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This is a short collection of Ghost House levels made in SMBX under the aegis of Deckiller and Solitayre, with contributions from several other kind users. It is a sequel to last year's event, Mario's Mansion. This time, we kept it small; those who wanted to make a level hunted us down ;)

Kamek, the evil wizard, is now a ghost and has been tracked to a massive ghost house. It's up to Mario to infiltrate and navigate through various areas within the mansion until he finds Kamek and finishes him off once and for all! There are 12 levels and 11 stars; you need 9 to reach the final level.


The Mansion by Deckiller
Graveyard by Solitayre
Chilly Cellar by Jackalotrun
Ghostly Ballroom by Solitayre
Out of the Frying Pan by Deckiller
Falling to Pieces by Kentona
Lost Library by Solitayre
Greyhouse by Deckiller
Ghosts Spring Eternal by Kentona
Scarelevator by Deckiller
Trapped Tower by Jackalotrun
Clock Tower by Solitayre
Kamek's Keep by Solitayre


Thanks to Archeia_Nessiah, Link2112, and nin8halos for contributing graphics (in addition to the ones already in the standard SMBX Graphics Pack)! Other recolors, level edits/fixes, and graphical odds and ends done by the rather graphically incompetent duo of Deckiller and Solitayre.

To play this game:
1. Download SMBX (if you don't already have it installed).
2. Download the Mario's Mansion 2 game from this gameprofile.
3. Copy the zip file to the SMBX worlds folder.
4. Unzip the game to that folder.
5. Start SMBX and click Start Game.
6. Select 1 Player and then select Mario's Mansion 2 from the list.

Latest Blog

The Creation of a Mansion

The Creation of a Mansion
Some notes about the creation of Mario's Mansion 2

As you see, this wasn't really a true community game but rather a sort of accident spawned by the All Hallows Event page.

So it kind of started as a joke. When we made the All Hallows Event page, I added Mario's Mansion II as the first entry just to get something on the list. At the time there were no serious plans to make another ghost house game. I added Kentona and Solitayre for the lulz. But I like sequels (and so does Liberty), so plans started to swirl. Solitayre and I began talking, and I even mentioned it to Kentona and Link2112, and before you knew it, we decided to make a small series of ghost house levels within the context of a larger mansion. Jackalotrun and some others PM'd me about doing levels after they saw the signups on the event page, and before you knew it we had a project in development!

The goal was to keep it small and simple: 8-12 levels with a boss at the end. Link2112 mad some really cool graphics (though we only ended up using a few of them for time/real-world constraints), and I asked Nessiah to make a chef boo hat (which I swear I'll include soon!). I asked nin8halos for that cool skeleton lotus he used in SMB3's Blood Ocean level. Some other graphics were taken from the traditional SMBX Graphics Pack and were recolored or edited slightly. Jackalotrun made the first 2 levels relatively quickly, which lit a fire under the rest of us. Solitayre began cranking out levels faster than the speed of light, and I pumped out about a level a week for the month. Kentona did his in about 2 hours one evening.

Soli and I wanted to make sure the game had enough variety, and we wanted a few levels that didn't fit the traditional Ghost House mold (like Greyhouse, Graveyard, Clock Tower, and so on). We wanted a balance of puzzle, platforming, hot, cold, wet, horizontal, and vertical. The idea was that each level would fit within the context of the mansion (ballroom, corrupt greenhouse, elevator) but still have its own identity and feel. I think we succeeded on this front, in part due to design but also due to luck: Kentona and Jackalotrun injected a lot of variety between their levels. Kentona's levels looked the same, but they played very different: one was a platformer and one was a puzzle-solver. Jackalotrun had a fun trap-like gimmick in his first level, and then switched gears to some slippery ice platforming in his second. Thanks for the contributions!

Initially Solitayre had the idea of re-skinning the world map graphics to a ghost house interior (sort of like how TT2 did Bowser's castle), but the idea fell through and we went with a small hub instead. If we do this again in the future, we'll probably have "slots" for each room and ask people to fill them - that way the mansion is more planned out and each room has a true identity instead of an implied one.

In short, I guess you could describe the development of this game as a hybrid: it was sort of on the seat of our pants, but we had an idea of where we were going. I like this approach because it's not completely random and scattershot, but it also isn't rigid to the point of sacrificing interesting ideas for the sake of the plan.

I'm pretty happy with the results, but there are certainly things I could've done better on my end if I were more competent or had more time. Hopefully you guys enjoy it!

Thanks to everyone for your help, support, and contributions!

Posts

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Short campaign, but the levels are pretty interesting. The theme is spot on, too. I love it! Gave me strong dkc2 vibes too.
Who made the title graphic for this page?
Nice collection of levels.
The ending could be scarier.
That's what makes Ghost Houses so IRRITATING...
Damn you secrets!
Decky
I'm a dog pirate
19645
Thanks, guys~ But yeah, most of us did go kinda light on the secrets, especially for Ghost Houses.
This looks worth to play it.
I will give it a try.
Overall, a pretty good game. Could have used more secrets though. And the first level should be more generous with the coins.
author=davidfrnco
This game is like amazing but more interestingly,I have started playing one game online in which you can play your own guitar with any cables or console,Check it out here at http://www.guitarbots.com

haha Bots everywhere will agree, I'm sure.
This game is like amazing but more interestingly,I have started playing one game online in which you can play your own guitar with any cables or console,Check it out here at http://www.guitarbots.com
Oh, I see now. The button doesn't want my click. Nevermind. I'll just mini review it in my comment.
Decky
I'm a dog pirate
19645
I added you as a dev since you contributed graphics and ideas.
I'll be sure to let you know when I get around to finishing it. Am I eligible for reviewing it? (not promising one, just on the off chance I want to)
Decky
I'm a dog pirate
19645
I'm curious about what the 2 or 3 other people who played/beat this game think of it. XD
Number of "babes" bothered: 0ne
But it's on Kentona's knee...
Decky
I'm a dog pirate
19645
I'm in it for the GLORY.
I'm just in it for the makerscore.
Decky
I'm a dog pirate
19645
I guess my level is non-canon then, haha!
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