Ends 04/01/2012 12:00 AM

Judges
halibabica

It's finally here! The much-anticipated third installment of the RMN community series! And this time, halibabica's in charge!

WHAT IS THIS

Super RMN Bros. is a community collaborative game where everyone uses the Super Mario Bros. X engine to create Mario levels! The stages are made and submitted by members of RMN, then compiled into one big game at the end of the event. Huzzah!

WHAT YOU NEED TO PARTICIPATE

Super Mario Bros. X v1.3, available at the Download link. This is the latest version of SMBX. It has everything you need to get started from the player, the editor, and a sample world.

You can also download the SMBX Graphics Pack by Red Yoshi here. It has a ton of Mario Brothers graphics that you can use in your level with a simple copy+paste!

JUST WHAT IS SUPER MARIO BROTHERS X?

Super Mario Bros X is a freeware game engine by Redigit geared towards having the gameplay features and physics of Mario 3 and Super Mario World while adding a ton of cool features and not having to deal with the restrictions of the old (S)NES hardware. If you want to see what SMBX can do, check out the games here on RMN or watch these videos showcasing SMBX's capabilities!

Games are distributed as a world with levels package they can add to Super Mario Bros X and play from the main game. There is no way to make a self contained game so all players will need to download SMBX in order to even play the game. The game does come with a large set of graphics and sounds like the RPG Maker RTPs so everybody at least has a large number of platformer resources to work with (and it'll keep the download of the actual game itself small).

You can view the RMN engine page for SMBX here.

HELP!

The editor can be tricky to use, especially for beginners. You can ask questions on our SMBX Help thread on our forums! If you have any questions go there for some tips or helpful links.

We also have a tutorials section on RMN for SMBX.

SUBMISSION RULES

  • Levels must be made in SMBX v1.3 .
  • I don't know if you've ever made Mario levels before. There are dozens of hacks and roms out there, so it's possible you've played custom levels or created your own. However, this project is being made specifically in the SMBX engine, so if you want to contribute, you have to use that. You can download it here.

  • Levels must be made FOR THIS PROJECT
  • So, you've used SMBX before, huh? Hey, you can just submit levels you already made! Right? WRONG. If you didn't make the level specifically for RMN Bros. 3, you're not allowed to submit it. Do not just zip up the levels of your personal project and dump them in here (Davenport, I'm looking at you). Everyone has to start from scratch. And if I catch you trying to submit a pre-made level, ooh, I'll, I'LL- ...deny it. Simple as that, really.

  • Levels must end in ONE SMB3 STAR
  • Starman doesn't work in SMBX like it does in the Mario games of yore. Each one you collect instead adds to your star count. There are two kinds of stars in the engine: SMB3 stars and SMW stars. The latter adds to your star count, but doesn't end the level. The former concludes the stage when collected. Each level must have ONE and ONLY ONE level-ending star. However, you can have any number of SMW stars (covered later).

  • There is no limit to the number of levels you can submit.
  • Beyond these four rules, the sky's just about the limit. There are a few other criteria your levels must meet for them to be accepted, but they're nothing huge, and are as follows.

LEVEL CRITERIA

  1. Checkpoints
  2. Theoretically, every level should have one of these. It's the SMW checkpoint object that lets you continue from partway through the level. Unless your level is extremely short, it should have one. If it can't have one for specific reasons (auto-scrolling, switch block/character shenanigans, etc.), it's recommended you not make the stage too long. Also, SMBX can only support one checkpoint per level, so placing multiples doesn't work.

  3. Power-Ups
  4. Your stage should have a good balance of items that are helpful to the player. ? Blocks should never contain lone Mushrooms; don't be afraid to give the player a Fire Flower or Leaf. On the other hand, exceptional items like the Tanooki and Hammer Suits should not be easily obtained. Use discretion with where you place items. One at the start and one after the checkpoint would be the least you could do. Also, pick items that the player can put to good use. A Fire Flower in an area with monsters immune to fire does the player no good; maybe an Ice Flower or Yoshi might be better instead. On the subject of Yoshi, he's a power-up like any other, and no restrictions are being placed on his use. Similarly, all styles of Kuribo's Shoe are allowed. Just remember, these things are very helpful, so choose carefully where you make them available.

  5. Banned Objects
  6. Your level must not contain any of the following items. If it does, you will be required to remove them.

    • SMB2 Crystal Ball, SMB3 Roulette, SMB3 ? Ball, SMW Keyhole, SMW Exit Gate
    • All banned for the same reason; they end the level. All levels must end with an SMB3 Star. No other exit type is allowed.

    • SMW Bowser Statue
    • Banned due to its glitchy hit box. You can still be hit by its fireballs while standing on top of it. Use the SMB3 Bowser Statue instead!

    • SMW Dry Bones
    • Banned for its stupid hit box. You may place Dry Bones in your level, but all Dry Bones in the project will use the SMB3 sprites instead.

  7. Unbanned Objects
  8. These are objects that were disallowed in the past. I'm permitting them for the reasons stated.

    • SMB3 Lakitu
    • This was banned in RMN Bros. 2 because it behaves erratically. You may use them in your levels, but be very careful when you do. They aren't impossible to deal with, but they can make situations extremely difficult. You'll definitely hear from me if it's a problem.

    • SMW Star
    • These were formerly banned because they didn't end the level. You may now use them as bonus secret stars in your stages. The player can collect them on alternate paths, but must be able to return to the rest of the level after grabbing them. More on these later.

  9. Different Characters
  10. This is, first and foremost, a Mario game. Mario will be the only character available to play as, but that doesn't mean you can't use the other characters. If you want to make a stage involving Luigi, Toad, Peach, and/or Link, you must specify so. Include the appropriate character block at the start. If you don't, I'll assume the stage was meant to be played as Mario. You don't have to switch back to Mario at the end of the stage, though. I will manage character swapping in the hub area.

  11. Player 2 Start
  12. SMBX has the option to play with a friend by sharing a keyboard and crowding around a monitor. There is no way to disallow a multiplayer game, so be sure to include both P1 and P2's start positions in your levels. HOWEVER, this is all you need to do to accommodate the second player. Making a balanced one-player game is difficult enough, so don't sweat it if something doesn't quite work for multi-mode. I'm not checking two player compatibility; you don't have to either.

  13. Secret Stars
  14. Each stage must have only one SMB3 level-ending star, but you can have (almost) as many SMW stars you want. Before you go throwing secret stars everywhere, though, you should understand how they work. The most important thing to know is that you can only have one star per section of a level. That's not my rule; that's a quirk of SMBX. It can only register one star per stage section, as it flags all stars in that section as 'collected' if one of them is found. Because this is the case, any secret stars you place must be in different sections than the star that ends the level. Incidentally, this also means the most stars any level can have is 21. Don't worry; if you mess it up, I'll tell you about it!

  15. Water Must be SWIMMABLE

    You can set waterfalls to either be swimmable or not, but ordinary water must always be. Don't fill your pits with water if they're supposed to be bottomless.

  16. Misc. Stuff
    • Pipes, Doors, and Carry Items
    • By default, all entrances in SMBX are set to disallow the player from carrying an item with them through the portal. If your level has objects the player may want to bring with them, be sure to set your entrances properly.

    • One-Tile Passages
    • Avoid making paths that are only one tile high. If Mario stands up in one, he zips through the wall in the opposite direction he's facing. In some places, this isn't a problem, but in others it can break the game. Spare my telling you to fix it and avoid creating such circumstances.

    • Ceilings
    • If you're making a water level or Mario is able to fly, you may want to block the area off the top of the screen so the player can't soar over everything. In aquatic stages, one could swim past everything from up there, so it's extremely important to include (same goes for underwater pits, actually). Of helpful note: one block placed above or below a level's boundary will create an impassable wall.

STORY AND TUTORIALS

Nothing too complicated here. Mario, Luigi, Toad, Peach, and Link have fallen into RMN's Pit of Challenges, where they must collect the stars from our levels if they ever hope to escape. The main villain is not Bowser, Wart, Kamek, Aristocrab, or anyone seen yet in the world of Mario. I will be making the final level myself, and the final boss is...me! Because by the time this is over, you will all want to kill me.

I will also be making a tutorial level that explains the mechanics of SMBX, covering both the basics and the advanced stuff. So don't bother explaining to the player how to break blocks with their tail or spin jump on Thwomps. I've got it covered!

TESTING AND FEEDBACK

This iteration of RMN Bros. is going to put greater emphasis on play testing and providing feedback for levels. I will be playing each level personally and leaving feedback the developers can use to improve their stages. My feedback will be divided into three categories:

  • Deal Breakers
  • These are things you MUST CHANGE or your level WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. These include all variety of game breaking errors and poor balance/design. I will provide thoughts and ideas on how to fix these, depending on the complexity of the problem.

  • If-You-Don'ts
  • These are things that, if you don't change them, I will. These include things like levels without checkpoints, blocks containing only mushrooms, or levels with unfitting power-ups. If you don't make these corrections, I'll see to them in the end.

  • Nitpicks
  • These are small complaints of low importance. Things that would make the level look or feel nicer, but aren't really a problem on their own. These will most likely be aesthetic in nature, and they don't have to be changed for the level to be accepted.

    Although I will be testing each level thoroughly myself, I strongly encourage others to do the same. You don't have to follow the same methods of providing feedback I am (in fact, you don't really have the authority to!), but every bit of criticism helps.

ADDITIONAL STAFFERS

This is a big project, and it's very bold of me to be managing it alone. That's why I'm leaving open two spots for other users to join me in running the show. But you can't just sign up and say "Hey hali I'll be your game management bro." You have to PROVE YOUR WORTH. How, you might ask? By playing levels and leaving feedback! The more in-depth, the better. Show me you have what it takes to contribute to this project, and I'll let you in. If you can't handle the work, I have no reason to hire you.

Duties of these staffers would include testing others levels and leaving feedback, as well as helping refine my own stages, tutorial, hubs, and so forth. I'm a tough critic, but even I can't face my own work alone!

PROJECT TIMELINE

Signups begin NOW, and EVERYONE is free to join! The project will run for one month (thirty days), and levels may be submitted for testing during this time. When the month is up, no more levels will be accepted. Existing levels may still be updated based on feedback. I will do my best to have the whole thing compiled just one week after the event ends. Then we can download and enjoy!

Registration

You must be logged in to sign up for Super RMN Bros. 3.

Posts

Updated my level. This is the best I can do for the early mushroom so if you still have problems with it I'll place it in a box. Also I'm away from my computer for Easter so it'll be a few days before I can make further corrections + finish the level.

http://rpgmaker.net/users/hedge1/locker/First_Level.lvl

And I do plan to name it eventually.
No, It sort of ruined the concept of the level... the sign should be fine... because skilled players can jump over anyway... with good timing...
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16948
Y'know, I didn't bring it up with you and make it a deal breaker because I thought it was good game design, jack. If that's your choice, the level's gonna be denied.
Hali, if possible, check if there is anything else I should change, I rather not change it yet if I have to do another modification right afterwards since the whole process of changing repacking and uploading takes awhile with my shitty computer.
I also like to do things at the same time so I don't have to go play with SMBX every 20 minutes, escpesially since my brother has just came to visit for the weekend.
I'd rather spend more time with him if I can instead of working alone with SMBX.
Of course, If you can't right now, I understand I'm not the only one here who has stuff in progress.
author=halibabica
Y'know, I didn't bring it up with you and make it a deal breaker because I thought it was good game design, jack. If that's your choice, the level's gonna be denied.

Fine... i'll put something else into plan...
By the way it was an If You Don't, just sayin...

EDIT: I have done the only reasonable thing (other than add the wall)
Replaced it
Obviously it was a bad idea to add and therefore I erased it...
Blasted Boos
Here it is...
Quick question: So that my levels don't suck half as bad when the next RMN comes up, should I begin creating levels now?
Unless your planning to contribute all 8 or so worlds then no.
However if you feel like training.
Make a couple of really cool ideas in your head and create those as levels to the fullest detail.
If you can pull a couple of those I believe you can make great levels for the next srmnw.
Unless your ideas are just stock levels, which aren't bad, but having some sort of theme to your level is important.
This is just my plan, but I believe you can't make levels before hand, I think.
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16948
from jackalotrun
Fine... i'll put something else into plan...
By the way it was an If You Don't, just sayin...
Oh, did I switch it to that? It used to be a deal breaker. Just as well; that means I would've changed it whether you did or not. I'll take a look at the updates (both yours and apa's).

Also, you can practice all you want, but next time will be like this time: I won't allow in any pre-made levels.

Honestly, I think you have the capacity to make some very decent levels, you just need to tough it out with them more. Most of your work suffers from the same things: shortness and emptiness. You need to learn what length is right for a level and how to fill up all the space you use. Otherwise, you seem to know the ins and outs of SMBX, so those are really your only major problems.

@kentona: hey, I noticed something the other day about your boss levels! You don't lock the screen when the player reaches them! If you don't want it to be, it doesn't have to, but I can help if you just don't know how to do it. It's another of SMBX's unintuitive features.
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16948
Hammer Hideout (though the hard path could use more rewards), Splinter Bay, and Blasted Boos (though I'm sad to see the rocket boards go) have all been perfected!

Stratosprint has be re-perfected!

First Level
Deal Breakers

- there’s one part of the coin trail falling down that guides you right into a Banzai Bill. It’s one of the parts shifting to the left. I’d just remove the offending Bill.

- I got a fatal error just as I was about to hop on the elevator. ‘Error 9: Subscript out of range’. I dunno if this is because I talked to Toad twice or what. It didn’t happen any other time, so that’s probably what it was. I’d have the event-starting Toad(s) disappear so only an inconsequential one is left.

- depending on where the moving wooden spikes are in their movement path, they may be nearly impossible to avoid. I’d shorten all the moving ones to just two spikes instead of three.

- the final set of spikes you need to hit a switch to remove come far too quickly after the wooden spikes section. I was still focused on dodging the wooden spikes and couldn’t stop in time to avoid getting crushed. I’d move that whole section further up from the wooden spikes.

- still unfinished! But much further along. Good luck!

Nitpicks

- I recommend “Toad’s Gold Mine” as the level title. I also recommend Toad as the character you have to play as! :3

- your lava looks a bit strange. I’d stick with only one type so the color and style is the same.

- glad you changed the pipes with the lava, but the pipes with the water at the bottom still look weird!

- the wooden platform at the bottom (after you enter the pipe that was blocked off) is broken sometimes. Not sure what’s up with that.

- your elevator looks a little weird the way you designed it. I’d either switch to the blue background fences that have ends, or drop the two brown fences on the edges and replace the balls with normal blocks.
I'll add in the rewards, though, I have to ask, which tune would be more fitting for the bonus rooms:
The ghost house
or
The castle theme
ALSO
I kinda did sort of a test to see if you would notice, that I changed the tune and BG in the bonus rooms.
Unless you thought those were fitting...

Oh and a fun fact I tried to do a similar thing with my level originally (screen locking in to a boss room) , It was supposed to have a boss in the middle, but due to SMBX sucking, the part afterwards acted as I was going too far, and started making this mess of repeated images.
So, be causious!
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16948
Castle theme across the board. I thought beach bowl was a weird theme to put in, but they ARE bonus rooms after all.

You usually get artifacts like that when you stretch a backdrop further than it's supposed to go. I dunno why that happened with your boss room, but I doubt it'd affect either of kentona's.
K. It's Done now, and I'm going to upload it now.
HARD PATH REWARDS:
3-up
Hammer Suit
Tanooki Suit

I believe it's done, I wasn't watching, but in 2 hours or whatnot I believe it should've already updated.
Also, My mailbox is glitched...
It constantly flashes and shows that a message is unread even though I read all, and even deleted the most recent, after which it started bugging.
Not sure if anyone has mentioned this, but in Spike Palace, Ludwig can kill himself by sliding through the gap in the left wall.
Seiromem
I would have more makerscore If I did things.
6375
author=nin8halos
Not sure if anyone has mentioned this, but in Spike Palace, Ludwig can kill himself by sliding through the gap in the left wall.

I think I know just how to fix that! Maybe....

Edit: And such i did so, but now im wondering if it would be a problem, because you could easily die from my fix if you are completely careless.....
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16948
Sounds like I need to investigate!

...tomorrow.
Can't wait for this to be released...
I'll try and review some levels tomorrow
Review mine! I'll promise, you won't be pleasently surprised! And you will have alot to talk about!

Maybe I should too, but I'm too tired of SMBX, and I probably have to focus still on the final things that hali makes. (HUB, Final level)
Unless he decides not to release them for my inspection. (I would do the same)
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16948
from apa649
I probably have to focus still on the final things that hali makes. (HUB, Final level)

Afraid so. I wouldn't dare include them un-tested. Take a break for now, though, 'cuz progress is slower than I should like. I'm only just now finishing up the custom sprites I needed. o_o
I'm not saying I wouldn't want to, I'm merely repeating that I have promised to test and aslong as hali doesn't kick me out I will do it.
BTW, that wasn't a request to get out either.