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
from pyrodoom
because the person seemed pretty disappointed I butchered it, I replaced the life with a tanooki suit).
Of course Bryan was upset you took away his W1 easy-access hammer suit. ;P


*tanooki suit
.3.

Out of all seriousness though, I understand what you mean. Can't wait to see the rereview of Tempest Valley by me, because that alcove that leads to the "secret" is a little off for me, but I don't know why.
author=halibabica
Illy's Perilous Pipe Warehouse:Although not as high-tech as the other W8 stages I've tried, this still fits in with Brain Drain pretty well. I like how, in spite of pipes going everywhere, the secrets are still logically hidden and don't require you to check every single pipe.

- I think 'Depot' flows better than 'Warehouse'.

- The entire stage can be skipped by jumping over the wooden wall at the start.

- Something seems to be up with the bottom of your backdrop there. It also looks to have been saved as a nasty gif. You should use a different filename so it replaces a backdrop that works the same way, and see if you can get a non-grainy version of it.

- The timing needed to clear the 4th flower's roto-disc and piranha plant is just ridiculous. Take the plant out; the disc is enough to deal with.

- Ascending past the bill blasters is much easier than it looks. Try making the passage more narrow so both walls are on-screen.

And that's all. This is a really solid level.

Yeah, all that should be no problem! Thanks for the info! I wanted to make something a bit unique for the backdrop but it doesn't sound like anyone's too keen on what I chose XD I'll try to recapture it and make it a cleaner .png, then see how that works out.
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16873
from Ratty524
just how valuable these flowers, and the stars they give are suppose to be?
The stars lead to both end-game content and progressive rewards along the way. Agent Toad's HQ will serve as our mushroom huts, and the player can get power-ups there if they have enough stars. The reward varies with the island it's found on, and the HQ will also have warps you can take between the islands for fast travel.

The big thing I've been watching out for with flowers is to make sure no single one of them is overly-cumbersome to obtain. The reason for this is because, in order to get the star, the player has to collect all five AND reach the end of the level. That means they have to do it all in one go, because checkpoints don't track what you collected previously. That's why you can't have it such that one of them is very hard to get, because it's not just the difficulty of collecting one flower; it's the difficulty of collecting all 5 and finishing the stage on a single try.

from kentona
Would a change for the second half of the Ghost Coast level be warranted? I was thinking like a brief underwater segment with ghosts inside a sunken ship a la SMW...
It would certainly fit, and it would probably solve Ratty's beef as well. You're welcome to make the changes if you like.
author=kentona
Would a change for the second half of the Ghost Coast level be warranted? I was thinking like a brief underwater segment with ghosts inside a sunken ship a la SMW...

Thoughts?


I think you should make a custom graphic of your boos in hockey masks.
Had to go nearly a week without internet so I'm falling far behind. Here's some feedback that's LONG overdue (probably redundant due to re-versions):

Ghost Coast (W2) by Kentona:
The music & enemies definitely fit the theme better. It's a shame you didn't replace the goonies with skeletal versions. If you can't seem to find sprites for them, I have a sheet with them (needs to be edited though). Btw, why are the dry bones placed 1 tile above the ships? Is it to keep them from falling through or something? And why are there 2 boss room sections (sections 2 & 3)? Where you planning on this being a mini-boss level?


Sinister Crypt (W2) by Jalex:
Very nice. Love the background & the music. I take it that the dummy section (section 4) was meant for a boss fight but you changed your mind or left it in there just in case?


Abandoned Factory (W8) by Seiromem:
Definitely like the background & music. Might want to tone-down on the poison mushroom spam (and slow their spawn rate a bit). Difficulty is extreme. So extreme that even with Black Yoshi's flying ability, it's hard to get through without getting hit. What really pisses me off is not being able to get yoshi back after I lose him. I usually take way too much damage just trying to get him back (usually results in death). I'm starting to believe it's impossible to beat without him. In fact, it's OFFICIALLY too god damn fucking hard!!!


Anyway, I'm almost finished with my boss level for world 3 but I've never set up a boss fight before & I'm not familiar with fixing the screen to not scroll during the boss fight. I tried to make a boss level for world 2 but it was an unsalvageable mess (wasted the whole weekend on it). I think I'll make a Sky level for world 6 & a level for world 4. As I wait for help on my boss fight I'll review all the new levels & revisions & work on a world 6 level.
Ratty524
The 524 is for 524 Stone Crabs
12986
author=halibabica
from Ratty524
just how valuable these flowers, and the stars they give are suppose to be?
The stars lead to both end-game content and progressive rewards along the way. Agent Toad's HQ will serve as our mushroom huts, and the player can get power-ups there if they have enough stars. The reward varies with the island it's found on, and the HQ will also have warps you can take between the islands for fast travel.

The big thing I've been watching out for with flowers is to make sure no single one of them is overly-cumbersome to obtain. The reason for this is because, in order to get the star, the player has to collect all five AND reach the end of the level. That means they have to do it all in one go, because checkpoints don't track what you collected previously. That's why you can't have it such that one of them is very hard to get, because it's not just the difficulty of collecting one flower; it's the difficulty of collecting all 5 and finishing the stage on a single try.
I guess that isn't a bad call in that regard. I mean, there would pretty much always be a point where the player can't get the star due to a checkpoint, so I'll take your advice on this matter and change them up.

author=kentona
Would a change for the second half of the Ghost Coast level be warranted? I was thinking like a brief underwater segment with ghosts inside a sunken ship a la SMW...

Thoughts?
I wouldn't mind that at all!
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16873
from Ratty524
there would pretty much always be a point where the player can't get the star due to a checkpoint

On that note, one of my intended post-event revisions is to include 'flower mode' in each stage, whereby hitting a block at the start hides the checkpoint so the player won't have to lose out if they're specifically after flowers.
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16873
outcry312's Doom Dunes:

This is an okay level. It didn't really do much to wow me, but it's fairly solid on its own. I only noticed a few things that needed fixed.

- Well, the mushroom's not in a block, but scooting along the ground isn't much better. I'd put a normal power-up in place of Yoshi and put the dino in place of the fire flower at the end of the first section.

- The SMW koopas don't really fit with the other enemies you used. They should be SMB3 style since most of the rest are.

- A non-hidden power-up at the checkpoint would be most welcome. Just put one in the blocks underneath it.

- The hammer bros. should be SMB3 style, and I'd put them on normal bricks so they can be attacked from below. It's a little early in the game for them to be on solid bricks. You may also want to move the front one back a bit; he hops right in the quicksand first chance he gets.

- You use the same gimmick for the 5th flower as you do the 3rd, and the 5th doesn't even feel as well-guarded. I'd add a firebar and put the springboard somewhere near it.
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16873
Fflo's Jungle Rumble:

Well, it's a nice looking jungle, but nothing's especially big here except the Banzai Bills (which felt really out of place). I feel like it could use Rexes resprited as Dino-Rhinos to help it stand out. However it goes, I think you should at least include some kind of huge enemy. Maybe something from...Pikmin? Just spoutin' ideas here.

- That's a mighty big signpost for such a little man to make. While I appreciate the Pikmin reference, it doesn't really fit in this project. You should take it out.

- Though I like the look of the waterfall, it sort of implies that the pit isn't bottomless. If a player hopped down there, they'd be sorely disappointed. Tell you what, since the pipe entrance to the bonus room is so obvious, why don't you put it at the bottom of this shaft instead? You can leave the pipe off-screen and it'd still work.

- The blue paratroopa generator is simply too much. It spawns them very quickly and they make a huge mess if they're on-screen too long. Personally, I don't think the generator's needed at all. A jumping piranha could occupy that pipe just fine.

- I wasn't sure of the meaning of the big 'STOP!' but I'd kinda like to see the checkpoint inside the 'O' instead of the flower. I'd extend the screen right a little beyond the pipe and put the flower on a small island beyond.

- I appreciate the attempt to make a sailboat, but I feel like this could look better. The curtains and bricks just don't really cut it. Being that this is Mario, you could get away with just a mast and some bridge tiles as spokes.

- The spawning fire flower is a bit generous, especially since this section isn't particularly difficult. I'd put one flower on the boat and leave it at that. The player can take it if they need it.

- It's still a bit early in the game to be sending three homing enemies at the player simultaneously. I'd delete one and move another further along.

- The rail lift at the end is kinda arbitrary since there's nothing to threaten the player there. Put in some paratroopas to watch out for.

- You can't use the yellow switch this way since it wouldn't work in two player mode. Use a normal rail lift platform and make it a generator so both players can pass.

That's all the advice I have for now. I like this stage; I just want to see it embrace the themes of its island better. Take a look and see what you can do.
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16873
outcry312's Slip 'n Snow:

This is such a pleasant snowy stage! The music puts me at ease, but the ice physics keep me on my toes. I like it, but here are my beefs:

- You're rather generous with power-ups in this stage. Between four ice flowers, three Yoshis, and one mushroom, there's more than enough to go around. It seemed like I found both a Yoshi and an ice flower in several places. I'd pick one or the other for any instance where they're really close together. Oh, and get rid of the mushroom. Put the 1st flower up there instead.

- I don't quite get the construction of this...house? You could tile that glass into windows instead of hanging them from bars. I like the little puzzle with the springboard, though. That should stay as it is.

- I like that the floor in the house isn't snowy, but there's a big stretch out back that would still be snow-covered. Incidentally, the question blocks would look nice with a little snow on them too. You can find the sprite for that in RMN World 1's 'Forest of Cold Silence'.

- What's with the random frozen coin next to the bonus room pipe? I think it's the only one in the stage; I'd ditch it.

This is a good candidate for the first stage of W5. I hope you can make these tweaks to polish it up.
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16873
Jalex's Lakitu Rampage:

- Your stage rename broke the file path for the music. Oopsy!

- I like that this stage makes good use of Yoshi's flight mechanic, but I don't like how you need it for all 5 flowers. I'll give separate advice as I move along.

- It's a bit odd that the mega mole vanishes completely. You could check 'No Smoke' and have a replacement appear that says something else. It's also weird that the platform leads to a door floating in the sky. Wouldn't a pipe fit better?

- It's really strange to see a buzzy beetle in this setting. Use an ordinary koopa there.

- The 2nd flower, I'd put it underneath the falling platform so the player has to ride down into it.

- The fire spitter near the 2nd flower needs to go. It may crash them game because of the exit warp nearby.

- Switch goombas aren't reliable in this game, because if Pink or Light Blue Yoshi licks it up, it doesn't count as dead. It's better to use a regular rail lift that starts when you jump on it.

- The fire spitters to the left of the yellow rail lift aren't close enough to attack the player riding by. Move them over a bit.

- The 3rd flower...I'd leave it where it is, but extend the rail lift higher and leave the end bumper off it so the platform jumps at the top. Make the height enough that the player can reach the flower after the platform bounces.

- Put the 4th flower in place of the 3-up moon. It's obvious enough to be okay. Whether you change it or not, you need to put a warp in that pipe or something so the player can escape if they fall down there without Yoshi. You won't need a koopa generator if you do it that way.

- For the 5th flower, I'd put donuts in place of the cloud above it.

It's looking good otherwise. It's a lot easier if you can keep Yoshi, but I think the challenge is decent for W6. Well done.

-----

All right, I suddenly got a temp job that starts tomorrow, so I won't be able to help as much as I've been lately. In fact, I'll be completely unavailable from Wednesday 'til Saturday! Hang tight and put your feedback to good use. I've given it for every level posted now, so no excuses!
Fixed my level according to Hali's critique. hopefully I ironed out all the flaws it had. Now to get to making at least one more level! I only have two weeks left. Don't want this one to be my only level.
author=halibabica
- It's a bit odd that the mega mole vanishes completely. You could check 'No Smoke' and have a replacement appear that says something else. It's also weird that the platform leads to a door floating in the sky. Wouldn't a pipe fit better?

I actually tried to do that with another NPC-on-a-ship later on, but the airship started spazzing like crazy after talking to him. How exactly should I add the replacement NPC?
author=Animebryan
Had to go nearly a week without internet so I'm falling far behind. Here's some feedback that's LONG overdue (probably redundant due to re-versions):

Ghost Coast (W2) by Kentona:
The music & enemies definitely fit the theme better. It's a shame you didn't replace the goonies with skeletal versions. If you can't seem to find sprites for them, I have a sheet with them (needs to be edited though). Btw, why are the dry bones placed 1 tile above the ships? Is it to keep them from falling through or something? And why are there 2 boss room sections (sections 2 & 3)? Where you planning on this being a mini-boss level?
I placed them one tile above the ships because otherwise they'd get "trapped" inside the ships when they appeared on screen and then wackiness ensued! I am not even sure if 1 tile is high enough tbh!

When I made this level, I used an existing level of mine from years ago as a base (so I wouldn't have to redo the chained events that move the ships up and down from scratch. tl;dr - I'm lazy)

I don't have skeletal goonie sprites.
Solitayre
Circumstance penalty for being the bard.
18257
I used old levels I never released in anything as the base for some of the levels I made here too.
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16873
@Jalex: since we're trying to create the illusion of the same mole still being there, it should be on its own layer in the exact same spot. You should be able to reveal the new mole with the same event that hides the original one.

@kentona: I'd be totally willing to track down some undead bird sprites for you, if you'll have them.
I tried something like that, with the two layers for the pilot before and after talking to them, along with the layer for the ship. I also think I attached the second one to the airship layer, perhaps that was the problem? I'll do some more testing.

EDIT: I disabled 'attach to layer' on the NPC event, and it works perfectly now.
I edited my snow level with changes and re-submitted it. Thanks for the feedback. I'll look into my desert level next, but I'm already thinking I don't like it and will probably give that one up. For now, I'd say the snow level is my one and only entry.
author=kentona
author=Animebryan
Had to go nearly a week without internet so I'm falling far behind. Here's some feedback that's LONG overdue (probably redundant due to re-versions):

Ghost Coast (W2) by Kentona:
The music & enemies definitely fit the theme better. It's a shame you didn't replace the goonies with skeletal versions. If you can't seem to find sprites for them, I have a sheet with them (needs to be edited though). Btw, why are the dry bones placed 1 tile above the ships? Is it to keep them from falling through or something? And why are there 2 boss room sections (sections 2 & 3)? Where you planning on this being a mini-boss level?
I placed them one tile above the ships because otherwise they'd get "trapped" inside the ships when they appeared on screen and then wackiness ensued! I am not even sure if 1 tile is high enough tbh!

When I made this level, I used an existing level of mine from years ago as a base (so I wouldn't have to redo the chained events that move the ships up and down from scratch. tl;dr - I'm lazy)

I don't have skeletal goonie sprites.



You'd have to separate them from the main pic but they're usable.

More Feedback:
Green Thumb (W3) by jackalotrun:
That 1st flower was too easy, gotta make the player work for them. I still see you using that blind jump down & hiding that mushroom platform under the watering block & paratroopa. Other then that, good level.


Doom Dunes (W2) by outcry312:
Shouldn't make quicksand or other hazards flush with the ground. Set the top of the quicksand down by 1 tile. At the mid-point screen, you have a 1 tile gap above the pipe in the left wall. While it won't cause 'wall-zipping' it seems kinda strange to not fill that gap.


SlipnSnow (W5) by outcry312:
Please, for the love of god, don't follow Davenport's bad example of just putting mushrooms in blocks. At least make it a fire/ice flower or a leaf. Other than that, it was a very 'cool' level.


Tall Tops Forest (W1) by Illy:
Good level. I see no flaws in this level.


GigaGrowthGulf (W3) by Ratty524:
Great! Much better than auto-scrolling. I just don't understand why you chose to put 3 1-up mushrooms in that room instead of a 3-up moon.


Jungle Rumble (W3) by Fflo:
The Captain Olimar message typo, "When my heart grows to heavy,", should be 'too'. That blue paratroopa generator, I wanted to exploit it so badly, but they were ganging up on me, it was rediculous! Good level though.


Serenade Forest (W3) by Davenport:
That yoshi block is too high. The only way I could reach it was by bouncing off the noteblock to get up there, with a bit of luck. I see you still put mushrooms in blocks instead of better power-ups (frog area). Great level & music though.


Awesome Ice (W5) by Davenport:
So you renamed Ice Valley huh? Those duck/penguin things still leave a black shadow in their shell form, fix the mask for those sprites. Your bushes background objects have black upper corners too. Btw, levels are easily exploited when players have a yoshi & you let them have access to blue koopas, just saiyan. Definitely looks prettier with the snowy background though.


Lakitu Rampage (W6) by Jalex:
Need to make sure your 'Custom' music track name matches the actual mp3 track name. Even then, the track won't play until I pulled it out of the level folder & put it in my main SRMNW2 folder (which contains all the level files, level folders & all the mp3s). Great level & music.


Perilous Pipe Warehouse (W8) by Illy:
Nice background! That 1st bullet bill launcher has a 1 tile gap above it that can trap the player into the left wall until they are shot to death by said bullet bill launcher. When I revealed the P-Switch, I took it upon myself to kill off the thwomps with the koopa shell before backtracking only to find that the damn thing despawned. You should make it carryable. Great level & challenge.


Chemical Compound (W8) by Ratty524:
Most . . . awesome . . . level . . . ever! No complaints here.


Ghost Coast (W2) by Kentona:
The added mushroom blocks really help here. The level seems good enough as is.


BoomBoomBastille (W7) by Ratty524:
Took me a couple of tries on both routes. Final fight on hard route is much better than before. But it looks like Hali wants there to only be 1 route (which makes sense in the long run).

I didn't get a chance to work on a new level last night as I passed out after testing Ghost Coast again. Still waiting for some help on how to set up screen positioning for my boss fight level.
Ratty524
The 524 is for 524 Stone Crabs
12986
author=Animebryan
GigaGrowthGulf (W3) by Ratty524:
Great! Much better than auto-scrolling. I just don't understand why you chose to put 3 1-up mushrooms in that room instead of a 3-up moon.

To be less boring (imo it feels more exciting to collect multiples of a good thing than it does to collect a single great thing). I'm also not sure the 3up moon reacts to gravity.

author=Animebryan
Chemical Compound (W8) by Ratty524:
Most . . . awesome . . . level . . . ever! No complaints here.

thanks!

author=Animebryan
BoomBoomBastille (W7) by Ratty524:
Took me a couple of tries on both routes. Final fight on hard route is much better than before. But it looks like Hali wants there to only be 1 route (which makes sense in the long run).

Yeah, I'm going to merge it.