Originally posted by Bebn Legg's commentsWhile Sandy Shores by itself is cute, it being a submap felt kind of awkward, especially considering the overall scale of the map. As well, its bottom islands seem to have a slight perspective issue considering you can see the cliff coming down at the top.
I don't get exactly what you meant with this one. I'm still not good at noticing some errors, especially perspective/scaling related stuff, so i think i'm just not seeing what exaclty you mean is the problem with the cliff, or what was awkward in it being a submap.
Originally posted by Bebn Legg's commentsThe spiralily connectivity of Crystal Caverns constantly going in and out was really cute, I love it. Maybe I'd slightly shift the second floor door to the right since they feel too close for the second-floor path to be coming from the right, but that's minor. Likewise, ending up at Rocky Mountain, which is completely in the top-left, felt a little disorienting. There's a sense of disproportion with how the inside and outside of the world connect. Looking at the map in Lunar Magic, the disconnect becomes much more apparent. The entrances to Crystal Caverns are on the right side of the big mountain chunk at the top, but then there's a whole part on the left that's somewhat disconnected.
First of all, again, i'm happy to hear positive comments on Crystal Caverns, as i was really proud of it!
However, i can also totally understand your complaints about it. This map actually took me a lot of work to make lol, especially with having 2 different maps connecting on multiple points and all that stuff, it was certainly the most demanding part of my entry, especially considering how inexperienced i was and still am with overworld editing.
With that, i did end up letting some errors slip by. I was actually wondering at times how nitpicky would the judges be... answer: a lot! lol
But i am glad you did, you made me see errors i hadn't even thought about before! I can see the thing with how disproportional/disorienting some of the entrances are, one of the main problems i had is that i had a lot more horizontal space to work with on the mountain in the main map than i had with the cave in a submap. The right and left side of the mountain were actually supposed to be connected, but i see i made kind of a poor job with showing that.
Well, thanks for your detailed comments!
Originally posted by Bebn Legg's commentsLike I previously said, Sandy Shores has a similar issue with it becoming gigantic as Mario walks into it
Well, for this one, i kinda followed the way the Yoshi's Island submap was implemented in vanilla SMW, having a small image of the island in the main map, and having it becoming bigger when we enter the submap.
I even tried following the same proportion (The overall size of the submap is about 2x the size of the version in the main map)
Originally posted by Bebn Legg's commentsAll this being said, I want to reiterate that I love the general idea of the cave and mountain worlds being linked, it really ties them together well.
Yay, thanks once again! I'm happy to hear you loved the concept of those worlds! (even with the problems xD)
One thing i love to see in overworlds is having them actually feel like a world, so the transition between each of them actually makes sense (for example, going into the water after Grassy Hills, and then coming into a beach in Sandy Shores). The connection between the cave and mountain was my strongest attempt at that idea, having both worlds connecting at multiple points, pretty much feeling like they're just one big thing.
Originally posted by Bebn Legg's commentsSomewhat of a minor issue, but maybe I'd make the ladder go offscreen in Bowser's Lair, since as it is, it looks like Mario just walks onto a hill and ends up outside.
Well, you're right.
The way i made the top of this submap was actually inspired by the caves in Earthbound. Since it has a top-down styled view, it uses that kind of "ceiling view" for the walls in the cave (instead of having them extend offscreen like SMW maps usually do), which i find a pretty neat effect, so i tried to recreate that.
The idea is that it's supposed to be a cut into the ceiling, rather than a hill. But yea, i should've paid attention to the ladder.
Originally posted by Bebn Legg's commentsThe events will the hills are adorable, but they do suffer from a bit of cutoff where they extend with the grass in the background and interrupt the lines behind them.
Wait, cutoff? Do you mean, during the event, when the hills are extending?
If that's the case... well, to be honest, i never really knew "mid event cutoff" was a thing lol
I thought as long as the end of the event is fine, what happens inbetween the steps is fine. But that's nice to know. (Also, i'm pretty sure that cutoff isn't avoidable using only vanilla graphics)
Originally posted by Bebn Legg's commentsThe trees moving around in Leafy Forest to reveal the path was adorable.
Yay! Once again, i'm glad to see this one stood out! I'm very proud of this effect!
Originally posted by Bebn Legg's commentsExpanding Sandy Shores to a submap also feels like it left it somewhat empty. There's just long stretches of paths without much.
I feel like this sentence is mising some words lol
Yea, in fact, i'd say Sandy Shores was my weakest map. My initial plans was to make an archipelago submap, but vanilla graphics are awful to work with for making islands lol. That's when i decided to make a beach/shore, as it was kind of a similar theme, but i could just use a bigger island. Also, the lack of vanilla decorations that fit a shore is real lol
Originally posted by Bebn Legg's commentsNice repurposing of the fence tiles to be little crystals in Crystal Caverns. Some may find the sparkles to be overboard, but I personally like them. The crystals' color contrasts well with the brown of the dirt.
Yay! Again, it's nice to see some love for Crystal Caverns!
You had to see how proud i was when i found out how great those things worked as crystals lol
I'm also glad to see you liked the palettes!
Originally posted by Bebn Legg's commentsNice repurposing of the lake tile as a hole leading into the Bowser world, and similarly with the lava pools in the Bowser map. Maybe the vanilla Bowser cutscene was a little dramatic for the appearance of an island with a tiny hole, however.
Another one of my creative risks that i was pretty proud of! This was a lot simpler compared to the crystals, but i liked the end result!
Also, that last sentence made me laugh xD
Such an epic moment... for a tiny hole to appear xD
Originally posted by Bebn Legg's commentsI like the use of numbered level names with occasional breaks for more special levels, namely stuff like Rocky Cave Peak. Crystal Caverns 6 just wouldn't have had the same effect.
Yea, that's a thing i like as well!
In fact, i wanted to make more of those. The problem is, the way i come up with my level names is always based on what there is in the level, in terms of design, themes, mechanics and such. So to come up with names just from the map was a bit tough, which is why i opted for the numbered level name style.
Originally posted by Bebn Legg's commentsThe color of Sandy Shore's rocks are different between the overworld and the submap, just a minor thing.
Well, you seem to be the only one who caught that, good job! (Or maybe the others just didn't mention it xD)
That was due to palette restrictions, i had to use the same palette for the sand and the rocks in the main map as i had only 1 palette row for it. (i used 2 in the submap)
Originally posted by Bebn Legg's commentsThe lava pools are a little flat in Bowser's Lair
Yea, the lake tile is kinda simple by itself.
Although the lava pools shouldn't have been that flat. In fact, they should've been animated! This was the only issue i wasn't able to solve before the deadline, i did make a
palette ExAnimation for them, but for some reason it didn't work in-game. (Even though it
does show up in Lunar Magic!)
Still have no idea why that happens.
Originally posted by Bebn Legg's commentsOverall, this is an overworld that's simple but effective. It sticks to the basics, but still manages to vary up the terrain well. It has a few perspective and proportion issues, but other than that, it's pretty solid. I liked it.
Yay! I did stick to the basics, and kept my entry pretty simple, so it's great to see these nice comments!
Thank you so much for all your detailed commentary!