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136: EREHPS EHT RAEF - Rameau's Nephew

Complete

Claimed by: Rameau's Nephew

World: Bonus
Exits: 1
Theme: Abstract/Dream
Music Options: 1, 2, 3, or compose your own.

Briefing: Be as creative as you wish with this one, but try to make your area almost surreal/abstract/dream-like. The possibilities, quite literally, are endless here. Clever ExAnimation, neat graphical swaps, and more can go a long way to make these levels memorable and fun. These levels should be quite challenging as well, but fair.

Note that this does not mean you can dump a Kaizo level here and call it a day.
Abstract and dreamlike...those are words which mean very different things to different people, which I imagine, after all, is what makes this area of the game so interesting. What do they mean to me? Well, I suppose my goal with this level is to attempt to depict this, at least in so far as this is translatable into SMW terms.

We will begin with a short area based around a recollection of something familiar, though strange and distorted in the manner common to dreams, and becoming progressively more so, to the point where our hero, in his rising discomfort, seeks refuge in the hollows beneath the earth. Here we focus more on the abstract side of things, the second part of the level consisting of a cavern constructed of shimmering lights which flow like water, and populated by orbs and flames and will-o-the-wisps, who float and dance about in their endless, rhythmic circuits. Ah, but Mario, he is not a creature of the swarm, and as things get more intense (perhaps in part due to the influence of some force which will unwelcomedly accompany our subject throughout his journey; we'll see how that develops), he will once more emerge to the superterranean realms, finding himself, with a dream's typical casual distain for geographic continuity, in an old, lonely tower weathered by time, and of course, appropriately enough, by weather. Hear, he boldly ascends, assailed though he is by combined elements from the first two sections, and perhaps another freak or two, to the zenith of this structure, where there awaits him a fateful encounter leading to a startling denouement.

Yowsers.

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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I swear, if you add that Deedle Ball into this level somewhere or somehow, I'm going to react in a way that I don't even know how it'll be right now!



(Good luck, you bastard!)

OK, I am REALLY looking forward to this level.
I'm confused. So I'm assuming that this is going to be one of those fantasy levels with an abstract background.
I no longer have interest in SMW Hacking as I did when I first started several years ago.
Originally posted by MrDeePay
I swear, if you add that Deedle Ball into this level somewhere or somehow, I'm going to react in a way that I don't even know how it'll be right now!


Don't be cilia; everyone nose we're saving him for the boss.

Originally posted by TomPhanto
I'm confused. So I'm assuming that this is going to be one of those fantasy levels with an abstract background.


The second section could be described as that, albeit of the more minimalistic variety. As for the rest, well...I suppose you could call it a nightmarescape if you wanted, though the mood leans rather more toward uncanny than terrifying as such. I imagine it'll make a bit more sense when I have something to show.
Originally posted by Rameau's Nephew
The second section could be described as that, albeit of the more minimalistic variety. As for the rest, well...I suppose you could call it a nightmarescape if you wanted, though the mood leans rather more toward uncanny than terrifying as such. I imagine it'll make a bit more sense when I have something to show.


Yeah, it will. For now, I'll just assume it's one of those "crazy dream" levels, where very little makes sense.
I no longer have interest in SMW Hacking as I did when I first started several years ago.
What's that? An IPS of a rough-hewn version of the first section (a distorted version of a familiar place) already? Also features a sneak preview of the second section (will-o'-the-wisp cave) just to give you a general idea of what that fanciful description was supposed to mean, though I've walled off most of that area for now while I resolve a few issues--but feel free to sneak a peak at it in Lunar Magic if you like (level 82). Normally I'd start with some screenshots, but I think the first section loses a touch of its impact if not initially experienced without foreknowledge. There's still quite a few issues with this section, of course (and something seriously needs to be done about that wall interaction), but I'm curious as to whether my (somewhat unorthodox) approach to this section works as intended.
Either slowing down the Pionpi or reworking the code a bit should fix any issues with the wall interaction. It's something that is going to be absolutely crucial if you plan to keep them in the first section (which I hope you do).

I love the idea a lot. You put a whole new spin on things in that first area and made it incredibly fun to play. I really loved the cave too - or at least, what you have of it so far. Given the nature of this level, I'm tempted to put this one at the end when I shift the levels around. It has that "climactic" feel to it so far. Keep that in mind as you design .. it might be worth doing something at the end along the lines of Mario "waking up" from a dream, or whatever you want really.

Keep it up though. This is great so far.
As SNN pointed it out, the wall detection of those torpedo thingies is atrocious and they keep glitching through stuff left and right. To add onto that, there's an abundance of those, with one part literally throwing four of those at once at you. It becomes incredibly irritating to look out for those plus the flames and those jumping pacmen at the same time. Perhaps you could take out one or two or scatter them around more at other spots to make them less awkward (the two coming from the top after the very first one you can't really see until you're hit).

Otherwise it's an interesting premise. The first room is quite short in my eyes, but that's debatable. 0A screens might be more than enough for the first part (don't know how long this level is going to be) so no further comments regarding that.

Though there is something missing I can't exactly pinpoint. The level strikes me as a bit "bland", so it could be the missing background and the music. Disregard this point for now.

I don't know what to think of the cave section to be honest. One part of me screams "this is just as weird up as I like it", the other one doesn't like the overall style you're having there. That pixelated mixture is looking... odd. Somehow unfitting.

I guess I should wait for the finished version or something before criticizing it hardcore. Definitely keep it up for now the way it is (and perhaps do something about the enemy placement in the first part) and wait for more input. I know for a fact that I'm horrible at giving advice, but I felt that I had to say this.
The section where you're being menaced by four of those things at once (I assume you mean the area between the two pipes, shortly before the second mushroom) can be easily dealt with by keeping the high ground (that floating used block is your staunchest friend and ally)--though I guess I could probably hint at this with a coin if you like (it's always tricky to tell what's a genuinely helpful hint and what's patronizing the player). Things definitely get hairy if you head down below, but I personally find the way those abominations trap you down there, leaping back and forth over your head a few times as you duck, cowering to avoid them, then slowly close in on you like a swarm of evil grasshoppers both hilarious and horrifying at the same time. It just seemed to so perfectly exemplify the nature of those things. That is intended as a somewhat tricky part, though--one of the reasons I placed the second 'shroom immediately thereafter.

I agree about the first section "missing something"; I think it's probably the lack of a proper background above all else. Rest assured there will be one be one once I know what to put there (i.e. most likely a modified version of what appears in the original). The first section was indeed intended to be fairly short but intense; the second longer but a bit more relaxed (well, at least to begin), as befits the atmosphere of the two sections. There will be a third section as well, whose length remains to be seen. And then a shocking conclusion, for which I'm currently floating about various evil plans. Rest assured that I plan to have us go out with a bang, though.

I guess the æsthetic of the second section is something of a matter of personal taste. When I see the term "abstract level", I tend to think of a level built of pure, simple geometric shapes. While a few people did some things approaching that in certain parts of their levels, no one really made a major section specifically based around it, so I figured I might as well try my hand at it. Diversity is what this world is all about, after all. I think it gets a bit more visually interesting as the section progresses, though, especially when the dancing flames come in.

In any case, thanks for the input--I'm always glad to hear what people think of my levels--especially what they don't like. And it's good to hear these things throughout the process as well, instead of addressing them all en masse after everything is already built, and thus in certain respects more cumbersome to alter. Too much feedback never did a level in this project any harm.




About, about in reel and rout, the death fires danced at night; the water, like a witch's oils, burnt green, and blue and white.


Rough image of the third section, subject to extensive revision, of course. Having a wee bit of trouble assembling a background for this section; everything I've tired thus far seems to succeed in making it seem less distinctive instead of more. As far as music goes, I currently have Factory 2 (a.k.a. Electrospire), which works brilliantly, but is probably a bit too heavily used by this point. Unfortunately, the only other track which seems comparably fitting is the Forest Castle theme, but that's really not a tune we probably ought to reuse in another level. We'll just have to see how things further progress as things progress further, I suppose.

Extras



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

Advertising Space

Originally posted by Rameau's Nephew
As far as music goes, I currently have Factory 2 (a.k.a. Electrospire), which works brilliantly, but is probably a bit too heavily used by this point.


Asteroid Antics is the only other level so far that uses Electrospire.

Ach so, I must have been factoring in incomplete levels, then. Or simply misremembering things. Or perhaps reality itself has become as fluid in nature as the world of dreams.
It looks pretty, and I like the small Map16 additions you've made - like that ledge top on the upside down pyramid of blocks. However, I would recommend watching out for the cutoff at the corner of the bricks, as the bright pixels are quite easy to spot with the black background. I don't know if this will be as easy to see once you put in a background, though.
aran - Graces of Heaven
Originally posted by MrDeePay
I swear, if you add that Deedle Ball into this level somewhere or somehow, I'm going to react in a way that I don't even know how it'll be right now!


Who's Deedle Ball?
I'm sorry, but I'm not good at SMW hacking, so I gave up on it. That means I'm leaving SMWCentral. Bye!
Originally posted by GN
However, I would recommend watching out for the cutoff at the corner of the bricks, as the bright pixels are quite easy to spot with the black background.


Fear not, the cutoff issue will indeed be addressed; however, since I'm still moving things around a bit, and the very minor pixel differences of the various forms can be extremely difficult to spot in Lunar Magic (thus making certain variants prone to getting mixed in where they don't belong), I decided for the moment to make them all middle bricks for simplicity's sake. This will of course change as things are smoothed and polished.

Originally posted by Woody
Who's Deedle Ball?


Oh, by far the deedliest opponent Mario has ever faced.


I, I, I! I, I, I! I, I, I! I, I, I! I, I, I! I, I, I! I, I, I! I, I, I!
The pride cometh before the fall.


Anyway, as I may or may not have said earlier in a hee-lariously ironic fashion, let's not fool around any further-here's an IPS of a complete if still unrefined version of the entire level! How does this strike you as an epic conclusion to our lovely little bonus world?

Initially I was planning to wait a few days until I could put a little more polish on this, but frankly, I'm getting tired of being goofily secretive about all this nonsense, and things are basically developed enough by this point where you can clearly see I'm going with this, so I might as well show what I have now.

Notes:

- The midpoints are only semi-functional, natch. For reference: The first one, in the intro, is just a dummy--it's just there because it was there in the original, and is not intended to have a midway bar. The ones in the cave and tower sections are real, but you can only hit one of them, so I've kindly made it drop you off in any area with two doors--the left one leads to the first (cave) midpoint, the right to the second (tower).

- Due to the silly things I do there, there is a possibility of vanishing sprites in parts of the second area. I'll see what can be done about this.

- The blue, fire-spitting heroin addict Pac Man things or whatever they are (besides grey Snifit replacements) don't turn around to face Mario, which is annoying in a vertical level. Iceman stated at one point that he was considering adding a few lines of code to the sprite to fix this, and I've tried to minimize the effect for the most part, but occasionally one will still ignore Mario and boldly do battling with the tower wall.

- The flames are currently solid, which I'd rather they not be, but the all alleged non-solid normal hurt block currently in the ROM is apparently a non-solid top-only hurt block, which doesn't work terribly well. I don't think we ever quite got to the bottom of this.

- The first area still doesn't have a proper background, for the same reasons as before. The tower has part of a background (which suits it quite well, if I may say so myself), but I'll probably add something to the sky later.

- The eerily familiar undead sorcerer who stalks you throughout the stage will be getting upgraded graphics eventually (as will likely his master). He'll still remain the same eerily familiar undead sorcerer, but will be dressed somewhat like a Pionpi.

- The thing Mario lands on at the end of the section following the one-on-one battle between Mario and the above foe will likely have blinking eyes where those large dark spots (which I've decided to interpret as eyelids) are.

- The cutscene is very much jury-rigged, since I have no clue how we'll be handling those. I have no idea why the speakers' names are slightly cut off.

Let me know if you spot anything else, which you invariably will, as I know for a fact there's still rather a lot of kinks to work out. I'm also interested in knowing what you think of some of my kookier and less orthodox ideas as a whole--I very much tried to go all out here and do all manner of ridiculous things, a befits this world, and I'm curious to see which of them work. Most curious indeed...

Complete