Super Mario Maker 2 came out just a few days
ago.

This game lets you try your hand at level
design, by giving you the tools to make your

own Mario stages.

And then you can upload your courses to the
web, and see what randos online think of your

design skills.

The game gives you all the tools you need
to make auto-scrolling levels, boss battles,

crazy puzzles, silly jokes, and more.

But when you first open “make mode”, you’re
almost certainly going to be asking yourself

the question: “uhh, where do I even begin?”

So I thought I’d put together a tutorial
that can help you get your first level made

and published.

And it should hopefully be a legitimately
good, Mario-style level, and not just your

name written in coins, a bunch of pipes that
shower you with cash, or twenty eight goombas

on a seesaw.

And then, once you’ve cleared that hurdle
and made your first stage, you’ll have a

better understanding of what works and what
doesn’t, you’ll know more tricks you can

employ, you’ll have tried most of the game’s
tools, and you’ll be well on your way to

making an amazing stage, getting hired by
Nintendo, and looking for apartments in Kyoto

by the end of the week.

Sound good? Then let’s get started.

Step One. Choose a main mechanic.

One of the biggest mistakes you can make in
Mario Maker 2, is to just fill your level

with every single object in the tool box.

You know, put a giant spike column here, throw
in a few bumpers there, mix in a couple see

saws, and finish off with a gauntlet of Banzai
bills.

These levels are often completely unfocused
and, critically, they don’t have enough

time to introduce each idea or explore it
to its full extent.

So instead, look through the toolbox and find
just one mechanic that you can use as your

central theme for the stage.

Perhaps it’s a note block.

Or a trampoline.

Or on/off switches.

Or the snake block.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t use any
other items in your level: it just gives us

a strong foundation to build on.

For this stage I’m making, I’m going to
check out these swinging claws.

They look like fun.

Step Two. Consider every evolution.

The next step is to think about how this one
mechanic could be made more interesting or difficult.

So the most basic way to present this swinging
claw is to have one in the middle of a large

gap: and then have Mario jump into the claw,
swing over, and jump out to the other side.

But perhaps we could have multiple
claws in the gap.

Maybe at different heights.

Perhaps put a platform to jump over in the
middle of them.

Or a floating enemy. And so on.

We’re trying to find ways of saying “okay,
so you know how to deal with this mechanic:

but how do you fare when I do this?”

Some twists will be boring, some will be way
too hard.

So make these different permutations in a
test bed yourself, and find out which ones

provide the best experience.

Step Three. Introduce the mechanic.

Okay, so let’s get building the actual level.

The first step should always be to introduce
the mechanic to the

player in a safe and controlled manner.

So while the stage will generally involve
swinging over perilous, insta-death, bottomless

pits - for the very first instance of these
claws, we’re going to give Mario the chance

to fall onto safe ground, and try again.

But it’s important to make sure that the
player can’t just cheat their way across.

They have to prove that they’ve used and
understood the mechanic before they can move on.

So I’m going raise the wall, and raise the
claw, to force Mario into the claw’s grip.

Step Four. Ramp up the challenge.

Remember those evolutions we explored earlier?

It’s now time to bring them in.

Or, at least, the four or five best ones.

So after mastering the mechanic in its most
basic form, the player will now have to

contend with all sorts of extra challenges,
twists, and complexities.

Ideally, the mechanics should ramp up in challenge
quite smoothly, with a gentle difficulty curve.

It’s not always possible to get a perfect
hierarchy of challenge in these things, but

something that definitely makes things harder
is when the obstacle extends beyond the camera.

This means the player can’t get a good look
at what’s to come and plan their movement:

and instead has to play reactively to whatever
dangers crop up.

Leave those for the end of this section.

Oh, and make sure you give the player time to rest.

Don’t just jump from one challenge to another,
but create moments of downtime.

This provides moments to take a rest, and
gives the level a modulated pace of tension

and release that is way more fun to play than
just constant non-stop action.

Step Five. Find combinatorial mechanics.

Okay, so now the level has a main mechanic
and it ramps up neatly.

Sweet. That’s the first half sorted.

Chuck down a checkpoint, and let’s move
on.

Now, the goal is to find other parts in the
toolbox that combine well with your primary mechanic.

With the swinging claw, I found that you can
put it on one of these tracks.

And from there, you can have the tracks fork
off into two lines - which is controlled by

an on/off switch.

You can also have the claw drop off the end
of a track, and then automatically latch onto

a track that runs below.

Swinging claws can also hold things other
than Mario, such as trampolines, enemies,

and exploding bombs.

Perhaps you could chuck a bomb into the claw
and have it blow through a wall, so Mario

can make progress.

What happens if a bullet bill fires into a
claw?

Hm, interesting.

This is all about experimentation and playing
around.

Just like how Jonathan Blow made levels for
Braid by playing around with the game’s

basic ruleset and hunting for interesting
consequences, you too are trying to find surprising

outcomes of combining Mario Maker’s parts.

Step Six. Create the second half.

So now the player has shown that they have
mastered the basic mechanic, we can use these

combinatorial set-ups to make the second half
of the stage even more interesting.

The process is largely the same: we want to
start by giving the player a chance to explore

this idea in a safe environment.

And then ramp up in complexity throughout
the stage.

So I’m gonna start with the claw on a simple
track.

But then have multiple tracks at different
heights.

And introduce ideas from there.

Sometimes an idea just won’t come together.

I had this mad plan to have it so a claw picked
up a bob-omb, and then you have to hit the

on/off switch at the right time to make the
claw fall down to the track below and carry

the bob-omb to a wall so it can blow a hole
through.

But with the timing, the camera, the way the
claw drops stuff when Mario is underneath

- it just didn’t quite work.

Don’t be afraid to kill your best ideas
if they’re being uncooperative.

Or change them substantially.

The end goal is often a good chance to make
one final test.

Most of the Mario Maker game styles have a
flagpole, or similar, which rewards the player

with more points if they touch the top.

So you can make a really difficult final platforming
puzzle to get to the top and reward your best

players: while those who can’t hit those
highs can just touch the bottom of the goal.

Another idea worth considering, is to go back
to the first half of the level and drop in

small clues and hints of what’s to come.

It makes the latter half feel more cohesive
to the level as a whole, and can also be used

to avoid surprises.

So in the first half, I introduce the on/off
block, which should help players know what

to do when they come across the same block
at the end of the level.

Step Seven. Add in enemies and items.

A Mario level is never just an endless gauntlet
of platforming mechanics.

There are also enemy encounters, which can
be used to ramp up complexity, or provide

a change of pace.

But, as with everything in game design: less is
more.

Sprinkle in a few enemies, rather than filling
the screen with bullet bills and goombas and

bob-ombs.

And don’t forget items, like coins and 1-up
mushrooms, which can be used to show players

the way to go.

Items are a good way to reward the most skilled,
or reckless players.

Make getting from the start to the finish
a relatively easy-going experience: but then

add in extra coins and pick-ups in areas that
require more skill to reach.

Step Eight. Playtest and bugfix

Don’t wait until your level is available
to the world online, to get your stage in

front of people.

You know your level inside and out: you’ve
been working on it for hours, after all, and

you know every single pixel, like the back
of your hand.

But someone who plays the stage for the very
first time could easily be confused, lost,

or find the stage way too demanding.

So get your friends, your mum, your brother,
and their friends to try your stage first.

Watch what they do, ask them for their feedback,
and make changes to your stage.

You can also playtest your own level by purposefully
trying to break the game.

If you can bypass a lot of your challenges
and ignore all of your hard-work, then you

might need to add in some extra parts to block
access.

Here are three things you always need to check:

First: Make sure that Mario can’t simply
sail over your obstacles entirely, with his

utterly massive jump.

You might need to stretch out gaps and add
in blocks and slopes to stop this from happening.

Second: While you, as a Mario expert, probably
always run at full speed through your levels

- many newbie players won’t.

So make sure your stage can be completed at
Mario’s normal speed, by forcing yourself

to play through your stage without touching
the run button at all.

Third: What happens if you don’t get something
right first time?

Imagine a jump like this, where you bounce
on a Koopa to clear a gap.

That’s cool if you make the gap, but what
if you don’t and end up killing the Koopa?

The level is now impossible to finish.

That’s just bad design.

There are some easy ways to fix this, though,
such as having enemies, p-blocks, trampolines,

and so on, infinitely pop out of pipes.

Or just using indestructible stage elements
like, in this case, a note block.

Step Nine. Do your research

Now you’re in a level-making mood, this
is the perfect time to boot up your favourite

Mario games and play through some stages.

You’ll no longer just be a passive player:
but you’ll be actively looking for level-making

tips and strategies.

So look at how Nintendo introduces, evolves,
and twists its ideas across each level.

Consider the placement of enemies and items.

Look at how it paces each stage with moments
of action, and moments of rest.

There’s no need to stop at Mario, mind you.

As I’ve shown on Game Maker’s Toolkit,
there’s plenty to learn from games like

Mega Man and Rayman, and games I’ve yet
to cover like Celeste and Shovel Knight.

Mario will be the most useful because Mario
Maker, obviously, has the same mechanics and

player physics, but good level design is good
level design, and is almost always universally

applicable.

So replay these games with a more analytical
eye, and see if theres anything you can learn

to make your own course even better.

Step Ten. Start again

Okay, so now you’ve made your first stage
you’re ready to try new things.

You could repeat this tutorial with a different
mechanic, or flex your creative muscles and

see what else you can produce.

Perhaps you want to be more like Donkey Kong
Country: Tropical Freeze, and explore multiple

mechanics throughout your stage.

Perhaps you want to try the weirdo twists
you get when you enter night mode, toy with

the water levels in the forest and castle
theme, or change the clear condition.

Or maybe you want to build a level around
a thematic concept, or a Mario skill, rather

than strictly around a mechanic.

It’s all up to you, now - but hopefully
these basic tips will prove useful no matter

what you make.

Introducing mechanics, proper pacing, adding
surprising twists, and rewarding skill - these

are all things that every good level design
will include.

So, make some cool stuff and leave your level
codes in the comments below.

I’ll play as many stages as I can next week
- on July 10th at 7PM BST, on a livestream

here on YouTube.

You guys and gals can help me out by playing
levels in the comments and giving a thumbs

up to the ones you like best.

Thanks for watching and happy building!