Underwater Castle Take 2

[cheat-master30]

Just completely rebuilt world 6's castle, and it's tough as nails:

http://www.dsultimate.net/photoplog/images/1/1_UnderwaterCastleRemake.PNG

Yep, it's first and foremost a COMPLETELY vertical level, and it's got a lot of different scenery. It uses no custom sprites or blocks, so it's easy to build, and I'd say is probably harder thn most levels in existance (that bit with all the spikes has max speed scrolling downwards!) Oh, and it's all COMPLETELY underwater!

Comments, improvements?

[mariowings77]

Um... cheat, I have a Question... Are half of the levels you design even possible?? XD
Nice ideas though:P

[Lance the Echidna]

and here I thought you said you weren't going to make evil levels just yet...

[mariowings77]

Yes, I didn't make that... That would be the design of Cheat>___<
and I don't think i'm going to put that in my hack...>___>

[cheat-master30]

It's possible, but possible is not the exact same as 'easy for most people'.

[Zexis]

Without the water, this level would indeed be impossible. Well, let's take a look at this room by room.

Room 1 - Looks like something Nintendo would've made. For anyone that's ever played a difficult hack before, that boss door is sure to arouse suspicion. It probably be even meaner if the boss door not only sent you back to the same room, but rather right under one of the big spikes, as punishment for making a bad decision. If they haven't used a save state by then, at least when they restart the level they won't have lost much progress.

Room 2 - Seems like a fairly easy section. Not too much pressure on the player, and anyone with a steady head and careful set of fingers should do just fine. Not a newbie level of difficulty, but as you said, only semi-difficult.

Room 3 - An eerie generator could probably replace the individual ones. For a few of the sections where you have to glide through the spikes, perhaps some spikes dead in Mario's path, as well as on the walls surrounding him, could beef up the difficulty some. Those Fishin' Boos are much tougher than you might think to try and avoid, so I like those. The section right before the pipe looks a bit empty, but if an eerie generator is placed at the top of the level, it should make it much more tricky. Still, aside from a few things that have potential to be added, it seems like a decent room.

Room 4 - Not too many complaints with this room; it looks all right by me. There is an empty space here and there, but maybe a bullet bill generator could fix that? But, spikes galore coupled with the underwater awkwardness should make this a challenging room.

Room 5 - The scroll here is really what mill make this room tough. Without it, the room actually seems fairly easy, only because it is filled with water. However, because of the scroll, it is very much like a normal freefall, and so there really is no time for Mario to float around and attempt to go through that Thwomp's opening a second time. Some tweaks, I'm sure, could be added, but it'll be enough to make some players cry. Maybe.

Room 6 - Something I should mention about Fishbones; they do NOT generate. Meaning, they'll pass by the screen once, and that'll be it. Essentially, you'll then have two sections here where there is nothing for Mario to do but float safely to the ground. Yeah, something will have to be done about that, and since we now have more or less two empty areas, there are infinite possibilities for as what to do with them. The second half of this room seems fairly easy as well, with just a few timing-related puzzles and then a safe entrace to the boss room.

Lemmy - Probably the toughest room in the level. The big spikes will easily catch some players off-guard, and it will require some fancy jumping to avoid the bullet bills. A good boss room, all in all.

Final Impressions - I found it interesting that the level of difficulty was not consistent throughout the level. Rather, it varied as the player made progress. Personally, I would've made Room 6 much harder as opposed to a cool-down, just so that the player never really got comfortable and would always be apprehensive about what to expect in the next room. However, because of the varied difficulty, there is essentially a room in this castle for every kind of player, from the raw newbie to the hardened veteran of SMW hacks. While there is certainly room for improvement, it is indeed a legit level. If I were to rate this for difficulty, I would probably give it a 7, maybe 8.

[cheat-master30]

Without the water, this level would indeed be impossible. Well, let's take a look at this room by room.

Room 1 - Looks like something Nintendo would've made. For anyone that's ever played a difficult hack before, that boss door is sure to arouse suspicion. It probably be even meaner if the boss door not only sent you back to the same room, but rather right under one of the big spikes, as punishment for making a bad decision. If they haven't used a save state by then, at least when they restart the level they won't have lost much progress.

That's the plan, but it's not supposed to resemble Nintendo's level design as much of that as most really, really basic ROM hack castle designs. Note much of what Azura plays, or what MetalYoshi4 plays. Basically, note the castles with nearly zero difficulty, and it's basically a trap room. I was actually thinking of making the boss room a trap as well, making it have a fake floor that warps them to the first underwater section just as the boss appears.



Room 2 - Seems like a fairly easy section. Not too much pressure on the player, and anyone with a steady head and careful set of fingers should do just fine. Not a newbie level of difficulty, but as you said, only semi-difficult.

Yep. Then again, I don't want this to be too hard just yet, I want people to reach the 'fun' (incredibly difficult) sections coming later, not die 2 million times in a relatively easy going calm section.



Room 3 - An eerie generator could probably replace the individual ones.


It will. The only reason I put eeries is because this is a sprite image map, not in Lunar Magic.



For a few of the sections where you have to glide through the spikes, perhaps some spikes dead in Mario's path, as well as on the walls surrounding him, could beef up the difficulty some. Those Fishin' Boos are much tougher than you might think to try and avoid, so I like those. The section right before the pipe looks a bit empty, but if an eerie generator is placed at the top of the level, it should make it much more tricky. Still, aside from a few things that have potential to be added, it seems like a decent room.

Thanks. The only reason I didn't put too many spikes in the way was because the passages are very narrow, and I wanted it actually theoretically possible to beat rather than literal impossibility (Mario needs about a pixel to move).



Room 4 - Not too many complaints with this room; it looks all right by me. There is an empty space here and there, but maybe a bullet bill generator could fix that? But, spikes galore coupled with the underwater awkwardness should make this a challenging room.

Definitely add some Bullet Bill generators in.



Room 5 - The scroll here is really what mill make this room tough. Without it, the room actually seems fairly easy, only because it is filled with water. However, because of the scroll, it is very much like a normal freefall, and so there really is no time for Mario to float around and attempt to go through that Thwomp's opening a second time. Some tweaks, I'm sure, could be added, but it'll be enough to make some players cry. Maybe.

Just my plan really.



Room 6 - Something I should mention about Fishbones; they do NOT generate. Meaning, they'll pass by the screen once, and that'll be it. Essentially, you'll then have two sections here where there is nothing for Mario to do but float safely to the ground. Yeah, something will have to be done about that, and since we now have more or less two empty areas, there are infinite possibilities for as what to do with them. The second half of this room seems fairly easy as well, with just a few timing-related puzzles and then a safe entrace to the boss room.

I might make this another tough scrolling section, because this and last room were originally intended to be one and the same, but I thought it'd be seen as too hard for the player. Maybe a slower scroll this time but more spikes and narrower tunnels.



Lemmy - Probably the toughest room in the level. The big spikes will easily catch some players off-guard, and it will require some fancy jumping to avoid the bullet bills. A good boss room, all in all.

I forgot to mention it's underwater.



Final Impressions - I found it interesting that the level of difficulty was not consistent throughout the level. Rather, it varied as the player made progress. Personally, I would've made Room 6 much harder as opposed to a cool-down, just so that the player never really got comfortable and would always be apprehensive about what to expect in the next room. However, because of the varied difficulty, there is essentially a room in this castle for every kind of player, from the raw newbie to the hardened veteran of SMW hacks. While there is certainly room for improvement, it is indeed a legit level. If I were to rate this for difficulty, I would probably give it a 7, maybe 8.

You mean, I should make the last few rooms also really, really difficult to keep up with the increasing difficulty scale? I can do that.

[kyledude92107]

Looks fun to make. -_-

[cheat-master30]

It shouldn't be too bad, it doesn't use anything custom. No custom graphics (other than those you've added in general), no custom sprites, no custom blocks, no custom music... I made this just so it was a hard but nicely designed rather than somewhat gimmicky level. Oh, and I've got yet another updated version to post soon.

[kyledude92107]

All right.

[cheat-master30]

Is it difficult enough for world 6 though Kyle?

[cheat-master30]

Take 3:

http://www.dsultimate.net/photoplog/images/1/1_UnderwaterCastleRemake2.PNG