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

author=halibabica
Feedback


Fixed all the things mentioned from Anime and you.

The only thing i didn't really get was the pipe thing. Which do you mean exactly after the 4th flower?
More feedback:
Switch Swap Swamp (W1) by Ratty524:
Well this is an interesting concept. I love puzzle levels. Oh look at me! I'm stuck! (literally)



I definitely liked the amount of 1-ups in the stage, but I don't see anyway to reach the 3-up moon. There's no point in putting something in a level if there's no way to obtain it within the level. Maybe swap out a fire flower for a leaf or hide a blue koopa somewhere. Good level though.


Sinister Crypt (W2) by Jalex:
Dry Bowser's sprite is a bit off when he breathes fire. I don't remember enough about the 1st version to notice the diffence, but the level seems a bit too easy for a boss level, otherwise it's a good level.

@Hali Actually, I was planning on having fire flowers spawn during the fight among other generated things (nipper plants & poison mushrooms). But then I realized that the fire flowers should be swapped out with ice flowers so you can freeze the nipper plants & throw them at Naval Piranha. I just need to get the generators to work right.

Btw Hali, have you tested my W7 level yet? I have a video of me testing it to show how to get through it without dying & getting all 5 flowers:



Even if you watch the video first, at least give it a try a few times first to really gauge the difficulty of it.
Ratty524
The 524 is for 524 Stone Crabs
12986
@Animebryan: How did that happen? O-O
@Animebryan:
Sinister Crypt was meant to be on the easy side. Since it's World 2, I was aiming for something reasonable to players who aren't as good as I am. (The boss was also a last-minute addition to the level, even then I consider it more of a mini-boss)
Solitayre
Circumstance penalty for being the bard.
18257
World 1: 7
World 2: 7
World 3: 6
World 4: 3
World 5: 5
World 6: 2
World 7: 4
World 8: 4


World 4 and World 6 are currently most in need of some love.
Ratty524
The 524 is for 524 Stone Crabs
12986
author=Solitayre
World 1: 7
World 2: 7
World 3: 6
World 4: 3
World 5: 5
World 6: 2
World 7: 4
World 8: 4


World 4 and World 6 are currently most in need of some love.

Do people just not like cave and sky levels? xD
I'm sure I will hit a downtime at Million Man Lan, I will try to crank out a World 4 or 6 stage (or both) then!

Edit - I'm really wanting to use Blargg anyway, so...!
author=Ratty524
@Animebryan: How did that happen? O-O
Yoshi had a shell in his mouth. Thinking that the red blocks needed to be there to get the 3-up moon & not realizing that there's no way out, I jumped with yoshi, spat the shell at the red switch block & jumped off yoshi. Might want to add another red switch block up there just for that reason.

@Hali I forgot to ask, but I noticed you got on Davenport's case about using red coins. Does that mean red coins aren't allowed? Because my world 3 boss level uses them to get into a power-up room. I figured they should be allowed since the game this is based on (SMW2) was actually the 1st mario game to use them & would make for a nice extra purpose in levels by rewarding with power-ups & such.

@Solitayre I count 7 levels for world 3 actually (not counting the one I'm working on)
1-Wetlands
2-GigaGrowthGulf
3-Giga Funklen
4-Green Thumb
5-Grumbly Goomba Causeway
6-Jungle Rumble
7-Piranha Plant Valley

When I finally finish mine (hopefully tonight), that'll make 8

Also, along with fixing the boss fight for world 3, I have a world 6 & world 8 level in the works. If Hali is willing to extend the deadline, I could have time to do a world 4 level as well.
Seiromem
I would have more makerscore If I did things.
6375
I believe it was red coins used just because they were red. They were used just like regular coins, which would be confusing since red coins usually mean something special.
Ratty524
The 524 is for 524 Stone Crabs
12986
Ah, That's something to do. Thanks!

I don't see anything inherently wrong with red coins, it's just that Davenport's levels in particular tend to abuse them/weirdly substitute them for flowers. They work best in limited spaces where the next coin to collect is readily identifiable. They can offer a nice bit of variety in a level, but just like any tool, they can be misused.
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16948
@Frozen: The pipe directly to the right of the 4/3 warp flower. There's a one-tile gap between it and the platform above.

@Bryan: I'll have to see how your Naval Piranha fight works first, but I'm hesitant about the need to spawn ice flowers. Requiring a power-up to beat a boss is counter-intuitive in this engine. There are plenty of alternatives, so I hope you'll reconsider. As for the red coin thing, it's okay if they're used appropriately (like with a red p-switch or something), but Davenport tosses them in all over the place, and they're completely meaningless. Coins shouldn't look different just 'cuz they can.

@Soli: The stage count is a little off right now because UPRC had to drop. I asked if I can still use their stages, and the count is as follows if they let me:

World 1: 7
World 2: 8
World 3: 8
World 4: 3
World 5: 7
World 6: 2
World 7: 5
World 8: 4

But yeah, 4 & 6 do need some love.

More feedback incoming.
Solitayre
Circumstance penalty for being the bard.
18257
Look I never claimed that I could count.
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16948
It's not your fault, bruh. There's no way you could've known.

@Ratty: SEARING SKULL STEPPING
Ratty524
The 524 is for 524 Stone Crabs
12986
author=halibabica
@Ratty: SEARING SKULL STEPPING

THAT IS PERFECT! Thanks again! :DDDDD
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16948
Seiromem's Debilitating Depths:

Hey, it's a water stage! And it's SMB1 style! I was wondering if anyone would make any SMB1-style levels. Sadly, I don't have much praise for this one. ._.

This level is everything a water stage shouldn't be. It's choked with fish; it's the water equivalent of Funklen Forest. Not only are there far too many enemies to begin with, most of them are coming from generators. I know you love your generators, man, but you went off the deep end here (LOL). It's not bad, though; it just needs toned down. Like, a lot.

- I don't think there's a single generator in this stage I approve of. They should all just...not be.

- That's a nice-looking blooper sprite, but wouldn't it match the stage theme better as a regular SMB1 blooper?

- I dunno what speed you need to start sliding on that slope to clear the gap, but my best attempt still left me swimming.

- I dig what you're going for with the big ice blocks you can break. I don't dig the implementation one bit. These goomba and koopa generators are clunky, not to mention being the easiest life farms ever seen. Those have gotta go, but the big ice blocks are still doable. Just have shells generate up from the floor. That way, they're stationary and can't be farmed so easily.

- The red coin prize didn't appear when I collected all the coins.

- The jump to the flower after the checkpoint is kinda bogus. Getting the timing and momentum just right is needlessly hard, and you can't even see the platform from where you need to start the jump. If the paratroopa were further right, it'd be no problem. I know that would trivialize it somewhat, but I'd rather it be too easy than too hard.

- Why is that Hammer Bro array so far off the ground? They should be lowered a tile.

- Okay, the blooper that pops out of the ice block...I like it and I hate it. That mofo bum rushes you the second it's free. If it were a tile lower, at least the player might have time to react.

- Don't underestimate bloopers in general. For whatever reason, they're hard to deal with in this engine, and even having more than one on screen is really cruel. Choose your placement of them more carefully.

I like some of the concepts this stage uses, but those generators are doing it no favors at all. Try to be more judicious with how you place your enemies. An endless stream of them is rarely a good thing.
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16948
Solitayre's Super Penguin Bros.:

BUMPTYYYYYYYYYYY

- As adorable as your Bumpty generators are, you really shouldn't let them pile up like that. How you want to handle each one is up to you, but I won't abide these blatant life farms.

- This stage feels kinda mild for W5. I'm not sure what more it needs, but one more enemy type couldn't hurt. There are flying sprites for Bumpty; maybe you could put in some that hover about.

- Ya got some cutoff on your pipes there, bruh. You could use the flat floor tiles to make them flush with the ground. None of them lead to secrets anyway (though maybe one should???).

- You can be a little sneakier with some of your flowers. The 1st is just kinda hangin' out there, but it could go in a bonus room just as easily. The 3rd one, I'd move under the water near the first Bumpty generator. The 5th, I'd submerge in the water directly below it (where the fire spitter can sort of guard it).

In general, it's a plenty enjoyable stage. I think if you adjusted your generators and added some flying penguins, it'd balance out really well.
Seiromem
I would have more makerscore If I did things.
6375
In regards to generators, I usually always feel like if there's not an enemy or obstacle on-screen trying to get you, the level rapidly becomes boring, because there's no threat. If there's a threat to dodge, then you can't be bored! Spikes don't count unless you actively try to move past them in a dangerous manner.

In this, once you kill the fish, there ain't much left but to continue, which isn't really a problem- just continue! I don't know why I obsess about having something on screen to do at all times. Sometimes you just need to get going, and move on. I'll try to drop this mentality and just make an obstacle to overcome, not an obstacle to constantly attack you.
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16948
Animebryan's Hellfire & Brimstone:

Well well, a tough stage indeed. I wonder if this isn't meant as some sort of revenge for my own 'impossible' creation. I believe you when you say it can be beaten all in one go, and I like the mood of the stage, but there are some implementation issues I'd like to see addressed.

- Since Mario games are meant to be kid-friendly, I'd leave 'Hell' out of the title.

- By putting your music in the file folder, you broke the file path. It's okay to leave the song outside the folder to fix it.

- This is basically Single-Tile Jumps: The Stage. While it is quite challenging, it's also remarkably tedious. I don't think players would get much enjoyment from crossing this harrowing lava field one hop at a time. It looks and feels really rom-hacky, and that's fine for some people, but not what we're looking for in this project. It's a really core issue, too, because so much of the stage is based around it. While it would be much easier with more platforms to work with, I think it's necessary that you expand the ground in just about every area. It will help the stage be more visually interesting, and you can still keep in some of the single-tile jumps. Right now, it's nothing but that, and it's not especially compelling.

- You're far too generous with your power-ups. Most of the danger in this stage is instant death anyway, so there's no reason for things to be doubled up (or tripled).

- I see you were really determined to make sure none of the flowers could be cheesed with Yoshi jumps. Potential hypocrisy aside, you shouldn't go out of your way to thwart the player like this. Not only could these invisible blocks mean an unexpected spill into the lava, you're removing an element of the player's control. If their solution to your problem was to Yoshi jump, let them have it. Can you imagine how much different RMN World would've been if I deemed Link too broken to allow as playable? There's a balance to be struck between what a developer expects of the player and what the player can do to alleviate the challenge. That's something I think you, of all people, would appreciate.

- Those podoboo geysers go off for just about a second longer than I feel they ought to. Waiting for them is almost as tedious as jumping past them.

- The vertical section isn't as bad about the platforming, but it's very busy from a visual standpoint. Maybe cut back on some of the flashier hazards so it's not so mind-boggling to look at.

There's a lot I'm asking you to change here, so I'll have to reevaluate after you've given it a once-over. Just remember, it's okay for the stage to be hard, but it's still only W7 out of 8.
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16948
from Seiromem
In regards to generators, I usually always feel like if there's not an enemy or obstacle on-screen trying to get you, the level rapidly becomes boring, because there's no threat.

The thing about this is it's a double-edged sword, especially underwater. The player may not always have the means to destroy the fish, and the longer a generator is on-screen, the bigger the problem quickly becomes. The hazards of a stage can't be viewed as 'no threat = boring now', because stages are meant to be advanced through. The challenge comes from the new hazards you encounter after passing the ones you cleared. Though it sounds like you're starting to understand that already. :3
hali, you're amazing.

I know I've railed on you in the past (unfairly) and I know that you don't appreciate my juvenile puns (Broshi's Island), but you are remarkably dedicate to the events that you run. Kudos to that!