For the past few nights I’ve been working on a way to make transitions look smoother (I’ve made a rounded grass block that way when there are jumps the ground transitions aren’t so choppy) and obstacles for the grass level. Originally I was going to go with thorns and vines, however I couldn’t find a decent way to execute it, so I’ve decided on spike pits instead. Once I’ve added that and one more lethal obstacle I’ll start designing the actual level itself. Hopefully by creating a layout I can get an idea of some of the mobs for the level, and a level boss. I’m aiming to have each level be three segments:
-a level intro segment to adjust to level mechanics and introduce mobs
-a mid level segment that will add other obstacles to the mix and serve as a
transition to the 3rd segment
-The Boss segment whereby each boss’s power will be based on a horrible
trope if at all possible

I might find a way to incorporate the tropes if not by direct abilities, but by adding actual intro levels to the boss segments, breaking the 3rd segment into 2 parts (intro to boss level, boss fight).
This can also aid in extending the game and creates markers for save points (at the beginning of each segment, and if the segment is particularly long, half way through the segment).
While I am currently fixating on the graphics side of the game making process, I am also thinking of ideas for certain ways of programming things, such as abilities, powerups, and possibly even character upgrades (which would more than likely be acquired through defeating an area boss, but I’m not sure if I want to make it that easy yet).
Hoping to have the first dummy level design by the end of June/mid-July, after which I’ll move on to the second level (more than likely the fire level) and so on until I have at least dummy levels for each actual level. That’s when the programming will start, after which there’ll be level adjustments to be put into the actual game.