Six Super Mario Maker Design Dos

Now that you’ve (hopefully) read our Super Mario Maker ‘design don’ts’, here are six positive tips for creating stages in Nintendo’s latest gem. Also, remember to star and comment on other peoples’ levels that impress you – no-one’s going to get better at anything without feedback!

DOs:

Reward exploration

If you’re creating an intricate level that requires exploration, hide secrets around for players to find. The best thing to do is place hidden 1UPs throughout, as players finding your level through the 100 Mario Challenge mode can take a total of three extra lives per stage with them. Rewarding them with coins and wacky effects are also ways you can let the player know they found something extra without breaking the design of your level.

Learn the different Super Mario Bros. mechanics inside and out

The better your knowledge of the Mario’s move set and the properties of each enemy and item, the better your levels will become. This will not only open up a vast array of design possibilities but help protect your levels from being exploited in ways you weren’t prepared for. Countless times I’ve been able to skip the majority of a stage because of careless use of Lakitu and his flying cloud, the clown cars and the flying power-ups like the cape and raccoon tail. Knowledge is power, my friends.

Play test the hell out of your level

All but the simplest, shortest levels should be tested several times before being uploaded online. If possible, get a third party such as a friend or family member to try them out so you can get some immediate feedback and impressions. Try to do absolutely everything in your stage and see what happens because, chances are, someone will subvert your intended design sooner or later. Relating to my point about the Super Mario Bros. mechanics, try to exploit every element of your stages so you don’t miss any ways plays can break your design.

Leave hints

For the trickier or more unconventional parts of your levels, leave hints of some kind. No one expects and wants to be totally stumped in a Mario game. For example, tying in with my point about leaps of faith, leave a trail of coins to guide the player roughly where they need to go. You don’t need to go overboard with hints though. After showing the player how to get through a certain situation once, they probably don’t need the same hints every time they repeat the same process within the same stage.

Find a balance

To me, designing a video game level is a balance of longevity and challenge. Your creations have to fall somewhere between the two extremes on both of these metres or it’s going to be short, easy and dull, or long, almost impossible to complete and frustrating as hell. Decide who your target audience is a try to find to find the best balance for them. A key thing to remember is that the majority of players aren’t masters of Super Mario Bros. In fact, in my experience, you can’t count of most of them knowing how to do much else but the basic running and jumping. Keep that in mind if you want as many people to finish and enjoy your levels.

You can find my creations in-game via the following level code: 0807-0000-003E-2621.