A lava mystery

[Cloth pocket]

This level is possible because
I have completed it before.

I started a poll because people were telling me about flaws in
this level.
Screenshot:

Spoiler: show

[Chip Potato]

Okay, I haven't completed the level yet, but I've already encountered a total of four flaws with this level. First of all, don't put enemies so close to the starting position. I didn't die from this, mind you, but some people like to soak in the atmosphere for a bit. I would recommend taking out the koopas in that first section and putting the ninji further back, to the top of the stairs, because the way the enemies are positioned, both the ninji and green koopa die in the lava, and are useless.

Second, and this might just be a pet peeve of mine, but never ever ever EVER make it mandatory to use rainbow shells to cross lava. Just... no.

Third, the lava in the pit after the spiny is too high, and needs to be lowered a few blocks. Again, didn't die from this, but some people might.

Fourth, why did you only put one skull to ride across the lava with? I'd recommend putting in an additional two, maybe an extra for good measure. Also on the raft section, I thought the ? block near the two isolated blocks and spiketop was a switch. I found out it was a mushroom block, and luckily managed to get it before it fell into the lava and crashed my game. Unfortunately, I got stuck on the two islands because the skull raft kept going without me, as seen here.

Spoiler: show

As many flaws as I encountered, I honestly liked the way the level looked. The tileset and background are both nice. For one final nitpick, though, I'd suggest changing the Bowser statues seen in the first section. I thought they were NPCs at first.

[Cloth pocket]

1. The enemies on the ledge was a Yellow shelled koopa and a ninji, the yellow shelled koopa turns on a cliff.
2.I got completely stuck at what to do there. Where you have to make the lava higher. So I just resorted to those.
3. I don't really think thats a problem, you just have to hold down the jump key.
4. I only added one skull to add some challenge to the level so it wasn't to easy, and the mushroom block was trick so
you'd miss the skull exactly as what happened to you.

[Superiorstar]

This level really isn't that hard for me, but you really need to tone down the difficulty, you can get points off for hard difficulty you know.
EDIT: also, the mushroom distraction is a dick move.

[Chip Potato]

4. I only added one skull to add some challenge to the level so it wasn't to easy, and the mushroom block was trick so
you'd miss the skull exactly as what happened to you.

Well, this "trick" leaves the player stuck on the two platforms, with only one way out. Which is very kaizo, imo.

[Cloth pocket]

4. I only added one skull to add some challenge to the level so it wasn't to easy, and the mushroom block was trick so
you'd miss the skull exactly as what happened to you.

Well, this "trick" leaves the player stuck on the two platforms, with only one way out. Which is very kaizo, imo.

I didn't really want to leave the whole level without any power-ups in it.

This level really isn't that hard for me, but you really need to tone down the difficulty, you can get points off for hard difficulty you know.

Well my levels are normally way to easy. So I made a harder one.

[Superiorstar]

Also I forgot to say this but this is the shortest level I have ever played in my entire career on this forum.

[Cloth pocket]

Also I forgot to say this but this is the shortest level I have ever played in my entire career on this forum.

Well then you obviously seen the level I posted a few days ago, 'warm sun fields'.

[PROX]

I see some clash with the Bowser Statues in the screenshot. Try to replace it with the SMW Bowser Statues and recolor them to fit the level.

[RudeGuy]

I see some clash with the Bowser Statues in the screenshot. Try to replace it with the SMW Bowser Statues and recolor them to fit the level.

Mixing styles isn't (always) clash. The bowser statue looks fine to me.

[PROX]

I see some clash with the Bowser Statues in the screenshot. Try to replace it with the SMW Bowser Statues and recolor them to fit the level.

Mixing styles isn't (always) clash. The bowser statue looks fine to me.

it mainly depends on the color but the statues were a bit dark for the level. IDK it just doesn't look right to me.

[Cloth pocket]

I see some clash with the Bowser Statues in the screenshot. Try to replace it with the SMW Bowser Statues and recolor them to fit the level.

Mixing styles isn't (always) clash. The bowser statue looks fine to me.

it mainly depends on the color but the statues were a bit dark for the level. IDK it just doesn't look right to me.

Those are custom palettes, because what I did was I recolored the original SMB3 Bowser statue the blue/purple which is the
color of the ground and then made it darker. I made them darker so people would know that they were BGOs not NPCs.

[PROX]

oh they're BGOs? OH ok that makes sense xD

[Superiorstar]

This poll is wrong, We should be able to pick 2 things instead of just one.

[Cloth pocket]

This poll is wrong, We should be able to pick 2 things instead of just one.

No because it's what you think is the needs the most improving in the level.

[Imaynotbehere4long]

I had a tough time deciding between Difficulty (Easy) and Length, but I ultimately had to go with length because of how ridiculously short and simple this level is. The things you did to try to increase the difficulty (no midpoint, mushroom trap, one skull-raft NPC, and lava on the same elevation with normal tiles) are not only bad design choices in their own right, but they're completely negated by the level's incredibly short length and sparse NPC placement (but at least it wasn't NPC spam). The only time I died in this level was when I got the mushroom and the skull-raft got away from me. On my second play-through, I got the mushroom and made it back on the skull-raft safely, so you can't even do a kaizo-trap correctly (but you shouldn't have done it in the first place). Speaking of the skull-raft ride, it was literally just flat lava and some Blaargs; you didn't even bother to add Podobos or lava slopes. Also, near the beginning, you have the player raise lava and wait for a rainbow shell. This part is pretty boring, and I recommend you just have the lava and rainbow shell active in the first place. Finally, the boss is just a Mouser in an empty room. In conclusion, I'd say this deserves a 2.5/10.

[Cloth pocket]

I had a tough time deciding between Difficulty (Easy) and Length, but I ultimately had to go with length because of how ridiculously short and simple this level is. The things you did to try to increase the difficulty (no midpoint, mushroom trap, one skull-raft NPC, and lava on the same elevation with normal tiles) are not only bad design choices in their own right, but they're completely negated by the level's incredibly short length and sparse NPC placement (but at least it wasn't NPC spam). The only time I died in this level was when I got the mushroom and the skull-raft got away from me. On my second play-through, I got the mushroom and made it back on the skull-raft safely, so you can't even do a kaizo-trap correctly (but you shouldn't have done it in the first place). Speaking of the skull-raft ride, it was literally just flat lava and some Blaargs; you didn't even bother to add Podobos or lava slopes. Also, near the beginning, you have the player raise lava and wait for a rainbow shell. This part is pretty boring, and I recommend you just have the lava and rainbow shell active in the first place. Finally, the boss is just a Mouser in an empty room. In conclusion, I'd say this deserves a 2.5/10.

Firstly, the so called Kaizo trap, was actually unintentional, I wanted to add at least one power-up to the level, so I added a mushroom. And I know you can get the mushroom and get on the skull because I did it when testing the level. Secondly I think that you were way to harsh with this level, as you obviously don't realize I put a lot of effort into this level, I spent about 35 minutes recoloring and making new graphics, and I spent about an hour making the level, that is about an hour and 35 minutes work, so I think it should at least have got a 3, obviously this isn't my best level and it isn't exactly good either, but it seems very out of place in the trash can in my opinion. Thirdly, your review is quite in-constructive, as you have just said bad things about the level design, which basically tells me that my level is rubbish. I am considering giving up posting in the level forum and only posting in graphics, because whenever I post a level, it normally always gets an unfairly low score.

[Imaynotbehere4long]

Holy crap, you made this level in only an hour and 35 minutes?? Well, that explains a few things.

On one hand, I kinda wish I could make levels as fast as you, but on the other hand, I know that if I did make a level that fast, it would only turn out like this one.

Firstly, the so called Kaizo trap, was actually unintentional

Then why didn't you fix it when it was first brought up? You need to design your level so that first-time players have a fair chance at beating the level. I recommend you remove the block ceiling that's right after the mushroom to fix this. Alternatively, you could remove the ? block and just have the mushroom (Don't Move = Yes) standing on the platform.

you have just said bad things about the level design, which basically tells me that my level is rubbish.

...it is, though. On the other hand, the recolors looked pretty good, but we're level judges, not graphics judges. Besides, if you stop thinking of negative reviews as "this is bad" and start thinking of them as "this is something you should avoid doing when making a level," you should begin to improve.

Also, I didn't just say bad things about the level; I also mentioned things that weren't in the level that, if added, would have made the level better, like this:

you didn't even bother to add Podobos or lava slopes.

I am considering giving up posting in the level forum and only posting in graphics, because whenever I post a level, it normally always gets an unfairly low score.

Well, if that's what you plan to do, make sure to shift the focus from the level to the graphics. Also, depending on what the graphic sprite-swaps, you may not want to include a level at all.

--EDIT--

Remember how, in my review, I said that it's bad level design to put lava on the same elevation as normal platforms? Turns out I got them confused with spikes, so I edited that part from my review. I stand by the score, though.

[Erik]

The graphics and music were fine in my opinion, but i actually needed cheats to finish it.