Description

~ LOOK! ~
"In anticipation of Super RMN World 2: Bro-shi's Island (or whatever it will be called), I'm taking it upon myself to issue a call to all potential SMBX devs! Even if you've never touched the engine, now's the time to give it a shot!"
It's like what Isrieri said, and I'm saying the same thing for this sequel to the Castles Masterpiece Set!

Time to give SMBX a shot and make a level!


Sign Ups: 4/02~4/05
Development: 4/05~5/05
Compilation: 5/05~5/08
Release: 5/09

~ Hey, Listen! ~

This is important, as it'll affect what your levels are!

All levels must be made as if a part of one continuous castle. The continuous castles themselves each have their own theme and hub, five in total.

  • Shroomland ForestThis area's castle has many plants, especially mushrooms, and many piranha plant enemies! The foundation of this castle is blue-green bricks.

  • GreyOcean Ravine
    This area's castle has lots of water and grey-blue bricks.
    Many fish enemies should be used, remember your level doesn't have to be completely submerged, just use water!

  • Redbrick Desert
    This area's castle is basically dry, sandy with red-ish bricks for the foundation. Dry Bones (SMB3 Version/Resized SMW Version), cacti and various other Desert enemies should be here!

  • Sky Domain
    This area's castle is A giant floating castle, include many clouds and grey to white bricks! (SMW Castle tiles would work fine here)
    Enemies should consist of lakitus, parakoopas, bullet bills (Restrict the amount of homing koopas) and various other flying enemies.

  • Industrial Zone

This zone is to have aztec like bricks with many metal frameworks around it, this is because toadly is there, and he like steel.
Oh, and he also likes poison mushrooms, Mind-controlled toads and various spike traps, but that's just him.
Yes you must include those, if you want the graphics download them here:
http://rpgmaker.net/media/content/users/17331/locker/Industrial_Zone_enemies.zip



The first four areas listed are all avalible from the starting point, so you can do them in any order. Keep this in mind! This means that each continuous Castle needs to have easy and hard levels, not one or the other! If there are too many easy levels in a castle, we'll force the new additions to be harder, and vice-versa!

The exception to this rule is the fifth Overall Castle, the Industrial Zone. You should make your levels for this area more on the difficult end, as this area is only unlocked by completing the other four.

Fitting into the theme is not enough for the level to be accepted! Levels must have:

Be saved with THIS naming theme:
<dev>_<zone>_<level>_<diff>_<version>
Example:Ratty524_3_PursuitPalace_4_2

The Difficulty section is assumed to be out of 5, do not put 6 here (you might even want to refrain from making a 5 until the "Industrial Zone"

  • One checkpoint, and only one.
  • The game will only utilize Mario and Luigi as characters
  • All water must be swimmable. Waterfalls must not be.
  • An average castle should take no longer than 2 to 4 minutes to complete. (And no shorter than 1 minute)
  • The game wont be 2-player, so don't focus on it, but make sure it is at least possible for 2 players.
  • No secret stars.
  • At least two power ups, one at the start and one at the checkpoint.
  • Use invisible blocks wisely. No putting them over pits or other nonsense of that sort.
  • THE LEVEL MUST END IN ONE SMB3 STAR
  • THE LEVEL MUST CONTAIN 5 DRAGON COINS!
  • LEVELS CANNOT CONTAIN BOSSES-Mini bosses are okay, however. Just make sure that they are indeed mini!
  • LEVELS CANNOT HAVE: SMW Dry Bones (This is due to a height issue, if you fix this issue you may use them) SMW Bowser Statue. (This is again because of a height issue, if Mario st0od on top of the statue when it fired, Mario would get hurt.) Wall Zipping, this is when you have a 1-tile high hallway, super mario ducks and enters, and when you stand up you "Zip" through the wall. It's Extremely glitchy and can often break your level.


A participant can only submit up to 5 levels, 1 level for each Overall Castle.

~ WATCH OUT! ~
The story of this event is simple: You've received a letter from someone by the name of Mr. Zoad, an Archaeologist! He has asked you to explore a small but diverse island in search of an ancient relic. He warns you, however, that his competitors might be after the same thing.

You must explore the four ruined castles to find the whereabouts of this ancient relic, and be paid in big coins by Mr. Zoad!

Details

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Posts

Okay! I really appreciate the helpful criticism/advice in general.
Some of the aforementioned pitfalls were fixed in my last update.

Ratty524
The 524 is for 524 Stone Crabs
12986
author=AlexanderXCIII
The idea was to make the second 1-up hard to miss so that the player theoretically never gets a game over in the second half. But if you think I should change it up, I can do that.

It could be just me, mind you. There is a chance most of the average SMBX players won't find it. I'll leave it up to you at this point, because my only real concerns with this level is with the length of the second part and the inconsistency with the behavior of power-ups.


author=Alexander
As in, zipping through one of the skulls? Or through something else?

Zipping through the skulls. When the skulls are dropping off that ledge of lava, and if the player moves a little bit towards the left, the skull will drop directly on top of the player and zip him/her off the raft and into their doom.


author=Alexander
Hmm... The lava tide segment is kind of out of place, I could probably remove that (and the second one as well, if you have a problem with the skulls riding on solid ground afterward...)

I don't mind the second tide because it still stays in line with the overall concept. This level is a series of skull raft rides, and riding skulls over lava tides is actually interesting. The thing about the earlier lava tide section was that it was more focused on avoiding the tide, while the second one was just another gimmick added to the overall skull raft theme, so I'd keep that second part if I were you, but you MAY want to tweak the section a little so that the skull rafts don't ride over ground.


If you want more obvious hints for the low ceilings, I can certainly add those (but I have no intention of scrapping the arrow carved out of lava...)

I didn't even notice that arrow until I took a REALLY good look, dude. I say stay with the coins. You could maybe put them inside the lava arrow?


author=seiromem
Looks like I forgot some basics in the rules ;_;

Yep. You forgot to ban SMW bowser statues because of their fireball bug, and SMW Dry Bones because of it's glitchy hitbox. We also might want to discourage collect-a-thon levels, but I know for a fact that at least I won't let levels like those slide when judging.

Also I don't wanna change the music. ;(
author=Ratty524
If you want more obvious hints for the low ceilings, I can certainly add those (but I have no intention of scrapping the arrow carved out of lava...)
I didn't even notice that arrow until I took a REALLY good look, dude. I say stay with the coins. You could maybe put them inside the lava arrow?
I think the problem with the lava arrow is that it doesn't draw the player's attention, so I tried using an arrow sign from YI:

It's got a little more "Hey! Listen!" than before, but also heavy style clash. Thoughts?
Ratty524
The 524 is for 524 Stone Crabs
12986
You definitely have the right idea using the signs, though it indeed has a style clash. If there isn't an SMB3-styled arrow sign you can find, I can make one for you.
author=Ratty524
You definitely have the right idea using the signs, though it indeed has a style clash. If there isn't an SMB3-styled arrow sign you can find, I can make one for you.

That would be very much appreciated.

author=Ratty
You do know there is a level from CMS 1 with the same name, right?

Yes, I'll sort it.
author=Ratty
- Not keen on the first section of the level. It feels empty and boring, and it doesn't really have a purpose in my eyes. I'd axe this and just keep your outside section extremely basic, just like a typical SMW castle intro.

I felt the need to make the fact it's in a mushroom forest stand out, I thought it would suffice, I don't think a simple entrance brings out the mushroom forest bit, but I can shorten it if that's a fair compromise.
author=Ratty
Yo meng, where are your Dragon Coins? They're required, ya know.

I didn't read that rule.
author=Ratty
- The part with the podoboos and rolling spiny, just before the checkpoint, is a bit overkill. I think you could just do without that rolling spiny, since this level is relatively easy anyway.

Fair 'nuff, will sort.
author=Ratty
I haven't been struck by it yet, but I highly recommend getting rid of that swooper that's just above the checkpoint.

I forgot that were there, I'll remove it.
author=Ratty
Your green spring boards are terribly cumbersome to jump on. I almost always land to the blocks on the side of them and it screws up my mojo! You could either extend those boards with another one, or you DO know you can set the spring npc to not be grabbed, right? You might need to use a different spring board graphic if you do so, however, for the sake of consistency

Extending things, the answer to all the worlds problems.
author=Ratty
You've got a few incomplete tiles in your level.

I'll sort it bro.
HEY, LISTEN!
I updated my level with the recommendations.
By the way, just thinking, instead of us taking an educated guess (How educated depending on the whoever is making said level) at the difficulty level, shall we just rate it (whether the rating is based on an average, majority vote or deliberation is up to Seiro I guess)
So, having the judges rate the difficulty of each level? I can live with that.
(I actually already started doing that in my judging notes)
Seiromem
I would have more makerscore If I did things.
6375
Yeah, the judges can give difficulty ratings.
Ratty524
The 524 is for 524 Stone Crabs
12986
Well, it would actually be helpful to know the intended difficulty of level's creator, and if a level marked 1/5 is really 3/5 that should be called out on during judging, and we would make recommendations to fit the level towards that difficulty rating.

I think this way will allow better control over what kinds of levels we recieve, because I can see problems arising if we get a bunch of hard levels and stamp 3-5's on all of them.
Skull River, v2 is now up!
* The music actually works this time! And it's just as un-Mario as ever. (7^_^)7
* Arrow signs added to indicate where you need to duck. Less clashy sign graphics pending.
* Mushrooms are mobile once again! Level design has been slightly adjusted to prevent mushroom-to-lava collisions.
* The "lava tide" segments have been rearranged. The first one now incorporates a skull raft like the second one, and the second has been removed entirely.
* The 3-up moon segment has been adjusted in an attempt to eliminate the red boot.
* The single-skull segment at the end still contains single-skulls, my reasoning being that the jumps are, while unforgiving, not too difficult, and adding a second skull creates (more) potential for glitch-related death. I'd like some outside opinions on this.
Alex: Skull River
- I think i'm alright with it now, I would recommend changing the music but it should be fine.

Dave: Fiery Castle
- It has to be said, it's not an inspiring name is it?
- The background's flashing, why?
- That collapsing section is way too hardcore, by the end you're millimeters from the lava
- Enemies are no longer on the platforms when they fall down so the enemies just fall from the ceiling
- The 1up past the last door 9 out of 10, crashes the game, remove it.
- The weird SMW lava on the ceiling doesn't need to be there.
- Those stone platforms don't have edges, which is also weird
- I would suggest making those pink blocks at the end a bit more red.
- The final door is only enterable from above the door

And I think that's it for now (Celebrate good times, come on)
Ratty524
The 524 is for 524 Stone Crabs
12986
Here are your devamped arrows, Alex!


All you really need to do with these is rename them.
Seiromem
I would have more makerscore If I did things.
6375
Soon I shall start my levels.
Have a wall of text, followed by another wall of text because I just finished Davenport's levels.

Jackalotrun - Forest Caldera
* Hiding a dragon coin behind the start point was clever, though it bugs me how you have a door that isn't enterable back there.
* I find it odd how you provide springboards, and then use dragon coins to encourage the player to forgo them.
* Once again I'd like to see more variety in the foreground; removing random bricks like you did for the outside segments would work great, and it would make the missing brick after the last skull raft feel less out of place.
* In my neverending quest to find silly exploits, I discovered that you can jump over the wall in the second outdoor section.

Still fairly easy, but I enjoyed it. I reiterate that this would make a great beginning level.

* P.S. Lava in a building with this much vegetation? It's a minor nitpick at best, but perhaps a palette swap of the lava would fit in better.

Davenport - Brownstone Castle
* What is with the first exterior section? The bricks overlaying the castle and the wall on the far right… just look bad.
* The first section has a better progression than in the previous version; however the wooden stakes are still painfully slow to wait on. Perhaps you could increase their speed.
* The spiked ceiling after the checkpoint doesn't appear to be changed. As Ratty said, you really should do something different with the blue switch blocks. Stumbling on a dead end followed by inescapable death is not fun.
* About that pipe hidden above the spiked ceiling. It doesn't lead anywhere, and the space too small to avoid getting crushed, even while ducking. At the very least raise the pipe by one tile so I can survive up there.
* I recommend removing the lava pit with the diagonal platforms. It doesn't really serve any purpose, and the platforms are awkward to stand on.
* I liked the third room after the sinking platform segment, but the switch block "puzzle" up on the roof is best removed. It doesn't serve any purpose except to prolong the level and get a cheap death out of the player. I think you should end the level where the player first enters the roof area.
* The contrast between the foreground and background might be a little too low.
* Why are using the default SMW castle theme in the custom music slot?

The potential is there, but this still needs some work before I'm willing to approve it.

Davenport - Tower of Peril
First of all, what world is this supposed to be in? I honestly have no idea.
* The first half of this level is just boring, between the painfully slow spike walls limiting the pace that I can ascend and the lack of obstacles to provide a challenge.
* I don't know which is more bizarre, the fact that there are random Rinka generators, or that they actually succeed in making their section more interesting.
* The elevator section is just annoying. The last dragon coin is purely trial-and-error, the only "guide" coins point you *directly into a spike*, and the X's made of red coins are placed too late for the player to react and get to safety in time. You *might* be able to salvage the elevator if you remove all the BS traps and provide coin trails to guide the player. *Away* from the spikes.

Davenport - Fiery Castle
* You have managed to take a potentially very fun gimmick and turn it into a very, very unfun level.
* The lava-falls are visually distracting, and I personally think they're similar enough to the foreground lava that it's not entirely clear at first glance that they're harmless background decoration.
* The rising-and-sinking platforms in the first room are scarily close to the lava, leaving me with very little room for error, and almost certainly not enough time to grab dragon coins and other goodies. In addition, one stretch is too long to clear in one cycle, forcing me to wait on the highest platform. The kicker? This platform sinks into the lava, forcing me to jump in place to survive, and I am forced to figure this out through trial-and-error.
* You need to double-check the position of the warp trigger for the door. It seems to be slightly above the door, forcing me to jump.
* The second room is similar to the first, in that I have barely enough time to clear the stretch, and that's assuming I ignore the dragon coin(s).
* The third room focuses on a lava tide gimmick, which is mostly alright, except… THE 1-UP MUSHROOM CRASHES THE GAME!! That alone is enough for an instant reject from me, and that's ignoring how the setup of the room practically encourages the crash.

Please, please playtest your levels thoroughly before submitting them.

Davenport - Sunken Castle
* I actually liked this level (it probably helps that SMBX allows me to swim faster with the dash button, which I find to be at about the perfect speed, but I digress).
* The level emulates that underwater fortress from SMW, except much larger, almost like it was built with the denizens of Giant World in mind. Perhaps you could incorporate that into the next revision?
* The first spike pillar after the checkpoint pushes one of the springboards through the ground.
* I can destroy the Bony Beetles with a spin-jump. Is that intentional?
* The drastic difference between the two music tracks bugged me. I think you should pick one or the other and use that for the entire level.

Overall, I liked this level. I'd even say this is my favorite of your levels so far.
author=Ratty524
Here are your devamped arrows, Alex!


All you really need to do with these is rename them.
Thank you very much!

E: Aaand... New version uploaded with the new arrow signs. Much better looking, thanks again Ratty!

author=Alex
Hiding a dragon coin behind the start point was clever, though it bugs me how you have a door that isn't enterable back there.
OCD alert.
author=Alex
I find it odd how you provide springboards, and then use dragon coins to encourage the player to forgo them.
It's a matter of choice with the harder direction giving a dragon coin
author=Alex
Once again I'd like to see more variety in the foreground; removing random bricks like you did for the outside segments would work great, and it would make the missing brick after the last skull raft feel less out of place.
Ehh... Sounds like a lot of work
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED after
Soon I shall start finish my levels.

and by soon I mean never
Updated to version 3 with more breakages. (In the bricks, not the level)
A few necessary changes and updates were made to each level. (Version2)