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Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Happy New Year!!

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crm0622
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Second half of a convenience store

Post by crm0622 »

Thanks for kind words, Nimono, and Mandew! :)
Yeah, I went really overboard somehow when I putting invisi-blocks... hehe
maybe next time I think I should revisit some ideas from this level into normal level someday...
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Second half of a convenience store

Post by ft029 »

Honestly, the idea behind jumping off fish/spike balls in tides that change level is quite good. There were some interesting things done. Clearly, you've got creativity, but it just needs to be executed in a more playable state.
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Second half of a convenience store

Post by SAJewers »

As a Kaizo level I actually don't think it was that bad; it's just Kaizo stuff usually includes some anti-frustration features that obviously can't really be part of a vanilla contest, which unfortunately hurts the level.
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Shines per level

Post by KobaBeach »

crm0622 wrote: 4 years ago Thanks for kind words, Nimono, and Mandew! :)
Yeah, I went really overboard somehow when I putting invisi-blocks... hehe
maybe next time I think I should revisit some ideas from this level into normal level someday...
I had the "pleasure" of seeing the level early yesterday and honestly, I feel it's a decent first step into worldpeace-esque kaizos/very hards.
It's not a very good level yes, but you can do better. Like Mandew said, don't let yourself get discouraged and try again later on. If you screw up, it's fine, everyone messes up somewhere. Don't stress yourself out doing "the best level ever" either, though. Go easy, okay?

Take Nimono's post into consideration, especially the SA1 bit.

As flawed as it is, it's far better than Forest Blitz.

nothobz wrote: 4 years ago is worldpeace talented because he knows good game design? i was always thought his strongest suit was creativity, not a knowledge of good game design
wp's levels are consistently well designed, kaizo or non-kaizo. To say knowledge of game design isn't one of his stronger suits would be selling him short. Like yes, creativity can get you so far but you need good game juice to have a good time. Even VIP I'd say has parts of especially good game design mixed with creativity, particularily VIP5.

If you want an example of what you said: Brutal is creative, but it doesn't really have the game feel to back it up.
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Second half of a convenience store

Post by Piesonscreations »

This level looked to me like a super hard Mario Maker level aside from stuff like the falling rocks, which might be one of the elements the level could've probably done without. In parts it felt like it had neat ideas! But as a whole level it really did seem like too much.
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Second half of a convenience store

Post by Implo »

Athletic Synergy is (for me) second hardest level in the contest. It force player to precise fish jumping and also mine jumping too. And if done correctly they are very satisfying. Especially the section where you need to spin jump on fish to slow down your fall and land on mine to bounce forward and repeat that few more times. That was really satisfying.

The problem with these jumps is that you need to have perfect timing. In this level you need to go fast. But there is usually rock falling on your head and you must slow down. And if you slow down too much, then you will screw the timing and die. It's really precise.

The last section is the most creative. Get shot from pipe and bouncing on koopas, then do far jumps while preserving your momentum. That's not something I ever saw before. That's really creative. But unfortunately like the whole level it's also very deadly. I did the same mistake like raocow at the beginning of this section. I hold B, hit vertical pipe and die. I also had a lot of problem with jumps at the end. Even though I knew what to do, it still was very precise.

Kaizo trap at the end is leftover from original level called Vibrant Synergy. You needed to take shell to the end of section while avoiding diagonal fireballs, throw shell upward into not visible for player block that would give you P-switch and return to the beginning while avoiding diagonal fireballs. Level was much longer and much harder than Athletic Synergy. I played that and got stuck on third jump.

In case you are wonder why this level has 4 sections. I read description under author's video and looks like second part of the level combines 2 sections. That's probably the reason why it feels so long compared to other sections.

Oh, I almost forgot. I also really liked the music choice. It's very energetic for this athletic level.
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Second half of a convenience store

Post by FPzero »

109th, ATHLETIC SYNERGY, by crm0622
16.75/100.00 points
Scores:
FPzero:
Design: 6/60
Creativity: 7/30
Aesthetics: 4/10

Total: 17/100

Comments:
I don't understand why people submit levels like these to non-Kaizo contests. I can't judge Kaizo and semi-Kaizo on their merits because I don't play those hacks or levels, so all I can do is judge them based on regular design merits. And by those merits, this level is really bad. It's really weird that you touted the fact there was no midpoint in the intro because with a level like this, a midpoint would be greatly beneficial. Not that I think it'd even see any use because this level is so trial-and-error that I broke down and started using savestates in the first secion as soon as I saw that I needed to use that shell to get into the wall and fumble around blindly for the exit, all with the autoscroller chasing me down. The whole level centers around jumping on either fish or mines, and it basically requires perfection to have any chance. If I were playing this legit, I would've spent easily 200 lives trying to finish it. It's just so unfair to the player, requiring levels of foresight and reaction that are simply not possible without having died at each obstacle numerous times. If it weren't so ridiculously hard, or didn't punish with death every time you mess up a jump by pixels, the idea would be neat in places. Alternating jumping fish and mines as different ways to jump through obstacles is cool, and the pipe launch at the end is also an interesting idea. But all of these ideas are just ruined by how hard it is. Also, the level is very visually cluttered, with tons of coins placed all over, making clear angles for jumps more different to figure out than they should be.
Ryaa:
Design: 2/60
Creativity: 5/30
Aesthetics: 4/10

Total: 11/100

Review: I guess this is supposed to be another one of those weird Kaizo levels. All throughout the level, the platforming is a strange mixture of either way too tight or way too open and the power-ups are pretty much nonexistent. I don't understand the purpose of the walk-through portion at the beginning as there is nothing there. After a bit of time dying and getting stuck at the part with the turn block in the wall, I was very confused and wondering if this level was tested to make sure that the average (VLDC) player could actually complete it. The platforming mechanics here are so messily put together leading me to have to open it in Lunar Magic to learn how to even progress at points. The music is pretty good at least but everything else doesn't leave a good taste in my mouth at all.
FrozenQuills:
-------------------
DESIGN | 2/60
CREATIVITY| 14/30
AESTHETICS| 6/10
TOTAL | 22/100
-------------------

COMMENTS:
no

It looked pretty innocuous until I realized I had to carry an item to hit a turn
block in the wall. Then it started getting more and more difficult with the enemy
bounces and such... And then I realized it had invisible block traps...

This would do alright in a kaizo contest with how demanding it is.
morsel:
0
10
7
17/100
This is a very poorly constructed level. Sometimes you have to find invisible blocks to progress. Sometimes you have to bounce awkwardly on something. At one point you must swim under the level--or at least I think this is what you are meant to do, but the camera does not go low enough. Perhaps there was supposed to be a secret passage ([LATER] yes there is: you hit a turn block somehow and there is a passage behind it). Progress ended here. Coins are scattered everywhere; I cannot tell if they mean anything. There is a dragon coin at the beginning surrounded by seven sprites. Or you can just ignore this and deal with zero sprites.
UPDATE: I played past where I got stuck. This is the contest's kaizo: hard level for people who want to use a thousand savestates. A hundred screens of invisible blocks and precise jumps on fish while rocks fall on your head. Not featuring a checkpoint. Some ultra precise re-grabbing at the end and a pointless post goal death trap.
The level just doesn't really fit this contest. It's got an interesting concept but the execution isn't very good, and the endurance aspect is just too unforgiving. The only reasonable way to get through this is with savestates, which is what I'm pretty sure everyone resorted to in the end.
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Second half of a convenience store

Post by idol »

Super Maks 64 wrote:This meant that any levels about exploration, puzzles or even ones that had challenges that you could try again immediately after failing via reset doors and many more would be discriminated by this ruleset.
fuck puzzles
FPzero wrote:After rejoining staff in 2017 and VLDC as a contest taking 2018 off for a variety of personal and site reasons, I decided to get our site out of the funk it was in and bring back VLDC.
excuse me... i remember a certain someone was skeptical when i suggested we push back bldc and do a vldc instead because of the surprise lm3.0 release ;)

anyways, fun to see raocow doing the shits again. part of me is sad vldcx is skipped, but with like 180 entries itd be too monolithic for too little in return (mostly just wanna see him play abstract plain's). gonna have to wait a bit to see my level, but excited to see the rest of the entries i didnt see ever
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Second half of a convenience store

Post by FPzero »

idol wrote:
FPzero wrote:After rejoining staff in 2017 and VLDC as a contest taking 2018 off for a variety of personal and site reasons, I decided to get our site out of the funk it was in and bring back VLDC.
excuse me... i remember a certain someone was skeptical when i suggested we push back bldc and do a vldc instead because of the surprise lm3.0 release ;)
damn you got me i specifically wanted to deny you any credit
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Second half of a convenience store

Post by Classtoise »

A few tips from someone who's watched enough GrandPooBear, CarlSagan, Barb, Juz...and other Kaizo players. So it's all secondhand and osmosed BUT here goes!!

First and foremost; NEVER be your only tester for your level. You need a second opinion at least to tell you if a trick is intuitive or not. It might seem obvious but always remember; you know it's there.

Second! Make sure it all gels. Precision platforming, shell jumps, autoscroll, tide, falling rocks, kaizo traps...don't. Not all together anyway. Separate they can be fun but together they might just complicating otherwise smooth moments (because you're just off timing for the autoscroll).

Checkpoints are invaluable. In a vanilla contest it can be tough because of no multi checkpoint ASM allowed.

Finally, coins should either mean something or nothing. Sounds obvious right? What I mean is either a coin has meaning forever or it never meant anything. Don't mix coin indication, or it makes clearly marked kaizo blocks turn into dick moves.
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Second half of a convenience store

Post by Ivy »

Ah! Idol also wants VLDCX played. I'm not the only one! Maybe in a few years...
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Second half of a convenience store

Post by KobaBeach »

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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Lunchtime somewhere

Post by Grounder »

Why don't you eat me?

I am perfectly tasty...

AND I'LL STEAL YOUR SOUL! :twisted:

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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Lunchtime somewhere

Post by Wind Fish »

Tomato jonson's VLDC entry is actually a lot more playable than the one he submitted for the base rom contest. So you've got to give him that at the very least.
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Lunchtime somewhere

Post by KobaBeach »

Image

can i submit my level it's epic and it's gonna have a rad layer 2 final fatnasy boss that flies around and fires out a shell or somethign
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Lunchtime somewhere

Post by Implo »

Getting Up is one of the worst looking levels in this contest. It's a vertical level with surprise thwomps out of nowhere. Luckily it's only a thing few times. It's also one of two entries that I couldn't beat during my first playthrough. I tried doing this jump on thwomp multiple times and finally assumed that it's beyond my ability. I only managed to do it on my second playthrough, because judge comments explained the solution.

I didn't like this level at all and the only positive thing about it is - it's short.
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Lunchtime somewhere

Post by FPzero »

108th, Getting Up, by tomato jonson
19.25/100.00 points
Scores:
FPzero:
Design: 13/60
Creativity: 10/30
Aesthetics: 1/10

Total: 24/100

Comments:
This level felt terrible to play, partly because it was almost nothing but precise jumps and partly because it was so awful to look at. Seriously, the palettes and music here do the level no favors. The colors actively hinder visual recognition, and the music is just droning and boring. The music also seemed to be affected badly by sound effects that were happening. Note blocks had glitched sprite frames. There are a lot of moments where the player simply can't see what's ahead, and will only learn thwomp placement by taking damage or dying to it. I have no idea how to get past one jump in the beginning without taking damage even after a couple dozen attempts. Then we get to the vertical race against the thwomp. It's a neat idea in theory, but it's not fun at all in execution. You have to balance going fast enough to beat it back to the top and not despawning it by going too fast. Racing the thwomp wouldn't be so bad if the segment was shorter, or if it was the first thing you did in the level, but no you have to play 2/3 of the level to get to it, then the last 1/3 is repeating the middle 1/3 for the race. And there was no midpoint either. Had an interesting idea with bad execution, but poorly designed overall.
Ryaa:
Design: 2/60
Creativity: 1/30
Aesthetics: 0/10

Total: 3/100

I'm not entirely sure what I just played and I'm not entirely sure that I want to know either. This level was not good at all. The palette and the messily put-together platforming just doesn't sit well with me. The thwomps in this level are one of the most annoying things to get by since you can't even see them in some cases. At first, I was led on to believe that the level wasn't possible due to how obscure the Thwomp racing part was. I feel that if these ideas were executed better and giving a lot more space or even better indication, then it could have made for more clever, fun and engaging settings throughout the level. I can't really think of anything positive to say here other than really encouraging the creator of this level makes levels that are not like this in the future.
FrozenQuills:
-------------------
DESIGN | 5/60
CREATIVITY| 17/30
AESTHETICS| 2/10
TOTAL | 24/100
-------------------

COMMENTS:
tbh i'd kind of dig the palette if it was altered a bit. and also didnt vomit all
over mario

Bizarrely bad. But bizarre enough to earn some creativity points; if we put the
design aside, it's fairly interesting with its use of castle enemies.

Putting the design back, the thwomp traps are unfair, there is a part where I feel
like I'm forced to take a hit, and the thwomp spinjump near the end is essentially
a kaizo obstacle.

This level would actually be kinda cool if it didn't have all of these bad design
decisions. Also if it had better music and aesthetic. Better everything really...
morsel:
5
20
1
26/100
This was quite bad in obvious ways and yet it was also quite imaginative. There are many blind upward jumps with thwomps there or ceilings or munchers. Clouds and solid blocks are hard to tell apart. Often when you fall there is no way back up. A spin jump off a thwomp near the end is extremely tight; I did this by sprinting instead (I decided to savestate at this part). The spring and pencil combination well worth stealing for a better level. The palette is very bad. And the music.
the only thing the level got up was my blood pressure
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Lunchtime somewhere

Post by konaa »

Wow what a level. Say what you will about it, but it might be the most youtube-y level I've seen made in almost a decade. I totally get that it was bad and probably not fun to play, but I'll admit I had a good time watching it. the central joke of "now do the level again but faster" is an awful joke but I think it's hilarious anyway. Look at it this way raocow, maybe somebody somewhere got into mario hacking because of this video :lol: .

I honestly feel like it could have been made a lot better by including a midway point right before the thwomp race segment. Like, morsel and raocow made a savestate there anyway. It's a clear halfway point in the level.
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Lunchtime somewhere

Post by Reecer7 »

whatever you say about the level, this sound test track is going to be the hottest bop of 2019. can't get that wonderful tune out of my head!
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Lunchtime somewhere

Post by Piesonscreations »

The music on today's level reminded me of some stange tik tok song.
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Lunchtime somewhere

Post by Mata Hari »

Black and White is a better level than PHANTASMAGORIA
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Lunchtime somewhere

Post by KobaBeach »

Bounce and Climb was lovely and I'm glad it exists

Mata Hari wrote:Black and White is a better level than PHANTASMAGORIA
one's a god game, one's a point n click, you can't compare them
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Lunchtime somewhere

Post by Piesonscreations »

Phantasmagoria went straight for the "I WIN" instead of the "I hope I win!!!" on the map there.
Also, that third level today was pretty good! Nice romp, and pretty great for a first level.
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Lunchtime somewhere

Post by Leet »

I Hope I Win count: 2
Well it is a decent hack but sometime its just too repetitif there no level that actually pop in your face and your like oh yeah that level they all ressemble themselves and just monster along the way.
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Lunchtime somewhere

Post by KobaBeach »

Piesonscreations wrote: 4 years ago Phantasmagoria went straight for the "I WIN" instead of the "I hope I win!!!" on the map there.
we in the industry call that confidence.
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