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
Ratty, I love those bridges!

Pyrodoom, when I said a flower to the left of the start, I meant the 1st of the five you collect! :P
Ratty524
The 524 is for 524 Stone Crabs
12986

I hope this works as a solution. This took some work but god damn is the level much cleaner now.

The update with these new graphics has been uploaded. I'm going to bed now.
author=halibabica
pyrodoom's Bullet Bill Bouncing in Billowy Brumes:Hey, this is a pretty cool stage! I dig the style and atmosphere (no pun intended), but here are my beefs:

- Alliteration overload! Hate to break it to you, but your title's too long. Even if I wanted to leave it alone, it gets cut off by three characters on the world map. You'll have to shorten it up one way or another.

- The gap to the left of the start is highly suspicious. I know there's *ahem* that thing off to the left much further up, but at the start it's remarkably sketchy. I think a little island with the 1st flower would be much better.

- The gray terrain and sizables look great, but it's hard to tell what's solid and what isn't sometimes. If you make the sizable blocks slightly darker, that should be enough of a clue.

- The coin arrow near the 2nd flower is pointing down at a platform much smaller than itself. Stretch the platform to the left two tiles so it's definitely a safe drop. You may need to bump the 2nd flower and its array left a little to compensate.

- The spot after the coin arrow is really cruel with its layout. The donuts fall too fast, the bricks can't be broken, and you're almost guaranteed to die if you don't book it through as fast as possible. Either use sturdier donuts or take out one of the blocks so the player can jump up to safety.

- Regarding your donuts, they pose a 2P compatibility issue. You'll need to make generators out of them. I'd go with three seconds.

- The Bill bouncing you need to do to reach the 3rd flower is just a bit too devious. The first blaster you see to the right is too high to perform the needed jump. The one just after it is the correct height, so move it forward to the earlier set of ledges. I'd also put the flower in view of the floor below so the player knows it's up there.

- I'm not sure what the point of pipe warp 1 is except to save you from a failed Bill jump. You can't see the pipe at all from the ledge above, so the player has little indication on what to do. You should put in two separate coin trails; one leading up and the other leading down. This way the player knows what to do and that they have a choice.

- Oh, heck no, I am not cool with friendly Lakitus in a stage like this. The player needs to be able to kill this guy, and the one next to the warp pipe is just too much. You should delete the first one and make his counterpart able to be killed.

- The chamber that the warp pipe leads to is a little weird. I'm guessing the hole in the wall is to prevent a no-win situation with the Bill blaster on the other side. Personally, I think this whole little corner can be cut. The 1st warp pipe should drop you right where the 2nd one exits.

- I'm not sure anyone would find that hidden 1-up; at least not where it is. If it were closer to the blocks below and centered, then maybe.

- I didn't notice the flower under the checkpoint, but I did see the lower springblob while I was ascending. I bounced down to the lower blob, but couldn't see anything from there. You should place it differently so it can't be seen from the upper springblobs. I'd clue the flower's hiding place with a coin or something, though.

- It would take a flying Yoshi to reach the 2nd tanooki suit anyway, so why not put it on the platform higher above? You could even put it in a visible giant block for all the difference it'd make.

- The single-tile hops at the stage's end are just a bit much. I'd take out the last one or two; at least the player has a shot at surviving if the early three fall.

This is a nifty stage, and I'm glad to see the Bill bouncing is both optional and rewarding. It needs these tweaks to balance it out, though, so do the best you can with it.


Nice! Glad to hear you liked the level, too. :3

- Oh, dang. I could just use one or the other part of the level name, though it won't feel right. "Bullet Bill Bouncing" or "Billowy Brumes". Anyone has a suggestion for the name?

- Through the making of the stage, because it was kind of a short World 6 level, I was fighting with how many power-ups to put in. In general, if I put a fire flower over on a small island near the start to the left, I'd probably prefer to change that second fire flower at the start to a coin.

- Time to open Photoshop. :3

- Ah, I was unsure of it myself when I was doing it. Originally it was a much larger land piece and the nearby donuts weren't there. Still, that should work out - I should be able to squeeze the donut blocks and coin outward.

- This bit could actually be somewhat fixed by your next point, making it 2P compatible. I was unsure of that section, and making it so the platforms come back quicker would work out better. Maybe all other blocks respawn with 3 seconds delay, that one could come back at 1.5 - 2.5 seconds delay? Truthfully, I only found the fact that you had to rush through an issue, I didn't want to make it so that dealing with the Bullet Bill was too easy. I may try just adding the respawn time and seeing how that works out.

- That was something I should have known to do, but for some reason didn't. I think I was planning to do it, and tested their respawning, forgetting that it would be a different case with two players. Once you leave an area where blocks fell, the blocks come back, and I was like "Oh, in that case it won't be a problem!" forgetting about the second player's screen. XD This is something I'm sure to fix.

- I agree. This is one thing I didn't have a problem with in the level while making it, but looking back on it, yeah. It needs to be changed.

- Going down was sort of a punishment. If you missed the bullet bill jump, you'd get a lakitu(or you could die). In general, that little section is kind of... meh, honestly. I think I intended it to be a secret area at first, but when I decided "this is punish land", I kept it in and took out any power-ups there. I think the Bullet Bill was put there to give that area purpose, as it always kept people from skipping the level from trying to go under. And yeah, that gap is there so people don't just get themselves stuck. I'll see what I can do here. Without the lakitu, after all, you're not necessarily being punished anymore, so it could potentially serve it's original purpose.

- Ah. Yep, I think it's finally agreed to never give me lakitus. XD In both levels I've done so far, that's one of the major complaints people have had, that being my horrible usage of lakitu. Like, holy crap. XD I'll be sure to do this, I just didn't want it so a lakitu could hurt the player while they were jumping/bouncing.

- I mentioned this two points ago.

- When I open the level editor to fix these issues I MAY remember what you're talking about. At the moment though, I'm having some difficulties. Is this near the checkpoint? I forgot where I put a hidden 1-up.

- Ah, so THAT'S what it's called. I always thought they were just suppose to be some sort of mushroom - I kept calling them "Bouncy Mushrooms". So, in other words, hide the springblobs that hint at where the coin is? But wouldn't the Bullet Bill cannons make that redundant? One pops up, and it's going nowhere near where you seem to play the level, it should be pretty obvious there's something below that the cannons are shooting at. Unless they actually don't go high enough to see... hm.

- Interesting, I'll go do that. :3

- Hm. Not sure what to say here exactly, maybe a note that I actually did nearly rage playing my own level when I missed the actual, literal, final jump before the end and died with a platform that could have saved me in view.
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16873
I believe in your mad skillz.
Ratty524
The 524 is for 524 Stone Crabs
12986
I kind of figured as much. I even attempted to design it in a way where the tileset wouldn't create much confusion between solid and not-solid but I think that's an impossibility.

About the rainbow tiles being bridge tiles, that's pretty much a thing with the set I used.

As a matter of fact I think I'm pretty much going to create my own tileset for this. It'll be a chore to adapt it to this level, but I think it's the best move in the long run.
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16873
from Illy
What file type am I supposed to use? Because judging by what I'm seeing, backgrounds ONLY use .gif.

Gif is the only thing you can use. If you can't save a gif file without destroying the quality, then post the image here and I'll convert it for you.
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16873
Ratty524's Radiant Rainbow Road:

I see you couldn't resist that tile set Otabo used in the Super Contest. Unfortunately, I have the same major beef with your stage that I did with theirs: this tile set is unbelievably misleading. Having the hotter colors be solid ground and the cooler colors as background seems nice in theory, but in terms of 2D platforming, it creates unrivaled visual confusion. SMBX simply isn't meant for stages with this sort of altered perspective.

There are only two solutions I can think of. You'd either have to meld all 7 colors into the blocks and do away with the background tiles, or constrain the tiles and darken the cool colors so they're more obviously background. I'm not even sure that second thing would work, but I know you're a real whiz when it comes to sprites, so I'm sure you can correct this somehow.

Whatever you choose to do, I'm not really okay with them being bridge tiles. It doesn't make sense for some of them to be totally solid while others can be passed through from below. You'll need more narrow bands or something to make that sensible.

There are also a couple spots where you have to bounce off paratroopas to advance. This is a 2P compatibility issue and can create no-win situations. You'll have to devise something else for those jumps.

Otherwise, I rather like it! It's decently challenging without going over the top; it'll make a great addition to the bonus world. But only if you can fix this stuff first!
author=halibabica
- 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.

Alright, I've been tinkering with this for about half an hour. I've tried .bmp, .png, and .jpg, none of which show up in the editor after putting said file in the folder. What file type am I supposed to use? Because judging by what I'm seeing, backgrounds ONLY use .gif.

Edit - Actually I was able to save it as a .gif that didn't look so grainy and nasty using another program, should be good now!

Edit 2 - Perilous Pipe -Depot- should be up with all the aforementioned problems fixed!
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16873
pyrodoom's Bullet Bill Bouncing in Billowy Brumes:

Hey, this is a pretty cool stage! I dig the style and atmosphere (no pun intended), but here are my beefs:

- Alliteration overload! Hate to break it to you, but your title's too long. Even if I wanted to leave it alone, it gets cut off by three characters on the world map. You'll have to shorten it up one way or another.

- The gap to the left of the start is highly suspicious. I know there's *ahem* that thing off to the left much further up, but at the start it's remarkably sketchy. I think a little island with the 1st flower would be much better.

- The gray terrain and sizables look great, but it's hard to tell what's solid and what isn't sometimes. If you make the sizable blocks slightly darker, that should be enough of a clue.

- The coin arrow near the 2nd flower is pointing down at a platform much smaller than itself. Stretch the platform to the left two tiles so it's definitely a safe drop. You may need to bump the 2nd flower and its array left a little to compensate.

- The spot after the coin arrow is really cruel with its layout. The donuts fall too fast, the bricks can't be broken, and you're almost guaranteed to die if you don't book it through as fast as possible. Either use sturdier donuts or take out one of the blocks so the player can jump up to safety.

- Regarding your donuts, they pose a 2P compatibility issue. You'll need to make generators out of them. I'd go with three seconds.

- The Bill bouncing you need to do to reach the 3rd flower is just a bit too devious. The first blaster you see to the right is too high to perform the needed jump. The one just after it is the correct height, so move it forward to the earlier set of ledges. I'd also put the flower in view of the floor below so the player knows it's up there.

- I'm not sure what the point of pipe warp 1 is except to save you from a failed Bill jump. You can't see the pipe at all from the ledge above, so the player has little indication on what to do. You should put in two separate coin trails; one leading up and the other leading down. This way the player knows what to do and that they have a choice.

- Oh, heck no, I am not cool with friendly Lakitus in a stage like this. The player needs to be able to kill this guy, and the one next to the warp pipe is just too much. You should delete the first one and make his counterpart able to be killed.

- The chamber that the warp pipe leads to is a little weird. I'm guessing the hole in the wall is to prevent a no-win situation with the Bill blaster on the other side. Personally, I think this whole little corner can be cut. The 1st warp pipe should drop you right where the 2nd one exits.

- I'm not sure anyone would find that hidden 1-up; at least not where it is. If it were closer to the blocks below and centered, then maybe.

- I didn't notice the flower under the checkpoint, but I did see the lower springblob while I was ascending. I bounced down to the lower blob, but couldn't see anything from there. You should place it differently so it can't be seen from the upper springblobs. I'd clue the flower's hiding place with a coin or something, though.

- It would take a flying Yoshi to reach the 2nd tanooki suit anyway, so why not put it on the platform higher above? You could even put it in a visible giant block for all the difference it'd make.

- The single-tile hops at the stage's end are just a bit much. I'd take out the last one or two; at least the player has a shot at surviving if the early three fall.

This is a nifty stage, and I'm glad to see the Bill bouncing is both optional and rewarding. It needs these tweaks to balance it out, though, so do the best you can with it.
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16873
NeverSilent's Carps Against Humanity:

Y'know dude, you were really doubting yourself over nothing. I actually really like this! I remember you asking about projectile pipe fish a while back, and you made great use of that gimmick! Most of my criticisms are minor things, but here we go.

- The pipes above the 1st flower shouldn't be jutting out of brown squinty blocks. You can see that they're not connected on the edges. Just stretch out the cave wall in place of those.

- As was mentioned, your 2nd flower puzzle is a potential deathtrap. It doesn't need a radical change, though. If you alter that tunnel so the ceiling and floor are spikes and it's one tile high, the player can only solve it safely by kicking something inside. I can show you what I mean if that's confusing.

- Collecting the zig-zag coins in the 3rd section isn't entirely possible if the generators are out of whack. I'd place them in an array instead of a specific pattern so the player isn't misled on how to proceed.

- While the blue flip blocks match the color scheme, that type of block could be picked up in SMW. Sorry, but you should stick to yellow ones.

- The pink platform generator is a bit fast. You can slow it down so there aren't as many of them.

- Since the rail lift is basically optional, you should make it more worthwhile for the player to ride. I'd move the green switch somewhere they could only hit it from the pink platform, and maybe put some coins along the way or something.

- You shouldn't give the player so many 1-ups just for beating the stage. I'd be fine if it were just enough fish for a single 1-up, or maybe have a fish in a bubble that only gets you the 1-up if it's on-screen when you finish. Just so it's not totally free!

Ya done good. Patch it up and it'll be just fine.
author=Jalex
author=Animebryan
author=Kloe
author=Animebryan
You got the mushroom in the beginning to not move, that's impressive.
(Pssst, you just check the "don't move" bit in the NPC menu for the mushroom...)
But that option is on the NPC tab, the power-up block is set using the Blocks and Tiles tab, which doesn't have a Don't Move option.
You can make a text file for the mushroom NPC with the 'nomove' flag and place it in the level's folder. I don't remember if that's the exact syntax but I've done this for a level in the past.
There isn't a 'nomove' tag, but you could probably making it stay still by entering 'speed=0'.
author=Animebryan
author=Kloe
author=Animebryan
You got the mushroom in the beginning to not move, that's impressive.
(Pssst, you just check the "don't move" bit in the NPC menu for the mushroom...)
But that option is on the NPC tab, the power-up block is set using the Blocks and Tiles tab, which doesn't have a Don't Move option.

You can make a text file for the mushroom NPC with the 'nomove' flag and place it in the level's folder. I don't remember if that's the exact syntax but I've done this for a level in the past.
author=Kloe
author=Animebryan
You got the mushroom in the beginning to not move, that's impressive.
(Pssst, you just check the "don't move" bit in the NPC menu for the mushroom...)
But that option is on the NPC tab, the power-up block is set using the Blocks and Tiles tab, which doesn't have a Don't Move option.

author=halibabica
Auto-scroll is very buggy in SMBX. An auto-scroll will only work if the following is true:

A) It's scrolling section #1
B) The player starts in that section

It looks like the editor is supposed to be able to do more, but those features are broken. Only section #1 can scroll, and the player can't warp in from another section. It will only activate in the Level Start event, so you can't even delay its beginning. Yyyyep.
Well, that explains things. Guess I was right about Redigit being an incompetent moron, leaving that so buggy it doesn't even function right.
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16873
Auto-scroll is very buggy in SMBX. An auto-scroll will only work if the following is true:

A) It's scrolling section #1
B) The player starts in that section

It looks like the editor is supposed to be able to do more, but those features are broken. Only section #1 can scroll, and the player can't warp in from another section. It will only activate in the Level Start event, so you can't even delay its beginning. Yyyyep.
Kloe
I lost my arms in a tragic chibi accident
2236
author=Animebryan
You got the mushroom in the beginning to not move, that's impressive.

(Pssst, you just check the "don't move" bit in the NPC menu for the mushroom...)
More feedback:

Frosted Meadow (W5) by Frozen:
You got the mushroom in the beginning to not move, that's impressive. If you can't go down that 1st pipe anymore than why is it still there? You should just get rid of both the pipe & that pit as they serve no real purpose. That 1st buster beetle kicking the ice block at you is a cheapshot (got hit on the 1st & 2nd time playing). The tops of blocks are still slippery when they shouldn't be (unless indicated by frost).


Snow Mountain (W9) by Davenport:
No Luigi starting point. WHY, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DO YOU STILL PUT MUSHROOMS INSTEAD OF BETTER POWER-UPS IN BLOCKS?!!! And I see you're still using red coins despite what Hali said, hope you put in a decent reward for them instead of just put'em in just for the hell of it. Something's wrong with the used block sprite. It looks like it's semi-transparent (mask must be a little off). Couldn't get past the nipper plant because it's impossible to cross! And why are those metal tubes there when all they do is drop? I refuse to play the rest of the level! This is trolling at its finest! Rating: -1 out of 10

Radiant Rainbow Road (W9) by Ratty524:

I'm going to start doing my feedback this way because it gives more insight on how a level actually plays.

author=halibabica
I haven't commented because I haven't watched it yet (drained). By the way, if you're having technical issues, I can probably help you with them. If something's not working out, just ask about it.
In that case, tell me why auto-scroll refuses to work for me, despite following all the necessary procedures in the Editor Help file.

I'm currently working on my world 4 level called Barrel Volcano. If the editor doesn't give me any BS, this should go smoothly & be finished by Thursday (hopefully).
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16873
I haven't commented because I haven't watched it yet (drained). By the way, if you're having technical issues, I can probably help you with them. If something's not working out, just ask about it.
author=halibabica
In my experience, playing the game is often a good break from making the game.
I thought it was encouraged to be testing each other's levels to begin with. Nobody has provided feedback on my 2nd version of Fire and Brimstone yet. My problem with creating levels isn't lack of creativity, its the editor being a piece of shit because it's programmer is an incompetent moron (read my 2016 strategy & planning pic on page 26 again).

@Hali Y U no comment on my Naval Piranha boss battle?
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16873
In my experience, playing the game is often a good break from making the game.
Ratty524
The 524 is for 524 Stone Crabs
12986
Have you guys considered playing the levels that are already submitted? Maybe you can determine what kind of levels you feel are "missing" from the current submissions and make those. :D