Just one more level to make and the hack is officially half-done.

When the hack does reach %50, I'll be reviewing each and every level made thus far, and fixing/improving anything that needs it.

This will literally cut my time in half when the hack is finished and I need to do a pre-final bug fix.

World 1 is officially finalized (That is, unless Storment can pick up on something in 1-Tower, 1-5 or 1-Castle that I didn't), and as I was playtesting it last night on real hardware, I came to notice that not only s the project coming together, but it feels as if it's a brand-new Mario game.

I can't wait to show you all when the full game is finished.

Testing isn't quite finished yet, but I've already finished level #41. I just couldn't help myself.

Can you believe that (excluding the Doki Doki Panic skin for NSMB2) I've never made a Night level?

Well, that's space. Space is dark so it doesn't really count.

I haven't shown off the cannon levels yet.

They're a little bit unconventional compared to NSMBDS, but they're still the same thing considering pretty much everybody jazzes up the cannons a bit.

Have the screenshot that'll be used for the credits reel:



By the way, the second half of production is going to be much faster than the first half. Most, if not all of the aesthetics like tilesets, music, backgrounds and other assorted ROM edits have already been made and imported into the ROM, paving the way for mostly level production and testing/fixing.

There is only 1 available tileset slot left for me to use and that is reserved for the Final Castle.

I'm hoping that by the time my University break finishes up in March the hack will be between %60-70 done, maybe more. Around June, I'll be on break again and will be living alone so I can put %80 percent of my free time into Clone Tag Team 2. I'd expect the hack to be finished between July-August and will probably be released in September.

I have another opinion-based question for people regarding this level I'm working on.

This level is an underwater level set in Super Mario Bros. 2's Subcon. As Super Mario Bros. 2 doesn't have any water levels I decided to make this level as if it is a flooded, 'lost undersea' type area.

But the problem is that there are no empty tileset slots left in the ROM, so I have to choose which looks better to use out of these two options.

1. Using the 'Subcon Snowy' tileset. In this tileset, all shades of green from the usual overworld have been recoloured pale blue to give a cold effect. Of course, blue works with a water level but this particular shade may look out of place. Here's a screenshot.



2. Using the standard 'Subcon Grass' tileset. This is the same tileset used in overworld levels but by changing the opacity settings for the Water sprite I can make it look more watery, but it also dulls down the appearance of everything else in the level.



Personally, I'm leading towards the latter image but I'm not making this hack for myself, so I'd like some opinions. Thanks in advance.

I could certainly add an extra palette to the Grass tileset to give it an underwater look. It was something I did consider before I asked the question but I was a wee bit concerned that I would have to rebuild the level in its current form.

(Though considering the level is only about 3 screens long at the moment that seems like a miniscule concern)

Thanks for the feedback.

Edit: How about this?



Too dull?

Here's something.

I just counted the total amount of Clone-levels in the first Clone Tag Team. The total was 18 Clone Levels in the whole game, almost 25% of the total level count.

I'm only %60 through Clone Tag Team 2 and there are currently 25 Clone Levels in total, and there are more to come.

I'd say there'll be about 35 Clone Levels in Clone Tag Team 2. That's almost double that of Clone Tag Team 1.

There is something that I haven't really demonstrated properly yet, but Clone levels will be given a new twist, to encourage players to try the level with and without the Clone.
I also made the Clone levels easier this time around.