Smah 4 Stage Builders Guide Part VIII - sections Y-Z
(Y) Item Notes
(1-Y) Item Specific:
Hothead: If a structure goes all the way to the blast zone, then a hothead will no longer make it’s way around, but will instead be eaten by the blast zone. If you want to allow for this item to be used for its intended purpose, you will have to bring your stage edges in from the BZ by at least 2 blocks. This will be enough for an uncharged, or charged Hothead to make it’s way around the structure. Also, lava doesn’t seem to affect the Hothead.
I also noticed that the HH will not cling to a soft platform, it will simply fall off the side straight down, even if the platform is laying right on top of a solid structure, as with a G-Stack. If the soft platform doesn’t go quite all the way to the edge of the solid it’s lying on top of, the HH should be okay.
The picture below shows the kind of situation that will cause a HH to become stuck. When a sliver of a ledge sticks out from a wall, the HH will get stuck and will go back and forth rapidly. Extending the ledge, or flushing that edge with the wall should eliminate this problem.
I’ll be honest, testing this item is much more complicated, and so many things can cause problems for it that I still have to go back and forth between training and stage builder several times before a HH can travel all over my stage with no problems. I know of no other item that is so easily halted by constructions that should pose no problems for it, but at the same time, I personally would be incredibly annoyed to see this item getting stuck during a match, so I take the time to do what I can, within my limits of patience.
Bombchu: The Bombchu has the same problem of being eaten by the blast zone as the Hothead does, except that your edges only need to be one block away from the BZ to stop this from happening. Of course I recommend going two away, just to allow both items to function properly.
Incidentally, lava will set off the Bombchu. If you wanted to keep your stages lava from detonating a Bombchu, you could create a channel underneath the lava for the item to travel. Below are some set ups I tested with.
(1-a) and (1-b) are essentially the same, but the Bombchu exploded when hitting the lava, so I eliminated it from the bottom of the diamond shape. Bombchu would go under (1-b) one time, but the second time around it would explode just before going down the slope.
Beginning with (2) I flattened the top of the lava because the Hothead was getting stuck, but with the squared off top it doesn’t seem to have that problem. In construction (2) everything worked fine for Bombchu’s and Hotheads, but I had a feeling that there might be reasons to want to discourage people from going under there, if for instance only the top of the upper piece had lava, similar to (1-b) so I constructed (3). If the tops of the spikes on (3) were one block higher, the Bombchu would actually latch on to the lava piece on the second pass around. This “second pass” phenomenon may be indicative of some size increase as the Bombchu picks up speed, but its speed definitely seems to affect things on some level.
Pitfall: One set up I’ve been doing since Brawl is to make a common feature of my stages to be a soft platform over a void, so that players could throw a Pitfall down, to catch unsuspecting opponents off guard, and send them hurtling into the abyss. This is not a guaranteed KO, since some set-ups and some characters can still have a fighting chance of survival. I still do this quite a bit, but another; more merciless strategy for this item I’ve developed in 4 is pictured below. It’s basically the same idea, except the player has no hope of escaping, wall jumping or making it back to the stage at all.
Beetle: This item, as well as the Boss Galaga both grab your opponent and take them straight upward to their death, unless they break free. However, if a cannon is in the path of the Beetle (or Boss Galaga) as it flies up, the character will enter the cannon and be safe from certain doom, unless that cannon is pointed toward the BZ of course!
Crates and Rolling Barrels: Thanks to miiverse user Conner: TransPM, and his description of the stage linked below, I have learned that Rolling Crates and Barrels will actually travel up a wall if that wall is low enough.
Conner’s Barrel buster stage inspired by: Street Fighter - https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAACAAADVHkLZPVX2w
To test this I tried both items on a one block high wall and a 2 block high wall. Both could travel up 1 block and neither could travel up 2. To get a more accurate picture I made the following structures. (1) Is about one platforms width taller than one block, (2) is right in between one and two blocks, and (3) is about one platform shy of being two blocks tall.
Both items went up (1), only the Rolling Crate went up (2), and neither went up (3).
(2-Y) Item Suggestions:
Freezie: It would be cool if a Freezie made a temporary (fairly large) ice platform when thrown onto lava (or maybe even on any ground). It should have slippery properties of course.
(Z) Final Words
(1-Z) Be creative and Give credit: Again I remind you to be creative, don’t straight jacket yourself by believing that there is only one way to accomplish an interesting and fun stage. But also, don’t be afraid to emulate the work of others, as long as you give them credit. For instance you might start with one little piece, or even an entire stage modeled after someone else’s work, but then you can take the time to alter it to suit your play style, and your design taste. Sometimes you’ll start with strong inspiration from someone else, and by the time you’re finished working, the new version is completely different from the original. Even still, give credit for your inspiration when it comes from someone else. I recommend that you link their miiverse profile, or the specific stage that inspired you. This is the cross-promotion among the “guild” that will go a long way to showcase good work, since the sharing community doesn’t allow such things as ratings, or a “best builds” list of sorts. Since exposure is limited, and stages are deleted after 30 days, promoting builders that you like is practically necessary.
It’s best for you and others if you view the stage building community as a guild of artisans. All of our work is a collective pool of creative insight. Others inspire us, and we can even take from them, as long as we are upfront about it. Give credit where credit is due, because only you will regret passing off the work and toil of others as your own, when someone finds out what you’ve done.
(2-Z) Please Feel Free To Contribute To This Guide: I would like to officially extend an invitation for you guys to add your own observations in the comments here, or on any forum where this guide is posted. Please link your miiverse account if you have one. If you do not, then please give the user name you’d like me to give you credit by. If your page contains anything that I perceive to be inappropriate, then I will still give you credit, but I will not link your page.
(3-Z) Stage Builders That I Like: Below is a list of builders that I find to be great. They are in no particular order, and if you are not represented in this list, then please do not take offense, and please do not ask to be added if you are going to get offended when you are not included. If you want to be on this list then you will need to do more than take 20-30 minutes to throw your stages together; they will need to be well thought out creations. The creators on this list put care into their works and it shows. This is not a list of all stage builders everywhere; it is a list of the ones that I feel stand out.
01 Jughead
NNID: Rich Petty: Jughead870. Jughead is one of my personal favorites. Not only are his stages well designed, but the presentation of them is out of this world. He has created a fantasy destination called Smash islands, where each one of his stages represents an actual place on the islands.
Here's the first of his Smash Islands stage showcase videos. The video for stages 26-30 has a really nice Sonic the Hedgehog stage complete with a very impressive loop.
And here's his miiverse profile - https://miiverse.nintendo.net/users/Jughead870/posts
02 Rifick
NNID: Rifick: TheThunderPunch. Rifick is one of the most polished and well-balanced stage builders out there. His stages have a perfect blend of aesthetically pleasing designs and details, and a construction that is fun to play on (which is all too often neglected by builders).
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/users/TheThunderPunch/posts
03 RetroStu
NNID: RetroStu: RetroStu. His work usually has a simple elegance in terms of construction which makes them much more fun to play on, but they are still loaded with tons of aesthetic details that make them truly beautiful as well. His work stands out in that his stages all feel like they are actual destinations, as opposed to just some random structures thrown together.
Recently he has begun a new series of youtube videos that feature a time laps video for the making of a stage request. It's really interesting to watch, and it can teach you some of his technique just by watching what he does. Here's the first video in this new series.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t45bIzmXEwg
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/users/RetroStu/posts
04 MEGABLUR
Another one of the greats. His stages usually boarder on genius. Apparently his profile is hidden (not sure if it’s just hidden from me or from all) so this link may or may not work for you guys.
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/users/MEGABLUR/posts
05 Mordecai
NNID: Mordecai: vandeneynden. A great stage builder who has done a lot of work based on Shovel Knight stages, usually complete with a statue of the boss for that stage; though not all of his stages are SK. I'm not too familiar with that game, so I don't know how accurate they are, but his stages look like a lot of fun to play on. He also knows how to blend form and function, which is the main thing that makes a good stage builder in my opinion, and his stages also feel like real places.
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/users/vandeneynden/posts
06 caque
NNID: caque: kurmatron is another great builder. His stages are divided (in terms of quantity) by artistic stages and those that are more play friendly. His artistic stages are still fun to play on though, which is something that is usually missing on these types. Definitely check out his stage called "Toxic Piscine".
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/users/kurmatron/posts
07 Aaron
NNID: Aaron: Aron0000 has made lots of stages based on the character specific target tests from Melee. I'm not sure how they play, but I'd love to give them a try.
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/users/Aaron0000/posts
08 vaanrose
NNID: vaanrose: vaanrose. Not only does he do some simple yet very well designed stages, that could be used in tournament play, but he also draws some amazing pictures for the text box of each stage, depicting a character associated with it. Very awesome stuff.
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/users/vaanrose/posts
09 TANtheMAN
NNID: TANtheMAN: Zeldafan01. The two ‘A’s in TANtheMAN are actually upside down V’s, but I can’t simulate that as far as I know. His stages are well balanced between aesthetics and playability, as are most on this list. Definitely check out his Megaman helmet stage, it's pretty rad. The first link below is his profile, and the second is a great snapshot of the Megaman helmet stage.
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/users/Zeldafan01/posts
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAACAAADVHjtpWTTkA
10 Pucas
NNID: Pucas: Pucastendo is a very awesome builder. His stages are well designed for play, and also very beautiful. He's definitely a must see, although he hasn't been very active lately.
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/users/Pucastendo/posts
11 Benjay
NNID: Benjay: Benjwurm. A really great builder, he has a balanced mix of tournament friendly stages, as well as those that are not so much, but that are still super well designed and beautiful to look at. He has a great Tourian stage, as well as a fantastic Chemical Plant Zone stage.
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/users/Benjwurm/posts
12 FoxMcLovin
NNID: Skips: FoxMcLovin AKA Lorulean. Skips exclusively makes tournament friendly stages, and they are fantastic. One of the things that stand out about his presentation is the use of his YouTube channel to share videos of his stages that showcase Blast Zone comparisons to known tournament friendly stages, as well as a general overview of the stage. The video below is for one of my favorite stages of his called “Lazy Afternoon”, which served as inspiration for a design element in two of my stages (Hand Of Seven Stars, and Lighted Hill).
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/users/FoxMcLovin/posts
13 Ethan-Sarik
Ethan is generally a competitive stage maker, and his work is always well designed aesthetically, and well thought out in terms of its playability. I definitely recommend him, especially if you prefer competitive style stages.
