Topic: Super Mario Maker - OT

@AdamLikesNintend: I'll play it next time I boot up the game! What's the code/link?

@Everyone: Ok, this level is harder to speedrun. When I was playtesting it I think I got less that 20 seconds, but I just did it once because I got really lucky. It's a great level by itself so you'll surely have fun even if you don't fly through it.

https://supermariomakerbookmark.nintendo.net/courses/8F18-000...

@SuperWiiU: I think, we nailed it

Whew... it took a long time, but I finally finished my latest course, The Trials of the Sky Dungeons. It might seem small from the length screenshot, but it is quite a lengthy course. And , like most of my other courses, it requires patience.

Also, not many people have played my Escape the Shipwreck! stage (not to even talk of clearing it). Don't mind me, just advertising the stage as it's one I'm fond of.

Everyone please check out my latest course and let me know what you think. I wanted to use some more of the costumes and I got the idea of a robot theme. Arwing isn't technically a robot I guess but close enough and I needed more than 3. I also wanted to do a Rube Goldberg machine but not too much or else you would be watching rather than playing. Anyway, I think it's worth a couple minutes of your time!
https://supermariomakerbookmark.nintendo.net/courses/414D-000...

@Freeon-Leon: Awesome! I actually don't get into speed runs myself so I'm not entirely sure what you guys look for in a course. Please let me know if it does seem like it's good for that or not. My thinking is that they are because of they have so many ways to cut your time as opposed to a shorter course where it's just a matter of perfect movements. BTW, I just bookmarked your latest course and realized I had you favorited and then forgot who you are and deleted you. Oops! I'll remember now.

Here's the 3 easier ones:
https://supermariomakerbookmark.nintendo.net/courses/2CAB-000...
https://supermariomakerbookmark.nintendo.net/courses/3B6A-000...
https://supermariomakerbookmark.nintendo.net/courses/5E6F-000...

And the original (now called the expert) version:
https://supermariomakerbookmark.nintendo.net/courses/5B65-000...

@AdamLikesNintend: Haha, no problemo. I bookmaked all 4 courses. I'm planning to play tonight so I hope I can post my times later.

About what a speedrunnable level should have... I don't know exactly, I just did what I saw in SMB, SMW, etc. That feeling of awesomeness each time you keep pressing the run button is what I was aiming for.

Dang, at least I had it for a while. I want to get more into this game soon, but the holidays are still trying to hang around for as long as possible, making it difficult to commit time to Mario Maker despite having so much of it.

@AdamLikesNintend, @Vee_Flames: I have your level(s) bookmarked and will give them a go later on.

You still have it here: https://supermariomakerbookmark.nintendo.net/courses/8515-000...

@AdamLikesNintend: Good speedrun levels have multiple routes and allow you to mostly keep on running/moving quickly. I made some turbo(fast scrolling) versions of some SMB3 levels before the worldrecord time updates and you can clearly see by running through those levels that while they're great for just regular platforming everything is placed so you can speed through the entire level, even the ones that you don't expect it from.

@DreamyViridi: Awesome, thanks! I think I checked yours out a while back but you probably have some new ones by now for me to play.

@SuperWiiU: Ok cool. I think my Watch for Shooting Stars stages are pretty good for that then. One of them actually has two shortcuts that, combined, probably cut it in less than half. The final shortcut is hard to pull off, but you will know what to do if you find it. I've seen many little red x's where people have attempted it despite being directed to the much easier path. When you say fast scrolling levels, do you mean auto scrolling? Wouldn't it be impossible to speed run those because you can't make the camera move any faster?

@DreamyViridi: Thanks.
By the way, I certainly need to play more of this game.... but then I got a ton of games for the holidays and it's certainly hard to choose one to play over the others.. not to mention that I still have games that I got a while ago to complete. But yeah, I'll definitely play more Mario Maker.
Oh, and does anyone know how to get the Nintendo World Championships stages?

@Vee_Flames: If you complete all the Coursebot stages in 10 Mario Challenge, then you unlock the four NWC Stages. And if you beat all of them, you get the Slender Mushroom (or Weird Mushroom, to use its official name). I've yet to see anyone make a sophisticated course based around the Weird Mushroom, so I hope it gives you some ideas.

@smm1 I managed to play your level, and I actually had a lot of fun. For a first level I thought you did a really good job! As you keep thinking up, creating, and even playing levels, I think you'll gradually develop ideas about different ways of using the tools and structuring levels, and that experience will no doubt show through in your work. I'm sure your level could be 'tightened up' somewhat, but for a first level, I thought it was rich in ideas and generous enough in its distribution of power-ups/checkpoints to be very playable and enjoyable, which is impressive given the courses chaotic nature. Generally, I thought it had a lot of charm and I enjoyed it.

Thank you for playing my level, by the way. Do you have any comments/criticism you'd like to share?

For anyone yet to play it, I would really appreciate feedback of any kind. I'm really proud of it, but it could be that there's some gaping flaw I've completely overlooked:

https://supermariomakerbookmark.nintendo.net/courses/CCEA-000...

@Maxz: Bookmarked!

@Chandlero: Thank you for playing the level, letting me know what you think of the level, and posting a video of your play-through on YouTube (it was pretty cool to see my course on YouTube!). You have a good point, I did put quite a number of enemies, I aimed to make the level more difficult that way but I can understand your viewpoint on how too many of them can be overwhelming. I actually only put one Bowser Jr., but that Bowser Jr. is pretty pesky and keeps following you throughout the level, so I can see how it becomes annoying. And clearing the level without using the "Bounce Coaster" was impressive, not what I intended but definitely impressive!

@Maxz: Thank you for playing my level and letting me know what you thought of it! Thanks for the praise, I appreciate it! I tried my best to distribute the power-ups and use checkpoints so that the level doesn't feel cheaply difficult, so I'm happy you thought it was the right balance!

As for your level, I enjoyed it! It was creative, and I liked how the player constantly has to be on the move. I do remember not being sure what to do at the beginning. I figured at first I was supposed to ride the boxes or something like that, but after a couple of tries I realized I could just wall-jump. Once I realized that the level became much better for me and I was able to complete it after a couple more tries. Frankly though I don't know what you can do to make that more obvious and/or if you should make that obvious instead of letting the player figure it out. The doors were definitely helpful as they made it much more streamlined instead of pressing "Start Over" again and again. Otherwise the course had the right amount of challenge without making it feel cheaply difficult, I remember completing the letter and feeling satisfied that I completed it, which means you managed to strike that balance well. Also, great use of checkpoints, that really made the level much less frustrating and more fun!

@smm1: Thanks for you feedback! I've been a little worried about the beginning. It's one of those things that feels natural as a creator, but after finishing it you realise that you've played a very specific requirement on the player (i.e. sprint from the start) without giving them much indication of what it is...

I tried to use the arrows and coin trails to get the general message across, but they're a bit vague (only giving direction and not speed). Maybe using a spring to catapult Mario forwards, or spelling out 'RUN' in coins would be more effective. I'll listen to a few more comments, and give the issue some thought. Having a frustrating, non-user-friendly intro is possibly the worst thing a level can have. I'm glad you got past it though, and made it through the rest of the level without much confusion or frustration. The first bit was actually almost an accident. I built the level in the subworld, without really thinking about it, then realised I had to provide some way of actually GETTING to the subworld that didn't feel like a waste of time. I thought it would be nice to have the player platforming on the OUTSIDE of rectangles at the beginning, but I get to deal with the fact that the platforms start scrolling whether Mario is on them or not.

Anyway, I really appreciate the play and the feedback, and I look forward to seeing how your levels develop!

Me and a few friends came up with the idea of building our own courses using same key enemies/elements. Each person picked 2 enemies or elements (total 10) which we had to use in in a specific order. I always wanted to build a 1 screen puzzle and since it was a puzzle to put together, I figured it's the prefect recipe. It's not very difficult maybe 5/10. I don't expect anyone to beat it first try. My suggestion is look at the level in its entirety then have a go at it. If you like it please leave a star or comment. Good luck 👍

Yes, the autoscrolling on cheetah/fastest. You can speedruns those too, because you can move to the front of the moving screen or to the back if you aren't as fast. I'll try your Watch for Shooting Stars level.

@j-BL00D: A great puzzle game. You can see here how long it took me too figure it out

@Maxz: This is a great level. A very good idea to use the blocks for autoscrolling. You need a lot of wall jumps but the level was never unfair. You can see my first try here. I died just one time and it was very embarrassing

@SuperWiiU: We could start a weekly speedrun challenge alongside the usual challenge thread. I guess, it would be fun to focus on one chosen level for a while.

Sure, if there are enough people participating it could be fun. And what should be done once the fastest possible time is reached?

@AdamLikesNintend: I couldn't find your level that I bookmarked yesterday. Did you delete it?
@Maxz: I played Rectangular Entanglement as well and I really enjoyed it! Even managed to find a secret or two.
@Vee_Flames: I felt that your shipwreck level was a little all over the place, both in terms of terrain and enemy placement. Try using semi-solid platforms, the background of those would really add to the ship feel.