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mario mountain (beeg levels haha)

Super Mario WorldDemoScreenshots

I don't have a name for this yet. I'll get there eventually.

I'm hoping to actually release a 4-level demo tomorrow. These levels take too long to make.

Here's some screenshots:



I'm not sure this really displays how I want it to, maybe they look a little boring. Oh well.
I wanted to go for a 'Mario' feel, still. So far there's a lot of SMAS assets. I like how they look.

Intended features:
Uses SA-1.
+ Exploration. Yoshi coins matter (star coin system*), so find them! But, they are not mandatory, so you don't have to look for them if you don't want to. The intention is to make heavy use of Lunar Magic's new variable level sizes: I think a lot of these levels will end up much larger than average.
+ Multiple Midway Points, to make long levels feel less punishing.
Use of Conditional Map16 to prevent farming item boxes*
+ Extra Powerups; Use Dynamic Z to DMA new Mario graphics.
+ Red Coins as additional collectible*
+ Bonus Rooms count towards % total*
+ Unrestricted Powerups. Yoshi allowed in every level; No level shall force you to abandon him.
+ Screen-scrolling pipes
Sadly, much of this (*) is unimplemented fully at the moment or still contains bugs (nothing gamebreaking). However, I did want to gauge some interest in these style of levels. They are large and my intent is to make the mod rather challenging (hopefully, in a fair way).

Look out for a download link here in the next day or so. I'm trying to clean up and complete some of these levels, still. At the very least, I'll post something where the levels are playable even if they aren't complete.

Thanks very much for looking.

e: Demo is here:
Click to download!

As I note in my post Here, it is less done than I would like for C3. I considered not posing anything, but I figured a little bit (even if rather disappointing) is better than nothing at all. I (finally) took lots of time to fix some of the buggy graphics and other little things that had been piling up for some time, so I guess that's a plus for now.

The ROM is unlocked, but the game name is changed. Please feel free to take a look around. (e: I left some silly testing stuff lying around. Please redownload if you've already downloaded it.)

Thanks again!
Lots of promising stuff here. Hopefully there's more to it than just adding in these features. Not that that's a bad thing, there just needs to be a point for the player to actually play the thing.

Other than that, good level design and good use of assets from the screenshots. I'll be looking for the demo soon. Good work!
Click here to enter the world of mediocre!
Hack looks fancy there.
Interesting concept,It looks very good#tb{^V^}
i will change this eventually
It's pleasant to see hacks using SMAS graphics, and with that nice list of features it seems like it's going to be fun to play! I'm looking forward for that download link.
I like the use of both SMAS and YI graphics, they actually kinda really go well with eachother. All looks nice so far, and the exploration aspect sounds pretty fun!
wow... this looks really nice
I liked how you made both gfx styles contrast with each other too

the level structure and uee of custom assets pooks promising as well.
I'm liking your use of SMAS graphics here! Reminds me of the kind of stuff Anikiti used to make back in the day.
The screenshots are really pleasant so far. I'll admit I'm a bit bored of purely SMAS graphics by now, but the usage of YI backgrounds gives it a rather fresh look. I hope you end up favoring mixing them overall, but that's just a personal preference.
I think some palette sets could be improved even further - namely the red sky swamp has a rather unfitting foreground color, and the waterfall temple has either a too bright background or too dark foreground.

Also the concept does look promising. I really love more exploring-themed stages, as long as they don't become too overwhelming or unfair. Make sure to use multiple midpoints to its fullest in your favor!

I'll definitely give this a shot once the demo is out (that is, if uni stuff doesn't eat me whole before C3 ends...). Keeping an eye here 👀
It's easily the best thing I've done
So why the empty numb?
Everyone,
Thanks for your replies! I'm glad the aesthetic I was going for agrees with many of you.

Originally posted by Koopster
I think some palette sets could be improved even further - namely the red sky swamp has a rather unfitting foreground color, and the waterfall temple has either a too bright background or too dark foreground.


Thanks for this feedback! I haven't been able to address this yet, but I somewhat see what you mean. I've made a note to take a look at these soon.

I'm going to drop the demo. It's here: Click to download!

I worry that some of you may be disappointed. It's not as done as I would like...It's playable, however. I don't quite have the time or energy like I used to. Check out the readme for some of my notes on individual levels (the third level, as mentioned there, is very not-done at the moment)

I considered not dropping it at all, but I would like to at least get a little feedback on what's there. Sorry if I disappoint any of you.

Thanks!
I did play through the 4 levels. I didn't find any secret exits and I'm certain I missed a lot of stuff, but here's my input anyways!

I like that there seems to be a balance between linear and more exploration-like levels/segments so far. I think that formula can work well in your hack, with more linear levels working as "breathers" between the more extended exploration adventures. I really enjoyed level 1, it's a quite fun, simple platformer.

Levels 2 and 4, which are probably the highlights of your demo as they show off the design you're going for, were mostly cool too. However, I'm afraid things have gotten a little too hectic or cramped at times. I think it's important to keep the platforming not so precise or tight in exploration levels, as looking around, memorizing paths, etc. is already a great challenge on its own. In particular I'm not a fan of how slow the venus flames are - I think that's the default speed of the current sprite we have, but yeah, I really don't like it, I always tweak that one - and the roto disc crazy patterns are a little too much sometimes - I got sniped by one of them before I had any time to notice its presence (a very fast one in a segment with a bully).
Also: try to avoid forcing backtracking. A glaring example of that is the dragon coin after the midpoint, in the castle - which forces you to take a gamble with the switch, and if you want the dragon coin, you'll need to return again. The difficulty of the jumps to get to the switch only makes it worse and more stressful! There are ways to make exploration flow nicely, not punishing the player for making wrong guesses or forcing them to replay segments over and over.
e: something else I remembered: work a bit on your powerup distribution. Make sure to give the player powerups in a regular basis, depending on the challenge, and appropriately give powerups after a checkpoint.

I'm sure difficulty and the like will be much easier to evaluate once the multi-midpoints are working, though. Once that's settled, you'll be able to get away with making challenging segments without making it too overwhelming for the player.
I don't know if you already have plans, but: how about one midpoint per collectible? They're sort of an ultimate goal after all, and it would make sense to save progress once you get each of them.

I'm not sure how much what I wrote helped, but I hope it did help a bit. It felt really good to play this overall, and as I imagined, this feels like it has a huge chunk of potential. Best of luck with this!! I look forward to seeing more from you in the future.
It's easily the best thing I've done
So why the empty numb?
The screenshots look really nice but that is a really big list of features that you're planning. One suggestion is to make red coins also matter since just getting a nice 100% isn't always enough to get people to explore having the collectables unlock things like special power ups, save locations, extra levels, things like that. Since you have dragon/star coins but they aren't mandatory having a second collectable with no purpose just feels like a bit of a waste.
This hack is brilliant!
The bouncing shy guys, the graphics, palettes and game play!

Very neat! #smw{:peace:}

Subscribe to My Youtube Channel!
Where's my lasaga, Jon?
Originally posted by Koopster
A very nice wall of text, thank you very much


Hey, thanks for this feedback! I think it's really helpful to get some other perspectives.
I'll certainly of your comments into consideration. I think it's too easy to forget that I made most of the levels so there's not much 'exploration' when I play them.
>backtracking
In your specific example
If you stayed on the top level and navigated to the right, there's another switch above the waterfall, so you don't have to go all the way back. But I think the fact that you found you had to is a problem regardless.


I'll give the midpoints some thought too. I think one per collectible is a bit much, but I think I can set them up in such a way that it can be alleviated (I think making them able to be used multiple times might be very helpful if they're placed properly and the levels are designed with this in mind, but maybe that encourages backtracking for safety too much). I'll give it some thought.

Originally posted by Ninja Boy
One suggestion is to make red coins also matter since just getting a nice 100% isn't always enough to get people to explore having the collectables unlock things like special power ups, save locations, extra levels, things like that


Thanks for the feedback! I agree. There's not much on that front in this demo, but I'm planning for it at the moment. I just got the star coins working properly (nearly) with all the other patches so I at least have that going at the moment. I was looking at making some JUMP-like collectables that are unlockable with yoshi coins/red coins or some such at the very least.

Originally posted by Koop the Koopa
This hack is brilliant!
The bouncing shy guys, the graphics, palettes and game play!

Very neat!

Thanks very much!

Super Mario WorldDemoScreenshots