Month: April 2016

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MIND BLOWING!!!

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Whenever I see videos like this, I always want to know just how MIND-BLOWING!!! they really are.

So I pulled out a piece of paper and a red pen (so I could look like a teacher) and did some math.

  • mathThere are 50 states, but only 12 letters at the end of each. Those twelve letters are: A, S, O, E, N, I, T, Y, D, K, H, and G. (Interestingly, you can spell “STATES” with those letters, though not “UNITED.” But you can spell “INSANITY” and “SEGA”)
  • But it’s not an even distribution; 21 end with A, 5 end with S, and 4 each end with O, E, and N. So 1/3 of all letters account for 76% of the states.
  • Guess which ones he picked to be red? That’s right: A, Y, D, O, S, T, E, I, Y (again), D (again), and N. All but three letters that actually end a state name are colored red.
  • The only three that aren’t red are K, H, and G, which account for 3 states: New YorK, UtaH, and WyominG. K and H are white, and H and G are blue (that’s right, H is both white AND blue).
  • Now is where he engages in some social engineering. You’re most likely to choose the state you live in or a state you’d like to go, and the most populous states have a last letter colored red.
  • Hawaii, California and Florida are popular tourist destinations, and they’re all red. Alaska is an outlier state, which makes it likely to be chosen, and it’s red.
  • But he’s got a problem, because a lot of people have heard of (and live in) New York. Now, people outside the US are pretty likely to just think that New York is just a city, and NOT a state; but that aside, he’s got to try to get you not to pick New York. So he mentions New York and Utah as his examples, which inclines you to NOT CHOOSE THEM. (if he mentioned them, why would you choose them? It wouldn’t be as MIND-BLOWING!!! that way.) He doesn’t mention Wyoming because the odds are probably fairy low that you’d choose that one anyway.

And just like that, you’re all but guaranteed to pick anything but K, H, and G. Which means you’re all but guaranteed to pick a red letter.
MIND-BLOWING!!!

Interestingly, this would work if Puerto Rico were a state, but not if Washington DC were a state. It would also work if, like Joey from Friends, you thought New England was a state.

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Making Mario Super

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Updated April 25

I own Super Mario Maker, and in my opinion, it’s one of the few Must-Haves for Wii U owners (also Splatoon and Twilight Princess HD).  I love playing levels, but I also love making levels, particularly normal/easy and traditional levels.  Here are my first few:

 

yi2rm - 0D66-0000-00C6-F788Yoshi’s Island 2: Remixed

My favorite world-one level in any Mario game is Yoshi’s Island 2.  There’s a lot about the level that can’t be replicated in SMM as it currently stands – including, oddly, the length.  So I had to put half of it (the part after the midpoint) underground.

But in doing so, I also accidentally made the level soft-lock-able: if you jump over the fake goal underground without a cape, there’s no way back.  I think this one is due for a remake soon.

ttv - 6BE7-0000-00ED-2938The Thwomp Variations

Super Mario World is my favorite 2D Mario game, and the feeling of the castle is part of why.  I particularly like the way the thwomps have many different ways of challenging the player, and many different ways for the player to deal with them.

I’d like to rebuild this level soon, too, though; it’s really rough.  The branching paths aren’t really worth exploring, and the gimmick doesn’t really pay off in a meaningful way.  Maybe some pink coins would help?

a1yomt - 49A3-0000-00EC-803BA 1-Year-Old Made This

Heh, this one was fun.  And very literal.  My son was watching me build levels, and when I opened up a new castle level, he crawled up to me and started scribbling on the screen.  I erased the unscalable wall he made, gave him cloud blocks to play with, and let him scribble.  Then he chose where to place the galoombas and fish, all of which die before you can reach them.

Then I moved the goal to where he stopped when he got bored and uploaded it!

hi - AAB3-0000-00F5-D9FFHistorically Accurate

Not much to say about this one. It’s World 1-1 from Super Mario Bros., recreated block-for-block in SMM.

I built it in order to build the next one (The 1-1 Rewind), and also because I wanted to look at it in the other styles. Hopefully it can be helpful to others, too!

If I redid this again, I’d probably fix the underground and center it a bit better.

Oh, and fix the thumbnail.  Yuck.

11rw - 214B-0000-00F5-EBCB<< The 1-1 Rewind <<

“Historically Accurate” was  built mostly so I could put this one together.  I wanted its base to match 1-1 as closely as possible.

I like the result.  Play 1-1, but backwards!  Trying to figure out what makes the level good, and then also making it possible to run it backwards, is pretty fun.

I did, of course, add some bonus stuff.  The underground portion is probably my favorite.

ft7hb - 4760-0000-0183-422BFind the Seven Hidden Blocks

I’d been working on a level with a sort of “unreliable narrator,” where it was obvious that whatever you were told to do, you should do the opposite.  It was intended as a joke for people who play a lot of 100 Mario Challenges, because so many builders think it’s fun to do something trolly in exactly the same way as everyone else.  All I could figure out how to do fairly was hidden blocks.

I’ll probably revisit the original idea soon with pink coins, but I’m pretty happy with this one for the time being.

w94 - B76F-0000-01B0-1378World 9-4

In the beginning of 2016, I watched Spamfish play a lot of Super Mario Bros. in his first annual Mariothon.  It took him 61 hours.

And while I was watching, I spent a lot of time thinking about how a ninth-world castle would look.  It came out a lot easier than I expected, though; this is really more of an alternate sixth-world castle.  Still, I like this as a traditional-style level; it was fun to build.

tg-3815-0000-022C-5192New! The Gauntlet

For this one, I needed some help. I had the idea for this course ages ago, and wasn’t able to really make it work until the March 9 Key update, but I still couldn’t make the final battle with Bowser work. So I enlisted the assistance of my friend Luke, and he helped come up with the thwomp/rotating block mechanic in the final battle room – which is, admittedly, a pretty sharp difficulty curve, but I’m ok with it. I’d love to work with that particular mechanic on another level in the future.

I’m also really pleased by the visuals in this one. I think it looks better than any level I’ve made yet!

 

There will be more levels coming soon, but until then, I’m looking forward to hearing your feedback on my levels!