Hey, guys. How's it going?

I noticed there was a bit of debate in the Super RMN Bros. 3 discussion board between a couple of members. For Super RMN World, you want to make a nice game, right? I noticed that a few people blamed halibabica, the project lead, for the third game's mistakes. Believe it or not, I don't believe this is true or that he "failed", as one member put it.

In fact, I believe that the opposite is true - that he deserves a lot of the credit for some of the redeeming qualities of the game, because, of all the people in the project, he put the most effort into trying to make each level shine. He went through each of the over 150 levels, played them, provided feedback, then went back through the revised versions, rinsed and repeated. But, the fact of the matter is this - he's just one man. One man is not going to be capable of spotting every error in a level, regardless of if it's halibabica, Link_2112, Dart Zaidyer or Shigeru Miyamoto. And believe it or not, no, he wasn't able to spot every error, but he tried his best, and not a single person has a right to blame him, and only him, for the third game's quality.

Earlier, halibabica, you asked how Super Talking Time Bros. 2 got around the issue of making the levels connect and not feel so distant from one another. Here's how the second game's production worked. First, before any levels were built, we set up eight worlds, gave each a capacity of six to eight levels, and, before a designer could have a level submitted, they first had to select the world in which to put the level, and make sure that as they were making it, it fit the theme and difficulty of the world in question. And then, after it was submitted, not just one person, but many people, including other designers, went in, downloaded each level, and each gave their own feedback to the level in question. Usually, different designers gave very different pieces of feedback and, typically, the designer, regardless of how much they liked what that other person didn't like, would change that aspect of the level. And then, the next draft of the level would be posted, and, once again, people would go through the level and pick at it, and the process would be repeated until that level seemed suitable for the main game. And then, after that, were they done? Could they leave the thread until the project was released and the time to soak in their glory came? No. Throughout this entire project, these same designers critiqued others' levels, participated in discussions, goofed around a bit, sure. But, they, like halibabica did for this project, worked from start to finish. If you don't like what you see, if you think the project lead failed, then you know what? Go make it better. Download levels. Play them. Grade them. If you sit there and just complain about how bad the lead made the project, then you're being a bit hypocritical, because you're doing far less than they are.

After the project was finished, a beta was released so that it was possible to criticize not just the levels, but how they go together, and if they make up a game, or 150 games connected by strands of floss. People went, criticized everything that needed to be criticized. If people weren't still available to edit their levels, other designers edited them for them. Never was a level just ignored or thrown on the backburner. And then, the release of the next beta. And the next. And then, finally, the final release.

Folks, if you want a game you can be proud of, you can't saddle one guy with doing all the work. Get a few people together to oversee the project and assist with organizational stuff (look for people here who have had success with Super Mario Bros. X projects in the past, see if they'd be interested). And then, dig in to not only your own levels, but others as well. And don't be an ass either. Be kind, be considerate, remember that if they have a level that's rough, it doesn't make them less of a human being nor does it give you permission to eviscerate them. Believe it or not, it is still meant for fun, and when things decay to anger and fighting, that fun is gone.

And take away that mentality of "we must be better than THIS project". That isn't a good motivator, and your goal should be to make a fun game. That simple! If you're trying to make a game that will amaze people so much that they will forget about insert-game-here, then give up now, because that isn't going to happen. Does Halo 4 or the Elder Scrolls series override the Super Mario Bros. series and make you forget about that franchise altogether? I certainly hope not. But, if you put concentrated effort into your goal of making the game fun, then guess what? You might just find that the two of you can live in harmony with one another, two enjoyable games, and settle on that. But, honestly, making a game for the sole purpose of beating the other guy into the dirt isn't going to work.

I wish you luck.

I think that's a great start, and a good attitude to have!

A couple of final notes: I think that putting people on level judge duty would be a good idea and add a good form of quality control (I might actually also ask Solitayre and kentona if they'd be game as well. They made some really fine stuff for the third project), but regular designers should remember to contribute as well. It IS time-consuming, yes, but it's also vital. Perhaps contribute, say, three less levels to the project than you were originally planning, and instead devote that time to just playing levels. Everyone has a different play-style, and different things to catch, and even if your advice is similar to that which has been posted already, post it up! Because if multiple people are experiencing similar problems in your level, then you know that you that it's probably important to change it.

And for the designers, a good goal to have is try to address every single "nitpick", big or small, that people give you. Even if it's not a big problem, you, as the designer, should ALWAYS want your levels to be the best they can be. It's important to have good levels in a community project - not the most. In fact, it'd probably behoove you to work on only a single level at a time, and not move on to another until your peers agree that it's a fine level and that it will be in the beta.

Finally, Brickroad. Yes, I know it's difficult to tell, but he really isn't that bad a guy, and the criticism he offers IS serious. He doesn't innately want the project to be bad, but he does get frustrated when he finds something he dislikes.

One last thing to consider is the levels that go into each world. This is probably something you won't get deeply into until beta, but it's good to tackle it ahead of time. Think about how each world plays out. As a general rule, you should try to keep gimmicky stages and what not out of the early game, let people see what they're getting into first. Just a few levels in a row of solid platforming really go a long way, and those should be the majority. If you want to include a gimmicky level, make EXTRA sure said gimmick works and is fun, because if these levels are low quality, then it just feels glitchy, hard, and just not fun, usually more so than if a normal level isn't high quality. And, even so, these levels should be used sparingly. Otherwise, you'll have to rely on your own best judgement.

Anyhow, take the time to get these people together and make a plan of action before starting.