It's perfectly normal that you won't get many stars right off the bat. It's a matter of time that you'll end up gaining more of them, especially when you just recently got the game. Therefore, I'll go easy with you. I've certainly got things to say about making a good level design in general. I won't provide feedback specifically for each level, but rather about some of the level design decisions that you often implement on most of these levels.
A common problem I've noticed among many new makers is that the level lack identity of its own. I wasn't surprised to see your levels suffer from that too. When I played them, I've felt that these either are just mere mishmash of ideas that never seemed to expand beyond the moment you introduced the course elements, or the ideas weren't clearly defined to begin with. As result, the levels would end being forgettable. If you stick to just a few ideas and limit the amount of different course elements you'd throw at a level, you'd be surprised on how much they could be expanded.
"
Sweeping Snake Block Fortress" is one of the examples of a level that introduces one idea and then expand upon it. It has you riding on a fast moving snake block and jumping out of it and crouch down to dodge the obstacles and keep tracking the snake block. There's some challenge in it, but it shouldn't be difficult for anyone familiar enough with the platforming genre. At the end of the stage, there's an interesting twist that occurs near the axe, but I'll leave that for yourself to discover.
I see that you're quite proficient with jumping from one square-long block to another, which is why I've seen some precision jumping sections. However, there's plenty of players who couldn't quite do these feats in a consistent manner, since they have to control Mario's momentum falling after jumping so they can land on ground safely. As such the level becomes more difficult than you might think it is. If you'd like to create a more accessible stage, give them at least 3 spaces-long of ground for a walking jump
and 5 for a running jump.
As much as I want the levels to be more playable, you might want to consider making them look good as well. For example, the ground you've laid out are floating above the bottomless pit. You could add more ground below the already existing ones to make them not hovering above the gap.
Have you noticed that decoration elements pop out while you're laying some ground? Here's another nifty trick you could use to make certain areas of your stage prettier: Hold L or R in the editor and draw a rectangle that covers whichever ground that has a decoration. Then, let go the shoulder buttons. Hold ZL or ZR and drag that set of blocks to wherever you want. And voil?, you also copied the decoration along with the ground.
A good example of mine is "
Expedition to Koopa Mines". It's not a challenging level by any means for an average player, but it encourages you to explore a little bit and has some aesthetically pleasing areas.
@Zulehan: If had to upload another version of this stage, then that soft-locking incident is going to be fixed. Thanks for telling me about that.
As for the Jumping Giant Piranha Plant escorting with trampoline, I did address the issue by providing a visual hint next to the checkpoint area I added in version 1.1, which is supposed to tell what's coming ahead. I also added course blocks underneath the giant plants to give a better indication on where to place the trampoline.
The somewhat confusing Winged Piranha Plants coming out of pipes section are functionally the same between both version, but the only difference in there is that if you reach where you had to balance with the plants, is that you restart at that very specific section instead of warping you back to the first pit. Though, I suppose I should have added coin trails that leads to the right way.
By the way, I gave a shot to all four levels from your signature yesterday. I'll be giving them a proper feedback later this week. These levels are pretty tough for me, so I'll have to take time to examine them with proper attention.
). Here are my 5 current uploaded courses:
