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[REJECTED] Mario's Test - Xecutioner

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I should have something witty to put here (even if it's just to update dated info), shouldn't I?

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Demo: No
Featured: No
Length: 10 exit(s)
Difficulty: Hard
Description: This is simply my first hack.

Most of the Play-Testers say that this is a pretty hard hack. Borderline Kaizo at some points. I would really appreciate some feedback/constructive criticism. Have fun and enjoy.

-Xecutioner

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I'm not going to beat around the bush, this hack is extremely poor. Pretty much the only good thing about it is that it's mercifully short, and I'm not exaggerating either. This hack's gameplay consists of carrying a key from the start to the end (there are no checkpoints to be found), which takes away your ability to spin jump (not like you'll need it anyway). However, you're going to constantly rely on "Disco" Koopa hopping (sometimes inside a narrow corridor with spikes everywhere), huge jumps that allow no room for error, design that requires advance knowledge of traps and hazards, react-or-die-on entry, and did I forget about everyone's favorite "item babysitting"?

There is also poor sprite memory settings (sprites disappear/reappear/clipped), horrendous amounts of glitched graphics (cutoff which would be OK if the gameplay held up, which it doesn't) and some lousy grammar related to the message boxes.


This hack is an overall mess, don't waste your time with it.

Difficulty: Hard
Verdict: Reject

+1'd users:
- Wakana
- MercuryPenny
- Everest

This was somewhat weird. I must say that the base concept is interesting: you have to carry a key trough the whole level in order to clear it. It's a good concept that, although, didn't find a good execution.

Your levels are... weird. The design isn't horrible, but it does very weird things: one of said things may be a frequent section which supposes you to do a jump over a long row of munchers. Sometimes it felt impossible, like in the third level: there is a row of munchers which is impossible to pass, unless you do some kaizo tricks maybe. Kaizo is ideed a thing that concerns me here: I don't play Kaizo, though some parts really felt like it. It looks like you created a bridge between hard and kaizo here. For an overall judgement, I'd say that this hack needs big improvements, especially on the potential kaizo parts.

Aesthetic is ugly. I'm sure you went with cutoff on purpose: you could clearly fix most of the errors easily. In every level there is some cutoff (even in Yoshi's house), which made the whole hack feel like superficial work, not supposed to be submitted in the central. Definedly not good, you need to work out on the big cutoff parts.

As misc issues, I'd mainly complain slowdown in a few parts which use too many sprites in a single screen. Besides this, I'd say that the rest of the errors is easily noticeable.

Difficulty is hard, nearly kaizo because of a few section reminding said difficulty.

Not a big surprise for the verdict, which is rejection. At this point, I'd suggest to start from scratch, unless you want to go in all your levels and fix all the issues.

+1!
I tried this hack a while ago and I can definitely say that it doesn't belong on the site's hack database.

The design felt like a newbie's kaizo hack. Cutoff everywhere, hurt blocks everywhere in an attempt to be "hard", unfair design. This is a chore to play through and I gave up on the second muncher landscape in the second level because there was nothing I could do to clear it. The design is very, very flawed in general. A very good tip would be to not submit your first hack, as they are 9 times out of 10 terrible.

10% (reject). The hack overall suggests inexperience with Lunar Magic and SMW hacking in general. I recommend getting more experience with designing levels with decent-looking aesthetics before submitting another hack.

MrDeePay: how much score are we getting for reviewing this hack?

+1!
It is nice to see such a hack here.

If you are wondering why I said that, it is because I have not seen many of them recently. That said, it does not really do me any good as it seems to be simply a waste of time, but in the hope of informing some people, I will give a general analysis of it here. This hack isn't really that long either and has repetitive parts as well which will influence the length of this review. With all of that said, I can now start. The level design in this hack isn't all too good and as I already said it can be quite repetitive. A common and noticeable thing in levels that generally have "Zone" in their level names are beginnings with a message box and a few sprites. I cannot really say the organization of them is good and it does not really leave a good impression. I believe in having a more coherent flow to the level design or else it will not look good overall. I do notice that some sections tend to slip into kaizo difficulty however it mostly remains hard-like overall. I can't say I particularly liked some tile usage either - a good example of this is the "bounce on all sides" note block which can be incredibly annoying. It can even leave some unfair situations though I did say the kaizo difficulty is present in some areas so this is not surprising. Overall, I do not like the design especially the usage of the tiles in some situations. I believe starting over would be better.

As for other aspects, I can say that I am also not impressed in this field either. The aesthetics of the hack are not really good. I seriously cannot understand why anybody would look at blatant and horrible cutoff and think it is "good" even if is a first time hack(-type). Munchers cutting into the ground not only makes the difficulty more ridiculous in some circumstances, it also can present a real problem in some cases during level progression. Things can happen that are distracting to the player. I also cannot understand why you would use obviously unsuitable tiles from the default MAP16 pages that have weird effects depending on which tileset you use. Glitches are not good at all and they most certainly can quickly lead to a low opinion of the hack from me (and a lot of others). I would have hoped for an attempt on being neat in some areas regarding the tiles, but it seems laziness took over and you did not seriously attempt to fix it. I would suggest playing accepted hacks here to see what type of quality is acceptable on SMW Central. Low quality work like this should only be considered "good" in your terms while learning the functions of objects, sprites, and of Lunar Magic itself. Please think about what you are doing next time when designing a level. I consider this hack to be beyond total repair. The overworld isn't that impressive either especially with obvious cutoff present in some places. That completely solidified my opinion on this hack. I am sorry. Finally, consider having testers to test any serious hack you might make in the future. It would save you from a lot of trouble - I promise that.

Difficulty: Hard due to the reasons mentioned in the review.

The verdict is obvious and that is rejection. I would rather have you make a new hack as this hack does not seem to be salvageable in its current state. I am sorry. Good luck on whatever you decide.

Oh and congratulations Wakana :)

+1!

Extras



I should have something witty to put here (even if it's just to update dated info), shouldn't I?

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Originally posted by MercuryPenny

MrDeePay: how much score are we getting for reviewing this hack?


Determined by the hack mod, which is usually 1-3. C3 submissions are doubled.