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[C] 6-4 - Explosion Chapel

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I made my level be a scary fort so it was based on a dark theme w/the scary ghouls, Sparkys, and Boos so I agree. It doesn't necessarily have to be based around the boss. I thought that would be a good theme, but I used the ghosts to make it have a more scary feeling.

If it's Explosion Chapel, Kaboombas and Torpedo Bombs would probably be a good theme along w/those shy-guys that throw torpedos, but that's just my opinion.
IPS Update: Explosion Chapel (11-20-14), this update raised difficulty in some areas, mostly the second area, and removed a lot of the Blue Thorn blocks.

I haven't updated because I was working on three things:
-Moderation
-My own hack
-Halloween Level Design Contest

Third of which took the priority of my free time.


The pipes in your level seem to lead nowhere and cause the game to get stuck on a black screen with the music continuing to play. There might be something wrong with your patch as I've tried applying it to both headered and unheadered ROMs.

With that said, I can only review the first portion of your level up to the Midway Ring.


Add another Object xFD above here so the screen can scroll up properly; it scrolls a bit awkward at the moment.


This spot is devoid of activity and could use a couple sprites or something.


I saw this little one-tile hole in the middle of your sand block formations and thought there might be a hidden cloud, only to be met with disappointment as I dug into it. You might want to consider putting one here.
Ading Yellow or Red Eggs inside these formations of sand blocks would also be a cool idea if you ask me.


Aside from the screenshots, another criticism I have is that I feel the first area cannot be sustained on Shy Guys and Kaboombas alone. Baron Von Zepplins carrying bombs might be a fitting addition for the outdoor segment to make it feel more complete.
That pipe thing was actually a test pipe I removed the exit to, but forgot to remove the pipe... yeah.

Either way, new IPS... removing the pipe. And adding bats/fangs to the spawn area/first room. Baron Von Zeppelins aren't happening without tools unfortunately, and I don't think we want to change any of the base tile maps.

Explosion Chappel 11-21-14
Baron von Zeppelins are global sprites, can be used everywhere.
Similar to Koopas/Goombas/Powerups in SMW, basically.

And if they weren't, I could write you a quick spasm code to change the tileset for your level only.
Your layout has been removed.
This would actually be appreciated for level number 67 to get the Tap-Tap looking correctly, as it would greatly allow for me to make certain obstacles harder. Sprite Tileset would happen to be "56".
Uh, I still get stuck on a black screen when I enter the pipe after the midway point. I'm curious if anyone else testing this level is getting the issue, or if I'm the only one experiencing it.

Also, you didn't address the issue in the second screenshot. Did you really add an Object xFD to the empty screen above? Because in Yoshi's Island, the camera will only scroll into screens that have objects/sprites in them. Object xFD is basically like Map16 Tile 25 in SMW-nobody can can see it but having it there allows the screen to scroll towards it and keep the camera consistently centered.
Haven't played this myself yet, but that second screenshot problem actually looks more like deliberate choice than anything, unless there's now practically invisible collectibles above that it seems just fine to me.


Originally posted by Scorpion
Sprite Tileset would happen to be "56".

And which sprite(s) would you want to swap out for it?

Note that using this code will require you to have no SuperFX-graphics powered sprites on the initial screen when entering the level (for me this is usually a problem because doors are included in that), those glitch out during the switch and won't fix themselves until they scroll off- and back on-screen.
Your layout has been removed.
It won't be a problem for me. The "Speedy Gusty" would be said sprite I would sacrifice. Thanks.
New IPS, Explosion Chapel 0.3.

Added Baron Von Zeppelins. The level's difficulty is probably higher than what I wanted, but I'll let you all be the judge of that. Still isn't as hard as some of the other stuff I've played, but yeah.
The first area seems fine now.
EDIT: Oh wait, there was one thing I found...


See that explosion up there? That's a Baron Von Zeppelin spawning over a platform and thus, posing no threat to the player. This happens a few times later in the level. Speaking of which...

It looks like I can now enter the other parts of the level, so let me go into that now. It's actually pretty well designed for the most part, but there are some issues that need to be addressed.


There seems to be a layer priority issue that occurs when Yoshi walks into the pipes of this level, but I don't know if there's anything that can be done about it for now without removing a layer of the background or something.



There are a couple instances in your level where Baron Von Zeppelins spawn too high and thus, have a tendency to harmlessly drop their bombs into the ceiling. Lowering them by a tile or two should fix this.


This one is completely harmless as a result of spawning too high in the screen below and just floats past the player.


...while this one ambushes the player with an explosive from off-screen!


This spot of the level is just horribly unfair. Not only is the player being assaulted from all sides by Blowhards and Bombing Boo Guys with very little ground to avoid falling into the thorns, but there is also a passage below here that requires the player to throw eggs at those thorns. It takes quite a few eggs to open up a safe passage, and there's no breathing room for the player to actually accomplish this feat.

I'm not sure what the best approach to reworking this segment would be, but I think adding more sand tiles here and making the Boo Guys above carry the bombs from the left side instead of from the right (where they just drop down without traveling any distance) would alleviate the unfairness.


This would be a good place to add another Midway Ring. This level is quite long and tough; it could use another one between the first one and the boss.


I can think of a lot of places where these two Red Coins would feel more rewarding than just handing them out for mandatory progress.


I'm not sure if you were aware, but the bridge generated by this cloud gets stopped when it runs into a coin. You should stretch this platform down one tile (along with the thorn the cloud lands on) to fix this.


This entire 3D room just shudders annoyingly. I'm not sure what you did when you changed the original 6-4's 3D lava room, but it's not easy on the eyes.
Also, that red bridge in the screenshot becomes wavy when placed over the lava. It... looks strange when you consider the rest of the solid objects don't do this.

As for your concerns on the difficulty, I think it's fine for World 6 aside from that one spot I mentioned. You shouldn't need to feel too guilty about adding challenge to your level so long as it's reasonable and not too demanding in terms of reaction time and precision.
The fixes (with the layer priority as an exception) have been applied. Thank you for your generous feedback GeminiRage. And I have also removed the 3D Lava area, as I do now see it as needless expansion for an already long level.
Originally posted by GeminiRage

This entire 3D room just shudders annoyingly. I'm not sure what you did when you changed the original 6-4's 3D lava room, but it's not easy on the eyes.


That's a problem with ZSNES, not the level. Whenever you enter a room and the screen starts jerking around (3D lava rooms, fuzzy rooms and Baby Bowser's boss fight) just hit 8 to disable New GFX Engine until you leave.
Alright, I've update the level with GeminiRage's fixes: Explosion Chapel v0.4
BUMP


Wow, I have never done that in my whole posting career here, and now I've finally done it.
Not sure why nobody else is testing this level..

I'd say it's pretty close to ready, except for two little things.



A small nitpick, but the way the screen shifts upwards towards this small room feels odd.



I'm sure you could do much better with this side room than simply having a lone Wild Piranha, which feels very out of place given the theme you've gone with up to this point. There are a lot of things you could try: kill room, enemy puzzles, etc.
This is substantially better than your previous versions. I also think it's almost ready to insertion, but there are a few things I want you to touch up first.


What is the purpose of these sand blocks?


This seems like it would be a good location to move a red coin from somewhere else in the level to. It would force the player to explore both the above path and the lower path.


This area was lacking enemies, and it's a little dull as a result.


Several of these spike balls fall onto a corner, and it looks really weird/sloppy. It's nitpicky, I know, but if you could make them land on flat ground (or even nothing at all), it would probably look better.


I happened to notice that your castle rooms are really lacking in the decoration department. Add castle walls, windows, pillars, something to spice up the aesthetics a bit.


The middle ring looks a bit sloppy stuck in the ground like this. Also, that star box is kind of excessive since you'll get 10 stars from the middle ring.


Might be worth adding another middle ring here (the original 6-4 had three, right? If not, disregard this).


Good work overall.
A small update to Explosion Chapel. This should address most of SNN's issues, though I did not find the midway point in that one screen shot.

Explosion Chapel (12-15-14)


If there's still a midpoint in that area, I would suggest maybe doing something about it on your end when you insert the level, because again, I could not find it. #tb{¬_¬}
Explosion Chapel v0.5

This fixes an aesthetic issue with the midway point in the ground.
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