12-31-2018, 06:39 PM
That castle level you just showed seems rather interesting, @Yoshin. I like how it requires all four directions of movement, rather than just two like in most Mario levels. One thing I'd recommend working on is putting more thought on how you use enemies and features. There are some interesting uses of features, such as the sparkies with the ? Blocks, but what I mean is that right now enemies and obstacles seem to be scattered around the level without much thought. In the official Mario games, levels are usually built with a theme or gimmick in mind, along with a list of only a few stuff that can be used. Those levels mix and match what is used and build upon them as the player progresses on them. Limiting yourself to only several stuff per level may seem restrictive at first, but I think it allows more creativity and can make the levels more memorable.
Let's take Chocolate Island 3 from SMW for instance. The level revolves around the rotating platforms that were seen in previous levels. Soon, we see Koopa Troopas walking on the blocks that hold the platforms, which makes the player a bit more cautious when traversing the level. Later on, the level mixes things up by replacing the Koopas on the blocks with Fuzzies, which are more challenging to avoid in this situation. Koopa Paratroopas are also encountered in a couple areas, to make some interesting challenges that must be overcome. So, what this level did is take a familiar element and mix it with a couple enemies, creating interesting combinations and a memorable level overall.
Aside from level design, I'd like to say that some of the graphics look nice. They do look a bit out of place when mixed with the vanilla SMW sprites, but I assume that will be fixed later on, since you're looking for artists. Anyway, I hope my advice was helpful to you. Good luck on this hack!
Let's take Chocolate Island 3 from SMW for instance. The level revolves around the rotating platforms that were seen in previous levels. Soon, we see Koopa Troopas walking on the blocks that hold the platforms, which makes the player a bit more cautious when traversing the level. Later on, the level mixes things up by replacing the Koopas on the blocks with Fuzzies, which are more challenging to avoid in this situation. Koopa Paratroopas are also encountered in a couple areas, to make some interesting challenges that must be overcome. So, what this level did is take a familiar element and mix it with a couple enemies, creating interesting combinations and a memorable level overall.
Aside from level design, I'd like to say that some of the graphics look nice. They do look a bit out of place when mixed with the vanilla SMW sprites, but I assume that will be fixed later on, since you're looking for artists. Anyway, I hope my advice was helpful to you. Good luck on this hack!
Quillax Ship - Where you can download all of my cool, keen mods and super-marvelous fangames!