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

[lolyoshi]

If you want to know the rules of the contest, click here.
Most the entries are fairly straight-forward, so this may take half as long as the CLDC contest.

- 1 - what's going on?
- 2 - relatively speaking?
- 3 - think fast
- 4 - back that fact
- 5 - high-low
- 6 - can you top this?
- 7 - stop me if you've heard this one
- 8 - the movie masters
- 9 - what's my line?
- 10 - musical chairs
- 11 - personality
- 12 - masquerade party
- 13 - the gong show
- 14 - you lie like a dog
- 15 - letters to laugh-in

[Kilgamayan]

Well, that level sure happened.

[BobisOnlyBob]

oof

[ft029]

to be fair setting up the sprites was an absolute pain, and many sprites needed to be fixed because of some PIXI routine thing I don't understand.

Also, the sprites in this box are just awful. The fire guy and the shotzo are not well-designed sprites.

[Valentine]

I'll partially defend this level because accounting for all the other factors that probably went wrong the guy most likely only had like 6-7 hours to make this level and was in a rush to get everything tested and done.

6-7 hours may sound like a lot but it seems like there was an attempt to make a puzzle level here and honestly this ended up just being a bunch of sad inconveniences.

I feel sorry for the level creator because additionally to this set being bad it was probably one of the most broken ones.

[Kilgamayan]

Did everyone in this contest get this same set? That doesn't bode very well if so. <_<

[Valentine]

there were 5 sets, the first set being the most stable, this one uses either the second or the fourth set but I don't remember which

[raocow]

it'd be cool if someone who knows what the boxes are to let us know the contents, I know I'd be curious for sure

[Valentine]

Copied and pasted from the smwcentral topic

- 1 (Tornado; Mosaic/Clock Thwimps; Jumpy Grinder; Wall-Following Grinder; Stationary Magikoopa)
- 2 (Pyro Guy; Pendulum Ball N' Chain; Pipe-Dwelling Bullet Bill Blaster; NSMB Propeller Block; Shotzo)
- 3 (Bouncing/Rolling Spiny Egg; Better Bomb Koopa; Rock/Bomb Throwing Monty Mole; Venus Flyin' Trap)
- 4 (SMB3 Stretch; Cloud Drop; Sleepy Goomba; Wavy Boo Streams; Rideable Balloon)
- 5 (Atomic Muncher; 32x32 Chain Chomp; Controllable Carrot Top Lift; SMB3 Ptooie; Molotov Bro.)

Fun Fact: SMB3 Stretch needed a specific tile to work and nobody was told that so some levels just couldn't use it.

I sound salty but the contest was actually really fun.

[gbreeze]

it's not that they didn't know what block to use with the stretch, it's that custom blocks were not allowed in the contest

That didn't stop some people from using our little stretch buddy anyway though for some funny results.

Anyway this isn't gonna be as interesting as CLDC since it is a 24 hour contest, but it will be a neat lp regardless and I'm looking forward to some levels! And yeah the contest was put together in a very rushed manner, but I don't really wanna harp on that too much cause it was already discussed a lot. Many problems coulda been avoided if the contest was just postponed a day so the issues could be sorted out, but what's done is done lol, and I'll say that it was fun participating and staying up way too late to finish cause of procrastination, and the staff did do a good job responding to thr issues after the contest started.

[FPzero]

Oof, that level looked really rough. Last place makes sense for something like that.

[Leet]

literally just remove the shy guys and it would be a passable level

[ano0maly]

I don't think the flame shy guys needed to be removed completely (they are part of the box after all), but there were just too many, and the level was too densely packed with those box items. Really, all this level needed was some more space in general. And those fall-through clouds felt mean and unnecessary.

I'm actually impressed with the box contents. When I heard boxes like MAGL2 I thought "oh nooooooo", but these are custom objects that are somewhat interesting in themselves, not just boring and glitchy "effects" you have to figure out how to use creatively. Like the pendulum mace things, which are a simple change but it's refreshing to see this new object.

[Super Maks 64]

The 2nd level actually wasn't a good introduction to what you're going to be seeing in later levels since for some reason it used the On/Off bounce sprite graphic for the Tornado sprite and it also used a buggy version of the Mosaic Thwimp sprite (the version that was in the zip used a RAM address instead of a constant value for its stop time. The Clock Thwimp didn't have that typo though.)

[Leet]

what if hyper vi was made using a box? it wasn't, but it would explain a lot

[BobisOnlyBob]

man, raocow, it's a bit late to be jumping onto the whole youtube unboxing fad

[Veruchai]

I'm always amazed by these 24hour contests and how much they can produce in such a small timeframe.
Hearing about the difficulty with the sprites only extends this feeling.

[Kilgamayan]

In defense of the gradual transition to cement blocks, the space st is unfinished.

[Zach808]

what if hyper vi was made using a box? it wasn't, but it would explain a lot

Don’t forget the intense time limit of 20 minutes per level. Can’t have people actually test Haimari levels before release, can we? :D

[Sugar]

RussianMan's level was really neat :). Looking forward to rest of LP.

[Super Maks 64]

May as well do this since no one else bothered:

Bottom 3:

Desert Royale - 33rd by SupInvisible
Score: 7,25

idol

Fun/Gameplay: 04/25

What a start, huh? A wonky as all-hell overworld, a Shotzo with performance anxiety, and a switch that yells “NO” at me. But that’s really just the tip of the iceberg of this level, which is ultimately an abhorred cluster of repugnant level design and ill-implemented ideas. The sprite placement is the biggest issue with this level first & foremost, with little care put into placing sprites in any situation in which they’d work effectively as an interesting and fair obstacle. The Pyro Guy in the tunnel on the way back when you get Yoshi is very poorly placed, being a near-guaranteed hit on Yoshi. Right after, the jump onto the munchers with a slope above is incredibly hard to execute when you’re Big Mario, which makes me consider that either you did next to no testing on this level, you overlooked nearly everything, or you simply did not care. I hope it’s one of the former two in this case, because if it’s the latter this level is just wasting my time. Putting a muncher underneath the player when they come out of a pipe is a dick move, not a clever obstacle. And then the last section – I don’t know how you managed to both: a) make it so half of these sprites don’t actually shoot any sprites & b) be completely okay by keeping that in your level. And then it ends – no midpoint, a lot of questions unanswered, and ultimately a miserable untested experience. All I can really ask is why?

Sprite Usage/Creativity: 04/20

You tried to use a few of these sprites, but the Shotzos’ and Pipe-Dwelling Bullet Blasters are broken half the time anyways. The Pyro Guy is incredibly misused, never feeling like a fair obstacle, and the Pendulum Ball & Chains are always placed in uncomfortable crowded areas. Not good.

Aesthetics: 2/5

Poor port, miscellaneous broken tiles (Where did Yoshi’s tongue go?), poorly tiled pyramid blocks, improper tiling in the 32 pixel wide sand slopes, and a lot of other completely overlooked stuff. The song in the last area is fun, but I can’t say you can take much credit for that there.

Total: 10/50

Tob

01 / 02 / 03 -> 06
The level doesnt really know what it wants to be and the enemies are being spammed all over the place what makes playing through the level
really tedious. Also the scrolling part at the end was probably unnecessary.

SincX

F: 1
C: 3
A: 3
Total: 7/50
Comments:
This level is all over the place. Everything is extremely cramped and not enjoyable in the slightest to begin with--and then you expect me to babysit items on top of that? It's a maze, it's a mess, it's just not a good experience at all.

Erik

Fun/Gameplay: 1/25
Sprite Usage/Creativity: 2/20
Aesthetics: 3/5
TOTAL: 6/50
Comments:
This entry man. The worst possible usage of this spriteset multiplied times 100, in an awful puzzle-like level. I don’t like it. The only good things about this entry are: a) it looks good; b) I never have to play it again outside of this judging.

Cave For Midgets - tied for 31st by WindFish
Score: 12

idol

Fun/Gameplay: 08/25

God go off honestly. I’d say fun nor gameplay can be found much here, but what is here mostly just exists. I found it hard to find the fun and/or gameplay hidden behind the incestuous fusion of the dark blue foreground and strong brown background, but I think I found some that I can comment about. This level does acknowledge that there are resources to be used, and I do in fact see resources being used in this level, so I have to give that a few thumbs up right there (I can only spare two, however). The Sleeping Goombas are used effectively in this level as a simple enemy, and the regular Goombas well, do various Goomba-related activities such as walking and turning into a horrible dust when crushed. The Wave Boo Streams are used in a sort of fruitless way, the first being locked in a shibari prison where the only real concern is Mario being Pixar’s Up’d into them at a glacial pace, and the other use to primarily note on screen 0A kind of has a mind of it’s own, making it a bit annoying to deal with. This level has no midpoint, but where the Cave For Midgets is going it doesn’t need one. Because it’s about 1 minute long. Yeah. The Balloon staircase section is cute, though. This level has that.

Sprite Usage/Creativity: 07/20

It certainly tries it’s damndest to use it’s sprites, and the only real thing of note to mention here is the usage of the Sleeping Goombas being tepid at best. Otherwise the Wave Stream Boos are tossed in without to much care on functionality, and the Balloons seem like you really tried to use them but didn’t get any actual interesting gameplay functionalities out of them.

Aesthetics: 2/5

Hmmm, not sure about this one kiddo. The foreground and background are at a war with each-other in their vicious contrasting colors, the Goombas disappear into a glitchy fog when crushed, and the Wave Stream Boo’s are glitchy as all hell with seemingly no care put into actually giving them their proper graphics. The port is also atrocious is as atrocious does, and if this cave was meant for midgets even I, someone who is graciously 5’4, would be offended. Real sad hours here.

Total: 17/50

Tob

02 / 04 / 01 -> 07
A lot of broken graphics and a weird color contrast between FG and BG that hurts my eyes well too much.
The balloon riding segments is just waiting for it to go up what is really boring.

SincX

F: 6
C: 4
A: 2
Total: 12/50
Comments:
I'm not sure I get what this one is trying to accomplish. All of the sprites are just...there, with no real purpose, especially the balloons which just serve as an extra waiting game in an already plain and lifeless level. There's no rhyme or reason to anything at hand, making for a pretty unremarkable experience.

Erik

Fun/Gameplay: 6/25
Sprite Usage/Creativity: 4/20
Aesthetics: 2/5
TOTAL: 12/50
Comments:
Really boring level. Has a lot of empty areas, many flat stretches of land, and a very thoughtless colocation of the provided sprites. The broken boo stream graphics are pretty apparent. The sleepy goombas, even though pretty quick, don’t pose a threat. Most time spent in a balloon is boring, as no obstacle to spice them up or keep the player interested was included – prompting them to just wanting to mash the fast forward key –. Then the level ends abruptly. Overall feels incomplete and untested.

UNFINISHED SPACE ST - tied for 31st by Quantix
Score: 12 -5 points penalty for broken midpoint

idol

Fun/Gameplay: 05/25

I wouldn’t say this is an Unfinished Space St, but it’s certainly an Untested Space St. This level has some creative ideas but the composition of this level is overly long and terribly drab. There is so much uncomfortably long empty space between enemies, I feel like this level is just a test in recreating a less-than-stellar open world game into a 2D Mario format. There’s around 26 screens before the midpoint, in which the player has to perform a mixture of pretty interesting setups and long bouts of boring seemingly-automated sprite placement, and then the vertical section… it’s an expression in tedium, continuously reusing the same sprites in rather predicable continuous formations (Circling Grinders moving around platforms, ad nauseum, etc), before it leads into what really tanks this section: the autoscroller. The autoscroller is a few knicks away from being a new kind of sleeping medication. It’s so unnecessarily overlong, and there is so little to it of any merit. Not only that, but it ends in nearly 2 screens of absolutely nothing before the goal. This entire last section is 12 screens long, on slow autoscroll, in a level with no midpoint. Oh yeah, did I mention the midpoint is broken? Because it’s broken. Hence the penalty. I get you wanted to submit something and this was clearly put out in a state you were not comfortable with it being, but I would have rather you just not submitted it because clearly this was going to be nothing but a waste of time for me and the other judges. I doubt this is truly reflective of your skills as a level designer, so what the fuck is the point of me playing this?

Sprite Usage/Creativity: 07/20

Stuff is used creatively sometimes, but it’s mostly just first ideas and calling it a day. I have a good feeling the person who made this knows how to do pretty creative stuff, but this felt like a dry-spell.

Aesthetics: 1/5

Yeah, I mean you knew what to expect here. Cement block spam, kinda ugly ExGFX, broken GFX Tornados, icky shit my guy.

Total: 13/50

Tob

09 / 05 / 01 -> 15 (-5 Penalty)
Very boring and bland level. At least there wasn't anything really annoying in it.

SincX

F: 10
C: 13
A: 1
Total: 24/50
Comments:
Clever use of the sprites, the Thwimps in particular, but this definitely does feel...unfinished. There are several parts throughout that just feel slightly off when playing, but it's still fairly enjoyable. The worst section is the tornado following at the end, which is mostly just really uninteresting and full of empty space.

Erik

Fun/Gameplay: 9/25
Sprite Usage/Creativity: 6/20
Aesthetics: 1/5
TOTAL: 16/50
Comments:
Well the title isn’t wrong. This does feel unfinished. The first area feels barren and devoid, though there are enemies, it really feels like there’s nothing going on. Add some coins or decoration or something. Also I didn’t know that was supposed to be a tornado until I touched it. The second section is a bit better with the setups. The cement blocks, though, clash with the station graphics you were using. I wish you could’ve added a way to distinguish between which thwimp speed is which, because there’s like 90 variations and they might catch you off guard. The obstacle where you’re supposed to avoid the tornadoes so they don’t propel you towards the muncher ceiling is easily ignored as there’s no other threats in the way. The third section gets slightly better but at the same time it’s repetitive, with some of the setups regarding the mosaic thwimps feeling like already used in the section before, and with some annoying grinder jumps; adding to this, it still looks barren. The last section is this really boring autoscroller which really depletes you of your attention span, this time with a bit interesting, yet so long it almost does not matter tornado landing marathon. Was a section like this necessary? It takes from my already low enjoyment of this level.

Today's levels:

WEAPONIZED WOODS - 27th by BulletBillTime
Score: 19,25

idol

Fun/Gameplay: 10/25

I’m a bit less sure what to say about this level – playing it I kinda felt like I was on autopilot. You utilize the whole sprite set, but nothing too terribly well to note. It’s a cavalcade of ground, slopes, and pipes with annoying Venus Flyin’ Traps by the end, and an odd Monty Mole hidden by a bush right by the goal. Hm, not much else to say.

Sprite Usage/Creativity: 7/20

At first I thought you were gonna make the level focused on bombs – the Bomb Koopas and the Monty Moles were an interesting combination together, but the inclusion of the other two sprites, the Bouncing Spiny Balls and the Venus Flyin’ Trap respectively, kind of made this level lose a bit of its focused. It began to feel less like a weaponized woods and more of a cluster of enemies whose reason to be there was less because you were interested to utilize them to their full potential, and more because you felt pressured to utilize them.

Aesthetics: 4/5

Looks fine.

Total: 21/50

Tob

10 / 07 / 01 -> 18
The level isn't particularly interesting but it has a few little bits that make good use of the sprites.
It's trying to go in the right direction but a lack of knowledge is notable (It's easy and good to improve though).

SincX

F: 12
C: 8
A: 2
Total: 22/50
Comments:
This one doesn't commit any cardinal sins, it just doesn't make much impression. Very basic and SMW-esque design but not unfun to play.

Erik

Fun/Gameplay: 8/25
Sprite Usage/Creativity: 7/20
Aesthetics: 1/5
TOTAL: 16/50
Comments:
Very boring level with some core design flaws. The major threat in this level are the flying venus traps, and even those were easily avoidable. The rest of the sprite usage is uncreative, has no rhyme or reason at most times, and they look like they were thoughtlessly placed – proof of this we have bomb koopas that kill itself or have easily ignorable explosions, rolling spinies which will never come close to hitting Mario, jumping spinies in annoying positions, moles which will barely manage to throw a projectile before you kill them, and probably more –. Design wise this level feels very empty, with some areas of nothing but flat space, almost no challenge in platforming, and while there’s nothing wrong with easy levels this is easy because it really has nothing going on at all at parts. It just feels underdeveloped in every aspect of a level. And to top it off, we have ugly sprite palettes and a dull vanilla color combination.

h - 12th by RussianMan
Score: 33

idol

Fun/Gameplay: 11/25

I can’t say I really enjoyed much from this level at all. This level felt a bit more difficult for difficults’ sake – for example, having played through the level I ultimately saw little reason to not be able to spinjump. This level would’ve still been a tricky difficult level, but a lot of the more “bullshit” feeling deaths would’ve been alleviated since it’s most players first response to take advantage of their spinjump to deal with quick setups. I found most of the non-Tornado setups to be overwhelming, especially the second room where you wait out the pipe to come out of the ceiling. It feels like so much is happening, and the cherry on top is the pipe being just high enough that it’s a bit awkward to reach as small Mario, and missing it can result in death considering there’s 50 obstacles in the room to constantly dodge. I found the Magikoopa room to be slightly more difficult for the wrong reasons – the satisfaction of spinjumping off those Magic in conjunction with the Tornado sprites earlier and jumping through the Magikoopas is gone, and this is just another “dodge 40 things coming at you and they all move differently” section. The boss is even worse, and this level really just takes an unfortunate turn. You had something neat with the actual meat of this level for the most part – even if I felt losing spinjump was unnecessary, but all these rooms end up being overwhelming and unfun.

Sprite Usage/Creativity: 12/20

For the most part the sprites are used creatively, but it could have been improved by giving some of the sprites more breathing room to expand upon what they can do, rather than tossing them all together in a, pardon the pun, tornado of violence.
Aesthetics: 5/5

Looks fine, but I’m not sure why you threw those Ghost House tiles all over the places. Looks kind of bizarre, but ultimately nothing to dock over.

Total: 28/50

Tob

10 / 17 / 03 -> 30
The level starts with introducing each of the sprites. After that the level has a lot of areas
where you need to survive what is a really nice idea in theory. But the level turns those areas into a mere bullet hell
that, even though it is made amazingly, are really hard to get through.

SincX

F: 11
C: 20
A: 3
Total: 34/50
Comments:
I love the design and creativity here, however the difficulty gets overkill really quick, especially in the second half. Most of these things would be totally enjoyable on their own, but having to play through a bunch of super difficult sections over again just for another chance at the next starts to wear down on the player quickly and it starts to become unfun. This is the kind of level that really really needs multiple checkpoints, like one for each room or every other room, and it's a shame it doesn't because with those it'd be a real high contender.

Erik

Fun/Gameplay: 17/25
Sprite Usage/Creativity: 20/20
Aesthetics: 3/5
TOTAL: 40/50
Comments:
Boy what a hard level. Maybe a bit too much. It’s the kind of hard that still feels fun and gets you to want to keep playing, though. The introductions to how the custom sprites work are pretty good, except the jumpy grinders, which might catch the player off guard, and the stationary magikoopa, whose first setup, while clever, might have been better balanced. The small rooms where you have to wait for layer 2 to be able to proceed all are great, though they take a bit of pattern memorization. My only complaint is with the room with the wall grinders and the stationary magikoopas, which I feel could have benefited from an extra mushroom, like all other rooms do. The last setup before the big boo boss battle, the one with the jumpy and grounded grinder, caught me off guard the first time and many more; it’s bad. And speaking of boss battles, I don’t really think the big boo battle was a necessary addition to the level; while not particularly bad, I still think a normal exit would suffice and wouldn’t make the level feel anticlimactic. Overall though, I really loved played through this; the usage of the sprites in the set was excellent and well-thought, and while nothing special aesthetic wise, it still looks good.

[Lazy_]

idol's comment on Cave For Midgets is a national treasure

[FPzero]

I actually really liked Weaponized Woods. Or at least, maybe I liked the sprites because I haven't seen any of them before in a hack. My opinion on this level might be different if not for the novelty of seeing these sprites together for the first time. If I'd been judging and seen them elsewhere in better levels before, maybe I wouldn't be so positive about it right now.

[Mandew]

I like the name "Friction Balls" for the rolling / bouncing spiny eggs

[Lockirby2]

h really gave me some JUMP vibes, which is a good thing IMO.