CLDC 2020 - It's been a while

[KobaBeach]

hardly worth revving up the outrage machine.

chile bro s'not that deep

[Koopster]

hi, I had sort of forgotten I participated in this. I always loved seeing my stuff be played by you back then, so it was quite nice to get that feeling again. I'm glad you enjoyed my level! in hindsight, the first half is not that great - something I realised after feedback from folks as well as the judges -, but thankfully you got through it pretty quickly. the second half I think still stands as pretty cool.

my naughty secret is this level was not really meant for a contest, hence it is pretty safe, perhaps moreso than what is trendy/usual/expected for a cldc. I had the first half of it lying around for a while before this cldc happened - at least a year or two! -, and since I was feeling like completing it at the time, I figured I'd do that and take the opportunity to participate in a cldc for once (this has been my only entry to one so far, too). it is actually a level made for a personal hack, which explains the strangely particular status bar (I scrapped it since anyways). I'll make sure to cook up a better first half before that comes out, whenever that is.

[Grounder]

starring tails' evil twin brother(s), heads!

i don't think the level gimmick gels well with SMW's camera

[Catabo]

Yo, adventure of double fox (wolf?) guys is really well-made. Shout-out to the main character sprites having multi-directions so Green is always on their right and Blue is always on their left! Well, except in the world map. I take it it does something weird to mirror Mario to face left instead of right. The whole experience feels very polished in a way one rarely sees in game mod ASM.

[Zerio]

Oh hey Flippin' Flickerbars is mine! It was really awesome to see raocow play it and I'm glad he had fun with it.

starring tails' evil twin brother(s), heads!

i don't think the level gimmick gels well with SMW's camera

Shiro and Kenchi's true identity revealed?? But yeah I realize seeing other people play it that the camera... doesn't really cooperate the best at times. I'll try to rework it a bit in the reworked version of this level for the full hack with these two. Horizontal screen crunch also did make some of the faster sections of the level a lot less intuitive than they could've been, in hindsight.

Yo, adventure of double fox (wolf?) guys is really well-made. Shout-out to the main character sprites having multi-directions so Green is always on their right and Blue is always on their left! Well, except in the world map. I take it it does something weird to mirror Mario to face left instead of right. The whole experience feels very polished in a way one rarely sees in game mod ASM.

This means a lot to read, thank you! They're on the wrong sides on the world map because... I have yet to find the code to flip them there, admittedly. Haha.

Honestly, seeing raocow play the contest level and reading so many nice comments on it has really motivated me to work on their full hack more actively again. Maybe one day I'll complete it.

[Sugar]

16th, Sleepwalking until Sunrise by Sancles

idol
DESIGN: 42/60
CREATIVITY: 22/30
AESTHETICS: 6/10
TOTAL: 70/100

The sprites you chose to base your level around were interesting. In a vacuum, your setups were fun, albeit a bit tight. This level did not need to be plastered to the rim with death blocks, however. The sheer amount of death blocks lining each and every wall made playing this level feel claustrophobic, which felt unsatisfying given how the turn block sprites provide a fun opportunity for the player to fling around.

I wish I had more to say. It ain't bad, though.

MrDeePay
DESIGN: 49/60
CREATIVITY: 25/30
AESTHETICS: 9/10
TOTAL: 83/100

Very straightfoward and solid! The level introduces a "gimmick" and utilizes it in a variety of ways that remain challenging and (mostly) fun from start to finish. The final section is a bit unfair because of the narrow corridors you have to work with (plus camera shenanigans), but it's nothing to that feels terrible.

Overall really good job here.

Morsel
DESIGN: 44/60
CREATIVITY: 22/30
AESTHETICS: 10/10
TOTAL: 76/100

This gives me a similar impression as a typical 2mice level did. It is engaging, fresh, visually appealing and creative, but also has that rough around the edges feel. Here, the camera movement is a bit awkward and there is a carelessness sometimes about what you can see above or below (or even to the side--what sort of jump you want to do from the platform with a thwimp on it before the red koopa bounce). Like the vldc11 winner, this black hurt block, black background, black skull platform combination is dubious to me. You can take a shell with you at one point and create slowdown. The midpoint respawns. The one tile rope looks odd (almost hard to interpret the first time you see it--on re-playing the level I see it was introduced earlier; perhaps it should just have been a uniform colour). The black ceilings above the bouncy platforms could have been used more carefully (at the triple bounce near the end, you can hold jump fully on the first and third if you are big, but not on the middle one as you will hit your head). Maybe you could have had more explicit set-ups where you had to hold jump or had to not hold it earlier in the level (to give a better feel for it). Some of the blind drops on to bouncers were uncomfortable, even when I knew they were coming. The bouncer is triggered rather generously from below, which may lead to some surprise bounces. There was genuine tension at the two rock platforms near the end. Some of the set-ups just after the midpoint just seemed to involve waiting while things played out, or didn't seem quite as interesting as they might have been (e.g. the thwomps).

15th, Flippin Flickerbars by Zerio

idol
DESIGN: 39/60
CREATIVITY: 16/30
AESTHETICS: 7/10
TOTAL: 62/100

I am completely baffled as to what I am playing as. A furry? A two headed furry? What a nightmarish life that thing must live.

After a while I am less shocked to look at this thing, and I begin to focus on the level itself. The gimmick is kinda funny - I don't think I've ever seen someone enable spinjumping on Firebars before, and it works much smoother than I expected.

This level is pretty odd overall. There's a lack of life here besides the firebars - the rest is just focusing on spinjumping - I'm sorry, cartwheeling, and the way it interacts with the other blocks in this world. I thought the ideas were there, but there wasn't a lot of actual interesting level design to back up those ideas. Some of the platforming was fun, but there ended up being a lot of repetition by the end, and the fact that no other sprites are utilized in this level just made it feel a bit... lifeless.

If you drew the player sprite though, props. Even if I find him morally abhorrent, he is drawn very well.

MrDeePay
DESIGN: 50/60
CREATIVITY: 25/30
AESTHETICS: 10/10
TOTAL: 85/100

The first thing I wanna say is fantasic job with your character's spritework. It's obvious a lot of work went into it especially when you factor in the asymmetrical design and they have (mostly?) unique frames depending on which direction they're facing. Easily one of the best looking player sprites I've seen in SMW hacking in a long, long time.

As for the level... throw it in the trash and burn the dumpster.

I'm just kidding, it's actually pretty good. There were a couple of instances where it felt like it was lacking/empty but nothing severe enough to drag the whole thing down. There's a good amount a mileage gotten from the Cartwheel/Spin Jump-focused platforming desptie using only a few extra pieces, but it all works out in the level's favor in the end.

Morsel
DESIGN: 51/60
CREATIVITY: 24/30
AESTHETICS: 10/10
TOTAL: 85/100

Excellent, unusual level. It gets a lot of mileage out of simple blocks that depend on the spin flag. Some of the invisible coin structures didn't make sense to me--I don't know if any of it has to do with keeping or losing p-speed. Collecting the fourth draogon coin was a bit odd, and I had to take what would happen on trust. Before the midpoint, when exploring the level, it looked like there was something down the hole with the suspicious two spikes; there were just more spikes. Before the final dragon coin, if you are spinning on the spikes after failing to land on the spin-bounce platform, you will be in a situation with a blind drop . The mushroom just before the midpoint feels too close to it. Some areas seem like they need an enemy or two instead of just blocks. You can get the top of the level occasionally.

[Lord Ruby]

I love the background in the second level! Where is it from? Or is it original?

They're on the wrong sides on the world map because... I have yet to find the code to flip them there, admittedly. Haha.

Well, the easy solution is to just mirror them in the graphics file.

The complicated solution is to modify the relevant tables or code. The relevant tables seem to be one starting at 0487CB and another at 0489DE. They're huge, but may be the only way to get everything to look right for both the left and right walk animations. Odd bytes in the tables should refer to which 8*8 tile in the graphics file to draw, while even bytes are properties for that tile, including whether they should be flipped and which palette to use (YXPPCCCT format). The short version of how to read the properties is that the first digit determines flipping (2 is default, 6 is flipped horizontally), while the second digit determines palette (halve the number to get the number of the sprite palette, such as 4 referring to sprite palette 2 (normally Mario's overworld red), but I believe the code sometimes messes with it to get Luigi and alternate yoshi palettes, but that might not be a concern for you).

[KobaBeach]

if i had a penny for everytime a smw hacker was into multi i'd have two pennies (but it's okay because 70% of what i draw is male macro; hume and furry)

the other one is mathie (mathos), though im sure there's more

i might watch this later because i like valentine as a person and shiro + kenchi have a super cute design

[Zerio]

I love the background in the second level! Where is it from? Or is it original?

It's Draglade - Jugem Forest! (And the foreground is this 8-Bit Factory but with a custom palette)

Well, the easy solution is to just mirror them in the graphics file.

The complicated solution is to modify the relevant tables or code.

Hmm, well - this is gonna sound really jank, but the way I achieved the sprite flip effect was by making one direction Big form and the other direction Caped. They change "power-up state" based on the direction they're facing. I'm not even joking lmao. So maybe I could make it so instead of regular Big form, you return to the overworld with the Cape instead? That could... probably work, actually. Getting the flipping thing to work on the smaller overworld sprite was admittedly the hardest part of it because of how the sprite normally just flips itself for the walking pose. I forget what I did specifically, but I had to find some part of a patch that let me change the sprite palette but only on specific poses. God I have such a way of doing things like this sometimes, don't I. I appreciate the suggestions, though! I'll have to figure it out sometime.

if i had a penny for everytime a smw hacker was into multi i'd have two pennies (but it's okay because 70% of what i draw is male macro; hume and furry)

the other one is mathie (mathos), though im sure there's more

i might watch this later because i like valentine as a person and shiro + kenchi have a super cute design

Honestly I'm still surprised it's more than just me, even though I've known Mathie for a while! It's a cool coincidence, and she's drawn Shiro and Kenchi before too, hehe. Thank you also!

[camwoodstock]

some kinks are okay as an aesthetic,

reading this sentence while skim-reading the thread lowkey caught us so off-guard we did a cartoon double-take. "this is super's mario world.", our brain protests, trying to wrack why this sentence is being said here. it clarifies, "yoshi is in there, but only if you let him"

we don't have any real. addition. to this. we just think it's a most quote ever to say in a smw romhack thread if read without context

[BobisOnlyBob]

we don't have any real. addition. to this. we just think it's a most quote ever to say in a smw romhack thread if read without context

I call this the koba effect

[KobaBeach]

reading this sentence while skim-reading the thread lowkey caught us so off-guard we did a cartoon double-take. "this is super's mario world.", our brain protests, trying to wrack why this sentence is being said here. it clarifies, "yoshi is in there, but only if you let him"

my name is not nathan the fucking christian nazi talkmaus, sibling

[Grounder]

Untitled.png (220.93 KiB) Viewed 1798 times

[KobaBeach]

The Bibble

[FPzero]

To quote your own words,

shut thef fuck uip

[KobaBeach]

post on smwc then

E: I'm literally just having a casual convo with my friends and acquaintances. If this happens to be a joke, it's not funny. Do not post this to me, ever again.

[KobaBeach]

shout out to mfg just going out of his way to recode what is essentially a basic 3d parallelepiped from super fx to sa1 just to use it like 3 times

larva's stage is based

[Sugar]

14th, SMASHER CASTLE by MarioFanGamer

idol
DESIGN: 43/60
CREATIVITY: 26/30
AESTHETICS: 8/10
TOTAL: 77/100

smash her what now??

All of the music comes from Yoshi's Island. I find that to be a funny touch. And I let this level get my guard down - the all YI music, the first few initial screens, and I began to think maybe this was someone's first level or someone inexperienced.

And then came the falling wall.

Now I don't know if that's already been coded, but I get the impression that it's just a sexy little secret this level has. I check that it's Layer 3, but I'm very very impressed at how well it works.

And then it gets a bit harsher. And then it goes back to being a bit... flashy?

As a Thwomp-centric level, the platforming felt pretty satisfying. Sometimes it was a bit too hard (I honestly found the dodging Left-Moving Thwomps to be harder than anything else in this level), but I loved the Mad Circling(?) Thwomps. I don't know a good name for them. But they're sexy.

We get Mode 2 in the Lava Room, a la the original Yoshi's Island. I become a bit confused at why this references YI so much, yet is more about Thwomps than anything. Are the YI Falling Walls considered "smashers"? Or did you do this because you just could?

Because I mean, great job since I haven't seen that tech before. But I was more impressed with the Thwomp platforming than I was the Layer 3 Falling Walls or the Mode 2 Lava - at least on a "gameplay and level design" level.

MrDeePay
DESIGN: 48/60
CREATIVITY: 20/30
AESTHETICS: 8/10
TOTAL: 76/100

A (largely) smashing good time! A variety of commonly used Thwomps are used in this level and are conveniently color coordinated to show their behavior and are introduced fairly for the most part. The Angry Thwomps in the third room are circling while the ones you encounter earlier on only go back and forth- they share the same palette. There are a few tight spots with a notable mention for the powerup (Flower) is in a narrow spot where you're cutting it very close the Thwomp placement.

Allinall, the level provides a good challenge that's a bit rough around the edges but doesn't overstay its welcome.

Morsel
DESIGN: 46/60
CREATIVITY: 26/30
AESTHETICS: 9/10
TOTAL: 81/100

This level seems misnamed, as the smasher is upstaged by the thwomps; while it is impressive on a technical level, as an obstacle (as in YI) it is not very interesting on its own, and it only became so with the help of a stunner thwomp. There was a bug in the lava part where you could stand on or otherwise interact with something that wasn't there for some moments (just underneath the grey platform at the big boo); in a similar way I was stopped and killed by nothing after landing on the ledge beside the exit pipe in this area. The identification of thwomps was inconsistent (colour is not everything) and sometimes definitely unfair, I would say (e.g. when you first meet the circling thwomp that looks just like the mad ones). This is another level that doesn't provide lives; it doesn't get very hard but there are several sections and there were some unexpected things nearer the end (fishing boo; circling thwomps). The lava animation seems slightly off. The lava section seemed out of place and less interesting (and less carefully designed) than the other ones; perhaps it is referential to YI some way. On replaying, the first section also seems bland now and the second too short. The final section is definitely good. I think some reorganising and pruning would have benefitted this level. I managed to get a smasher rotating kind of wildly at one time.

13th, Spiny Blast by EternityLarva

idol
DESIGN: 41/60
CREATIVITY: 26/30
AESTHETICS: 6/10
TOTAL: 73/100

My first impressions were that this level was just going to be a basic romp of sorts.

Then came the DKC Barrels, and while they may not ever be the most Fun gimmick, this is the best iteration of them I've seen. I don't recognize these sprites from elsewhere, so I feel inclined to believe maybe you created them. The camera ASM is a great touch, even if the top of the screen flickers madly whenever there's a DKC Barrel section.

The fog in the second half is fucked up, mostly because it's still trying to accommodate for the section of Layer 3 that would've had the Status Bar. There's just a big rectangle of missing fog that could've been fixed.

I noticed the animations of the grinders were different as well, and I'm in love with them. It's the small details that really make a level feel great.

Hurt blocks blend into the BG far too often, you probably don't wanna use dark green for a block that should stand out.

Visuals got a big distracting in the second half - fog could've been lightened up a ton. Yellow P-Switch gimmick is super creative, and a ton of attention went into making very interesting setups that other creators may have not put that attention into.

This level has some bumps in the level design - particularly the non DKC Barrel segments feel hamfisted, but overall I had a blast. A Spiny Blast. fyck

MrDeePay
DESIGN: 52/60
CREATIVITY: 25/30
AESTHETICS: 8/10
TOTAL: 85/100

Overall very well done! There is some technical issues with black flickering at the top of the screen during barrel cannon sequences, but the rest holds up fine.

Visually it looks very pleasing for the most part, but I feel that the fog gets a little too intense later in the level to the point that it obscures some spike traps. I've hit a couple of them that got obscured by the fog just enough for me not to notice that they were there. You did make excellent use of side rooms for the Yoshi Coins to add just that extra bit of exploration that's always welcome. The second one could be a bit more clear since there are no obvious hints to check out the far right side of the level until you have tried to fire in that direction.

My quips with the level aren't too detrimental; everything else the level provides makes up for them very easily.

Morsel
DESIGN: 48/60
CREATIVITY: 25/30
AESTHETICS: 7/10
TOTAL: 80/100

You did a brilliant job on the barrels, and they seem to be free from the typical problems other implementations of barrels have had in SMW; the only problem being that a mushroom is often useless as getting hit interrupts your arc. The level played fairly smoothly. I liked the trickiness in the final barrel obstacle; I felt there could have been more of that kind of thing. The identification of spinies with brambles seems a bit peculiar (I suppose it beats the muncher). The graphics were perhaps too busy and some of those green spinies/spikes were hard to see on the hop. Sometimes you could see cut off graphics by jumping in unexpected areas or shooting from a barrel in an unintended way. With one automatic barrel you could be in a fail state (after missing the correct window) that will kill you eventually but not immediately. Getting dragon coins is a matter of exploring the level; it is perhaps a little laborious to collect them from all areas in one run (the coin in the p-switch room didn't spawn once). I feel like the theming could have been stronger: particularly since you called the level 'Spiny Blast', the spinies could have been related more strongly to the barrel activities; instead the level has a disjointed feeling with separate interludes on ground and in air.

[Catabo]

wow what up w the video timer.png (10.76 KiB) Viewed 1683 times

The video was supposed to be 27 minutes long, but it was crushed by thwomps until it ended up at a mere 15! Or deflated after getting popped by spinies. either/or

[AweStriker]

I still can't hear Yoshi's Island Castle without hearing

~ninety-nine dollars / paaaaaanasonic blu-ray~
~ninety-nine dollars / theeeeeeere's a 3D object~

[Sugar]

12th, The Mountain by Blue Leaf

idol
DESIGN: 39/60
CREATIVITY: 24/30
AESTHETICS: 7/10
TOTAL: 70/100

The Mountain takes a bit to get where it is trying to go. The main gimmick is you can double jump and dash, allowing the player to manuever much more than they could prior. I believe this is maybe a reference to Celeste, but I'm not very familiar with that game.

Much of the creativity this gimmick could allow for is marred by the actual setups. The first half is much more egregious in regards to this - a Flyin Spiny hovers above to never be interacted with, simply watching from above.

As it gets down to the nitty gritty however, this level picks up and ends on a more interesting note with the wall gimmick.

MrDeePay
DESIGN: 49/60
CREATIVITY: 25/30
AESTHETICS: 10/10
TOTAL: 84/100

A bit more clarity in safe areas to show that the Roto Disc's speheres weren't solid would've been nice. And a simple setup early on in the level (again, in a safe area) that forces the player to dash up/downwards, just to further drive that point home you can dash in any direction. I bring this up because the first time you need to dash in a vertical direction is about 2/5 of the way into the second half, in a spot that is patrolled by a "Disco" Shell, where you're likely to get clobbered.

Allinall the level was a fun run that makes excellent usage out of what it brings to the table. There were a couple of stingy setups (including the side room in the first half), but kept itself pretty fair.

Morsel
DESIGN: 53/60
CREATIVITY: 23/30
AESTHETICS: 9/10
TOTAL: 85/100

The game this is based on (presumable Celeste) I am not familiar with, so please excuse my ignorance. I have played some other games with similar mechanics; these ones seemed well implemented (although ducking is strange with the dash). After some thought, I think I disapprove of the coin guides--I would rather have worked it out myself (and I mostly found that I ignored them anyway). Surely part of the fun of these mechanics are all the extra options you have, so suggesting particularly ways of doing it means you are putting yourself in a hole as the designer (e.g. there's one place you can just do a single normal jump to get past some spinies). I didn't like that dying in the dragon coin room sent you back to the beginning of the level; it wasn't an alternate path, but just a loop in the main path, and it feels badly organised. The bounce sprites of question blocks (coin and mushroom) don't match the block graphics. You included an item box and you made it work well with the level dynamics. The second message was a little confusing; perhaps you could afford to be more explicit (essentially it seems to be saying don't go too high or too low) or adjusted the blocks adjoining the top and bottom of the black stuff. You can hug the wall of blackness with the reflecting frieballs and not get hit, but not the sparky one. Very smooth experience for the most part. Perhaps you could have done some stuff with down dashing.

11th, Hacksaw Ridge by Heraga

idol
DESIGN: 55/60
CREATIVITY: 23/30
AESTHETICS: 9/10
TOTAL: 87/100

Post-irony is punning your levels after real existing films.

Simplicity can be great sometimes. This is just a level about a custom sprite and a custom sprite's friend, and it uses them for simple but satisfying setups. The music is wonderful, and the aesthetics take vanilla SMW and cleverly beautify it.

You (the author or authors) know the fundamentals of good level design, and this level displays that pretty well. I feel the only thing I could knock it for is that it's not very ambitious. It's a great level, but it plays it safe.

MrDeePay
DESIGN: 50/60
CREATIVITY: 25/30
AESTHETICS: 8/10
TOTAL: 83/100

Not much to say on this one, other than it's a pretty good challenging level. While it's not the most mind-blowing ones you may come across, it pulls off what it presents itself as very well. There is a timed platform over a pit with a tiny Grinder platfrom directly above it where the timing is a bit tricky to get right (especially so early in the level), but overall the level plays very fair with you.

Okay, it turns out I did have much to say.

Morsel
DESIGN: 47/60
CREATIVITY: 19/30
AESTHETICS: 6/10
TOTAL: 72/100

This solidly-designed level (perhaps, if it is not a trite observation, you could even say designed 'by the numbers') uses two or three sprites rigorously throughout (but beefs them up for the moon challenge). The wall saw is not the best made sprite, and that initial stutter was quite noticeable and distracting here, making me stop and hesitate all the time. We already have two hitboxes for saws in SMW (ground and line) and this seems to add a third, and since you have to go under some and stand beside some, it was a not a trivial issue for me. A point about the moon challenge is that it is possible to die in it, unlike similar challenges in other games (e.g. DKC2). Collecting the dragon coins was harder than I thought it would be and made me appreciate the design more (although I wished I could see the coins in the status bar). The atmosphere of the level wasn't quite right for me (the music, flowers, grinders) and seemed too generic.

10th, o by FrozenQuills

idol
DESIGN: 50/60
CREATIVITY: 27/30
AESTHETICS: 8/10
TOTAL: 85/100

This level has little bird men who are everywhere. They go one way, and come right out the other. This level plays off of a simple gimmick: horizontal & vertical level wrap. Mario jumps down, and appears up. He moves right, and appears left. The enemies do as well.

And while Mario can move fast, the enemies move faster. The creativity of this level is wonderful - I'll remember it fondly. But the level design asks a bit much, and by the midpoint I spent more time dissociating while watching Torpedo Teds jut across the screen than I did enjoying the actual level wrapping mechanics.

It felt bold to choose this gimmick and then also display it generally with fast moving enemies (Torpedo Ted, Bullet Bills, Fuzzy men that fall downwards). Both require a lot of attention, and both turn this level into kind of a timing game.

MrDeePay
DESIGN: 45/60
CREATIVITY: 25/30
AESTHETICS: 8/10
TOTAL: 78/100

Aesthetically pretty basic, but pulled off well to be rather appealing. The level's concept it utilized nicely despite some trial and error showing its ugly head, though it's quick to get back to where you've failed. The Moon room is a pain to get, with it's very strict timing to complete its task.

Overall a bit rough around the edges, but not a bad level.

Note: "Wait a sec... where the heck did the floor go!?"

Morsel
DESIGN: 47/60
CREATIVITY: 27/30
AESTHETICS: 8/10
TOTAL: 82/100

One screen challenge rush levels are not my favourite. When you die in room three or four, you start getting fed up with rooms one and two and begin trying to speedrun them (on entering level, run right for half a tile, do full spin jump and hold right, etc.). I think you could have stabilized and balanced the activities a little more. This level could fit in a kaizo hack; possibly there was inspiration here from a recent kldc level (by frozenquills). A mushroom is given at the beginning of the second half, but it seems to be there as an afterthought to make the waiting section less annoying (although, on re-playing the level I find that section one of the most engaging), since the second room becomes harder when big (at least on the first cycle, which is what anyone would settle on attempting habitually--having said this, on re-playing, I think you are meant to kill the bullet and proceed more slowly) as you have to avoid bonking on the side of the appearing block (this and some other surprise p-switch events were a bit messy). The final rooms in both halves were quite good, allowing you to think out what was going to happen before hitting the switch (although taking the familiar face off the thwomp made it harder for me). Room three in the first half was the most awkward (having to stop accurately on single tiles; the rock not being destroyed always by the throwblock when turning about (or even going under if you kicked it)--you could have placed him a tile to the side, or 1F0-ed him). The atmosphere here was almost too pleasant for me (as though it were laughing at my struggles). The dragon coin run seems to be something else (for the first one you seem to have to start a throwblock looping to reach the top torpedo ([later] no, maybe you are meant to just spin to it directly from the ledge); can't work out how to get the second--worked out you throw key up then run down and jump from it; the next three are fairly straightforward (almost disappointingly so)). I don't know if I liked the moon repeating a dragon coin idea, even if it extended it slightly. Pausing in the second room seems to make the spinies stop looping. This level was hard for me to get to grips with; having played it quite a lot, I like it better than I did at first, but I still can't agree with all the rooms (First half: (too) simple, good (but broken), clever coin/awkward throw block (and you have to move too quickly at the entrance), best room. Midroom: good (and nice you can easily skip midpoint if going for dcs). Second half: good, amibiguous and messy but good if you are not stupid, too plain (relatively, and the bullets in this room seem less well employed than in the other rooms), good but the initial thwomp is punishing).

[FrozenQuills]

morsel referring to my withdrawn kldc entry is really funny since it created a judging predicament on whether he could judge 'o' fairly knowing that he's witnessed the gimmick before so recently

[Daizo]

Mario was bound to replace Steamboat Willy at some point considering his status as a movie star.
"But this entry was 3 years too early for that joke to work!"

[Sugar]

9th, Manual Scroller by MM102

idol
DESIGN: 37/60
CREATIVITY: 27/30
AESTHETICS: 10/10
TOTAL: 74/100

well someone decided to be a bit fancy huh

Ah, so it's time I become the villain. I can see all the talent in this - the artistic style is unfounded, and in terms of presentation this is top notch. The gimmick is creative, and it's presented well at first.

But the problems come in the gameplay: this level kind of involves mini-backtracking and keeping up the gears the entire time. Sometimes you can miss a single spin and get stuck into a forced death, or sometimes you can just spin it fast and negate a lot of the obstacles in the first half.

I felt like I had to have an intimate relationship and understanding of the gear - of the power my cape had, of how fast it could go. I was not able to attain that intimate relationship in the experience in which you (the author) presented.

Much of the issues of this level had to do with the gimmick verging on incessance rather than feeling like a fair challenge - and with a gimmick of manual scrolling, I felt the level was rather cramped and didn't accomodate for the player to have much room to run to a gear fast if they needed to.

I mean, it ain't shit and I don't intend to call it that - this is an experience that I am super glad exists, and I can see the love and detail poured into it. I just felt that the actual tangible level design was not quite up to par with the impressiveness of the visuals and concepts themselves.

ps. i liked the cutscenes.

MrDeePay
DESIGN: 43/60
CREATIVITY: 30/30
AESTHETICS: 10/10
TOTAL: 83/100

Aesthetically, you absolutely nailed it. If definitely looks and feels like it was a 1930s cartoon. I can tell that *a lot* of work went into the presentation is it no doubt paid off on that front.

As far as the gameplay goes, the idea is there, but the actual design falters. Oftentimes the level trips over itself with needing to spin a gear to speed things up to get to the next segment, only for things to go be too fast for you to have ample timing to avoid any given obstacle. Or not having much room/timing to work with when starting up a gear (such as in sections 2-3) before the screen backtracks and pancakes you because portions of the section almost feel like foresight is needed. Or where you need to hit a Bullet Bill (section 2) so it doesn't collide with a solid object while you have little time to work with because, again, scrolling back. But when things works, it's great. I liked the segment when you needed to take it slowly to get back the burners and electrical current and the short bit at the end where you had to *stop* the Bills from activating the gears and wished there could've been more of that.

To summarize- visually amazing, but gameplay is a little rough.

Morsel
DESIGN: 50/60
CREATIVITY: 30/30
AESTHETICS: 10/10
TOTAL: 90/100

When is an SMW level not an SMW level? When you have to contend with SMW peculiarities instead of anything that could be considered sensible, then you are, whatever it may look like, still playing an SMW level. If I had to rate this by how much fun I was having while I struggled to understand what the fuck was going on, I would give it a very low score. Amazingly, once I had beaten the level and understood what to do, it was quite fun to replay a couple of times. I can fly in this level, so I have to worry about that. I can't kill explosions with the cape spin, so I have to worry about that. The cape spin must be from X/Y and not A, but A will function from the top as a spin jump, andso on. At the part where you had to alternate flipping the switch beside the ascending bullet with flipping the bullet, it was hard to work out the best way of doing it and awkward to perform after that. There were some functional problems (I can get shoved through the odd wall). This was an extravaganza and is hard to judge alongside these levels ordinary mortals made. The second section is noticeably more difficult than the others (in an awkward way) and the level ends slightly abruptly; some rebalancing would have been in order.

8th, MAD MEN by Sinc-X

idol
DESIGN: 52/60
CREATIVITY: 25/30
AESTHETICS: 7/10
TOTAL: 84/100

With no Jon Hamm in sight, this rendition of Mad Men is sure to be divisive.

Both Blue Coins and exclamation points denote the direction a Thwomp will go. I'm not sure why both are needed. I do appreciate the indicators, though.

I also appreciate the Line-Guided Thwomps. I've never seen such a marvel before. The Red Thwomp was also intimidating, mostly because I was not sure what it would do. Turns out it's just mad. I vibe.

The Roto-Discs are used very well, but I do wish the Clock-setup with the snake blocks actually required the player to circle multiple times: you do not have to do that.

I was not sure if I loved it by the time I finished it, so a little bit of rumination led me to my conclusion:

I love it. The platforming is succinct, it's not too claustrophobic, and it's excitingly fresh. The Roto-Discs move in such interesting patterns, the Line-Guide Thwomps serve as slow hitboxes to coax the player into movement, and the faster Thwomps ask the player to stay on their toes.

Great job. Maybe even better than AMC's. It's sure less sexist, at least.

MrDeePay
DESIGN: 53/60
CREATIVITY: 25/30
AESTHETICS: 6/10
TOTAL: 84/100

A lot of MAD MEN, some pissed off men, and a few passive aggressive rocky bois.

Right off the bat, good job on indicating which Thwomps are the very angry variety. That's something one would normally not see too often in hacks. (Or at least the ones I've seen.) The level itself is really fun. Challenging setups, but pretty easy to figure out what do and getting back to any given spot if you bite it takes next to no time. You only get one Mushroom to work with for the final room, but it's on the easier side compared to everything before it, so that's understandable.

Visually it is a bit plain since it's mostly vanilla SMW's castle just recolored and there are some glitched bouncing note blocks, but nothing terrible.

Morsel
DESIGN: 53/60
CREATIVITY: 22/30
AESTHETICS: 8/10
TOTAL: 83/100

I really enjoyed this one. The coin indicators on the thwomps were a bit clunky; you also used them in situations where the thwomp had already been seen to move (e.g. the platform ride down; the start of the vertical section), and surely indicators are not necessary in that case. The bounce sprite of the note block was wrong. You can stop the music by pausing sometimes. You might want to apply the 'double spinjump antifail' in future works (see the occasional doubled-up thwomp here). The gap in the line going down is not necessarily visible (if you jump,say), which could feel unfair. Perhaps you could have done slightly more with line-guided thwomps, having introduced them (although I don't know how adaptable they are). There was a line-guide in the vertical section without anything on it. Mixing it up with the water part and the clockhands created some great tension near the ends of the sections.

[Sugar]

7th, Mario Plays Sokoban by Gbreezesunset & MiracleWater

idol
DESIGN: 45/60
CREATIVITY: 22/30
AESTHETICS: 7/10
TOTAL: 74/100

Well, color me intimidated. I have to admit I have no fuckin clue what sokoban is. Turns out it was a pretty easy concept for my monkey brain to understand.

Ah, "Level Design". What do we do with you in this case? This isn't a traditional level by any means - instead it's a series of actually pretty fun puzzles. They weren't too tough, but they had just the right amount of challenge. In this instance, since it's a puzzle level, level design will be puzzle design.

I enjoyed this thoroughly, but I was left wanting more - and I don't necessarily mean more rooms (this was enough), but as the puzzles went on I found them becoming... easier? I thought it was more interesting when SMW sprites came into play - the Thwomp one was especially interesting.

I do felt way more could've been done with the aesthetics. Since I have to sit here and figure out what to do, I might as well have had something pretty to look at, y'know?

MrDeePay
DESIGN: 53/60
CREATIVITY: 30/30
AESTHETICS: 7/10
TOTAL: 90/100

For a while after playing this, I kept asking myself "How the hell do I judge this?" It's drastically different to every other entry in this contest in a way that it can't be properly compared. But since it's a puzzle level, it'll be judged based on that.

Strictly as a puzzle level, it works out like a charm. A good easy introduction for anyone that doesn't know how sokoban plays while increasing the challenge fairly. Easy to reset the room (obviously) and the player never really feels pressured to get things done quickly. I do feel that the block interaction is a little too sensitive, though, allowing for easy mistakes to be made. The visual direction works both ways- it doesn't clutter the screen with distracting pieces, yet at the same time could still be more visually appealing than just using stone blocks. Also the music fits extremely well here, btw.

Really different, yet really creative and clicks together excellently.

Morsel
DESIGN: 52/60
CREATIVITY: 27/30
AESTHETICS: 9/10
TOTAL: 88/100

This was good fun and completely its own thing. Even if it was not a traditional level I think it feels like one as far as my level of engagement was concerned (similar levels have fitted in well to hacks with generally more normal levels, e.g. goomball machine from JUMP1/2, which this level might have been modelled on). I am not familiar with these puzzles in their normal, non-SMW level form. Some took me longer than I can understand now I have solved them. Some were too straightforward, I thought, but they generally seemed harder as the level went along and the moon one was the best. Balloon Mario is slightly awkward, of course, and sometimes I shoved a block by mistake and got annoyed. It is not enormously replayable, perhaps, unless there are alternative solutions to find. One of the stars was white when all the others were blue.