Reading through this topic, I am incredibly annoyed with myself. I got this game at launch and am very interested in the discussion about good level design and would really enjoy playing your levels and sending you mine. But I have this problem when I get a new game that is surprisingly good; I get addicted to the point where I just don't sleep at night if I play it, and then I have to completely avoid it for a few months before I can properly enjoy it again. And Mario Maker is sadly no exception. I made one level and then couldn't sleep for needing to constantly tweak it and improve upon it. And now I just can't play the game at all. I just have to hope you guys are still playing Mario Maker months from now, although I probably shouldn't hold out hope seeing as other games will inevitably come out this holiday to occupy your time.
But I would at least like to share my observations on what I consider good level design, as well as some fun discoveries based on what I learned tweaking the one level I made (but no longer have).
- Given that coins and 1-ups aren't that rewarding in Mario Maker as they are in the original games, visceral rewards are more interesting to find. In my case, I found that by placing a row of coin blocks above a Wiggler, Mario could repeatedly bounce off the Wiggler to hit the coins. Since Wiggler moves around, it gives the player a kind of "rodeo" feel where they try to stay on Wiggler while grabbing as many coins as they can. If you can find a way to get players to "play" with the enemies like this, it gives the level a toy-like feel that anyone can enjoy.
- One thing I read is that trampolines and music blocks require much more precise button timing to get high jumps in Mario Maker than they do in classic Mario. I don't know if this has been fixed in the recent patch but if it hasn't, it might be worth avoiding those items or at least giving the player more leeway if they make a mistake. One cool thing I found was putting a Hammer Bros. on a trampoline. As long as the player has lots of running room, I think it's more fun to get around a bouncing Hammer Bros. than a standard Hammer Bros.
- If you're looking for something cool to do with Bowser at the end of a level, I stumbled upon a great moment. In my level, I placed Bowser on a mushroom platform and then placed a moving platform behind him. You couldn't beat Bowser in this level; you have to get around him. But when I jumped past him onto the moving platform, something unexpected happened. Bowser turned around and leaped off his mushroom platform to get to me! But because my platform was moving right, Bowser missed it and fell to his death. It was a close call, though, and that makes it feel more intense than killing him normally.
- In my experience, what makes a good Mario challenge comes from two things:
1) The player doesn't have to worry about things that aren't on the screen. This point applies to any arcade game, actually. Unless they're knowingly solving a puzzle, most players like to think and react in the moment. If the player is hit by a surprise trap from off-screen or met by a blockade that they need an item from way back to pass, they're usually not going to be happy with the level. Players want to deal with dangers they can see.
2) Flexible pacing. Classic Mario is the kind of game that lets the player see a dangerous jump or obstacle ahead and then gives them the time to decide how to approach it. If the player is trying to work out a jump but they're constantly distracted by Bullet Bills or Lakitus, then they're going to get frustrated. If you do want to rush the player a little with enemies like Lakitu, tone down the difficulty of the platforms so the player has more room to avoid the enemies. Also, if the level is really difficult, it's always good to include a few safe spots along the way for the player to take a breather.
And that's mostly it from me. If I have one big criticism of Mario Maker besides the checkpoints, it's that the game is terrible at theming. Not having many level themes like deserts is one thing, but not being able to mix and match the level assets is an even bigger restriction. I wanted to create a level around boarding a giant airship, but then I remembered that you can't use the airship assets on the ground theme. Being able to mix the assets around would do wonders for the imaginations of players. Just look at the trailer for the Super Mario Bros. X fan game for an example of what could be achieved.
