The 2014th Smoo Central Vanilla Contest

[Validon98]

Apparently algid means "cold". Hurray for obscure synonyms?

[S.N.N.]

The ice world is next, right?

There's that, abstract, and the highest ranked world left. I think it would be best to do the ice one before the abstract one, so hopefully we'll see that tomorrow.

Also: there's a wrecked ship on the map in every world. It's not indicative of the level contents, it's merely a gag by the map maker.

[10204307]

I'm looking forward to the abstract world, whenever we get there. (Especially because of the music)

[KobaBeach]

Next LP project - the entire hunter/scorpion series in chronological order

Isn't that someone's sig on SMWC?

It was someone's here.

it was Oracle of Wuffing's

more like oracle of yiffing hur-hur

[Mineyl]

Man, these rankings.

I really, really like Algid Ascent's (outdoor) aesthetics. Very nice, very pastel! So unlike what is normally seen in these contests, and it's proof that an eye for color can strongly contend with map16 witchcraft!

In levels like the final one in today's video, I still find myself surprised that people manage to leave so many easily-identifiable ambushes in. It just seems indicative of a woeful lack of playtesting. One of the best things about vertical stages (and this is something that I realized and abused the f

ack

out of in Red Hot Ruckus) is that unlike horizontal ones, sprite spawns are WAY more predictable; there is much less of a chance for the player to desync or otherwise screw things up with L/R scrolling and general hesitation or ineptitude, giving the creator much more fine control over the player's screen-to-screen situations and allowing them to create pocketed challenges (that don't seem so pocketed) that form a cohesive whole. It's unfortunate that the author didn't really seem to take that into account in this level, what with all the ambushes and untimely-triggered spawns of Charlies and whatnot. Also, what's up with all those high jumps?

[Nimono]

Apparently algid means "cold". Hurray for obscure synonyms?

I used Dictionary.com for that one! :D I forgot why I did it, though. I think I wanted something more unique and cool than "Cold/Chilly Climb", which sounds lame in comparison.


I'm surprised the level's in cloudtown instead of icetown, but I guess with the end of the level, it makes sense!
also magiluigi was in charge of aesthetics

[10204307]

As someone who extensively uses alliteration when naming levels, the thesaurus is my best friend. It doesn't matter how obscure the word is, as long as it fits the naming scheme!

[KobaBeach]

keep angling that dingaling

don't forget to anticipate the angle of the dangle

[Mata Hari]

Hindsight isn't pronounced that way at all

[Blivsey]

Ice town really is a nice town.

Also I love when chipmunkcow plays off a theme until he has to hand back off. Bridge-building comes to mind.

[BobisOnlyBob]

I just glanced at the results and it was actually the "sane" one who brought Prism Peaks down, specifically noting that it was hard to distinguish land from background, and citing the difficulty and monotony of icy slopes, repeated for the entire level.

[Grounder]

HEY GUYS DO YOU KNOW THE COLOR BLUE?!
pretty pastel ice
blue cave
really short cave

[Tyty]

I just glanced at the results and it was actually the "sane" one who brought Prism Peaks down, specifically noting that it was hard to distinguish land from background, and citing the difficulty and monotony of icy slopes, repeated for the entire level.

Honestly I agree with this.

Even if the level looks really neat, and has a unique aesthetic idea, it's still a level design contest. You can't rely entirely on looks to win it.

[KobaBeach]

I just glanced at the results and it was actually the "sane" one who brought Prism Peaks down, specifically noting that it was hard to distinguish land from background, and citing the difficulty and monotony of icy slopes, repeated for the entire level.

Honestly I agree with this.

Even if the level looks really neat, and has a unique aesthetic idea, it's still a level design contest. You can't rely entirely on looks to win it.

this pretty much (sorry i didn't add anything to the conversation)

[S.N.N.]

I also agree with the low ranking of Prism Peaks. It's very homogenous and doesn't really do much .. at all. The same author submitted something this year and it's substantially better, so look forward to that.

[10204307]

On the other hand, Brisk Barren probably deserved higher placement. It looked visually pleasing, it had a consistent theme, and plenty of neat challenges throughout. (The Kirby 3 music was a nice touch, too, since it felt like a Kirby 3 level.)

[Koopster]

I think Brisk Barren was one of the best-looking levels. The design was mostly simple, but I remember there were some branching patches and more than one way to reach the end, and that was pretty fancy
I also remember Prism Peaks as a rather annoying level. It felt very samey throughout and standing on those slippy slopes was kind of annoying considering that you needed to wait in a lot of areas

The winter world was the one that stood out the less for me, but that's probably because I just didn't play it particularly too much. Guess I'm not a fan of ice levels :P There are definitely some nice levels over there though (no puns to be found here)

[FusionWarrior]

How the heckles did Prism Peaks rank so low!? sure it's kinda blandish layout, but that aesthetic!

[MrDeePay]

How the heckles did Prism Peaks rank so low!? sure it's kinda blandish layout, but that aesthetic!

Looks can only get you so far in a level design contest.

Alternatively, "Yacht of Opinions."

[Giant Ninji]

How the heckles did Prism Peaks rank so low!? sure it's kinda blandish layout, but that aesthetic!

You literally answered your question.

Though I don't think 59th is fair for both Lui's level and Prism Peaks, more so for the former.

[Grounder]

Today raocow misses a midpoint and somehow it doesn't come back to bite him in the butt.

[10204307]

Ice World seems to be, so far, the land of "not much happening". Shivery Summit was visually pleasing, but I can't recall a single thing about the actual gameplay other than a lot of ropes and dinosaurs. Untitled Joyride couldn't seem to decide upon what it was trying to do. Of the three, Frozen Passageway was probably the best; it had a consistent idea (jumping through platforms with obstacles on them) and built upon it as the level progressed. Very neat aesthetics, too.

Maybe the next two levels will be more... fulfilling.

[Mata Hari]

Yeeeaaah people have been talking about the fucked-up rankings but the fact that Snow My got 16th place is like lol

I mean I'm not saying it's a bad level, because it's not, but it's not a 16th place level. At all?

[Mata Hari]

Also the remix used in yogui's level is funky as balls, can I get that by itself?

[S.N.N.]

It's in the ZIP I linked earlier, but someone also put up a video of it.