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Mario Universe Super Mario Maker

Mario & Sonic Guy

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It was B-3. The one with the vines
Vine Frenzy, eh? I've been keeping track of its clear rate, and I'm surprised that only about 1% of the attempts were successful. Of course, I should remember that while a course may be straightforward for me, the same can't always be said for the other players.

Anyway, a typical habit that I have when designing courses is making sure that you're able to complete it without taking any damage. I was able to do that for my Vine Frenzy course, but apparently it's more difficult to accomplish for the other players. Another habit is that the very beginning of my courses offer a lot of breathing room; you're given more than enough time to avoid any approaching enemies, and there are no surprise attacks either.
 

Claire Diviner

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Vine Frenzy, eh? I've been keeping track of its clear rate, and I'm surprised that only about 1% of the attempts were successful. Of course, I should remember that while a course may be straightforward for me, the same can't always be said for the other players.

Anyway, a typical habit that I have when designing courses is making sure that you're able to complete it without taking any damage. I was able to do that for my Vine Frenzy course, but apparently it's more difficult to accomplish for the other players. Another habit is that the very beginning of my courses offer a lot of breathing room; you're given more than enough time to avoid any approaching enemies, and there are no surprise attacks either.
Yeah, if you're going to design levels where a player isn't supposed to take damage, then it automatically becomes difficult for casual players. Unless the intention was to make it for experts, expect it to have a low clear rate.
 

Mario & Sonic Guy

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Yeah, if you're going to design levels where a player isn't supposed to take damage, then it automatically becomes difficult for casual players. Unless the intention was to make it for experts, expect it to have a low clear rate.
I try to at least be generous enough to give players power-ups, just in case they do happen to mess up. But apparently, some people just can't seem to avoid taking too much damage, even with the power-ups that I leave for them.
 

Claire Diviner

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I try to at least be generous enough to give players power-ups, just in case they do happen to mess up. But apparently, some people just can't seem to avoid taking too much damage, even with the power-ups that I leave for them.
They just need to git good. It's what I did with the original NES days in my childhood in the 80s; we had it really tough compared to the casual games we have now! XD
 

Metal Shop X

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So... I have just find another problem on my UnderBound level...
"Scream in his head"
Great, now, i have to erase again this level and all the comment i get again.
I officialy hate this level now.
 

Metal Shop X

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Then just leave it be. Believe me, I get it.
Yeah... Or maybe i will wait ALONG time before i reupload it.
Really, Bill Ball Launcher are just stupid.
Anyway, thank you for playing my level. I am surprised that you finished Asgore so fast but NEO is still at 9 minutes. :p I don't know, i just find that funny.
 

Mario & Sonic Guy

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They just need to git good. It's what I did with the original NES days in my childhood in the 80s; we had it really tough compared to the casual games we have now! XD
Pretty much this. Although I try to complete my courses without taking any damage, I won't be cruel to others in that there won't be any power-ups. Even for my harder courses, there are power-ups around to pick up.
 

Claire Diviner

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Pretty much this. Although I try to complete my courses without taking any damage, I won't be cruel to others in that there won't be any power-ups. Even for my harder courses, there are power-ups around to pick up.
By the way, I forgot to mention that in your Vine level, the part with the spikes and the arrows dictating where the vine will go (toward the end, I think?) was especially clever, and is the highlight of the level... in my opinion, anyway.
 

IvanQuote

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I'm contemplating on whether or not I should reupload my Gravity level. Last time I checked, the ratio of completion was 1/111, most likely due to that fire section. I think removing 4-5 sets of jets off the bottom to give practice jumping/falling in pattern will make it both less tedious and more manageable.
 

Claire Diviner

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I'm contemplating on whether or not I should reupload my Gravity level. Last time I checked, the ratio of completion was 1/111, most likely due to that fire section. I think removing 4-5 sets of jets off the bottom to give practice jumping/falling in pattern will make it both less tedious and more manageable.
I mean, the level is inspired by VVVVVV, which, if anyone here knows, is NOT casual friendly. If people can't beat it, it's their own fault; the level, by design, has no troll elements or cheap deaths.
 

A Very Nice Dishwasher

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I decided to take down one of my levels that I wasn't proud of, so I uploaded this to replace it. It's kind of a sequel to King Bowser's Killer Koopa Kargo.

Aboard The Mighty S.S. Koopa: 7AD8 0000 01C9 9143
 

Claire Diviner

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Anyone watch Dashie? This first level is pretty much a culmination of everything not to do in a Mario Maker level, unless you want to get 30,000 views. :troll:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GSFJi2SY2s
Yeah, I decided to play that level, and it was just awful. When a person has to download the level to figure out where the troll blocks are placed, etc., that's a clear sign of a bad level. I still got the WR for it, though. lol

I actually made a level for Dashie myself. I'm hoping he plays it at some point. I already Tweeted it and everything.

image.jpeg
 

Mario & Sonic Guy

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Do I really need to say it? The courses on that video are just evil. You need a POW Block, just to enter a door?!

Anyway, if you think that my courses are hard, let me just say that the difficulty of my courses are nothing when compared to those monsters.
 

Claire Diviner

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Do I really need to say it? The courses on that video are just evil. You need a POW Block, just to enter a door?!

Anyway, if you think that my courses are hard, let me just say that the difficulty of my courses are nothing when compared to those monsters.
I dunno. The POW block door part is pretty simple; just stack POW blocks on top of one another to enter the door. Or just drop one in midair, land on the airborn POW block, and enter the door that way for some speedrun swag. lol
 

Mario & Sonic Guy

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I dunno. The POW block door part is pretty simple; just stack POW blocks on top of one another to enter the door. Or just drop one in midair, land on the airborn POW block, and enter the door that way for some speedrun swag. lol
It would obviously be a whole lot easier if there was a pipe or Bill Blaster that spawned multiple POW Blocks. I try to do just that whenever a certain item or power-up is mandatory to advance; some examples include my "Weird Mario Antics" and "Leave it to Yoshi" courses.
 
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Dan

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I actually made a level for Dashie myself. I'm hoping he plays it at some point. I already Tweeted it and everything.

View attachment 96629
I would be surprised if he didn't play that; the artwork is amazing. The issue is he probably has thousands of people sending him courses, but if he saw yours he would play it. I would just spam Tweet it at him. For now, I'll give it a test run. ;)

Okay, I just played it and the Paratroopa section is killing me. :( And I'm talking about the first ones. The second set of Paratroopa's... I have no clue what to do there. And the pit after that part?

Dear whoever was complaining about that hidden P-Switch in my level: please play this level


Do I really need to say it? The courses on that video are just evil. You need a POW Block, just to enter a door?!

Anyway, if you think that my courses are hard, let me just say that the difficulty of my courses are nothing when compared to those monsters.
It's disrespectful to even call those "courses"; more like exercises in evil. Those levels are not fun to make, not fun to watch or play. I played some of your levels; some are hard, but not unfair or evil.

Or just drop one in midair, land on the airborn POW block, and enter the door that way for some speedrun swag. lol
I'm not doubting you, but I just don't see how that's possible.
 
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Claire Diviner

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I would be surprised if he didn't play that; the artwork is amazing. The issue is he probably has thousands of people sending him courses, but if he saw yours he would play it. I would just spam Tweet it at him. For now, I'll give it a test run. ;)

Okay, I just played it and the Paratroopa section is killing me. :( And I'm talking about the first ones. The second set of Paratroopa's... I have no clue what to do there. And the pit after that part?

Dear whoever was complaining about that hidden P-Switch in my level: please play this level
Hold down the jump button to make high bounces off of enemies; this makes the first pair of paratroopas elementary.

As for the second set of paratroopas (during the Tanooki Leaf portion), the arrows are there to guide you. If you noticed (or not, since you had trouble with it), the arrows point down toward the paratroopas. It's an intentional feature in SMB3 style of Mario Maker, where if you bounce off an enemy while flying with the Tanooki Leaf, it'll reset the flight time, allowing you to maintain your flight for as long as you're able to bounce on enemies. I'm guessing that's Nintendo's way of putting a "P-Wing" effect in the game, without actually having a P-Wing.

Other than that, the entire level is actually linear and straightforward. Everything about it is all execution. If the player loses, it isn't the fault of the level's design.
 

Mario & Sonic Guy

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It's disrespectful to even call those "courses"; more like exercises in evil. Those levels are not fun to make, not fun to watch or play. I played some of your levels; some are hard, but not unfair or evil.
Yeah like I've mentioned earlier, I prefer to give players a lot of breathing room whenever a course starts. They can be on the hard side, but they're nothing like those absurd courses.
 

Mario & Sonic Guy

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As much as I don't want to double post, I did make a new course yesterday.


C-4: Fire Clown Car Castle
https://supermariomakerbookmark.nintendo.net/courses/5897-0000-01CD-F9DC

The first half involves you riding the Fire Koopa Clown Car to get past obstacles.

For the second half, Giant Bowser will be riding on a Fire Koopa Clown Car of his own. You have to lure him over to the bridge, as the Fire Koopa Clown Car is the key to reaching the axe. A Bill Blaster that fires Super Stars is also present, so that way, you can take out Giant Bowser with a single hit; you do have to hijack his Fire Koopa Clown Car.
 

Megadoomer

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I tried to recreate Green Greens (the first level in Kirby's Dream Land) in Mario Maker.

03F5-0000-01C8-D4C5

Any thoughts? I've considered making the other four levels from that game (at least, as close as I can get), but I'm not sure if I should keep going.
 

Claire Diviner

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I tried to recreate Green Greens (the first level in Kirby's Dream Land) in Mario Maker.

03F5-0000-01C8-D4C5

Any thoughts? I've considered making the other four levels from that game (at least, as close as I can get), but I'm not sure if I should keep going.
Just played it. Wasn't too bad. If you make the other ones, I would think you'd do well.
 

Mario & Sonic Guy

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Three of my past courses have returned after I made some adjustments to them.


4-4: Burner Castle
https://supermariomakerbookmark.nintendo.net/courses/BE15-0000-01D3-250B


6-4: Spiky Hazards Castle
https://supermariomakerbookmark.nintendo.net/courses/3131-0000-01D3-287D


7-3: Bob-omb Armada Airship
https://supermariomakerbookmark.nintendo.net/courses/D800-0000-01D3-2EB8

These three courses got removed for not receiving any stars, so I'm hoping that the modifications that these updated revisions have can at least get them a star (and save them from a deletion risk).

Update: 6-4 and 7-3 have managed to get a star, but 4-4 has yet to receive any. 4-4 shouldn't be too hard to beat (the older revisions have been completed before), but so far, no one has ever completed it yet.
 
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Dan

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I know this isn't to be taken too seriously, but here I am criticizing Dashie's fans for the way they make courses, and here's a video of a professional designer and producer, Castlevania's Koji Igarashi, breaking several of the Mario Maker cardinal rules in his own course: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HqY6MaeUmw
 

Metal Shop X

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Eureka.
Eureka!
EUREKA!
Finally! After week for searching a idea that could work for my final Undertale level. I have finally finish it!
So here it is!


Papyrus and Sans House

This "short" level isn't real a normal level, there is no ennemy that can hurt you, nor anything that can kill you. However, you have to find the way to finish this level! And have a good time in the skeleton brother house too. ;)

Also, here the map.



It doesn't reveal much, so i post it.

I hope you will enjoy this level. :)
Me, i can finally go to other project.
 

Dan

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God, maybe I'm just a dinosaur, but I just don't see the appeal in these frame-perfect, trial and error levels people make; gluttons for punishment. (watching Twitch streams)
 

Metal Shop X

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God, maybe I'm just a dinosaur, but I just don't see the appeal in these frame-perfect, trial and error levels people make; gluttons for punishment. (watching Twitch streams)
I'm the same as you my friend. I really don't like playing those level. It's like that those level are just better when you just watch someone do a perfect run but expected that? Nope for me.
 

WeirdJoe27

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I'm with you guys. I admire and respect those that can not only create those courses, but also enjoy playing them. I can do just about all of the Kaizo stuff, but not all in one course. To me, it's really not even fun (just super stressful without any reward). It becomes too much of a memorization and reflex game rather than a Mario Bros game. I grew up playing Mario games and that's what I like. Thank goodness so many people still make actual Mario courses.

Again, not to take away from those that create Kaizo courses, but give me some good ol' classic platforming any day!
 

Mario & Sonic Guy

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And yet the courses that are well-made are often stuck in the Shadow Realm without receiving any stars, all because you're not a popular user like the users from YouTube and the many different gaming companies.
 

WeirdJoe27

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And yet the courses that are well-made are often stuck in the Shadow Realm without receiving any stars, all because you're not a popular user like the users from YouTube and the many different gaming companies.
I don't find that to be the case, but it takes some effort from the creators to get those courses out there. Because of the way 100 Mario Challenge is set up, 'good' courses don't often get played randomly. Nintendo chooses to 'feature' courses in a weird way as well. The best way to get your courses played (and subsequently starred) is to head to Twitch or YouTube Gaming and submit them to the streamers. This not only gets the courses played, but it gets them viewed by a large audience. I've found so many great courses simply by watching streams and now have been able to play them by hosting my own stream. Message Boards like GameFAQs also help to get courses out there to be played, but unfortunately, they partake in something called 'Star for Star', which I am totally against. But that's a whole different discussion.....
 

Mario & Sonic Guy

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I don't find that to be the case, but it takes some effort from the creators to get those courses out there. Because of the way 100 Mario Challenge is set up, 'good' courses don't often get played randomly. Nintendo chooses to 'feature' courses in a weird way as well. The best way to get your courses played (and subsequently starred) is to head to Twitch or YouTube Gaming and submit them to the streamers. This not only gets the courses played, but it gets them viewed by a large audience. I've found so many great courses simply by watching streams and now have been able to play them by hosting my own stream. Message Boards like GameFAQs also help to get courses out there to be played, but unfortunately, they partake in something called 'Star for Star', which I am totally against. But that's a whole different discussion.....
I guess the main problem is that there aren't enough players who are willing to give your courses a chance. My courses can be a bit on the hard side at spots, but they're not Kaizo hard by any means. And because no one is willing to complete your courses, they don't get any stars at all, and as a result, they'll eventually be removed from the servers; 0 stars = removal risk.

Even now, one of my recently updated courses doesn't have a single completion and star, which just seems very weird as a whole.
 

WeirdJoe27

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I guess the main problem is that there aren't enough players who are willing to give your courses a chance. My courses can be a bit on the hard side at spots, but they're not Kaizo hard by any means. And because no one is willing to complete your courses, they don't get any stars at all, and as a result, they'll eventually be removed from the servers; 0 stars = removal risk.

Even now, one of my recently updated courses doesn't have a single completion and star, which just seems very weird as a whole.
Stars are often given as a way of showing satisfaction with your course. If your courses are getting played, but not Starred, you might need to go back and rethink your strategy. That said, if you enjoy your course style, by no means should you change it. The online servers are for everyone's likes, though. If you want to gain Stars, popularity and for your courses to remain on the servers, you might need to tinker with your level design just a slight bit. Otherwise, you may be stuck in an endless cycle.

My brother and I will be streaming Mario Maker tomorrow on Twitch. We play viewer courses, but if it's a little slow, we can try some of your courses. We don't have mic, so if you watch the stream live or on delay, you won't get live feedback, but we do provide feedback in the chat (which actually is on the overlay border). My brother will be playing and he does very well with some of the more difficult courses (we're not fans of Kaizo, though, but I don't think your levels are Kaizo). If you'd like, I can post some general feedback here. I try to be fair when judging courses, but my opinions are just that.... opinions. I feel that I've got a decent understand of what works and what doesn't (to the general Mario Maker populous).

Let me know what you think and if you have certain courses you'd like us to check out, feel free to post the codes in your reply.
 

Metal Shop X

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I think i am going to change something and reupload my latest level.
What? It's not perfectionnisme i swear! /s
 

Mario & Sonic Guy

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Stars are often given as a way of showing satisfaction with your course. If your courses are getting played, but not Starred, you might need to go back and rethink your strategy. That said, if you enjoy your course style, by no means should you change it. The online servers are for everyone's likes, though. If you want to gain Stars, popularity and for your courses to remain on the servers, you might need to tinker with your level design just a slight bit. Otherwise, you may be stuck in an endless cycle.

My brother and I will be streaming Mario Maker tomorrow on Twitch. We play viewer courses, but if it's a little slow, we can try some of your courses. We don't have mic, so if you watch the stream live or on delay, you won't get live feedback, but we do provide feedback in the chat (which actually is on the overlay border). My brother will be playing and he does very well with some of the more difficult courses (we're not fans of Kaizo, though, but I don't think your levels are Kaizo). If you'd like, I can post some general feedback here. I try to be fair when judging courses, but my opinions are just that.... opinions. I feel that I've got a decent understand of what works and what doesn't (to the general Mario Maker populous).

Let me know what you think and if you have certain courses you'd like us to check out, feel free to post the codes in your reply.
The following course ID is the one that I'm most concerned about.

https://supermariomakerbookmark.nintendo.net/courses/BE15-0000-01D3-250B

This revision is supposed to be slightly easier than the past two revisions in that some Note Blocks were replaced by ground tiles.

There's also the course ID below.

https://supermariomakerbookmark.nintendo.net/courses/D800-0000-01D3-2EB8

I did try to make the sub-area portion less difficult by either removing a few Bill Blasters that fired Bob-ombs, or make the Bob-ombs smaller. At least one user completed it though, and it has received a star too.

Everything else has been fortunate enough to receive at least one star, and you could always go to my profile for my full list.

https://supermariomakerbookmark.nintendo.net/profile/TPitch5
 

Metal Shop X

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So, i just reuploaded my latest level. And since it's been out for 2 days, i feel like i should repost it. So here it is again.

Papyrus and Sans House V2

Also, here you can see the little change i made. Tough there is something that have changed you can only see if you play the level.



So yeah, have a good time with it. And please, don't die when you can't die on this level. Because someone actually die on it. (I don't know how, but it make me facepalm so hard.)
 

Dan

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Gimmicks, not quality, = stars. It's just like "how pretty is the thumbnail" or "what song does it play", which was never the point of Mario to begin with. Mario & Sonic, that is where your problem lies. If Miyamoto made normal Mario courses and secretly slipped them online (maybe he has), his courses could very well be removed since they're not gimmick-heavy. Your courses could pass as official Mario levels.
 

Mario & Sonic Guy

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Gimmicks, not quality, = stars. It's just like "how pretty is the thumbnail" or "what song does it play", which was never the point of Mario to begin with. Mario & Sonic, that is where your problem lies. If Miyamoto made normal Mario courses and secretly slipped them online (maybe he has), his courses could very well be removed since they're not gimmick-heavy. Your courses could pass as official Mario levels.
The thing is though, Miyamoto is an official Nintendo employee, and such users have a large amount of good luck when it comes to receiving stars for their courses.

I can understand why people like to compose music and automatic courses, but there's hardly any effort with completing them most of the time, and it can get quite old and repetitive as well. You'd almost "never" get any automatic courses in the expert difficulty 100 Mario Challenge, as their clear rates are often too high.

And the disturbing part of the story is seeing a perfect remake of World 1-1 appear in the expert difficulty 100 Mario Challenge, even though it's ridiculously easy to complete. It's almost like the people who play your courses don't even know how to play a platformer if they're always losing lives to a single Goomba.
 
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