Description

This is a short collaborative event project wherein we create Ghost House levels in SMBX. I will then judge and critique the levels, and after a period in which we all work together refining the levels, I will compile the best levels into a game called Mario's Mansion.

Timelines
Initial Level Submission Period: October 4th - October 18th
People are free to sign-up and submit new levels for a 2 week period.

Level Refinement and Rejection Period: October 19th - October 26th
I (and any other volunteers) will play the submitted levels and make judgments and refinement suggestions (and rejections) over a 1 week period. We will collaborate together to make some decent levels! No new level submissions allowed during this time.

Compilation Period: October 27th - October 30th
I will take the final version of the levels and compile them into a single game.

Release Date: October 31st
Obviously.

Submission Rules
  • You must use SMBX v1.3 (the download link is in the Engines page if you don't have it already)
  • There is no limit to the number of levels you can submit. (But only the best levels will make it to the final game)
  • Rate the difficulty of the level on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being easy and 5 being hard.
  • If your level has a boss, let me know.
  • Most important rule: Have fun!


Level Rules
  • We can't all use the Ghost House music for our levels. Please, try using a different music track. (You can include MP3s with your submission)
  • The theme is Ghost House levels (if you don't know what that means, then play some Super Mario World and then come back). However, other spooky settings will be acceptable (assuming they meet the quality standards)
  • Traditionally, the end of the level in a Ghost House is the SMW moving bar. But feel free to use different level endings if appropriate for your level.
  • If you want to include secret exits, feel free! (But again let me know if you do this so that I can account for it when I compile the final game. Also, include a text file explaining how to get it)
  • The player can't enter a no-win situation. At any point where the player is safe they must be able to complete the level.
  • Multiple characters are allowed. (SMBX v1.3 allows the player to play as Mario, Luigi, Toad, Peach or Link.)


Refinement Period (Level Quality)
  • Levels that don't meet a minimum level of quality will be rejected.
  • Levels must be complete and level endings must be possible to acquire.
  • If you are creating an autoscrolling level please check the Autoscrolling Tutorial for a guide of how to do it. Using scrolling layers leads to physics and collision issues and levels with these issues will be rejected.
  • If a level plays like something you'd expect from a Kaizo-style romhack it will be rejected. Go start your own project if you want yet another impossible Mario game. We're shooting for fun platforming action Mario style that doesn't require precognition, time manipulation, or godlike reaction to beat.
  • Levels can't cause SMBX to reach a volatile or glitchy state nor can they cause level/section wide slowdown in SMBX.
  • Participants who submitted rejected levels will be notified of such, the cause of rejection, and a period to correct issues.



Details

  • 10/04/2011 04:52 PM
  • 10/19/2011 11:59 PM
  • kentona

Registration

You must be logged in to sign up for Mario's Mansion.

Toggle Entries
Participants Entries
kentona
Desmo360
arcan
Solitayre
Decky
LockeZ
TheNecromancer
Faenon
Flying_pancake
jackalotrun
merlina40
hiya
apa649
Thepro

Posts

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Desmo360
4700
10/23/2011 11:32 PM
Just started working on my level, even documenting it with a video. But now I come here and it says it's finished! D:
kentona
Bunnyhug
21027
10/23/2011 11:36 PM
author=Desmo360
Just started working on my level, even documenting it with a video. But now I come here and it says it's finished! D:
Eh, post it anyway! Just upload it to your locker and post a link.
kentona
Bunnyhug
21027
10/23/2011 11:38 PM
For the Exit Bar in SMBX, the location that you place it is the peak/zenith of it's ascension. So in game it starts at that point, goes down until it hits the ground, and goes back up to that same point.
kentona
Bunnyhug
21027
10/24/2011 07:18 PM
Haunted Palace
by Davenport

-again, many graphical issues. But it works as a maze level, but not because of explicit design so much as just seemingly chaotic design.
-I don't care for the area with the many thwomps, sock, spikes and P switch. If you try to use the sock to cross the spikes, you lose it right away.
Desmo360
4700
10/24/2011 07:27 PM
author=kentona
author=Desmo360
Just started working on my level, even documenting it with a video. But now I come here and it says it's finished! D:
Eh, post it anyway! Just upload it to your locker and post a link.


Thanks! I'm almost done with it.
kentona
Bunnyhug
21027
10/24/2011 07:28 PM
Haunted Ruins
by Davenport

-again, graphics/aesthetics/style is all over the map. And the level causes pretty heavy lag (probably because of the rain background)
-that coin bridge made of blue coins is a Level Up gold mine (each blue coin gives 5 coins, so every 20 blue coins == 1up)
-inside, there is a "fake" safe spot, because even though the spikes don't hit you, the tile will crush you.
-the roof area where it "flips" is a confusing mess. Also, when you get the coin it doesn't reappear, so if you fall back down and try to go back, you just hit the instant teleport tile...and with the lag and if you aren't careful it leads to instant death.

I don't care for this level at all, and I think I am going to make the rare decision to outright reject it from the final game.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
10/24/2011 08:05 PM
I was honestly expecting for a lot more entries to be denied outright. Not to say that I played the levels and they're shit, but rather, I mean: going into the event, before I played any of the stages, I expected you to only accept the best ones. A lot of these stages just don't add anything to the game and detract from the game's overall quality while only adding to its length. My own stage is probably a pretty good candidate for rejection, for example, since the only thing it does that the other stages don't already do is try to look like a train, and it pretty much fails at that.

(I am tempted to name the other stages I think should be rejected, but will refrain. I haven't played every submission anyway, so my perspective isn't fair.)
Davenport
5200
10/24/2011 08:14 PM
You can still make it to the otherside by running when the character flickers from
losing the boot. The curvature of the spiked ceilings can cause that glitch.
Thanks again. Please feel free to reject the bad ones complicated by the glitches.
Just keep the best one(s).

kentona
Bunnyhug
21027
10/24/2011 09:12 PM
LockeZ, I am a gentle soul. Rejection is hard for me.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
10/24/2011 09:19 PM
I am an asshole! I can do it for you!

FOR THE GREATER GOOD, I WILL SACRIFICE MY OWN REPUTATION, CONSCIENCE, AND ABILITY TO LOOK MYSELF IN THE MIRROR. I AM LIKE A HERO.

(heroism works like that, right?)
kentona
Bunnyhug
21027
10/25/2011 02:17 AM
Spirit Causeway
by jackalotrun
-straightforward boss. Nothing much to say!

Hopeless Hauntings
by apa649
Okay, so I think I had played this before I beat it. What I recall is that it was a decent level, if a bit chaotic.

The Phantom Train
by LockeZ
-if this level was nothing but the music, it'd be enough to accept it. As it stands it is a good level. Others have gone into greater detail so I won't bother. I'm going to replace the disco ball with ghost graphics (like in Solitayre's level)


...so, I think that's everybody's level (except Desmo's). Did I miss anyone?


Next step: you guys have until end of day Wednesday to make changes, and then I will gather up the changed levels, make my own tweaks and then make the world map and compile the game.

Release date is slated for Halloween, so we are on a fixed schedule! No late revamped entries please!
apa649
1381
10/25/2011 11:50 AM
Ill try to get my edits done today or tomorrow daytime... I have some school work and such but I think Ill make the schedule just fine.

Also have I understood correctly that the playable characters are mario and link?
Or just mario?
Or are all of them available?
Flying_pancake
514
10/25/2011 02:10 PM
I updated my level 'I Hope You Burn'.


WITH MAGIC!

\lie
kentona
Bunnyhug
21027
10/25/2011 03:21 PM
author=apa649
Ill try to get my edits done today or tomorrow daytime... I have some school work and such but I think Ill make the schedule just fine.

Also have I understood correctly that the playable characters are mario and link?
Or just mario?
Or are all of them available?

I think the playable characters are Mario and Link, with a focus on Mario.
apa649
1381
10/25/2011 03:27 PM
K I thought so. Mainly my focus here was that if links playable I have to block his ability to play my boss level since he can spam it to death before the battle starts.
:( oops.
TheNecromancer
3160
10/25/2011 05:12 PM
I would suggest even forcing the single player to use Mario for each level, however if someone was playing multiplayer then Link would be forced on player 2. This would be done at the start of each level. Just one possibility, but that's how I would handle it.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
10/25/2011 05:39 PM
Yeah, due to multiplayer you must allow at least two characters, blocking Link is not possible. You will need to figure out a way to make the boss equally challenging for Mario and Link.
kentona
Bunnyhug
21027
10/25/2011 05:44 PM
Or... just roll with it! Link is supposed to have some advantages, because he definitely has some disadvantages!
TheNecromancer
3160
10/25/2011 08:12 PM
author=LockeZ
Yeah, due to multiplayer you must allow at least two characters, blocking Link is not possible. You will need to figure out a way to make the boss equally challenging for Mario and Link.


It is possible to do what I suggested though. Blocking Link is quite possible for anybody playing a 1 player game and if it's a 2 player game 2P will become Link. I'm sure most people will be playing this alone anyways. It's probably more work making a boss equally challenging for both than to just force Mario on player 1. I'm not lobbying to have this done, I'm just setting the record straight :3

We shouldn't be too worried about someone playing the game as Link and saying it doesn't work or is too easy. The solution to that is "Use Mario!". If it isn't obvious enough, put an ironic disclaimer at the start saying "The following levels are intended for use by Mario only. Use of any other character is done so at the player's own risk." hah
kentona
Bunnyhug
21027
10/25/2011 08:26 PM
How did you intend to "force" the single player to use Mario in each level
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