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Pink 'n' Purple Path (10D, W5) & Cactus Cavern (11A, W6)

Might as well make a thread.

Those are the levels I made, and they should still be alright enough if I do say so myself. I don't want to get enormously involved in this project, so if no one objects I'd say I leave them be.

The few changes I'd like to do (or see done?) are these, for the record:

- Change Pink 'n' Purple Path's level tile to something other than water.
- Implement FPzero's P-switch indicator blocks. (I can easily do that myself once I know what tile they are.)
- If deemed necessary, rebuild Cactus Cavern to use Mineyl's cave tileset. (see above.)

Let me know what you guys (SNN?) want my levels' fates to be.


 
I'm not sure how Pink'n'Purple Path's life is still water, but I'll make sure it isn't when this is released (for real this time). As for the levels themselves .. yeah, I don't recall having any real complaints about either of them. Aside from incorporating Mineyl's tileset, I think they're honestly fine.
I played Pink 'n' Purple Path yesterday, and walked away with these impressions. Keep in mind I placed it in the "keep" pile, and that these are only my personal suggestions.

Originally posted by AxemJinx
Pink 'n' Purple Path
--Bonus rooms are too dangerous; munchers are overused in general.
--Unnecessary item usage.
--Mixing dino rhinos and dino torches with koopas is awkward because you can't use shells to defeat those enemies. In addition, some of the dino enemies ambush you from above, or fall off their platforms before you reach them.
--I'm tempted to say the first half's layout should be reworked, with more of a focus on wigglers, parachute enemies, growing pipe ends, and bubble enemies. Between this, Cotton Course, and Aero Skyline, I think we have too many sky levels that feel kind of similar.


Edit: I expedited Cactus Cavern, since I'm up to world 6 anyway. I also placed this one in the "keep" pile (meaning, it's pretty much acceptable even if we change nothing).

Originally posted by AxemJinx
Cactus Cavern
--Kind of easy for World 6. If it weren't for the desert theme, I'd recommend moving it to World 3 instead.
--A bit too much waiting around for pokeys. A couple of them take a pretty long time to pass.
--A few too many munchers for my taste, especially the ones toward the beginning that you have to jump over in tight passageways, that aren't even set into the ground.
--Using pokey graphics for enemies you can safely jump on feels a bit strange. I understand it fits the level theme, though.
--Why is there a volcano lotus right under a row of coin blocks? I'm thinking that should be modified.
--Pipe transition to and from the lava room feels weird. It's as if the lava room exists within the pipe. Why not make it a T-junction and extend another pipe downward?

Youtube (Main) | Youtube (Alt) | Bandcamp | DeviantART
Thanks for those points. They're certainly valid, and while I still don't feel like going too far remaking the levels, I'll make the changes you suggested.

Should be ready by the end of the week, not accounting for the P-switch indicator blocks and the new cave tileset.


 
Two questions before I feel confident starting:

- Have the P-switch indicators been inserted yet? If not, is it certain what tiles they will be?
- same as above, but for the new cave tileset?


 
The indicators haven't been inserted yet. You can mark where they're supposed to go with some kind of decoration in the meantime, though, such as random, non-yellow coins.

If you want to use my cave tileset, I need to get it finalized and make sure that the map16 I used for it is absolutely free so I can provide the pages.

EDIT: By the way, I replayed Cactus Cavern, and you should move the multi-coin blocks on screens 07 and 12 away from the walls so that the player can't set up the block factory glitch for infinite lives.
...and I accidentally remade the entire first half from scratch. (very early stage)

Unusually for me this is impromptu level design, so it may not feel as sophisticated, and there'll probably be lots of points to rightfully criticize. Send any feedback my way!

(Especially regarding the new palette I made - did I go Underwayishly overboard?)


 
It definitely feels more differentiated from Aero Skyline and Cotton Course now, which is all I really wanted out of this level, so I'm satisfied. I noticed a few minor things, though:

--That growing pipe end at the right edge of screen 5? If you stand on the right side of it at the apex as Big Mario, you'll get caught between the pipe and cloud ceiling, and Mario will spaz out. Also, when you jump on the koopa, it can slide into the growing pipe end to the right and get trapped inside, which looks awkward.
--I know I suggested incorporating growing pipe ends, but now there are so many pipes and gaps between platforms, it feels less like a "path" than it used to. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, just something to consider.
--This might just be my personal taste speaking, but I'm not crazy about those long jumps to small platforms with chucks on them. Maybe it's just that there's little room for error? I'm not sure.
--It's hard to tell whether that's a mushroom or 1up in the second bonus room.
--The exit to level 1FE is on the wrong screen (intentional?)

But yeah, nothing too major; I think this is good so far. Let's see what others have to say.
Youtube (Main) | Youtube (Alt) | Bandcamp | DeviantART
I need to go back and play the original of Pink 'n' Purple Path, but in the meantime, here's some stuff:

- You should remove two or three of the falling platforms in the first bonus room. It's easy for them to despawn (though also respawn very easily after falling, which is just strange looking, but that's just a SMW thing).
- Graphical nitpickiness: when Mario stands on the corners of the cloud tiles, he's clearly standing on thin air.
- The growing/shrinking pipe right after the midpoint doesn't add much to the level and mostly just necessitates waiting around on the player's end.
- I think the palette suits the level, just as long as you don't go full-on underway and lighten all the black outlines. The coins are already doing this.

I don't mind the jumps with the Chucks, but there could probably be fewer pitfalls overall.

EDIT: I sent my cave graphics and the relevant map16 files (they're all on page15) to SNN. Just an FYI for Cactus Caverns when you get around to it.
Thanks for the feedback - this may or may not be the final version.



I also went ahead and remade my cloud tileset - it's now easier to work with, less counter-intuitive on the corners, and compatible with all other levels that use it. I'll be sending it SNN's way when I'm done with Cactus Cavern.

Any more comments on Pink'n'Purple Path, in the meantime?


 
I loved that tileset when I used it once. Good to see you've improved it. I especially love the palettes - good job.

- BlackMageMario
Yeah, major improvement on the cloud set, there. Good job!

As for the new version of the level, it's mostly an improvement. Some things, though:



I really think this growing/shrinking pipe at the end of the first section needs to go, otherwise, Mario can easily enter the other pipe in a glitchy manner such as this, even when small.



I think you should put a few extra coins to lead the player on the upper path here. When I come out of the pipe, the screen hasn't scrolled all the way down, and the way the left side of the screen is made makes me think there should be something in the pit underneath where I came in, but it just leads to death.

Finally, the fourth dragon coin is really annoying to get in an "I jumped down there to get it and the winged platform thrust me into the ceiling and caused me to fall to my death" kind of way. I actually like the setup you have, but it should be tweaked a bit to keep that from happening.
^ done, thanks for that.

In other news, here's Cactus Cavern rebuilt.
"Rebuilt" in the sense of "remapped", mostly — I switched to Mineyl's cave tileset, and I've got to say it fits exceptionally well. #tb{:D} I've also moved a couple of sprites and blocks around, but nothing too major since overall I'm still satisfied with the layout.

Is there anything you guys want me to change before I send the levels off to SNN?


 
Hey, my tileset works well with that palette! #tb{:)}

Anyway, a few things:

- There's a random piece of a bullet bill shooter in the Pink 'n' Purple Path-like bonus room below the dragon coin. I have a feeling it's not intentional.
- There is massive slowdown when respawning at the midpoint after losing a life.
- I'm not a big fan of having to wait around with the pokeys, but if it's considered as a one-level gimmick, I guess it's okay!
- There's minor cut-off in some places in the level with the munchers. Not a big deal, but for the ones not placed on pipes, I did provide the blocks to correct that in the tileset.
- I personally feel the background in the auto-scrolling section should be darker.

Gosh, I always make these sound so negative. I hope you nor anyone else will take my bullet points that way, though.

Also, I have a question: where'd the background in this level come from?
Thanks for the feedback!

Originally posted by Mineyl
- There's a random piece of a bullet bill shooter in the Pink 'n' Purple Path-like bonus room below the dragon coin. I have a feeling it's not intentional.

Not until it's replaced with a P-switch indicator, anyway. #tb{:p} It's intentional in that sense.

Originally posted by Mineyl
- There is massive slowdown when respawning at the midpoint after losing a life.
- There's minor cut-off in some places in the level with the munchers. Not a big deal, but for the ones not placed on pipes, I did provide the blocks to correct that in the tileset.
- I personally feel the background in the auto-scrolling section should be darker.

All very true - I'll consider changing that in the future, but it wouldn't be the end of the world if I left the level like that (the muncher gaps are barely noticeable, and I'm not sure how much I can remedy the slowdown).

Originally posted by Mineyl
- I'm not a big fan of having to wait around with the pokeys, but if it's considered as a one-level gimmick, I guess it's okay!

It's kind of the only novel thing left to do with Pokeys, and I already reduced the waiting times, so yeah. #tb{^^}

Originally posted by Mineyl
Gosh, I always make these sound so negative. I hope you nor anyone else will take my bullet points that way, though.

No worries, it's all good.

Originally posted by Mineyl
Also, I have a question: where'd the background in this level come from?

A game called Ardy Lightfoot if I recall correctly - it's been a while since I ripped that.


 
Originally posted by WhiteYoshiEgg
Not until it's replaced with a P-switch indicator, anyway. #tb{:p} It's intentional in that sense.

Oh. Duh. I'm even the one that said to do that with a random tile. Silly me. #tb{XD}

Originally posted by WhiteYoshiEgg
...the muncher gaps are barely noticeable...

If you don't feel like fixing them, I'll do it after you've submitted the level for the base ROM. Not to worry, though, as I wouldn't change anyone's actual level design without permission.

Ardy Lightfoot, huh? I've tried to play that a couple of times. It has some decent graphics, and it's definitely obscure enough to not be overused!
Originally posted by Mineyl
If you don't feel like fixing them, I'll do it after you've submitted the level for the base ROM.

Sure, if you'd like to do that, that'd be great. I've already sent both levels to SNN, so they should be there in the next ROM update.