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12D: Petroleum Passage - Skewer

Complete

Petroleum Passage COMPLETE

Currently, I've yet to get feed back from my DEMO IPS of the level, so I doubt I'll have a lot of complaints about this. First off, I fixed the errors/unfairness in the last IPS that GeminiRage pointed out. Thank you for being the only one to care. Thank you for your feedback, it really helps.

Now, I've fixed the KooPhd graphics, and now the conveyors work; however, I am considering having SNN implement "NoMario" custom blocks on the conveyor tiles (That I'm using, not the base tiles they use) so that Mario can't jump through from under them. If the level is too long, do tell me and I'll trim down the parts you believe aren't "up to par", infact, that's why I made it the length it is.

Petroleum Passage - Do note the level name is spelled wrong ingame, but SNN can fix that when the final product is implemented into the master rom. Huge thanks to GeminiRage for the name.

The level does seem to be a bit on the long side, but nothing to horrible. I think difficulty-wise it works out pretty good. It starts off fairly easy and get a bit harder as you continue on. I like how you also animated the SMWC coin but unless we make that a global object, it kinda sticks out a bit much.

Also, maybe make it a bit more clear on where you should be pressing the p-switchs but using the p-switch outline that are located somewhere in the hack. Also there was one jump I suggest you fix up a bit:



I found the jump on the right hand side to be a bitch to get out of. Maybe lower it by 1 tile or so?
Layout by LDA during C3.
Well, that seems to be the only thing I've gotten from the last 4 days this has been available, and unfortunately tommarow is the deadline. I'll fix that jump Lightvayne. Par the rules, I'm forced to submit the level in it's current (now final) state to SNN; and while we are on the note, I'll remove the animation because SNN said the code wasn't built for animation. I hate wasting time like that, but what else can I do about it.

I'm glad you liked the level.

I wouldn't worry too much about the deadline. Your pretty much done and if you need a bit more time to make a few tweaks, SNN or anyone else is not gonna have a problem with that.
Layout by LDA during C3.
I have received the ZIP for this level, but I want to confirm from the people who tested it that this level is ready to be inserted. I don't want to put it in and find out later that some bugs/issues were missed.

Thanks guys.

Extras



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

Advertising Space


Quicksand is not a proper noun.


Add a reset pipe for situations where it's possible for the player to get stuck like what didn't happen here.


Note the Grinder.


Leave two Layer 1 tiles empty wherever it's possible for Mario to enter/exit from a pipe.



Guess what the dominant strategy here will be?
(Hint: It's not try to jump onto that platform with the Koopa.)


- Leave two Layer 1 tiles empty wherever it's possible for Mario to enter/exit from a pipe.
- Some indicator that you're suppose to enter this pipe would be nice.


I'm not even sure why I took this one.


The bottom portion of oil pools like these do almost nothing to hamper Mario's movement.


Neat animation, but I don't think it's consistent for this collab. Altered palettes like slightly different shades is one thing, but an animation that only appears in ONE level is something else.


Making your conveyor belts behave like Tiles 31A-31B will make them solid, though that means you'll have to check your level out again to make sure it doesn't cause any design conflicts.


This asshole again.
If you ask me, I would set up Blue Elites in a way that the player will know that one is in the area so they'll have a little bit of time to prepare themselves mentally to take them on. (Fast spastic movements and such.)


Layer 1 Enter/Exit hilarity.



This coin is too close to the first one. Since the first one is piss easy to get, I would remove that one (Yes, **remove**. I only did the normal exit so far, but looking at your level in LM and I swear that I saw FOUR SMWCoins.


Layer 1 Powerup Hilarity. What if that block contained a Mushroom instead? You can only get away with stuff like that with a Green Switch Block. That is not a Green Switch Block.


Note Dry Bones.


This jump is an absolute pain in the ass to clear, and by that I mean "(near) pixel perfect timing".




Goddamn this level is long yet. Please avoid the trap several people in SMWCP made with length.





Layer 1 Enter/Exit hilarity. You do this A LOT in this level.


Layer 1 Mushroom/Flower/Star nonsense.



On top of that, this section is completely unnecessary and blatant, blatant padding.

Alright, I'll have all of those fixed tonight, and resubmit tomorrow for testing. I'll also shorten it up a bit, and remove that last part.
Well, it's past "tomorrow" now. Do you have something ready for us to play?
Sorry, but do remember I do not have access to the internet over the weekends. Plus, my dad's car broke down. Aigh. By 5:00 PM EST, I'll have the IPS uploaded.

EDIT: Here you go. Take 2 with all of the bugs/suggestions MrDeePay mentioned fixed.

Petroleum Passage... Take 2

NOTE - I fixed the message box at the beginning with the quicksand, but never saved the OW prior to this patch. And since my internet is slow; I'm not going to re-upload the patch with that little correction.
Well I'm really impressed. That's probably my favourite level I've playtested yet. Nothing major wrong with it that I could see in my runthrough. I won't comment on the SMWC coin placements since I'm saving hunting for them for when the games released. Nice difficulty, very challenging but fair, and enough powerups to take you through, but not get overconfident. Probably the best use of elites I've seen as well, but watch your placement of the green elites. At a couple of places in your level they decided to go through slopes. Also, shells and your oil don't seem to interact too well.

Overall though, very very very good.
I do like this level, and its gimmick very much but I have a few issues with it.

Just some slowdown at this point.



Well, its a good thing I got that midpoint. Time to start from the mid...



Or....maybe not.....

Now for this part, it's not that its too hard...




It's just that I can completely avoid it.





There's even a springboard to let me back up.... was this supposed to be there? Not to mention, you can make the jump back up on your own anyway.



Oh, and if you're relying on dry bones to block it off, he wastes so much time throwing the bone(....err koopa head?), that I can get through before he even gets close to blocking me off.


I would definetly suggest that the bottom path because any one would take that bottom path. Maybe block of the oil at some parts, so the player can't jump back up and has to do a tiny bit of backtracking, but can't just easily make his way to the end of this segment.

Again, I do like the level, espceically the switch determines path factor, but fixing these aspects will make your level much better and players won't have to start the entire level over if they get the mid-point.
Well, I finally got around to testing your level again, and I've got to say, it looks great for the most part. It's got some issues though.

First off, I think I should make it clear that this level... is long. Really long. While I have no problem with the effort you put into making such an intricate level of this length, my primary concern is that one midway point just isn't going to cut it, especially when you consider this level throws a good deal of challenge at the player through most of it. My suggestion?
-Move the first Midway Point to Screen 0C in Level 3A. I consider this to be the 1/3rd mark of the level.
-Add a second Midway Point ar Screen 01 of Level 3B, where the path splits. This is about 2/3rds through the level no matter which route you take, and this is where is the level gets to be the most challenging in my opinion. Starting at this point would be very helpful.

Anyways, as for the rest of the issues I had with this level, some screenshots:



It was mentioned before that the Dry Bones was glitchy-looking, but here's screenshot proof.



Don't you think it's a little odd that taking what most players would assume is the normal route brings me to an SMWCoin...



...while this hidden ladder doesn't, and just brings me to the Midway Point at Screen 0D of Level 12D? (Which I believe I mentioned you should relocate)



I still think you should be having these Pirahnas coming out of pipes instead of random areas of ground, especially considering some of them do come out of pipes in your level.



On top of this springboard backtrack being an example of Item Babysitting...



...all I get for it is a powerup. Consider that there was a Fireflower right before where the springboard was needed; why on earth would I want another powerup? In fact, there's a good chance you'd lose a powerup going between those four screens for that springboard and back, so the whole purpose of that powerup is defeated in two ways. I'd recommend just doing away with the powerup and springboard entirely.



This poor Thwimp gets carried into the oil by that conveyor belt.



You shouldn't require the player to be standing right between the correct pixels of these two Trash Blocks (or jump-grabbing them) just to be able to get past this Thwomp unscathed. Though I suppose it wouldn't be a problem if you just removed those spikes.



Another ridiculous-to-obtain powerup, this one basically requires jumping off a Parakoopa at the right position, while holding something to actually hit the block mind you.

I also noticed you used the ledge-style conveyors normally found in SMW by default. I'll address that in a bit.



Was that Disco Shell supposed to come bowling towards the Thwomp like this?

Finally, one more thing I forgot to bring up, is that you were using the "default" conveyor tiles throughout the level as opposed to the solid blocks that are currently in the Base ROM. While I can't say for sure this was how you wanted to build your level or not, I should point out that it causes some oddities to happen...



...like this. Another reason you might want to use the solid conveyor blocks is because other levels in the hack are also using them (including my first level, Rusted Retribution, which I recently added them to), so it seems a little odd that conveyors would function differently here.

Other than all that, I'd say you've done a great job with the level. There was slowdown in some spots, but hopefully that's nothing FastROM can't handle.
He's fixed the stuff and sent it to me, so I'm going to mark this as "complete" now. Thanks guys.

Extras



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

Advertising Space


Yeah.


This pipe leads to Coaster Commotion when I think it's actually supposed to be a reset.


Possible for Mario to get stuck here. The gap needs to be filled with a sprites-only block.


FG initial position is too low.


Slowdown, too many sprites.


Same.


Dominant strategy here would be to forgo the conveyor belts.


Both of these paths lead to the exact same place with no real reward. If anything, the left route should be left as-is while the right house the first SMWCoin.



Note the shattered graphics.


Mario sticks out from behind this.


The P-Switch outline is not necessary if the P-Switch blocks are being used.


I'll come back to this.


Holy hell was this level a gauntlet. It may need to have it's position on the map changed up a bit.


Not sure how to feel about these sprites' palettes.


Palette 9's, however. Please note how the Thwomp and Ball n Chain (below screens) look.


Pretty damn pointless to have a Yellow Switch block and a Flower so close to each other, if you ask me.


On another note, the Yellow Switch blocks are used a good amount in this level for things I did before. Mix it up a bit with the Blue and Red blocks, too.


Pain in the ass to make it through this and back unscathed. I'd would replace the Feather in this block with a Star.


This pipe leads to Shénmì Frica-Sea.

Text will be added later.

Originally posted by MrDeePay

Note the shattered graphics.


There's actually a very simple fix for this:

Code
STZ $4300

LDA #$18
STA $4301

LDA.b #EggShatterGFX
STA $4302
LDA.b #EggShatterGFX>>8
STA $4303
LDA.b #EggShatterGFX>>16
STA $4304

REP #$20
LDA #$76F0
STA $2116

LDA #$0032
STA $4305
SEP #$20

LDA #$01
STA $420B


Just stick that in levelINITasm and you should be good to go. Untested, but it's copied almost directly from my level where I had the same problem, so it should work. It'll save us from having to use a whole extra ExGFX file for a single 8x8 tile.
I should get a new layout.

Probably won't, though.

I don't recall what I did here. Obvious reason is Big Mario squeezing in. Gotta compensate for stupidity.


Slope madness? You might be missing the proper corner tiles.


I think this tile is wrong set as 100 (or rope/cloud).
More and more problems. Unfortunately, I can't fix this level immediately. I'm going to wait for quite a while and I know there isn't much more going on with Level Problems, and exits. After all the level dust has settled, then I'll see about the problems that are in my ability to solve.
https://cloud.smwcentral.net/s/iqwqYdtoEMNsRfi/download

Here is my revamp of Petroleum Passage. You can download it and play it if you want. It has already been given an OK of sorts, but I just wanted to put it on here anyways.

Complete