 Tricks & Glitches
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 Table Of Contents
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FAQ 
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Focused Guides: Intro[]
Here are a number of sections going into depth on different subjects. They are mostly made up of information that is introduced on one page or another, but are referred to often enough to warrant their own place, or require extra space for a proper analysis (some of these subjects are actually REALLY complicated). Many of these guides will be referred to elsewhere on the wiki as well as on the forums. This is some of the best advice that we have all gathered about Level Design.
I will note at this point that all of this is just general advice or detailed info on specific mechanics in the game. Feel free to ignore all of it, if you have a better idea. Part of the truest joy of Level Design is having a cool idea that has never been done before, and figuring out how to actually pull it off. Read these for a foundation - a snapshot of how everyone else is doing it - and feel free to strike off on your own. (The only possible exception to this being Good Practices, as much of that is tied into the Rules.) And most of all, remember, this is just for fun. If you aren't having fun, why do it?
General Tips and Good Practices[]
Original material from Superyoshi, fourinone, Avolerators and others. Combined, adapted, and expanded by Doram
There is a lot of talk in the community on what makes a level good or bad, and here's a collection of advice that will help you avoid having your level rejected by the Level Moderators. Many times people will say that the level needs more "effort". This is an explanation of what that means...
Common Mistakes[]
- Too Short or Too Easy
- The length of the level makes a difference. Anything that can be beaten in less than 30 seconds is too short. Levels where the start is placed on the left, the shine sprite is placed on the right, and a few enemies are sprinkled in between, is too short. Related to Too Short is Too Easy. If all you have to do is run to the shine sprite, not even jump or dodge enemies, the level is too easy. A general lack of enemies can make it too easy. Many times, these levels are thrown together in a matter of minutes, and while they are fine for learning how to design, but they are really not good enough to be submitted to the portal. Also, if someone tells you that your level is too flat, it falls in this category. There's tiles for making hills, cliffs, and adding other vertical variety. Use them!
- Solution: Spend some more time on the level and add some variety.
- Lag
- The opposite problem for a level that is too simple is one that is too jam-packed to run. It is no fun to be trying to make a jump, and have Mario miss, merely because he is stuck floating in air while the computer kills itself trying to render the next frame of animation, and it misunderstands exactly when your button press is supposed to be applied amongst the general chaos. And heaven forbid that you die, and you have to reload the whole thing again...
- Unfortunately, this can happen to even the best imagined of levels. Trying to make a cloud level? Be careful about how many of those things you put in there. Trying to make a pipe maze? Good luck. That's going to be hard to pull off without lag. Remember that in general, enemies slow down a level more than decorative items do, and even decorative items slow down the level a lot once there are more than 50 or so in a section between transitions. Even with tiles you can run into problems, because like enemies, breakable and other interactive tiles take more time to calculate and thus slow down the level more.
- Solution: Making a complex or detailed level is possible, if you just add Level Transitions for every 50-200 spaces (and if you are going for a cloud or pipe maze, DEFINITELY go for 50). You should also generally avoid Goomba and Koopa Armies or Bullet Bill swarms, even with Transitions.
- Also, your computer may be beast enough to pull the level off, but not necessarily the average user. The ABSOLUTE best thing you can do is get several other people to try your level out, and see if they run into lag problems. You can usually get a response within a day or less if you approach people on the chat.
- Additionally, if you have elaborated a storyline for your level, you might want to have it span through multiple levels instead of designing a single one - it is sure to reduce loading and level designer refreshing delays as much as possible. The New Level Portal is enough for all players to keep track of the level series.
- Camera-Shake
- The closest the LD will let you put a Transition to the level start is 20 blocks. The closest it will let you put a Transition after another Transition is 19 blocks. If you go to that limit in the LD or make it even smaller in code, the Camera glitches out and shakes horizontally. Unless you give a plot reason for this "earthquake" to be happening, it is considered extremely annoying. Also, having your level go too close to the bottom can cause this as well.
- Solution: Generally, you should always allow at least 25 blocks between Transitions, and have at least 3 solid rows of tiles at the bottom of your level.
- Cutoff
- Cutoff is generally refers to tile misuse, where you are using tiles that do not have detailed edges, when it is appropriate. There are decorative edges for every kind of landmass available. Another kind of cutoff is caused by camera interactions with the calculated borders of the level called border blindness.
- Solution: The solutions for this are exacting and too much to cover here, but both tile misuse and border blindness are covered in the Focused Guide to Cutoff.
- Oddly Placed and Useless Items
- Placing items is another place where the difference between a good level and a bad one is obvious. Trying to run across a falling log bridge is no fun when the logs don't line up, and the engine makes Mario fall between two logs that you thought were close enough. Similarly, Coins look horrible when they are jumbled and jaggedly placed.
- On a related note, make sure that the items you put in your level have a reason to be there. Don't put a sign that just says "Your Name wuz here!" Also, don't add a switch without adding some switch blocks for it to turn on.
- Solution: There is a way to place items so that they line up with the grid. You hold down Control while placing the item. And make sure that your items are both used properly and have a point. Switches need switch blocks. Signs are supposed to give hints or tell a story. Cannons are supposed to get you places that are far away.
- Forced Damage, Unfairness, and Being Beatable
- Having the starting point directly over a lava pit is called forced damage. Requiring a lava jump can be considered forced damage, especially if overused (having adequate coins or stars for life recovery can mitigate this, but it is considered gimmicky). Sling star, pipe, door, or glitch-warp directly into enemies or lava can be considered forced damage. Ultimately, all of this is not fair to the player, and having the difficulty ramped up too far will turn many people off. Having a giant swarm of Bullet Bills that chase you through the whole level is not fun. Failing a jump because you are too distracted by your life being almost gone is not fun. If every platform you create is made of falling logs, you have too many. Also, be careful of small gaps. There are tile combinations that produce pinch points that you can be caught in for an insta-kill which are really quite horribly unfair (you literally cannot move once caught, because turning around actually wedges you further in, and you can't get out before running out of health). Generally, any half tile-tall gap is not survivable. Some examples include a 30 degree tile like 40 Cave Ceiling Slope up against a full tile below like 1 Cave Top, or 14 Cave Slope Beta Right up against a full tile above, or even 25 Cave Ceiling with a full block below.
- Finally, make sure that you actually can win the level. Making it too hard with the other things I mentioned is one thing, but having the level be functionally broken is quite another. Hiding the shine sprite behind unbreakable-non-background tiles, or putting it outside the level area (where you can't put tiles) is mean and not fun at all. It is however, possible to place a red coin or silver star behind an unbreakable-non-background tile and have the player collect it simply by touching the tile. When placing them in the center of the tile, red coins can only be collected by standing on the tile, while silver stars can be collected by touching any side.
- Solution: Needs more play testing. Don't forget to play your levels after you have made them and make sure that you can beat them. If you are having problems, and you made the thing, it's likely that nobody else will be able to beat it either. And also test out running up against all your lovely scenery to make sure that none of it accidentally hides a hidden death trap.
Overall Tips for Better Level Design[]
These are the best ways to build a level that everyone can enjoy (and maybe win an LDC for you).
- Take your time. I can't say it enough. The best levels take time to make, and time to test. If you threw it together in a day, it is unlikely to be considered a masterpiece by anyone.
- Give your level a theme (covered just below here) and stick to it. Make sure everything you put in there makes sense according to your theme (don't put ice enemies in a fire level unless you have a very good reason for it, for example). Also, don't be afraid of trying to tell a story. SM63 is a bit limited in its options for that (especially compared to Last Legacy), but it can be done. Good use of signs and some disabled enemies can go a long way.
- Think about other games you have played. Played a bunch of Mario games? Then it's a good thing to think "What would Miyamoto do?" Trying to make it play like something completely different? Think about what things are unique to the other game that would make your level remind you of that.
- Go the extra mile. When you're done, go back and add some secrets or extras. Nothing says perfection like completely extra bits that are just for more fun. Add a 1-up Hunt, or completely secret side areas. Made a red coin level? Go ahead and put a secret Silver Star that lets people finish the level more than one way.
- And, of course, avoid all the mistakes from above.
Level Theme Advice[]
The beginning and the end of your level design[]
One of the biggest hurdles to level design is coming up with a theme. Unfortunately, the theme of your level is something that is very easy to mess up, and it happens all the time. Thankfully, many people have spent uncountable time gathering what they know into this guide so that you are not lost through this process.
This part of the guide is about choosing a theme, and the thing about choosing a theme is that it can take you through the whole development process, and give you both the initial inspiration to create a new level, as well as lead you to the finishing touches that will make your level a complete package.
Now, these rules were written with what is generally considered the standard "Mario feel" in mind of how things should be set up in any given level. If you are going for something that will fit in with SM63 in general, and snuggle in for a nice cup of Miyamoto-style platforming awesome, then by all means follow this guide.
That being said, there are times where Mario is too small an idea for what you want to create, and maybe it's time to break some rules (if you aren't in the mood to move over to Last Legacy, that is). If that is your intent, then all you need are these first couple of rules (otherwise read on afterwards, of course).
- Give your level a "Sense of It All" Level design is more than just chucking tiles and items around willy-nilly. Think about what you want your level to feel like or express, and keep that in mind through every choice, from music, to background, to plot or other text, to the actual grunt work of placing tiles and items. Give them a "Sense of It All" and put in everything that you can think of that reminds you of your theme, and don't forget about the details (for example, choose a music, even if you are using the LD-Only version). Details can make or break a level, and putting a bunch of very small and subtle touches in there can really make a level come together into a picture perfect snapshot of your theme. THAT is professional design.
- Put something cool in there. Read through the Code Section, and then dig through the Tricks & Glitches Section for something to put in your level to make it stand out from the crowd. Or, heck, play around and push the Level Designer to its limits and figure out something new, and show the world that you are a MASTER of level design. (If you do find something new, post about it in the forum, and let other people play with it. if it seems stable and people like it, it might even make it into the guide here! And, if you're wondering what new there is to do, look at all the "mistakes" up above, and find a way to make it workable - maybe a cannon could get you through a 1/2 tile gap? - EXPLAIN what you're doing with some signs, and make it the star of your level!!)
- Signs. Those famous things that you use to tell people stuff while they play your level.
- Do This:
- Introductions. Is there a back story to your level? Is there plot that makes a difference in how you should play? Put a sign right at the start!
- Helpful Hints. Use these to tell you useful info about your level. Is there more than one path/shine/whatever? Is there something hidden that is a fun challenge? Are you not going to be able to travel a path without an item or FLUDD? Tell us!
- Maps. Don't forget that you CAN put images in your signs but you can also just say where certain things are in your level. ex. Mushroom City, West. Star Canyon, East. etc. (Don't forget to label those areas in your level with some more signs too...)
- Not This:
- Hatefulness. Don't make a level just for a sign that says how much you hate this site. Like saying "I hate these levels!". If you originally wanted people to like your levels, being mean to them is counterproductive. This includes no swearing. And, if you are really mad, please read this.
- Stating the obvious. Don't say "Finish this level!", "Don't die!" or do other stuff like have a bunch of arrows pointing at a shine sprite that is just sitting there. We already know that!
- Do This:
Specific Theme Suggestions[]
Ok, it's nice to have some general directions, but can you be more specific? Yes I can.
- Grass Levels
- Theme Ideas:
- Jungle or Grass Tile Sets, obviously.
- Plants! Trees, vines, and maybe even a few rocks work really well here. You could even be daring and have a hidey-hole with some water and cave plants/mushrooms.
- Maybe have a small cave, just be careful about how you transition. It is much easier to have a pipe just take you underground area all alone in it's own area than it is to make the tiles look good for a cave bit right next to Jungle/Grass tiles.
- Pipes instead of doors. You are outside after all...
- Music:
- Mushroom Kingdom
- Bob-Omb Battlefield
- Background:
- Hills and Clouds
- Hills and Ocean
- Sky
- Avoid unless you have a really clever idea:
- Lava
- Ice
- Sand
- Volcanoes
- Theme Ideas:
- Cave Levels
- Theme Ideas:
- Cave Plants: A lot of them. Make an Underground Jungle! Vines would work here too.
- Pipes instead of doors. You are underground after all...
- Entrances at the beginning: You can't have an enclosed cave area! How would Mario get out?(Or better yet in.) Prime example of Sense of It All
- Possibly Lava: Lava's not a DON'T in caves. Just make sure that you are somehow indicating that you are either going REALLY deep, or burrowing into a volcano...
- Music:
- Hazy Maze Cave
- Bowser’s Castle (Many times, they are underground)
- Background:
- Secret Course
- Underground
- Black
- Theme Ideas:
- Fire Levels
- Theme Ideas:
- Lava would fit PERFECTLY in this kinda level(especially in volcanoes!)
- Volcanoes! Big Ones! Small Ones!(Ones as big as your head!) With boiling lava! (meme intended)
- Big Bullies! With lava surrounding you and them there's an actual way of killing them!
- Plateaus - There are tiles for those in the Volcano tile set.
- Rocks (Look in the Decorations Section in the Items, The 3rd thing)
- Is it outside in a fiery inferno, or in the fiery depths of Bowser's latest castle? You decide.
- Music:
- Lethal Lava Land
- Bowser’s Castle
- The Final Battle
- The Meteor
- Inside the Castle
- Background:
- Fire Field
- Volcano
- Fire Castle
- Fire Castle (Outside)
- Avoid unless you have a really clever idea:
- Ice
- Grass
- Sand
- Water
- Theme Ideas:
- Ice Levels
- Theme Ideas:
- ICE! ACTUAL ICE! Like Ice Blocks or breakable Ice Blocks.
- Mountains! Snowy Mountains!
- Cabins, There's blocks for those.
- Winter Trees: Making a Winter Forest? Well use these!
- Penguins!(Or call them by their proper name - Bumpties) The Ground ones and the Airborne ones!
- Music:
- Snowman’s Land
- Background:
- Snow
- Sky
- Avoid unless you have a really clever idea:
- Lava
- Grass
- Volcanoes
- Sand
- Theme Ideas:
- Water Levels
- Theme Ideas:
- Ships would go nicely with water levels! Use any bricks to build them!
- Sand if you're making a beach.
- Islands of course!
- Underwater Wall: There's a couple of them. It makes water levels even cooler!
- Cheep Cheeps: Make an aquarium or something. They're Nintendo's Version of Fish!
- Music:
- Bob-Omb Battlefield
- Floater Land
- Background:
- Hills & Ocean
- Avoid unless you have a really clever idea:
- Lava
- Grass
- Theme Ideas:
- Desert Levels
- Theme Ideas:
- Sand of course!
- Pyramids that have mummies in them. Too bad there aren't any mummies in the level designer. I guess we'll have to settle for some Skelegoonies...
- An Oasis. A mirage that you can still see when you come close but you can't actually drink the water.
- Music:
- Shifting Sand Land
- Background:
- Desert and Hills
- Desert
- Avoid unless you have a really clever idea:
- Ice
- Volcanoes
- Grass
- Lava
- Theme Ideas:
- Hotels/Inside a Building/Urban:
- Background:
- Fire Castle
- Bowser's Castle
- Music:
- Inside the Castle
- Bowser's Castle
- Boo's Mansion
- Background:
- All-Round Levels (Levels that have more than 1 tile set):
- Background:
- Sky
- Space
- Black
- Music:
- Secret Course 1 & 2
- Bowser's Castle
- Rainbow Ride
- Background:
Cutoff[]
Original by Doram
What is cutoff?
Cutoff is a kind of level design error that can range from merely graphically annoying to making the level unplayable. It mostly consists of two errors: tile misuse, and border blindness. Let's tackle them one at a time.
Tile Misuse[]
Most cases of tile misuse are caused by a lack of understanding of how tiles work. this guide does a good job of covering the basics, but here is an in-depth analysis.
 The point of unfinished edges is to make the tiles visually connect into one solid mass of landscape when their unfinished edges are touching. The point of the finished edges is to provide the border of that mass. When Mario hits a wall, lands on the ground, or bumps his head, he is supposed to be hitting those "finished" edge pixels. |
Tiles can be either foreground or background tiles. The tiles are in one plane or the other by design, so you cannot put any given tile into the background or vice versa. Foreground tiles cannot be walked through, and background tiles can be walked through. There are not many background tiles. Foreground tiles can be either full tiles or partial. This is usually visually obvious since partial tiles have blue coloration on the "unsolid" part. The unsolid part of the tile can be entered by Mario. Top finished tiles are generally full tiles, but half tiles are not uncommon. Side and bottom tiles are always half tiles unless they are background tiles. Angled tiles generally are type 2 or 3, and are always partial. Corner tiles are always partial as well. A demonstrative example of what is cutoff and what isn't: (courtesy of )  |
Border Blindness[]
Border Blindness is caused by the interactions of the camera and the calculated borders of each screen of your level. There is a difference between what you see in Design Mode, what you see in Test Mode, and what you can interact with in Test Mode.
Generally, on normal zoom, what you can see in Test Mode is .5 blocks from the top and bottom of the level, 2.5 blocks from a left Transition, 3.5 blocks from a right Transition, and .5 blocks from the left or right edge of the level. What you can interact with is anything within the confines of a normal level without Transitions plus 3 blocks below the bottom of the level, and minus 2.5 blocks away from a transition on either side of it. What you are shown at maximum zoom is from one block to the left of a left side Transition to one block to the left of a right side Transition.
To show this, see the picture below. Green is what is visible at normal zoom, white is what is visible at max zoom, and red is what you can interact with.
Using HTML in SM63 LD[]
Original material by Mr_SaxMan for the majority of this. Rearranged, expanded, and warning by Doram - Updated 2/18/2015
What is HTML?[]
HTML is the language used to code web pages. It is also usable in the SM63 LD to modify the text in signs. A full explanation of HTML is far beyond the scope of this guide, besides which, the W3C does a fine job with their Tutorials, and HTML 4.01 Specifications page on their website. There are also plenty of other tutorials on the web in general. Just search for HTML Tutorial, and you'll find something.
It is worth noting that since SM63 came out, the web has changed (we've moved on to HTML 5 for example). Some of the instructions out there will tell you, correctly, that some of these tags are now deprecated (discouraged) in favor of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) in modern regular web design usage, but these old HTML tags will work just fine in the LD on signs, and are unaffected by any other changes going on elsewhere on the Internet.
Where does that go?[]
The short version of all of that is that you can use HTML tags to modify all of your text (meaning that this all works in both places you can enter text into your level: the Level Name, and Sign items). HTML tags generally come in pairs with an opening form and closing form, and both are the tag name surrounded by less than and greater than signs, and the closing tag has a slash in front of it. For example, the tag to make text bold would look like this:
<b>I want this text bold.</b>
The small HTML formatting tags like Bold <b>, Italics <i>, and Underline <u> are easy enough to enter in level titles and signs. If you are typing them in the LD interface, you can use them as they have been described here, but if you are coding your level in a text editor, you need to be aware of the ASCII codes required. The code for < is %3C and > is %3E, so in a text editor, <i> would have to be written as %3Ci%3E and </i> would have to be written as %3C%2Fi%3E. All of the ASCII codes you will need for these tags are in the Lists page.
Specific Instructions[]
Confirmed to Work in SM63[]
Use these as shown here. (For help finding the code for the color you want, search for a list of HTML Color Codes, or you can try here.)
| Code | Result |
|---|---|
| <b>HELLO!</b> | HELLO! (bold) |
| <i>HELLO!</i> | HELLO! (italics) |
| <u>HELLO!</u> | HELLO! (underline) |
| <font color="#FF0000">HELLO!</font> | HELLO! |
| <font face="papyrus">HELLO!</font> | HELLO! |
| <font size="30">HELLO!</font> | HELLO! |
Combining Tags[]
There are two ways to combine these functions, and it depends on whether it is an independent tag, or a different parameter for an identical tag. In the case of independent tags like bold, italic, and underline, they need to be "nested" properly, and this means opening 1, 2, 3, and closing 3, 2, 1 (like they are nestled inside each other like smaller bowls fitting in larger ones). For parameters in identical tags, like the color, face, and size parameters of the font tag, you can simply list them, one after the other, in any order, within the first tag. Here are some examples:
| Code | Result |
|---|---|
| <b><i><u>Bolded italicized and underlined</u></i></b> | Bolded italicized and underlined |
| <font color="#00FF00" face="tahoma" size="20">HELLO!</font> | HELLO! |
| <font color="#0000FF" face="courier" size="20"><b><i><u>HELLO!</u></i></b></font> | HELLO! |
Links and Images[]
There are two other functional HTML tags that work as well (but they are more complicated), a hyperlink and an image. Both work exactly as they do in HTML except that not all of the parameters are supported.
To make a link to another web page, the tag should look like this:
<a href="http://www.yahoo.com" target="_blank">Yahoo</a>
Clearly, you replace "http://www.yahoo.com" with your URL address, and "Yahoo" with whatever text you want your link to look like. (The target parameter makes sure that the link opens in a new window/tab, so it doesn't close SM63 on you...)
To put an image in your sign, the tag should look like this:
<img src="http://www.myimagehost.com/MyImage.gif" width="100" height="100" hspace="175">
Clearly, you replace the "http://www.myimagehost.com/MyImage.gif" with the URL address of your image.
 
There are several things to be aware of with using an image:
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Working, but Useless[]
Now, there is one more tag that works, even though it is completely unnecessary. The line break tag, <br>, will put in a line break (like hitting Enter)(also, <br></br> will still work, even though that is not how it is supposed to be used in HTML...). The reason it is unnecessary is because the enter key in the LD and ASCII %0D work just fine (and are both easier to use and use fewer characters).
Confirmed to NOT work:[]
| <s></s> | Should be Strikethrough |
| <hr>
(or <hr></hr>) |
Should be horizontal rule - a line drawn across the sign. |
| <center></center> | Should center the contents, but text is already centered, and images do not respond. |
| <sup></sup> | Should be superscript Like this. Confirmed as of newest version of LD, possibly worked before. |
| <sub></sub> | Should be subcript Like this. Confirmed as of newest version of LD, possibly worked before. |
| <em></em> | Should be emphasis - combo of bold and italics. Confirmed as of newest version of LD, possibly worked before. |
| <strong></strong> | Should work like bold. Confirmed as of newest version of LD, possibly worked before. |
| <tt></tt> | Should be Teletype - serif font monospaced Like this. Confirmed as of newest version of LD, possibly worked before. |
| <pre></pre> | Should be preformattedlike Teletype Like this. Confirmed as of newest version of LD, possibly worked before. |
| <table>, <tr>, <td> | Tables do not work. All table tags are removed and text is displayed like normal. |
| <p> | Wouldn't affect anything anyway. |
| <script> | Can't tell whether JavaScript does anything, displayed as text. Putting ActionScript code in doesn't work either. |
Why is this not working?[]
|
Ok, if you feel that you have put this stuff in correctly, and it isn't working, here is some quick troubleshooting advice:
|
Moving Block and Platform Tutorial[]
Original material by fourinone (Fourinone's Block Tutorial for Cool People) and level4 (Finding the length of a moving block). Reformatted and expanded by Doram Hey, everyone. I thought perhaps I'd share my block expertise with everyone here. Now, of all items in the Level Designer, the rotating and moving block is the most versatile, allowing you to make many different things with them. You've probably used these before, but do you understand how it all works? Well, this is what this tutorial here is for. Yay?
Note: Most of this stuff works for green platforms, as well. They just...aren't as cool, hehe.
First, some terminology: The game is made up of pixels. One grid/tile on the level designer is 32 pixels x 32 pixels. Also, since I need a unit of time, I've made an arbitrary unit called a frame. I doubt this is the same as the actual frames in the game, but for the sake of convenience, let's just pretend it is... <_<
Speed: This is the number of pixels which the block moves in one frame. So, a block with speed 2 is twice as fast as a block with speed 1.
Length: This is the number of frames which the block moves in the specified direction. After moving the number of frames in that direction, it will move the same number of frames in the opposite direction.
- The total number of pixels a block moves is its speed multiplied by its length. Remember that one tile is 32 pixels. Use this to calculate exactly what length you should enter into your block to fit your level just right!
Offset: Now, offset is an interesting thing. It is the number of frames which the block has already moved in it's path, pretty much, how "in sync" it is. Confused? Basically, for a block with 64 length to the right and 32 offset, the block starts with 32 of those 64 frames having already occurred, so it would move 32 frames to the right, then 64 to the left, then 64 to the right, and so on. The maximum offset you can have is equal to the value you put for length; any value higher than this will be equal to this maximum. Essentially, a block with 64 length to the right and 64 offset should be the same as a block with 64 length to the left and no offset.
- Why should you use offset? Well, you won't be using it much, but say you want to make a "wavy" floor, where it undulates in a smooth, wave-like pattern. Offset is your friend here!
Negative Offset: Wait, what now? A negative offset value does something different? Gasp! When a block has negative offset, it moves that many frames extra at its given speed before going to its regular behavior. Say, if a block has 3 speed, 64 length to the right, and -32 offset, it will first move 32 frames to the right at speed 3, then it will go right 64 frames, then left 64, and so on. Think of it this way: whereas positive offset is how many frames the block has already travelled, negative offset is how many frames the block still needs to travel before moving normally.
- Ever wanted a block to travel out far somewhere, and then stay in that general place? Negative offset is for you! This is great for elevators and such.
- Since the offset space allows only 3 characters, you'll need to manually edit the code yourself to enter values lower than -99. Read Superyoshi's tutorial above if you don't know how.
Acceleration: If you've fooled around with the stuff mentioned above already, you may have noticed that the block doesn't exactly move the same number of pixels as I claimed it would, hehe... This is because of this annoying thing called acceleration. Acceleration affects the behavior of the block as it approaches the end of its path, controlling how much it slows down and speeds up as it switches to moving in the opposite direction. A low acceleration value means a slow, smooth switch, and a high value means it will abruptly switch directions with little slowdown. So, why is it so annoying, then? That's because it completely screws with the speed, messing up the number of pixels it SHOULD have travelled. (I'm not sure where this acceleration coefficient goes in the calculation, but an acceleration value of 1 messes the path up the least.) Note that a block with an acceleration less than 1 will stop short of its starting point when it turns around, and a block with a value greater than 1 will go slightly past its starting point. Keep this in mind when placing your block, and watch the shadow to see if it's going where you want it to go. (Or, just use 1 acceleration to keep it simple.) ...or use this nifty formula, courtesy of level4:
- Finding the actual length of a moving block:
- For moving blocks with an acceleration of 1 or greater, the distance traveled by the block is equal to speed * length – speed^2. For example, a block with a speed of 4 and a length of 60 will travel 224 pixels from its starting position, or 7 spaces (one space is 32 pixels).
- To get a block with a certain speed to move a certain distance, the length entered would be (wanted distance)/speed + speed.
- To get a block with a certain length to move a certain distance, the speed entered is
- (length - √(length^2 – 4*(wanted distance)))/2
- (does not work for blocks with very high speed and short length).
- It is usually easier just to guess, but this might be useful for some stuff.
- Adjust this value depending on how you want your block to act. If you want stiff and quick, use 999. If you want it to slow down a lot, use 0.1 or something like that.
- So, you want the block to move, and then stay perfectly still? Well, you can't do that. : ( But you can get close. Set length to 0, acceleration to 999, and change speed and offset as needed. The block will vibrate in place, but that's the closest you can get. Even better for elevators, huh?
Rotation Speed: Just like what it sounds like, this is how quickly it rotates. Like linear speed, a block with rotation speed 2 is twice as fast as one with rotation speed 1. A rotation speed of 0 makes the block not rotate at all.
- Rotation speed and linear speed are approximately equal, so set them to the same value to make a block look like it's rolling along the ground!
- You can also code edit a large number into it for some crazy fast spinning blocks. Yay!
- Inserting a negative value into rotation speed is the same as clicking the left/right button.
Wait Time: How much time it waits before rotating again. A block rotates 90 degrees every time. A wait time of 0 causes the block to rotate continuously. This also controls the amount of "wobble" the block has before rotating. The lower the wait time, the less wobble.
- When rotation speed is 0, the block still wobbles, depending on the wait time. Want a block to stay perfectly still? Set both rotation speed and wait time to 0.
Size: This is the length and width of the block, in pixels. A block with size 32 is the same size as a tile.
Well, that's mostly all you need to know about blocks. I hope you learned a few things. Now go out there and wield those blocks like a BLOCK MASTER!
Lighting Effects[]
Original by level4. Corrected and reformatted by Doram
Something cool: dark and light effects, solid items in background
Here are some more uses for disabled items.
- Disabled level transitions can be placed horizontally to create dark water, and can be cut off by a working level transition( Level transition is 43,x,y Disabled flipped transition is 043,x,y,1,90 ). When multiple level transitions are close together, they must be placed by entering the coordinates in the code.
- Silver stars create a white glow when disabled, and solid items are placed in the background.
- To bring an item to the front, move it later in the level code.
Invincible Bullet Bills[]
by GalaxyMario » October 5th, 2009, 1:55 pm
How to make invincible bullet bills:
- Place the bullet bill base.
- Change the color to something easy to spot in the level code.
- Copy the level code.
- Find the color number in the code.
- Change that number to something but a number.
You're done! The bills from that base will be flashing and invincible!
Example: Before: 71,x,y,Direction,Rotation,Speed,Wait,Offset,Color,Chase (0 or 1) After: 71,x,y,Direction,Rotation,Speed,Wait,Offset,NaN,0
Level Merging[]
by fourinone » October 18th, 2009, 7:37 pm
Super Awesome Level Merging Tutorial Extravaganza
Have you ever made two separate levels, but then realized that they would have been better together as a single level? No need to remake that whole section, now; follow this guide and (hopefully) save some time! Basically, what you're doing here is taking two level codes and combining them into just one level code. Doesn't that sound like fun? : D
If you've read Superyoshi's Level Code Documentation before, you probably already have a pretty good idea on how to do this, but if you haven't/don't remember it/are lazy, then this guide is for you!
Before you get too excited, though, there are some things you need to know: In order to merge two levels, they must meet these two conditions: 1. Both levels must have the same y-dimension, and 2. The combined x-dimension must be below 999. Whereas the former can be easily amended, that second, well...too bad.
Also important: You can ONLY merge a level to the LEFT or RIGHT of another. If you try attaching a level above or below it, it would yield some funky results.
- Decide how you want to merge the two levels. Which one do you want on the left, and which do you want on the right? From now on, I'll refer to the one on the level as "Level #1", and the one on the right as "Level #2".
- Change the dimensions. Look at the x-dimensions of the two levels, and add them up. This will be the x-dimension of your merged level. Now, load up Level #2, and add columns to the LEFT until the x-dimension is equal to that new one you just found. (Basically, you're adding some open space in which Level #1 is going to go.) You don't have to do anything with Level #1's x-dimension just yet. Also, if the y-dimensions of the two levels do not match, now is the time to change them.
- Note: You may want to add two extra columns to the right of Level #1 and left of Level #2 so that you can place a level transition in between when you finish merging. But that's up to you.
- Copy and paste the level codes into Word, Notepad, or whatever.
- Merge the tile codes. See that big block of letters, numbers, and asterisks in the beginning of each code? That stuff defines the tile placement (which I will now call the "tile code"). It starts and ends with "~". Copy everything between the two "~"s in Level #2, and paste it to the END of the tile code of Level #1, right before the "~". Remember this place; we will be adding some more code here now!
- Here come a slightly annoying part now... On the level editing screen, find the LOWEST TILE of the FARTHEST RIGHT COLUMN in Level #1 (that would be, the most bottom-right tile). Starting from this tile, count the empty tile spaces DOWNWARDS, moving to the top of the next column when you reach the bottom, until you reach the spot where the TOPMOST TILE of the FARTHEST LEFT COLUMN of Level #2 should be. Take this number you just counted and type it in that spot of the level code where Level #1's tile code ends and Level #2's tile code begins (which you hopefully remembered to mark). Make sure to separate this number from the end of Level #1's tile code and the beginning of Level #2's tile code with asterisks. (If you're wondering what you just did here, you just specified the space between Level #1's tiles and Level #2's tiles.)
- If all went well, you have now successfully merged the tiles of the two levels! Teh yayz!
- Merge the item codes. Now, this part is simpler by far. The item code is that big patch of numbers and commas after the tile code. This also starts and ends with "~". Copy the item code of Level #2, and paste it to the end of the item code of Level #1. You're done. Wasn't that easy? : D
- Fix up the dimensions. Your merged level code is mostly complete, but there's one more thing to address. Remember that combined x-dimension you found before? At the very beginning of the level code, you should see "(number)x(number)". Replace the first number with your new x-dimension if it isn't already.
- Load up your new merged level! Check to see if everything went smoothly. If you did everything correctly, the two original levels should now be right next to each other!
- You may notice now that there are two Marios. While you can go back to the level code and delete the piece of code that specifies Mario's starting location, it's simpler to just drag the two Marios together so that you start in the correct place.
- ???
- Profit!
Other stuff: Rearranging levels: If you have a level whose layout you want to change, you can split that level up into pieces by adjusting the dimensions, then merge those pieces with the same strategy as above!
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