What's happening?
We're doing judge applications! Below is a bps patch with 5 levels, review all 5 of the levels and then send your reviews to me, after the deadline for getting the reviews to me passes, an anonymous (as in, the judges are anonymous) public vote will be held to see who will be the judges. The judging guidelines are also included right before this.
I'm not picky about the format you send your reviews in, just don't send me a .html file.
Judging guidelines
In order for your reviews to be considered for the vote, they must follow this rubric (the rubric will be used for the actual contest as well):
Fun - 40 Points representing the how enjoyable you found the level Concept - 30 Points representing how interesting the ideas represented in the level are Presentation - 20 Points representing the flavor, visual and sound design of a level. Functionality - 10 Points representing whether the level has any major bugs, softlocks or crashes,
For a total of 100 Points.
The actual structure of the review may be anything you want, as long as you give the levels a score using the rubric in the end.
Ok, great, how do I start?
The 5 levels are here: Levels
Since it's a .bps patch you'll have to patch it onto an original Super Mario World rom which I'm not allowed to provide here. FLIPS.
The deadline for submitting your reviews to me is September 3rd 9:00 PM CEST
5 brave storytellers have approached the judging booth, they're here to really show you what god like.
Below you will find a spreadsheet, along with a voting form (due to the forums not having the ability to do ranked voting and because the vote will be ran across two forums, making it easier to count the votes like this), analyze both carefully before deciding on who your favorites are. The Info Sheet The Voting Area
After all is done, the top 3 judges from the poll will be the judges who will judge the contest, joined by me for a total of 4.
The deadline for voting is September 8th 9:00 PM CEST
if you have any questions PM me on talkhaus or DM me over on discord (Valentine#0402)
And so, the contest begins.
as promised
THE JUDGES:
Windslash (Saturn), Lord Ruby (Mars) and xfix (Jupiter).
To round out the roster, I will be judging as well.
The judging rubric, once again. Fun - 40 Points representing the how enjoyable you found the level Concept - 30 Points representing how interesting the ideas represented in the level are Presentation - 20 Points representing the flavor, visual and sound design of a level. Functionality - 10 Points representing whether the level has any major bugs, softlocks or crashes,
THE RULES:
-You may participate alone or with a single partner.
-Each participant may submit only one level.
-Levels must be compatible with the latest version of Snes9x or BSNES.
-Levels may have dragon coins and moons, but secret exits are not allowed.
-The judges intend to play the levels blind, therefore sharing screenshots or videos of your levels in places where they are present is not advised.
-MSU-1 may only be used for custom music and must not be mandatory to play the level. (If you don't know what this means, then this probably doesn't matter for you)
-A level may be disqualified if two or more judges are unable to play it. If one judge is unable to play it, that judge will merely grant a score of 0.
-A level may be disqualified if the judges agree that it was designed in bad faith, or if it was released previously, or if it was stolen.
-A level may be disqualified if it is submitted as a rom or .ips instead of as a .bps.
-If a judge is unable to complete the level, or determines a level is unjustly wasting their time, they may use tools to complete it.
THE DEADLINE:
Your level must be submitted by 21st of October, 9:00 PM CEST
The submissions thread is here
You may use this thread to ask questions about the contest, lunar magic or anything else related from now on.
Last edited by Valentine2 years ago, edited 8 times in total.
i fucked up the first time i uploaded the level pack and both of the message boxes were blank, if you've already downloaded the pack im sorry but i have to ask you download it again
Valentine wrote: β2 years ago
Check out the first post, the judge voting is ready.
Just so I'm not getting the judge voting wrong: Does putting a judge at 1st mean that is my favorite?
The wording is a bit confusing because it says Rank the judges from your least favorite to your favorite instead of the other way around. Normally I'd think to put 1st as favorite and 5th as least favorite.
Valentine wrote: β2 years ago
Check out the first post, the judge voting is ready.
Just so I'm not getting the judge voting wrong: Does putting a judge at 1st mean that is my favorite?
The wording is a bit confusing because it says Rank the judges from your least favorite to your favorite instead of the other way around. Normally I'd think to put 1st as favorite and 5th as least favorite.
I made a mistake in the wording cause i was doing this at 5 am, I've updated the voting page to be more clear (Thankfully nobody has voted yet so this shouldn't cause any issues)
im gonna post my thoughts right into this thread because im what? sickening.
mercury: judging is way too referential of other things. mentions of jump, yump 2, vip 6, along with something called a puzzle box?? (i don't know what that is). i feel judging should be isolated generally, so this is my least favorite of the judgings. also the level in which they savescummed i didn't think was that bad, and i'd expect judges to be capable of playing stuff at that level if need be.
venus: minus a million points for using excel instead of a txt document or something. genuinely, spreadsheet judging is not nice to read. generally pretty good judging, albeit verging on "this is the right way to do x or y" sometimes which feels a bit preach-y. if you get voted in, please for the love of satan use a different format.
mars: format is adequately eclectic, intentionally i'd assume. ultimately though, this one shows a lot of focus on commenting on the entries as individual pieces, and is reflective. and sexy.
saturn: not a ton of feedback on this one tbh - i find it to be well judged w a plethora of feedback and whimsical commentary.
jupiter: decent, but also verges on being a bit harsh where it doesn't need to be (found the horror of lava review to be unnecessarily condescending, even if the place the level is supposed to take is one of wasting the judges time).
fav to least fav: saturn, mars, jupiter, venus, mercury. ive voted as such. but it is just my onion, i dont expect others to vote the same way.
My thoughts are similar to idol's, though I suppose I weigh things differently:
Mercury:
+ Pretty good and concise feedback
- Tends to reference other hacks and games quite a bit, so may be difficult to understand
- Judging could go into detail more
Venus:
+ Judging is very detailed
- Worst way to present judging by far (excel files are incredibly annoying to navigate especially with walls of text)
- Commentary is a bit patronizing ("Remember, do X so you won't have this problem!")
Mars:
+ Judging is clear and concise
+ Poems are charming
- Judging could go into detail more
Saturn:
+ Commentary is entertaining while still providing good feedback
- Commentary is entertaining potentially to a fault (may be annoying or just filler to some)
Jupiter:
+ Judging is very detailed, well formatted, and technical
- Is a bit mean in commentary towards the horror of lava level with their assumptions
Personal Ranking
1st: Jupiter
2nd: Mars
3rd: Saturn
4th: Mercury
5th: Venus
just 10 or so more hours left for the vote! If youve been meaning to vote but couldnt get yourself to actually read through all the reviews, now's your last chance!
Just for fun, I wanted to post my guesses for the identities of the judges. But if you'd rather not have speculation, I or someone else can edit the following out. Hidden behind double spoilers.
Mercury:
...........KobaBeach (pretty sure)
Venus:
..................Nimono (pretty sure)
Mars:
.........Rameau's Nephew (probably)
Saturn:
.....Zephyr_DragonLord? (not sure)
Jupiter:
.....................xfix (pretty sure)
No idea if they're right - these are just based on comparisons of writing styles against forum posts.
PSI Ninja wrote: β2 years ago
Just for fun, I wanted to post my guesses for the identities of the judges. But if you'd rather not have speculation, I or someone else can edit the following out. Hidden behind double spoilers.
Mercury:
...........KobaBeach (pretty sure)
Venus:
..................Nimono (pretty sure)
Mars:
.........Rameau's Nephew (probably)
Saturn:
.....Zephyr_DragonLord? (not sure)
Jupiter:
.....................xfix (pretty sure)
No idea if they're right - these are just based on comparisons of writing styles against forum posts.
Was I that easy to figure out? Maybe.
idol wrote: β2 years ago
mercury: judging is way too referential of other things. mentions of jump, yump 2, vip 6, along with something called a puzzle box?? (i don't know what that is). i feel judging should be isolated generally, so this is my least favorite of the judgings. also the level in which they savescummed i didn't think was that bad, and i'd expect judges to be capable of playing stuff at that level if need be.
Mercury:
+ Pretty good and concise feedback
- Tends to reference other hacks and games quite a bit, so may be difficult to understand
- Judging could go into detail more
Sorry for disappointing ^^; I do understand that the hack and game referencing can kind of result in misunderstandings so I understand your gripes, it's a habit from my autism lol. Puzzle Box is what Heraga calls stages similar to idol's and the like with pipes isolating each setup, sorry for not making that clear, I basically borrowed that term. And to be fair, xfix told me he had to savescum in Pokey as well. Either way, no hard feelings and I thank you for your feedback.
Hello! I'm the one behind the Mars pseudonym. I haven't posted much on talkhaus yet (however, that may change), but I've been fairly active in the YouTube comments for a while.
I'm looking forward to everyone's submissions! A contest is an excellent way of spawning discussions about level (or game) design, both by gathering people with an interest for the topic and by compiling plenty of cases of good, flawed, and controversial features, which, together, may bring about a comprehensive understanding. I'll gladly provide a starting point to those discussions by writing judge reviews.
I'm sure everyone from complete beginners to experienced designers have something they can learn, so don't be shy about participating.
And to be fair, xfix told me he had to savescum in Pokey as well.
I also had to use tools for that level. Which, by the way, seems like a near-guaranteed angrycow? Especially that final obstacle, considering what he thinks of entering doors in SMW.