Source
r/MarioMaker•
tabcomplete

How to make a Getting Over It level that people don't hate?

Level Design

I'm working on a Getting Over It level right now. I have a twist in mind that will make it different than "just another Getting Over it level", but I'm worried that because Getting Over It levels are inherently frustrating, that it will just get booed three times and then never played again. So I'm wondering, what can I do to make the level enjoyable, or at the very least not unenjoyable? I have a few ideas that I think would help, but would like to hear some other things I can do. So far I've got:

  • A spike at the bottom the player can run into if they fall and are low on time. There's no way for the player to accidentally fall on the spike; the placement means it will always be an intended decision by the player, but this will help make sure the player never has to wait for time out.
  • I'm going to leave comments throughout the level with inspiring quotes or thoughts about the design of the level. I think part of Getting Over It was that Bennett Foddy spoke throughout the game, so I want to recreate that with comments to make the level feel less empty.
  • Platform placement so when the player falls, they don't fall all the way to the bottom. The player will inevitably fall, but every fall doesn't need to be a start over. I'm trying to have a few platforms that will catch the player when they fall. They'll have to re-do a previous challenge and risk falling even further, but I am trying to be somewhat generous about safety platforms.

What else can I do to not get booed into oblivion?

Posted Aug 1, 2019, 4:07 PM UTC

513
Tayrtahn•

Considering the main point of Getting Over It is the frustration of being heavily penalized for failure, and frustrated players are likely to boo your level, I think you're going to have a hard time getting a level like this ranked highly by Nintendo's recommendation algorithm. If you make it well enough, you could probably get an appreciation outside of the game though.

I'd say the most important thing is to make every failure "fair" - the player should feel like they failed through their own actions. You can have very difficult platforming sections, but don't do anything "cheap" like expecting the player to know something ahead of time.

11
tabcompleteOP•

Definitely. Every failure point being fair is something I try to do in all my levels. I don't have any disillusions that the level will soar to the #1 most popular level of all time or anything; I just don't want to put in a bunch of work making it and beating it, and beating it again to leave comments only for it to immediately be booed out of play rotation. Hopefully keeping it fair will keep it somewhat alive long enough to get a couple dozen plays.

3
i422muchready•

Nothing. This level will be boo'd. That said, I've seen another getting over it level and I think it's a great idea. You should make the level, but just accept that it will be a salt mine.

1
toolebukkready•

I'm working on an ultra-hard GOI-level without any cp's....

1
tabcompleteOP•

Checkpoints are something I've been debating with myself, as well. Carlsagan42 mentioned in his video that a Getting Over It level shouldn't have Checkpoints, and I think he's right about that, but I am leaning towards having checkpoints in my level.

4
Matosque•

Just because he said it, doesn't mean it's a good idea to not put checkpoints. I'd put some if your level is really really long.

4
tabcompleteOP•

Yeah, a level faithful to Getting Over It wouldn't have checkpoints, but a good Mario Maker level probably should. So I'll be planning on adding checkpoints, or shortening the length of the level.

1
2SJSlimMaker ID: 8BM-RNM-PTG•

No CPs would be fine if there was not a time limit. In GOI you never had to worry about restarting simply because you took too much time.

5
MindWandererB6R8-XHG-F0H•

I'd go a step further if you really want it to be enjoyable. I'd recommend putting in multiple "checkpoints," i.e. gadgets that unlock doors/warp boxes/pipes/vines that allow players to easily get back to within a handful of jumps of whereever they failed.

Sure, it's not authentic to Getting Over It, but that was deliberately designed to be frustrating and trolly. It's not, objectively speaking, a good game.

2
Matosque•

I also wanna make a Getting Over it Level and wanna make it as fair as possible. Not that easy tho, as I don't wanna get spammed with boos.

1
sir_holierthanthou•

I would say that getting over it is too long to be decently represented in Mario maker. Break it up into 5 or so different sections, it won't be true to form, but that way you could include falls back to the start that aren't as devastating. For instance, first level is over the tree and up the skinny rock corridor. Then you can also use the different worlds and even different Mario generations (not sure what the term for that is), depending on what fits best.

1
Airdawg316•

I actually just finished making a Getting Over It stage today. I completely expect people to hate it, but I guess that's the point. It's not a bad level or super hard, but it is totally crushing when you miss a jump.

1