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24 Hour Contest #11 - design a level in 24 hours with a given challenge

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Super Maks 64
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Re: 24 Hour Contest #11 - design a level in 24 hours with a given challenge

Post by Super Maks 64 »

Bomb Desert - 30th by Green Jerry
Score - 15,75
idol

Fun/Gameplay: 10/25

The level design here is rather straight forward with nothing to write home about. I’d call it mindless, but the setups involving the Venus Flyin’ Traps negate that by being placed rather annoyingly. There isn’t much spark to this level, with little thought put into it’s composition. For example, screen 7-8 has an alcove with three Turn Blocks and a Question Block. However, none of these Turn Blocks contain anything, and the Question Block contains a single measly coin. There’s also a Venus Flyin’ Trap close by who can shoot into the hole slightly. Why would this be a worthwhile endeavor for any player to go into? There is no reward, and there is a lot more risk than it’s worth. Coins are placed haphazardly, albeit rarely, and you have another wonky Turn Block + Single Coin Question Block setup right before the Goal Post. It feels like this level was composed on autopilot.

Sprite Usage/Creativity: 7/20

Spriteset 3 is a pretty hard spriteset to use well. For starters, the Venus Flyin’ Trap is an incredibly annoying enemy to handle, and using it in sort of closer spaces where jumping over it is hard becomes pretty tedious, especially in conjunction with the Monty Moles who throw rocks / bombs. The Spiny’s also seem to be placed more to just fill a quota rather than naturally filling a role in the composition of the level. The same goes for the Bomb Koopas, this level feels pressured to use every sprite in the sprite set rather than naturally creating an environment for these sprites to be used well.

Aesthetics: 2/5

This tileset isn’t appealing to really look at, being rather simple and somewhat ugly. But the biggest detractor is the cacti, which impact the gameplay by appearing as a solid hurtful block when they can be gone through. The rock pillars underneath the 8 pixel thick platforms have a lighter outline to signify they can be walked through, and yet the cacti and trees have black outlines. This is pretty inconsistent, and in the cacti’s case genuinely misleading.

Total: 19/50

Tob

6 / 5 / 2 -> 13
There's nothing really outstanding in the level. But there weren't any parts that made me raise an eyebrow so that's good.
The only sprite that really gets used is the flying venus trap and the other sprites seem
like they were just placed for the sake of it. The venus flying trap had some nice set-ups though.
Aesthetics arent anything special. Simple custom gfx for FG and BG and fitting custom music.
Some HDMA gradient would've helped here.

SincX

F: 9
C: 5
A: 3
Total: 17/50

Comments:
This feels more like a "regular level that happens to have custom sprites" than a level that actually uses them in interesting ways, as the challenge would imply. The Venuses seem to be the favorite here but they don't contribute any value to the playability; rather, they're just in the way and clearly not thoroughly thought out/tested, judging from the couple that send their fireballs right through the floor. The Spiny eggs could have been a good focus for this if they were used more, and the other enemies feel completely tacked on and useless--you might as well have just used vanilla Koopas. It's still not terrible though, and would fit as a standard desert level in a hack somewhere.

Erik

Fun/Gameplay: 5/25
Sprite Usage/Creativity: 7/20
Aesthetics: 2/5
TOTAL: 14/50
Comments:
Inconsistent level all around. We have some parts here that are way too easy, and then we have these annoying flying venus/jumping spiny setups which I just tanked through most times. There’s some areas where the venus’ fireball just clips through slopes, or others where you are being bombarded with their annoying fireball in every direction. Outside of these, though, there really isn’t much of a challenge or even anything interesting to comment on. I can thus conclude this level’s difficulty is based in the worst possible usage of the venus plants. I was actually glad of the positioning of the moles this time around because they helped kill the plants with their bombs. The bomb koopa’s palette looks messed up too, and the sky color is terrible.
Air Tank Ship - 29th by Manofer
Score - 18
idol

Fun/Gameplay: 11/25

Not being able to spinjump on the Pyro Guy feels pretty silly, but I recognize that’s a fault of the sprite itself and not you, so I will ignore it. What I won’t ignore is the Pipe-Dwelling Bullet Blaster on the first screen being behind the fog. While this is an aesthetics issue, it also hampers gameplay by having essentially “invisible” enemies. Also I was able to crash the game very early on, the reason of which I’m not sure how, nor were other judges able to replicate it, but it’s still something rather odd. Another minor gripe would be noting how the hitbox of the upside-down ship portions feels janky as hell, and it would’ve been better for you to use the upside down slopes of the cave tileset or something. The design of this level is rather tepid, and I found very little to comment on other than minor bickering. This level having no midpoint would probably make this level feel arduous if there was much to it, but it doesn’t seem to have much ambition beyond a simple idea.

Sprite Usage/Creativity: 12/20

The sprites are all here, but none of them seem to be here for any purpose besides being here. The Shotzo’s are placed annoyingly, giving the player little room to deal with them. The Pendulum Mace’s feel slightly out of place with the levels seemingly core focus on projectiles (Pyro Guy’s shots, the Pipe-Dwelling Bullet Blaster, the Shotzo, and the Bullet Generator), and the NSMB Propeller Block serves virtually no purpose whatsoever other than a single Dragon Coin. I’d even say it’s detrimental to hold onto after getting that Dragon Coin, as the platforming right after seemingly does not take it’s added glidingness into any beneficial consideration.

Aesthetics: 4/5

The fog drowning out the Pipe-Dwelling Bullet Blasters is a no-no. However, the level makes up for it in looking pretty nice all around otherwise. Really liked the aesthetic of the second room as well.

Total: 27/50

Tob

08 / 02 / 03 -> 13
The level contains all custom sprites but none of which (except for the fry guy, maybe) really get used quite well.
You could probably replace them with other (vanilla) sprites and the level would be just as challenging. The propeller block is heavily
underimplemented and on top of that it also breaks graphics and behavior when bringing it over to the next area.
It does have consistent GFX and a not so boring yet kinda messy autoscrolling part.

SincX

F: 7
C: 2
A: 3
Total: 12/50
Comments:
I feel like this level focused more on the vanilla Koopas than on any of the other sprites, which were used like no more than a few times each to almost no benefit to the level. The other glaring problem with the level is that it's just not interesting to play; nothing is exciting or fun, it's just a bland waiting game. Slow auto-scrollers have to be packed with content to be any fun, and this really isn't.

Erik

Fun/Gameplay: 12/25
Sprite Usage/Creativity: 5/20
Aesthetics: 3/5
TOTAL: 20/50
Comments:
This is a pretty decent airship/tank level. There isn’t too much to critique on but at the same time there’s not many things that were interesting about it. Like, this feels like just another level that could fit in a hack… it’s okay, but there’s a lot of potential wasted to actually make an impression in a contest. During my playthrough I saw more Koopas than the actual sprites from the set. The Shotzo only appears like two times, and the propeller just feels shoved it with no other purpose than to get a Yoshi Coin: it’s a good introduction to how it works, but apart from that… nothing is done with it. Same thing goes with the rest of the custom sprites.
LOOK, WATCH, MOVE! - 21st by Ruberjig
Score - 26,75
idol

Fun/Gameplay: 12/25

Decent experience, but the secret exit caused this level to take quite a hit – forcing the player to just replay the entire level but this time without powerups is pretty sleazy, and it really did not add much to this experience other than the repetitious tedium of having to replay this level again with minute changes. This level’s focus seems to drift back on forth – there’s a primary focus on Stretches, but the additional sprites (Balloons, Cloud Drops, Wave Stream Boos) do not seem to be placed in a way in which they complement the Stretches. Rather, every element in this level kind of does its own thing, giving this level a slight identity issue in the sprite department. I’m not too sure what the point of the pipe is near the end of the level considering it’s all the same sublevel, but go off.

Sprite Usage/Creativity: 11/20

The Cloud Drops were used creatively, but I was most impressed by the use of the Stretches. In a way they were reminiscent of the SMB3 Munchers that popped out of the pipes. The brunt of the creativity in this level came from them – otherwise, the level drops it’s interest in the Cloud Drops pretty fast, exchanging them for rather boring Balloon sections that just involve waiting, and Wave Stream Boos that seem to struggle to fit in their
contained areas.

Aesthetics: 3/5

Song is really good, but the palette feels too washed out and too much like a shitty straight yellow filter was applied to it to look good. You also bit yourself in the foot replacing a jumpable enemy (Cloud Drop) with the graphics of an enemy the player knows not to jump on (Piranha Plant). This actually impacted gameplay & sprite usage slightly as well. The sprite replacement for the Stretch was also not too great. However, the sprite replacements for the Balloon and the Wave Stream Boos were really nice, I especially adored the Boo replacements.

Total: 26/50

Tob

11 / 13 / 05 -> 29
This level has nice different graphics for the sprites what gives the level a great level of indiduality.
I got really confused with the (apperantly not accessable) secret-exit and the blocks that appear after beating the level.

SincX

F: 15
C: 8
A: 4
Total: 27/50
Comments:
While it doesn't stand out, this is a generally decent and relatively fun level. The aesthetic is nice, though I don't quite understand the logic behind the piranha head graphic. The Cloud Drops were used nicely, and I would have liked to see a lot more out of them since they seemed to be the focus. Other than that it's a pretty standard romp.

Erik

Fun/Gameplay: 10/25
Sprite Usage/Creativity: 11/20
Aesthetics: 4/5
TOTAL: 25/50
Comments:
A decent level with an interesting sprite usage. The first half is really poor, with some non-interesting starting setups; it just is okay. The second half picks up the pace a bit, though there’s not much to comment on it. The start of the second half has these annoying one tile stretch jumping, and after that the things to comment on just vanish. The P-Switch usage to find a secret is just okay, but you have to do this annoying upwards wave boo stream spinjumping that honestly just makes getting those rewards not worth it. The cloud drops/balloon setups are good, but there’s too few experimentations with those balloons other than that. The sleepy goombas that appear in both sections feel more of an afterthought and add nothing to the level. The secret exit is okay, but having to replay basically the exact same level is boring; you could’ve tried experimenting a bit more with the blocks that appear on the level after you beat it once, or just have it in a different section. That’s what there is to this level; it looks pretty, but the same can’t be said about how it plays.
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Voltgloss
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Re: 24 Hour Contest #11 - design a level in 24 hours with a given challenge

Post by Voltgloss »

i have never seen that image before

i realize you're just copy-pasting a preexisting meme for laughs

i personally find it unsettling, disturbing, and offensive

i know i can't speak for anyone else and don't presume to do so
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Re: 24 Hour Contest #11 - design a level in 24 hours with a given challenge

Post by morsel/morceau »

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In the interests of balance, here's a nice, friendly image of a desert bombing that helped bring peace to the world.
dont wanna jihad no more
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Re: 24 Hour Contest #11 - design a level in 24 hours with a given challenge

Post by FPzero »

Voltgloss wrote: i have never seen that image before

i realize you're just copy-pasting a preexisting meme for laughs

i personally find it unsettling, disturbing, and offensive

i know i can't speak for anyone else and don't presume to do so
Nah I also find it pretty out of place considering the general tone of this forum and raocow's videos.
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Paragraph
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Re: 24 Hour Contest #11 - design a level in 24 hours with a given challenge

Post by Paragraph »

Voltgloss wrote: 5 years ago i have never seen that image before

i realize you're just copy-pasting a preexisting meme for laughs

i personally find it unsettling, disturbing, and offensive

i know i can't speak for anyone else and don't presume to do so
That's not a meme, it's a still from a documentary about American foreign politics!

Anyway, it's actually good that there's people on this internet who're not super jaded already and I spend too much time on SomethingAwful anyway. I made the picture into a link with a warning so if someone reads this tomorrow and is confused can still click it. Sorry for unsettling you!
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Bean
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Re: 24 Hour Contest #11 - design a level in 24 hours with a given challenge

Post by Bean »

Paragraph wrote: 5 years agoThat's not a meme, it's a still from a documentary about American foreign politics!

Anyway, it's actually good that there's people on this internet who're not super jaded already and I spend too much time on SomethingAwful anyway. I made the picture into a link with a warning so if someone reads this tomorrow and is confused can still click it. Sorry for unsettling you!
You're right with what you're saying, but I deleted it anyway. Forum's less jaded and more lighthearted nowadays anyway.
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ano0maly
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Re: 24 Hour Contest #11 - design a level in 24 hours with a given challenge

Post by ano0maly »

>American foreign politics

>let's play forum

once again, probably not a good idea
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Tyty
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Re: 24 Hour Contest #11 - design a level in 24 hours with a given challenge

Post by Tyty »

I really didn't have a problem with the contest, but I ended up using an easy box.

That said, the one thing that bothered me was that we were told we would potentially lose points for not using the whole box.... but then I don't think anyone actually did, so some levels that ditched the shitty sprites ended up scoring better. I ended up using the whole box and felt a bit annoyed with some of them (not gonna say which set because it hasn't been played yet)

The real problem with the contest more than anything else is that it was kinda hastily put together. It was basically a 24ho put-together in itself... And that's why there were some issues. We really wanted to get something out for scheduling reasons. It's not a bad idea, especially since everyone had the same set of boxes to pick and unlike say magl2, there was a degree of curation to it. iirc Stretch was supposed to be modified to not require a custom block, just an existing one, and some of the issues were due to sprite documentation (how shooters picked their bullets, etc).

Regardless of the 24 hour period falling between two work days so I had ~4 hours to make a level it was still pretty fun. I liked some of the sprites I worked with and had some pretty cool ideas for the future with them.
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Re: 24 Hour Contest #11 - design a level in 24 hours with a given challenge

Post by Piesonscreations »

It's impressive to see how far accordion tech has come in SMW.
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Re: 24 Hour Contest #11 - design a level in 24 hours with a given challenge

Post by Classtoise »

For anyone curious (raocow seemed to like it anyway), that first song is Moonsetter. It's a Homestuck song! And it's by Toby Fox who y'all might recognize from Undertale fame.
:bi_pride: :trans_pride:
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Re: 24 Hour Contest #11 - design a level in 24 hours with a given challenge

Post by Lockirby2 »

Man, many of these levels done in 24h are better than I could do in a month. :P
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Re: 24 Hour Contest #11 - design a level in 24 hours with a given challenge

Post by FrozenQuills »

right i made an entry
i mostly utilized the wavy boos and sleepy goombas cause the balloon and broken stretchy boo were difficult to use creatively. could've used the little cloud enemy that went back and forth but eh
stay tuned for a sister entry of this later
don't ask how i got 5th place
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5th place counter: 5
(SMBX Forums CC11, SMBX Forums CC12, Endgame Madness Contest, SMWC Kaizo Contest 2016, SMWC 24hr Contest 2018)
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Super Maks 64
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Re: 24 Hour Contest #11 - design a level in 24 hours with a given challenge

Post by Super Maks 64 »

good night mario - 5th as usual by FrozenQuills
Score - 41,25
idol

Fun/Gameplay: 18/25

This level’s focus on three of the unique sprites really benefits it in the end. Setups were easy to parse with a consistent difficulty, and I really have no complaints about the level. It was missing that punch to really bump it up, but it’s a very decent level otherwise.

Sprite Usage/Creativity: 17/20

Very creative uses of both the Wave Boo Streams and the Sleeping Goombas. It was a smart idea to utilize the nets as a major mechanic, they make dealing with the Wave Boo Streams a lot more interesting rather than just having to wait under them or something. The Sleeping Goombas add a bit less to this level, but they’re used really well too. Would’ve loved to see more setups with them and the Wave Boo Streams.
Aesthetics: 5/5

They look fine.

Total: 40/50

Tob

25 / 20 / 04 -> 49
Scrolling Levels are always a bit hard to get done right but this one sure does. Every sprite that was chosen is being used extremely
well.

Sinc-X

F: 18
C: 16
A: 3
Total: 37/50
Comments:
This is really well-made for only using 2 of the sprites. The Wavy Boos are a lot more fun here in general than other times I've seen them used, and overall the level is enjoyable. My only major complaint is that there are a few parts, particularly in the 2nd half, that either are unintuitive to get through or don't benefit from the autoscroll (see: the parts with munchers).

Erik

Fun/Gameplay: 18/25
Sprite Usage/Creativity: 18/20
Aesthetics: 3/5
TOTAL: 39/50
Comments:
Pretty cute level. Great experimentation with the nets, wavy boo streams and sleepy goombas. Great introduction to how they’re going to be used in the level. Great platforming challenges with the falling grey platforms, too. The first section leaves a bit to be desired in my opinion, and although it was pretty fun to play, I would’ve liked to see some more experimentation regarding net placements. The second section furthers the gimmick with the auto-scroll, spicing it up a bit. It’s very well used and pretty good, though I hated this setup with the two boo streams when I encountered it initially. The palettes are good, except the boo streams which looks kind of weird, and I wish the tileset was something more than just pipes, ropes and cement blocks.
Somnolent Midnight - 6th by E-Man 38
Score: 41
idol

Fun/Gameplay: 18/25

Ah, 1F0. The first thing I felt like noting was the setup with the Sleeping Goomba running on the 1F0 on screen 07. At first I was gonna note how ineffective the Sleeping Goomba was when it hit a wall and stopped, but seeing how you actually utilized this to get the Dragon Coin was a genius way to take advantage of the sprites weird mechanics. The introduction of the Stretch is where this level begins to take a slight downturn, which is really unfortunate. The Stretch setups are less interesting than the basic-but-still-interesting Cloud Drop & Sleeping Goomba setups, and the forced spinjump off a Wave Stream Boo on screen 11 is a big no-no, seeing how janky it is and easy to get hit even when you feel it should be fair. I think the setup on screen 11 should’ve had the ceiling extended by 1 on each side, because as it is you can pretty easily kill the Cloud Drop and make it much easier to deal with. I felt this level could’ve excelled much more with a simpler focus on the Cloud Drops, Sleeping Goombas, and maybe some more traditional Stretch setups, as I feel you have a very good eye on how to position sprites well and make basic level design creative.

Sprite Usage/Creativity: 15/20

I appreciate some of the setups with the Stretch, but I do think you could’ve utilized its original purpose a bit more. You had really nice setups with the Cloud Drops, simple platforming and avoiding, and you could’ve really utilized the Stretch as a nice ground-based moving enemy in conjunction with the Cloud Drops. The Wave Stream Boo is shoehorned in, and forcing the player to spinjump off of it when only the head is spinjumpable at certain points was a really poor decision. Otherwise, I was really impressed with how the Cloud Drops and Sleeping Goombas were handled, and they really boosted your score up here.

Aesthetics: 5/5

The song was probably good – truth be told I was listening to Freddie Gibbs new album while I was playing this, but it kinda made this an even funnier experience. No complaints.

Total: 38/50

Tob

15 / 19 / 03 -> 37
This level has a lot of great set-ups with the sprites. But since many of them only allow for one try because
you have to bounce off a sprite without any reset doors nearby, it risks a bit of the fun.
Also the palette doesn't really fit the night aesthetic.

Sinc-X

F: 23
C: 19
A: 4
Total: 46/50
Comments:
Really smart use of all the sprites here. Super fun to play through as a whole, barring the required spinjump on the Wavy Boo being really inconsistent. I also love how you used the Stretch in particular, which was exactly how I was hoping to see that used. I'd love to see a longer full version of this.

Erik

Fun/Gameplay: 20/25
Sprite Usage/Creativity: 18/20
Aesthetics: 5/5
TOTAL: 43/50
Great LORD I love this song. This level is pretty good! Kind of easy difficulty-wise, but not in a way that it’s boring. Some great setups and sprite usage, especially those one-block stretches. Most obstacles play good and ramp up well according to the difficulty, except one where you got to spinjump in one boo stream wave to advance, which is annoying. Also a bit disappointed that the stretch setups were few – I feel you could’ve added a few more –. Really though no other complaints here. It nails the night aesthetic without having to rely in too many graphical additions.
CULT OF THE DAM - 20th by LucasRCD
Score - 27,25
idol

Fun/Gameplay: 12/25

For a final entry this has a weird effort put into it. The execution is sloppy, I almost forgot this was using a custom sprite set most the time, and the design feels amateurish, but not that of someone unfamiliar with level design, but of someone unfamiliar with execution in an interesting way. It’s creative, you know not to make stuff flat by including a nice amount of going up & down, but your setups are pretty basic and your ideas are less than interesting in execution.

Sprite Usage/Creativity: 06/20

Didn’t really even notice them half the time. First two Tornado setups can be easily skipped, and the one right after felt like overkill for that setup. The rest of the time they’re seemingly used as an alternative to spikes, which in reality is just “hurt blocks that take slightly longer to hurt the player”. I thought the most creative use of the Tornados was on screen 06, falling around them and avoiding them was kind of fun. The Circling Thwimps in the second half is pretty annoying, it’s slow and spinjumping on a single 16x16 is always annoying. I ended up tanking the second one because I had no interest waiting for it.

Aesthetics: 3/5

The graphics are kind of confusing, there’s effort put into them but I don’t think they look too good. The Thwomp replacement is ???

Total: 21/50

Tob

11 / 09 / 01 -> XX
The graphics really clash with the sprites. Even though there are a few notable set-ups scattered around the level remains really uninteresting, sadly.

Sinc-X

F: 15
C: 13
A: 5
Total: 33/50
Comments:
Wonderful aesthetic in this one. There are definitely some cool things done with the sprites, but the design isn't particularly noteworthy aside from the wow factor. It's certainly not bad though, and the Thwimp "puzzles" are very clever and something I would have liked to see expanded on. Maybe some other obstacles to deal with besides just the Thwimp moving across?

Erik

Fun/Gameplay: 16/25
Sprite Usage/Creativity: 15/20
Aesthetics: 3/5
TOTAL: 34/50
Comments:
Pretty good level. It starts and keeps off pretty strong, though if there’s one particular setup I can mention I didn’t like is the part where you got to spinjump in a clock thwimp to advance through a spike area; most times I just tanked the hit through. The main idea behind the jumpy grinder usage is also good, but I would’ve implemented a bit of a variation in its execution instead of just one platform with some 1F0 to stop them from jumping; something like adding a few more platforms would’ve spiced it up. Other than that, not bad: the variation of the enemies used between the two areas is really well done and doesn’t feel inconsistent, as all of them are given the same attention. Some parts of the level – specifically the ones where you need to barely press A to avoid the tornadoes – are kind of annoying. The ending of the level also feels a bit… abrupt. Looks-wise the tileset is okay but the sprites and some other objects clash with it.
Last edited by Super Maks 64 5 years ago, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 24 Hour Contest #11 - design a level in 24 hours with a given challenge

Post by idol »

oh yeah i judged this

it wasnt very good
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Re: 24 Hour Contest #11 - design a level in 24 hours with a given challenge

Post by Ivy »

tfw smwcentral still hosts 24ho contests only for the judges to slightly complain about how mediocre the levels are
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Re: 24 Hour Contest #11 - design a level in 24 hours with a given challenge

Post by Dragon Fogel »

"The less we say about the rest of the universe, the better off we're gonna be, I think."

I think this might be my favorite raocow quote so far this year.
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Re: 24 Hour Contest #11 - design a level in 24 hours with a given challenge

Post by Zach808 »

Is it just me, or does it seem like raocow, having started playing hacks during the dark ages of SMW hacking, is really soft on modern levels that the judges didn't like due to having been through so much worse? Or is it the other way around, where the judges are a lot more critical than everyone else?
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Re: 24 Hour Contest #11 - design a level in 24 hours with a given challenge

Post by Super Maks 64 »

Skyscraping Strghld - 7th by Centipede
Score - 37,25
idol

Fun/Gameplay: 14/25

A creative level that’s kind of sloppily tossed together. This level feels like the author was really pressured to get something out in this time – there seem to be a lot of oversights and odd decisions in the composition of this level. Right off the bat – if you jump into the Tornado from below the ropes, you won’t see the Mosaic Thwimps going back and forth, and since the Tornado is not an obstacle, jumping directly into it is not an issue. For some reason everything in this level feels slowed down – the Mosaic Thwimps sit on their walls for aeons, the Rotating Thwimps take slightly long, and it even feels like the Carrot Lifts take their sweet ass time. Of these, the Mosaic Thwimps become both the biggest nuisance and the biggest non-issue, as it balances on a line between making the player self-doubt whether or not they should jump through them – or, if they wait, they’ll end up waiting 40 minutes for the Thwimps to make their glorious across-the-street return. The myriad of clouds setup on screen 06 felt like hell to deal with, especially with the Secret Dry Bones in the basement who shotgunned my ass with a bone because I waited too long trying to gauge how the Bouncing Grinder was interacting with the clouds (which, I later found out, was not terribly predictable). The vertical section felt kind of a predictable way for this level to go, and for the most part it’s okay. The final setup is another issue with the scrolling – having to trust the coins without much ability to see what’s coming felt pretty silly. The last area was the most interesting, I especially enjoyed the feeling of chaos in the first setup, and maneuvering around on screen 03. However, the cloud setup on 04 is kind of bizarre with the Gray castle blocks (which despawned for me playing, actually), and went on just long enough to make the midpoint feel lopsided, appearing way earlier than it should’ve.

Sprite Usage/Creativity: 13/20

The Tornado sprite is utilized well, but the Mosaic Thwimps feel so slow that they’re awkward and uncomfortable to deal with. I enjoyed the additional focus on the Turn Block Bridge sprites, you don’t see them often and you made a fair use out of them throughout the level.

Aesthetics: 3/5

Background is pretty ugly, plus the floating Triangle Block tile near the end of the level felt just… lazy.

Total: 30/50

Tob

17 / 12 / 02 -> 31
The level has some neat ideas with the tornado and the magikoopa but they start to repeat eventually. On top of that the time limit
is very short and the sunset background palette is really bad.

Sinc-X

F: 25
C: 20
A: 3
Total: 48/50
Comments:
Somehow you made Magikoopas fun, and that's amazing to me. Fantastic use of all the sprites, all very enjoyable to deal with and used in ways I haven't seen. Not much else to say other than great job.

Erik

Fun/Gameplay: 19/25
Sprite Usage/Creativity: 18/20
Aesthetics: 3/5
TOTAL: 40/50
Comments:
Subtracted points in aesthetics are because of the orange that really annoyed my eyes, and in a lesser way the glitched SFX (in a way, sound is aesthetics). Overall a really solid level, though not without its flaws. My first playthrough I was really confused because of a tornado that was supposed to spawn didn’t. This also happened after killing myself and entering again, then it never happened again… weird, but have to note that. Overall good setups and introduction to the sprites in the set. Some of the setups posed with them though felt really slow, especially with those mosaic thwimps. Imo there should have been a way to differentiate among the faster and slower ones with graphics, though it’s not too much of an issue. Also a bit small of a complaint, sometimes it might be hard to get the magikoopa to hit the turn blocks and it’s especially annoying when the sprite that ends up spawning is a thwimp. Some of the vanilla sprites used – come to mind the carrot lifts and the wooden spike – are just used in few setups never to be seen again, which is kind of inconsistent. The biggest offender is the timer: the first time playing I ran out of time, and my second, I got to the goal with 80 seconds left. I might have sounded too negative, but I still enjoyed playing through this: very balanced difficulty wise and you really used the potential of these sprites.
Prism Passage - 8th by Ryaa
Score: 37
idol

Fun/Gameplay: 13/25

Frankly, I’m not too terribly sure on what to say regarding this level. There’s a cohesive ambition to the composition of this level, but what’s here is ultimately rather uninteresting. The Blue Shell setup on screen 5 feels really silly, a kind of “sudden” ambush this level doesn’t really do otherwise. The screen scroll setup on screen 0F isn’t terribly necessary since you can spinjump just fine off of the Pendulum Ball and Chain, but I do kinda enjoy how janky the overlapped Pipe-Dwelling Bullet Blasters are. The 500 coins at the end of the level feels kind of excessive as all hell, with the last Dragon Coin being a complete non-issue to collect unlike the others. Also, there’s a reason why the tips of the Megaspikes aren’t full 16x16 hurt blocks – it’s pretty dumb to get hurt by the invisible part of the block when jumping over it.

Sprite Usage/Creativity: 13/20

As aforementioned, tiling up the Pipe-Dwelling Bullet Blasters was a cute touch, making them a bit tougher of an obstacle to deal with. The Pendulum Ball and Chains didn’t really have much impact on this level, and I thought the Pyro Guys were, all things considered, used well as they were contained to primarily focus on their projectiles. The few situations in which they were not were poorer uses of them, seemingly hamfisted in for the sake of being there.

Aesthetics: 2/5

Ugly colors all around, a myriad of distracting naked Megaspikes, & weird tiling in the castle set all were detrimental to this levels aesthetics quite a bit.

Total: 28/50

Tob

23 / 13 / 04 -> 30
Level looks really nice, but not amazing, aesthetically but the sprite usage falls rather short. The pendulum ball had some great uses but the bullet blasters
haven't really been much of a threat and the fryguys were barely even noticable.

Sinc-X

F: 24
C: 18
A: 3
Total: 45/50
Comments:
Do I see...Pyro Guys being used well? And actually being fun enemies? Even if the other sprites didn't work for you, you made great use of what you did use. Very fluent and consistently fun design. The only major issue I have is that the megaspike spike tiles have a bad hitbox, which I know is unavoidable, but I'd have rathered it been like SMW's.

Erik

Fun/Gameplay: 18/25
Sprite Usage/Creativity: 15/20
Aesthetics: 2/5
TOTAL: 35/50
Comments:
An interesting level. It plays good, and I like the different path choices, which though simple they add to the distinction for this level. Mostly nothing to complain about in the design, though there are some small flat stretches; not too big to deduct points about them though. The usage of the sprites is good for the most part, though I felt the pyro guy isn’t used in any interesting or threatening way. I also wish something more was done with the pendulum ball ‘n’ chains more than just being an aid to you by spinjumping on them. The palette is okay, but the outlines are inconsistent; at first I thought the block where the first pendulum ball ‘n’ chain was solid, but it wasn’t; this lead me to believe everything with that outline was going to be decoration, but those pillars ended up being hurting blocks. Also what’s with the pyro guy looking like that?
I should sleep - 15th by Miku
Score - 31
idol

Fun/Gameplay: 11/25

This level is designed pretty quaint, but feels almost a bit… empty. The YI Balloons kind of exist in their own void – jumping from them under a ceiling of spikes was a good setup, but the ceiling felt too low so it was more claustrophobic than anything. The Sleeping Goombas are rather forgotten upon, and the turn this level takes in the end feels kind of unfortunate. The YI Balloon setups to shoot a shell through a little gap is incredibly tedious, and feels as if it tests less skill than it does luck.

Sprite Usage/Creativity: 8/20

Unlike the issues other levels have, this one feels a bit underfocused. You have the YI Balloons & the Sleeping Goombas, but they’re genuinely the sole two sprites throughout this level. They receive no support from other enemies, and as such most your setups blend into the exact same thing.

Aesthetics: 5/5

I found the spikes to be a bit hard to make out, especially in the section with a spike above a YI Balloon that I assume you’re supposed to jump around. However, the rest of the aesthetics make up for it rather well.

Total: 24/50

Tob

15 / 19 / 05 -> 39
Amazing and cute visuals accompanying a good use of the balloon sprite. Some of the jumps around corners were very hard to make and
the level stretched a little too long with nothing really interesting happening.

Sinc-X

F: 17
C: 10
A: 5
Total: 32/50
Comments:
This is really pretty-looking and fairly enjoyable to play. There's not too much special outside of aesthetics but there are still a few cool concepts floating around. The second shell toss is really annoying to pull off, but that's pretty much the worst part of the level gameplay-wise.

Erik

Fun/Gameplay: 12/25
Sprite Usage/Creativity: 12/20
Aesthetics: 5/5
TOTAL: 29/50
Comments:
Outside of the GORGEOUS looks of the level there really isn’t much to comment on. I liked the concept you had going on with the puzzles but there’s a lot of lost potential since they feel way too simple. The layout of the level also sometimes leads to some empty areas. The usage of the balloons is pretty cool, but I would’ve liked for them to have some more interesting obstacles as you progressed further. The sleepy goombas are used okay, but not in a particularly catchy manner.
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Re: 24 Hour Contest #11 - design a level in 24 hours with a given challenge

Post by Ditocoaf »

Zach808 wrote: 5 years ago Is it just me, or does it seem like raocow, having started playing hacks during the dark ages of SMW hacking, is really soft on modern levels that the judges didn't like due to having been through so much worse? Or is it the other way around, where the judges are a lot more critical than everyone else?
I think it's partly just that "contest winner" is a different standard to judge a game by than "fun to play for a bit".

If you're playing a bunch of romhack levels because you always play a lot of romhack levels, you're going to appreciate the ones that are "just" pretty fun for a bit and without any calamitous faults -- they serve the purpose you were playing them for. If you're playing a bunch of romhack levels to compare them against each other and choose a winner, you're going to be looking for more impressive things to praise, and minor faults will matter more -- you're expected to form an opinion about all of it.
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Re: 24 Hour Contest #11 - design a level in 24 hours with a given challenge

Post by Mea »

That last level with the custom graphics, I should sleep, had I think the most interesting use of the balloons so far. The parts where you had to race forward before the balloons got too high into the spikes. Gorgeous work on that tileset too.
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Re: 24 Hour Contest #11 - design a level in 24 hours with a given challenge

Post by Valentine »

oh hey that first level's mine, that's pretty cooooooool.

Honestly, if raocow died to that final thwimp place with the three of them right before the end everyone would've absolutely destroyed this leve l, however, people might do that either way, who knows.

That thwimp placement at the end is pretty awful either way so I mean.
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Re: 24 Hour Contest #11 - design a level in 24 hours with a given challenge

Post by Mandew »

I made the second level <:

I don't actually know what I'm doing most of the time.
The music is Ripple Feilds from Kirby Dream Land 3, but with the melody removed.

I'm the guy who programmed the Friction Balls, the dangerous plant that spits bouncing fireballs (Venus Flyin' Traps), Clock Thwimp and Mosaic Thwimp.

I had no idea what to do for this contest so I just went with what came to mind.
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Super Maks 64
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Re: 24 Hour Contest #11 - design a level in 24 hours with a given challenge

Post by Super Maks 64 »

MAGICAL MACHINERY CONVENTION - 11th by Sancles
Score - 34
idol

Fun/Gameplay: 14/25

This level is a real exercise in tedium. Well designed but a monolithic slog, primarily via the inclusion of two completely unnecessary autoscrollers. Due to where the camera ends up, the first Magikoopa’s efforts are rather fruitless as his magic doesn’t spawn up from where he’s standing (at least in my first playthrough). The inclusion of the reset patch made me hopeful that you were kind enough to restart the player from the beginning of each room, but such was naught and having to replay a bit to get through the autoscrollers each time I died (which was a few times because this level isn’t exactly the Goof Troop of SMW Hacks) was irritating. It felt like you wanted to do a lot more with the Magikoopas but couldn’t really find a good use either, with latter setups feeling just similar to the first few over and over. In fact, I’d extend that to quite a lot of what this level does: really interesting setups the first times, and then just those setups increasingly more difficult over and over. See: Mosaic Thwomps going back and forth and spinjumping on them being repeated ad nauseum, or using the Wall Grinders to spinjump up over and over through 40 different variations of the same thing. There’s a lot of hints of interesting platforming here, but it’s primarily drowned out by it’s own length and treading the same ground rather than being a succinct, difficult and creative experience.

Sprite Usage/Creativity: 16/20

Uses all of the available sprites but uses them all rather well. The only sprite I’d say feels a bit shoehorned is the Jumping grinder, which doesn’t really add much to this level other than a feeling of panic. I think you could’ve milked the Magikoopa for a few more interesting setups as well, but you were pretty on the ball with things elsewise.

Aesthetics: 5/5

Yeah they look fine. Kinda janky in a VLDC 5 sort of way, but not impeding to look at.

Total: 35/50

Tob

18 / 17 / 02 -> 37
While Aesthetically not really interesting, this level does implement most sprites of the set really well.
My only complaint is that there are some setups in which you can "toggle" the stationary magikoopa in such
a way that he doesnt really serve any threat at all.

Sinc-X

F: 11
C: 13
A: 3
Total: 27/50
Comments:
If the whole level was like the first half this'd be much better off but you lost me with the autoscroll part. Spinjumping on Grinders while also being constantly forced forward is really just not enjoyable, especially not when it's one of the central aspects of the section. That little Thwimp setup at the end is really awkward as well. As for praise, the first half is contrarily really nice to play and uses the Thwimps and Grinders in an actually fun way.

Erik

Fun/Gameplay: 17/25
Sprite Usage/Creativity: 17/20
Aesthetics: 3/5
TOTAL: 37/50
Comments:
I liked this level. The formula of non-autoscrolling sections with an autoscroll in-between was very well executed and didn’t feel just tacked in. I’m really liking the usage of the sprites from the set you picked. The introduction to how they all work was very good, maybe except the magikoopa, whose placement I couldn’t even see was in a line of munchers. That said, though, I felt like there’s quite a bit of issues. At first, the length: while the midway point does help, it feels very tedious to play those autoscrolling sections over and over if you screw up. The second section is pretty solid, except the first normal thwimp which caught me off guard a fair bit of times. The third area is also good though it starts going with the theme of spinjumping in the wall grinders to further progress, which doesn’t feel really creative. The second autoscroll part continues this trend and even more annoyingly so, and so does the last area, with this one adding thwimp spinjumping – which is not as annoying but still worth pointing it out –. Other than that though, I had a lot of fun playing this.
good morning mario - 19th by Mandew
Score - 28
idol

Fun/Gameplay: 11/25

This is a bizarrely composed level. The coins feel placed as if you were attempting to recreate loss over and over again with varying levels of success (screen 4 is probably the closest you got, and that seems to take a more liberal near-brutalist stab at the whole joke). You took a risk with the Bouncing Spiny Eggs, who need to be used very specifically in order to excel as interesting obstacles. However, I’d say that risk really didn’t pay off. It felt like half your setups the Spiny Eggs would work as you intended to, bouncing between the cement blocks back and forth - the other half of the setups they’d jump over and steamroll my ass while I stood assessing the situation. I found the most interesting setups you were able to garner were the simpler ones involving the Bouncing Spiny Eggs and jumping under them, they’re easy to predict and feel good when you pull it off.

Sprite Usage/Creativity: 10/20

Succinctly focused on the Spiny Eggs without feeling greedy to use every single sprite, but setups regarding them are tenuous at best and seemingly ill-working at worst. Needed more care at making sure things worked well enough for the player to have the time to gauge how they’d move and deal with the sprites, which is what this level is missing the most.
Aesthetics: 3/5

Main level’s aesthetic isn’t too good, with the oddly engulfed-in-darkness trees signaling some sort of nighttime-aesthetic, but the grass still as bright as bright can be. Not entirely sure why the level went What The Hell in the goal section either, but when I think Mario I don’t end to think “Blood Red Sky While The World Is Taken”-type darkness.

Total: 24/50

Tob

13 / 11 / 01 -> 25
The level uses the spiny balls really well but as soon as you think that it's gonna get real interesting
it just dumps you in an ugly sunset and ends.

Sinc-X

F: 19
C: 14
A: 2
Total: 35/50

Comments:
I love seeing this sprite being used well for once. I don't consider Spiny Eggs to be a fun enemy but you've made them a fun enemy so kudos on that. Structurally this level is..really strange and the aesthetic with all the cement blocks is not very good but the actual mechanics are executed nicely. I'd like to see what this would have become with more than just 24 hours.

Erik

Fun/Gameplay: 14/25
Sprite Usage/Creativity: 12/20
Aesthetics: 2/5
TOTAL: 28/50
Comments:
This level starts okay, but sadly falls victim to repetition. With only like 4 sprites in total being used, it might have sounded obvious that this was going to happen, and yes, eventually the obstacles become very similar to one another. You could’ve tried varying them up more, which would’ve allowed your score in the design and sprite usage go up. The palettes in the last room are very ugly. There really isn’t more to add without sounding repetitive myself.
FOREST NIGHT THING - 16th by Teyla
Score - 30,25
idol

Fun/Gameplay: 12/25

Oof, this level takes a real hit in the second half. This level starts off a bit unfocused, being unsure of what element of its spriteset it wants to focus on most. We have some normal Grinders, some Circling Grinders, some Jumping Grinders, some Tornadoes, and even the Stationary Magikoopa makes an appearance in the second half. The physical design of the landmasses in this level is built well, with a nice amount of variation while remaining rather horizontal. However, the sprite placements of the unique sprites seem to be lackadaisical, without time to really focus on any individual one. The usage of the Tornadoes in the second half was a real slog, though. That 1F0 section was awfully boring, with little to do but jump on them. The Grinders served no obstacle purpose, and the only obstacles are a mighty two Mosaic Thwimps who are easier to dodge than all hell. The ending feels cluttered, as if you panicked and thought you had to use every single sprite so you tossed in the Stationary Magikoopas with no care for their placement, and the end result feels just that: rushed.

Sprite Usage/Creativity: 07/20
No real sprite is used too terribly creatively here. They all appear for a few seconds and are gone.

Aesthetics: 5/5

It looks very good! The song is a banger as well.

Total: 24/50

Tob

23 / 14 / 05 -> 42
The Level has a lot of good ideas with all the sprites but it tries to stay safe most of the time.

Sinc-X

F: 17
C: 9
A: 4
Total: 30/50
Comments:
Pretty neat for the most part, but I feel like the ideas presented need to be developed more. It felt like it was all over before it got to the real meat. The tornado bouncing section right after the midpoint in particular feels tacked on and isn't very interesting to play (a lot of just waiting). Not bad overall though.


Erik

Fun/Gameplay: 13/25
Sprite Usage/Creativity: 8/20
Aesthetics: 4/5
TOTAL: 25/50
Comments:
For one moment I thought this level’s quality was only going to be in its looks; they are excellent, though the color-coded grinders could look better. Really though, this level doesn’t reach a clear focus and takes really, really long to pick up its pace. The first half is not memorable at all, with only one setup (the tornadoes/wall grinders) coming to mind, and the rest being really a breeze. The second half starts up with this boring tornado following setup which is just like having to spin jump in an enemy while avoiding falling to a pit for a long distance. It’s truly until the end when the things get clever, these jumpy grinder setups are great, though the level then ends. I wish more setups like this one would have appeared. The other two sprites, the stationary magikoopa and the thwimps, do make appearances but it’s not much to talk about. They’re just there. You could’ve tried incorporating them more into your main level.
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Kilgamayan
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Re: 24 Hour Contest #11 - design a level in 24 hours with a given challenge

Post by Kilgamayan »

Shoutout to Teyla for the excellent Cherry Tree Bridge choice.
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Re: 24 Hour Contest #11 - design a level in 24 hours with a given challenge

Post by Ashan »

"Audacity" is raocow's ten dollar word at the moment
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