Description

WHAT IS THIS?
Super RMN World 2 is a collaborative effort to make a solid Mario game in SMBX. It's the latest in the RMN Bros. series that has run on this site over the years. Unlike previous events, this project is more organized to produce a cohesive result. Even so, all users of RMN are welcome to participate! No past experience necessary! I'm your gracious host, halibabica, and I'll be overseeing the whole thing.



THE STORY
The Mario Bros. are on vacation with Peach in Yoshi's Archipelago, a group of exotic islands far from the Mushroom Kingdom. Of course, wherever they go, trouble quickly follows. Bowser and his Koopa army crash the party and kidnap the princess! The brothers' mission is clear, but something seems off about Bowser'whatever may be, there's work to do! Mario and Luigi hop right to it with the help of the princess' devoted bodyguard, Agent Toad!



WHAT YOU NEED
To participate, you need only make stages in SMBX and submit them. There are some rules, though. Please read the following before diving in.

  • You need Super Mario Bros. X to make your levels.
  • You need to save your levels in this folder. Put it in SMBX's 'worlds' folder and save your levels inside. It contains resources that will be standard for the project.
  • Levels must be created for this event. Don't submit preexisting work!
  • You may use custom graphics and music, but be sure to put them in a folder with the same name as your level. This graphics pack may be useful.


Once you have the engine and the standard resources, you're ready to start! However, for your stages to be accepted, the following must be adhered to.



SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
As this game is intended to feel like a legit Mario title, there must be some consistency in the levels. For this project, you will need:

  • 1 middle ring; the checkpoint for your stage. It's the sparkly ring in the SMW NPC tab. You can't use more than one due to engine limitations, so place it wisely!
  • 5 smiley flowers; these replace dragon coins. They're also on the SMW NPC tab and your stage needs exactly five of them. They must all be obtainable in one go through the level. The debugger can tell you how many you used. For technical reasons, they must all be on the Default layer.
  • 1 end goal roulette; this gate marks the end of the stage. It's on the SMB3 NPC tab, and jumping through it ends the level. The player automatically walks to the right and off-screen when they touch it, so every level must end going to the right.


These objects will only appear if you save your level in the Super RMN World 2 folder. Include them in your stage, and beyond that, the sky's the limit! Or is it?



ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES
This game is themed around Yoshi, and SMBX has a wide variety of them. Each island has its own theme, too. Your stages need to match the themes of the islands they're being made for. The difficulty should be relative to the island's order in the game. Each island also has its own color of Yoshi, so any you include should match, and you're encouraged to use them!

  • You may only submit one stage to each island.
  • You must be able to complete each level while riding Yoshi. This means no ladders required for progress or jumps where you must ditch Yoshi. This includes boss stages (more on this later).



WIsland NameThemesYoshi
1Green Grass Islandgrass/woodGreen
2Deathly Desert Islandsand/ghostsYellow
3Giga Growth Islandplants/giantsPink
4Molten Mine Islandcave/lavaPurple
5Slip Drip Islandwater/iceLight Blue
6Sky High Islandcliffs/cloudsDark Blue
7Pyre Fire Islandfire/wastelandRed
8Brain Drain Islandpipes/factoryBlack

About boss stages, you're allowed to make them, but their rules differ slightly. Each island can only have one boss and one mini-boss. Boss stages should end with the boss room instead of the end goal roulette. Due to post-production event handling, you don't need to include an exit; the stage will end when the fight is over. Boss stages still need to be thematically appropriate and have 1 middle ring and 5 smiley flowers. The player should be able to beat the boss while riding Yoshi. The boss stages of islands 7 and 8 are reserved for story purposes.




GENERAL GUIDELINES
I know, I know, we're almost there. In addition to all of the above, please keep the following in mind:

  • Try to stick with one art style for your level. Don't mix SMB3 and SMW koopas/coins/etc.
  • Don't let mushrooms from blocks escape off nearby screen edges.
  • Since stages must end with the end goal roulette, all other exit types are banned.
  • The SMW Bowser statue and SMB3 Lakitu are banned for their quirkiness. Use the SMB3 Bowser statue and SMW Lakitu instead!
  • No swimmable waterfalls. These should be for aesthetic use only.
  • Stages must be two-player compatible. Include both player start positions and ensure the stage is passable more than once. Basically, avoid scenarios that could trap the 2nd player.
  • Prevent no-win situations. If the player isn't dead, they should still be able to complete the stage.
  • Avoid single-tile gaps. The player wall-zips if they stand up in a short passage. This can break the game sometimes, so use caution!





LEVEL FEEDBACK
'HALI THERE ARE TOO MANY RULES I HATE THIS'
I know the rules are extensive, but we're aiming to make this the best episode yet. Don't fret if you can't remember it all. As you submit your stages, I'll be reviewing them and providing feedback. You will be expected to use it to make revisions. Failure to do so may result in your levels being altered post-production, or denied completely! Users are encouraged to test each other's levels. Every bit of feedback helps!



TIMELINE
Submissions will be open for all of July. Afterward, there will be a two-week period where revisions can still be made (but no new submissions). Then the gates will shut and the rest of the game will be processed by yours truly. It will take time, but it will get done.

If you have any questions, please ask! I hope we can build a fantastic new RMN World together!

Details

  • 07/01/2016 12:00 AM
  • 08/15/2016 11:59 PM

Registration

You must be logged in to sign up for Super RMN World 2: Yoshi's Archipelago.

Participants Entries
kentona
Davenport
Jparker1984
Solitayre
Ratty524
outcry312
nin8halos
Bart_Sol
pyrodoom
Seiromem
jackalotrun
Blobofgoo
Animebryan
lonestarluigi
Jalex
TungerManU
NeverSilent
Illy
Frozen
Fflo
El_WaKa
Frogge
Punkitt
Thunder176
Kloe
KuraiYukiChan
eric00051
Entry Status Key
  • - Pending
  • - Validating
  • - Accepted
  • - Rejected

Posts

halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16873
It's hard to strike a balance on difficulty when you've been working with the program as long as some of us have. I just try to remember the things that used to be real problems for me that are second nature now.
I've been playing some random levels, here is some feedback.

Future Shock:
I love it, what a cool level. Originally I just had a bunch of emojis here but they made my whole post vanish after I submitted it so here you go.

Tempest Valley:
It was okay but I'm not really entirely sure what was happening. I don't like it when things appear out of thin air from p-switches.

Ghost Coast:
I liked it, it was a neat little level. The checkpoint felt really pointless though, there's nothing dangerous from the checkpoint until the end and it's really close by too.

Boom Boom Bastille:
The thwomp section is really boring, waiting for single thwomps to drop down and walking past isn't challenging it's just dull... but maybe that's just me I like going fast. Also the double boom boom fight is slightly annoying because they move around pretty much randomly because of the moving platforms.

Fungal Forest:
I thought it was a nice level mostly, but there's way too many lotuses and parakoopas and no safe route to really run through them? It felt like I had to wait a really long time but maybe I just didn't play it enough to figure out a way to go fast.

Sherbert Summit:
Ugh it's soooo sloooooow. Ice physics and a glacially slow autoscroller, that's no good. I didn't get a single mushroom on the autoscroller parts because they all slipped away from the tiny rocket platforms and then I died right before the end to a piranha plant. It's really slow and frustrating overall.

Blazing Inferno:
It was okay but I don't get the point of that shortcut right at the start. It looks ugly and out of place and you also miss out on most of the level... is that supposed to be there?? The level looks cool sometimes but there's a lot of badly clashing graphics and towards the end especially there's a lot of straight geometry, like just straight or diagonal chunks of terrain which I don't like very much. The level is pretty neat in general though!
Ghost Coast by Kentona

- This level didn't feel very ghostly, the albratrosses and beach koopas just kinda killed it, like Solitayre said, scrap the Traditional enemies and go all out with ghosts, especially seeing that with Yoshi, this level is a cakewalk, ghosts would fix that shit
- The checkpoint just kinda felt there for the sake of a checkpoint, right at the very end, if you feel that the player shouldn't be punished for dying after defeating the auto-scroll section, the solution is simple, don't place a second section where they can die (apart from drowning, although I'd imagine you'd have to try to drown to do it at this point).

Twilight Desert by Davenport

- Daven, you really need to let us know when you release and/or update levels, you're kinda letting yourself go un-noticed, there's a lovely comment section down here that I implore of you to utilise
- I really want to like this level, it's got great graphics and it's a great change of pace with a little more focus on dodging well-placed enemies, not to mention the minor key puzzle
- Those SMB2 Pokeys feel really out-of-place with all these YI enemies
- All the koopas are YI, bar that last one, change that
- Why are those Venus Fire Traps headbanging?
- Why bother with enemies in the bonus area
- Debugger counts 4 Dragon Coins#
- Why does Dragon Coin no. 2 give me LoZ sound effect
- Why does that first block contain a mushroom, you know how what we think about those
- Those camels are a) supposed to be drinking and b) are killable
- Killing a goomba by hitting a block below it, using a full yoshi to ground pound or throwing a key/shell at them reveals a dead dry bones
NeverSilent
Got any Dexreth amulets?
6280
I would like to ask for a little bit of advice from the more experienced Mario level designers here, if that's okay. My current situation is that I have an idea for a level, and I think I've come up with some reasonable ways to implement what I'm planning to do. But I'm afraid that the concept is going to become much too gimmicky, and that my wish to adhere to my chosen "theme" will cause me to lose sight of what makes a good and enjoyable Mario level.

The idea I came up with is to build a level around Cheep Cheeps being shot out of pipes, both under water and on land. I think I've figured out how to kill the spawned enemies off again soon, so the level doesn't get absolutely crowded with them. But I really don't want the idea to degrade into just making the player wait and figure out the spawning intervals on the pipes every time, and then walk past at the correct moment. Do you think the idea is salvagable, and if so, how could I try to make it more engaging than a simple repetition of the "walk, dodge, walk, dodge" formula? And are there possible meaningful ways I can use Yoshi to positively influence this gimmick? Thanks for any advice!
author=NeverSilent
I would like to ask for a little bit of advice from the more experienced Mario level designers here, if that's okay. My current situation is that I have an idea for a level, and I think I've come up with some reasonable ways to implement what I'm planning to do. But I'm afraid that the concept is going to become much too gimmicky, and that my wish to adhere to my chosen "theme" will cause me to lose sight of what makes a good and enjoyable Mario level.

The idea I came up with is to build a level around Cheep Cheeps being shot out of pipes, both under water and on land. I think I've figured out how to kill the spawned enemies off again soon, so the level doesn't get absolutely crowded with them. But I really don't want the idea to degrade into just making the player wait and figure out the spawning intervals on the pipes every time, and then walk past at the correct moment. Do you think the idea is salvagable, and if so, how could I try to make it more engaging than a simple repetition of the "walk, dodge, walk, dodge" formula? And are there possible meaningful ways I can use Yoshi to positively influence this gimmick? Thanks for any advice!

My suggestion is to make the level regardless because that gimmick sounds good to me, and if there are any issues, I'm sure you'll get plenty of feedback.

Greenwood Forest by Davenport

- The normal donut blocks do not collapse when stood on too long
- That slightly longer piranha plant caught me off guard as I am not used to seeing longer Piranha Plants
- The goombas in this level have the same issue as the last
- The second half of this level is a bitch, the section which gives you one chance with Yoshi is particularly harsh
- I think we can all agree that after Super RMN Bros. 3 to never ever use secret exits in these events, no exceptions

Ice Valley by Davenport

- This level is dull in comparison to your other two levels and is very graphically intensive on the eyes with the snowstorm
- Oh my god, those ducks are amazing, in all seriousness, their stunned graphics "m" file is messed up
- Mushrooms... in blocks... Blarg...
- 1) Flowers, not A coins 2) Only two?
- I'm not sure you can have re-skinned yoshi
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16873
from NeverSilent
The idea I came up with is to build a level around Cheep Cheeps being shot out of pipes, both under water and on land.

The trick to keeping stuff like this from being repetitive is to use the gimmick in a variety of situations. Instead of just 'walk, dodge', maybe the player has to time a jump past a fish generator. Maybe some shoot upwards or sideways. Maybe there's a rail lift where they can't necessarily hesitate. This could be tricky to make work, but it has potential and I'm sure we can help you refine it.
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16873
Solitayre's Mushroom Samba:

Pretty solid work, but there are a few issues you'll need to deal with.

- The custom mushroom platforms look nice, but their edges are too soft compared to the world around them. The sprites need a dark outline to fit in.

- The falling platforms are fun, but they're a 2P compatibility issue. They'll need to be generators so the 2nd player can pass. I think a 3 second timer would do the trick. However, you may want to put the generators on their own layer so you can still have platforms on the default layer. That way the player won't have to wait for them to spawn in the first time.

- It's totally obvious what needs done to get the 1st flower, but it feels like a long wait for the mushroom to descend all the way. I'd bump the flower up a couple tiles.

- Oh, that vine secret...I'm a bit surprised, Soli. You can jump to the entrance warp without ever hitting the block, and if you do, you may fall off the cliff when you reach the next screen! The entrance needs to be on a layer that only appears when you hit the block. In the bonus room itself, the warp exit should be above a solid line of clouds with the vine poking through (so players can't fall down the entrance). Also, the vines are still two different types.

- The bonus room feels a little lacking. I used my leaf to fly up to the cloud platforms, but there was nothing hidden up there, nor anything to fly to higher up. Even an invisible 1-up block would be more rewarding.

- The final pipe with the piranha plant creates a no-win situation. The player can get hopelessly marooned if they don't have a leaf. I'd either make the pipe warp to somewhere earlier or raise it a couple tiles.

Otherwise, it's a nice, bubbly athletic level. Good music choice!
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16873
Illy's Tall Tops Forest:

- I have a couple beefs with the placement of the bonus room's entrance. It's really close to the 1st flower, and it's really far from the Yoshi you need to complete it. I was going to suggest NOT needing Yoshi for it, but if you moved the entrance to the other pipe further along in the stage, I think that would balance it out.

- I was weirded out by the ? sign that had no message. As for the invisible block above it, I think that's okay where it is, even without the sign to clue it. The area around it is relatively safe to fall into if an unsuspecting player bumps their head, so it should be fine.

- Before the midpoint, there are two branches on both sides of a tree that line up perfectly with each other. Although the 1-tile gap isn't a huge deal, it could take someone by surprise. It'd be best to move one branch higher or lower so it's obvious they aren't connected. Personally, I'd move the left branch down one.

- The fire flower near the P-switch is the wrong style. Gotta use SMW! Same for your 1-ups, actually.

- Um, since the P-switch turns flowers into blocks (SMBX is so dumb), I think it'd be best to swap the positions of those two items.

- I need to compliment how the P-switch 1-up is hidden. That's exactly what I was hoping to see when I thought the rest of the switch's time would go to waste.

This is a nice stage. It stays within respectable limitations while remaining interesting to play through. Great stuff for W1.
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16873
pyrodoom's Tempest Valley:

Hm...I'm kinda impressed, pyrodoom. It looks like you've come a long way since the last RMN World. Of course, I still have some criticisms anyway. ;3

- The 1st flower (and others later) is kinda jammed into a corner. While they do fit anywhere since I made them a single tile, their sprites help fill space around them. They look better a few tiles away from any given surface, so I'd adjust the placement of any that are hugging walls.

- That one little underground pocket at the start feels out of place, but that's because it's the only one. I'd add a few more around the rest of the stage to make it more visually interesting. And yes, I know what a pain that tile set is to use. If you'd rather remove the pocket, I understand.

- The rail lift is very hard to see on this stage. You should make the lines white so they stand out.

- Although there isn't a Yoshi before the leaf on this level, I do my testing from Yoshi at the start, and I couldn't hit the block because red koopas spit out as fireballs. A green koopa nearer to this block would be helpful.

- The rail lift up the mountain goes on a bit long and it sucks to wait for if you're stranded down below. If you shorten it to about where the coin trail ends, the rest of the mountain can be jumped up.

- I was bewildered about the P-switches and their bridge layer shenanigans when I first encountered them. Since this is the stage's gimmick, it'd be better to introduce it sooner. Near the stage's start, I'd raise the right wall of the pit and put a P-switch in there that spawns bridges you can use to climb up. That way it won't be as much of a surprise later.

- The P-switch generator that spawns them onto the rail lift is a bad call. It spawns in too many because gravity carries them away. Just put a pipe to spawn them at the bottom of the slope in place of the divot that's already there.

- I would've said something about how the 3-up moon is hidden, but I found it on my own, so I guess it's okay. However, I WILL say something about the secret hidden beyond the 3-up moon. That's really bogus, even if it is for special suits. I'd put the entrance to that cavern somewhere else and make the reward less valuable; fewer coins, maybe just a tanooki suit instead of both.

- The invisible coin blocks leading to the 5th flower are also totally bogus. If you want to do it this way, at least make the first two visible to rouse suspicion. They should be moved closer together, too. It's awkward to hit midair blocks when they're spaced that way, and flowers aren't that valuable.

- I never thought I'd say this, but your stage could use more enemies. The spaces are so wide open that having more goombas, koopas, and fish to deal with would make it feel more full. Don't go overboard adding stuff, but a little more here and there would help.

This is a cool level and I like that it's W1 difficulty without feeling like any old grasslands stage. It needs some refinement to really shine, though, so let's knock out these issues I described first.

-----

And that's all the W1 levels submitted so far. I must say, I'm glad they all had their own feel and didn't end up as a bunch of 1-1 clones or something. You're giving me hope, people!

So, I've finished making my first level, Green Thumb, I began to get a bit low on ideas towards the latter end of the level, the level is supposed to be a miniboss level, although I couldn't muster up any cool planty custom graphics. Constructive criticism greatly appreciated.
author=halibabica
Illy's Tall Tops Forest:- I have a couple beefs with the placement of the bonus room's entrance. It's really close to the 1st flower, and it's really far from the Yoshi you need to complete it. I was going to suggest NOT needing Yoshi for it, but if you moved the entrance to the other pipe further along in the stage, I think that would balance it out.

- I was weirded out by the ? sign that had no message. As for the invisible block above it, I think that's okay where it is, even without the sign to clue it. The area around it is relatively safe to fall into if an unsuspecting player bumps their head, so it should be fine.

- Before the midpoint, there are two branches on both sides of a tree that line up perfectly with each other. Although the 1-tile gap isn't a huge deal, it could take someone by surprise. It'd be best to move one branch higher or lower so it's obvious they aren't connected. Personally, I'd move the left branch down one.

- The fire flower near the P-switch is the wrong style. Gotta use SMW! Same for your 1-ups, actually.

- Um, since the P-switch turns flowers into blocks (SMBX is so dumb), I think it'd be best to swap the positions of those two items.

- I need to compliment how the P-switch 1-up is hidden. That's exactly what I was hoping to see when I thought the rest of the switch's time would go to waste.

This is a nice stage. It stays within respectable limitations while remaining interesting to play through. Great stuff for W1.


This has been updated again, I replaced the fireflowers with leaf powerups, but being its a SMW stage that isn't underwater I dunno if you'd rather use those or switch them back to the SMW fire flowers. As for the Yoshi placement I noticed this predicament and moved the Yoshi block right above the pipe entrance. I'll also move the branch and dragon coin/flower as suggested, and switch the styles to match for the 1ups.
Tall Tops Forest by Illy

- I'm still sure that ditching a Yoshi to solve a puzzle is somewhat frowned upon in this situation, but the rules are Hali's job
- Otherwise, I'd say this level is good to go
I have a question.
Remember back when I did the level Metal Harbor, and had Bloopers flying in the sky?

Is there ANY situation that'd be a good idea, or be allowed in this game? I really want to try it again, but I'm not sure if there's anywhere that flying bloopers would fit.

Also, I added a new update for Tempest Valley. "The Hali Update". .3.
NeverSilent
Got any Dexreth amulets?
6280
Thanks, jackalotrun and halibabica! I'll do my best to turn this idea into something playable.
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16873
from jackalotrun
Tall Tops Forestby Illy

- I'm still sure that ditching a Yoshi to solve a puzzle is somewhat frowned upon in this situation, but the rules are Hali's job
You can still get the Yoshi back afterward, so it's okay.

from pyrodoom
Is there ANY situation that'd be a good idea, or be allowed in this game? I really want to try it again, but I'm not sure if there's anywhere that flying bloopers would fit.
I think Sky High Island is far enough into the game for that kind of bs. As long as they can be killed by stomping on them, I'm fine with it.
More Super RMN World 2 level feedback:

Scorching Hot (W7) by Davenport:
Not that much different from the original version. It's impossible to get all the red coins if you die & restart at the mid-point. I see the prize for all the red coins is still that 'Final Star'. Are there supposed to be hidden stars in this game?


Future Shock (W8) by Solitayre:
Quite the challenge. I did find a 'single tile gap' that could zip someone through a wall into the lava:




Ghost Coast (W2) by Kentona:
Good challenge. Music seems unfitting for this type of level. I tried it again with the ghost house music & it definitely fit the level better. Also, some of the enemies didn't fit the theme either, like shell-less koopas, cheep-cheeps & goonies. It would be more fitting to replace them with Dry Bones, Fishbones & skeletal Goonies instead, but that's just my opinion.


I had one idea for a level only to scrap it because it was too demanding, but I'm working on a boss level for world 3 (Naval Piranha's Bog). Btw, is there a preset number of levels per world like in SMW2 (8 levels; 6 regular levels + 1 min-boss fortress & 1 boss castle) or can the number of levels per world fluctuate? I ask because I don't want to waste time making a level for a world with too many levels for it already.
Seiromem
I would have more makerscore If I did things.
6375
I've updated Fiery Fumes a little bit ago, and I'm currently working on my W2, 3, and 8 levels at once. I don't know if switching between them is good, but I think the change in scenery helps my creativity glands excrete more imagination juices to coat my reality cortex.
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16873
from Animebryan
is there a preset number of levels per world...or can the number of levels per world fluctuate?

It's not set, but I'm hoping for at least 6 and at most 10 on any given island. I'll encourage people to make stages for islands that need more as the event nears its conclusion.
Thanks for the feedback, the new version is up, I changed some things here and there, and it probably would make it a smoother experience (nothing too big tho)... sorry for taking so long, life has got me busy lately, I'll see if I have time to make another level soon