Vanilla Level Design Contest X - 1he First place entry...well d0ne to all.

[Grounder]

Why are so many levels being skipped over? It feels like a lot more than two have been dodged.

[Nimono]

Why are so many levels being skipped over? It feels like a lot more than two have been dodged.

That's how ties work with placements. There's two 128th places, so there's no 129th- it goes right to 130th. Likewise, I see we skipped from 127th to 124th- I'm betting we have 3 124th-place levels. Admittedly, it does feel weird, but that's how ranking's been for a long time in everything.

[Grounder]

Why are so many levels being skipped over? It feels like a lot more than two have been dodged.

That's how ties work with placements. There's two 128th places, so there's no 129th- it goes right to 130th. Likewise, I see we skipped from 127th to 124th- I'm betting we have 3 124th-place levels. Admittedly, it does feel weird, but that's how ranking's been for a long time in everything.

Okay, yeah, I'm dumb. Never mind!

[Kilgamayan]

The second level was a reference to the greatest FPS in video game history, Perfect Dark. The setting was Lucerne Tower, home to the dataDyne Corporation (note the logo). You spend the first three missions infiltrating the tower from the rooftop, heading all the way down to the basement to pick up stuff, and then heading all the way back up to the roof to escape on an airship.

Why the creator used the music from the fifth mission I don't know, but given you said you'd heard it before I suppose it's possibly because that was the only Perfect Dark track that's been SMWified. Which would be a shame, because that game had a lot of excellent tunes, but so it goes.

[Awoo]

The second level was a reference to the greatest FPS in video game history, Perfect Dark. The setting was Lucerne Tower, home to the dataDyne Corporation (note the logo). You spend the first three missions infiltrating the tower from the rooftop, heading all the way down to the basement to pick up stuff, and then heading all the way back up to the roof to escape on an airship.

Why the creator used the music from the fifth mission I don't know, but given you said you'd heard it before I suppose it's possibly because that was the only Perfect Dark track that's been SMWified. Which would be a shame, because that game had a lot of excellent tunes, but so it goes.

Watching this really makes me wanna replay Perfect Dark. It's been quite a while since I last did, and the last time was on the XBLA remastered version, quite a treat that was.

Greatest FPS in video game history, I'll heartily agree to that. hey raocow play Perfect Dark even though you've probably never played an FPS on your channel

[Kilgamayan]

Oh man I can't imagine someone that's not well-versed in FPSes trying to LP Perfect Dark for the interbutts

Shit gets hard in the later Perfect Agent missions

[xfix]

even though you've probably never played an FPS on your channel

While true, this will change very soon with a FPS LP in like... 3 days.

[xfix]

124th: Vulpine Love Story by SMILEuser96

Koopster
DESIGN: 13/50
CREATIVITY: 16/30
AESTHETICS: 14/20
TOTAL SCORE: 43/100

AWW WHAT AN ADORABLE LEVEL. I think with some effort, it's possible to make something like this also interesting to play, but I didn't feel this one that much because it's super unbalanced. Some parts are really awkward and HARD, the bit with the fourth dragon coin is super annoying to do. Spinjumping on things that move fast and that have weird hitboxes (saws) is hard man. And then the rest of the level is just there, ride some platforms that don't make a lot of sense and jump around in some chunks of land that exist.

lolyoshi
DESIGN: 20/50
CREATIVITY: 19/30
AESTHETICS: 10/20
TOTAL SCORE: 49/100

cute

Noivern
DESIGN: 12/50
CREATIVITY: 13/30
AESTHETICS: 9/20
TOTAL SCORE: 34/100

Very annoying. The only decent thing about this level was the line art and even that only lasted so long (I knew those were Metroids!) Poor design with terrible traps.

Sinc-X
DESIGN: 5/50
CREATIVITY: 3/30
AESTHETICS: 10/20
TOTAL SCORE: 18/100

Silly line guide art is no excuse for bad design. There's nothing fun about this level at all; the platforming is mindless and the enemy placement is more annoying than clever. There's so little actual content here that it's hard to say much else about it.

Rameau's Nephew
DESIGN: 22/50
CREATIVITY: 15/30
AESTHETICS: 9/20
TOTAL SCORE: 46/100

I must admit, I don't recall anyone ever using a level to tell a visual story with line guides while still having said line guides fulfill central practical function as obstacles! That said, I think function may have nevertheless been sacrificed to some degree in favor of form. as the unusual and jagged contours of the images makes for some awkward and unpredictable interactions with the platforms and saws (and especially the two sprites working together). On top of that, there's some questionable enemy identification in the level: the red moles are not at all obviously Spinies, the Pirhana Plants hiding behind bushes can very easily invisibly damage Mario when in a resting state, and the final, hidden saw is essentially impossible to avoid if you don't know it's coming. The difficulty spikes up pretty drastically post-midpoint compared to the first half, as well.

+ Amusing concept using the terrain to tell a visual story which still very much bears the levels concrete elements
- Somewhat awkward line guide interaction with all the jagged corners.
- Too many unfairly obscured enemies.

Other: The moon is so easy to get I wonder if it shouldn't be a 1-up instead.

124th: Red Planet Station by ShUriK KiD

Koopster
DESIGN: 13/50
CREATIVITY: 15/30
AESTHETICS: 12/20
TOTAL SCORE: 40/100

Some weird excuse to make like, five completely different levels for a contest (that you have to play in one single shot other than the final bit). Most of them suffer from being super cramped, especially the grid zone, the water cave and (ugh) the haunted room. The puzzle room just felt weird, I'll never get "puzzles" where you just have to press switches and zig-zag around the room. Also the secret exit is the embodiment of stupid.

lolyoshi
DESIGN: 15/50
CREATIVITY: 15/30
AESTHETICS: 13/20
TOTAL SCORE: 43/100

The concept seemed promising, but the rooms ranged from being okay to irritating, and your midpoint
mechanic thing didn't seem to work. Generally, there was just a lot of flaws and issues I had with this.

Noivern
DESIGN: 11/50
CREATIVITY: 13/30
AESTHETICS: 11/20
TOTAL SCORE: 35/100

I don't know how many times people can submit variety levels before they realize they don't work. You've got the aesthetics going for you somewhat but that's it. Three of the four areas are mainly sprite spam, the fourth area is literally just item babysitting, and it all culminates in a ripoff of the space sections in Interplanetary from VLDC9.

Sinc-X
DESIGN: 10/50
CREATIVITY: 10/30
AESTHETICS: 15/20
TOTAL SCORE: 35/100

I like it when the Yoshi coin door gimmick is used as part of the main level and not for some dumb hidden exit, and you executed that core concept well here. Unfortunately, the side rooms themselves are mediocre at best, so it isn't very fulfilling to play through. I'll comment on each room individually:

Observatory: The best of the 4 rooms. There are some interesting setups with the Layer 2, and in theory it could be good, but it is overwhelmed by cramped sections and quite a bit of mindless waiting around. The Boo palette is odd, but not bad.

Greenhouse: An uninteresting romp. Some sections with the lava lotuses are, again, too cramped. Interesting use of the line guides for the visuals.

Power Station: A decent puzzle room, but nothing that hasn't been done before. Not offensive but not really fun either. The secret exit door is very strangely executed.

Water Supply: Again, cramped enemy placement, especially by the "energy core" itself. The pipes were a nice touch.

The main indoor æsthetic is nice, though the palette is a bit too bright.

The outside section is, sadly, a disaster. Have I said cramped enough times yet? It looks nice and all but it's really a chore to get through, with badly placed enemies everywhere and the obnoxious autoscroll. The transition into this section is probably the best part of the entire level.


Rameau's Nephew
DESIGN: 12/50
CREATIVITY: 16/30
AESTHETICS: 9/20
TOTAL SCORE: 37/100

This level aims high but rather misses the mark. Firstly, it's worth noting that the central gimmick: collecting the dragon coins opening up the path to the exit--doesn't entirely work. While the player is perhaps expecting the door to become active, what actually appears--or at least is meant to--is an inconspicuous pipe in the ceiling. Only it usually doesn't. Only it always appears in the guise of one of the ceiling blocks, meaning the player can skip the first half of the level entirely, if they know it's there. This is not an auspicious start.

The five mini-environments themselves are honestly not that well -one. They seems to mostly be based around cramming lots of enemies in to cramped spaces rather than any sort of strategic design. There's a few genuinely interesting touches like the block that seemingly banishes the Fishin' Boo, but they're sort of unintuitive and not particularly well-implemented. I kind of expected that the level would mostly end after the coins were collected, but instead there was (an admittedly amusing and creative) Yoshi launch cutscene followed by an asteroid section reminiscent of last year's second place winner, only...not good. Honestly, this seems to rely entirely on enemy spam in lieu of actual design, and is not particularly enjoyable to play. Eventually going down shunts you out of the level in a way that I'm not entirely sure counts as an exit?

There's a secret exit, too, but I'm not sure why. I got it completely by accident, since it's just an invisible door. It doesn't really add much to the level, and is potentially either effortlessly easy or hopelessly obscure, depending on random chance. I guess it would be OK as a moon room, but as a secret exit it doesn't work at all.

All in all, this level seems to have a strong central idea, then trips over its own shoelaces and collapses in to a heap of incoherence and questionable design.

+ Has ambitions
+ Some generally interesting prestidigitation
- Central gimmick doesn't really work in practice
- Design mostly based on blocking fire exits

Other: What -does- canonically happen do Yoshi during the cutscene? We just hear him screech and then he's gone in the next scene. Is the implication that Mario just did a really big Yoshi jump, leaving him to perish on the red rocks below...? That sounds pretty out-of-character. Perhaps we should regard the secret exit as the true ending, in that case.

[Implo]

First level was really enjoyable. I was really impressed by usage of lines to make drawings. Second level wasn't that great. Visually it may be pleasant, but gameplay isn't that great. First we have choice of 4 rooms to do, but in fact we need to beat all 4 rooms. I would prefer that beating one of these rooms would lead to outer space section. It would add some replayability. Right now it's just annoying marathon. Final section for me was the best, though I don't remember end of it being so weird. I don't remember secret exit except fact that it was really awkward to find.

[Kilgamayan]

"vul-PENIS"

How lewd

EDIT: Where was the secret exit in Red Planet Station? Was it in that weird hole in the wall where the Silver P was in the Power Station section? Or maybe the door frame outlined by P-Switch coins also in the Power Station section?

[WinterSweater]

Greenhouse was my favorite section out of the 4.

[Nimono]

"vul-PENIS"

How lewd

EDIT: Where was the secret exit in Red Planet Station? Was it in that weird hole in the wall where the Silver P was in the Power Station section? Or maybe the door frame outlined by P-Switch coins also in the Power Station section?

Based on Rameau's comment of it being an invisible door, and Sinc-X's comment of it being in Power Station, I'd say it's absolutely the outlined door frame.

I do kinda wish that level had ended without you just dropping into a pit. Sure, doing that in SMW absolutely triggers an exit when in a Yoshi Bonus Sky, but somehow it feels arbitrary here, even with the arrow pointing down. Doesn't help that the scroll keeps going! I feel like it should've ended in either a pipe leading to a goal tape, a dead end where the screen stops where you can finally fall down without fear, or a ? Sphere. Likely not the middle, it doesn't feel like a satisfying ending.

[thatguyif]

Greatest FPS in video game history, I'll heartily agree to that. hey raocow play Perfect Dark even though you've probably never played an FPS on your channel

A. Press X to Doubt
B. He's going to play the greatest FPS in video game history in 3-4 days, cool it

[Grounder]

hello, save?

save machine broke

[Ashan]

I'm assuming the author of the space station level intended for you to have to do that all in one run but didn't check to see if the tiles covering the pipe couldn't be entered?

[Whimsical Calamari]

yo hold up i'm pretty sure that the second title screen was using music by Reed, aka the guy that A Mini Falafel Adventure got its soundtrack from. gimme a min

edit: ok so idk anything outside of AMFA's soundtrack, but it definitely sounded similar. closest in that soundtrack was Massive Cave System, but it's not quite the same.

[xfix]

123rd: Forest Jinx by DarkFeposo

Koopster
DESIGN: 17/50
CREATIVITY: 9/30
AESTHETICS: 12/20
TOTAL SCORE: 34/100

Looks like a rushed level. It's very very short and tries to implement a lot of things but the setups built are of a very basic nature. Lots of things are easy to just run/jump over, a glaring example is that bullet shooter that really had no reason to exist. With more time in your hands, you could've invested in more thoughtful design. I kinda like the concept of the forest cave aesthetically, but otherwise the colors of the level didn't look very coherent and sometimes background objects have too strong colors.

lolyoshi
DESIGN: 20/50
CREATIVITY: 10/30
AESTHETICS: 12/20
TOTAL SCORE: 42/100

The level was average and overall unsatisfying. The split was cool and all, though I genuinely
think it didn't contribute much at all.

Noivern
DESIGN: 16/50
CREATIVITY: 11/30
AESTHETICS: 13/20
TOTAL SCORE: 40/100

This forest port is so bad. Anyway, I love the atmosphere, but it feels kinda empty at points, and uninspired. Obscuring lotus projectiles behind the foreground is not cool. The second half is very short if you don't go left for the dragon coins. The hidden p-switch at the beginning is useless, as you can just jump and get the dragon coin.

Sinc-X
DESIGN: 13/50
CREATIVITY: 8/30
AESTHETICS: 14/20
TOTAL SCORE: 35/100

That went by almost too quickly to parse. It's too short to really develop any of its ideas (and it doesn't present many). Very simple and rompy, but not in a great way. It's at least fair, so it has that going for it. Not much to comment on otherwise.

Rameau's Nephew
DESIGN: 18/50
CREATIVITY: 12/30
AESTHETICS: 12/20
TOTAL SCORE: 42/100

A pretty short level without a very clear theme. Even with the subterranean trees, the connection between the forest and the cavern seems a bit tenuous. The P-switch blocked bonus pipe is a bit odd insofar as the area is accessible from the normal entrance anyway, and forcing the player to be small to get the final dragon coin is a curious choice.

+ Forests at night are nice.
- We don't really spend much time or do much on our nocturnal hike

Other: Had this taken place in the canopy instead of on the/underground, it would have been hi-jinx.

122nd: Vacation by Retronom

Koopster
DESIGN: 12/50
CREATIVITY: 12/30
AESTHETICS: 8/20
TOTAL SCORE: 32/100

It's a weird, unfocused, but otherwise innocent-ish level until the vertical segment which rammed my experience into the ground. I'm not sure why you thought the level needed impossible to predict sky ambushes and a baseball swarm in it? It's also a terrible environment to look for the secret exit, which is pretty stupid to find, and just consists of another not very well thought out, out of place room in a level where everything feels to be out of place.

lolyoshi
DESIGN: 23/50
CREATIVITY: 12/30
AESTHETICS: 10/20
TOTAL SCORE: 45/100

Many parts get real obnoxious, and I feel the level lacks a sort of focus (if there is one, it's
really too subtle). There were a lot of design choices which I questionned heavily (like again, a secret exit
that added nothing worthwhile to the level). The neon was more of a nuance than something that may look neat.

Noivern
DESIGN: 16/50
CREATIVITY: 13/30
AESTHETICS: 11/20
TOTAL SCORE: 40/100

One of the better glowy levels. It's easy to know when the lights are going to go out, and they only go out for a second. The problem I have is that there are a lot of things that don't act how they look. Many turn blocks are actually solid, and glowy used blocks are not solid. I reallly don't like that the munchers use the fading red animation instead of the color cycling of most of the level. This means you often can see the ground but nor the munchers, which makes certain unsafe areas look safe. Why is the vertical area icy?

That's what your review was going to be before I found the secret exit. The secret exit was dumb. Getting the key is only doable if you know where the key is going to be. I didn't realize the pipes were enterable until after I grabbed the key and was trying to stay low to the ground. That's a cheap trick.

Sinc-X
DESIGN: 14/50
CREATIVITY: 13/30
AESTHETICS: 12/20
TOTAL SCORE: 39/100

This level is more confusing to me than anything. On one hand, it's mostly boring outside of the really distracting æsthetic, with a lot of waiting on platforms for Something Of Interest to happen, but then near the end you go totally ballistic with way too many enemies/projectiles and hardly any reaction time for anything. There is zero balance here, and and you definitely could have done way more, much better than what is shown here.

Rameau's Nephew
DESIGN: 12/50
CREATIVITY: 12/30
AESTHETICS: 14/20
TOTAL SCORE: 38/100

The first half-and-a-bit of this level is a pretty OK line-guided section with some light layer 2 elements thrown in. It looks nice (while the glowing, blinking outline concept has been done before, the juxtaposition of certain colors is done quite tastefully here), it plays reasonably nicely (some of the dragon coins are a little weird and look tricky, but aren't particularly annoying in practice), it's a pretty enjoyable start to the level.

Once we hit the vertical section, on the other hand, the train goes off the rails. Getting on the initial platform after it's cut down but before it moves out of reach is not exactly difficult, but a somewhat awkward and vaguely annoying way to start the section. And things just go downhill from there. The design is mostly ambush-based, and the exploding block enemies are literally impossible to dodge if you don't already know they're there. Getting back down again once the platform is gone basically amounts to a series of blind drops with Munchers at various points. And ice physics? Did we really need ice physics here? (We do not, in fact, need ice physics here.)

The secret exit is no better; it involves essentially completing the normal exit again, guessing by sheer chance where the entrance may be, and also knowing ahead of time that you're going to get blocked out of this area if you don't bring the P-switch past a certain area before hitting it. As for the path itself, the obstacles are largely arbitrary and Mario to a large degree uncontrollable, though this matters little in practice as you can swim over the top of the screen (this is generally safer than trying to follow the coin guides, and has about equal odds of you randomly picking up the key. And then as a final "up your nose with a rubber hose" to the player, the pipes at the bottom of the path the the keyhole lead back to the start of the sublevel, a trap which is triggered if the player is pressing down, which they invariably will be in order to swim while holding an object, especially knowing that the keyhole is on ground level. Fantastic.

+ Reasonably pretty
+ Decent first half-and-a-bit
- Second half a train wreck
- Secret exit the exact same train wreck with a few extra cliffs added for the train to careen off of.

Other: I'm not sure how useful the extra powerup after the 1-up checkpoint is, considering it's a touch tricky to get, the feather doesn't make quite as much a difference as you might expect, and you get a second mushroom shortly thereafter anyway...

[xfix]

121st: Boom Beach by Fostelif

Koopster
DESIGN: 19/50
CREATIVITY: 10/30
AESTHETICS: 10/20
TOTAL SCORE: 39/100

Very simple romp. It does get harder in the second half (maybe overly so when compared to the first), but mostly because the enemies are more condensed and the bullet machines are on ground level. The placement of enemies isn't very creative and it's easy to just jump over all of them. It isn't a terrible level though, so keep trying! There's a springboard I couldn't find the use for... also, palettes are pretty egh

lolyoshi
DESIGN: 16/50
CREATIVITY: 9/30
AESTHETICS: 12/20
TOTAL SCORE: 37/100

Pretty boring and inoffensive.

Noivern
DESIGN: 21/50
CREATIVITY: 12/30
AESTHETICS: 5/20
TOTAL SCORE: 38/100

Kinda bland to be honest. It got better by the second half (aside from the eventual bullet spam) but the first half with it's huge windy slopes didn't play or look that great. I really liked the sand castle decoration, but the sand palette was pretty bad and the perspective on the background was way off.

Sinc-X
DESIGN: 15/50
CREATIVITY: 9/30
AESTHETICS: 14/20
TOTAL SCORE: 38/100

Very straightforward and simple, which is not necessarily a bad thing but it's not contest material. This would work well as an early level in a hack, as it's inoffensive and not technically bad, just generally uninteresting and unmemorable. The palette could use some work as well, but the sandcastles are a cute touch.

Rameau's Nephew
DESIGN: 23/50
CREATIVITY: 12/30
AESTHETICS: 9/20
TOTAL SCORE: 44/100

Not a bad little rompy beach level. It sticks pretty consistently to a simple bombs-and-bullets theme, and executes it well enough, even if it doesn't aim for anything out-of-the-ordinary. Æsthetically, I'm not sure it -quite- hits the mark it's aiming for; the sand palette is nice, and the sandcastles are cute, but the thick black outline on the foreground objects looks unsightly, and the perspective is strange and ocean-to-sky ratio too high in the background. Nevertheless, on the whole it feels like a pretty solid if conservative early-game level.

+ Nice relaxed early-game level
+ Sticks to a theme and executes it competently
- Could nevertheless perhaps benefit from a few more flourishes
- Æsthetics miss the mark somewhat.

Other: Deep withing the heart of his stony stronghold, Boom-Boom sheds a single tear, for despite all the fortresses and artillery, he was not invited to this beach party.

119th: Subway Madness by Pinci

Koopster
DESIGN: 11/50
CREATIVITY: 14/30
AESTHETICS: 11/20
TOTAL SCORE: 36/100

First half: awkward physics, spammy enemy patterns that can almost only be dodged by learning, horrendous secret exit
Second half: quite linear, a kinda annoying contrast between empty corridors (makes me want to run) and overly crowded segments. Gets really terrible when it gets crowded, you picked the worst sprites to abuse (fast, projectile-throwing and following types).
I'd rather pay extra DP to ride the green train

lolyoshi
DESIGN: 10/50
CREATIVITY: 10/30
AESTHETICS: 14/20
TOTAL SCORE: 34/100

A very risky idea that unfortunately did not work out very well. There's clearly effort put
into the presentation to make it feel neat, but everything about the gameplay is lacking in ingenuity
and precaution. It just generally feels rushed.

Noivern
DESIGN: 8/50
CREATIVITY: 17/30
AESTHETICS: 18/20
TOTAL SCORE: 43/100

The premise for the first half of the level is really good. Unfortunately, what could have been a fun autoscroll section was just a mass of sprites. The constant left movement made moving difficult. Both powerups were a huge risk to grab. The second half is better, but it needs to stick to a set of sprites. This is an example of a level that looks fantastic and is really creative, but has poor design.

Sinc-X
DESIGN: 20/50
CREATIVITY: 15/30
AESTHETICS: 10/20
TOTAL SCORE: 45/100

The first half would be a good concept in theory, but it wasn't executed very well here. There are a lot of enemies and not a lot of time to react, and it's incredibly repetitive, with the same enemies being recycled over and over again. The short music loop certainly doesn't help with that. In general the æsthetics are okay at best; the train was done pretty nicely in that regard, but the main tileset in the 2nd half had a tendency to blend together (use more colors!). The wanted sign was a nice touch, and the faux parallax was well-done, but at the same time those Galoomba Pokeys make no sense at all. Design-wise the 2nd half is better than the first half, but it still feels pretty cramped and some setups (lava lotuses in particular) should probably have been scrapped entirely. More things to dodge != better difficulty.

The secret exit was a bit silly too, with no indication that you could pass through a wall that you would expect to kill you.

Rameau's Nephew
DESIGN: 10/50
CREATIVITY: 16/30
AESTHETICS: 13/20
TOTAL SCORE: 39/100

The first half of this level is a solid concept brought down by its assumption that the player is a clairvoyant robot. The first thing that strikes me about this level is how little room the player is given to manœuvre. The smallness of the lower platforms combined with the solidity of the train car and the effect of the player constantly being moved backwards makes it -very- difficult to quickly switch between levels, and yet the stage demands precisely this. The screen is swamped with enemies, and even the warning exclamation marks only appear once it's almost too late for the player to react to them. And you have to be almost perfect in dodging the swarm: powerups are rare, and it's -far- too long before the player receives even the first one (why not have one on the intro screen?), and this one occurs at a point where it's far too easy to immediately lose it again. All in all this half ends up feeling a massive drag to play.

The second half is much more tolerable, but in exchange loses everything interesting about the level; instead we simply have a short, straightforward section based primarily around spamming projectile shooters. After the more interesting but intensely sloggy first half, it manages to simultaneously function as a relief and disappointment.

+ Pretty nice visual design.
- First half clearly not meant to be played by humans
- Second half heavily phoned in.

Other: I don't know whether Mario paid for his ticket, but if so, he should demand a refund.

119th: Twinkle Twinkle... by jshaaa

Koopster
DESIGN: 9/50
CREATIVITY: 11/30
AESTHETICS: 9/20
TOTAL SCORE: 29/100

I don't get this level. Very directionless, changes what it's doing every few screens and sometimes the design is just thoughtless or makes no sense. My biggest gripe is that on/off switch, uh, "puzzle"? after the midpoint. I thought you had to go on the respective room depending on the switch state you set previously (which mind you, sounds pretty pointless as a concept anyway), but if I go to the room tagged as "on" with the switch on I'm forced to die... good testing? That or I'm just completely misinterpreting it, but I don't think that's my fault.

lolyoshi
DESIGN: 17/50
CREATIVITY: 10/30
AESTHETICS: 11/20
TOTAL SCORE: 38/100

It's not good.

Noivern
DESIGN: 22/50
CREATIVITY: 15/30
AESTHETICS: 16/20
TOTAL SCORE: 53/100

Being creative doesn't mean using half the sprites in the game. Each separate section is completely different from each other. While it looks good and it's okay to play, it's rather long. The blue pipe section after the midway point is impossible to pass without switch blocks as you can't jump high enough to get on the swinging platform, and that whole section is also frustrating. I'm certain why there are any on/off blocks before the midpoint as they're not used until then.

By the way you can slide kill porcupuffers.

Sinc-X
DESIGN: 9/50
CREATIVITY: 6/30
AESTHETICS: 14/20
TOTAL SCORE: 29/100

The palette is decent, and that's about the only "good" thing. I think this level tries to do too many things and does them at a very mediocre level, rather than doing just a few things and doing them well. It's almost like you tried to just use as many different enemies as possible. There is hardly anything new put on the table, and what is there just isn't much fun. The line guide section is particularly badly made, with both boring waits and cramped enemy placement. The secret exit is nothing noteworthy either.

Rameau's Nephew
DESIGN: 25/50
CREATIVITY: 15/30
AESTHETICS: 13/20
TOTAL SCORE: 56/100

The first half of this level is OK, and does some mildly interesting things with the layer 2 water, but it seems unclear exactly what direction it wants to move in. That said, there's nothing too objectionable. The second half is weird; I honestly don't know what's going on with the ON/OFF path gimmick and I can't seem to get the OFF one to work at all. The ON, in contrast, is fairly short and just kind of there. I sort of expected that one of these would lead to the normal exit and the other to the secret, but apparently the secret exit is another path entirely found early in the level? Preeeeetty weeeeeeird...

Æsthetically, it's simple but effective. Pretty basic SMW parts, but well assembled with a pleasing palette. Sometimes that's all you need.

+ The first half of the level is pretty OK.
- The second half is kind of broken?

Other: The punctuation makes this level name seem more ominous than it is in practice.

[xfix]

118th: I Hopped in Iced Wind by Kowkarot

Koopster
DESIGN: 30/50
CREATIVITY: 19/30
AESTHETICS: 9/20
TOTAL SCORE: 58/100

Much of what you have to do in this level is a lot more precise than I believe you gave it credit for. Spin-jumping on single rocks, or fuzzies, is pretty harsh, and the level is really not forgiving with pits being everywhere rather than just hurt blocks. The first half has a good length for its difficulty, but the second half pushes it a bit too much. I wouldn't have that much of an issue with the length, honestly, if one; it was more first try friendly - which seems like you tried to do, but you did not succeed everytime, -glaringly- not in the very last obstacle ("RUN"), which hurt my experience a lot - and two; it didn't have certain awkward bits - the very first fuzzy jump in the second half for example is very harsh on big Mario, and the excentric saws at the beginning (are you really supposed to dodge them consistently?) made it really difficult to get the second dragon coin (I cheesed it by letting the mushroom slide ahead of me while I dodged while small/big until I took a hit). Overall, a quite fun experience, but also kind of stressful and tiresome.

lolyoshi
DESIGN: 25/50
CREATIVITY: 20/30
AESTHETICS: 10/20
TOTAL SCORE: 55/100

Engaging concept, but you could have been more careful on some of the design decisions, since
it gets quite overwhelming and some things don't feel so clear.

Noivern
DESIGN: 12/50
CREATIVITY: 14/30
AESTHETICS: 11/20
TOTAL SCORE: 37/100

Filled with tedious and frustrating gameplay. It's telling that the hardest part of the level is the first half.

Sinc-X
DESIGN: 1/50
CREATIVITY: 4/30
AESTHETICS: 12/20
TOTAL SCORE: 17/100

Did you -try- to make this as unfun as possible? There is nothing enjoyable about any part of this level whatsoever. The blue palette is not very nice, and every setup feels like its sole purpose is to cause frustration. The ice physics don't help. Sliding tiles as a concept does not equal creativity nor playability unless it's used well, which in this case it is not whatsoever.

Rameau's Nephew
DESIGN: 8/50
CREATIVITY: 17/30
AESTHETICS: 7/20
TOTAL SCORE: 32/100

This level is not particularly enjoyable to play. There's actually quite a lot of interesting things going on, but they seem to be arranged in such a way to exhaust, frustrate and annoy the player. The first few setups honestly are pretty good (Though it's easy to fall through the floor when jumping to the high cliff, which is an inauspicious sign of things to come), though once we get to the nearly undodgeable saw-salvo, the level takes a decided turn for the worse. The Lemmy-Koopa-esque rock balancing carnival act is extremely annoying and unfun, with some of the jumps being outright torturous. The fuzzy race post-midpoint is less bad conceptually, but ultimately forces the player to do large amounts of (slippery) high-precision platforming while also hurrying, and generally seems predicated on the idea that the player should already know what's come next, as reflex alone is rarely sufficient to guide the player, and indeed can actively work against them at points.

By all rights the level should have stopped there, yet there's somehow still another section (without a 1-up midpoint or the like) based around falling platforms and fancy footwork. This is again less annoying than the previous section, but still largely presupposes the player's being psychic, and failing to predict what's coming next is most punishing indeed. Taken all together, it makes of a rather tedious and exhausting gaming experience, which is a shame, as something worthwhile could have easily been made out of many of these concepts.

+ Some nice ideas
+ Some interesting setups in isolation
- Presupposes that the player is psychic
- Demands speed and precision and endurance while giving only ice physics in return

Other: I wouldn't say its a good æsthetic choice by any means, but there's certainly something striking about the background and forward sharing similar palettes here...

[CrispyMWHC]

Man, that level really felt like you could cut everything before the midpoint. If you do that, put the midpoint between the fuzzy on-off run and the platform bit, it'd be so much better.

[Cyphermur9t]

@raocow your perseverance is commendable.

[10204307]

This level has some incredibly clever setups with everyone's favorite sprite-holdy-uppy blocks, and does actually look pretty fun when it's played through correctly. I feel like if it was trimmed down and made less finicky (especially by removing the ice physics) then it would be a very good level. It's easy to see how a lot of little imperfections can add up and really drag a level down.

[Grounder]

So, yeah, the level isn't good, but the author clearly knows that and no longer likes it. I think it would have worked with an instant restart from death and room to room, which obviously couldn't be done in this contest.

[Ivy]

This level has severe Mario Maker "Le Hard Level! Can you beat it??" energies.

[Ashan]

I think that could have been a pretty decent level if the entire first section was scrapped, and the midpoint was put between the follow-the-fuzzies section and the platforming section at the end. It's weird he had two pretty tightly-designed parts of the level but started off with a really weak and unoriginal extended spinjump segment.

There's a reason spinjump-riding enemies for an extended period of time is one of the first obstacles in the first level of the first Kaizo game. It's pretty awkward, ESPECIALLY when you have to low bounce, because not only are you having to precisely land more times per second, but to transition back into high jumps you have to re-hold the jump button and depending on where you're at in the current micro-jump, you'll either immediately shoot up or you'll get a bit of extra hangtime before getting a high bounce.

The only extended spinjump segment I recall particularly enjoying was Super Spinner Boon from Vip but it used custom spinjump blocks you hop across instead of sprites.