation Corp. (7RF-L98-LYF)
This was my attempt at a puzzle-ish level. The idea was simple, use Bob-ombs to steadily blast your way to the bottom on the level.
The Good: It does a pretty good job teaching the player, starting very basic before moving up to meaningful challenges like these: IMG IMG IMG Each layer of the level is a nice steady progression from the previous. The boss room is decently interesting: IMG The first version of this level had a problem where it was too easy to blindly drop right next to the Bob-ombs leaving the pipes, but I think I mostly fixed that.
The Bad: The second and third layers are too similar, one of them should have been cut. There's one particular spot where I THINK I lost a lot of players: IMG The trick is that if you stand right there and hold B, the Bob-ombs will pop right into your hand for easy throwing. But if you don't figure that out, there's no way to proceed. The parts where you have to kill a bunch of Bob-ombs to break lot of bricks downward can be overwhelming / tedious: IMG The boss is probably a bit harder than it should be. I completely failed to think of the timer, it should have been much more generous.
Thoughts: Overall I'm decently proud of this level. It has a bunch of faults, but I think I did a really solid job with progression.
- The Treasure of Wiggly Woods (LD1-62S-SWG)
I'm pretty proud of this level. The basic idea going in was for players to be able to choose their own difficulty. Players who just want a quick run through can do so, players who want more of a challenge can tackle the harder jumps up high, and players who enjoy exploring can try to find all of the coins throughout the level. I think it mostly comes together pretty well.
The Good: I think the 100 coin objective works well. It encourages players to explore at least a little bit, but not so much that they have to scour every nook and cranny if they don't want to. The hard part of the level is adequately hinted at, but lightly gated by a decently tricky jump: IMG The aesthetics are mostly solid. IMG IMG My maker comments set the tone I have in mind: IMG It's a bit messy, but my ending area does a decent job of indicating how well the players finished the level while lightly encouraging them to try again: IMG
The Bad: Not being able to have a checkpoint sucks. I bet a bunch of people bailed in frustration after dying with a lot of coins. Both exploration keys as well as a few coins rely on carrying a Goomba over, which is repetitive: IMG IMG IMG
Thoughts: In spite of the problems, I'm quite happy with this level. It was my first one to make it onto Weekly Popular. Sure it got knocked off in just a few minutes, but hey, I still made it on!
- Dodgebomb (6V1-K83-HVF)
The Treasure of Wiggly Woods was based around pretty standard platforming, so next up I wanted to try something more gimmicky. At one point I played an airship at night level and noticed Lakitus with Bob-ombs had a pretty good rhythm to it, so I figured I would try to build a level around it. Plus, "Dodgebomb" is the kind of name that's stupidly charming to me.
The Good: Tossing Bob-ombs upward is indeed fun. The tutorial area and starting with Buzzy Beetles instead of Bob-ombs is a good warmup: IMG IMG I think I did a pretty good job of making the arenas all feel like the same place, just reorganized: IMG IMG I like how the spectators steadily increase as you advance.
The Bad: The arenas have way too many enemies in them. Even blue pipes release enemies faster than I wanted. I should have come up with some kind of switch block regulator. Lakitus can't both be given Bob-ombs to throw AND keys, which drastically hurt the tone I was going for.
Thoughts: This one didn't really turn out as well as I was hoping. I wanted to have more interesting throwing techniques, but Bob-ombs explode too quickly to allow interesting positioning. Between the lack of Bob-omb throwing Lakitus and my inability to come up with a wider variety of interesting throwing twists, it ended up being pretty underwhelming.
- Buzz Buzz Mountain (8Y8-4B5-GHG)
I specifically set out to make a traditional style level on the easy side with this one.
The Good: The jumps feel appropriate to an early world Mario game: IMG IMG Butt sliding through icicles is fun: IMG I didn't go overboard with too many elements, and using the Buzz Beetles to get over this obstacle feels good: IMG
The Bad: I was going for the feeling of "go up one side of the mountain, go down the other", but I couldn't quite nail it: IMG IMG While riding the Beetle up is cool, it's way too easy to hurt yourself in a way I didn't intend by being a bit too slow. The sliding is merely alright. Despite a fair bit of effort tweaking them, the parachute Beetles still feel a bit unfair: IMG
Thoughts: This level is decent, but not great. I think it lacks that certain something that makes for a good sliding level.
- Boo Blimps (NFM-YM0-CRG)
At some point I played a level with Mucnhers and POW blocks stacked upon an enraged Wiggler. The contraption was pretty neat and so I thought "what about putting it on a Boo instead?"
The Good: The Boo Blimp works. It has a good tradeoff between size and maneuverable surface area. The tutorial section is pretty solid: IMG The level looks more deadly than it is: IMG The arrows are pretty clear: IMG
The Bad: The Boo Blimp is just too slow to be all that much fun. Players spend way too much of their time either struggling to figure it out or just waiting for it to go. I couldn't strike a good balance between having enough obstacles and not having too many to dodge: IMG Pretty much just touching the wall at all will doom you.
Thoughts: I think I did okay given the mechanic I was designing around. Building a whole level around these slow things is just too much, though. It would be much better to have a short interlude crossing a long gap with one of these things rather than make it a whole level. I might try an airship level that uses a few of these in more limited capacities.
- Mario and The Minish Pipe (SKJ-R71-BKF)
This is an sequel of sorts to Princess, I Minimized the Marios and I think it's better in pretty much every way. It is by a fair margin my most popular level, even though it only managed to cling on to Weekly Popular for about an hour.
The Good: I applied most of what I leared from P,IMtM. Each regular world section clearly previews what comes next in big world: IMG IMG IMG IMG The platforming is on the easy side, but it's not trivial. The big pit becoming a small gap is a cool moment: IMG IMG I like the crack under the pipe and my interpretation of big springs: IMG IMG
The Bad: There's not a lot of challenge for the more skilled players to sink their teeth into. I would have liked to have many more optional side challenges, but the level size restrictions made that hard to pull off. The way you simply climb past the big final challenge is pretty underwhelming: IMG The level feels too short.
Thoughts: In spite of the problems, I'm still quite proud of this level. I really wish there were a feature to connect levels into a world, because this level would hugely benefit to be part of a larger little/big world collection. With some clever layout, it would have been possible to get a bit more space out of the level area.
- The Turtles Have Turrets! (85J-4K7-SRG)
Oooph, this level took a looooooong time to make. The Goombas Have Guns! took a lot of trial and error, but this was way more complicated. Compare some of the behind the scenes mechanisms: IMG IMG IMG IMG IMG IMG IMG
The Good: I think the first section is pretty tight: IMG It's still pretty manageable even when it ramps up: IMG I'm pretty happy with my technique for luring players to the safe area when the big turtles pop up: IMG I think getting saved from the threat of being squished it a cool moment: IMG I really suck at pixel art, but I still like my little coin turtles: IMG Watching the turtles get launched into the pit is a cool capper: IMG There's a checkpoint this time!
The Bad: I feel like it lacks that certain something from The Goombas Have Guns! I can't quite put my finger on it, maybe it's just because that was the original. It just gets too chaotic near the end. I really want there to be a steady escalation up to a cool climax, but I confess I just haven't found the right balance between chaos and intelligibility.
Thoughts: I felt like this level was lacking a distinct flair, so I ended up adding a bunch of silly Turtle Facts as maker comments throughout the level. I fear that some people who don't share my sense of humor (or language) will boo the level because of them, but oh well. Hopefully they're at least unobtrusive to those people. I actually worked a bunch on a similar level with a vertical component, before putting it on hold to make this. I don't know if I'll go back to it.
So there you have it. Those are my self-criticisms of my first 12 levels. Hopefully I'm getting better. If you have any thoughts on anything at all that I didn't mention I'd be happy to hear them!
Submitted July 31, 2019 at 03:35PM by FriendGaru https://ift.tt/2Yh3oxu
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