Sméagol

I finally made something easier for you guys! No trailer yet though. ID: N36-4JL-7RF

Or: But yeah. Probably wise to keep it to yourself until then, otherwise I'll try to come up with stuff before that.

Bumping this for attention and hopefully bring people back to Mario maker (besides the challenge). Looked at my favourites list, and there were still a few levels I haven't played yet, including Time Paradox @Dcubed, I'll get on that one soo. It's just that I mostly spend my time in the editor, and if I play I usually do the new section to be surprised at the crap and occasional hidden gem I get. I haven't even posted most of my own levels here.

I wasn't kidding when I said I wanted/ hoped to do monthly challenges, since I fully expect more and faster challenges to lead to burn-outs / fatigue quickly. I had a look at the SMM2 level thread (I totally forgot we had a separate thread for that), and found out you've been mentioning the wrong people @Dcubed.. There were several others which I haven't seen making new levels anymore. My favourite list in Mario Maker comprises almost entirely of NE people, and it's telling there are barely any new levels in there. Hopefully, besides @RedShell, we see @Ronnie, @GenericAperson, @Aneres11, @Mike and @ViPeR coming back to make new levels, and participate in the next challenge! At the moment it seems it's just me, DCubed, and Glen-i still invested in this game. That being said, I also, in hindsight, would have prefered a cleaner date, not some where in the middle of the month, so maybe we can do the next one earlier to time it around the beginning of the month. That way we can do each challenge say, every first Saturday of the month. Also doesn't mean you can't make any other levels in between. In fact, I made 2 already. They're VS levels though, of course they're hard, and the titles should tell you if you want to try them out. The idea behind those levels initally started simply out as me wanting to do a single screen multi lane race, so all players can watch each other while playing. Which resulted in me only having 2 tiles available for each lane. But I had incredible fun coming up with set-ups that work with a 2 tile height (so much I want to do a regular level doing that). Which make me realize themes for the challenges don't even necessarily have to be 1 or 2 chosen elements, but can be any restriction you think of. I don't think anything is going to change the outcome, so @Glen-i seems to be the winner (Redshell already voted, and I overlooked @londragon's son's vote, so Glen-i has 5 votes) So I would propose 7th of March as the date for the March challenge, however, I didn't realize this year was a leap year, so 29th is almost the first Saturday of March. We could do the next one then as an exception, but I really suggest waiting a whole month for future challenges.

I'll probabably watch it, but I'm hesitating a bit. I fully intend to get the game regardless, but I really want plenty of new stuff. So on one hand I want to see if there's actually any (much more than what I've seen so far, because any of the stuff already announced isn't enough to get me enthousiastic). On the other hand, if there is plenty of new stuff, it would be cool to get surprised while playing the game. Hmmz.

I want joy-cons in those colours..

Yeah this may just be me, but I don't want to unnecessarily @ someone (or something) when I just want to reference them! But I guess that's the easiest option. Edit: but if changing the name of the site is a serious option, I propose Virtual-Boy-Europe.com

Could work (it still seems to be a bit generic to me, you'd have to check if it doesn't have any current associations like #NEurope does), but that still leaves us without any "official" way of referencing N-Europe in general.

I thought "why not Google it", and it appears more complicated than that actually. Not purely based on clear rate.

I wonder how they determine that for new levels. I'd love to know in what difficulty my other levels fall under, but there's no way of knowing apart from downloading, and you can't download your own levels.

@Glen-i I don't think I've ever done completely alternative routes, but I like putting alternative platforms for the more skilled players on the same route, aka the speedrun route. This level just barely had any. Like I said, personally I love that difficult jump, but I can see how this may put other people off. I could make it simply easier like I mentioned, or take the vine idea from DCubed, maybe I'll do both or some other alternatives. As for DCubed's falling donuts.. It's actually the height that makes the jump hard. I've dealt with falling donut timing before, but so far only with horizontal jumps. I think making the height difference one tile smaller makes a huge difference. I did notice the varying spawn speed, but thought it was weird and it was too slow to make a big difference. My biggest issue was that it was easy to fail (not that in itself directly), and you had to do a very slow section before it. But yeah player preferences also plays a huge factor, like I said, I thought your easy route was way too easy. Happen to do that one first, and when I reached the goal, I was like "that's it?", then restarted to check out the other paths. I really felt I barely had to do anything to finish the level. Edit: This is where I should stress I don't consider myself some kind of pro player, far from it. Mediocre at best. Can't do shelljumping and the likes. It's funny that I'm completely contradictory in that I like to create hard levels, but can barely play them (unless I created them of course). Haha. My level has issues, but I'm not going to apologize for that particular one. Must be simply lack of experience, because (especially the first section) should be obvious. Since there's only one way to go. Further to the right is just empty space, where you obviously shouldn't jump, and if you followed the coin (which is there for a reason) you should have noticed the green pipe. As for your son. Muhahahh REVENGE Seriously, tell him that's payback for his insane walljumping parkours. Difficulty is relative, since even with Mario platforming players can have different skills, and it's obvious that he's better at walljumping, and I'm better at tiny platforms. But I can objectively say that to me (again, since it's also relative), his level is far far more difficult than anything I've ever done, except for maybe a harder version of one particular level I've done which I haven't even uploaded. Because I have attempted that level an insane amount of tries (or at least, that very beginning of it), and much more than the anything I do in my own levels (because I obviously still need to test it, and eventually play ot to clear it). Things that takes that many tries during testing get taken out. And you know.. At least my level has checkpoints and places where you can rest.

Love to see Catherine, one of those PS3 games I wanted. And Xcom.. I've wanted that since launch. I've bought the dlc in the Steam winter sale, and I've been playing it back then, though I'm currently doing other games, though I had a Iron man campaign that was going well (on normal though). THAT'S XCOM BABY

Oh and another thing.. What we're going to do right here is go back, way back into time. When we're still playing Mafia games.. I'd like you to bold votes (and on a single line) so it's easier for me to see them! Please? Thanks! Edit: @Glen-i is currently in the lead with 3 votes: The votes: Bangin' Doughnuts! (Dcubed) [2] Sméagol / Glen-i Spooky Explosive Donuts (Glen-i) [3] DCubed / Redshell / Nicktendo Our Donut Is Not a Hole (Sméagol) And this makes me realize I haven't set a cut-off date for voting, but there is no rush. Technically we only need it when we start talking about a second challenge, and we need the winner to decide the theme. Like I mentioned, I personally hope we do this monthly (anything faster could lead to burn-out), so I'd bring this up somehere after the first week of March.

1] Yeah, that would require some redesign I'm not sure how to do (well, I may have one idea now). I cannot litter the space with more fail-safes, more platforms to catch you if you fall on the intended one, it kind of defeats the purpose of a vertical section in the fist place, and you risk accidentally coming up with a lot of cheese. Simple solution would be more checkpoints, but I don't have those. It also just makes it visually too cluttered. Well the vines you mentioned may be a good idea. 2] Yeah, like I suspected, I need to redesign that big airship a bit for both the puzzle and the softlock. That was indeed the softlock I was referring to (making the vines go up), and after some more testing it wasn't that hard to fly up there (initial testing made me lose the power-up quickly while trying to get there). It already was the trickiest section to create. Funnily enough, I initially didn't try flying through the airship, but flying outside it was what I used for the speedrun route. That's what I spent a whole morning on, trying to get that super leaf there. 3] The blind jumps you have to explain, because I never really had a problem with. I didn't put those coins on the cannons for nothing :P. But yeah, if you gan give me more specifics, please. You've found out now, but yeah, that was exactly the jump I was considering making easier, seems I'm right. Obviously I personally liked the idea of jump even trickier than all the others, but this may have been one of those lines I crossed. A few things though, after watching your video. This may be my Mario maker experience, but I know exactly how high and how far Mario jumps, and I'd never try to jump from where you tried to jump, intended route would have been clear. This in itself may be indication that I should try to think of people not knowing that but.. here's some designer insight for you: Nothing about that platform is coincidental. It wasn't there initially, and I only placed it there as a compromise. I knew that jump was hard, so I placed it there as one of the few fail-safes. Like I said earlier, I don't want too many of them, since they clutter things, and as you see, serve as a distraction. It's too close to the big airship for my liking, but I knew I had to have something there. It's place is exactly where you get if you failed the (intended ) jump. it's size and placement is exactly such, that you can't use it to cheese the jump I want you to make (as far as I know) (which in itself, in hindsight, like I said before, looks like a line I crossed). It has nothing on it to indicate this isn't a place you need to be (follow the coins! ) Oh and it needs to visually match the rest. That jump was the most difficult for me to in your level. I was a bit annoyed to have to redo that p-switch race each time I failed that jump. unlike Redshell, I figured you had your reasons for putting that checkpoint after it instead of before. I finally did that jumping immediately left, and go for the middle donut blocks. Speaking of the p-switch race.. It was incredibly annoying if you failed a jump at the beginning and already know you're not going to make it. If I failed the jump, it means I'm in the water, and it's annoying to still have to go to the end regardless. Having a 2nd reset door in the middle (and having the exit door on the ground) would help. Similar to DCubed's response: unfortunately I only have 2 CP's available, and only one for each area. It originally was placed earlier (right after the pipe), but since the first section is relatively easy, and the vertical section is pretty big, I placed it higher so you had to redo less stuff once you've reached it. If I had more CP's.. I would have used them. So yeah, to conclude, like I suspected, I should redesign the big airship a bit, make that jump easier, and perhaps make it easier overall with more and / or larger platforms. I'll update and reupload later. Thanks for the comments everyone! Oh one more thing, @Dcubed, since you're the only one here who's reached the boss, any comments on that?

Cool, if you do, let me know what difficulty the game thinks my level is (though I can hazard a guess).

February challenge: Bob-Ombs & Donut Blocks The entries: Bangin' Doughnuts! (Dcubed ) ID: 37B-93X-8HF Spooky Explosive Donuts (Glen-i ) ID: B4H-KKT-K6G Our Donut Is Not a Hole (Sméagol) ID: D1K-PB6-9CG The votes: Bangin' Doughnuts! (Dcubed) [2] Sméagol / Glen-i Spooky Explosive Donuts (Glen-i) [4] DCubed / Redshell / Nicktendo / londragon Our Donut Is Not a Hole (Sméagol) Anyone reading this and still playing Mario Maker: go play the levels and get your votes in!

All right, I posted this idea in the general MM thread of having a friendly monthly competition of everyone making a Mario Maker level based on the same theme. The challenge A monthly challenge to create a Mario Maker level. Anyone who wants to participate, makes a level based on a theme, decided on beforehand by the winner of the previous challenge. The theme will usually be two chosen Mario Maker elements, but can be any restriction. Only one entry per participant, and no revisions once you've uploaded your level, not until after the challenge at least. Deadline will be roughly a week. The challenge starts the first saturday of the month, and ends on Sunday of the next week. Don't upload your level until the next weekend, so all levels can be played at the same time. Participants and other forum members who play (all) the levels can vote on a winner. Oh and I thought it would be a fun way to sneak in some site promotion by mentioning NE in the description. Theme For the first challlenge I went with two Mario Maker elements to build a level around, this seems to be the sweetspot for Mario Maker levels to focus on, but the theme can be any restriction you can think of (within reason). But it's more productive to keep things simple. Voting Vote for the level you like the best. You have one vote. You can't vote yourself. Players can vote too! In case of a tie ehh, I don't know. Initial idea was to have the players tied race a level not made by them, but now I think of it, it's easier to just check the actual hearts they got on their levels and compare. Winner gets to decide next theme Current challenge June challenge: SWIMMING!1!1!1!1! The deadline for creating a level is on Sunday, 14th of June! Past challenges February challenge: Bob-Ombs & Donut Blocks Winner: Glen-i Level: Spooky Explosive Donuts ID: B4H-KKT-K6G March challenge: Spikes Winner: RedShell Level: A Seriously Spiky Situation ID: J3F-RSG-PCG April challenge: Auto scroll Winner: tie between RedShell & Sméagol Level: Autoscroll Antics (RedShell) ID: 784-4ND-5MF Level: TLOZ: The Scrolls of Time (Sméagol) ID: WGG-6VS-2HG May challenge: Super Mario Bros. 2! Winner: Sméagol Level: Just Another day in Subcon ID: VLM-KSN-SFF

Do you guys have a preferred hashtag for twitter? On the forum we use NE, everybody understands, but on twitter this should be more specific. #NEurope ? This is what I saw @Dcubed using, and I think losing the dash for the hashtag is a good idea. Edit: Hmm, I see #NEurope is already in use for political stuff.. May not be suitable either. Maybe keep the dash.. Or something else?

I suspected this wouldn't gather much / enough interest like so many other ideas in the past, so I just put in in the general thread. But I guess it wouldn't hurt to create a thread so at least this first challenge will get some more attention. I'll create one.

Voting Making this up as I go. Vote for the level you like the best You can't vote yourself Players can vote too! In case of a tie ehh, I don't know. Maybe race a level made by someone not tied? Winner gets to decide next theme For overview, here are the 3 entries: Donuts & Bob-ombs Bangin' Doughnuts! (Dcubed ) ID: 37B-93X-8HF (1) Sméagol Spooky Explosive Donuts (Glen-i ) ID: B4H-KKT-K6G Our Donut Is Not a Hole (Sméagol) ID: D1K-PB6-9CG Like I said, players can vote too! Anyone reading this and still playing Mario Maker, it would be great to see some votes and comments!

I did them. @Glen-i: Easy route is well, too easy, top route is a nice and fun challenge (could maybe use some tweaking, but I don't want to go into detail). Didn't make it into the yellow pipe though (almost). @Dcubed: Why, WHY all the shallow water. Haha. Other than that is was indeed pretty tough (besides the water). Timed out once. Puzzle was brilliant. Despite the annoying water, my vote goes to @Dcubed for the fun puzzle. I ehh, should make a general post about voting.

Ugh. Spent all morning trying to set a good cleartime.. <sigh> I'll give your levels a quick go right now, but I'm dead tired, so if they're hard I'm going to bed and play them tonight. Anyway; Our Donut is Not A Hole ID: D1K-PB6-9CG Light puzzling but mostly very hard platforming. Boss at the end. Trailer in spoiler. (with speedrun route for first section), ignore if you don't want spoilers. I'm overall happy with mine, though I may reupload another version later with some extra polish. Trying to speedrun my own level didn't make it obvious the timer is pretty tight for such a big level, but the level is (yet again) pretty hard, there are 2 checkpoints, and I expect people to die a lot and reset the timers. It should probably be 400 at least, but I didn't want to clear it for the 3rd time (with a good cleartime). There's also one particular jump I think may be too hard, perhaps I should make that one easier (I already made some other jumps easier). There's also the puzzle in the big airship. While I like the set-up, I think I could make things more clearer for the player. I was also worried about a possible softlock, but after testing, I concluded it's either not possible, or you need to try really hard.

Seemed to make sense to me, since it's a bit of a contest, but it can't always be helped. Can't wait to see your takes tomorrow though!

Ok, few things. 1] I neglected and postponed this until it was today. I'm working on it now, I think I'm roughly two-thirds done, and I'm liking what I'm working on. Not going to make it too complicated, though it looks to be a bit bigger level than I originally intended. I should be done tonight or tomorrow, let's set the deadline at Sunday evening. Who's still participating? I saw @Dcubed booting up the game. 2] Like I said, I'd like maybe to put some #NE promotion in the description. Something like #NE Mario Maker challenge (n-europe.com). 3] If anyone is still participating, would be cool to wait to upload the level close to deadline, so all levels are available at the same time, and will be played together. 4] I think it could be fun to make this a monthly thing (again, with enough interest), winner could get to choose the next theme.

I still haven't posted my full 2019 list, but Knives Out was the very last films I saw that year, and it was incredibly entertaining, definitely recommended. That Donut talk.