Posted April 08, 2025 by Gumpy Function
In this lesson, we will be setting up a level select system that covers all the functions a typical “World Map” style level select screen will ever need, including:
- Navigating levels using the movement of a player character from one level node to another.
- Displaying level names and collectible information dependent on what level is selected.
- Animating the background image to reveal a route through the map as the player progresses through the game and more!
By the end, you will have the ability to create a level select screen as functional and polished as the level select system featured in SML3: Wario Land!
When Super Mario Bros (1985) was released on the NES and introduced horizontally scrolling levels, the concept of "move right to beat a platformer level" became a core part of video game language. Along with this development, came the idea of transitioning to the next level with a mini-cutscene that moves the player character off screen once the player reaches the win state. So I’ll be sharing a method to implement your own "win state" sequence in this lesson, too.
The following concepts are explored in the lesson:
In the following lessons, you can look forward to diving in to obstacle and enemy creation as we design some more challenging content for the player to run and jump over.
Thanks and happy coding!
- Tom (Gumpy Function)