Topic: Super Mario Maker - OT

@spizzamarozzi: Part of the problem is that it's nearly impossible for anyone who isn't already popular to get noticed either in Super Mario Maker, or even in places like this forum, as I'm finding. Both places suffer from popularity bias, forcing people to actively advertise their levels and basically beg for attention before anyone gives them more than a glance. And you're absolutely right about the 100-Mario Challenge (which is often the only way most of us ever get any plays at all) - people don't want to bother with well-made levels there. They just want to breeze through them.

I just wish there was an easier way for newcomers to get their levels seen - there are quite a few real gems out there. (I'm not necessarily saying mine fall into that category, but I'll leave it to others to decide that.) But as it is right now, it's basically "You can't become popular unless you're already popular".

With that in mind, anyone willing to take a look at my stuff? These are my most recent levels that present a challenge (as opposed to being music or auto-play levels). They're mostly experimental, but none of them are too terribly hard. Would appreciate some feedback.

Thanks.

@DanoLefourbe: Thanks Dan, your levels are awesome. Ive stared some of your levels

@Harvan: I played your level "Why Are the Herrings Always Red?" and I didn't understand it very well. It was over so fast. I guess, you should expand the level a little more.
However, I think you forgot one of your gems here: Music Train: Chrono Trigger! That is indeed an automatic level but one of the best

@Chandlero: I'm really happy you thought so. I was slightly worried that beginning might be too hard, so I tried to keep it concise, and make the rest of the level engaging, but considerably more forgiving (mainly by with power-up). There's one part on the ship which only works when the cannon fires, which requires Mario to be to the right of it, but on the upper ledge. Did that cause any issues for you? Thank you for taking the time to look at it.

@Harvan: You're absolutely right, and it's a real shame. The Mario Maker system is better than nothing, but it's a long way from perfectly desirable. I'm about to plug into your levels now, so your self-promotion has got you somewhere.

Impressions to follow.

EDIT: On the topic of 'levels the system doesn't do justice, here is a wonderful snake block level (not mine, I'm not that shameless): 2DA7-0000-008D-D191

@Maxz: That cannon fall is heart of that puzzle. Even name of level refers to it, "rejection". That stuck on ice in beginning is kind of hint to puzzle. I was gonna do series of those in one level, but decided to focus on one and keep it simple.

Thanks! I'm a game music nut, so I love challenges like that. Have you tried Frog's Theme and SMB2 as well?

On the Herrings course: This was meant to be a fun, silly level with some misdirection in it. Did you just go straight to the exit, or did you follow the recommended paths first?

Here are the links to those music levels:

@mrichston: It's not the fact that the cannon falls (that's clearly necessary), but HOW it falls. It kind of does a glitchy hop and then suddenly appears on the floor. But I'd like to make clear, this is a massive triviality (if that's not a contradiction). It doesn't effect the gameplay in any meaningful way whatsoever! I'm a little embarrassed to have mentioned it to be honest. Please don't take it as a serious complaint!

@T-3: I only tried "I need a new castle!" for now, and it's really a mixed bag to me. Most parts are really nice

• the platforms with the spikeys, good
• the rail with the ghosts, good
• the flying ice block with the fireballs, good
• the invisible blocks on rails you have to activate , really nice, as it can be guessed with bit of effort
• the corridor of death with thwomps, bullets, grinders, pretty sweet.
• the trap with the spring on conveyor belts, really well made, with the laughter to warn you of danger, that's great!

What doesn't work that well:

• The giant wigglers room. What the hell am I supposed to do? Find a secret? In this gigantic room? While I'm hunted by 4 invincible monstrosities? That room is nice but the secret part is just too much. I think you didn't put yourself in the shoes of the player enough with this one.
• The little tower of springs. Yeah you will get out of there one day but it's just obnoxious. Unless you already built the muscle memory for this elsewhere, it's just a hassle.
• Talking about obnoxious: The thwomp that activates the P-switch. Is there any point to this? Does it unlock something? Even if it does, I don't think it's a good idea to waste the time of 99% of your player, just for the few who will want to find the secret. It's tedious enough to start a hard level over and over again. Don't waste the player's time by just making them wait.

Otherwise your level looks great, you know the limits of the engine pretty well and each room seems fair to me.
The only thing that keeps me from starring or trying yout level until I finish it, is that damn thwomp that seems pointless to me.
That's the kind of gratuitous frustration that will make people skip your level without a second thought. I will try some other ones now.

This is loosely inspired by the stage "Yoshi's Island 2" in Super Mario World

@Littlebigblox: I saw that, thank you ^^

I was playing around with SMB3 and found these speed runs fun, so I uploaded them for a limited time. The second level can be surprisingly hard, the lack of sloped terrain makes it harder then it would otherwise be.
I discovered you can't set a time limit to single digits, the lowest two settings are 20 and 10 seconds. I hope they'll change that some day.

(31AA-0000-0098-EE11)

Here's my new auto runner level, spent a long time on this one and am really happy with the way it's turned out, let me know you think!

Very nicely done. Visually one of the best auto levels I've seen in SMM, I did feel the very end of level right before the finish could've been a little better. Not much happened there compared to the rest of the level.

@T-3: I played more of your levels.

• Piranha Parcours; really fun, pretty balanced. I find that the levels made with only the basic tools are the most fair, because nothing will break from unexptected interactions. I didn't finish it, but it is your best hardcore level.
• Elevator Evader is broken. On the second upward phase, you can end up with a piranha plant pattern that is just impossible. You get trapped and your only option is suicide. Also, don't give troll mushrooms that make a jump nearly-impossible.
• Fire Rain: pretty fun, and short as it should be. Still too random to be considered fair. The movements of the clouds are too hard to manipulate, with the number of things you're asking the player to process. Starred it as it's fun, but this level is very much a victim of "information overload".
• Turbo Tunnel is really fun, well made, of the perfect length and difficulty. Super fun. Only problem: The mushroom can kill you way too easily when you wouldn't die without it. You're too tall, you hit the ceiling, and you're bounced to an unsalvageable position. Since the mechanics of SMB3 are not used at all, why not use the SMB theme and use costumes as a strict power-up (for Turbo Tunnel 2 also)?
• Turbo Tunnel 2 is way too long, and the "puzzle" has no place in an autoscroll. It is way too obscure for the player to process in his first or second run, and after that, it's too hard to pull off. The "mushroom can kill" problem is even more visible in this one.
  This one is definitely much worse than the first.
• Racethe Gallomba has a good idea, but only works because it is fairly easy. racong by crawling though a 1-block-high corridor or slaloming down the clouds didn't seem really fun to me
• Flying Machine looks awesome. And plays well. There are just a few problems:
  -There are parts where the ceiling is invisible during 2/3 of the camera sway. Ceilings and floors should be visible at all times, just like in a normal level.
  -The clown car that comes from the right above the spikes and cannons is a bit cheap. It can be activated mid jump, appear and kill you.
  I didn't finish this level, as I'm too tired. I will finish it tomorrow.

One pieces of advice I would give:
The player will always find a level you made at least twice as hard as you did. He didn't make it, so he doesn't have your thought process, and he doesn't have you play style. When you've made what you think is fair, then give just a little bit of leeway to the other players. If you think a two block space is enough to move, make it three.

Of course do what you want with all that critique, and feel free to ignore anything I said ^^

@DanoLefourbe: Thx for your feedback and trying my other levels, much appreciated
As for your negatives, I figured that the wiggler room might be a hassle to figure out so I actually put those coins in there as search spots tho I guess I could have made it a little clearer. The spring tower was more of an experiment at first, but I always got out pretty fast by just running into it and mashing B, so I didn't put too much further thought into it tbh.

And as for the big thwomp, that was originally meant as just an aesthetic thing but I found 2 problems with it: the p-switch effect would mess up one of the upcoming rooms and players can actually leave the castle, if they're quick, locking themselves out. Since I wanted to avoid both of these problems without simply rebuilding that part I did indeed come up with a secret to it (that can save a lot of time ironically...)

I've made a short level that's easy yet challenging. Have at it!

@Kinan: o/

You could play my lastest level:

@Kinan: Ooh ooh, pick me, pick me!

If you want a very stripped-down, very straightforward, very challenging bit of platforming, then there's this:

And if you want something more thematically and visually fleshed out (although still pretty straightforward), there's this:

This one is... actually quite easy, but I think charming. You break into a house and stuff. Light bit of platforming, light bit of puzzling, but reasonably heavy on... style?:

And this one's here because I'm looking for feedback on it. I've got some visual tweaks planned for it, but if there are any mechanical tweaks to make, I'd like to know. Has a pretty tough start:

I would be honored if you picked one of mine. You could do my "Peach Stumbles Home" level, my Luigi's Mansion level, or either of the Mario Kart ones.

TRADITIONAL MARIO IS BEST MARIO