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VLDC9 - vanilla level design contest 9

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Koopster
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Re: VLDC9 - vintage lamps decorated chutes 9

Post by Koopster »

Yes, the judging was anonymous.
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Re: VLDC9 - vintage lamps decorated chutes 9

Post by Lockirby2 »

Delibetus Caverns reminds me a lot of All Hail Megamole. I feel very similar about the two levels.

Archaic Architecture overstayed its welcome a tad, and there were some offputting design decisions, but there were plenty of redeeming qualities too. One thing I didn't like was that there are two sections of the level that have to be traversed three times each, but you probably killed the enemies the first time through, so you just have to run through parts of the level several times. But the level had some cool setups, and the mine shaft room was excellent.
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Re: VLDC9 - vintage lamps decorated chutes 9

Post by Nimono »

TRS wrote:
Nimono wrote:to be fair, penalty for doing it was STUPID. i think i was the only judge that kept saying that lol
It's not stupid though. Why have a rule at all when there's no repercussions for breaking it?
i thought the whole anonymous judging thing was stupid and pointless, actually. that's why i think the penalty is so stupid. yeah, it fit the rules, but...it's something so infinitesimal and inconsequential, yet you lose points for it...
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Re: VLDC9 - vintage lamps decorated chutes 9

Post by Ashan »

Whether or not points should have been taken away for putting your name on the title screen is up for debate, but I don't think it's a bad idea to keep levels anonymous. I've seen instances where authors likely got leeway with judging because of their name.
Like in MaGL3 where the one guy who was famous for making good SMBX levels hopped into Lunar Magic for his first time and made some castle level with so much layer shenanigans and and sprite overload that there was random slowdown spikes and parts of platforms disappearing. But because people liked his SMBX levels, they were like "wow, what a courageous design decision to have a bunch of random slowdown, it really added a unique challenge to the level" when it was clearly unintentional.
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Re: VLDC9 - vintage lamps decorated chutes 9

Post by snoruntpyro »

Ashan wrote:Like in MaGL3 where the one guy who was famous for making good SMBX levels.
quite the opposite, actually, mechdragon is incredibly infamous for making bad levels. Also I never said that it was intentional and I never thought it was. I didn't give any more leeway because of it :v. I don't know how the others thought but I'm sure they had similar reasoning or something.

Also tbh anonymous judging is never needed if you have actually good, unbiased judges. Seeing someone's name on the level may give certain expectations for the level but if it's a good judge they'd be able to just move on from the name and just look at the level by itself. I'd give examples of how anonymous judging in VLDC9 didn't really change the kind of people who made top rankings but it really only applies to

worldpeace, Lui37 and Blue Leaf

here because the judging was so bullshit.
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S.N.N.
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Re: VLDC9 - vintage lamps decorated chutes 9

Post by S.N.N. »

Pyro wrote:Also tbh anonymous judging is never needed if you have actually good, unbiased judges.
This has been brought up before but honestly, no matter how good a judge is, there's always that small subconscious influence. Even if, say, worldpeace submits a level, and it wasn't as good as the past several years, the judge will probably end up saying "well that was disappointing" but still rate it slightly higher than they would if it was made by (mostly) anybody else.

..though honestly, I'm fine with either approach. I get the reasons behind wanting anonymous judging, but historically it has worked just fine with non-anonymous judging. That's why VLDCX is going back to that approach.
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Re: VLDC9 - vintage lamps decorated chutes 9

Post by Mata Hari »

Whoa wait how did they do parallax scrolling??
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Re: VLDC9 - vintage lamps decorated chutes 9

Post by Divemissile »

i loved the first level today. i played it myself, and it's really a level that does wonders with its autoscrolling. it's not too boring or too stupid like most autoscrollers, and its got good music!

the second level was also good, but not my cup of tea, honestly. lots of odd setups and bits where i feel only luck lets me survive. well made level, just not something i like.
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Re: VLDC9 - vintage lamps decorated chutes 9

Post by Koopster »

I feel raocow didn't catch that the map is vaporwave-styled :p
Mata Hari wrote:Whoa wait how did they do parallax scrolling??
Two BGs, one on layer 2 and the other on layer 3~

16th: PARACHUTIST PLAINS by darkdlp02
Nimono
DESIGN: 27/30
CREATIVITY: 20/20
AESTHETICS: 8/10
TOTAL: 55/60
Quite satisfying! Liked the challenges you had in the autoscroll, wasn't too hard, wasn't too easy, it was JUST RIGHT.

ninja boy
DESIGN: 19/30
CREATIVITY: 16/20
AESTHETICS: 8/10
TOTAL: 43/60
A nice rompy level with a good difficulty a nice pacing and the auto scroll didn't slow down the level at all because there was always action going on. A good all around level.

Eternity
DESIGN: 25/30
CREATIVITY: 17/20
AESTHETICS: 8/10
TOTAL: 50/60
I wasn't expecting a lot when I saw this was an autoscroll level, but this is surprisingly well-made! The autoscroll actually adds to the design a lot instead of being simply thrown to artificially extend the level length, the level overall is pretty well designed and it manages to provide the player a interesting challenge while not going too overboard.

OTHER: I honestly expected the para-bomb jumps to get a bit more complex later on, and I'm slightly disappointed by how little was done with it and a few other neat obstacles.

Koopster
DESIGN: 25/30
CREATIVITY: 14/20
AESTHETICS: 8/10
TOTAL: 47/60
This was pretty fun! Excellent usage of the autoscroll. Everything in the level is timed real nicely with it. I especially enjoyed collecting the dragon coins~

21st: FUNKY FLOATS by Centipede
Nimono
DESIGN: 16/30
CREATIVITY: 14/20
AESTHETICS: 8/10
TOTAL: 38/60
It looked nice, and the gimmick was interesting, but... in practice, it really didn't work out very well. The beginning of the level really was the hardest, with the spinning platforms constantly carrying you away, usually into fish, while a spot at the end will usually kill most people since you expect to jump up out of water onto a platform, but you suddenly get an invisible note block in your way.

ninja boy
DESIGN: 15/30
CREATIVITY: 15/20
AESTHETICS: 9/10
TOTAL: 39/60
This level made a nice use of bubble water and it didn't really feel out of place at all. The use of the floating spikes was also unexpected but provided a nice challenge because they changed how they acted as soon as they left the water.

Eternity
DESIGN: 25/30
CREATIVITY: 19/20
AESTHETICS: 8/10
TOTAL: 52/60
Nice to see some of the more underrated sprites getting some use! The floating spike balls are used in some really interesting ways through the level, and while it feels like it goes a bit overboard at times for the most part the level's very well made.

Koopster
DESIGN: 27/30
CREATIVITY: 17/20
AESTHETICS: 9/10
TOTAL: 53/60
For a while I thought this stage was really finicky and a bit annoying, but when you get the gist of it, it becomes really fun to manage the challenges provided. The way the spike balls were used is really inovative. I feel they are a little bit unpredictable at times, but they didn't take me more than a few lives. Very fun experience overall!


Parachutist Plains is a very enjoyable level, but it's pretty simple which is why people often question why it got so high.
Funky Floats is a hard level. I saw the potential in the setups and arrangements, but it could be made a little bit less annoying admittedly.

!!!! CAVE LEVEL WARNING !!!! CAVE LEVEL WARNING !!!! CAVE LEVEL WARNING !!!!

And while we're at it, another warning for the dolphin house, and yet another warning for the glowing castle on the left. This world, man.
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Re: VLDC9 - vintage lamps decorated chutes 9

Post by Zephyr_DragonLord »

You know... I'm fine with mediocre judging, as long as they learn from the experience. Speaking of SMBX levels, I still need to edit that one I made a year ago... Actually, depending on who's judging, there's like 20 candidates for best world. Seriously.... the top rung of levels have all been very high quality.

This world reminds me of Dream Weavers from Spyro, and that's a good thing.

Parachuting Plains is an incredibly good autoscroller. It has the absolute perfect number of activities going on at any one time, leaving a stiff challenge while still being completely fair. Having parachuting jumps over bottomless pits is also new and exciting. The Dragon Coins are also placed well.. And yes, the enemy choice feels perfect. And the ending is great. You made a really great level here. It's also a perfect way to begin a strange and wonderful world.

Funky Floats is also a very nice level. Some of the setups are fascinating... and lethal. And both of those are good! While this is firmly on the difficult side of things, all the difficult things are incredibly real. And there's a great many ways it uses those floating landmasses, too! The Dragon Coins have some real risk associated with getting them, and this just tickles my fancy in a way that a good lategame level does. This is yet another great level, so superb job. ...Superb and great are equal denominators, yes? (probably not, but I like both of these, anyways)

Wait, WARNINGS? Why'd you have to give us those? Man, now I know they're going to somehow suck. At least Dream Weavers took time to suck for my child self.
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Re: VLDC9 - viridian landscapes drizzly coagulations 9

Post by Mochtroidprime »

I know it's nothing new, but man do I love that remix of the basic SMW level theme that was used in the second level today. It's such a good remix, though I may hold that opinion partially because it doesn't have a chance to be used very often.
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Re: VLDC9 - vintage lamps decorated chutes 9

Post by Ivy »

Mata Hari wrote:Whoa wait how did they do parallax scrolling??
There have actually been at least four levels so far with that double-background trick.
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Re: VLDC9 - viridian landscapes drizzly coagulations 9

Post by Giik »

Oh man, I've been waiting for him to get to the abstract world for a while now. The map music is SO GOOD.

The levels so far are holding up as well. Looking forward to the rest of what the map has to offer.
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Re: VLDC9 - vintage lamps decorated chutes 9

Post by Sugar »

Zephyr_DragonLord wrote:Wait, WARNINGS? Why'd you have to give us those? Man, now I know they're going to somehow suck.
Not necessarily. I like the cave level (one of best in this game in my opinion), but it does deserve the warning. Let's say it's a level that would easily be in Best World if it was reasonable to do for average player.

(there is also one more level I would personally have a warning for, but it's much more tame than the rest of levels Koopster mentioned, so whatever, considering it's after likely one video level, it probably doesn't need one)
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Re: VLDC9 - viridian landscapes drizzly coagulations 9

Post by snoruntpyro »

Abstract world is probably the worst world in the game so have fun!!!! Two of the worst levels in the game make their home here and there's a slew of painfully average levels to go along with it. Have fun :V
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Re: VLDC9 - viridian landscapes drizzly coagulations 9

Post by raocow »

there will be TWO videos tomorrow :O

there will be a super short video with two levels at the normal morning slot
and there will be a second, much longer video with a level that took an hour and a half to beat in the evening slot.

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Re: VLDC9 - viridian landscapes drizzly coagulations 9

Post by Nimono »

Oh man, doublecow back to back? this should be interesting :3

...except for the fact that the cave is clearly Matterhorn. WELP! *prepares apologies*
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Re: VLDC9 - viridian landscapes drizzly coagulations 9

Post by Koopster »

oh man
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Re: VLDC9 - viridian landscapes drizzly coagulations 9

Post by Lazy_ »

oh man
is there an integer overflow when you become 256 years old
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Re: VLDC9 - viridian landscapes drizzly coagulations 9

Post by S.N.N. »

Pyro wrote:Abstract world is probably the worst world in the game so have fun!!!! Two of the worst levels in the game make their home here and there's a slew of painfully average levels to go along with it. Have fun :V
It's more like the left half of the map is really great, and the right half of the map is so terrible that you'll wonder if you're even in the same world.

This is mostly just because I hate the left castle level's secret exit enough that it causes the whole area to blow.
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Re: VLDC9 - viridian landscapes drizzly coagulations 9

Post by heycallmeZe »

Nimono wrote:Oh man, doublecow back to back? this should be interesting :3

...except for the fact that the cave is clearly Matterhorn. WELP! *prepares apologies*
You don't see the B-side as equal, do you? :P

And because no one else will do it:

ABSTRACT WORLD
One day, an image will return
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Re: VLDC9 - viridian landscapes drizzly coagulations 9

Post by QubicTom »

raocow wrote:and there will be a second, much longer video with a level that took an hour and a half to beat in the evening slot.
Wait, a level taking an hour and a half to beat is the exception, not the rule?! :lol: Can I borrow your skills please? :D
But seriously, you made today's two levels look easy when I'm sure that they're supposed to be on the difficult side. Getting all the dragon coins in that autoscroller on the first try was fantastic. I wish I could play like that!
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Re: VLDC9 - viridian landscapes drizzly coagulations 9

Post by Grounder »

vaporwave world looks great so far
Why don't you eat me?

I am perfectly tasty...

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Re: VLDC9 - viridian landscapes drizzly coagulations 9

Post by Nimono »

heycallmeZe wrote:
Nimono wrote:Oh man, doublecow back to back? this should be interesting :3

...except for the fact that the cave is clearly Matterhorn. WELP! *prepares apologies*
You don't see the B-side as equal, do you? :P

And because no one else will do it:

ABSTRACT WORLD
B-side is equal, but it's not doublecow. Doublecow is when you have two same-side videos in one day, where one ISN'T a plot unimportant sidequest of only extra backstory info

also it's less abstract and more

A E S T H E T I C~
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Re: VLDC9 - viridian landscapes drizzly coagulations 9

Post by TRS »

TRU A E S T H E T I C
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