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Vanilla Level Design Contest X - 1he First place entry...well d0ne to all.

this is the place where lps are being talked about. it's important to talk about games being played on the internet.
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Daizo
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Vanilla Level Design Contest X - 1he First place entry...well d0ne to all.

Post by Daizo »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_Lqi4BLaow - 1a - NOPE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CCJeRb5U4w - 1b - ?????
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icaBxhjECfE - 2 - ARBY's
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoFSm7pQfW8 - 3 - 🇪🇸🇹🇴🇵!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLdTIlr5mW4 - 4 - [ocean]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wj2lIMLkqcM - 5 - 1st place level
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YNSJs-kgI4 - 6 - Switch Palaces
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PTJCyjkvyk - 7 - INFO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePfVnJL9qSA - 8 - 1ST IS G.I.D. !!!!!!11111!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26eW3kIdJFM - 9 - #2 MORTON'S PLAINS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK-lNkukytw - 10 - [3x3 square on ocean]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3J_sYtVyUc - 11 - Spacehouse Tips
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWj7k00DggE - 12 - TOP SECRET AREA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGorOciBdpo - 13 - Have some items.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWb7oebHmhg - 14 - _______
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eN2gyJMVeFY - 15 - YELLOW SWITCH PALACE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UxyNvLYVew - 16 - YOSHI REMOVAL LEVEL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeBfg2oTtsY - 17 - no your other left
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsxlWtEA5P0 - 18 - NO WAY!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY1ijnC9xg0 - 19 - Mario has defeated the demented Iggy Koopa in castle #1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9DvCjub9iM - 20 - Have a great day!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5qdBVBud6Q - 21 - NOPE.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldabtVclUow - 22 - NOPE.AVI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9nVTicP9iU - 23 - [evolution of the bowser head]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6Fy-fORvn4 - 24 - BLUE SWITCH PALACE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeM5GXzOXk8 - prelude to vldcx 25
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Apl7FRrsggs - 25 - Go left.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZUG_SSwWSo - 26 - Lives
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UGjkFx33d8 - 27 - [neverending darkness]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh6mjw-o0aQ - 28 - go left twice squirrel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxDQuqj_QG0 - 29 - [nothing changes]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CicirHDz12Y - 30 - [house slightly shifted to the left]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL93d-HTyew - 31 - [right off the coast of chocolate island]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnQnalfeWyU - 32 - FINAL VERSION
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX6THlu03r0 - 33 - [green shack on the side]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2GXwnl2pus - 34 - wrong way lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVTOIIkGOfM - 35 - [darkness, darkness]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJk2ZPA9U8I - 36 - [an entirely new world]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFM9_8BxqSA - 37 - DE🅰️🇹H
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8mdT_EzDAE - 38 - [stasis]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D6u_2aXrpA - 39 - [sparkles]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6kkCgkZUts - 40 - [clouds]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnBy2EZiA_A - 41 - SECRET EXIT CLEARED
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVI3-JVPBUc - 42 - How much do you weight?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeSBLjtQfzc - 43 - Shrink House
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5p8-6PBbQo - 44 - [an orb, floating]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYK0JyIlAwc - 45 - [lone pillar]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ai8dsQWJ_cI - 46 - IM FALLING, SO I'M TAKING MY TIME ON MY RIIIIIIIIIIIIIDE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9qbMa8tmmI - 47 - [dot removal]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLAPkzlBR6c - 48 - [split the world in half]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PNycdo0dN4 - 49 - SWISS LIFE FARM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVyJOZWWq4I ! 50 ! [filmed on location at Wendy's Castle]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feYyzZVAoXI - 51 - [purple]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8CpPsv_9c4 - 52 - lives (if needed)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU5tJwqnAIA - 53 - I'M A FARMER!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uXgm1bNjiE - 54 - [water]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1Cdy86GYtQ - 55 - BABY FARM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5E1ZkdZqgE - 56 - oop
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQeHqjNWS_8 - 57 - GO LEFT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3uvcdtLTKs - 58 - COWARD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ThLGoDbQjo - 59 - RED SWITCH
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjPdRJWh6mk - 60 - [bowser's private artificial island off the coast of donut plains]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c_qJbet3N8 - 61 - YOSHI'S HOUSE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H5A2H-irBA - 62 - [the great factory]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcueC014tRs - 63 - [where the hills are tall]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c4h6t-Tn1g - 64 - red
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n3gR6KtSiU - 65 - LIVES if u SUCK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wRC1hCiayU - 395 - la route de madison
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnOEJH1YGWI - 396 - route 23

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLuZwbWuYXc - 66 - SwitchesxLifeFarm
for archival purpose only (vldcx 19th place)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px5LZldjOTw top 20 - 67 - 🏠 123 7
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZBX92XF1r8 16th and 15th - 68 - SNART
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFxcPpb6cW8 - 69 - Credits
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tIHlAkfgvo 12th and 11th - 70 - First Exit Found!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H16avM2pe24 10th + 9th - 71 - MOON HOUSE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sBo0xqPaUw - 72 - lets get some lives
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFi9F9hOYz4 7th - 73 - [⎯]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLLtmVOqacM 6th - 74 - MOON HOUSE [2]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJY02CrnWM8 - 75 - WIGGLER FARM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nyYgnmiBCo 4th - 76 - [sunken city]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N_20blOO-s 3rd - 77 - SOLVAY HUT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58NHDYe-Ap8 2nd! - 78 - [space]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afkFthhR3Ts - FIRST - 79 - [lonely paradise]

We're in it for the long haul, boys.

e: Oh look actual details.

The CROSSEDth Annual Vanilla Level Design Contest is the biggest VLDC yet! Originally planned as the first Duo Rom SMW Romhack (aka ROM Stitched, aka duo-disk style), this season includes 170+ levels separated into individual roms of non-stop action packed okay stages with about 40 or so good levels. Keep it civil, a lot of these entries are from first timers who got sucked into the hype so it's all fun in the end... and somewhat tragic to a select many.

Good luck raocow!
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e2: if I happen to be dealing with personal issues, any mod is free to edit the title and update the list. Image

e3: So surreal that VLDCX basically ended on a shockingly good note, and to also have it be done in about 2 months. Wow!
Last edited by Daizo 3 years ago, edited 81 times in total.
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My YouTube channel - P-Switch... - 100 Rooms of Enemies: The Nightmare Edition
Links above if you want to check 'em out... or not, since these are overlooked.
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest X - Oh boy here we go

Post by raocow »

I simultaneously apologise for both everything and nothing
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Nimono
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest X - Oh boy here we go

Post by Nimono »

oh man I forgot all about the levels this one had, and which ones placed what



i just remember I placed low lol (assuming this was the last one I entered- I forget)


looking forward to relearning the results :3
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest X - Oh boy here we go

Post by Ashan »

All of the levels that only worked in zsnes had a laggy bit during the level end theme. It even happened in the first one which I don't think you noticed.

Not sure if it's related
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest X - Oh boy here we go

Post by Mata Hari »

Looking forward to this thread degenerating into massive arguments.
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest X - Oh boy here we go

Post by TaviTurnip »

VLDXC concretely signaled the end of my relationship with the non-talkhaus Mario community because of how toxic SMWC and adjacent people are. Watching some of the judging for MaGL 3 brought to light a lot of disparaging or extremely apathetic commentary from certain judges, and that only bothered me a little, but watching a fair bit of the judging for VLDCX was a whole other beast that was just not okay.

I spent some fair hours in the judging streams for VLDCX watching level after level be told things like "what am I supposed to do with this?" and hearing a lot of dry talking down about some really cool levels (someone did a train level that comes to mind and it was super great), and then you look in chat and there's like 5-10 people also going "lol" and "why did they submit this?" and stuff a lot of the time and it was awful. Like robots that aren't capable of having fun in anything. The really rotten cherry on top was that for reasons, raocow just never LP'd it, so all the actually really neat levels people made in earnest rarely got any positive spotlight by anyone. I really wanted to watch that LP in its entirety.

I did also submit a level and it was played really poorly not regarded well, but these troubles were never about me. It was probably some 40+ levels judged on stream before it got to mine and by that point I already hated everything about the contest. A lot of levels were regarded unfairly.

I know it's not fair to ask you to play all or most of it, and I won't do that, but I hope you have more fun with however much of it you play than everyone else did, raocow Image
I regularly stream on Twitch! with other members of the talkhaus. Come watch Monday, Tuesday and Friday at 2PM for blind playthroughs and Pokémon and Touhou and stuff. Come hang out with us!
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest X - Oh boy here we go

Post by Kilgamayan »

Mata Hari wrote: 4 years ago Looking forward to this thread degenerating into massive arguments.
Oh yeah? Well, I'm not! So THERE!
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest X - Oh boy here we go

Post by Mata Hari »

I mean, you're not the one who has to- oh, wait, you are, yes, sorry
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SAJewers
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest X - Oh boy here we go

Post by SAJewers »

Ashan wrote: 4 years ago All of the levels that only worked in zsnes had a laggy bit during the level end theme. It even happened in the first one which I don't think you noticed.

Not sure if it's related
Apparently it was an emulator issue. If you used the SA-1 patch but no addmusic, it would crash in snes9x 1.56. It supposedly is fixed in newer versions of snes9x but that's moot now because raocow was convinced to switch to bsnes
Last edited by SAJewers 4 years ago, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest X - Oh boy here we go

Post by gbreeze »

There was a gap year between vldcx and vldc11, so vldcx actually occured in 2017. SMWC and hacking as a whole has changed in a surprising amount of ways since then, and we've certainly learned some lessons from what happened.

In the ruleset, it stated that you should mention in your intro level message whether your level contained a secret exit, dragon coins, or a moon. These would be denoted with "YES" or "NO". This may have subconsciously inspired more people to actually put these in their level, as there was an unusually high amount of these in many levels. "YES" also became a meme at this time. I won't say whether it was a good or bad thing that this was included in the rules, just stating what happened.

In addition, tile 1f0 became a "meme" as well because of the huge increase in usage. People were very concerned that it was oversaturating the contest. A few years later, usage has certainly died down, but tile 1f0 remains a staple tile in many levels, usually functioning as another tile or tool you would use to improve your gimmick, rather than the main gimmick itself.

There was another trend towards creating unusually long levels. I myself fell victim to this lol. Looking back, I'd love to have shortened my level a lot. I'm sure others may feel similar, or they're happy with their level. Either way, since 2017 the trend has most definitely shifted towards shorter levels (in addition, several length related rules were implemented in future contests after vldcx)
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest X - Oh boy here we go

Post by Implo »

Dolphin's Bet is my very first level and it was my first experience with Lunar Magic. Not very cooperative program. I had a lot of frustration because of it. Level was supposed to be a journey to Dolphins Castle. I wanted to use 2 message boxes per section to tell the story, but unfortunately I realized that I can only have 2 message boxes per level. Initially the story was about dolphins flooding world, but dolphins are good nature creatures and try to help and this help will usually kill you.

First section is flooded world. These houses are actually cages. I wanted to say that dolphins imprisoned Mario enemies. This section was also interaction of Torpedo Ted with shells thrown by koopas. Second section was normal level with water under and fishes to avoid. Third was supposed to be meditation room to relax while bouncing mushroom. Fourth was underwater level with "goals will kill you" gimmick. Fifth was inspired by Rise of the Challenge hack. So it was dolphin generator with munchers and lava below. Dolphins help you to go through, but this help will usually kill you. Last section was test how ice physics work.

Difficulty - I am bad player, so I made wrong assumption that other players will have less problems with this level than me. I was wrong. Most of players were worse than me or equal. And yes, I died a lot on dolphin generator section.

Graphic - this was my first time, so I had a lot of problems with it. Like these stupid mountains in 105 level glitching out whenever I change palette. I have no idea how to avoid that. As for palette - these weird background colors that aren't nice to watch, I thought about them "This looks so cool". And glitched enemies: fish wiggler, dolphin piranha plant and fish flame were looking so amazing that I just needed to put them into my entry. In short - world wasn't ready for my graphical preferences.

Music - I had no idea how to use AddMusicK, so I just used SMW music.

Main gimmick. During testing I noticed that Yoshi coins vanish. After many playthroughs I realized that they don't vanish if you collect very little coins. I had no idea how to fix that (and I still don't know). So I decided to advertise this glitch as a main gimmick of level. And that's how I created Anti-Greed Device.

Just before deadline my level has been reviewed. And I should probably fix it, but I was too exhausted at that time. I had no idea that making level in Lunar Magic will change into pure nightmare.

One more thing, I tested this level in both Zsnes and Snes9x. It should work on Snes9x. I believe that it was also a requirement to make it work on accurate emulators. So I have no idea why it didn't launch for you, raocow. I believe nobody else had this problem. On the other hand my VLDC 11 entry I tested only on Zsnes and again nobody had problem with launching it on accurate emulators. Not even you. So i have no idea what happened.
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest X - Oh boy here we go

Post by Super Maks 64 »

Ashan wrote: 4 years ago All of the levels that only worked in zsnes had a laggy bit during the level end theme. It even happened in the first one which I don't think you noticed.

Not sure if it's related
Those levels didn't only work on ZSNES, raocow played them on ZSNES just because. ZSNES barely emulates SA-1 and that's why it lagged there. The reason why raocow couldn't play those on Snes9x is because he had a very old version of Snes9x and that one version (or two? I don't remember) had for some reason overclocked SA-1 emulation and so it broke when trying to communicate with the APU chip, but it has been fixed since.
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest X - Oh boy here we go

Post by Marcaek »

Man, the VLDC9 overworld really spoiled me
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest X - Oh boy here we go

Post by Sugar »

Judge comments for the first video

171st: Entry by WhoNeedsAUsername
Koopster
DESIGN: 1/50
CREATIVITY: 2/30
AESTHETICS: 2/20
TOTAL SCORE: 5/100

This reminds me of Epic Nothing, but it has enemies and a few other things. Still, the gap between them is very huge and you can easily still just run and jump over everything. Flat and lazily designed. You can do better!

lolyoshi
DESIGN: 5/50
CREATIVITY: 2/30
AESTHETICS: 4/20
TOTAL SCORE: 11/100

It's Epic Nothing but it's "oops I accidentaly left my door open and my little brother
vomited enemies on my level" edition.

Noivern
DESIGN: 1/50
CREATIVITY: 0/30
AESTHETICS: 3/20
TOTAL SCORE: 4/100

Thank goodness there was a midway point.

Sinc-X
DESIGN: 0/50
CREATIVITY: 0/30
AESTHETICS: 1/20
TOTAL SCORE: 1/100

...is this for real? This can hardly even be called a level. If this is a legitimate submission, I suggest learning how Lunar Magic works before deciding to enter a contest, because this feels exactly like someone's very first dabble into the program.

Rameau's Nephew
DESIGN: 2/50
CREATIVITY: 0/30
AESTHETICS: 2/20
TOTAL SCORE: 4/100

It's some flat ground with some enemies. There's a hole at one point, but it has platforms over it, so it's only sort of a hole. Then there's a pipe, but it has a weird palette. At the end there's a wall, and you have to hit a switch. It's a bit of a twist ending, you see.

+ The wall provides pleasing variation
- This level sucks.

Other: The saw blade Thwomps are, admittedly, kind of creepy.
170th: A Normal SMW Level by nahuelescoba
Koopster
DESIGN: 2/50
CREATIVITY: 4/30
AESTHETICS: 5/20
TOTAL SCORE: 11/100

yes

lolyoshi
DESIGN: 5/50
CREATIVITY: 5/30
AESTHETICS: 8/20
TOTAL SCORE: 18/100

xD

Noivern
DESIGN: 1/50
CREATIVITY: 0/30
AESTHETICS: 5/20
TOTAL SCORE: 6/100

Obvious joke entry.

Sinc-X
DESIGN: 0/50
CREATIVITY: 0/30
AESTHETICS: 6/20
TOTAL SCORE: 6/100

If you have to include a message box saying your level sucks, why bother even submitting it? It's not lying either. Nobody wants to walk on completely flat terrain for an entire level while mindlessly dodging mindlessly placed enemies.

Rameau's Nephew
DESIGN: 3/50
CREATIVITY: 0/30
AESTHETICS: 5/20
TOTAL SCORE: 8/100

This is a flat stretch of ground with a few sprites randomly scattered about in rows. And there isn't even very much of that. Yep.

+ There's not really anything to hate.
- There's not really...anything.

Other: What do you call a fish with no eyes? A fsh.
169th: Fort Koopa by SMWCJullasicFox
Koopster
DESIGN: 5/50
CREATIVITY: 4/30
AESTHETICS: 5/20
TOTAL SCORE: 14/100

ez first timer detect! This doesn't even seem properly tested. You didn't use the base ROM or SA-1 so your entry suffers from severe sprite memory issues, causing things to be invisible and ambush or block me weirdly. Even with the errors apart, it has nothing going for its gameplay, you just run over it all or wait for the pencils. It's extremely short too.

lolyoshi
DESIGN: 3/50
CREATIVITY: 5/30
AESTHETICS: 6/20
TOTAL SCORE: 14/100

[18:47] idolCharlotte: this is ass

Noivern
DESIGN: 5/50
CREATIVITY: 5/30
AESTHETICS: 3/20
TOTAL SCORE: 13/100

Basic and repetitive design. You tried something unique with the wood blocks, but it ends up just not looking good. The custom palette clashes with itself. Not much to say.

Sinc-X
DESIGN: 2/50
CREATIVITY: 0/30
AESTHETICS: 0/20
TOTAL SCORE: 2/100

Terrible design aside, this level is borderline unplayable due to all the sprite memory issues. That alone is enough for me to give a low score, but as implied the design is completely repetitive, boring and overall poorly concieved. Spamming the same obstacle over and over again with no thought is not good design.

Rameau's Nephew
DESIGN: 3/50
CREATIVITY: 2/30
AESTHETICS: 4/20
TOTAL SCORE: 9/100

This doesn't appear to use the baserom, and it's an outright mess, full of disappearing sprites, and also disappearing Mario's head. And even if it were functional, it's just sort of an uninspired, random bit of not-much-of-anything, with sprites strewn about of randomly and an unpleasing background palette. Also, there are no powerups (a bit annoying when you're constantly being hit by things you can't see) and the midpoint right near the end of the level.

+ There was a vague attempt at architecture.
- There was not much of an attempt at anything else, including basic functionality.

Other: The effect of having the wooden stakes appear to extend out of a layer 1 block of the same material would work far better if the sprites themselves were not invisible 75% of the time.
168th: Area 51 by PMH
Koopster
DESIGN: 6/50
CREATIVITY: 3/30
AESTHETICS: 6/20
TOTAL SCORE: 15/100

Seems like a level that's clearly misdirected. It has no focus, changing the enemy set every few screens. The sprite placement is quite mediocre for the most part. It's also super short. Seems like a beginner's level, don't give up!

lolyoshi
DESIGN: 10/50
CREATIVITY: 2/30
AESTHETICS: 10/20
TOTAL SCORE: 22/100

[03:33] massive_injection: into the dark forest

Noivern
DESIGN: 3/50
CREATIVITY: 1/30
AESTHETICS: 6/20
TOTAL SCORE: 10/100

This level is entirely unfocused, just a hodgepodge of sprites with no purpose. Also featuring cutoff and unnecessary disco ball. At least you remembered to put in the light-triggering sprite.

Sinc-X
DESIGN: 1/50
CREATIVITY: 0/30
AESTHETICS: 12/20
TOTAL SCORE: 13/100

It's so short there's hardly anything to comment on, but this really feels like an edit of existing levels, mashed together into something less good than what the original ones were. It's first-level tier, not contest tier.

Rameau's Nephew
DESIGN: 5/50
CREATIVITY: 2/30
AESTHETICS: 4/20
TOTAL SCORE: 11/100

The design here seems a little haphazard, with lots of enemies walking in the wrong direction or not serving much of a purpose. The only real attempt to use elements in tandem was the Volcano Lotus near the two falling platforms, which was honestly a touch annoying. Æsthetically, it was pretty basic SMW (with some cutoff), and there doesn't seem to be much attempt to tie the appearance of the level to the title/opening text box.

+ I guess the light in the forest was sort of cool, even if it reminded me of Wonderwall for some reason.
- Doesn't really do much in terms of design or appearance.

Other: To think, just stricting this area once wasn't enough...
167th: Orange Desert by Triple P (Master Lakitu)
Koopster
Adorable Meme Award
DESIGN: 5/50
CREATIVITY: 5/30
AESTHETICS: 4/20
TOTAL SCORE: 14/100

Mama Mia! It's short cave, desert edition. Where are the enemies in the first half, where's any saturation to the palette. I don't think the design in the second half could get much more linear with enemies thrown around. First-timer? Either way, keep trying!

lolyoshi
DESIGN: 12/50
CREATIVITY: 8/30
AESTHETICS: 6/20
TOTAL SCORE: 26/100

mama mia

Noivern
DESIGN: 3/50
CREATIVITY: 5/30
AESTHETICS: 3/20
TOTAL SCORE: 11/100

I played YI2 as well so my playthrough video could have some entertainment value.

Sinc-X
DESIGN: 1/50
CREATIVITY: 1/30
AESTHETICS: 8/20
TOTAL SCORE: 10/100

If you're going to make me play through a completely empty part of a level, at least make it interesting. The whole first half is repetitive and seemingly crafted with little thought. The second half obviously suffers those same problems, just with some sporadically placed and trivial enemies. Very weak effort.

Rameau's Nephew
DESIGN: 3/50
CREATIVITY: 5/30
AESTHETICS: 3/20
TOTAL SCORE: 11/100

Well, you actually gave time a purpose, I'll give you that. Besides that, this level does very little. It's very short, the first half is empty, and the second half is the same in reverse with a small smattering of enemies. That last part's not actually too bad, as it gives the level a structure and symmetry, but it doesn't really make up for the overall lack of content.

+ Gives time a purpose.
- Doesn't give much else a purpose.

Other: Never make your deserts out of pasteurized cheese product, kids.
166th: Dolphin's Bet by Galaer
Koopster
DESIGN: 13/50
CREATIVITY: 17/30
AESTHETICS: 5/20
TOTAL SCORE: 35/100

This level makes no sense. It's a little redeemed because of the two somewhat fun rooms and bits of creativity (that most of the time aren't even used well). The first room and the two rooms after the midpoint are just so boring to play over and over when you die in the more energetic and more bearable rooms that come afterwards. Their difficulty really doesn't take the boring rooms into account. Even then, the level's theme is completely disjointed and nonsensical.

lolyoshi
DESIGN: 16/50
CREATIVITY: 12/30
AESTHETICS: 2/20
TOTAL SCORE: 30/100

Hilarious and clearly not to be taken seriously. Weirdly, the level has some thoughts put into it,
but it gets ruined by the dolphin room.

Noivern
DESIGN: 0/50
CREATIVITY: 5/30
AESTHETICS: 3/20
TOTAL SCORE: 8/100

This level was clearly intentionally made to be bad, and I scored it appropriately. I did give some points in creativity for the torpedo ted setup in the first section though; that was pretty good, though you can dodge most of them just by moving forward steadily.

Sinc-X
DESIGN: 1/50
CREATIVITY: 0/30
AESTHETICS: 0/20
TOTAL SCORE: 1/100

I really hope this isn't serious. If it is, I highly suggest reading up on some level design tutorials, because this is terrible in every way. If it's a joke, I hope you're proud of yourself, because nobody else is.

Rameau's Nephew
DESIGN: 5/50
CREATIVITY: 3/30
AESTHETICS: 1/20
TOTAL SCORE: 9/100

This level is a mess. Actually, it's several kinds of mess working together in glorious disharmony. But I think you knew that, didn't you?

+ The mushroom bopping bit and goal post mazes were almost sort of actual challenges?
- Everything else

Other: The sky in the first section appears to be made out of a combination of the 1970s and the worst kind of pea soup.
165th: Mystery Cavern by Final Theory
Koopster
DESIGN: 6/50
CREATIVITY: 5/30
AESTHETICS: 8/20
TOTAL SCORE: 15/100

A super short ascent that happens. It seems more concerned with being symmetrical than actually having thoughtful design. Most of it is pure platforming, jumping from one platform to another without any real risk. The secret exit is pretty stupid but it's also just another normal exit so whatever (you didn't even bother with making a room and just recycled a SMW room ok). Also why did you put only one dragon coin lol

lolyoshi
DESIGN: 15/50
CREATIVITY: 5/30
AESTHETICS: 10/20
TOTAL SCORE: 30/100

[20:07] DrTapeworm: it's good on an alien planet
[20:07] DrTapeworm: otherwise it's pretty bad

Noivern
DESIGN: 8/50
CREATIVITY: 5/30
AESTHETICS: 8/20
TOTAL SCORE: 21/100

There's nothing really there. It's just a super short vertical level devoid of substance.

Sinc-X
DESIGN: 1/50
CREATIVITY: 0/30
AESTHETICS: 14/20
TOTAL SCORE: 15/100

The same jump repeated over and over again is not good design. I don't know what you were going for, but there's nothing of merit, the platforming is mind-numbingly boring and the level is also way too short to be able to develop any ideas, assuming there were any to develop in the first place.

Rameau's Nephew
DESIGN: 7/50
CREATIVITY: 3/30
AESTHETICS: 5/20
TOTAL SCORE: 15/100

This level is short and fairly strange. What's there works fine, but there isn't all that much there, and certain odd details like the rotating platforms being anchored to perpetually flipping turn blocks, the floating islands in pools of toothpaste-colored water and the weird, perfunctory silver P-switch at the end to remove the Munchers surrounding the goal sphere add a slightly uncanny feel to the whole affair, like a dream where you encounter your deceased grandmother again, and she behaves perfectly normally, only now she has three noses for some reason. There's also only one dragon coin, and what passes for a secret exit is an exit-enabled pipe underneath the goal sphere (which can only be accessed by tiptoeing up to the sphere without -quite- touching it) which leads to one of the default SMW goal rooms (technically a normal exit). Huh?

+ What exists is pretty decent if fairly basic vertical platforming.
- If a level ever felt incomplete, it was this one.

Other: Shower curtain...oh won't you help me to be certain; Oh, toothpaste, don't you put the squeeze on me...
163rd: Koopa Mountain by Mushroom378
Koopster
DESIGN: 9/50
CREATIVITY: 6/30
AESTHETICS: 4/20
TOTAL SCORE: 19/100

Very spread out and large level with not much going on. No focus, it just feels like a lot of different, disconnected parts. Pretty weirdly constructed, too. Looks like a classic beginner's level, but don't give up! Practice leads to [nearly] perfection.

lolyoshi
DESIGN: 18/50
CREATIVITY: 8/30
AESTHETICS: 9/20
TOTAL SCORE: 35/100

it's cute and all, but I don't think you know what you're up against.

Noivern
DESIGN: 5/50
CREATIVITY: 2/30
AESTHETICS: 7/20
TOTAL SCORE: 14/100

Really mindless. It's just a bunch of level elements slapped together with no coherency. Best thing I can say is that it IS technically a koopa mountain.

Sinc-X
DESIGN: 3/50
CREATIVITY: 0/30
AESTHETICS: 6/20
TOTAL SCORE: 9/100

There's not much to say about this one. Very lackluster organization, pointless sprite use, and just an overbearing sense of thoughtlessness.

Rameau's Nephew
DESIGN: 10/50
CREATIVITY: 4/30
AESTHETICS: 6/20
TOTAL SCORE: 20/100

This looked like it was going to be a sort of climbing level at first, but then it veered off in all sorts of random directions. There's no real direction or focus, and even the mountain theme appears to be abandoned early on. It does have Koopas, though.

+ Koopas are given, as promised.
- Not much in the way of mountains, focus, or content in general.

Other: Seriously though, what on earth happened to the instrumentation here?
Last edited by Sugar 4 years ago, edited 5 times in total.
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest X - Oh boy here we go

Post by KobaBeach »

i'm just staying out of this because this will absolutely cause another inter-site trashfire

just remember raocow's playing this because he wants to. don't watch if you don't like it.
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest X - Oh boy here we go

Post by Kilgamayan »

xfix wrote: 4 years ago Judge comments for the first video
Man, thank God for lolyoshi and Noivern
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest X - Oh boy here we go

Post by FrozenQuills »

Rameau's Nephew commentary was a blessing in this contest
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest X - Oh boy here we go

Post by WinterSweater »

It's great to see more low quality SMW levels. The standards have been set too high by the previous game
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest X - Oh boy here we go

Post by TiKi »

By the way, why did Vitor Viela drop out of making the compiled ROM?
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest X - Oh boy here we go

Post by Nimono »

TaviTurnip wrote: 4 years ago (someone did a train level that comes to mind and it was super great)
Oh? Do you happen to remember details of the train level? I remember one VLDC I submitted a train level with a desert background theme and coal cars, but I don't recall if that was this VLDC or not. Can't remember if anyone else submitted a train level as well.
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest X - Oh boy here we go

Post by KobaBeach »

TiKi wrote: 4 years ago By the way, why did Vitor Viela drop out of making the compiled ROM?
Vilela. Viela is an alley.

WinterSweater wrote: 4 years ago It's great to see more low quality SMW levels. The standards have been set too high by the previous game
can we fucking not
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest X - Oh boy here we go

Post by Alice »

SAJewers wrote: 4 years agoApparently it was an emulator issue. If you used the SA-1 patch but no addmusic, it would crash in snes9x 1.56. It supposedly is fixed in newer versions of snes9x but that's moot now because raocow was convinced to switch to bsnes
Didn't he say ZSnes in the video? BSnes really should be his emulator at this point though. With the compatibility options Byuu added for shit emulators like ZSnes there's now no reason to ever use another SNES emulator.
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest X - Oh boy here we start

Post by Awoo »

8 whole levels, and not one, not a single "I HOPE I WIN", yet?

Aww :ehh:
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest X - Oh boy here we go

Post by SAJewers »

Alice wrote: 4 years ago
SAJewers wrote: 4 years agoApparently it was an emulator issue. If you used the SA-1 patch but no addmusic, it would crash in snes9x 1.56. It supposedly is fixed in newer versions of snes9x but that's moot now because raocow was convinced to switch to bsnes
Didn't he say ZSnes in the video? BSnes really should be his emulator at this point though. With the compatibility options Byuu added for shit emulators like ZSnes there's now no reason to ever use another SNES emulator.
He did say ZSNES. After he recorded though, he asked in the spotzone if anyone knew why those hacks didn't work in snes9x (xfix is a patapon and compiled everything for him), and a bunch of us just said "why not use bsnes instead?" (along with "update your snes9x") and he switched over

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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest X - Oh boy here we go

Post by TRS »

Nimono wrote: 4 years agoOh? Do you happen to remember details of the train level? I remember one VLDC I submitted a train level with a desert background theme and coal cars, but I don't recall if that was this VLDC or not. Can't remember if anyone else submitted a train level as well.
Fairly certain it was VLDCX. I remember playing a train level and it had a desert theme and coal cars.
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