Happy Hills

Happy Hills

A screenshot of the level I am working on. It's called the Happy Hills. Apparently, it's a level that resembles SMW 2 Yoshi's Island, though the grass tiles is from SPP (Super Princess Peach). This is a fusion of SPP and SMW 2 by any means. I definitely like to mix things up.

By the way, only 1 more level remaining and I will be releasing another demo. It is unfortunate that not so many gave feedback on the first demo though.

Vacations over!

It is unfortunate for me to say that vacation is over and I may not be able to put much time on this project anymore. However, I am not saying that this project is going to be abandoned. It's going to continue, only that progress may slow down and updates may not be frequent. Right now, I am working on a level, which I would be putting a screenshot here in a day or two.

Changed the text background

New Text Box Color

I always find the smbx text box color a lil too bright, so as an extra something to the episode I'm working on, I did a graphic hack on the text box color. Now, the SMBX text box should be red instead of blue. This hacked SMBX will be included in my future SMBX Super Mario Quest demo release.

By the way, I'm trying to learn on ways on how to hack the SMBX. If I have time, I'm thinking about reverse engineering it. I still have to find out what compiler did Redigit, the author of SMBX, use to create the exe though. It's a lot of work, and I'm not really hoping that it would even be possible, but we'll see.

Yoster Safari

Yoster Safari

Yoster Safari is a level in my project SMBX Super Mario Quest. I intended this level to be a replica of Super Mario World Yoshi Island 2 level, with slight modifications. Perhaps, this is my first clash-free level.

I had been using custom NPCs on this one, take the cherries for example. SMBX doesn't have cherries, but thanks to Valerri's Return to Dinosaur Land episode, I manage to grab some graphics and replicate what he did on his levels. The only problem is that the cherries turn into Megamole once killed, so I had to do an extra hack on the effects. There is yet another problem to this. I notice that some NPCs treat the cherries as another NPC so they actually bump on them despite the npcblock=0 attribute on the cherry NPC. There's one more problem, the cherries seem to hide the other NPCs. So I try analyzing the NPC codes and their behavior, and after some time, I manage to resolve the problems. There are some problems I couldn't resolve with the cherries though. They can get killed by Mario's fireball and by the Koopa shells. There's nothing I can do about it.

Encounter with the Chargin' Chuck

Now, this level, like SMW's Yoshi Island 2, has the Chargin' Chuck in it. The Chargin' Chuck isn't like the Chargin' Chuck of SMW however, as this one can't be killed by a stomp or a spin attack nor is it vulnerable to fireball. These things can only be affected by Ice and can be killed by shells or hammer. The new Chargin' Chucks will really pose a threat even to the mighty plumber. Sometimes, the best way to deal with it is to run away from it.

And lastly, I also run with another SMBX problem involving the P switch. It turns Yoshi coins into blocks. It's a normal function but can also be problematic. Take for instance, a scenario where you want it to remain a coin. In my case, I put the last Yoshi coin beyond reach, and the only way to reach it is by turning the gold coins into blocks so Mario could use it as a stepping block. However, since the Yoshi coin also turns to a block, you have to wait for the power of the P switch to expire. This renders the purpose of the stepping block useless. But, with a little event trick, that problem was solved.

Anyway, here's the video:

SMBX Tutorial: How to customize NPCs

I am just reposting this since this tutorial was already featured in the SMBX Editor Help File.

How to customize NPCs in SMBX
By Redigit and Blue

While the feature is implemented in SMBx. It is not part of the actual program's user interface. All custom NPCs are set just like custom graphics and are done manually by the user creating a file in the game folders. In the folder for the level you wish to use a custom NPC in, you will create a file with notepad (a program that comes with your computer) that is named the same exact as the graphic file of the NPC you wish to alter.

For example: If you wish to make a goomba not able to be stomped, you would do the following.

Create a new .txt file in the desired levels folder.
Name the .txt file npc-1
Open that file and then place the following text in it.
playerblock=1
jumphurt=0
and then save the file.
Now in the level in question, the goomba will no longer be able to be stomped.

The following flags can be placed in the .txt file to effect the npc. If you want to set a flag to yes, put =1 and for no =0

NPC Player/World Interactions Flags

grabtop= Can Mario pick it up and carry it?
grabside= Can Mario grab this from the side and carry it?
jumphurt= Will Mario get bounce if he jumps on the top of this NPC?
playerblock= Will the player treat this NPC like a block?
playerblocktop= Can the player stand on this NPC?
npcblock= Will other NPCs treat this NPC as a block?
npcblocktop= Will other NPCs walk on this NPC's head?
noblockcollision= Passes through blocks.
cliffturn= Will it turn around when it comes to an edge, rather than falling off?
nohurt= Will not hurt the player if set to 1.
noyoshi= If yoshi can't eat it, set this to 1.
nofireball= Setting to 1 prevents fire from harming this NPC.
noiceball= Setting to 1 prevents ice from freezing this NPC.
nogravity= Is uneffected by gravity if set to 1.
speed= How fast it moves. (Percentage) 0=0% 1=100% 2=200% 

score= How many points the NPC should give you upon its death/collection. Score can be set to any number from 0-13. Each gives a different amount of points listed below.
0 give 0 points
1 gives 10 points
2 gives 100 points
3 gives 200 points
4 gives 400 points
5 gives 800 points
6 gives 1000 points
7 gives 2000 points
8 gives 4000 points
9 gives 8000 points
10 gives a 1up
11 gives a 2up
12 gives a 3up
13 gives a 5up (anything higher than 13 will produce a 5up as well.)

NPC Appearance Flags

foreground= This will be drawn in front of other sprites if set to 1.
frames= How many frames the sprites animation uses for a single direction.
framespeed= How fast the frames of the sprites animation change. 8 is Normal.
framestyle= 0=No Directional Sprites, 1=Left and Right movement, 2=Left and Right movement and inverted (upsidedown) if Held.
gfxoffsetx= Moves the graphic in a specific direction (X) -1 is up, 1 is down.
gfxoffsety= Moves the graphic in a specific direction (Y) -1 is left, 1 is right.
width= The NPCs hitbox width (in pixels)
height= The NPCs hitbox height (in pixels)
gfxheight= Only set if sprite height is different than Hit box height.
gfxwidth= Only set if sprite width is different than Hit box width.

Yoster Lake

This is apparently the second level of Yoster Isle, the 2nd world in Super Mario Quest. There are simple puzzles here that could earn you a star. I believe any Super Mario World veteran already knows how to solve it. Also, if you listen to the music, you'll realize that I edited the original SMBX music of the underwater level. The music no longer fades out like it use to be.

Yoster Plain Demo Video

A video of Yoster Plain, one of the levels of Yoster Isle. I have preserved the SMB (Super Mario Bros.) blocks for this level and introduced the Donut Blocks since I intended this level to be a transition level from SMB to SMW (Super Mario World) theme.

SMQ Remake of the Hall

Original Princess Castle Hall

New Princess Castle Hall

After two days of rest, I decided to change the design of the hall that leads to the Throne Room in my SMQ project. Observe the screenshots above, you can see that the first hall doesn't look impressive and appears out of place compared to the 2nd picture, which is the new one.

My project will continue to evolve as more and more revisions will happen in the future.

Super Mario Quest v.1.0 Demo

After almost a month of laboring on this project, I'm finally done with World 1, and right now, I am releasing a demo. The demo covers from Mario's house up to the Gloom Dome Sewer. Some parts of Princess Toadstool's Castle and that of Gloom Dome may be missing, and the Yoster Isle levels are not yet been set up properly. Bugs are expected to be present despite my thorough testing. Hopefully they can be found and brought to my attention. The demo is an alpha version since I had already tested it, but now I am opening it for beta testing.

Here are some screenshots:

Inside a Mushroom Hut

Mushroom Kingdom

Princess Toadstool's Castle

Princess Toadstool's Castle

Castle Library

Meeting with the Chancellor

Mushroom Garden

Gloom Dome Sewer

Beta Testing

This demo is open for beta testing. Please report any bugs if you found one. Note that I'm only looking for bugs. Graphic clash issues will be address later so please don't tell me about graphic clashes in this demo because I already know that. Bugs include flawed scripts and loopholes in programming that could result in an unexpected function or gameplay. Also I'm not looking for SMBX bugs, I'm only looking for bugs in my episode. SMBX bugs are Redigit's problem, not mine. If there is an SMBX bug, there is nothing I can do about that.

Download Notes

The file is about 51MB in size. This includes the hacked SMBX and the episode. It is in zip file. To install, just create a new folder and unzipped the zipped file in there. Once unzipped, run the SMBX.exe contained in the zip file to make everything work. Using another SMBX aside from the included SMBX will not render everything properly. You can download the file here.

The making of Gloom Dome Sewer

Gloom Dome Sewer

Here's just a sneak peek on what I'm currently working on right now. This happened to be the final level on the Mushroom Kingdom map. I call it Gloom Dome, from the word gloom because the level happens to be a poorly lit sewer infested with Gloombas and some Koopas. The sewer level design actually came from a level I created a few months ago. That level used to be called Undergreen and it resembles the Super Mario Bros. World 1-2 level (see 2nd picture). What happened here is that I redesigned some parts of the original level. The rocky ground was changed to a flat smooth pavement, the background was changed from a cavern to a sewer background, and the used to be destructible block ceiling was changed to an indestructible ceiling made of stone. The enemies were also switched but some of the blocks position were preserved. And, as you can see on the picture, the new sewer level looks cleaner compared to the second one.

Original Concept of the Sewer. It use to be called
Undergreen Tunnel

Mushroom Garden Video

This is a demo video of Mushroom Garden. One of the levels of Mushroom Kingdom. Enough said, just watch the vid and leave me some comments if you guys can. My hands are freezing right now. :P

Mushroom Garden in the making

Mushroom Garden

I am currently working on the Mushroom Garden level now, and I have to say it's time consuming. From generating a concept to producing the level, it took me hours, but hopefully this is going to be completed today. Well, I am keeping the graphic clash issues in mind, but since my levels follow a certain pattern, and going in for the RPG theme, there are small clashes on this one. Most especially on the HD graphics vs grainy 2D graphics part involving the NPCs and some items. Well, what the heck.

Anyway, I intend the level to contain a small sidequest where Mario has to gather special Mushrooms. Luigi will also be present, thus this level will serve as a prelude to the levels where you are allowed to select characters to use on a level.

Did you know: Earlier I was using the grassland ground tiles, but I found it unrealistic and an unfitting place for Mushrooms to grow, so I reanalyze the idea and change it to a wet or damp kinda ground. And since some Mushrooms prefer to grow on dead wood, I also incorporated a custom graphics of a dead wood where some Mushrooms grow.

Palace Treasure Vault Completed!

Treasure Vault

Finally, Princess Toadstool's Palace is complete! With this completion, I had also saw some of SMBX's. One is with the events (scripts). It appears it can only accommodate a certain number of events, after that you could no longer create new events. I tried hacking the level to see if I can push the engine beyond its limit, but alas, it crashes for going beyond its range. And since, this level I created uses a lot of scripts, I have to create a way so it would be able to load all the 21 sublevels. And after analyzing the data chart, bingo! I manage to get it to work.

SMBX also has a bug when it comes to dialogues. I know some SMBX fans won't admit it, but I had verified it. It happens when you load a level with hidden layers and starts with a dialogue. Right after the dialogue, some events misfire and shows the supposedly hidden layers and hides some supposedly showed ones. It can be patched by pulling a series of events that give the dialogue at least a small refresh rate.

Now, about the Treasure Vault. Here, you will be tutored by a Toadstool, kinda like Super Mario RPG. He will explain about each item contained in the chests. After that, you will have to exit the room and go to another passage that ends up in Mushroom Garden.

Dialogue with the Chancellor completed

Throne Room

Good news, the Princess' castle is almost complete. As of today, I manage to complete the long dialogue with the Chancellor of Mushroom Kingdom, which leaves us with the Treasure Vault as the only remaining room to complete with this level. Would you guys believe, this level actually has 21 rooms in it? Which is why it took me more than a week to complete it. Right now, I am looking for a background for the Treasure Vault. If anybody has any ideas as to where I could find a good background, please let me know. Comments are open... Come on, help me out guys...

Kitchen Fixed plus video of a sneak peek of Princess Toadstool's Castle

Fixed Princess Toadstool's Castle Kitchen

OK, so I have fixed the problem yesterday and I manage to miniaturize the graphics to fit the needs of the tiny Mushroom people. I also encountered some misbehaving AIs and I have them patched as well. Above is the photo of the fixed kitchen and below is a short video of Princess Toadstool's Castle.



Unfortunately, the video has no sound and kind of low quality, thanks to BSR Screen Recorder Trial Version and Youtube for degrading them. Anyway, at least it gets to show some parts of the level. There is also a bug at the end of the Hallway. That Mushroom grandpa was not meant to move, but he did learn to walk somehow. Yeah, even without moving his legs. Now, that kind of makes him look like a chess piece.

Kitchen Flaw

Princess Toadstool's Castle Kitchen

OK, so I did proceed on making the sprites for the castle kitchen and applied it to make the kitchen area on Princess Toadstool's level. But, I realize later that I made them way bigger than the characters. Take a look at the photo to the left. Darn... now it looks like the chef needs a stool to get up there. To add insult to injury, there is a strange aura surrounding the chef. Sadly, I need to reedit the sprites to make it look right.

Princess Toadstool's Castle: Guest Room and Dining Room

Guest Room

Hello again folks! It's almost a week and I'm still here designing the same level. That couldn't be helped considering the fact that the Princess' Castle is huge. But here, at least we're making progress... slow and steady does it. Anyway, I am here to give you guys another sneak preview of the level I'm working on. Check out the photo to the left, this is the guest room, and there's someone here who's gonna give you a side quest. How about finding her kid? While it sounds so easy, don't let it fool you. The side quest can actually be a bit tricky.

Dining Room

The next photo I am going to show is the preview of the Dining Room. There are two cakes on the table, but you can't get some since nobody invited you to eat, and whadya know? Mario has some good manners, and no matter how hungry he is, he's not gonna take a bite. The dining room is empty, but it gets to show you guys how hard I labor on this project. The concept of the room was taken from an online picture of the Princess, Luigi, and some Toads, but to make the table empty, I had to edit some parts of it in Photoshop. And after hours of laboring, I finally manage to magically make the characters disappear. By the way, this was the original photo:

Original Dining Room Photo

Haunted Room

OK, I'm done with haunted room. You may ask, what the heck am I talking about? OK, this is just a little secret, but in Princess Toadstool's Castle, there is a Toad that'll inform you that there is a creepy place in the castle basement, and if you go further into this creepy area, you'll found a door marked by a Starman. That door requires 50 stars, and that's where the noises are coming from. If you can open this door, you'll be in the haunted room.

Now, this is just a rumor, but the room was said to be where the famous artist Vincent Van Gore once stayed. I'm not revealing how the room looks like though... let's keep it as a spoiler.

Princess Toadstool's Castle: The Basement

Princess Toadstool's Castle - Basement

Underneath Princess Toadstool's castle is the basement. This is where the Mushroom people keep their treasure, manage their water supply, etc. But aside from those, there's also a creepy room in here that can only be accessed by at least 50 power stars. I'm not gonna divulge what's in that room, but rest assured, it's one of the Princess' castle mystery. The photo to the right is what the basement looks like. The Toad to the left warns Mario about the creepy part of the basement, and the Toad to the right is the Treasure Vault Guard. He won't let you pass though. The Treasure Vault won't be accessible until you talk to the Chancellor.

OK, so now that the basement is complete, I'm on my way to creating the remaining castle wing, the Treasure Room, the hidden mystery room, the guest room, the Kitchen, the Dining Room, and finally, the Throne Room.

Super Mario Quest: Princess Toadstool Castle Update

Princess Toadstool's Castle

OK, after several days of struggling with game concepts, I have finally reached a Eureka! The creative juice just spilled in and all of a sudden, I am enveloped with ideas. Here is one of the idea that came into my mind, although I must admit it's not exactly the same with what I have in mind. But, without graphic artists to back me up, I just have to find for an alternative that may come closer to the concept, and this is the closest I can get. This part of the castle can be found right after the hallway. There are two doors here. One connects to the castle attic and the other one leads to the castle basement. For now, I have completed the attic, but I run out of ideas again when it comes to the basement.

Castle Attic

Unfortunately, the castle attic is not even close to what I had imagined, but I couldn't find a background that matches my concept so I have to create a simple background for the level. And after hours of experimenting with the graphics, this is what came out. The attic should have been a storage for items, but in this initial version, there are only kid's toys and some bookshelves in it. I am still thinking about adding a chest of some sort. Well see...

Secret Room #1

Day 3 for the Princess Toadstool Castle and I'm still working on the same level. Bummer. But I don't want to make Princess Peach's castle look gibberish. So gloves off, I am now using everything I know about Photoshop. By the way, I'm not posting any screenshots right now. I don't wanna spoil the fun since the level I am working now is the Secret Room #1. Actually, it's not so secret considering the fact that it can be found along the hallway of the castle, but it needs at least 10 stars to open. I'm also not telling what this level is all about, although I can give a hint that it's red and it has pictures in it.

As an extra update, I manage to hack SMBX's hardcoded graphics (or graphics that had been compiled along with the source code) with the help of Captain N of the SMBX Revived Forum. Now, NPCs no longer have this exclamation mark over their head. Same with the sign boards. I have added a unique feature in Super Mario Quest. A feature that allows players to try to explore Mario's magical world by talking to items and on certain spots. If the exclamation mark is there, then obviously, the players would know that there is a secret item in there, but now that the exclamation mark is gone, the players would have no way of knowing unless he/she explores it.

Super Mario Quest: Princess' Toadstool's Castle featuring the Library

Progress on Princess Toadstool's Castle has been slow lately due to its immensity and complexity. Princess Toadstool's Castle isn't just your average size level, it's huge with lots of rooms to explore. Within the castle itself, you can expect some magical things to happen, and of course, it's not going to be complete without the easter eggs hidden within. It's gonna be a fun pack adventure for Super Mario. Anyway, in this video, I'm going to focus on the Castle Library. It's currently without sound and is empty, but I plan to add something more into the room in the next coming updates. The library's design was originally conceptualized by BloodElf300 and it use to be called Magic Library (see screenshot below).

Magic Library by BloodElf300

BloodElf300 lost the level when he cancelled his SMBX project, but thanks to Squishy Rex, he was able to find me all the graphics needed for the level. This enabled me to rebuilt BloodElf300's library level using the SMBX Level Editor. I changed a few things around, but the main idea is entirely BloodElf's.

Working on Princess' Castle

Intro of Super Mario Quest Princess' Castle Level

I have arrive at the point will one finds his ideas blocked. I hadn't made much progress on the Princess' Castle level I'm now currently working on. Aside from running out of ideas, I also run out of graphic resources for the interior of the castle. Among the resources that I need are wallpapers for the castle, and some door background object, particularly, the one with the Star (kinda like Super Mario 64 setup).

The snapshot to the left was taken from the Intro of the stage. Neat hunh? I just hope Nintendo doesn't sue me for using that picture.

Princess' Castle Interior

The next snapshot was taken on the Main Hall of the Castle. You can find some NPC Toadstools hanging around there. You can interact with them but they offer you nothing but small talk. And although one of them tells you to go straight to reach the Throne Room, it doesn't take a genius to figure that one out.

The neat background is courtesy of Zypher, I couldn't have done it without the guy.

Mushroom Kingdom Demo

Ok, now this one really cost me two days to work on. I kind of trick the SMBX engine to do a SMRPG scenario in it, but nope, I did not hack the engine. Seriously, hacking SMBX would be difficult without an ASM blueprint, which only Redigit has. Until, he releases the source code, that won't be happening anytime soon. Anyway, back to the new Mario game I was developing. I ripped off some of SMRPG's graphics by hacking it (thanks for Giangurgolo for that), and I borrowed Squishy Rex's graphics of the Acorn trees and the bushes to get the Mushroom Kingdom theme I was looking for. The Toadstools and some of the isometric photos came from SMRPG of course. In this scenario, I am building an NPC interaction base on the previous Mario adventure — SMRPG: Legend of the Seven Stars story to be more specific. Anyway, just watch the video to get an idea.

World Map of Mushroom Kingdom

Super Mario Quest World Map: Mushroom Kingdom

Super Mario Quest is complete with a World Map. Here is a sample of one of the Islands and continents it features. The one above is the map of Mushroom Kingdom, home of  the toadstools and country of Princess Peach. Perhaps, this is one small island, but you can expect to see larger continents in the next coming updates.

Mushroom Kingdom Level

Mushroom Kingdom Level

The game development progress had been slow, but gradually, my ship's moving forward. OK, so now here is another update on Super Mario Quest. So far, I'm on the Mushroom Kingdom level and I had been trying to design the town. Unfortunately, I seem to be lacking some graphics for the houses and the welcome sign, so I had to create the graphics from scratch. Well, it's not that very good but at least it can give us a background. The picture here is how the level looks like after the new graphics had been installed. There is also a feature in this town that may come as something outside of the ordinary. When you go inside houses, you are no longer able to explore freely as you could outside. You can only jump to trigger a conversation with the NPC or press up to exit the building. Well, it's a cheap trick to drive the development faster, but since there is nothing much to obtain inside the house other than talk, it makes no difference anyway.

Raz and Raini's House

The picture to the left is not a snapshot of the Super Mario RPG game, as you would never see Raz and Raini stand side by side inside their house. Though the sprites and the tiles did originate from SMRPG. Well, it's a little trick I did to get the RPG ambient I was looking for.

SMBX Super Mario Quest - Mushroom Way

Here's one of the levels of the Super Mario Quest game I'm developing. This video was taken from the Mushroom Kingdom level, Mushroom Way. This level is right after the level where a toadstool summons Mario to the palace. The level is accompanied by the presence of toadstools, who would give Mario some basic tips. It is also the level where you would be introduced into a Super Mario Bros.-type Goomba for the first time.

New Mario Bros. Sprite

A Mario Sprite

Earlier, I promised to give gamers a Super Mario Bros. X game that features high quality graphics. While, I cannot make it look 3D or above the 256-color palette GIF that SMBX supports, I could tweak some of the graphics a little to make it look cleaner. The example to the left is one of those tweaked sprites. It replaced the Mario All-Stars sprite with the Super Mario World Mario sprite. As you can see, it's more cleaner compared to the default Mario sprite that the SMBX engine uses.

Of course, there are more enhanced pictures to come. But for now, I remodeled the Mario Bros. - Mario and Luigi. The world map may also feature some additional sprites not normally found in the default SMBX engine.

Mario Bros.

Here is an additional snapshot of the two remodeled sprites. You can see that compared to the Toadstool, the two new sprites actually look much cleaner. I intend to keep some of the default sprites in place but rest assured, you would see some enhancements.

Super Mario Quest

Super Mario Bros X

Super Mario Bros. X is a software developed by Redigit (Andrew Spinks) that allows a user to create his own 2D Mario games. The program has two main components, the Level Editor and the Game runner. In the level editor, a user can easily create maps and levels using the program's built-in graphics, or run simple scripts. The Game runner on the other hand, compiles these into a playable game.

Super Mario Bros. X combines all the essential games of the classic Super Mario All-Stars, Super Mario World, and some extras from Super Mario 64 and Super Mario RPG. Furthermore, it can be customized to create additional stunning effects and unique gameplay.

There are so many customized levels for SMBX, and they have been really great. I decided to add one more to that collection, but I intend mine to be unique; something that has never been thought of. So I present the idea of a Super Mario RPG side-scrolling game, which I entitled Super Mario Quest.

Currently, Super Mario Quest is on the works, but here's what to expect:

- A Mario Bros. game with Mario and Luigi as the players.
- An enormous world map that spans at least 16 worlds.
- A combination of Super Mario All-Stars, Super Mario World, Super Mario RPG and Super Mario 64 elements, plus its own unique graphics and story line.
- It's an RPG side scrolling game. Meaning, it is a 2D side-scroller but with a story line complete with quests and adventures.
- Over 1000 levels to explore.
- High Replay Value is guaranteed due to the presence of hidden Magic Stars and easter egg secrets.
- You can find all the Super Mario All-Star powerups.
- You can ride Yoshi from Super Mario World. He comes in different colors.
- Quests are available. Including level sidequests.
- Unique graphics, music soundtracks and sounds.
- High definition graphics may be employed.
- Difficulty range from very easy to extremely difficult.
- Advance scripts.

Super Mario Quest Intro

Anyway, here's a sample. The picture to the right was taken from Super Mario Quest's Intro level, wherein a toad come to Mario's house and informs Mario that he's been summoned by the Chancellor. The story may be a little different from the previous Mario games, and although there is still the missing Princess and save the damsel in distress scenario, the story won't be circling around it.

You can also expect new enemies in this game, and bosses that come in different forms and sizes. Bowser is still among your foes, but he's not the only one you'll be dealing with.