Super Mario Maker 2 challenge - June challenge has started!

[RedShell]

13 minutes ago, Sméagol said:

Not always.. I remember that one level with 3 routes, and the ridiculously impossible red route. You never said if you actually completed it through that route yourself..

Oh yeah! 

To be honest, I don’t think I ever did a complete playthrough on the red route (even on the clear test) but I can absolutely guarantee that I did all of the various sections that make it up, multiple times, so I know the red route is technically possible.  If somewhat ridiculously impossible.   

Anyway, the level I just uploaded is completely linear, so no crazy stuff this time around.  

[Sméagol]

There is quite a difference between being able to do something in the editor, and being able to do it in one go while actually playing the level! Trust me I know! 

TLOZ: The Scrolls of Time
ID: WGG-6VS-2HG

Not super happy with it, like I said, I couldn't really come up with something special for an autoscroll level, and I didn't want to do a normal one. I wasn't really feeling my first idea, though I may get back to that one at some point. So I quickly put this one together on Thursday, I thought "let's try Link to make it a bit more unusual", did some visual polishing and added a bonus room yesterday, and made a few tweaks today making it a tad harder. If I were more experienced with Link I could have come up with something better perhaps.

I'll update the posts, make some tea, then I'm off playing the levels so far.

I mean, I hope there's more.

Edited April 12, 2020 by Sméagol

[Sméagol]

@darksnowman, did you tweet your level? If you did I collect them and put them in the same post.

Also, @RedShell, if I was more free to use scroll stop shenanigans, I'd have made a totally different level probably, but I assume that's why you put a stop to that.

 

[Sméagol]

It's funny that my level is the shortest one this time around haha.

I like both levels. Both are meaty levels offering a good challenge.

@RedShell

Yeah thanks for that! It's indeed more of a challenge and I appreciated it. Not too easy, not too hard, exactly right. I like the tricky placed spiky ehh rats, forgot their names haha. The first one after the CP I tried jumping over it, which can be done, but not for the 2nd one. Last section was my favourite, such a rush.. Gotta go fast! My biggest issue is a minor aesthetic one.. The chosen music clashes a bit when you restart from CP2.

@darksnowman

I like the level overall, offering also a bit of a challenge, but I have more of an issue with your vertical section. I love vertical sections in general. It's funny that the issue is also aesthetic, but it actually hinders gameplay in this case. There are various things, which I may break down tomorrow, but it all comes down to this section being visually too chaotic. I died a few times simply because my eyes were everywhere, and I didn't see what was going on, making the level harder than it should have been. This should've been steamlined a bit.

Maybe I'll elaborate tomorrow, and I may upload some videos as well. I'll probably replay the levels a few times before that.

My vote goes to RedShell

In short for being a tighter experience.

Edit:

Also, @darksnowman, I saw you've uploaded quite a few levels.. Where were you all this time man?  Should have posted them here:

 

Edited April 12, 2020 by Sméagol

[darksnowman]

What is the deadline for playing, posting a review and voting? Are we still waiting for an entry from @Lazyboy? 

[RedShell]

14 hours ago, Sméagol said:

There is quite a difference between being able to do something in the editor, and being able to do it in one go while actually playing the level! Trust me I know! 

I agree. Doesn’t change the fact it can still confirm whether a level can be cleared, even if the creator lacks the skill to do it all in one go.  

14 hours ago, Sméagol said:

Also, @RedShell, if I was more free to use scroll stop shenanigans, I'd have made a totally different level probably, but I assume that's why you put a stop to that.

I just thought that with a theme based around autoscroll it makes sense to keep things moving as much as possible.

12 hours ago, Sméagol said:

Yeah thanks for that! It's indeed more of a challenge and I appreciated it. Not too easy, not too hard, exactly right. I like the tricky placed spiky ehh rats, forgot their names haha. The first one after the CP I tried jumping over it, which can be done, but not for the 2nd one. Last section was my favourite, such a rush.. Gotta go fast! My biggest issue is a minor aesthetic one.. The chosen music clashes a bit when you restart from CP2.

Glad you liked it.

Spoiler

Originally the final part of the subarea (where you have to ground pound the boxes) was going to require reaching it very quickly or you’d get squashed, but the timing was pretty evil so I modified it to how it is now.  

As for the music issue, yeah I was aware of that. It’s something that I would’ve sorted if I had more time but yeah... Animal Crossing.  

Anyway looking forward to checking out your levels at some point today, do we really only have 3 entries (including my one) this time?  

[Sméagol]

3 hours ago, darksnowman said:

What is the deadline for playing, posting a review and voting? Are we still waiting for an entry from @Lazyboy? 

Technically it's the start of next month, when we're about to to the next one.. But preferrably this week. We're not waiting, the already lax deadline has passed, so it's just the 3 entries this month.

3 hours ago, RedShell said:

I agree. Doesn’t change the fact it can still confirm whether a level can be cleared, even if the creator lacks the skill to do it all in one go.  

I just thought that with a theme based around autoscroll it makes sense to keep things moving as much as possible.

Glad you liked it.

  Details about my level (Hide contents)

Originally the final part of the subarea (where you have to ground pound the boxes) was going to require reaching it very quickly or you’d get squashed, but the timing was pretty evil so I modified it to how it is now.  

As for the music issue, yeah I was aware of that. It’s something that I would’ve sorted if I had more time but yeah... Animal Crossing.  

Anyway looking forward to checking out your levels at some point today, do we really only have 3 entries (including my one) this time?  

Yeah I figured you intended for a more or less "traditional" auto scroll level, it automatically heads into that direction due to the nature of it anyway. I'll make a tradional one at some point, when I continue working on those tradional SMB3 levels. But I've been mostly doing experiments with auto scroll for unusual stuff.. Going into troll territory again.

Yeah I wondered about the ending of that last section.. Seemed like something that should have killed you yeah. You changed it because you couldn't get passed in in clear check I'm guessing?  Seems like it would have been hard, but I'd probably would have still liked it.

And yeah looks like it. Hope we see the others playing our levels at least.

[Dcubed]

Sadly I couldn't find the time to make a course this week.  But I'll be sure to play through the ones you guys have submitted anyway 

[RedShell]

1 hour ago, Sméagol said:

Yeah I wondered about the ending of that last section.. Seemed like something that should have killed you yeah. You changed it because you couldn't get passed in in clear check I'm guessing? 

Actually no ( you cheeky git  ) I managed to do it a couple of times in testing, but with it being on the completely opposite end of the checkpoint it just didn’t seem fair, so I changed it.

1 hour ago, Sméagol said:

Seems like it would have been hard, but I'd probably would have still liked it.

You probably would’ve liked it, yeah.  

1 hour ago, Sméagol said:

And yeah looks like it. Hope we see the others playing our levels at least.

That’s a shame.  Oh well, hopefully we get more contributors next month.

Anyway, I’ve played yours and darksnowman’s levels now, but going to need a few more attempts at your level by the looks of things (surprise surprise ) before I can cast my vote.

1 hour ago, Dcubed said:

But I'll be sure to play through the ones you guys have submitted anyway 

Good stuff.

Don’t forget to keep that Baby Face streak going! He’s easy to find, but potentially difficult to reach this time around.  

[Nicktendo]

I finished a @Sméagol level. I can't believe it myself, no.

Started off playing in handheld. Big mistake. Joy-cons nowhere near comfortable enough. 
Switched to the pro-controller, still not quite good enough. 
Settled on the Pokken controller and had better luck. 

To be honest, as frustrating as it was (no surprises there), I thought this was an excellently crafted level. If you cobbled this together on a Thursday afternoon, I think it says a lot about how good you are at designing puzzles. 

Each puzzle was very well executed and required pixel-perfect precision to get right. Great use of Link's abilities in this stage, mixing bombs and arrows in a variety of ways. 

I struggled mostly with the bit after the checkpoint (fire an arrow backwards and then the other switch, piranha, bomb). It felt good when I'd finally mastered that. I got that bit down because the bit after it was really tough. I like the solution to this one and it took me a few goes to get it. 

Overall, very well-designed set pieces and genuinely challenging. 

My biggest criticism is, obviously, that it's way too hard for the average Mario player, and this is mostly down to the speed of the autoscrolling. I feel it would be much easier as either a standard level or with a slower scroll. I'm just not skilled enough to hit all the beats precisely. Saying that, however, the short length and well placed checkpoint do encourage giving it another go. So in contrast to other Smeagol Levels™, it's much more forgiving.

I'll try the other two entries once my blood pressure reaches normal levels. 

[Sméagol]

@Nicktendo Thanks man, I really appreciate the feedback, and you pulling this off after raging through my other level, haha!

Edited April 13, 2020 by Sméagol

[darksnowman]

2 hours ago, Sméagol said:

Technically it's the start of next month, when we're about to to the next one.. But preferrably this week. We're not waiting, the already lax deadline has passed, so it's just the 3 entries this month.

Ever consider allowing more time than just a week from prompt-reveal to level-posting deadline?  

Edited April 13, 2020 by darksnowman

[Sméagol]

2 minutes ago, darksnowman said:

Ever consider allowing more time than just a week from prompt-reveal to level-posting deadline?  

For creating the levels you mean? No.. Go read the earlier posts. The original inspiration for me was where streamer Ryukahr had a challenge where you'd create a level within an hour. I originally intended for the deadline to be even shorter. But people being busy etc, we settles on a little more than a week, which should be enough for the average level. I mean, feel free to post your more complex levels in the other thread!

[darksnowman]

7 minutes ago, Sméagol said:

For creating the levels you mean? No.. Go read the earlier posts. The original inspiration for me was where streamer Ryukahr had a challenge where you'd create a level within an hour. I originally intended for the deadline to be even shorter. But people being busy etc, we settles on a little more than a week, which should be enough for the average level. I mean, feel free to post your more complex levels in the other thread!

This thread, Sméagol's average level power week.
Other thread, complex levels. 
Noted.

Still, it looks like there's been a downturn in submissions this time round. Doesn't hurt to be flexible now and again. 

[Sméagol]

37 minutes ago, darksnowman said:

This thread, Sméagol's average level power week.
Other thread, complex levels. 
Noted.

Still, it looks like there's been a downturn in submissions this time round. Doesn't hurt to be flexible now and again. 

Nah.. @Glen-i is currently without internet, which I'm sure is problematic, and @londragon said he simply was busy this week. I mean yeah, I thought Corona season would give people more time actually, haha, but then there's also Animal Crossing, though this didn't stop me. Anyway, there's always next month!

The other thread is for any level though.. Just a general level thread. Have a look through that one, because there are plenty levels posted there, though it's not been active recently. This is a thread specifically for coming up with a level within a week with a specific theme.

[Dcubed]

4 minutes ago, Sméagol said:

Nah.. @Glen-i is currently without internet, which I'm sure is problematic, and @londragon said he simply was busy this week. I mean yeah, I thought Corona season would give people more time actually, haha, but then there's also Animal Crossing, though this didn't stop me. Anyway, there's always next month!

The other thread is for any level though.. Just a general level thread. Have a look through that one, because there are plenty levels posted there, though it's not been active recently. This is a thread specifically for coming up with a level within a week with a specific theme.

Yeah, unfortunately I'm not lucky enough to be in lockdown like most people; and Glen-i is out of action at the moment.  Otherwise we would've happily have joined in this month.

Hopefully next time though!

Edited April 13, 2020 by Dcubed

[Dufniall]

I also don't have a lot of extra time due to lockdown. I still can work 8 hours a day but from home, and my commuting time now usually goes towards house chores. I thought about making a level but couldn't come up with a good idea. Hopefully next time! But during the Easter weekend I did have some extra gaming time since we couldn't visit family or something.

So yesterday I gave all 3 levels a go. Started with the one from @darksnowman. I love how you went mad with all the audio and visual cues haha. The level itself was alright, not too difficult but there also wasn't anything that stood out for me (except for the audio cues).

@RedShell's level was good. Nice to see a 3D World level. Using the jumpy mouse was fun as I haven't seen him often yet. The downhill speed bit was slightly infuriating, but I managed to get through it. But Luigi just kept wall-sliding which slowed him down so it's a matter of not doing that.

I was hoping Link would pop up sometime in a level (I was hoping someone would pick him as the theme), but here he is in @Sméagol's level. I saw his preview on Twitter and I knew, this is going to be hell. I've tried it a couple of times but this is going to take some perseverance and I gave up after 15 minutes because me and the misses were going to watch Tiger King. I doubt if I will have the stomach to finish it but I'll give it a couple more tries today.

So no winner yet, but this challenge does confirm that I don't like autoscroll levels. They are always my least favourite ones in Mario games, and I didn't feel it here either. They're just so slow, and when you die you can't rush through the bit you already know but you have to abide the scroll speed.

[Nicktendo]

1 hour ago, Vileplume2000 said:

So no winner yet, but this challenge does confirm that I don't like autoscroll levels. They are always my least favourite ones in Mario games, and I didn't feel it here either. They're just so slow, and when you die you can't rush through the bit you already know but you have to abide the scroll speed.

AMEN. 

I did Smeagol's level again and managed to improve my time from 21 mins to 1:58. That still includes dying (a lot), but I ALMOST had a perfect run. I've figured out how to get into the bonus room, but couldn't quite pull it off, so that's one for later. 

I've done RedShell's level this morning. A new (but very slow) world record of 3 mins something something. I haven't found the baby face yet, but will maybe have another go later to look for it. I liked this level, not too challenging until the final section, which is fun and frustrating in equal measure, but certainly doable. I kept hugging the wall as well which was annoying  I liked the jumps with the jumpy mouse at the edge, required a bit of platforming precision. I also kept pressing R for a spin jump and ended up long jumping, that was irritating... I guess 3D World is my least played style. All-in-all, a fun level. I'm going to replay it again, and DarkSnowman's of course before I pass judgement. 

[Dcubed]

Right! I've played all three.  Here're my thoughts...

 

@darksnowman Really enjoyed this one! Just the right difficulty with some really cool ideas throughout (I particularily liked the optional pipe section where you have to drop down to get into the pipe in time; and the last section in the vertically scrolling part with the P-Switch, very cool!). I also had no idea that the giant Magikoopa also spawned different enemies/items from his smaller counterpart! Might have to nick that idea at some point...

 

One thing that lets your course design down here though is the baffling choice of sound effects though, that have no real rhyme or reason to them.  They give the impression that you're doing certain things right or wrong, but their placement makes no sense.  Also, I feel that you could've done more with the rising lava mechanic.  It could've made for some interesting gameplay but ultimately goes underutilised, bit of a shame there.

 

Good stuff overall though, had fun with this one  

 

@RedShell As usual, you knock it out of the park! Great use of the Skipsqueaks! Would've probably have never had thought of it, and the final vertical section is pure genius! Reminds me a lot of your Warioware stages and I loved it! Soul Crushing difficulty and all!  

You lied about Baby Face though, it took me a good while to figure out how to get to it! Such a tease at the end!! Love it! 

@Sméagol Very creative use of Link's moveset here and as usual, it's way hard! Unfortunately, your course suffers from a fatal flaw that comes with the use of Link...

 

... your level is Soft Lock Hell.  Literally one mistake and you're dead.  It's way too unforgiving and ultimately that's just down to the stupid way that Nintendo integrated the Master Sword powerup in this game.  A real shame, but it's just the way that Link works sadly.  You really needed to have some means of restoring your Link form; be it through strategically placed Master Swords, or spawning pipes.  It's just cruel and frustrating as it stands.

 

So with that all said? RedShell gets my vote this month!  

Edited April 14, 2020 by Dcubed

[Sméagol]

@Dcubed I totally forgot it despawned. For visual presentation I made the room like it is now.. I could have dropped the sword on top of Mario's head, like CP1, but then you're still able to miss it. So instead of re-uploading the level with a spike trap so you can kill yourself in the first room if you purposely don't pick up the sword, I'm going to hope players will just go.. pick up the sword. And yeah, I chose Link as the element for this side-scrolling theme, so I wanted him to be a requirement all the way through.

Edited April 14, 2020 by Sméagol

[Dcubed]

1 hour ago, Sméagol said:

@Dcubed I totally forgot it despawned. For visual presentation I made the room like it is now.. I could have dropped the sword on top of Mario's head, like CP1, but then you're still able to miss it. So instead of re-uploading the level with a spike trap so you can kill yourself in the first room if you purposely don't pick up the sword, I'm going to hope players will just go.. pick up the sword. And yeah, I chose Link as the element for this side-scrolling theme, so I wanted him to be a requirement all the way through.

It’s not just the first room though, it’s throughout the entire course.  Once you lose your Master Sword, you’re totally buggered!

 

I would’ve looked to add more swords scattered around the course so that the player has at least a chance to recover if they make a mistake partway through.

[Sméagol]

2 hours ago, Dcubed said:

It’s not just the first room though, it’s throughout the entire course.  Once you lose your Master Sword, you’re totally buggered!

 

I would’ve looked to add more swords scattered around the course so that the player has at least a chance to recover if they make a mistake partway through.

Ehh no. The whole point of it is to have to do things quickly and do it without taking a hit. What's the point of having an obstacle if you can just damage boost through it? Placing swords everywhere would trivialize 50% of the level.

And yeah, I'm not a big fan of autoscrollers either (edit: I mean, I don't hate 'm either, but..), but that was the theme this month. This whole level also wouldn't work if it wasn't an autoscroller, that would trivialize 80% of the level.

Edited April 14, 2020 by Sméagol

[RedShell]

Glad to see I’m not the only one who doesn’t like autoscrolling levels then.  Yep, believe it or not that’s actually why I chose it as the theme, to see if anyone’s level could change my mind (they didn’t ).

Well, I’ve played the other levels a few times so I can now vote.

@darksnowman. First of all, it’s nice to see you posting on here again, hope you’ll stick around.  As for your level, well it certainly was entertaining with all of those various effects going on, but that also made it pretty tricky to focus on the actual level due to the distractions.

@Sméagol. Once again I had to concede defeat, and right before the goal by the looks of things. But yeah, I like the way you managed to get those puzzle elements to work within such strict timing. One question though, is it actually possible to do the bit after the checkpoint by using both switches? I could only ever do it like this:  

Anyway, my vote for the April SMM2 challenge goes to Sméagol.

[Sméagol]

7 minutes ago, RedShell said:

 

@Sméagol. Once again I had to concede defeat, and right before the goal by the looks of things. But yeah, I like the way you managed to get those puzzle elements to work within such strict timing. One question though, is it actually possible to do the bit after the checkpoint by using both switches? I could only ever do it like this:  

Anyway, my vote for the April SMM2 challenge goes to Sméagol.

It definitely is yeah, I can post some videos if you want.

That however.. I mean, I tested it, but thought it was ok. Obviously I didn't test it enough, and now I have to edit and re-upload the level.

How many tries did it takwe you to make that jump?

[RedShell]

12 hours ago, Dcubed said:

You lied about Baby Face though, it took me a good while to figure out how to get to it! Such a tease at the end!! Love it! 

No I didn’t:  

On 13/04/2020 at 6:08 PM, RedShell said:

He’s easy to find, but potentially difficult to reach this time around.  

You obviously knew where he was, it was getting there that was the problem, just like I said.  

Appreciate you finding him though, I’m pretty sure you’re the only person who has a 100% record at this point!  

Just now, Sméagol said:

How many tries did it takwe you to make that jump?

A lot.  I can pull it off quite consistently now though.