(shouting)

VLDC9 - vanilla level design contest 9

this is the place where lps are being talked about. it's important to talk about games being played on the internet.
Post Reply
User avatar
FPzero
Resident SMW Central Admin
Posts: 635
Joined: 15 years ago

Re: VLDC9 - viridescent landslides dazzling canals 9

Post by FPzero »

And this is the point where I officially have to stop watching so I don't see ahead of my recordings. Hope it all goes well from here onward.

We were incredibly confused on Nimono's score for Grassy Grotto when we played. It contains probably some of the most creative use of the carrot platforms I've ever seen in a hack, the design felt really good to play and it looked and sounded very nice overall. It really felt like a mine to me. The biggest negative I could see with it is that the carrot platforms inherently have an aspect of waiting around tied to them, slowing down the level's pace, but I didn't think that would be enough to cause the level to receive a 4/30 for Design.

Saturation Plains on the other hand felt like it totally lost its way in the second half. First half was an okay, sort of generic grassland bit, but then the second half was suddenly line guides with generators and "Bowser Challenges" and a star run too for good measure? It all kind of fell apart for me at that point and I wasn't very impressed.
User avatar
Mata Hari
Posts: 2522
Joined: 14 years ago
https://matahari.talkhaus.com/

Re: VLDC9 - viridescent landslides dazzling canals 9

Post by Mata Hari »

FPzero wrote:And this is the point where I officially have to stop watching so I don't see ahead of my recordings. Hope it all goes well from here onward.
When are you going to post your vidords?
User avatar
Giant Ninji
Posts: 7
Joined: 12 years ago

Re: VLDC9 - vistas leaving denatured colorants 9

Post by Giant Ninji »

Grassy Grotto deserved to be higher. There's a bunch of these scores that are just weird. The problem I had with grass grotto was more in design really, since it was samey and overly long for having too much of the same thing.

Pipeside fools you. It looks great but it is one of the most annoying levels to play in the hack. Water, cramped spaces, and footballs ahhh.

Saturation Plains is eh. It's a disjointed 2-in-1. So whatever.

Almost halfway through Grass Land. Super excited once you go up to Forest Land, since there's a bunch of interesting levels there.
GlitchMr wrote:I disagree about a rip-off myself. Red line thing (read: 1F0) is not that unique, it was seen before in Sokobansolver's and Morsel's VLDC7 entries (sure, it wasn't red, but that's a minor detail).
It was the exact same colors, and in this case, was ripped off from the other level. The idea itself isn't new, but daspongebobman took it exactly as is from the other level.
User avatar
Nimono
Posts: 745
Joined: 11 years ago

Re: VLDC9 - viridescent landslides dazzling canals 9

Post by Nimono »

FPzero wrote:We were incredibly confused on Nimono's score for Grassy Grotto when we played. It contains probably some of the most creative use of the carrot platforms I've ever seen in a hack, the design felt really good to play and it looked and sounded very nice overall. It really felt like a mine to me. The biggest negative I could see with it is that the carrot platforms inherently have an aspect of waiting around tied to them, slowing down the level's pace, but I didn't think that would be enough to cause the level to receive a 4/30 for Design.
To be honest, I'M incredibly confused on my own score. I have no clue why I scored it so lowly.
User avatar
FPzero
Resident SMW Central Admin
Posts: 635
Joined: 15 years ago

Re: VLDC9 - viridescent landslides dazzling canals 9

Post by FPzero »

Mata Hari wrote:
FPzero wrote:And this is the point where I officially have to stop watching so I don't see ahead of my recordings. Hope it all goes well from here onward.
When are you going to post your vidords?
I'm going to post them tomorrow when I post my thread on SA. I'm reviving the old Romhackeria thread from nearly 6 years ago and our VLDC9 playthrough is my contribution to it. To keep myself better organized, I want to post and update both at the same time. Hopefully the SA thread will be a fun one, since last time a bunch of other users contributed a variety of other small romhack LPs like Rockman 2 Min, Parallel Worlds and more.

edit: I won't post in here when it goes live to as to not hijack the thread further. Just watch for it to appear in this subforum some time tomorrow, probably mid-afternoon EST.
User avatar
raocow
the death of the incredible huge
Posts: 4078
Joined: 15 years ago
Location: maybe the Wizards are the most complex, and the sales guys are up their daily
https://raocow.talkhaus.com/

Re: VLDC9 - viridescent landslides dazzling canals 9

Post by raocow »

I mean I seriously don't mind if you post it in here honestly.
the chillaxest of dragonsImage
Image
Image
User avatar
FPzero
Resident SMW Central Admin
Posts: 635
Joined: 15 years ago

Re: VLDC9 - viridescent landslides dazzling canals 9

Post by FPzero »

Alright, I'll probably drop a quick "hey it's live" with a link in here then. I mostly just didn't want to do it without permission for courtesy reasons. I'll still have a general thread for our videos though because I don't have time for a one-video-per-day thing and I don't want to be reading the impressions from raocow's videos since our playthrough is also blind. Regardless, I'm looking forward to posting them here on the subforum because it'll be a fun comparison of opinions if nothing else!
User avatar
Reecer7
Crack is fun and nice and a good time!
Posts: 449
Joined: 8 years ago
Pronouns: he/him/his
https://cro-iba.talkhaus.com/

Re: VLDC9 - viridescent landslides dazzling canals 9

Post by Reecer7 »

To be fair, I'm definitely not digging Grassy Grotto's aesthetic. It's mostly just the palette which is getting me. It's not a good palette, in my opinion.

Image

The browns look just fine, but the greens... There's something sickly about them. It's puke green. It just isn't a good pick of green. Which is a shame, because it's really obvious Christian07 was trying to push this palette really hard! All the enemies and objects have been subtly moved towards these shades of green and brown, and that's a really neat touch! And they also tried to put as much accenting into the level as they could, with all the decorations and pipes... but I still feel like it could use a nice transitional color, a sort of very dull green, because the accents alone aren't just quite giving green enough volume in the level.

But, of course, this is all just my opinion, and I'm in absolutely no way an experienced graphic designer or anything of the sort, so feel free to disagree.
call me reecer6, not reecer7, please! gotta maintain that same internet brand. actually i'm cro-iba now, it's cooler
Image
Image
strange bluebird website (check it out for my art!)
User avatar
FrozenQuills
hehe haha 2024
Posts: 843
Joined: 9 years ago
Location: my skull

Re: VLDC9 - viridescent landslides dazzling canals 9

Post by FrozenQuills »

got the comments again

59th: GRASSY GROTTO by Christian07
Nimono
DESIGN: 4/30
CREATIVITY: 6/20
AESTHETICS: 4/10
TOTAL: 14/60
A little on the boring side. The level is incredibly linear with no side paths to take for bonuses, while the difficulty never truly progresses, either. The tricks are all the same, from start to finish.

ninja boy
DESIGN: 21/30
CREATIVITY: 16/20
AESTHETICS: 9/10
TOTAL: 46/60
This was a really nice level and made good use of the carrot platforms which seem to get overlooked more often than not.

Eternity
DESIGN: 22/30
CREATIVITY: 16/20
AESTHETICS: 8/10
TOTAL: 46/60
Pretty good level, the carrot lifts were used pretty well and it had some really nice enemy placement as well. The Banzai Bills and Hammer Bros at the end were a nice touch, too, and make for some nice obstacles when used with the carrot lifts.

Koopster
DESIGN: 20/30
CREATIVITY: 11/20
AESTHETICS: 8/10
TOTAL: 39/60
Pretty okay. You have a selection of gimmicks in action here and they make for a fun challenge, but otherwise, I feel it doesn't do much of special. It could've been maybe more than jumping over pits with the help of the carrot lifts and dodging bullets, if you know what I mean!

69th: SATURATION PLAINS by MarkD
Nimono
DESIGN: 18/30
CREATIVITY: 11/20
AESTHETICS: 4/10
TOTAL: 33/60
A fun level. Although, some parts (particularly with the floating landmasses) don't look very good, and overall the level feels a little incoherent with what it's trying to do... May want to try sticking with a few major sprites and try to use them in interesting ways rather than throw everything together!

ninja boy
DESIGN: 17/30
CREATIVITY: 12/20
AESTHETICS: 7/10
TOTAL: 36/60
Really nice level though I must say in the second half with the line platforms the one switch with the saw was near impossible to hit without taking damage and was more or less a super cheap hit.

Eternity
DESIGN: 17/30
CREATIVITY: 16/20
AESTHETICS: 6/10
TOTAL: 39/60
This one almost feels like two levels in one: a fairly standard (but still fun) grassland level and a (not as well-designed) athletic level. I think if you sticked with the first part and expanded it a bit more it would have worked out better, because the second part doesn't feel as interesting. The bullet generator, for example, is unnecessary and feels like a cheap way of adding more difficulty for the most part. The cave sections + secret exit are fine, other than a few bats which don't pose much of a threat due to being placed too low to actually reach Mario.

Koopster
DESIGN: 14/30
CREATIVITY: 10/20
AESTHETICS: 6/10
TOTAL: 30/60
Hey I was expecting some kawaii princess party-tier saturation with the name! So, this is a very basic level. It does neat things in my opinion; I like how it has a lot of bonus areas for example. But other than that, it's a really unfocused level. It has bits of many gameplay mechanics but they really don't do anything special to the level. Next time, try picking one or two specific mechanics and develop on them as the level goes, instead of shoving in a lot of stuff from SMW's engine in a single level and not doing much with any of them. Take that as a tip!

95th: PIPESIDE by Minimay
Nimono
DESIGN: 1/30
CREATIVITY: 2/20
AESTHETICS: 4/10
TOTAL: 7/60
Not fun at all. Football Chucks were spammed too much, making for an unfair and unfun challenge.

ninja boy
DESIGN: 10/30
CREATIVITY: 9/20
AESTHETICS: 5/10
TOTAL: 24/60
Well I don't have much to say this level just kind of came and went, it was a little over saturated in places and a little confusing on what direction to go.

Eternity
DESIGN: 16/30
CREATIVITY: 15/20
AESTHETICS: 8/10
TOTAL: 39/60
Really short as well, and there are a few areas where the sprite placement gets a bit spammy, spcially near the end. It's rather easy to go overboard when placin Puntin' Chucks, and I feel this level often ends up doing it.

Koopster
DESIGN: 6/30
CREATIVITY: 8/20
AESTHETICS: 8/10
TOTAL: 22/60
One more case of putting aesthetic as the primary focus! I can tell you spent more than half of your time on this making the very nice colors and deco, but the weird rope and muncher spam kinda ruin it for me... I think you had some interesting setups at hand, namely the chuck throwing footballs that jump on the ropes and then fall where you are, but the design of this level is mostly all-around weird, unfocused and also way too short!
Image
Image
avatar by crayonchewer!
Image
Image
Image
SMBX Tileset Compiler and Separator
The boss entry that made me eat a shoe.

5th place counter: 5
(SMBX Forums CC11, SMBX Forums CC12, Endgame Madness Contest, SMWC Kaizo Contest 2016, SMWC 24hr Contest 2018)
User avatar
ft029
m/m wannabe
Posts: 537
Joined: 7 years ago
Location: U.S.

Re: VLDC9 - viridescent landslides dazzling canals 9

Post by ft029 »

FrozenQuills wrote: Koopster
DESIGN: 20/30
CREATIVITY: 11/20
AESTHETICS: 8/10
TOTAL: 39/60
In the video, it's 22-11-8. I think Koopster changed some ratings or something
Koopster's judging wrote: It could've been maybe more than jumping over pits with the help of the carrot lifts and dodging bullets, if you know what I mean!
Image
Mosts Awards:
Image
Image
User avatar
Koopster
judge of u
Posts: 193
Joined: 9 years ago
Location: is there anybody in there?

Re: VLDC9 - viridescent landslides dazzling canals 9

Post by Koopster »

oh snap
Image
User avatar
Grounder
Posts: 5766
Joined: 10 years ago

Re: VLDC9 - viridescent landslides dazzling canals 9

Post by Grounder »

ft029 wrote:
Koopster's judging wrote: It could've been maybe more than jumping over pits with the help of the carrot lifts and dodging bullets, if you know what I mean!
Image
Yeah, Luigi could have sex with Yuyuko!
Why don't you eat me?

I am perfectly tasty...

AND I'LL STEAL YOUR SOUL! :twisted:

ImageImageImage
10204307
Posts: 397
Joined: 14 years ago
First name: Violet
Pronouns: she/her

Re: VLDC9 - verdant lighthearted daytime charm 9

Post by 10204307 »

WYE wrote:
raocow wrote:
Lockirby2 wrote: I'm not sure if the naming gimmick is just "song titles" or if it's something more specific than that. I don't really listen to non-video game music.
as always, 'song titles' is technically accurate but much too broad
Googling the song titles, it looks to be "songs from albums titled 9 or Nine". Which is fitting given the hack's name.

(And also exciting because I passive-listened to Eros Ramazzotti's 9 when I was younger - my mother put it on a lot - and I'm looking forward to seeing part of the soundtrack of my childhood referenced. :-) )
Are there enough song titles from albums titled 9 or Nine to be used for an entire playthrough?
User avatar
BobisOnlyBob
Mythical Quadruped
Posts: 1793
Joined: 11 years ago
Location: the world is no longer a place

Re: VLDC9 - verdant lighthearted daytime charm 9

Post by BobisOnlyBob »

10204307 wrote:Are there enough song titles from albums titled 9 or Nine to be used for an entire playthrough?
I count 130 just off the albums named Nine or 9; factor in albums with Nine in the title or bands named Nine and you have more than enough to cover the lot.
User avatar
Sebby19
Posts: 2544
Joined: 14 years ago
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba

Re: VLDC9 - viridescent landslides dazzling canals 9

Post by Sebby19 »

You know, I really like those diagonal platforms. They're a slanted surface that Mario isn't forced to slip off of (the one thing I hate the most about SMW), and for whatever reason, remind me of Keith Courage in Alpha Zone, the first game I owned.
ImageImage
-Banned in Antarctica
Sebby19 wrote:If your life depends on throwing up, switch to the keyboard
Official raocow subscriber # 30,000
User avatar
Money
Posts: 467
Joined: 13 years ago

Re: VLDC9 - viridescent landslides dazzling canals 9

Post by Money »

Apparently something special happens if you enter one of the coined pipes in the second half of lolyoshi's level. Pls demo.
User avatar
FrozenQuills
hehe haha 2024
Posts: 843
Joined: 9 years ago
Location: my skull

Re: VLDC9 - valuables lucratively deceiving cerebrums 9

Post by FrozenQuills »

The music in Retronom's level is a special Fire remix of the SMW theme made specifically for VLDC9 (which a lot of people seem to enjoy). It's used in so few levels in this hack though.

Also we're starting to see some of the more controversial judge scores now; I could've easily seen Ruins of Cupidity as a top ten level, and it's under-ranked imo.
Image
Image
avatar by crayonchewer!
Image
Image
Image
SMBX Tileset Compiler and Separator
The boss entry that made me eat a shoe.

5th place counter: 5
(SMBX Forums CC11, SMBX Forums CC12, Endgame Madness Contest, SMWC Kaizo Contest 2016, SMWC 24hr Contest 2018)
User avatar
Koopster
judge of u
Posts: 193
Joined: 9 years ago
Location: is there anybody in there?

Re: VLDC9 - valuables lucratively deceiving cerebrums 9

Post by Koopster »

oh well you can't blame me for it~~~~

32nd: RUINS OF CUPIDITY by lolyoshi
Nimono
DESIGN: 20/30
CREATIVITY: 15/20
AESTHETICS: 8/10
TOTAL: 43/60
Ahahaha, loved how the coins worked. First they take you to the truth, then they lie to you. Very fun, almost felt like a rhythm game at the first half, but then a hidden floor is found at the very end, which is below the screen. You should've left a bigger hint for that than (We didn't say coins tell the truth again!)

ninja boy
DESIGN: 10/30
CREATIVITY: 8/20
AESTHETICS: 2/10
TOTAL: 20/60
This was an interesting level it started out good but then just became annoying with the Kaizo like walls of bullet bills/fire and the areas that are covered with pipes that will kill you and projectiles/enemies that almost make you have to press down. The level was made well but I was not a fan of it.

Eternity
DESIGN: 23/30
CREATIVITY: 18/20
AESTHETICS: 8/10
TOTAL: 49/60
Really interesting level, the coin guides are used in really neat ways throughout, even though some of them feel a little bit awkward due to their placement (nothing major though). Some of the obstacles at the second part of the level are a bit annoying to go through - the one where you have to duck between two pipes so you don't enter any, in particular. I took a fair while to figure it out. Other than that, really neat gimmick and solid execution, too.

Koopster
Favorite
DESIGN: 29/30
CREATIVITY: 18/20
AESTHETICS: 9/10
TOTAL: 56/60
Hahaha, this is amazing! I LOVE how the coins make a level that'd be otherwise full of traps so fair. It feels super amazing to play. The second half was fantastic too - I like how the role of the coins is reversed, so you have to pay more attention! A few bits of the dropping sections were just a bit too demanding of attention in my opinion (especially the first one, around before the gray platforms come up). But otherwise, this felt really fair and very doable in the first try.

66th: I.H.I.W. by Retronom
Nimono
DESIGN: 27/30
CREATIVITY: 17/20
AESTHETICS: 5/10
TOTAL: 49/60
What an exciting level! I liked how simple and non-problematic the disco shell jump was at the end with a cape! Then the level's name hits you at the very end... Hah!

ninja boy
DESIGN: 12/30
CREATIVITY: 10/20
AESTHETICS: 4/10
TOTAL: 26/60
This really felt unfinished where the first part of the level was good but with an unbalanced midpoint and then it just ends. A lot of potential but it was way to short.

Eternity
DESIGN: 16/30
CREATIVITY: 16/20
AESTHETICS: 7/10
TOTAL: 39/60
Fairly nice level. It's challenging but fun for the most part, and aesthetically it's not really bad as well. I do feel the disco shell riding section doesn't work well with everything else, as it's a huge difficulty spike and doesn't seem to be fun or interesting enough to add much to the level overall.

Koopster
DESIGN: 14/30
CREATIVITY: 8/20
AESTHETICS: 5/10
TOTAL: 27/60
idk if you're going to win... :( This was Castle Tileset: The Level, with an awkward disco shell section in the end. It's not that disco hopping is a bad thing per se (I had a lot of fun with a level with that theme in another hack), it's just really out of place in the context of this stage. Otherwise this was really unfocused - you didn't really settle on what you wanted to do and just designed a lot of random sections together! Also, the blue lava doesn't contrast well at all.


I like how I always happen to say something about "doable on first try" when it's about lolyoshi. Reminder that this year's judging was anonymous (I don't know if this was ever mentioned? This is why "author leaks" are penalties, btw.)
lolyoshi's level is the one I had the most fun on, hence favorite! I guess I have a thing for following coins (since I also like

Swiss Hotel

a lot). I scored two levels higher, though, similarly to what I did in MaGL3. My favorite wasn't really my highest score!
Retronom's aesthetics were hurt by the awkward contrast with the blue lava imo, but yeah, it really doesn't look that bad. Would've given it one more point, but on my judging standards it's more like a 5.5, so I leaned more towards a five.
Last edited by Koopster 7 years ago, edited 1 time in total.
Image
User avatar
Nimono
Posts: 745
Joined: 11 years ago

Re: VLDC9 - valuables lucratively deceiving cerebrums 9

Post by Nimono »

The reason we had an "author leak" penalty is because we were doing anonymous judging this contest, and the reason we did anonymous judging was because people kept complaining that the same few people kept getting 1st place and were so sure that it was bias just due to who made them. So we took out that variable of knowing who made them, penalizing people for not helping to uphold that.


Personally, I don't think it really did what people were hoping it would, and I hope we never do that again. I don't like penalizing people just for putting their name on their entry...
User avatar
Lockirby2
Posts: 376
Joined: 8 years ago
Location: Ontario, Canada
Contact:

Re: VLDC9 - valuables lucratively deceiving cerebrums 9

Post by Lockirby2 »

Ruins of Cupidity was really fun to play. The level flowed very well and the way it plays with your head is just great. Definitely one of my favourites. I don't agree at all that the puzzle at the end should be made more explicit. Both raocow and I approached the fake goal, paused to think, and then made the correct decision, partly because you can see more platforms beyond the end goal. I think explicitly spelling out the puzzle would have ruined it.

I didn't find that the disco riding was completely out of place in I.H.I.W., but the second half definitely just ended. I liked the level on the whole though.

I like the idea of anonymous judging still. I don't think it will create massive changes in rankings because Pixel-Gon Gamer still isn't Worldpeace. But it probably still removes subtle biases that influence the rankings less noticeably. Provided the instructions are listed clearly, it's really not that hard to follow the instruction "Don't put your name on your entry". I don't think it's unreasonable to give a penalty for that.
User avatar
Koopster
judge of u
Posts: 193
Joined: 9 years ago
Location: is there anybody in there?

Re: VLDC9 - valuables lucratively deceiving cerebrums 9

Post by Koopster »

It's gonna be a thing to decide. I think it's more likely anonymous judging won't happen again, but when we held a poll about it the result was literally a tie. Maybe we should run a poll again.
Image
User avatar
Zephyr_DragonLord
The dragon awakens...!
Posts: 1047
Joined: 8 years ago
First name: Zach
Location: Somewhere between dreams and dormancy

Re: VLDC9 - valuables lucratively deceiving cerebrums 9

Post by Zephyr_DragonLord »

Grassy Grotto kind of makes me want to use those grassy lifts in my next level... It's a good level in its own right, too.
Saturation Plains is okay. The Bowser challenge section is a little strangely paced, but not unmanageable.
Pipepline feels like a Mario Maker level. The kind that isn't too special. But it works out to be okay, if in need of an easier power-up.

Anonymous judging probably isn't great. I think the same people win due to the fact they're really good at making levels. But we have had plenty of dark horses before.

Speaking of that, Ruins of Cupidity was fantastic. It's exactly the kind of level I expect to be really good. Like what has been said earlier, the level itself is self-explanatory. It is not only varied in its sections, but then completely reverses the gimmick, which I am a huge fan of. It's too bad ninja boy didn't see the clues, and rated it poorly. (I do have problems with that low rating, and is a legitimate reason to swear off savestates for judging the first time) It IS Kaizo-like, but unlike that former game, it is completely fair in all of its obstacles, as they are all telegraphed. If you die once to one, you'll know the solution for sure next time.

I. H. I. W. was a nice castle level. Some cool things were done, but the second half does end a little suddenly... the difficulty curve is a bit strange, but the obstacles feel rather fair, if a bit more ill-marked. It's difficult, but not overly so.

Nice job to all of you for your levels.
I am prone to almost everything... except spontaneous violence.
Any questions, concerns, or aspirations you have with me can go to the PM box... Now here's a quote:
raocow wrote:I know there is a population on Earth. They like to populate. I like to gesticulate. We're friends!
Image
(It was about time)
User avatar
raocow
the death of the incredible huge
Posts: 4078
Joined: 15 years ago
Location: maybe the Wizards are the most complex, and the sales guys are up their daily
https://raocow.talkhaus.com/

Re: VLDC9 - valuables lucratively deceiving cerebrums 9

Post by raocow »

honestly it sounds like ninja boy someone didn't understand what the level is about at all... and I have no idea how he could have considering it's spelled out for you.
the chillaxest of dragonsImage
Image
Image
User avatar
underFlo
you spinda right round
Posts: 117
Joined: 9 years ago
First name: Florence
Pronouns: they/she
Location: Germany

Re: VLDC9 - valuables lucratively deceiving cerebrums 9

Post by underFlo »

Man lolyoshi's level looked super neat! I absolutely love the idea of fighting instinct in the second half and the way it's displayed is really good. Even if the text box didn't explain it I feel like the "don't follow coins" gimmick should have been apparent as soon as you get to the muncher at the very least? I was also a fan of telegraphing the fire's position thro7gh blue coins.

I think with a level like that save states detract from the level more than usual because when raocow died, he had time to reflect on what he did and always (I think?) knew what to do the 2nd time he approached something and that's really commendable. If you savestate you don't really reflect upon your deaths from my experience so that may have been another reason ninja boy didn't get the clues.
ImageImageImageImageImageImage
zagesaw
Posts: 48
Joined: 7 years ago

Re: VLDC9 - valuables lucratively deceiving cerebrums 9

Post by zagesaw »

Ruins of Cupidity was a really fun level to play and I wouldn't mind seeing it in the Top 10. I truly don't understand how ninja boy would give this level a 20/60 but give Short Cave a 35/60 but I already mentioned that earlier. It's one of the best levels in the contest when it comes to level design imo. It's definitely the best part of the otherwise forgettable Grass World.
Post Reply