New World 5 Boss Level Idea; Neon Circus (and City)

[cheat-master30]

Which is basically a mix of a few different areas in games I've seen, such as the circus boss stage and Neon City/Glitter Town stages in Wario Land The Shake Dimension. As you can probably tell, it's NOT a castle in the least, but it's the boss level.

First of though, it starts outside in the Neon City type area itself. Which if you've played Wario Land The Shake Dimension, you'd know is like Las Vegas style bright colours and skyscrapers. Not quite the usual Mario setting you'd expect, and that's only the first section. The next section goes inside what's basically a hotel/casino type area and uses this custom sprite:

http://www.smwcentral.net/download.php?id=181&type=sprites

Which I guess is seeing the background through the semi transparent foreground for a window effect. Only in some areas though, it's a decently sized room.

Then you'd go back outside to the city type area, where there is the circus entrance. With this shop block nearby for if you've actually got any coins:

http://www.smwcentral.net/download.php?id=7&type=blocks

The next area of course is the circus itself, which is basically just one room, a pretty much vertical big top room that requires using various tightropes and dodging the various Bullet Bills and cannon balls on walls and things and doing all kinds of fancy acrobatics off ropes and nets. Above munchers at the very bottom, and if you fall, you start the nice long climb again.

Then maybe past a few Chain Chomps and cages in keeping with the circus/carnival type theme.

That would lead nicely to the boss door into the second tent, where a nice difficult boss battle would commence. Now, if anyone here knows any ASM, I have a fantastic idea for a suiting boss, a much, much simpler remake of the area 3 Wario Land Shake Dimension boss. Yeah, the robot clown thing with spikes and flames. Only with less attacks (about two) and a nice extra helping of difficulty (random Bullet Bill generators and maybe a falling ceiling you have to stop/reverse to reach the throw blocks to use against the boss).

This video pretty much explains what Neon City and Glitter Town look like in Wario Land:

DahEhCGtzII

Except maybe instead things like a neon Bowser face and what not.

[cheat-master30]

Oh, and a minor note I should add; I don't have a level map or design yet, but it will be difficult, and it will be very, very Kaizoised in some places (as in, if Syrup Castle was castle 4... imagine the potential difficulty of this, aka boss level number 5...)

[cheat-master30]

Oh, and here's a picture of the foreground and background as found in Wario Land The Shake Dimension:

http://www.dsultimate.net/photoplog/images/1/medium/2_scan0001.jpg

Can you tell it's somewhat Las Vegas themed?

[Zexis]

Wow. The whole inspiration for this level really blows me away. When hack reviewers check start playing the worlds, they'll probably just be expecting typical levels with a bunch of P-Switches and an excess of munchers. But, not here! Not with levels like this. I mean, how many levels have you seen with a Las Vegas theme to it? Personally, I've seen zero.

Las Vegas has quite a few casinos. I could easily see a few levels with a theme akin to this. Other than custom blocks, I'm not sure if there are any sprites that really scream "CASINO!!!", but the circus would be easier. And it would great use of ropes and what not so as to feel completely natural. Perhaps each section or obstacle of the circus tent could have a different theme to it based off of different acts you would find in a circus; like tightrope walkers, the lion cages (or chain-chomp cages), and then the clown as a boss. Though I can tell you up front I don't know a thing about ASM.

But, yeah, this seems like a great level idea. I'm curious to see how a level design will turn out, and just how you plan on putting Vegas style obstacles into it.

[cheat-master30]

Wow. The whole inspiration for this level really blows me away. When hack reviewers check start playing the worlds, they'll probably just be expecting typical levels with a bunch of P-Switches and an excess of munchers. But, not here! Not with levels like this. I mean, how many levels have you seen with a Las Vegas theme to it? Personally, I've seen zero.

I got the idea from Wario Land, as you can probably guess, after thinking, hey, no one has quite done a city level properly yet!



Las Vegas has quite a few casinos. I could easily see a few levels with a theme akin to this. Other than custom blocks, I'm not sure if there are any sprites that really scream "CASINO!!!", but the circus would be easier. And it would great use of ropes and what not so as to feel completely natural. Perhaps each section or obstacle of the circus tent could have a different theme to it based off of different acts you would find in a circus; like tightrope walkers, the lion cages (or chain-chomp cages), and then the clown as a boss. Though I can tell you up front I don't know a thing about ASM.



The circus will, and the casino should already look enough hopefully with the Wario Land based graphics and background. As for the circus, a few ideas I have include:

The tightrope blocks which I assume have a New Super Mario Bros type effect. And a few hundred Bullet Bills and Banzai Bills to increase the difficulty somewhat.

Maybe Fire Bro fire eaters.

Chain Chomps in cages instead of lions.

Lots of high up rope climing and swinging with acrobatics between munchers and what not.

A pipe cannon of course would be awesome with maybe a tightrope as the safety net.

And the clown, if anyone's an ASM genius is this thing:

http://www.mariowiki.com/images/thumb/a/a0/Chortlebot.png/180px-Chortlebot.png

oDryQBaocQo

ASM needed? Definitely, although you can easily use Big Boo as a base. Needs throw blocks to defeat of course, Mario can't punch or swing. Oh, and yes, extremely difficult with only Small Mario (no joke, I basically had to daredevil run this guy to complete a mission in Wario Land Shake It, and I lost about 10 times).


But, yeah, this seems like a great level idea. I'm curious to see how a level design will turn out, and just how you plan on putting Vegas style obstacles into it.

In the same general style as Wario Land Shake It, which didn't quite have Vegas themed obstacles (other than slot machines) but used the glitz and glamour backdrop.

I do have one idea I'm nicking from them for example, the appearing blocks. Basically, there were invisible blocks that only appeared when the light shined on them, so in my version they'll appear only when you touch them, so almost like a maze in the city sky. And of course, a few puzzles in the buildings, one of which I hope will have a semi hotel theme.

[cheat-master30]

Oh, and the boss music for said boss:

uUQ_kc-R3ns

It's awesome, but will make most people want to completely smash the monitor after a while in the same way as normal circus music or 'It's a small world'.

[Zexis]

It sounds like it would be better for level music rather than a boss tune, but at least it fits the theme well.

[cheat-master30]

It's the boss music because it's the boss music in the game the possible boss is from. Any comments on the rest of my post though, or the post before that?

[Zexis]

Wow. The whole inspiration for this level really blows me away. When hack reviewers check start playing the worlds, they'll probably just be expecting typical levels with a bunch of P-Switches and an excess of munchers. But, not here! Not with levels like this. I mean, how many levels have you seen with a Las Vegas theme to it? Personally, I've seen zero.

I got the idea from Wario Land, as you can probably guess, after thinking, hey, no one has quite done a city level properly yet!



Las Vegas has quite a few casinos. I could easily see a few levels with a theme akin to this. Other than custom blocks, I'm not sure if there are any sprites that really scream "CASINO!!!", but the circus would be easier. And it would great use of ropes and what not so as to feel completely natural. Perhaps each section or obstacle of the circus tent could have a different theme to it based off of different acts you would find in a circus; like tightrope walkers, the lion cages (or chain-chomp cages), and then the clown as a boss. Though I can tell you up front I don't know a thing about ASM.



The circus will, and the casino should already look enough hopefully with the Wario Land based graphics and background. As for the circus, a few ideas I have include:

The tightrope blocks which I assume have a New Super Mario Bros type effect. And a few hundred Bullet Bills and Banzai Bills to increase the difficulty somewhat.

Maybe Fire Bro fire eaters.

Chain Chomps in cages instead of lions.

Lots of high up rope climing and swinging with acrobatics between munchers and what not.

A pipe cannon of course would be awesome with maybe a tightrope as the safety net.

And the clown, if anyone's an ASM genius is this thing:

http://www.mariowiki.com/images/thumb/a/a0/Chortlebot.png/180px-Chortlebot.png

oDryQBaocQo

ASM needed? Definitely, although you can easily use Big Boo as a base. Needs throw blocks to defeat of course, Mario can't punch or swing. Oh, and yes, extremely difficult with only Small Mario (no joke, I basically had to daredevil run this guy to complete a mission in Wario Land Shake It, and I lost about 10 times).

Chortlebot looks like a toughy. I seriously doubt he'll make an appearance in the hack unless we can get someone on board that knows ASM well, but it would be pretty cool to have him in there.

I like the idea of a pipe cannon; maybe we could shoot Mario through some munchers or something as an added effect. And Fire Bros are all right by me, though it sounds like the chain chomps will be used more for scenery than anything else. However, are these the chain chomps that are attached to a block, or can they free roam? Free-roaming chomps would be good, because I flip of a switch could easily open those cages and set the beasties free to come down upon Mario.


But, yeah, this seems like a great level idea. I'm curious to see how a level design will turn out, and just how you plan on putting Vegas style obstacles into it.

In the same general style as Wario Land Shake It, which didn't quite have Vegas themed obstacles (other than slot machines) but used the glitz and glamour backdrop.

I do have one idea I'm nicking from them for example, the appearing blocks. Basically, there were invisible blocks that only appeared when the light shined on them, so in my version they'll appear only when you touch them, so almost like a maze in the city sky. And of course, a few puzzles in the buildings, one of which I hope will have a semi hotel theme.

Like invisible note blocks, or just plain 'ol blocks? Either way, sounds good to me, though it looks like it'll be driving the reviewers to insanity depending on how far you push them.

To furthur comment on the music, I don't think I would go nuts listening to that tune for one boss battle, but depending on the difficulty of the proposed battle, I could easily see some reviewers humming "It's a Small World" before the review is over.

[cheat-master30]

Wow. The whole inspiration for this level really blows me away. When hack reviewers check start playing the worlds, they'll probably just be expecting typical levels with a bunch of P-Switches and an excess of munchers. But, not here! Not with levels like this. I mean, how many levels have you seen with a Las Vegas theme to it? Personally, I've seen zero.

I got the idea from Wario Land, as you can probably guess, after thinking, hey, no one has quite done a city level properly yet!



Las Vegas has quite a few casinos. I could easily see a few levels with a theme akin to this. Other than custom blocks, I'm not sure if there are any sprites that really scream "CASINO!!!", but the circus would be easier. And it would great use of ropes and what not so as to feel completely natural. Perhaps each section or obstacle of the circus tent could have a different theme to it based off of different acts you would find in a circus; like tightrope walkers, the lion cages (or chain-chomp cages), and then the clown as a boss. Though I can tell you up front I don't know a thing about ASM.

The circus will, and the casino should already look enough hopefully with the Wario Land based graphics and background. As for the circus, a few ideas I have include:

The tightrope blocks which I assume have a New Super Mario Bros type effect. And a few hundred Bullet Bills and Banzai Bills to increase the difficulty somewhat.

Maybe Fire Bro fire eaters.

Chain Chomps in cages instead of lions.

Lots of high up rope climing and swinging with acrobatics between munchers and what not.

A pipe cannon of course would be awesome with maybe a tightrope as the safety net.

And the clown, if anyone's an ASM genius is this thing:

http://www.mariowiki.com/images/thumb/a/a0/Chortlebot.png/180px-Chortlebot.png

oDryQBaocQo

ASM needed? Definitely, although you can easily use Big Boo as a base. Needs throw blocks to defeat of course, Mario can't punch or swing. Oh, and yes, extremely difficult with only Small Mario (no joke, I basically had to daredevil run this guy to complete a mission in Wario Land Shake It, and I lost about 10 times).

Chortlebot looks like a toughy. I seriously doubt he'll make an appearance in the hack unless we can get someone on board that knows ASM well, but it would be pretty cool to have him in there.



I've asked a certain user here, and if anyone knows anyone that knows ASM, that'd be great. Of course, I was thinking of way simplifing the attack pattern, because at the very least we're relying on a less powerful game here.

So yeah, my ideas for easier coding were:

1. Boss doesn't move (because the attacks I was thinking of having it use are generally quite long ranged).
2. Only two or three attacks. Remove the short propeller nose thing, but maybe keep the firebar attack and boxing glove nose attack.
3. And while this is kinda more complex, adding some Bullet Bill generators, spikes, maybe eerie generators, etc will make up for lost difficulty.



I like the idea of a pipe cannon; maybe we could shoot Mario through some munchers or something as an added effect.



That's the general plan. I also used that in my Ludwig's Flying Fortress level design a few months ago.



And Fire Bros are all right by me, though it sounds like the chain chomps will be used more for scenery than anything else. However, are these the chain chomps that are attached to a block, or can they free roam?


Attached to a Chain I think, although a free roaming one wouldn't probably be too difficult. The Super Mario Bros 3 Chain Chomp is actually a downloadable sprite at Super Mario World Central, same with near enough every other normal enemy I've featured in my level designs. That's where I get the ideas for cool enemies.



Free-roaming chomps would be good, because I flip of a switch could easily open those cages and set the beasties free to come down upon Mario.



Good idea.


But, yeah, this seems like a great level idea. I'm curious to see how a level design will turn out, and just how you plan on putting Vegas style obstacles into it.
In the same general style as Wario Land Shake It, which didn't quite have Vegas themed obstacles (other than slot machines) but used the glitz and glamour backdrop.

I do have one idea I'm nicking from them for example, the appearing blocks. Basically, there were invisible blocks that only appeared when the light shined on them, so in my version they'll appear only when you touch them, so almost like a maze in the city sky. And of course, a few puzzles in the buildings, one of which I hope will have a semi hotel theme.

Like invisible note blocks, or just plain 'ol blocks? Either way, sounds good to me, though it looks like it'll be driving the reviewers to insanity depending on how far you push them.[/quote]

Maybe both, the block for them is default in Block Tool I heard, it makes non visible blocks which turn into the next block listed when touched. An example is here:

e8mwcASyOpc

That's what made the Muncher Block suddenly appear out of nowhere. Yeah, you can even make freaking killer plants appear out of thin air with it, so if you're like me, you're probably seeing a lot of potentially evil uses of this default block...



To furthur comment on the music, I don't think I would go nuts listening to that tune for one boss battle, but depending on the difficulty of the proposed battle, I could easily see some reviewers humming "It's a Small World" before the review is over.

Ha ha! But yes, that's why I guess I'll decide when I actually have an idea what the rest of the level will be like.

[cheat-master30]

This is a very early screenshot of the circus section:

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

That's just the last two parts of the level, not counting the actual city section outside and the hotel/casino type area. Oh, and those are Gusty, Bullet Bill and Goonie generators, not individual sprites.

[kyledude92107]

Custom sprites displease Kyle.

[cheat-master30]

Don't worry, they're all default downloadables. As in, the entire contents of Super Mario World Central.

[cheat-master30]

Current beta of the entire level:

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

Now, there are a few things to consider (next post).

[cheat-master30]

Now with the image posted, a few thoughts people viewing it should consider:



While I like the design, stuff will have to change, because in my opinion it looks a tad too short and some sections a tad too easy and open. I was thinking I should probably add another circus section and maybe another city based section.
The blocks used are not the actual graphics, but stand ins. They're sized the same as a full castle stone block. The actual graphics, shown from the instruction manual for Wario Land scan are shown in the key.
The green blocks aren't final graphics, and they're invisible but colour coded for conveniance.
Many traps placed are based on how difficult they are to pass rather than quantity, so the traps are in possibly the worst possible places for the player.
Red Bullet Bills are Missile Bills, which may use the HOMING Bullet Bill sprite. Yeah, homing missiles basically, so kind of very hard to dodge.

[cheat-master30]

Oh, and of course, we still need the nice background.