What you're suggesting is going to take a lot of work. Every scene you've suggested would take as much work as a complete level, and you're planning on making four of them for just a single stage. I would veto the idea if you weren't willing to do all the work yourself.
As long as that's okay with you, here is some advice and criticism.
Everyone spawns in the black area before falling down on to the level. The spawn area will probably have to be higher, just to be sure no-one's accidentally killed when the new level spawns.
The x locations and relative y locations of the characters should not change. I believe that's what you wanted, but it's a bit ambiguous. To do otherwise would make the transitions jarring and unpleasant.
Green lines show platforms.
There are two types of platforms- jump-through platforms and solid platforms/walls. The former are represented by thin lines, and the latter are solid areas. From the looks of things, you've only used jump-through platforms. Solid walls are more appropriate in some cases, like for a lot of the train cars. Also, slanted, curved and irregular platforms are possible. You don't need to make everything flat.
I'm new at this, so I probably have the distances wrong.
First of all... the aspect ratio of the screen is 512x384. ALL LEVELS SHOULD HAVE ROUGHLY THESE DIMENSIONS, OR SIGNIFICANT PARTS OF THE LEVEL WILL ALWAYS BE OFF-SCREEN.
One thing I notice in a lot of your sketches is that the platforms are really small (especially with Omega Darn and the train). This is bad, because it makes the battles feel cramped, and encourages camping instead of conflict.
One other thing. All of the stages you suggested are dynamic and filled with hazards. There ought to be some relatively safe scenes in between the dangerous ones, or the level will be overly tense and ill-suited to fighting. Yes, this means adding even more scenes, or changing/removing some that are currently-planned.
First, that Omega Darn we all know and love!
Plasticware has since made a bigger and better version of the Omega Darn sprite.
Both platforms should be significantly larger.
A: The Omega Darn would rise up once the players have landed. I'm not sure if players should be able to jump on his head- if so, it would probably have to be a bit higher.
I don't really see what this would add. I also don't understand why the head should be higher.
And at the very least, the platform should be curved!
If players can stand on his head, then attacking while on his head could possibly hurt him, eventually destroying the darn and leaving only the stage.
Since the stage would switch scenes frequently, being able to destroy him seems pointless.
One thing you skipped over was any mention of Omega Darn's attacks. I would suggest that he frequently drops Darn Scraps onto the stage- they would act like other characters (but be very, very weak).
Next, resized Penultimate Tango.
Again, what sort of attacks would Tango use?
The wings act as platforms. They rise and fall a small amount, slowly.
Just make sure they obviously look like platforms. Also, they might be a little too small and out of the way.
Fighting on tangos head could possibly hurt her, eventually destroying her and leaving only the stage to fight on.
This sounds like a bad idea. Her head is way too high, making the platform difficult to reach for certain characters. This encourages camping over conflict, which is not good for a fighter/platformer.
Also, destroying a hazard which would disappear anyways before long would be a fairly pointless addition.
Moving on to something new: A stage based on the japanese level, in the memorable bossfight where Xoda has to stay on a water-wheel rocketing down a japanese stream as a giant robot dragon attacks her.
I think this is a pretty good idea.
The wheel doesn't revolve- that would make things a bit hard- but does bump around a bit as it goes down the stream.
Rotating wouldn't make things too hard. In fact, it would be more intuitive and predictable than random bumping, and a much better alternative overall.
Suggestion:
Big central platform stays put.
Four smaller platforms rotate around the edge of the wheel at a medium constant rate. They are always horizontal, but spend about half their time underwater.
That way, there are more platforms available at any given time, making the stage less cramped. It would be more dynamic, less confusing, and very unique.
The Mecha-Dragon appears occaisionally
I don't see why this is necessary. It's already a very busy stage, and this could push it past the point where players are spending more time fighting the stage than each other (and we know how much players like that
). Plus, it would be a lot of work.
And last, the Wild West Train Stage, inspired by the last boss of the western stage- a train.
The level design here could use some work. There are a lot of teeny-tiny platforms, and plenty of areas where walls would make more sense than platforms.
A:The screen is only around the size of the black square. Everyone falls down onto the train, which moves slowly back and forth while the screen stays still, changing up the platform arrangement.
It should just move forwards. The scenes aren't going to last too long, so once they reach the front the stage will be changing anyways.
Falling down onto the tracks = death.
Why not just have the tracks moving quickly (like the river)?
Occaisional platform clouds drift past.
Background objects should stay in the background.
Sorry if I seemed overly harsh, but you shouldn't be spending hours spriting a stage if the foundations are fundamentally flawed.
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