VLDC9 - vanilla level design contest 9
Re: VLDC9 - vibrant logs distraught cheveaux 9
Just because we inherently cant be completely objective doesnt mean that some things arent closer to being objective than others. We may never be able to reach infinity, but 10 is a bigger number than 1. If that weird metaphor makes sense.
Re: VLDC9 - vibrant logs distraught cheveaux 9
I think the closest that we can get to an objective judgement is to rank levels highly if they appeal the most to the largest number of people in the target audience of a contest. Obviously we can't have everybody in that target audience rank the levels, but a better set of judges (and rubric) should be able to give a closer approximation.
Turn Block Treeway is about as good as a romp can get, though I guess it's debatable how good a romp can get in the first place. It doesn't stand out as much as the other levels in Best World. However, unlike Stellar Garden and Stadium of Plants I don't have any doubts about its position in Best World.
Mass Extinction stands out a lot to me, on the other hand. Using each colour of Yoshi in a row gave the level a great sense of progression. The puzzles were really cool too; I find it a shame that raocow broke the secret exit puzzle. I also couldn't really care less about getting stuck in a level. Whether I die because I lost my Yoshi when I shouldn't have and need to commit suicide or I die because I stepped on a spike, the result is the same regardless. The real downside for me is the potential for areas where one mistake is death, but in this level they were necessary to facilitate a couple puzzles and didn't really detract from the level.
Turn Block Treeway is about as good as a romp can get, though I guess it's debatable how good a romp can get in the first place. It doesn't stand out as much as the other levels in Best World. However, unlike Stellar Garden and Stadium of Plants I don't have any doubts about its position in Best World.
Mass Extinction stands out a lot to me, on the other hand. Using each colour of Yoshi in a row gave the level a great sense of progression. The puzzles were really cool too; I find it a shame that raocow broke the secret exit puzzle. I also couldn't really care less about getting stuck in a level. Whether I die because I lost my Yoshi when I shouldn't have and need to commit suicide or I die because I stepped on a spike, the result is the same regardless. The real downside for me is the potential for areas where one mistake is death, but in this level they were necessary to facilitate a couple puzzles and didn't really detract from the level.
Re: VLDC9 - vibrant logs distraught cheveaux 9
This is probably a pain to compile, but what is each judge's average score? Bonus points if each separate category is totaled up. I'd be curious to see which judges tend toward higher or lower scores.
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Re: VLDC9 - vibrant logs distraught cheveaux 9
I REALLY like today's level and I think it's worthy of the first place (second place is solid, but first is a disappointment).
You start on a grey planet on which only Dry Bones, Eeries (and Ninjis for some reason) live giving it kind of a desolate planet feel and then there's an underwater and autoscrolling part in which you avoid asteroids and it is fun. The next planet is a fiery planet full of fire creatures (Sparkies and Hotheads may be electric but let's assume those are made out of fire) and lava geysers after which you go through another asteroid section to finally land on Earth.
Overall the level has a great atmosphere, creative parts (fire planet and asteroid sections), and solid design.
Oh and raocow could you please stand on the Best World's Star Warp and disable Layer 3 visibility, it's an interesting easter egg.
You start on a grey planet on which only Dry Bones, Eeries (and Ninjis for some reason) live giving it kind of a desolate planet feel and then there's an underwater and autoscrolling part in which you avoid asteroids and it is fun. The next planet is a fiery planet full of fire creatures (Sparkies and Hotheads may be electric but let's assume those are made out of fire) and lava geysers after which you go through another asteroid section to finally land on Earth.
Overall the level has a great atmosphere, creative parts (fire planet and asteroid sections), and solid design.
Oh and raocow could you please stand on the Best World's Star Warp and disable Layer 3 visibility, it's an interesting easter egg.
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Re: VLDC9 - vibrant logs distraught cheveaux 9
If I was a judge (God forbid), I would have given INTERPLANETARY a good score, but it's gameplay is too unfocussed and there are too many trivial or 'down' areas for me to love it unconditionally (like that final completely unnecessary grassland area). The best gameplay levels in the contest were those of Blue Leaf, lolyoshi and worldpeace. Since worldpeace's level wasn't quite as good as his level which won the contest and Blue Leaf's level was much better than his level which won the contest, I would of course have awarded first place to lolyoshi. But these levels were all a bit derivative of other things I've seen in the past (even if worldpeace was copying himself); the most original level in the contest was certainly MATTERHORN. (In giving this retrospective I suppose I'm considering the actual top 2 as negligible )
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Re: VLDC9 - vibrant logs distraught cheveaux 9
See, I'd disagree here, because it's pretty clear that this level was trying to be an "experience" as well as a level. The final grassland area isn't really pointless because it plays into the idea that you've landed on Earth, so it's showing off the regular Goombas/Koopas you're used to right before the end. Although most people can botch a level by giving it a bad atmosphere, I don't think that's the case here.morsel/morceau wrote:If I was a judge (God forbid), I would have given INTERPLANETARY a good score, but it's gameplay is too unfocussed and there are too many trivial or 'down' areas for me to love it unconditionally (like that final completely unnecessary grassland area).
Part of what makes this level so good (to me) is the fact that it does everything well. Are there better pure gameplay levels in this contest? Sure, and you even named them. Have we seen better aesthetics in the contest? Probably. This level manages to do both really well in a way that you're left with a good feeling at the end of it, and I think that's important. I always tend to cite Donkey Kong Country 2, one of my personal favorite games, as a style I look for in SMW nowadays. That game pulls off level design and aesthetics super well, and it demonstrates entirely how important both are to the experience - they co-exist and enhance each other when they're done properly.
Re: VLDC9 - vibrant logs distraught cheveaux 9
I'm another one who wouldn't give Interplanetary first place. It didn't speak to me that much, especially gameplay-wise, but even otherwise I always felt it's a bit overhyped, lol. I would've expected Gbreeze (Aperture Lab) to win instead; that one stood out to me the most. My gameplay favorite is still lolyoshi though.
Re: VLDC9 - vibrant logs distraught cheveaux 9
I don't think that was a contest-winning level either. The gameplay was just a bit too simple. Honestly, I think FrozenQuills' level had the best gameplay out of the entire contest.
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Re: VLDC9 - vibrant logs distraught cheveaux 9
3rd: INTERPLANETARY by NGB
I also wouldn't mind if Interplanetary won.
I also wouldn't mind if Interplanetary won.
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Re: VLDC9 - vibrant logs distraught cheveaux 9
what exactly did raocow mean by "X-Factor"?
is he implying Ninja Boy is X-Pac? XD
is he implying Ninja Boy is X-Pac? XD
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Re: VLDC9 - vibrant logs distraught cheveaux 9
I was ever-so-slightly disappointed when the dots on the machines (in the room with the first "interplanetary travel" pipe) didn't turn out to spell NGB in Braille.
Edit: Is there any merit to ninjaboy's "the moon was stretching vanilla" comment? I don't know enough about inner SMW workings to assess that.
Edit: Is there any merit to ninjaboy's "the moon was stretching vanilla" comment? I don't know enough about inner SMW workings to assess that.
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Re: VLDC9 - various landfalls defying commonality 9
I also thought today's level was fairly mediocre. While it looks nice, it's just a short romp that doesn't do a whole lot of interesting things.
And then there's the space travel sections which are just a bore and do nothing AT ALL.
Never mind the obstacles that are harmless-looking and still hurt you anyway.
This level felt like inhaling a gust of air when I played it.
And then there's the space travel sections which are just a bore and do nothing AT ALL.
Never mind the obstacles that are harmless-looking and still hurt you anyway.
This level felt like inhaling a gust of air when I played it.
Re: VLDC9 - various landfalls defying commonality 9
This was an easy level done right. The first room didn't stand out to me very much, but it was probably the weakest part of the level. Every part of this level had a high degree of cohesion, and the platforming required was varied despite its simplicity.
Re: VLDC9 - various landfalls defying commonality 9
this is actually just a small snip of the much larger comment he posted about how ninja boy's results made the most sense, but holy hell lolJames Rowe wrote:And honestly raocow, I love your videos and have been a fan for a long time but your snark and "not trying to call someone out" while continuously bitching about them. Well, this contest has made me loose a bit of respect for ya buddy.
Last edited by S.N.N. 7 years ago, edited 1 time in total.
Re: VLDC9 - vibrant logs distraught cheveaux 9
Ninja boy simply had doubts that the moon was vanilla.Voltgloss wrote:Is there any merit to ninjaboy's "the moon was stretching vanilla" comment? I don't know enough about inner SMW workings to assess that.
This would have been noticed and talked about during post-judging discussion and probably would have resulted in a higher score from him.
Last edited by TRS 7 years ago, edited 1 time in total.
Re: VLDC9 - various landfalls defying commonality 9
i liked the one where he whined and screamed about how all of SMWC is corrupt about judging because there's no accountability whatsoever lolS.N.N. wrote:this is actually just a small snip of the much larger comment he posted, but holy hell lolJames Rowe wrote:And honestly raocow, I love your videos and have been a fan for a long time but your snark and "not trying to call someone out" while continuously bitching about them. Well, this contest has made me loose a bit of respect for ya buddy.
Re: VLDC9 - various landfalls defying commonality 9
He does have a point about the snark. It's getting really annoying.
Re: VLDC9 - various landfalls defying commonality 9
Is he the guy that randomly tried to psychoanalyze rao a few LPs ago?S.N.N. wrote:this is actually just a small snip of the much larger comment he posted about how ninja boy's results made the most sense, but holy hell lolJames Rowe wrote:And honestly raocow, I love your videos and have been a fan for a long time but your snark and "not trying to call someone out" while continuously bitching about them. Well, this contest has made me loose a bit of respect for ya buddy.
Why don't you eat me?
I am perfectly tasty...
AND I'LL STEAL YOUR SOUL!
I am perfectly tasty...
AND I'LL STEAL YOUR SOUL!
Re: VLDC9 - various landfalls defying commonality 9
NahTRS wrote:He does have a point about the snark. It's getting really annoying.
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Re: VLDC9 - various landfalls defying commonality 9
I mean I think I have been a bit too aggressive about this, to be fair.
Then again, 'stretching the definition of vanilla' is like what
Then again, 'stretching the definition of vanilla' is like what
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Re: VLDC9 - various landfalls defying commonality 9
I don't remember which level was FrozenQuill's
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Re: VLDC9 - various landfalls defying commonality 9
I'm sure any sort of aggression (there wasn't any) would be justified as an attempt to get ninjaboy to say anything at all about his judging. From the perspective of a mere competitor, it had seemed that he played the levels with rewinds, gave each of them an incomprehensible sentence and a randomly generated score, and then buggered off forever.
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Re: VLDC9 - various landfalls defying commonality 9
I made spooky forest place town.Mata Hari wrote:I don't remember which level was FrozenQuill's
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Re: VLDC9 - various landfalls defying commonality 9
a propos of nothing, anyone knows how to disable layers in snes9x? everyone keeps telling me to disable layers on the star in best world map
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