cldc 2018 - layers

[SAJewers]

I'd say the biggest problem was the glitchy stamina bar. I don't know if you always have the same amount of stamina and the bar is just wrong, or if it actually is running out early, but dying with green left in the bar just looks frustrating as hell. It did seem like raocow started getting irritated a lot earlier than usual, and I wouldn't be surprised if that was why.

It wasn't dying with green left in the bar, the death trigger was buggy, and causing the bar to refill before the death sequence occurred.

[Alice]

But I understand people will go "bad level design" after seeing raocow have a hard time with the level. Could it have been a better experience? Sure. But it's not the worst level ever, not even close - I think myself it's really good, it's just that most people here will go by whatever raocow experienced.

From my point of view it's not a matter of raocow having a hard time but the level having a gimmick most people are going to find annoying rather than fun combined with some quirks (the gauge actually refilling a little on death making it more confusing, also the complete lack of communication that the two different kinds of munchers behave differently until you've flown into the lava ones and died instantly in an already difficult level) and the gauge draining too quickly so it's going to be even less fun for most people. Especially the second half where the entire thing is fairly difficult and has little to no room for not being perfect. Considering that raocow died over a hundred times in that level despite being good at SMW and in this level wasn't particularly playing poorly I'd say that's a good indicator that it's probably too hard unless you're trying to make a kaizo level.

Also writing off all criticisms in the thread as "most people are just going to go by what raocow experienced" is really patronizing. There are people who do that but there's just as many who will judge a level on its own merits regardless of raocow's personal experience.

[Zach808]

Damn, how bad did the comments section get for this video that raocow had to disable it? O.o

[This Eye o' Mine]

Damn, how bad did the comments section get for this video that raocow had to disable it? O.o

This might be a huge coincidence, but right now I'm not seeing the comments on any Youtube video at all. It's probably on Google's side.

[raocow]

yeah I didn't disable anything :O

[Stink Terios]

I like how my reaction to how long the second level took before even seeing it was thinking "hm, ft or m/m?"
I was on point!

[Arctangent]

i think it's a bad sign when you're designing something solely for difficulty and you insert the difficulty via a tedium mechanic

[idol]

NIGHTSPACE
Placement: 7
Codename: syrup
Author: Mandew

Judge Comments:

FPzero:

Fun Factor: 21/30
Presentation: 15/20
Creativity: 7/10

Total: 43/60

Comments:
It wasn't until the second half the the low gravity gimmick really started working paying off. Up until that point, having everything be floaty wasn't much more than a novelty since nothing was made particularly more difficult by having it. But the second half was plenty weird thanks to it. Rocks and mines slowly falling through the air in strange intercepting movements all while a lone spinning platform moves round and round in the lower left, as the whole level slowly falls down. It made for an interesting take on a falling Layer 2 level for sure.
I liked the semi-vanilla aesthetic you created with the mushroom platforms and the backgrounds. It helped create a sort of strange, otherworldly feeling to match the low gravity. Nicely done level overall.

Noivern:

Low gravity is really hard to get used to. I never really did get used to it. There's hardly a jump arc; you just jump at a near-constant speed, then fall at a near-constant speed. It took a little bit for the level to pick up, but when it did it was consistently good. I'm not sure what happened at the end there with the secret p-switch door. It took me to a secret room, but then led back to the same ending room that the regular door did. Was that supposed to be a secret exit?

Total: 47

Blind Devil:

Fun: It starts out so innocent so you believe it's gonna be like this throughout the rest of the level. However, difficulty suddenly peaks to hard after the midway section, and to very hard in the alternative, secret path, which can scare players a tad bit. The section in which the player has to dodge floating mines, Diggin' Chuck rocks, and the Chucks themselves is a notable example, and since usually the player isn't used to the low gravity gimmick, they might always take a hit or two in there (unless they're ninjas or have already telegraphed the sprite patterns after replaying through the same section several times). Aside from that, the low gravity mechanism is a pretty interesting experience for the most part, as in the first spots there's plenty of time and space for the player to learn how it works for mastering it in the next areas. Ironically enough, the hardest section was somehow funner than the sprite-dodging one, because it was more design-oriented, and more cleverly designed. I lol'd at the trolling in the end of this section - I expected to be frustrated if I failed in there, but the invisible block just made things easier. Lastly, I also liked the VLDC-esque trickery with the 3up moon as a checkpoint before that very hard section (and also a P-Switch is spawned in the beginning of the level so you can enter the hidden door more easily).
Fun points: 24/30

Presentation: Vanilla for the most part, but taking advantages of liberties such as layer 3, slightly modified FG graphics, as well as some other custom stuff like the coronas make this level pretty consistent aesthetically. The song is vanilla, as well, and since it's fitting, no points are deducted here. The low gravity gimmick was well explored, and it's especially nicer considering that it affects both the player and sprites. The only real downside was with the difficulty curve, as said previously in the fun topic. It could have been a bit more balanced in that regards.
Presentation points: 18/20

Creativity: While the entry was a bit mixed in terms of design (it has a learning section, then athletic, then enemy-dodging, and a secret mix of hard athletic autoscrolling), it used creatively the chosen resources, exploring different sprites and their behaviors with the low gravity mechanism, as well as a clever usage of the extra checkpoint trick. On the other hand, the enemy-dodging section could have used some more work so it wouldn't be just... an enemy-dodging section. If there were collectibles such as Yoshi Coins in the level, or something like that, this could have benefitted more, especially in this room.
Creativity points: 8/10
----------
Total Score: 50/60

Exhausted Mario
Placement: 10
Codename: real
Author: ft029

Judge Comments:

FPzero:

Fun Factor: 13/30
Presentation: 12/20
Creativity: 8/10

Total: 33/60

Comments:
The level's gimmick felt much stronger in the first half for the simle fact that your exhaustion would recharge and the player was in control of how they managed their movement. The second half in turn ended up a lot less enjoyable because any small wrong movement could make it impossible to get to the next exhaustion recharger. I only died a couple times on the first half. I died quite a lot more on the second. By the end, the gimmick itself was getting a little exhausting
Like, it wasn't a bad gimmick, but I think the level would've been much stronger if you'd stuck with the first half's implementation during the second and come up with more ways to challenge the player to not move as much instead of being forced to control Mario's momentum with as little button presses as possible.

Noivern:

Really great gimmick that completely changes how you play. The first half of the level has the better implementation of the gimmick. I just really liked the many small areas in the first half where you could rest for a second or two at a time but you were still in danger, and I'm not that fond of the switch to more puzzle-like gameplay in the second half, particularly in the yoshi sections which were very finicky. The automatic bit at the end was pretty cool, but that whole area was out of place in the context of the level and the meter should have just been removed entirely in this area instead of this "don't move at all" workaround.

Total: 48

Blind Devil:

Fun: The gimmick was pretty amusing and kinda reminded me a bit of Zelda - Skyward Sword with the fatigue meter when you sprinted. But here, the player would get fatigued from certain controller inputs (except for running, ironically), and the mechanism had two function modes: initially, the standstill player could refill the meter slowly, and later, it wouldn't, requiring them to reach certain "checkpoints" to fully refill it. I really liked the concept though I admit I naturally went a tad frustrated sometimes due to the very hard difficulty, and my cold just contributed to that even more. I had to pause many times to sneeze and not mess up, but even the Start button drained the fatigue meter lol. Aside from that, the really fun parts made up for this entry, as well as the powerup generosity - lots of mushrooms strategically placed for the player in crucial moments. Also boy, getting all Yoshi Coins was hell of a challenge, but a pretty rewarding one.
Fun points: 26/30

Presentation: Okay aesthetic-wise, with mostly vanilla stuff and the only non-vanilla graphics being the cloud background that fitted very well anyways. Little nitpick regarding upsidedown Piranha Plants' stems, though: they use rope graphics, and that could be fixed with the well-known Piranha Plant fix patch. Well I'd also judge the upsidedown railings 1F0-ish tiles as cutoffs, but that'd be too much nitpicking for something minor, also considering that said tile is more popular with this visual (though yeah I honestly prefer outlined blocks or my MK2TDS outlined cloud tiles lol). So yeah, I won't let my personal tastes here deduct a point in this specific case. The fully sampled song choice, however, could have been different. While it doesn't break sound effects and stuff, there were mostly simplistic graphics for the level, so an unsampled or semi-sampled song would have been a nicer choice. Now, gimmick-wise, it was introduced greatly and worked nicely except for that little complaint of mine (even pausing the game drains the fatigue meter), which certainly could have been avoided, too. Lastly, the difficulty presentation and curve was smooth. The level was very hard but there were no sudden peaks of change.
Presentation points: 17/20

Creativity: The level is centered around yet another "airmeter-styled" gimmick, though this one is also different from the others. I've never seen any hacks or levels with an input-based fatigue meter, so this is somewhat innovative in my conception. Plus, it took lots of advantage of it in numerous different sections and patterns: involving momentum, staying on conveyors and platforms, jumping, using Yoshi, flying with Yoshi, dodging enemies and even keeping him alive during the level end march - all while measuring the inputs. Some little mistakes would punish the player, yeah, but considering how creative the setups were as a whole, it's a perfect score here.
Creativity points: 10/10
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Total Score: 53/60

i think i named mandews level syrup cos the player controlled like they were jumping thru syrup. also ft

[Sebby19]

What an extremely clever level we had today. I'm really surprised it didn't rank higher. It's so smart!
I had a huge smirk when it got to the part with the moving holes. That's when I thought, "ok, the level is really smart".

[Veruchai]

Yeah, the third part where you summon the fish was my favorite bit.
I'm pretty much ignoring actual placements since almost every level is good enough to be "high ranking"

[FPzero]

You can blame me for the low ranking because I didn't have fun with it for being too demanding of the player, even with the infinite lives and instant respawns. I guess I just don't like JUMP-style levels because they usually require the player to perform a series of actions with very little leeway or take damage/die. This level just wore me down after the better part of an hour.

But if nothing else I realized that the level was definitely creative and presented well, so the bulk of my low scoring will be from the Fun category.

Looks like Noivern also didn't rate the level too highly, but you'll have to ask him why that is.

[FourteenthOrder]

I really super loved that level.

[idol]

RAINBOW TROUT
Placement: 19
Codename: fishing
Author: MiracleWater

Judge Comments:

FPzero:

Fun Factor: 5/30
Presentation: 13/20
Creativity: 8/10

Total: 26/60

Comments:
The level stopped being fun after the first section and yet there were two more after it. It's too hard! I know there's infinite lives and a checkpoint at each section's beginning but...the second and third sections just demand so much of the player's ability over such long areas. At first I thought the colored fish would be fun to mess with like in the 1st section but then it quickly turned into "do everything exactly this way or take damage/restart" with the second and third. I have no clue how many lives I lost here but I'd wager at least 75. It might look nice and sound nice, but after over a half hour of slowly chipping away at the level I can't say those elements helped me feel better once I beat it.
Were the fish used creatively? Absolutely. But it just wasn't enjoyable.

Noivern:

I finally figured out my issue with the JUMP-style graphics used in a lot of hacks to signify vanilla glitch tiles (like the upside-down bridge/switch block outline for 1F0). It wasn't in issue at first but it's become one over time. They've become so ubiquitous in modern hacks that level makers just stick them in there and expect people to know what they are and don't explain anything. They also bring down the otherwise nice aesthetics. The culprit here is the respawning blue block, which is shown here as a solid turn block with the top half of a rotating turn block above it. Well anyway that was my rant. The level itself is rather well-designed, but it suffers from an issue I see a lot in contest entries where the level just keeps going and going until it wrings out every single possible ounce of creativity out of the level gimmick and you end up with a level that's 10 minutes too long. It went on for far too long, and I wasn't enjoying myself throughout the entire last section. The JUMP blocks bring down the look of the levels, and the aesthetics die completely during the end level scene.

Total: 35

Blind Devil:

Fun: I went crazy with the difficulty of this entry, plus its length (it was a bit long). It took me an hour and a half to beat it. However, all obstacle setups were nice and engaging (more details on creativity topic) despite some sprites looking a bit off thematically speaking (covered on presentation topic), and I especially liked that the player can learn how a certain mechanism behaves in each sublevel (level was split into three of them). While some powerups are provided for the player, it felt too few in my opinion, and I only managed to get through certain parts when I could force hits. It's understandable for a level of this difficulty, though. A positive thing about the entry is that progress is saved for each sublevel, which reduces the amount of frustration, and beating every room is a reward on its own. But that doesn't really balance out the fun and the difficulty - you die much more times than you can clear obstacles. And if you die near the end of a sublevel, you have to do it all over again, and that's pretty punishing. All in all, I went stressed more than had fun with it, but I can't simply downrate such level just because my skills aren't really up to very hard levels.
Fun points: 20/30

Presentation: Good for the most part, with a mix of elements. The water and layer 3 clouds are from SMAS SMB3, FG elements and player are vanilla, and the SMB2 Trouters are reshaded/recolored to fit in SMW. And everything fitted nicely, despite some sprites looking a bit odd within the level theme. There was a mix of Grinders, Super Koopas, moving Ghost House holes and whatnot in a same environment, which is naturally strange but honestly I can't see how these could have been reskinned or substituted by other equivalents (nothing came to mind lol). The level also has nice palettes and a sunset HDMA gradient. Little issues with the layer 3 and HDMA at the level ending, though: the gradient dies during the circle windowing and the sky looks weird, plus the clouds disappear. This could be avoided in many ways: the easiest one by filling the blank tiles with full decoration in the last screens, or maybe just tweaking the level end fade out so it only reduces brightness without messing with HDMA/CGADSUB/related settings. Music-wise, not a very fitting choice. The song is fully sampled, thus pretty detailed compared to the entry's environment/aesthetics. A custom unsampled or semi-sampled song would fit much better. Anyway, nothing breaks, so only a point is deducted in that regards. Lastly, props for the custom ASM resource usage and introduction, and also nice job with the difficulty curve! It was an overall very hard level but without unfairness or other difficulty inconsistencies. And gimmick-wise, these Trouters as the main attractions had an extremely solid introduction and presentation.
Presentation points: 17/20

Creativity: I definitely can't say this level isn't creative at all. It was kinda long, and even so, every obstacle pattern was extremely unique and well implemented. Revolving around various types of Trouters (rideable, stompable and immune to regular jumps) with varied jumping heights, and mechanisms (Trouters themselves as obstacles in the first sublevel, an aimed, timed spinjumpable Trouter in the second, and a button-triggerable rideable Trouther in the last one), their usage in lots of different setups were totally clever. The player had to dodge from Super Koopas while riding a Trouter, or dodge from invulnerable Trouters while timing their jumps from one rideable sprite to another while avoiding Munchers, triggering the rideable Trouter while avoiding crushing layer 2, or plain dodging the aimed invulnerable Trouter while timing their momentum in corridors with more Trouters jumping... as well as far-too-many-others-to-list setups. Yeah, perfect score here, I can't say more.
Creativity points: 10/10
----------
Total Score: 47/60

this level was pretty divisive amongst the jump discord. and by divisive i mean everyone liked it but me. i guess my issue with this is im not sure how i feel about the kaizo ethos bleeding into regular level design - aka the "you can not make a mistake, obstacles can be performed one way and one way only" kind of deal. that & the overlong "utilizing every single idea possible with a single sprite to the point of exhaustion" - which i see more in contests, but the occasional jumphalf level does this too. i dont think this level needs to be three parts even, to me it's tedium at that point.

[gbreeze]

You can blame me for the low ranking because I didn't have fun with it for being too demanding of the player, even with the infinite lives and instant respawns. I guess I just don't like JUMP-style levels because they usually require the player to perform a series of actions with very little leeway or take damage/die. This level just wore me down after the better part of an hour.

But if nothing else I realized that the level was definitely creative and presented well, so the bulk of my low scoring will be from the Fun category.

Looks like Noivern also didn't rate the level too highly, but you'll have to ask him why that is.

I'm not sure what "JUMP style" even means anymore lol. It seems like people refer to the JUMP style has difficult methodical levels with little leeway, but in reality probably only a third of the actual JUMP hack was built in that style. It's more prevalent in JUMP 1/2, but that hack as well has everything from actiony platformers to sprawling complex puzzles to almost-romps.

Level today was super great though. It is methodical, so I understand why two of the judges didn't have as much fun, but I personally really like levels like this. I also really appreciate the extremely high level of creativity shown in the level, along with all the really cool ways that small ASM edits could affect the trouter (an otherwise fairly simple sprite).

edit: got ninja'd by idol so to address that point: during JUMP the kaizo ethos hadn't really been fused into regular design so the only levels that had no leeway were like super tough Morsel levels, which were insanely hard but not exactly methodical/kaizo. I mean yeah, you have Pixel Perfect lol. But as the years went on more people joined the team who came from a Kaizo background, and they started getting into non-kaizo hacking, and eventually they made normal levels too (and I'm one of those people haha). The kaizo mentality stuck a bit even if the levels aren't hard. The funny thing is, the "do or die" ethos didn't even originate from Kaizo Mario World (the original). That hack surprisingly gave you a lot of leeway and freedom of action. It was mostly the trend towards Kaizo-Hard, partly inspired by Cool|Cruel, partly inspired by Sokobansolver hacks, that created an ethos of methodical design.

[FPzero]

I'm not sure what "JUMP style" even means anymore lol. It seems like people refer to the JUMP style has difficult methodical levels with little leeway, but in reality probably only a third of the actual JUMP hack was built in that style. It's more prevalent in JUMP 1/2, but that hack as well has everything from actiony platformers to sprawling complex puzzles to almost-romps.

Level today was super great though. It is methodical, so I understand why two of the judges didn't have as much fun, but I personally really like levels like this. I also really appreciate the extremely high level of creativity shown in the level, along with all the really cool ways that small ASM edits could affect the trouter (an otherwise fairly simple sprite).

I tend to conflate this style of level design where creativity of ideas is usually the central focus with JUMP, since that was one of the hack's selling points and people tend to use the term when they describe creativity-focused levels these days. But I think idol did a better job of explaining why I didn't have very much fun much better than I did. The very small room for error, exploring every possible angle for the theme, all while having high difficulty all around... That's the sort of thing I find myself disliking more and more. Creativity is good, but sometimes you can have a bit too much of it, to the detriment of the overall level, and I think that's what happened here.

[gbreeze]

I'm not sure what "JUMP style" even means anymore lol. It seems like people refer to the JUMP style has difficult methodical levels with little leeway, but in reality probably only a third of the actual JUMP hack was built in that style. It's more prevalent in JUMP 1/2, but that hack as well has everything from actiony platformers to sprawling complex puzzles to almost-romps.

Level today was super great though. It is methodical, so I understand why two of the judges didn't have as much fun, but I personally really like levels like this. I also really appreciate the extremely high level of creativity shown in the level, along with all the really cool ways that small ASM edits could affect the trouter (an otherwise fairly simple sprite).

I tend to conflate this style of level design where creativity of ideas is usually the central focus with JUMP, since that was one of the hack's selling points and people tend to use the term when they describe creativity-focused levels these days. But I think idol did a better job of explaining why I didn't have very much fun much better than I did. The very small room for error, exploring every possible angle for the theme, all while having high difficulty all around... That's the sort of thing I find myself disliking more and more. Creativity is good, but sometimes you can have a bit too much of it, to the detriment of the overall level, and I think that's what happened here.

Yeah, and I totally understand that. You can see my edited post above for why exactly that came about from the JUMP "tradition". I think that, in order to really like these levels, you have to be really into them, or else they could become tiresome. I don't always play levels purely out of the enjoyment factor alone; often, it's a combination of the "challenge-accepted" feeling of playing a super hard level, combined with the feeling that I'm experiencing the author's creative process firsthand. Especially with Morsel levels (which are again, not very methodical compared to levels nowadays), I actually enjoy getting trolled by him cause it becomes a very entertaining game, almost a battle of wits and perserverance, between author and player. I also admit that I appreciate the concept of "creative showcasing" which ft described at one point, which is where a certain setup is very satisfying not to perform per say, but to mull over and consider its creation. It's almost the difference between loving a building for it's amazing and creative architecture, or loving a building because it's a good and comfortable home.

As for the "JUMP" ethos of creativity, play any worldpeace level and you'll find that immense creativity and methodical design are not mutually inclusive. I disagree with the notion of having "too much creativity" cause creativity doesn't exist within the constraints of super methodical kaizo-like ethos. As with a majority of levels in JUMP, an extremely high degree of leeway is given in your movement and range of outcomes. This doesn't mean the level is fair or easy (see: Depraved Stronghold). But Depraved is a lot less methodical than RAINBOW TROUT.

edit: I will add though that this level is also very fun for me to perform/play, and I think that not everyone will get the same experience.

[Sugar]

This was actually Morsel's entry, it's just that for some reason it was spelled MiracleWater.

[Rixithechao]

As someone who A) doesn't generally keep up with the design sensibilities of recurring SMW-oriented creators to the extent most folks here do, and B) is becoming increasingly self-conscious of his overuse of "as someone who" qualifiers followed by "it's fascinating to see" comments, it's fascinating to see how "JUMP style" has become a design shorthand in the SMW scene similar to "kaizo".

When fans of JUMP use the term I get the impression they're implying not just relative challenge and creativity but also a focus around a specific central gimmick/mechanic as well as a certain degree of ASM shenanigans in service of the design, like the tweaks gbreeze pointed out. Meanwhile JUMP's detractors seem to use it in more of the sense of unforgiving design with fancy window dressing. Like, I guess more artpiece- than entertainment-oriented design -- the level is built more around making for impressive perfect runs than to be suitably playable, entertaining, and/or challenging for most folks.

Actually, now that I think about it, that kinda explains some stuff... stuff that I won't quite get into here because I'm taking too long to type this up as it is, but, uh, yeah. RAINBOW TROUT definitely succeeds as an artpiece level. What do you call that aesthetic, chillwave? Retro pop? I need to brush up on my 80's-esque art movements...

EDIT: aaaand it looks like in the time it took me to write this stuff others said the same stuff in a much more in-depth and eloquent manner

[Kilgamayan]

That level was cute as shit in every way.

I think the low ranking is more commentary on the overall quality of entries than on the level itself. It was a good, creative level that had clear shortcomings as opposed to a shitty level or a level with good ideas but bad execution.

That being said, I do find it very surprising that this level placed 9 spots below Exhausted Mario when I feel the only major difference between the two levels (in terms of judging pros and cons) is that Rainbow Trout gave you ample time to suss things out and Exhausted Mario didn't.

[Voltgloss]

That being said, I do find it very surprising that this level placed 9 spots below Exhausted Mario when I feel the only major difference between the two levels (in terms of judging pros and cons) is that Rainbow Trout gave you ample time to suss things out and Exhausted Mario didn't.

Trout was also three sections long compared to Exhausted's two. And Trout had a lot fewer power-ups than Exhausted. The judges called out both of these factors in their ratings for Trout.

[Kilgamayan]

The comparative wealth of powerups isn't really a point in Exhausted's favor when the exhaustion gimmick is based around instadeath, though.

I also feel like the individual lengths of the two Exhausted sections were longer than the individual lengths of the three Trout sections, but that could just be video length bias.

[Arctangent]

exhausted definitely should've been 20 or below if this was 19

trout was nice but probably could've used two or three extra checkpoints

[FPzero]

With Exhausted for me at least, I genuinely liked the first half of the level and tried to make sure to make my score reflected that. With Rainbow Trout, I didn't have that same feeling from the start. I thought it was cute to begin with, not too bad for difficulty but still challenging. But then it kept going and introducing new variations on the mechanic in progressively harder ways and it just became too much for me.

Yeah, and I totally understand that. You can see my edited post above for why exactly that came about from the JUMP "tradition". I think that, in order to really like these levels, you have to be really into them, or else they could become tiresome. I don't always play levels purely out of the enjoyment factor alone; often, it's a combination of the "challenge-accepted" feeling of playing a super hard level, combined with the feeling that I'm experiencing the author's creative process firsthand. Especially with Morsel levels (which are again, not very methodical compared to levels nowadays), I actually enjoy getting trolled by him cause it becomes a very entertaining game, almost a battle of wits and perserverance, between author and player. I also admit that I appreciate the concept of "creative showcasing" which ft described at one point, which is where a certain setup is very satisfying not to perform per say, but to mull over and consider its creation. It's almost the difference between loving a building for it's amazing and creative architecture, or loving a building because it's a good and comfortable home.

As for the "JUMP" ethos of creativity, play any worldpeace level and you'll find that immense creativity and methodical design are not mutually inclusive. I disagree with the notion of having "too much creativity" cause creativity doesn't exist within the constraints of super methodical kaizo-like ethos. As with a majority of levels in JUMP, an extremely high degree of leeway is given in your movement and range of outcomes. This doesn't mean the level is fair or easy (see: Depraved Stronghold). But Depraved is a lot less methodical than RAINBOW TROUT.

edit: I will add though that this level is also very fun for me to perform/play, and I think that not everyone will get the same experience.

A lot of it is also my personal biases. I've never been the challenge designer when I do romhacks, usually shooting for a low difficulty that would be theoretically accessible to anyone who's never played a hack before. That mentality comes from the days of smashing my head against hard Super Metroid hacks back when the only ones that existed were all hard challenge hacks that required knowledge of glitch abuse or upgrade-deprivation challenges. Sure I got better at them, but I only stuck with them because I love that game and these hard hacks were all that existed. And I still can't really recommend any SM hacks to friends looking to try one out because although the hacks are easier these days, they're still usually at a level beyond what someone who's only casually played Super Metroid can beat. It's a "romhacks for romhackers only" paradox.

This drive for accessibility in my own projects does color my judgments of level difficulty even if I know the level isn't something a hacks newcomer will start playing randomly. Easier levels will probably score better if I'm judging because I can more calmly enjoy what I'm doing. There are always exceptions of course, but this is the trend I've noticed.

It's interesting to read your perspective on JUMP ethos. I will agree with you that JUMP creativity and high difficulty are not always linked. I loved worldpeace's VLDC9 level so much when I did my playthrough. It was the right level of challenging, yet lenient and I'd love to see more of that in contest levels instead of the more performance gauntlet style of levels I've rated lower in this contest.

[Crow]

I felt like each of the three sections was worth existing but that each of them could've been a fee obstacles shorter each as well

[Ivy]

fp i fully forgive you for what happened to my OLDC because i agree with basically everything you're saying in these judgings!