Level - Move Faster Pokey!! Fun 2/40 , Concept 5/30 , Presentation 3/20 , Functionality 10/10 Total Score - 20/100 My first impression on seeing this level's name was “Oh, we're going to be seeing a lot of Pokeys, and maybe riding on some, but due to the reference in the title, will likely be faster than normal!” All but the second were true- there's absolutely a large focus on Pokey. Exclusively, in fact! I applaud the attempt to make the uses varied, but unfortunately, it falls flat very quickly. The level opens with two Pokeys on a staircase, a pipe, and a Mushroom above the pipe. This Mushroom is extremely valuable, for awaiting you on the other side of the pipe is a sudden Fast Pokey- if you don't jump within a fraction of a second after exiting the pipe, or you dare to use a Spin Jump as opposed to a normal jump, you will be hit. If this was intended to be an introduction to Pokey speeds, I feel a better option would've been to put the Pokey somewhere that it would never interact with the player, as a safe showcase. Unfortunately, the level continues on with Pokeys at this speed to its detriment, denying the player reaction time on every setup. It also ultimately focuses on “Pokeys are obstacles to be avoided” to its detriment; the changing setups are merely HOW it is to be avoided, and most of them ultimately repeat in some fashion. I really would've liked to have seen more sections where Pokey is instead an ally to help you achieve a goal! Remember, just because it's classified as an “enemy” doesn't mean its only purpose is to damage the player! Pokeys decide after some time to change their direction to chase the player and this turnaround can and will catch people when they otherwise may have overcome the obstacle- you used a custom version of Pokey, so I would've loved to have seen you remove this ability from it to make your setups far more reliable and predictable! Reliability and predictability are good things when your goal is dodging something! The level has no midpoints whatsoever, making every death extremely painful- the level heavily encourages savestate abuse this way, and is very much the opposite of fun. The most egregious obstacle I met was the third-to-last one, where if the camera is not scrolling right enough when you exit the pipe to enter the obstacle, the Pokey of the next section WILL hit you before you can react. By this point I was always Small Mario, so this Pokey would be an instant death. If you savestate while in the pipe at this point, you're forced to restart the level. There's, unfortunately, no real fun to be had. Difficulty does not let up, and the obstacles, while interesting in theory, are heavily marred by the speed of the Pokeys. Presentation-wise, the level leaves a lot to be desired- it's solely pipes and cement blocks with a desert background from Super Mario Bros. 3, not really anything to write home about. There's also some floating Munchers everywhere that you use them- why not make Map16 versions of them with their graphics flipped vertically, so they hang on the ceiling? That would look far better! Also, I really wish you had invested in a desert foreground tileset! I think it would've looked so much better that way! You're clearly going for a desert theme, there's no reason not to go all the way with it! Lastly, the background messes with the colors of the status bar at the top of the screen, making it look very unpleasant. Remember, whenever you're changing the background, always make sure to leave the last 8 colors of the first two palettes alone so the status bar looks correct! If you can't make that work on palettes 0 and 1, see if you can change things around so it'll work on any of the other FG/BG Palettes! Pros: +Speeds up the Pokeys, and thus lives up to its name +Focuses its design exclusively on Pokeys, and tries to vary the setups involving them Cons: -The speed of the Pokeys is too fast to reliably react to -No midpoint causes deaths to be heavily punishing -Pokeys feel unpredictable due to them turning to chase the player after a few seconds -Design is extremely punishing, offering no real room for error -Ultimately doesn't do much with the Pokeys beyond making them obstacles to avoid Suggestions: -To keep the theme on Pokeys, perhaps vary the speeds they move at- lower the speed of the fastest version, and make speeds between the slowest and the fastest -Vary the setups involving Pokeys more; instead of solely dodging them, have scenarios where you have to bounce on them to cross A gap, or climb up a vertical shaft to reach a switch -Add a midpoint so death isn't so punishing --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Level - Horror of Lava Fun 5/40 , Concept 1/30 , Presentation 2/20 , Functionality 10/10 Total Score - 18/100 Despite the name, this level unfortunately has nothing to do with lava! The tide was colored red, as if it was lava, but unfortunately, it can still be swam in, thus ruining the immersion of it possibly being lava. Partway through the level, the player is expected to climb up to a higher point to continue, but the tide rises with them- remember, the tide is on layer 3, and layer 3 stays put relative to the screen for tides! You can use a tide fix patch to fix the issue, quick and easy. Beyond that, the level's quite short and plain. There's not really much to interact with. You have a little terrain, but it's cut off near the start. You have a Porcu-Puffer at the start, but you did not turn on Sprite Buoyancy, so it just simply falls off the screen quickly. A bit further in, there's a trio of slidin' Koopas on a slope, but the slope faces in the direction you're going, so they won't be any issue for you unless you're running when you jump to their ledge. The only other enemies are 3 Bob-Ombs at the start on ledges, and a Bob-Omb on the P-Switch bridge at the end. These are the only threatening things in the entire level. The P-Switch being “trapped” by invisible ? Blocks is an interesting idea, but I must question the point of it, given you need it to continue on anyway. On the note of the bridge it makes, if you fall off it, or run out of time, you fall into the tide and must manually let yourself fall or run out of time to restart. Considering you used the tide for this, of course there's no way you could simply make that a regular pit, but perhaps that means that's the proper time to transition to a different sublevel, to remove the tide. On the note of presentation, there's a handful of cutoff terrain in the level, as well as floating vines to transition up to the P-Switch ledge. Always try to avoid cutoff terrain when you can! For example, for the vines, why not use the netting object instead? That object is naturally floating and looks fine as it is- you can even connect it to the side of the big ledge to make it look more natural, too! The Item Box in the middle of the status bar is red since you recolored the tide- typically, you don't want to do that! It looks fine here, but there's other ways you can achieve the effect you wanted, such as putting actual lava on Layer 2 and using Layer 3 for the background. With the music, it's basic Super Mario World. This can work, but your name makes clear you want lava- this song doesn't suit lava at all. If your goal was “beach” or “lakeside”, you'd probably hit it for sure, but on lava, I'm sorry, it's a miss. There's a lot of good lava-themed music out there you could use! Lastly, since your entire level is in one sublevel, once you hit the goal, the tide is removed by the score tally- this never looks good! If your level has a tide, the goal should always be on a sublevel with no Layer 3 effects. Functionally, it all works; there's that pit right at the end that you can survive and wait out the clock in, but I can't consider that a softlock, considering if you just put the controller down, you immediately die. Suggestions: -Lengthen the level; there's not much meat here, but if you expand it you might hit upon a setup you may want to expand upon for the entire level! -Make sure all objects in your level, terrain and sprite alike, have the right graphics! If it doesn't look right for your theme, change it until it does! -Make the P-Switch run at the end drop you into something that forcibly kills you should you fail it, instead of giving the player a chance to wait out the timer -Try out some different music! Remember, you don't need to limit yourself to JUST Super Mario World's base music- there's an Entire library out there for you to put in your level, surely there's something to fit the theme you want! -Find something to focus your level on! Right now, it feels very raw and unfocused, it's very hard to tell what exactly it is you even wanted to do with the level; lengthening it could help find where to focus, though. If you don't find something to focus on there, try something different! There's nothing wrong with scrapping what you have and starting from scratch- you're not giving up, you're just Reconsidering it from a different angle! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Level - Mega Mole Bathhouse Fun 35/40 , Concept 15/30 , Presentation 17/20 , Functionality 10/10 Total Score - 77/100 I really enjoyed this level! I quite enjoyed the focus on Mega Moles, and I appreciated that the 'bathwater' isn't an instakill, but just merely damages you- that makes the level far more fair! The visuals are spectacular! I quite love how you've mixed together the ghost house tileset with pieces of the castle background's window frames to create what almost feels like pipework in the walls! I would've liked to see a little more decoration to really feel the “bathhouse” theme, though. Maybe a few of the big gas bubbles recolored to blue to be like big soap bubbles, or maybe the regular bubbles that pop when you touch them. That would've made for some interesting setups there- some bubbles there effectively for decoration, some there as obstacles you want to avoid, where touching them would slow you down enough to make you fall off your ride, or fail to jump to that ledge you wish to reach. I liked that one part at the end where the bathwater suddenly had sprites other than Mega Moles in it, but I really REALLY wish you'd done more with that throughout the level! That would've been a great expansion of the idea beyond just simply riding Mega Moles. On that note, I did wish you had done more with the Mega Moles beyond just being platforms. They overall really felt like they were just “there”, instead of truly being an integral part of your level's concept. Past that, I felt like the level overall was quite cramped- in a spot right before the midpoint, there's a Hopping Flame you're forced to duck jump over or Spin Jump on to get past- I would've loved to have seen a little more vertical room overall just for gameplay purposes! Lastly, by going at my own pace but not too slow, I hit the goal RIGHT as the timer hit 99. I feel like maybe the level needed just a TEENSY bit more time, or shorted by a single screen or two, but that's just personal preference. You definitely have plenty of time to clear the level! In terms of presentation, the flavor's all there. This screams “bathhouse” to me. It's a little more “mechanical” than I'd expect, but it's still wonderful. Maybe a little TOO Much Mega Mole, but overall you've hit the mark well! Pros: +Nailed the bathhouse theme +Falling into the water is merely damaging, so there's danger to falling into it, but it's not super punishing +Mole Cons: -Relies a little too much on the Mega Mole, would've loved to have seen a bit more variety like happens at the end -Mega Mole usage is the same setup every time, just the surrounding area that determines how you get to the Mole changes -Quite cramped at times Suggestions: -Make more use of putting other enemies and sprites inside the bathwater! You did it at the end once, but it was never built upon, which made me a bit sad. The level may be called “Mega Mole Bathhouse”, but Mega Mole is definitely overused here and in the same general configuration- it needs variety beyond “let's ride this to avoid the damaging water”! -Raise ceilings a bit in places- the level's kinda cramped! -Lean more into the “bathhouse” aesthetic and add in some Bubbles to spice things up --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Level - In-Season Athletic Fun 37/40 , Concept 20/30 , Presentation 10/20 , Functionality 10/10 Total Score - 77/100 This was a fun little athletic experience! Quite stressful, but in a good way. I can tell your base concept was “Sinking Mushroom Platforms”, and I think you nailed them quite well! I liked the little extra challenges for Yoshi Coins, too! Some of the jumps are probably a little TOO stressful, but overall, nice work. I didn't like the positioning of most of your kicking Koopas, though- they're all set to kick just about immediately upon spawning them, which gives you little time to react. The trap at the end is funny, but it's again not something easily able to be reacted to- remember that you're going to be better at your own level than others since you know all the setups! Also, I wish you had done a little more with the sinking platforms than simply “make them sink enough to get to the next platform”, would've been great to see some other setups with them, such as platforms that rise back up slower than they go down, so you have to jump between two different ones as you're under attack, while waiting for an entrance to open up; that could be an exciting use for the platforms! Aesthetically, I would've liked to have seen some actual decoration. It definitely feels like it could've actually been in Super Mario World's Special World, but I'd like to see something a little different! The mushroom platforms combined with all the Piranha Plants makes me think that the level would work well with an overall jungle or forest aesthetic. I think It'd work really nicely, and spice up the level a lot! Pros: +Fun gameplay +Has some good difficulty, balanced by some easier sections afterward to cool down a bit with Cons: -Lacking a bit aesthetically -Plants coming out of pipes from below have red stems instead of green -Some spots a touch too difficult due to low ceilings Suggestions: -Change the visual theme of the level to a forest or jungle, really play into the plants -Ease up on some of the vertically-challenged jumps a bit -Fix the stem color on some of the plants -Utilize the mushroom platforms in more ways than just dropping them to reach the next platform --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Level - Ninji Citadel Fun 34/40 , Concept 30/30 , Presentation 16/20 , Functionality 8/10 Total Score - 88/100 That was a fun puzzle level! Learning to control your jumps was difficult, but kinda fun! You start easy, then work your way up to difficult- then at the end you throw in a curveball of needing to do this while the level is autoscrolling, putting a time limit on you working things out. But it all worked out quite well! It was a bit easy to hit spikes protecting the puzzle Ninjis, though... Aesthetically, I like the look of the level, but I don't quite like the colors on the stone bricks- the green on them stands out too much, and doesn't mesh well with the graphics. The cave terrain, on the other hand, looks splendid. I feel like I'm assaulting a secret fortress hidden on the border between a forest and a mountain! The only true issues I have are with the puzzle room right before the midpoint, and with what happens when you die. With the pre-midpoint puzzle room, the design is super hectic. You have a good bit of stuff to take in at once, where most of it is threatening you, and you need to make sure to time your jumps correctly to let a Koopa kick a shell to let you continue- and once it does, you can't jump too high or you die! I know the level's themed around controlling your jumps, but that feels quite cheap right before the midpoint- right AFTER instead, that might be more fair. As for the death- every time you die, since you set the timer to 0, the game displays “TIME UP!” Remember, the game checks if time is 0 when you die to know whether or not to display that message, so if you intend to give your level no time limit, you should always apply the patch to fix that display! Lastly, I REALLY wish you had made more use of jumping making Ninjis get in the way instead of OUT of the way! It being relegated to the very end of the level is a shame, I really liked that idea! It wasn't even used very much in the autoscroll section, either, which felt very short. The presentation of the level is quite nice- I really love that music!- as is the concept. You open with an introduction to the gimmick, that Ninjis only jump when you do, and then you change up how they're used from there- some are obstacles to be jumped over/defeated, some stand on platforms you must jump through, a few need to be slowed with water to get under them, and there's even a few that need to be timed with Koopas to open the way forward! Again, I feel some parts could've been expanded upon and used more, but overall I like what I see. Gave me some trouble, but I enjoyed it all the Same! Pros: +Gimmick is fun to work with +Setups don't feel stale at all despite being the same base idea +Aesthetics are simple, yet quite nice +Good difficulty curve Cons: -Time Up issue was not fixed -Palette a bit of a miss on some of the tiles -Spikes placed annoyingly in spite of always being Small Mario -Pre-midpoint puzzle room asked for a bit too much mentally Suggestions: -Use the setup of Ninjis obstructing you if you jump more -Put the stone blocks on a different palette -Lengthen the autoscroll section a bit more