How to Create a SUPER WORLD – Mario Maker 2 World Maker

Mario maker twos final major update introduced a world Maker a brand new way to package and share your levels so how exactly do world maker and super worlds work and how can we create an engaging experience that keeps players hooked to the very end while the world maker might not look all

That complex on the surface there is actually a lot to unpack here from how terrain and paths make your worlds playable to best practices that make your worlds enjoyable if you feel like you’ve got a good grasp on the world maker already and just want to skip

Ahead to the game design theory stuff here’s a time stamp for you but I will say there might be some things you don’t know about here so just keep that in mind anyway let’s start with a basic overview of the world maker and the super worlds we can create with it

You can find world Maker directly below course maker in the main menu next to that is world box where you can have up to six different super worlds saved at a time it’s important to note the distinction between a world and a super world picture a super world has a full

Game that you’re able to upload and others can play through almost like a campaign a world is simply the map that exists within your super world and a super world can support up to eight worlds now Nintendo has done a good job at making the world maker look familiar

To the course maker on the right is your reset rocket undo eraser and save options through world BOTS at the top as a toolbar filled with everything you need to build and customize your worlds and on the left are your options such as changing how many lives are given at the

Start of your super world changing the theme of the current world your editing as well as adding additional worlds and switching between them themes change up the look and decorations of the world as well as the music conveniently there are eight different world themes to choose

From and a super world can have up to eight worlds however that doesn’t mean each world has to have a different theme if you really like a particular theme you can use it across multiple worlds you can also change the order of these worlds as well as delete one entirely if

You feel like it now let’s narrow in on the pieces you’ll use to create your world each world is restricted to a single screen of a four by seven grid each world will also always have one starting space in one ending space which are not removable the

Starting space is exactly what it sounds like and the ending space is the last level the player must be in that particular world when a player beats the last level in a world they will either travel to the next world or if there are no more worlds left

They’ll have beaten your super world this ending space will show up as a black and white castle outline when no course is attached to it to attach a course simply long press it and select set a course if you’d like to change or delete the course attached to it as well

As pick between two different customization options that can also be done from this long press menu keep in mind that the ending space of your final world will always appear as Bowser’s Castle so if you’re not seeing any customization options that’d be why up here on your toolbar are eight different

Tiles one tile has no path on it while the rest of them do this blank tile can be long pressed to select between three different decoration options these decorations change across all the different world themes paths are how the player will travel between different spaces in your world however in order

For a path to be usable and consequently the world to be playable the starting space must be connected via paths to the ending space any paths that aren’t part of this connection won’t show up at all now there are quite a few different options for paths these first five are

The most basic and can be reoriented to make connecting them with each other easier they can also all be long pressed to change their appearance from a land path to a water path this doesn’t change their functionality at all though simply adding some extra flair to your world the bridge tile also functions

Identically to a straight path just with some extra personality finally the hill tile takes up two tiles vertically and is technically a branching path although it can only connect to other paths from below only creating paths horizontally with other hill tiles this hill tile can’t be reoriented but can be long

Pressed to change its appearance to a cloud tile instead which functions the same but does not connect paths horizontally with hill tiles now in addition to your path and land tiles there are three different spaces that are only placeable on a path tile first up you’ve got access to to work

Pipes when entering one more pipe on the world it will transport the player to the other this can be helpful to connect to places with something other than paths and it does actually count as those paths being connected you’ve also got three play scible bonus rooms these are minigames with a chance to

Earn the player extra lives by long-pressing the bonus room you can bring up its three different options the star matching minigame the p-switch balloon inflating minigame and the baseball catching minigame finally the bread and butter of world Maker up to four place above level spaces when placing a level space you’ll be prompted

To select one of your levels from course pot selecting a level will attach it to that space with a level space placed on a path the rest of the path connected to the ending space will be inaccessible yet once the player clears the level attached to that space the path will be

Opened up keep in mind that the player isn’t forced to clear every level in your world you could have optional level spaces that don’t cut off the main path to the ending space long pressing a level space will bring up a plethora of different customization options as well

As the ability to change or delete the level attached these customization options simply change the look of your level space although it’s worth pointing out that this bottom row will make it so that once the player lands on that space it will immediately thrust them into the level that’s attached when normally they

Have the option to select play or not this is actually a really cool way to emulate the moving enemies on smb3 and nsmbu world maps as you could attach short levels that require you to defeat all of a certain kind of enemy once you’ve gotten a feel for the world maker

And you’d like to see what you’ve made so far in action you can play test your world by pressing the minus button this will put you at the starting space of the current world and simulate the actual play experience other than the fact that there’s an option to clear a level instantly

Also holding the minus button will start your play test from world one in case you feel like seeing how your entire super world flows together if you’re happy with what you’ve got you can go ahead and save your super world to world bot in world bot you can select a super

World and play it in either single-player or local multiplayer you also have the option to upload it to course world although the upload button won’t work if there are any courses within the super world that are not already uploaded yep you heard me correctly for a super world to be

Published to course world every individual level must be uploaded as well don’t worry though selecting more info will display all the levels across all the worlds in the given super world as well as show which levels are not uploaded to course world so you don’t have to go manually search for each

Level that isn’t uploaded yet once you do upload a super world it’ll exist on your maker profile this means that in order to share it you’ll simply share your maker ID as you might have guessed though this also means that you can only have one super world uploaded at a time

And with our super world front and center on our maker profile that creates a lot of pressure to make sure that it’s the best that it can be I mean it does for me anyway from what I’ve seen browsing through other makers super worlds this is just a way to slap a

Pretty bow on top of all of their hot garbage chances are though that if you’re watching this you’re interested in creating something players actually enjoy while this is already a challenge when it comes to building levels making an entire campaign of levels that flow together and is satisfying to play is a

Monumental feat throw in bonus rooms and branching paths and you might not even know where to start while I might not have a degree in game design or have any real authority to talk about the subject at all damn it I just know what it’s fun

To play and what isn’t so I’ve come up with principles to keep in mind while creating your next super world masterpiece planning pacing and payoff which came first the chicken or the egg well the way I see it is if they both taste good who cares it doesn’t really

Matter if you made your levels first or your worldmap first as long as some degree of planning went into it if you plan to create your super world first then make all the levels for it I’d suggest grabbing a notepad and planning out what your campaign will

Look like how many worlds it will be how many levels in each world what kind of levels will they be these are the most basic questions you should be asking although you should also be asking yourself things like is there going to be a recurring theme am I trying to tell

A story is this going to be a traditional-style campaign or some other sort of level style these are things you should lock down before you even consider what your map looks like as the answer might influence your creative decisions if you’ve already got a ton of

Levels and want to turn them into a campaign I’d suggest making a list of potential courses to add with notes about their course themes play style and difficulty once you’ve got a good list you can start divvying them up between worlds grouping similar themes and difficulties you should also make sure

You’ve got a basic idea of your campaign here by asking the same questions as well but for both camps don’t be too strict with yourself sometimes a cave level can fit within a ground themed world sometimes a puzzle level absolutely feels in place in a traditional styled campaign the most

Important thing here is to just have a plan going into it know what you’re trying to accomplish with your super world so that every decision moving forward can help achieve that goal next up is pacing and this is twofold with both level difficulty and how your world

Map is laid out the same way you’d implement a difficulty curve in one of your own courses you should also be aiming to have some sort of difficulty curve in your super world proper pacing is one of the hardest things to get right so don’t expect to do it perfectly

Your first or even tenth time but here are some basic tips that shouldn’t be too hard to follow generally speaking a campaign should begin with it’s easiest batch of courses in end with its hardest now there is a lot of flexibility here and this doesn’t mean that your very first level should

Be the easiest and your last should be the hardest it’s not a bad thing of a level that is particularly difficult as followed up with one that isn’t as hard in the same way that following up difficult challenges and courses with easier ones or even just moments of relaxation following up a difficult

Course with a less difficult course or a bonus stage can give the player much-needed breathing room between levels this also can determine how your levels are placed on your world map if you’ve got two courses with varying difficulty you don’t always have to make them linear you could give the player

The option to either take the easier route and move right on to the castle or take on the more difficult stage and be rewarded with a bonus room finally the payoff the most important thing when making a game of any sort is that it is

Fun to play nobody is going to play your levels let alone a whole campaigns worth of them if they just straight-up aren’t enjoyable to play although even if your levels are great if you’re super world isn’t satisfying to play through either don’t expect players to finish it to me

A couple things make for a good payoff and they are all rooted into what a campaign is going for it as well as their planning and pacing if I don’t notice any real structure cohesion between the levels I’m playing I’m going to wonder why they’re even part of a

Campaign at all if I start to notice a pattern in levels or an overarching story I’ll be driven to complete each one and see where the story goes or if there are any surprises in store if suddenly that story thread is lost or the pattern simply repeats itself too

Many times I might not be interested in continuing on after completing a world and being shot out of a cannon to the next one if I land into this new world and it’s not all that much different or doesn’t look interesting I might just ask myself why I bothered to even beat

That last one in the first place while I’ll admit that all of this is subjective it’s still critical to know what your super world’s payoff is the payoff isn’t simply getting to the end and saving the princess if you’re ready to learn how to make good levels for your super world then

I’ve got a video you can check out right here also be sure to subscribe for more Mario maker 2 tutorials and design theory I’ll see you in the next one