Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Happy New Year!!
Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Second half of a convenience store
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...
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...
Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Second half of a convenience store
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
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
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.
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
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.
Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Second half of a convenience store
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.
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.
Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Second half of a convenience store
109th, ATHLETIC SYNERGY, by crm0622
16.75/100.00 points
Scores:
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.
16.75/100.00 points
Scores:
Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Second half of a convenience store
fuck puzzlesSuper 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.
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 ;)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.
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
Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Second half of a convenience store
damn you got me i specifically wanted to deny you any creditidol wrote: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 ;)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.
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Second half of a convenience store
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.
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
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
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Lunchtime somewhere
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: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Lunchtime somewhere
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
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
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.
I didn't like this level at all and the only positive thing about it is - it's short.
Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Lunchtime somewhere
108th, Getting Up, by tomato jonson
19.25/100.00 points
Scores:
the only thing the level got up was my blood pressure
19.25/100.00 points
Scores:
Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Lunchtime somewhere
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 .
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.
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
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!
call me reecer6, not reecer7, please! gotta maintain that same internet brand. actually i'm cro-iba now, it's cooler
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Lunchtime somewhere
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
Black and White is a better level than PHANTASMAGORIA
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Lunchtime somewhere
Bounce and Climb was lovely and I'm glad it exists
one's a god game, one's a point n click, you can't compare themMata Hari wrote:Black and White is a better level than PHANTASMAGORIA
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Re: Vanilla Level Design Contest 11 -- Lunchtime somewhere
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.
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
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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
we in the industry call that confidence.Piesonscreations wrote: ↑4 years ago Phantasmagoria went straight for the "I WIN" instead of the "I hope I win!!!" on the map there.
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