Blog 0 - Nov 16 2023

Making SMG2MM

SMG2MM started as "Rolling Mario Galaxy (2)" during the pandemic when I didn't have much to do.
The concept of the mod was simply playing every base game SMG2 level on the Star Ball.
The first modification I made was to Haunty Halls Galaxy. Though it was simple, there was
a lot to learn. When I finally got it working, I noticed how tough it made the level.
I tried it on other levels, and realized that some levels would simply not work with the Star Ball.
So, I decided to make some original levels as well.

Dessert Desert Galaxy - August 2020

I wanted to have a level with a combination of themes.
Treat and Desert was one of the ideas and it was the one I went with.
I looked at the desert levels from both games and the treat levels from both games and used objects from each.
Then I uploaded a video of it to YouTube and it got quite a bit of attention.

Discarded Debris Galaxy - October 2020

It was originally called "Black Hole Galaxy" but it was changed to have alliteration.
I streamed working on the level on YouTube as well. The original concept of the level was that the galaxies that were replaced were *Discarded* into a *Black Hole* and Mario (or Luigi!) must platform across...the platforms.

Double Beat Galaxy - January 2021

I came up with the concept in one of my classes.
I sketched the level design and went from there. If I can find the sketch I'll upload it here.
I was able to make it in a week; it was a simple concept.
Of course, I uploaded it to YouTube and it got lots of views.
This galaxy was kind of a pain. The platforms in Beat Block Galaxy
have a lot of polygons so I had to make models that merged
those platforms together. One of the sides is removed to try
to save on polygons, too.

Yoshi Station Galaxy - January 2021

This level is meant to be a combination of Yoshi Star and Sky Station Galaxy.
I've always thought it would be neat if Yoshi was brought to his actual house.
The berries on top of the house can finally be enjoyed by Yoshi.
Later I added a section because I felt the galaxy was too similar to the vanilla game.

Rolling Randomness Galaxy - February 2021

I took two levels from Rolling Mario Galaxy (2) and combined them into one.
I added some bob-omb spawners to Mario Squared to make it more interesting.
Some people struggle with Star Ball levels so I made this and Dessert Desert
last in the hack so that it doesn't stop them from playing the other levels.
I don't struggle with the Star Ball as much as others.
However, Rolling Randomness is a tough level even for me.

Scrapped Things

Bowser Jr's Freaky Factory

You know Chibi Robo: Zip Lash? This level was about as fun as that.
The only "gimmick" in the level was the conveyors.
Also you had to activate 2 switches to open a door that had more switches.
Those switches had to all be activated within a certain time.
It was not fun so it didn't make the full release.

Candy Cloud Galaxy

This is the level Xandog worked on. It was another theme clash, of course.
I remember making a special lollipop platform for this level.
One of the missions had the Mecha Bowser from SMG1 remade in SMG2.
Another mission was the chimp's challenge, similarly to the one in Fluffy Bluff.
Xandog wasn't very proud of the level and there was already a candy themed level,
so we decided to not include it.

The Achievement System

People who stuck around before SMG2MM released probably remember this.
Basically, you'd play the game and small levels would unlock.
It needed a certain amount of comet medals, a certain amount of starbits, etc.
But these were easily obtained by just playing the mod.
Also I wasn't sure what to put, so it was scrapped.

Eventually, I may release these just for the heck of it. If I get them to work...

Burnout

This is why SMG2: More Missions took so long. School got in the way and I wasn't
motivated to work on something that wasn't as cool as other mods.
Also I completely ran out of ideas for levels that I could reasonably make.
I didn't want to cancel the hack either, though. I didn't want to contribute to
the "thing" about SMG2 Mods: they always get cancelled.

End

Well, that's really all I have to say about SMG2MM's development. Hopefully this
gave some background on why the hack took so long and why it's not as great as
something like Neo Mario Galaxy.