I'm nearly done with my work. So I figured I would go in-depth with the ideas behind some of the levels in the game, and talk a bit about why some things are the way they are. Now, right off the bat, I tell people that my map pack isn't nice. It's suppose to occasionally smack you in the face and say Listen bitch, you're going to fail because I'm going to make you. Now that this means for the player is they have to remain on their toes, and have an intimate knowledge of the controls. I suggested a controller for good reason; I thought myself as a keyboard and mouse player in the past were going to have the hard times ahead using a controller. In fact, I put off using a controller for the longest time. Then it occurred to me, I've been on consoles for the longest time, I should be able to make using a controller work.
And make it work I did. Because of the use of the controller, it afforded me the capability to make all sorts of instances where it would be best to have a controller instead of following Mario with the mouse. Some of the quick-time stuff can be had in 5-1, where 5-1_2 nearly requires a dual-thumbstick configuration to get past the lasers. (Yes it's possible, I managed to get it done in less than ten seconds.) Speaking of that, I think I made 5-1 too nasty, because in my experience, I had to play that world over... and over... and over again, because of 5-1_5 in normal play. It's hard, really fucking hard to complete if you don't have knowledge prior, part of the reason why I had committed to doing a guide for all the regular levels. 5-1 is going to be a fun write-up...
But I persevered, and it felt really fucking good afterward. And I think everyone who made it to 5-1 in the past few days may have been surprised there's an underwater level in 5-1, which shouldn't really be. I fixed that, go download it now if you had already. Considering I created the pack, of course I managed to make it through without dying most of the time. Of course I found most of the bonuses and hidden extras. And you should too, because I put a lot of work into those extras, and your exploration will be rewarded. A lot fo late nights and stupidity became something that I felt proud to present... despite the fact after making it, I kept dying again and again near the end.
Making the pack was fun, albeit somewhat tedious and frustrating. I guarantee you, some of the maps later in the game would have been completely different had kooplings respected doors and vertical light bridges postmortem. It's ridiculous the limitations koopas provided, and it lead to some pretty rediculous solutions to problems I encountered. Mari0's camera wasn't nice to work with either; If it was so far away the edge in some instances, I could never reach a surface I knew I could. But sometimes, an object was off-camera and I could still interact with it, so whatever there; It was painstaking, but I still believe I came up with some good puzzles. Some bad level design choices, but I still commit to what I've done with no major level design changes in the foreseeable future, save some touching up.
Overall, it had been a good experience. I made a hard-as-nails map pack in the span of a year's time and some change. Did I really change as a content creator? Not much. But I believe had I continued it earlier, the pack would be a complete load of ass and a useless display that doesn't test the game's -- nor the player's -- limits. So, of all the people who downloaded and played my pack in its various carnations, what do y'all think about it? And yes, I know this retrospective should be in my thread, but it's pretty useless material so I'll keep my musings about the project here in twatter instead.
Mari0; Lovechild Pack - My own thoughts
Why did you make a whole new post for this?lovechild wrote:pretty useless material
Heck, 0' Brothers is (Most likely) the most popular mappack and the creator didn't make another thread just talking about his thoughts on his mappack.
Because I wanted to ramble a bit and address some issues, summarize my problems using Mari0 to make a pack and generally type out a bunch of stuff. Didn't think that was needed in my main thread, and nothing I thought people would actually care to read about, ergo, twatter (IMO).
Sorry if it incensed you. :P
Sorry if it incensed you. :P