VLDC9 - vanilla level design contest 9
Re: VLDC9 - viridescent landslides dazzling canals 9
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.
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.
- Mata Hari
- Posts: 2522
- Joined: 14 years ago
- https://matahari.talkhaus.com/
Re: VLDC9 - viridescent landslides dazzling canals 9
When are you going to post your vidords?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.
- Giant Ninji
- Posts: 7
- Joined: 12 years ago
Re: VLDC9 - vistas leaving denatured colorants 9
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.
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.
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.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).
Re: VLDC9 - viridescent landslides dazzling canals 9
To be honest, I'M incredibly confused on my own score. I have no clue why I scored it so lowly.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.
Re: VLDC9 - viridescent landslides dazzling canals 9
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.Mata Hari wrote:When are you going to post your vidords?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.
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.
- 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
I mean I seriously don't mind if you post it in here honestly.
the chillaxest of dragons
Re: VLDC9 - viridescent landslides dazzling canals 9
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!
- 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
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.
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.
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
strange bluebird website (check it out for my art!)
strange bluebird website (check it out for my art!)
- FrozenQuills
- hehe haha 2024
- Posts: 843
- Joined: 9 years ago
- Location: my skull
Re: VLDC9 - viridescent landslides dazzling canals 9
got the comments again
59th: GRASSY GROTTO by Christian07
69th: SATURATION PLAINS by MarkD
95th: PIPESIDE by Minimay
59th: GRASSY GROTTO by Christian07
69th: SATURATION PLAINS by MarkD
95th: PIPESIDE by Minimay
avatar by crayonchewer!
Re: VLDC9 - viridescent landslides dazzling canals 9
In the video, it's 22-11-8. I think Koopster changed some ratings or somethingFrozenQuills wrote: Koopster
DESIGN: 20/30
CREATIVITY: 11/20
AESTHETICS: 8/10
TOTAL: 39/60
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!
Mosts Awards:
Re: VLDC9 - viridescent landslides dazzling canals 9
Yeah, Luigi could have sex with Yuyuko!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!
Why don't you eat me?
I am perfectly tasty...
AND I'LL STEAL YOUR SOUL!
I am perfectly tasty...
AND I'LL STEAL YOUR SOUL!
Re: VLDC9 - verdant lighthearted daytime charm 9
Are there enough song titles from albums titled 9 or Nine to be used for an entire playthrough?WYE wrote:Googling the song titles, it looks to be "songs from albums titled 9 or Nine". Which is fitting given the hack's name.raocow wrote:as always, 'song titles' is technically accurate but much too broadLockirby2 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.
(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. :-) )
- BobisOnlyBob
- Mythical Quadruped
- Posts: 1793
- Joined: 11 years ago
- Location: the world is no longer a place
Re: VLDC9 - verdant lighthearted daytime charm 9
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.10204307 wrote:Are there enough song titles from albums titled 9 or Nine to be used for an entire playthrough?
Re: VLDC9 - viridescent landslides dazzling canals 9
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.
-Banned in Antarctica
Official raocow subscriber # 30,000Sebby19 wrote:If your life depends on throwing up, switch to the keyboard
Re: VLDC9 - viridescent landslides dazzling canals 9
Apparently something special happens if you enter one of the coined pipes in the second half of lolyoshi's level. Pls demo.
- FrozenQuills
- hehe haha 2024
- Posts: 843
- Joined: 9 years ago
- Location: my skull
Re: VLDC9 - valuables lucratively deceiving cerebrums 9
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.
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.
avatar by crayonchewer!
Re: VLDC9 - valuables lucratively deceiving cerebrums 9
oh well you can't blame me for it~~~~
32nd: RUINS OF CUPIDITY by lolyoshi
66th: I.H.I.W. by Retronom
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
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.
32nd: RUINS OF CUPIDITY by lolyoshi
66th: I.H.I.W. by Retronom
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.
Re: VLDC9 - valuables lucratively deceiving cerebrums 9
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...
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...
Re: VLDC9 - valuables lucratively deceiving cerebrums 9
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.
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.
Re: VLDC9 - valuables lucratively deceiving cerebrums 9
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.
- 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
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.
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:
(It was about time)
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!
(It was about time)
- 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
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 dragons
- 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
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.
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.
Re: VLDC9 - valuables lucratively deceiving cerebrums 9
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.