VLDC JUDGING: KOOPSTER ================================================= FrozenQuills DESIGN: 28/30 CREATIVITY: 17/20 AESTHETICS: 9/10 TOTAL: 54/60 COMMENTS: This was super nice! I like how you take a lot of neat gimmicks and mix them all together. I felt a little misleaded on the button pressing guidance in the secret exit room, such as in the first "B" but gladly the punishment is not death most of the time. Good 1-up checkpoint usage, also. THEME: Abstract, Dark, Forest ================================================= waffledoctor87 DESIGN: 12/30 CREATIVITY: 7/20 AESTHETICS: 5/10 TOTAL: 24/60 COMMENTS: Why can't I read the messages :( So, this looked like it could be going somewhere with a snake eater gimmick, but then it just becomes the definition of a "this happened" level. A lot of random, uninteresting sections come after the run and then the level just ends... which is pretty unfortunate. Also, the water section with the glass blocks looks bad if you hit them. THEME: Cave, Ice ================================================= Falconpunch DESIGN: 18/30 CREATIVITY: 11/20 AESTHETICS: 7/10 TOTAL: 36/60 COMMENTS: I wouldn't sacrifice BG scrolling for a sun but alas, otherwise this looks pretty good. The level is a good collection of gimmicks that are defined well in the sublevels, but when merged together, make it feel a bit on the unfocused side. A few obstacles seem pretty undodgeable without the help of the switch blocks, such as the sleepy fish party in the end of the underwater area and the lotus+vines setup. Overall, this is a very basic, "ok" stage. Should mention that I found the no skull torpedo machines that don't shoot pretty neat! THEME: Beach, Water ================================================= Wind Fish DESIGN: 16/30 CREATIVITY: 13/20 AESTHETICS: 7/10 TOTAL: 36/60 COMMENTS: My first reaction was "oh boy"... I didn't think you could make anything look good with those blocks as the only foreground in the stage, but it did look pretty cool with the cave BG and the neon sprites. The first half was kind of cramped at times. The second half felt like it was going somewhere, but then... it ended. It's far easier than the first half, too. I feel there was more potential to this! THEME: Abstract, Cave ================================================= TheInsanity115 DESIGN: 13/30 CREATIVITY: 6/20 AESTHETICS: 6/10 TOTAL: 25/60 COMMENTS: Could've easily won me with Alcahest - Castle, but man - nothing happens in this level! There's no gimmick or enemy set usage defined, it's just a very linear level with a little bit of enemy dodging action. It does look fine and gives a nice "rusty place" feel, though. The spike balls are a bit too desaturated for something that hurts the player, however. THEME: Castle, Dark ================================================= Master Lakitu DESIGN: 7/30 CREATIVITY: 2/20 AESTHETICS: 4/10 TOTAL: 13/60 COMMENTS: This is not a speedrunning level as I thought it would've been for the low time limit, it's just... a cave with a few enemies, lava and a skull raft. Super unfocused, doesn't really do anything special and just ends out of nowhere. THEME: Cave, Fire ================================================= Medic DESIGN: 20/30 CREATIVITY: 20/20 AESTHETICS: 7/10 TOTAL: 47/60 COMMENTS: nice meme! but this was pretty difficult. Some jumps were really tight and sometimes it was hard to predict where to land! Also, even for the sake of a joke replaying the level for a secret exit is pretty bad, even if it's rather short and becomes easier after you learn it. THEME: Abstract, Memes ================================================= msi810 DESIGN: 19/30 CREATIVITY: 12/20 AESTHETICS: 6/10 TOTAL: 37/60 COMMENTS: The first half consists mostly of dodging some incoveniently placed fish. Sometimes they make for a nice challenge, but some of their placements ask for a bit too much precision. The second half is different. There's some neat usage of the glitchy dirt tiles there. Though again, some obstacles are a bit finicky, and the first thwimp that goes fast to the hole is kind of hard to anticipate. Overall it was a fun level, but I think the gimmicks could've been exploited more than they were, even if you've done neat stuff with them, especially the second one. THEME: Abstract?, Castle, Space ================================================= Carld923 DESIGN: 16/30 CREATIVITY: 16/20 AESTHETICS: 7/10 TOTAL: 39/60 COMMENTS: I really dig the sprite replacements and overall nonsensical look of this, but it was kind of confusing at times; I couldn't tell at first the dolphin tails hurt me. The autoscrolling section was really confusing with the grayed out black boxes that made me think the propellers were solid way too often. It's a cramped section; overall weaker than the rest. In the last room, the lakitu was kind of a pest since it mostly wasn't viewable. I thought the first room was the best of all. I liked the usage of the clipping glitch with the platform, and I really think you should've developed on that more! Overall, this was a neat set of good gimmicks for an abstract level, but in the end, it felt kind of unfocused and ended a little suddenly. THEME: Abstract, Cave, Sky ================================================= Luks DESIGN: 27/30 CREATIVITY: 17/20 AESTHETICS: 8/10 TOTAL: 52/60 COMMENTS: Super great usage of the glitchy tile! The level in structure is pretty simple mostly, but it has some clever setups at times. What I liked the most about it is how the enemies are cleverly placed in a way they're not stressful to dodge. THEME: Cave, Fire ================================================= SomeGuy712x DESIGN: 26/30 CREATIVITY: 17/20 AESTHETICS: 8/10 TOTAL: 51/60 COMMENTS: You got me stunned for a while because of the big amount of messages, but you managed to pull that off in vanilla...? Good job guy! So, I really dig how varied this level is. It settles on a gimmick and uses it very well, but doesn't limit itself to that. The sliding detour, while not having too much to do with throw blocks, is a refreshing experience to have in the middle of the stage in my opinion. Uhhh... how do I get the last dragon coin without glitching through the turn blocks? THEME: Cave, Ice ================================================= Renhoek DESIGN: 20/30 CREATIVITY: 11/20 AESTHETICS: 9/10 TOTAL: 40/60 COMMENTS: A good-looking stage, pretty nice to explore, well constructed overall, with some nice enemy dodging action, focused on what it sets to do, just doesn't do much out of the ordinary! Though I do like the usage of the switch blocks. Maybe you have even used too many :p THEME: Mountain ================================================= Guilherme F Santos DESIGN: 15/30 CREATIVITY: 10/20 AESTHETICS: 6/10 TOTAL: 31/60 COMMENTS: I think you meant to have the boo ring as the main obstacle of this level, but I don't see much focus especially in the first half. I feel there is a lot of random enemies thrown here and there, not doing anything really interesting. In fact, the rings are a lot about waiting around... the second half picks up in difficulty, but not in a very good way. There's a few awkward and big Mario discriminating jumps. The appearing ghosts in the end don't add much - I always thought they were really bad on being interesting obstacles. I think you could've explored the "blood" concept faaar more than you did. You used it for nothing but as pits in the stage, and abandoned it fully in the second half. Too bad! Though I do think you've done some interesting vanilla GFX work, even though the colors and weird contrast really didn't help. THEME: Dark, Wasteland ================================================= yoshifanatic DESIGN: 20/30 CREATIVITY: 15/20 AESTHETICS: 6/10 TOTAL: 41/60 COMMENTS: In terms of abstract levels I didn't see this coming at all... I didn't think anyone would dare to construct a level almost entirely out of triangular shapes and pull it off (fairly) well. The main route is cool, but somewhat cramped at times. I enjoyed the challenge provided by the secret exit a lot. Very fun, keeps you in your toes but is mostly fair, though a few spots may require you to learn them or just be lucky. The fourth dragon coin is kind of stupid to get... THEME: Abstract, Cave ================================================= Darkdlp02 DESIGN: 25/30 CREATIVITY: 14/20 AESTHETICS: 8/10 TOTAL: 47/60 COMMENTS: This was pretty fun! Excellent usage of the autoscroll. Everything in the level is timed real nicely with it. I especially enjoyed collecting the dragon coins~ THEME: Abstract?, Grass ================================================= Retronom DESIGN: 14/30 CREATIVITY: 8/20 AESTHETICS: 5/10 TOTAL: 27/60 COMMENTS: idk if you're going to win... :( This was Castle Tileset: The Level, with an awkward disco shell section in the end. It's not that disco hopping is a bad thing per se (I had a lot of fun with a level with that theme in another hack), it's just really out of place in the context of this stage. Otherwise this was really unfocused - you didn't really settle on what you wanted to do and just designed a lot of random sections together! Also, the blue lava doesn't contrast well at all. THEME: Castle ================================================= hammerguy DESIGN: 23/30 CREATIVITY: 14/20 AESTHETICS: 9/10 TOTAL: 46/60 COMMENTS: Hah, didn't see a SMB3 remake coming in the VLDC of all places. Good job with this! It's just too bad that there's not much new in this, since it is, essentially, based off of an existing stage. I think you adapted it really well to vanilla SMW though, like with the chucks and ESPECIALLY with the secret exit. Very outstanding job on replicating SMB3 and SMB1 with vanilla graphics and then mixing them together. THEME: Grass ================================================= Erik557 DESIGN: 18/30 CREATIVITY: 13/20 AESTHETICS: 6/10 TOTAL: 37/60 COMMENTS: Nice way to pull off the springy shrooms in vanilla, even if I can take a shroom piece with me sometimes :P The second half introduced layer 2, which was cool. Mostly though, I think you could've gone a loot further with what you had in your hands. This felt too straightforward and simple for the gimmicks you had! THEME: Forest, Sky ================================================= Kenny DESIGN: 24/30 CREATIVITY: 12/20 AESTHETICS: 8/10 TOTAL: 44/60 COMMENTS: cirno jokes because its vldc9 LOL. This level was not as cohesive as it could have been the way it presented a ton of possible gimmicks and developed a bit too little in them. But in practice, this was really fun. More challenging than it looks, but still really fun! Maybe could stand to be longer though. That would definitely give you room to do more creative things with it. Also, I really like the shades of the background! THEME: Cave, Ice ================================================= MegaMarioMan9 DESIGN: 27/30 CREATIVITY: 16/20 AESTHETICS: 7/10 TOTAL: 49/60 COMMENTS: (n)ice! No really I enjoyed this a lot. It's a so simple concept that has been used so many times, but seeing it be pulled off this well is always great. The puzzles are really cohesive and intuitive, which is always essential for levels like this to be fun. The graphics could stand to be a bit more detailed, but that doesn't take out much from the experience. THEME: Cave, Fire?, Ice ================================================= Frost DESIGN: 28/30 CREATIVITY: 19/20 AESTHETICS: 10/10 TOTAL: 57/60 COMMENTS: Boy, and to think Hostel in VLDC7 was so infamous. This combines great athmosphere (both the normal and haunted areas) and excellent ideas and vanilla exploits with amazing execution. It just gets a little too demanding nearing the end! THEME: Building, Grass ================================================= MercuryPenny DESIGN: 17/30 CREATIVITY: 13/20 AESTHETICS: 6/10 TOTAL: 36/60 COMMENTS: This does some interesting things with the chucks to an extent. I like the part where you have to hit an invisible block to make the chuck jump to where you need him for example! But in general, this level felt empty, like, there's a lot of room between one section and another with no action at all. I feel you could've gone further with the level in general, but regardless, it is pretty alright. THEME: Beach, Grass ================================================= yoshi9429 DESIGN: 17/30 CREATIVITY: 11/20 AESTHETICS: 6/10 TOTAL: 34/60 COMMENTS: Overall, a nice little level. I see you made the shell kickers and triangles the main theme, but you didn't really develop on it too well... it doesn't get more tricky or complex to dodge them as the level progresses. One thing I liked was the little secret exit detour. I thought you were going somewhere with those ropes, but you just abandoned them on the second half. THEME: Grass ================================================= Ambureon DESIGN: 11/30 CREATIVITY: 7/20 AESTHETICS: 4/10 TOTAL: 22/60 COMMENTS: A weird level... it starts fairly alright, just being very linear and not doing much. Then there's the second half, which to me seems obviously rushed since there are no enemies and it lasts like two seconds. o.o Always unfortunate when that stuff happens! Also, you could have benefited from using colors other than purple. THEME: Abstract?, Grass, Wasteland? ================================================= Nin DESIGN: 11/30 CREATIVITY: 7/20 AESTHETICS: 9/10 TOTAL: 27/60 COMMENTS: Oh no! Time constraints? D: THEME: Grass, Mountain ================================================= nathanrayman1998 DESIGN: 24/30 CREATIVITY: 16/20 AESTHETICS: 10/10 TOTAL: 50/60 COMMENTS: This is one of the best levels in athmosphere I have seen in a while. The slow-paced music goes really well with the shadow effect in the later sections. The level design goes perfectly with that setup. It is very simple, but it offers as much danger as you should expect from the pace at play. A very chill and relaxing experience~ THEME: Abstract ================================================= Proto Man DESIGN: 13/30 CREATIVITY: 8/20 AESTHETICS: 6/10 TOTAL: 27/60 COMMENTS: What a weird level! You change theme every three screens or so. The sections are often good but the level as a whole really doesn't know what it wants to do and just does a bit of everything. Some of the sections are really tricky to play, like the beginning and the end, but everything in between is oddly easier. The sprite memory issues present in the ROM submitted are also a drawback, which is unfortunate, since they were obviously an overlook/lack of testing! THEME: Forest ================================================= PaperdomoChristian07 DESIGN: 17/30 CREATIVITY: 9/20 AESTHETICS: 8/10 TOTAL: 34/60 COMMENTS: A 1-1, basically. It looked pretty good and was pretty fun to play through, it just doesn't do much, and in my opinion is a bit too long for not being all that inovative. THEME: Grass, Mountain ================================================= snoruntpyro DESIGN: 23/30 CREATIVITY: 17/20 AESTHETICS: 7/10 TOTAL: 47/60 COMMENTS: This is a very interesting level! Good usage of sprites in general. The sliding sections are also super fun. I think you could've gone further with your gimmicks though. I mean, you did neat things with them at times, but at the same time the level felt a little too basic and straight-forward. THEME: Abstract, Space ================================================= PuzzelBreaker DESIGN: 25/30 CREATIVITY: 16/20 AESTHETICS: 8/10 TOTAL: 49/60 COMMENTS: This has very good, cohesive, enjoyable design. The lack of a midpoint is noticeable, but you managed to balance the difficulty and length of this level well enough that I didn't really miss it. I actually think beating this in one go is a good challenge! I feel the end is a little anticlimatic though. I was getting deeper inside the castle and then boop, I'm suddenly out :o It could've been longer in that sense, but design wise, it's just dandy this way. THEME: Castle, Ice ================================================= GammaSlap DESIGN: 15/30 CREATIVITY: 10/20 AESTHETICS: 7/10 TOTAL: 32/60 COMMENTS: This level has some weird decisions... what's the point of that shell locked by turn blocks in the first room? Why are there glass blocks scattered through the cave? It's an alright level, but it's kinda like you had three different ideas for a level and decided to do all three into a single entry. Besides the general theme, the gimmick isn't really defined either. You also lose points for the midpoint that doesn't work. THEME: Cave, Ice ================================================= Agent Q DESIGN: 27/30 CREATIVITY: 18/20 AESTHETICS: 10/10 TOTAL: 55/60 COMMENTS: This level looks SO GOOD! And plays SO GOOD! It's not outstandingly different from the ordinary in level design, but it feels really professional. It's very fun to play and explore. The time limit is just a little bit tight though! THEME: Dark, Forest ================================================= mario and luigi DESIGN: 18/30 CREATIVITY: 10/20 AESTHETICS: 7/10 TOTAL: 35/60 COMMENTS: Nice level, it's just very simple and doesn't do too much of special. The P-switches don't really add to the level except for artificially breaking the linearity a little bit, but you didn't really commit any crimes per say. THEME: Beach, Grass ================================================= Pixel-Gon Gamer DESIGN: 8/30 CREATIVITY: 2/20 AESTHETICS: 4/10 TOTAL: 14/60 COMMENTS: Straight-forward level with random enemies that are really concentrated, leaving many areas flat out empty. This is not really interesting :| THEME: Forest ================================================= Aquamentus DESIGN: 26/30 CREATIVITY: 19/20 AESTHETICS: 9/10 TOTAL: 54/60 COMMENTS: At first I was like, what, why is there an auditory behind a platforming area? Then I imagined Mario as an artist performing various acrobatic movements throughout an area designed for such purpose, where monsters play along, creating difficulty and intrigue. Oh man what a good level. The concept is really inovative and the way you managed to make it a thing with vanilla graphics just stuns me. The level is very fun to play as well. Kind of keeps you in your toes sometimes (could have one or two more powerups!), but in the end beating it is a very satisfying task to have accomplished. Pretty tricky secret exit! THEME: Building ================================================= eXcavator DESIGN: 20/30 CREATIVITY: 14/20 AESTHETICS: 6/10 TOTAL: 40/60 COMMENTS: A very well-constructed level. You really did some interesting things with the gimmick you got, but I thought this was sometimes demanding for the wrong reasons. There were some ambushes I couldn't see coming, and a few turn blocks were quite annoying to grab, or hard to predict that I actually needed them further on (mostly on the second half). But otherwise, the difficulty curve was very well thought out. THEME: Ice, Mountain ================================================= Pedro156 DESIGN: 18/30 CREATIVITY: 11/20 AESTHETICS: 9/10 TOTAL: 38/60 COMMENTS: thnx for tellng m howto JUMP!!!!!!!!!! i wouldh have nver encorped the MYSTERIES of judging the vldc. This is a very simple level in design. It's pretty fun to play, but it doesn't really strike as anything but "a level". I think you meant to make that last part a P-switch run, but because of the way SMW works, I could just grab it and bring it to the pipe :< THEME: Dark, Forest ================================================= LucasGamer3000 DESIGN: 11/30 CREATIVITY: 7/20 AESTHETICS: 5/10 TOTAL: 24/60 COMMENTS: PRIME example of "focus on aesthetics instead of level design"! What's the most unfortunate is that this level doesn't even look that good :c The presence of only one color makes it kinda boring, and even a bit eye-searing since it's all yellow. It's also super overdecorated and looks kind of messy. Yeah, the design is very straight-forward. It's just a lot of platforming and very "occasional" enemies or obstacles that aren't really cohesive. THEME: Desert, Mountain ================================================= RoyKirbs DESIGN: 19/30 CREATIVITY: 13/20 AESTHETICS: 6/10 TOTAL: 38/60 COMMENTS: A nice rompy level. Other than the lasers in the second section, this is a pretty regular castle level, though I do like the small Mario-only room (you can actually get in there big though :p). I found the secret exit kind of silly to find and I don't know what ted has to do with anything??? Graphically, I like the ideas you had and the effort put, but ultimately the level looks a bit cluttered and weird. The colors could use some work. THEME: Castle, Sky ================================================= Impetus & TRS DESIGN: 26/30 CREATIVITY: 18/20 AESTHETICS: 10/10 TOTAL: 54/60 COMMENTS: "oh look it's a POW Perspective ripoff" man do I regret that first thought. This level was so amazing! I LOVE how you need P-switches to color up the area and also be able to see, but I think the gray colors could darken a bit more often for the gimmick to work more effectively! When I saw the star, I remembered Lunar Magic has this starman trigger on ExAnimation that no one ever uses and I imagined you could've used it. I was not disappointed at all. You got some basic, but very good and cohesive design. THEME: Abstract, Forest ================================================= Dr. Tapeworm DESIGN: 18/30 CREATIVITY: 13/20 AESTHETICS: 8/10 TOTAL: 39/60 COMMENTS: Petty nice and upbeat stage there. I like the sprite replacements you made and the deco, even though the latter could be a bit more well spread imo. The level itself is pretty basic. You introducted the red stars in the second half which is cool, but I think you could've done more with them than you did! THEME: Mountain?, Space ================================================= GabrielJohn DESIGN: 8/30 CREATIVITY: 7/20 AESTHETICS: 4/10 TOTAL: 19/60 COMMENTS: This Doesn't Require As Much Thinking as it's just like, kind of going for the most obvious path, which is a bit of a weird, perhaps badly made decision. I don't know why you give me a P-switch to carry around in the beginning if it's only there to mislead me... also, this is a bit reminiscent from the original switchpalacecorner at times. Overall this looks like a newbie level, but keep trying! That's how we all start. THEME: Ice ================================================= Magiluigi DESIGN: 26/30 CREATIVITY: 16/20 AESTHETICS: 10/10 TOTAL: 52/60 COMMENTS: First off, very nice pallete work! Now for the level, it's really well designed. Turn blocks are really cool because you can do a lot of things with them, and you showed that really well with this stage! The section where the chuck chases me while destroying my platforms was probably my favorite. It's a little sad how the bonus makes me skip a good chunk of the first half though D: THEME: Mountain ================================================= Sockbat Replica DESIGN: 24/30 CREATIVITY: 14/20 AESTHETICS: 7/10 TOTAL: 45/60 COMMENTS: Short and intense! Though I do think that even for its difficulty, it could have been made a little longer. It ends a bit too suddenly! Also, it's kinda too bad that the very easy to get cape nerfs the second half completely D: THEME: Grass, Mountain ================================================= Christian07 DESIGN: 20/30 CREATIVITY: 11/20 AESTHETICS: 8/10 TOTAL: 39/60 COMMENTS: Pretty okay. You have a selection of gimmicks in action here and they make for a fun challenge, but otherwise, I feel it doesn't do much of special. It could've been maybe more than jumping over pits with the help of the carrot lifts and dodging bullets, if you know what I mean! THEME: Cave, Grass ================================================= levelengine & StrikeForcer DESIGN: 27/30 CREATIVITY: 16/20 AESTHETICS: 10/10 TOTAL: 53/60 COMMENTS: At first, I was confused and misleaded by the big amount of paths I was offered, but it all made sense in the end. This level was so good! For what I'd consider an action/exploration level, this was really super fun. I think some of your decisions were a bit questionable though, and when I say that I think about the first dragon coin puzzle which you can screw up easily (if you go a bit to the side the yellow koopa will spawn and get killed). On the other hand, some of the setups in this level were amazing, like the hop the munchers to zigzag the shell almost right afterwards. So to me it just evens out :p THEME: Fire?, Mountain, Wasteland, Water? ================================================= Centipede DESIGN: 27/30 CREATIVITY: 17/20 AESTHETICS: 9/10 TOTAL: 53/60 COMMENTS: For a while I thought this stage was really finicky and a bit annoying, but when you get the gist of it, it becomes really fun to manage the challenges provided. The way the spike balls were used is really inovative. I feel they are a little bit unpredictable at times, but they didn't take me more than a few lives. Very fun experience overall! THEME: Abstract?, Grass, Sky, Water? ================================================= Najeraldo DESIGN: 10/30 CREATIVITY: 10/20 AESTHETICS: 5/10 TOTAL: 25/60 COMMENTS: I'm not sure how intentional that was, but the fog covering part of the level actually makes for a nice mechanic. Since the level is simple enough it doesn't turn into a hassle, but it's obvious that it wasn't designed with that in mind. The second half abandons that concept completely and shows how to make the porcu-puffer a pest to deal with... mostly, this level throws enemies at you in a very simple, not very thought out way. Not a "crime", but it doesn't make the level too interesting... also, nice song. THEME: Dark, Forest, Swamp ================================================= ft029 DESIGN: 14/30 CREATIVITY: 15/20 AESTHETICS: 8/10 TOTAL: 37/60 COMMENTS: Now this was a little bit hard to judge. This level is really clever in many aspects, it has a lot of very interesting challenges and all. But its unpredictable nature is really bothersome, especially the "green coins" concept which is pretty flawed. You just tell me I have to "jump" or "throw a block", but how can I be able to tell what direction to jump or where to throw, if I can't even see where I'm going beforehand? The door right before the midpoint is the meanest part of your level. The rocket block in the third dragon coin puzzle is also really finicky. The real problem here is that the punishment for failure is death most of the time. I'm usually not a defender of reset doors, but in situations like this, they would've been rather crucial. I don't know though... even though I had to replay this level a million times (that life farm in your base ROM wasn't for nothing, was it?), I still had fun. I'm pretty sure the rather short length helps. Also, kinda silly to find but nice secret exit hiding spot. THEME: Cave ================================================= Sayuri DESIGN: 13/30 CREATIVITY: 7/20 AESTHETICS: 6/10 TOTAL: 28/60 COMMENTS: Ew, spikes are disgusting! This level, in brief, doesn't really do anything. Just casually swim forward and stuff. At least it's not very hard or annoying, so there's that! Also, the secret exit doesn't really add to the level. You can argue it breaks the linearity but backtracking is not very interesting man! THEME: Castle, Water ================================================= IDidMakeThat DESIGN: 19/30 CREATIVITY: 11/20 AESTHETICS: 7/10 TOTAL: 37/60 COMMENTS: I'm still not too sure what you were trying to go for with this level, but I like the ideas in execution like the smaller camera areas and the vertical water segment. They just feel a little out of place with one another! Mostly a fun level to play, doesn't really get too inovative but still fun. The secret exit is rather pointless though. THEME: Beach, Building?, Water ================================================= Daizo Dee Von DESIGN: 14/30 CREATIVITY: 15/20 AESTHETICS: 7/10 TOTAL: 36/60 COMMENTS: Lakitu cloud levels are usually slow and a bit tiring, but this one is very action-filled which helped the fun factor a lot. Though it is quite flawed in design. Sometimes it's not very obvious where you want me to stay in the screen. If I'm too far behind, I'll get hit by the saws chasing me, and if I'm too close to the right, I'll get ambushed. This uses coin trails well, but I think it could have more in a couple sections. I never figured out the bullets near the end... also, there's a few aesthetical oddnesses. The cannon smoke when a fireball hits a wall is kind of funny lol. Also congrats for managing to make sprites disappear with SA-1, I guess. THEME: Space ================================================= Minimay DESIGN: 6/30 CREATIVITY: 8/20 AESTHETICS: 8/10 TOTAL: 22/60 COMMENTS: One more case of putting aesthetic as the primary focus! I can tell you spent more than half of your time on this making the very nice colors and deco, but the weird rope and muncher spam kinda ruin it for me... I think you had some interesting setups at hand, namely the chuck throwing footballs that jump on the ropes and then fall where you are, but the design of this level is mostly all-around weird, unfocused and also way too short! THEME: Grass, Water ================================================= morsel DESIGN: 23/30 CREATIVITY: 20/20 AESTHETICS: 8/10 TOTAL: 51/60 COMMENTS: is that what hotels in switzerland are like?????? This is a fantastic set of extremely creative rooms. It requires some learning and a tad of precision in a few rooms, but because the level is mostly short and the midpoint is well balanced, this was still a lot of fun to me. I think the doors room was weak, though, because even with no punishment for failing, it still takes a lot of time to learn it and it gets a little boring. But otherwise, very nice level in my opinion. Oh the dragon coin puzzle is a bit too silly :Y (I had to look in LM/ask around) THEME: Building ================================================= glitch4 DESIGN: 20/30 CREATIVITY: 13/20 AESTHETICS: 7/10 TOTAL: 40/60 COMMENTS: Oh, so this is like a transition between the cave and mountain parts of vanilla secret? Nice! For one thing, this feels straight out of SMW, except it doesn't really have much of a primary focus as it's just a "cave then grassland level". Still, I think this was fun. The secret exit was hidden in a way I think SMW would've liked to do it too. So yeah, "it doesn't do anything that's too special, but it's still enjoyable" kinda thing! No points out for this by the way, but next time remember to fix the background scrolling! THEME: Cave, Mountain ================================================= MaiK DESIGN: 16/30 CREATIVITY: 14/20 AESTHETICS: 8/10 TOTAL: 38/60 COMMENTS: When I saw you turned the ghost house platforms into an elevator I was super excited because I thought that looked super cool, but you only used like four of those in the level, and in really basic and rompy ways! Which kinda sums up what I think about this level: it has some nice ideas in that sense and does neat things with the graphics, but I feel you could've gone more far! Ultimately, this is a "go forward and dodge enemies" level, which in my opinion doesn't make justice to the potential it had :< THEME: Cave ================================================= k3fka & eevee DESIGN: 20/30 CREATIVITY: 13/20 AESTHETICS: 10/10 TOTAL: 43/60 COMMENTS: This level looks really good, and somehow Kraken adds to the athmosphere greatly! The second half uses the bat generator fairly well, except for the last few screens which are a bit too tight. Otherwise, a pretty simple level with very simple concepts. Sets on what it wants to do and does it. THEME: Sewer, Water, Wasteland? ================================================= dax DESIGN: 15/30 CREATIVITY: 14/20 AESTHETICS: 9/10 TOTAL: 38/60 COMMENTS: The concept of a crumbling cave is pretty neat! But the level gets rather repetitive and boring to replay over and over after a while. I think it could've been a little shorter, y'know? Also, dodging the rocks is kinda a matter of learning sometimes. I felt the coins leaded me to where the rocks were gonna fall at some places D: THEME: Cave, Fire ================================================= Hypershadic DESIGN: 17/30 CREATIVITY: 12/20 AESTHETICS: 6/10 TOTAL: 35/60 COMMENTS: Nice cute little level, but it's a basically a romp, that is, it doesn't do much! Also, you don't have much of a focus. At least the first half is mostly about the skull raft, but the second half felt a lot more random since it just kinda threw random enemies and obstacles at me. Not bad per say, but yeah! Oh, and I like the hiding spot for the moon and third dragon coin. THEME: Cave, Fire? ================================================= G.D. DESIGN: 16/30 CREATIVITY: 15/20 AESTHETICS: 8/10 TOTAL: 39/60 COMMENTS: Really nice level! But it's a bit unfortunate to me how, while you had excellent ideas at hand - stormy clouds, hiding brown blocks, invisible coin blocks that are viewable sometimes -, I feel you could've done waaaay better. Ultimately this level is very simple, short, straight-forward and barely uses the gimmicks in creative ways D: THEME: Castle, Dark, Grass, Water? ================================================= a hick DESIGN: 17/30 CREATIVITY: 15/20 AESTHETICS: 6/10 TOTAL: 38/60 COMMENTS: The structure of this level is a bit weird, but I see cleary where you were going with it, and it mostly does work. Though for example I can easily skip the last "challenge" by taking the reset door, as I'll preserve my cape. Still! I think this level is really neat and it uses the bowser statue gimmick well, I just feel there's not much to the level other than those statue sections. They feel like "filler" if you get what I mean. Still, not bad overall~ THEME: Cave, Water?! ================================================= GbreezeSunset DESIGN: 28/30 CREATIVITY: 20/20 AESTHETICS: 10/10 TOTAL: 58/60 COMMENTS: What matters for a level to be amazing is not just how creative it is or how much it exploits the engine, but also how well it's designed AROUND the creativity. This is a fantastic example of an amazing level. It just feels so professional for the amount of glitches it uses! I really had fun with this, and I have never even played Portal so I don't get any of the refs :p THEME: Building, Cave ================================================= WarFlare2 DESIGN: 16/30 CREATIVITY: 12/20 AESTHETICS: 8/10 TOTAL: 36/60 COMMENTS: Forgot to add one dragon coin? So, this level is pretty alright. I think layer 2 being used in outside areas is a pretty neat concept that's not used enough (probably because of BG constraints). This level doesn't do too much with it though. It actually gets rather unfair with the platforms, since I can't really predict that I absolutely need the layer lower to get through some sections without getting hit. Should've been more careful while designing! THEME: Grass, Sky ================================================= Gloomier DESIGN: 22/30 CREATIVITY: 16/20 AESTHETICS: 10/10 TOTAL: 48/60 COMMENTS: Wow, nice level! Didn't expect a spooky scary plot going on. I really dig the mysterious feel that exists thanks to the puzzles and unexpected gimmicks. I just felt this was a little too straight-forward for what it had set to do. It also doesn't seem very decided on what it wanted to do and changes gimmicks kind of drastically. But that's not entirely bad, as it allows more variation. In any case, I still like this a lot. THEME: Castle, Dark, Haunted ================================================= Leiras DESIGN: 28/30 CREATIVITY: 19/20 AESTHETICS: 9/10 TOTAL: 56/60 COMMENTS: What an enchanting level! You really scared me with the intro message of your entry ROM (which mentions "complex puzzles that are completable with no savestates if you pay attention"). The puzzles in this level are actually super well balanced and very well leaded by the coins. I'm really impressed by a lot of things you've done here! My main complaint, though, is that I think an extra midpoint would do good for the secret exit! Like a 1-up checkpoint. It's really easier to screw up there than you'd think, especially around the bullet machines in the beginning. THEME: Mountain, Sky? ================================================= DaSpongeBobMan DESIGN: 14/30 CREATIVITY: 10/20 AESTHETICS: 8/10 TOTAL: 32/60 COMMENTS: The rompiest of romps! The main level isn't more than "a grassland level". No crimes here, it just doesn't stand out in the context of a contest! Though I do have some issues with the secrets. I thought the first dragon coin, the secret path and especially the key were really random to find. I have a huge issue with the key in particular since you can only find it by springing yourself everywhere in the level. The secret sublevel has that nice red lines gimmick I have seen in another level a while ago, but it doesn't do anything special with it, sadly! THEME: Grass ================================================= cyphermur9t DESIGN: 12/30 CREATIVITY: 11/20 AESTHETICS: 8/10 TOTAL: 31/60 COMMENTS: Why do the spikes in the first half not work? This is the most unfortunate thing ever! D: Regardless of the spikes though, I thought this level had a really neato aesthetical setup, but as a level, it doesn't really do much! I feel many of the ideas you had are really "unfinished" like how in the first half you could have the player to need to time the platform correctly to dodge the megaspikes, or the sneaky enemies behind the canvas tiles. Both of these setups only happen once in the level. Instead the stage is mostly composed of rompy platform riding and enemy dodging action. It also gets out of placingly tricky at that spot where I have to dodge the grinder that comes back and then hop on the koopa. THEME: Castle, Dark, Sky ================================================= MarkD DESIGN: 14/30 CREATIVITY: 10/20 AESTHETICS: 6/10 TOTAL: 30/60 COMMENTS: Hey I was expecting some kawaii princess party-tier saturation with the name! So, this is a very basic level. It does neat things in my opinion; I like how it has a lot of bonus areas for example. But other than that, it's a really unfocused level. It has bits of many gameplay mechanics but they really don't do anything special to the level. Next time, try picking one or two specific mechanics and develop on them as the level goes, instead of shoving in a lot of stuff from SMW's engine in a single level and not doing much with any of them. Take that as a tip! THEME: Grass, Mountain ================================================= eminus DESIGN: 16/30 CREATIVITY: 17/20 AESTHETICS: 10/10 TOTAL: 43/60 COMMENTS: Haha, this was so neat! Took me a bit to realise this was some sort of crazy laboratory where living things get merged and created or something and I really dig that concept - very original. The graphical work to replicate a lab is also amazing. Though the level is really short and doesn't do much, but it did feel it was going somewhere since you introduced a lot of mechanics that might have gone well together. THEME: Abstract, Building ================================================= GST_Bass DESIGN: 15/30 CREATIVITY: 12/20 AESTHETICS: 7/10 TOTAL: 34/60 COMMENTS: I kinda see what you were going for (I think lighting up torches is a neat gimmick) but I kind of don't? Like, the way the room you first go changes, but regardless, both pipes after you beat the first half take to the same area. All in all, this level was fine, but it didn't go more far than a basic ghost house platforming level, which is unfortunate :( I like the aesthetical work mostly but I think the pipes in the background are a little too bright! THEME: Building, Haunted ================================================= coolmario DESIGN: 14/30 CREATIVITY: 11/20 AESTHETICS: 8/10 TOTAL: 33/60 COMMENTS: I was pretty fine with this level at first, but in the end, I realised how it gave me a bit of trouble. Firstly, one powerup in each half is very few powerups. It made a level that's otherwise not that tricky or long feel rather stressful. The dragon coins are really tricky to get compared to what's around them in the first half of the level, but after the midpoint the difficulty just rockets, with a few odd spikes. That jump right before the pipe taking to the final castle area is really annoying! So yeah, in general, this level looks good, it is designed nicely (even though it's a bit unfocused), but it really could use more powerups and an adjustment in a few obstacles. THEME: Castle, Grass ================================================= Blue Leaf DESIGN: 26/30 CREATIVITY: 16/20 AESTHETICS: 9/10 TOTAL: 51/60 COMMENTS: Neato! This is a really well crafted level overall. I dig how the secret exit is hidden. Don't have too much to complain about, though I do think the second half kind of escalated the difficulty a bit too much. I thought it was hard to predict where I could stay or what I should do sometimes, but that only costed me two or so lives. Still really fun level~ THEME: Castle, Cave ================================================= Grugi DESIGN: 25/30 CREATIVITY: 13/20 AESTHETICS: 9/10 TOTAL: 48/60 COMMENTS: While it's not a level that does much out of the ordinary, it's really well crafted! It's very consistent on what it sets to do, gets the difficulty curve just right and hides its bonuses really well in my opinion. Feels like something that could be in an actual Mario game. Other than the kinda weird lava color, I really like how it looks, too. THEME: Fire, Mountain ================================================= jshaaa Disqualified DESIGN: 1/30 CREATIVITY: 2/20 AESTHETICS: 7/10 TOTAL: 10/60 COMMENTS: You know a level is gonna be silly when it uses a worst world theme... not only this is almost Medic% cheap difficulty (footballs and tight corridors), it also looks unbeatable since I can't get to where I need the silver P-switch with it? THEME: Cave, Fire ================================================= danwaleby DESIGN: 13/30 CREATIVITY: 10/20 AESTHETICS: 5/10 TOTAL: 28/60 COMMENTS: What a... weird level. I thought the pipes would make me have to go back in the level where something would be changed, but most of the time they just make the level follow forward, essentially adding almost nothing to the level, which is otherwise really unfocused! There's a ton of sections that don't really make much sense and most of your ideas don't seem to have been developed upon. Also, this has some really odd aesthetical decisions. THEME: Grass, Mountain? ================================================= WhiteYoshiEgg DESIGN: 24/30 CREATIVITY: 16/20 AESTHETICS: 10/10 TOTAL: 50/60 COMMENTS: Haha, I remember trying to make a level with this gimmick before, and it sucked :( But this doesn't! It really plays differently between the two states, as the grinders and blurp fish act as different obstacles. Really simple concept but it's really well done. I missed more swimming and non-swimming-only ideas though. Like, I feel you could've used turn blocks and flopping fish a bit more often! THEME: Water ================================================= lolyoshi Favorite DESIGN: 29/30 CREATIVITY: 18/20 AESTHETICS: 9/10 TOTAL: 56/60 COMMENTS: Hahaha, this is amazing! I LOVE how the coins make a level that'd be otherwise full of traps so fair. It feels super amazing to play. The second half was fantastic too - I like how the role of the coins is reversed, so you have to pay more attention! A few bits of the dropping sections were just a bit too demanding of attention in my opinion (especially the first one, around before the gray platforms come up). But otherwise, this felt really fair and very doable in the first try. THEME: Castle, Cave, Grass, Ruins ================================================= Gabriel Yanni DESIGN: 13/30 CREATIVITY: 9/20 AESTHETICS: 6/10 TOTAL: 28/60 COMMENTS: This is a forest level that uses the ghost house sprite tileset. Other than that, it essentially does nothing! Straight-forward and basic as it gets D: THEME: Dark, Forest, Haunted ================================================= Flyingcape DESIGN: 11/30 CREATIVITY: 7/20 AESTHETICS: 7/10 TOTAL: 25/60 COMMENTS: If you would let me guess, this is one of your first levels, right? Cause new peeps usually like to do as much stuff as they can in their levels, since it all looks cool and great in the beginning. Unfortunately this makes for an unfocused level! Just a set of different sections that don't relate to each other in gimmick and also don't do anything really interesting. The level doesn't commit crimes other than this and also a few blind jumps in certain areas. THEME: Forest ================================================= tcdw DESIGN: 14/30 CREATIVITY: 10/20 AESTHETICS: 5/10 TOTAL: 29/60 COMMENTS: Oh my God those dark palettes are kinda bothersome... this level doesn't do a lot out of the ordinary. It's a very linear level with a few deviations for dragon coins and also that bonus that takes a bit too much to get imo. It doesn't do anything innovative, which is not necessarily bad, but also not interesting! THEME: Dark, Haunted, Forest ================================================= Losoall DESIGN: 13/30 CREATIVITY: 15/20 AESTHETICS: 9/10 TOTAL: 37/60 COMMENTS: Boy this looks really fantastic. Too bad that controlling winged yoshi is so annoying, and I think the difficulty of this stage is not too well balanced with that. It also takes a while and a few lives to learn what you're supposed to do in certain areas. I was happy to find that you don't actually need yoshi to finish the level (which is great cause I never could get past that low ceiling spot before the first sumo bros), but you do need him for the dragon coins... though one method (which I never actually managed to do) is to get the third dragon coin and then abandon him and get the next two as normal Mario. The last dragon coin is actually the sixth. I don't know if that's an overlook, but either way, I'm more than glad for it. Still not sure if this warrants requiring dragon coins though :U THEME: Dark, Sky ================================================= Chill Pingu DESIGN: 1/30 CREATIVITY: 10/20 AESTHETICS: 1/10 TOTAL: 12/60 COMMENTS: Yeah, as blunt as this sounds, this gimmick flat out doesn't work. My biggest issues in the first half (which is about where I played without savescumming) were the blind drops and then that insane spin-jumping section where you also have to race the P-switch. The second half seemed to be doing better with the disappearing cement blocks, but then you added in more sections with layer 2 shenanigans and it just felt it would never end. The amount of attention, memorization and luck this requires is insane and just drained all the fun from me. That's really unfortunate; I think if you had designed this a LOT differently, this gimmick might have worked, but as-is, this is a no-no! :< Also, I have no absolute clue how I am slightly supposed to figure out that secret exit without peeking in Lunar Magic. THEME: Abstract ================================================= worldpeace DESIGN: 29/30 CREATIVITY: 18/20 AESTHETICS: 9/10 TOTAL: 56/60 COMMENTS: This is a really interesting gimmick! Not as useful when it shows what's higher up, but in the drops, it worked really nicely. The level is otherwise designed in a very clever manner, with well timed obstacles and creative ducking action. It's too bad that not being big kind of breaks the level a bit, but regardless; really neat level! THEME: Ice ================================================= LucasRCD DESIGN: 12/30 CREATIVITY: 10/20 AESTHETICS: 7/10 TOTAL: 29/60 COMMENTS: My biggest issue with this level is the long/unmemorable ratio! Both sections of the second half drag for wayy too long, and they (as well as the first half) don't do absolutely anything but throw enemies at you in a very basic fashion. The level is really linear and lacks creativity and thoughtful design. :( THEME: Forest ================================================= Slakkmichael DESIGN: 18/30 CREATIVITY: 11/20 AESTHETICS: 8/10 TOTAL: 37/60 COMMENTS: This doesn't look as much as a "ruins" level as the title made me expect! It's more like a grass-cave type of area. Aesthetically it looks a bit too cluttered due to the excess of deco, but the palettes are good. The level starts off on the unfocused side, but the second half has some interesting platforming bits. Still, it ends up as a very basic, rompy and not very memorable level! I kinda wish you used wall-running more; I really dig the use of that + the P-switch in that one section in the first half. THEME: Grass, Mountain ================================================= Skewer DESIGN: 15/30 CREATIVITY: 13/20 AESTHETICS: 9/10 TOTAL: 37/60 COMMENTS: I felt the execution of this level is a little flawed. The highlight is how I can ignore the springboard or the P-switch completely in the room after the midpoint (that made me bring the P-switch to the next room and try to carry it, which was obviously annoying because of the wall-running). Also the way you sometimes ask me to use a springboard where it's not Medic% required (if you do some maneuvering) clashes with how some sections demand ghost hopping. Overall... this is a rather simple level! The "puzzles" are very "solution in your face"-like, and don't add much to the level imo as they don't add a thinking factor, just break the linearity a little bit. I really dig the aesthetic work and the ways you found to replicate a ship though. Also, the dragon coin in the midpoint room is SUPER mean-spirited! >:O THEME: Ship ================================================= switchpalacecorner DESIGN: 6/30 CREATIVITY: 8/20 AESTHETICS: 4/10 TOTAL: 18/60 COMMENTS: I like the way the secret exit is hidden, but that's about it! This level is really odd, it's not consistent at all in what it wants to do and feels like a lot of sections shoved in with no sense of progression whatsoever. :c The difficulty is also all over the place, with that saw hop being a reaaallly huge and awkward spike in difficulty. THEME: Forest, Grass ================================================= ForthRightMC DESIGN: 9/30 CREATIVITY: 7/20 AESTHETICS: 6/10 TOTAL: 22/60 COMMENTS: What baffled me the most in the first half was the coin action. Sometimes it felt like it was leading me to bullet jump or do some crazy shenaningans, but I never really had to? This level in general is very straight-forward. It also becomes very reminiscent of Yoshi's Island 2 at a certain point, so take care! I also did not expect it to have a second half. I liked the big bullet shooter idea (even if it doesn't make that much sense that bullets come out of the side of a box), but otherwise this section was even more linear and boring than the first - at some point, it felt you were just copypasting sections! Yeah, not the best you could do, I'm sure. THEME: Forest, Grass ================================================= Hinalyte DESIGN: 22/30 CREATIVITY: 14/20 AESTHETICS: 9/10 TOTAL: 45/60 COMMENTS: This level started off pretty swell, but it got pretty tricky pretty quickly. The enemies are really placed in a way they're TRUE obstacles, which is actually appreciable since it feels you went for a short but hard level. I think the length is just fine for the difficulty, though the second half drags on for a lot longer than the first, I feel. My main problem with this were a few obstacles that weren't that predictable, at least for me, like the four koopa column part in the first half. The obstacles in general are built super cleverly though! Also, really nice aesthetical work, though the clouds cut off a bit in the second half, which is super unfortunate! Oh and idk what's going on with this port, the pitch of everything just gets destroyed after it loops for some reason lol THEME: Ice ================================================= Prizm DESIGN: 14/30 CREATIVITY: 12/20 AESTHETICS: 9/10 TOTAL: 35/60 COMMENTS: This level felt really pleasant~ I like the bonus room spread throughout the level, but I realised that if you take them out, the level is not that interesting. It has a rather large selection of gimmicks that don't get developed upon well in my opinion. The very short length doesn't help too much. I also think the final bonus rooms escalate way too much in difficulty! Also, I never could find the dragon coin that's hidden in the slightly gray door. Rather mean-spirited of a hiding spot for those who don't pay extreme attention, yo! THEME: Forest, Grass ================================================= Gamma V DESIGN: 16/30 CREATIVITY: 12/20 AESTHETICS: 9/10 TOTAL: 37/60 COMMENTS: For some reason I thought the silly-looking mega mole statues hanging around the temple were pretty humorous :p The level is really simple and sadly doesn't do much. It only really starts using mega moles at all in the sublevel and in the second half, and even then it's just a few very short mole riding segments that don't do much interesting. The level also ends really suddenly! THEME: Cave, Temple ================================================= Rockythetigre DESIGN: 15/30 CREATIVITY: 13/20 AESTHETICS: 7/10 TOTAL: 35/60 COMMENTS: A bit of a weird level! It had ideas with amazing potential, like the floating platforms, which in my opinion could've been used WAY more. Instead, the level doesn't really focus on anything! There's a lot of out-of-place-feeling sections. It's sometimes a little cramped and spike dodging-based. I really wish you could've used your gimmicks better, 'cause I so see the potential! Also, nice starman effect on the pencils (maybe could've been colored better?) THEME: Cave ================================================= KDeee DESIGN: 22/30 CREATIVITY: 13/20 AESTHETICS: 8/10 TOTAL: 43/60 COMMENTS: Nice little level! There's a lot of leeway on the time limits, to the point I think the sublevels could've been made a little bit longer. The one that stretches the most is the final one, which makes sense. The level itself is a bit rompy and simple, but that makes sense considering the gimmick. I like how it varies the athmospheres and enemy sets in the three sections. The difficulty/powerup distribution ratio was gotten just right imo. Yep! THEME: Grass, Mountain ================================================= Lui37 DESIGN: 27/30 CREATIVITY: 18/20 AESTHETICS: 10/10 TOTAL: 55/60 COMMENTS: This is an EXTREMELY well constructed level, I just think the difficulty hiccups drain from it a little! The first half is significantly easier than the second dragon coin sublevel and the second half, I guess partially on the latter because the punishment for failing is death! It gets particularly very tricky in the last sped up line section (which I couldn't do with no hits). But man, still, this level has impressed me a lot! It's very clear a lot of thought and effort was put into it. And in the long run playing it is a really fun and neat experience~ THEME: Grass, Mountain ================================================= Sokobansolver DESIGN: 15/30 CREATIVITY: 17/20 AESTHETICS: 6/10 TOTAL: 38/60 COMMENTS: This level is an odd bag of extreme creativity and weird execution! Makes it hard to judge man. While I was a bit annoyed about the unpredictability and lack of indication of a bunch of obstacles (to name one, in the final magikoopa's magic run, there's no real indication that the magic goes through those specific blocks), and the arbitrary solution to some (leaving yoshi to hit the blocks and get through the bridge with the turn blocks blocking my way, as the wizard will never hit them while I'm riding; having to L-scroll in the beginning of the second half so the wizard will not destroy the blocks being eaten; having to respawn the gray platforms also felt a bit arbitrary)... I was also super impressed by how cleverly used the magikoopa was! I really love the final boss. It's a gimmick I have never seen used in so neat ways before, but sadly, it has been executed better. THEME: Castle ================================================= MandL27 DESIGN: 11/30 CREATIVITY: 8/20 AESTHETICS: 7/10 TOTAL: 26/60 COMMENTS: This level "happens". It sets its themes kind of vaguely and doesn't really go anywhere with them, making for a bland level that also ends really abruptly! Also, I think the placement of dragon coins 2 and 3 are rather annoying to find (a random pipe with a plant coming out and a walk-through pipe, respectively). THEME: Castle, Sky ================================================= Dive Missile DESIGN: 8/30 CREATIVITY: 12/20 AESTHETICS: 5/10 TOTAL: 25/60 COMMENTS: This level's idea seemed rather promising the moment I saw the water rise and slow me down, but the level does nothing other than that! It seems to focus on the water states and time them well with the pace of the level, but there barely are any enemies and it takes very little effort to beat the level. I could mention the midpoint is unbalanced, but overall the level is also extremely short. Could've had waay more of this!! THEME: Cave, Fire, Water ================================================= J.T.W. DESIGN: 6/30 CREATIVITY: 7/20 AESTHETICS: 4/10 TOTAL: 17/60 COMMENTS: First of all, the wrong sprite tileset. Why and how? Secondly, this is a 2-minute lasting item babysitting action, basically. Not really a level that's interesting to play D: THEME: Cave ================================================= Reggiamoto DESIGN: 19/30 CREATIVITY: 12/20 AESTHETICS: 9/10 TOTAL: 40/60 COMMENTS: A little, simple, pleasant level~ It uses a big lot of gimmicks and doesn't really use them other than in simple ways, but they sometimes make for interesting setups, even though sometimes they feel out of place in a proper difficulty curve. There's also some setups that felt odd and out of place, like the midpoint placement... overall, a nice "romp" with sparks of creativity. The first dragon coin "puzzle" is really interesting, although it's not too hard to screw it up because of camera shenaningans. THEME: Grass ================================================= S.N.N. DESIGN: 27/30 CREATIVITY: 19/20 AESTHETICS: 8/10 TOTAL: 54/60 COMMENTS: This level is so interesting! I was a bit keen with how losing the yoshi means death at first, but the stage actually takes that into consideration and won't let you lose your yoshi easily. The secret exit path was SUPER creative and worked very well for something optional. THEME: Beach, Dark, Mountain ================================================= Wakana DESIGN: 19/30 CREATIVITY: 16/20 AESTHETICS: 7/10 TOTAL: 42/60 COMMENTS: Wow... this level looks BUSY! I bet you feel just as lost in a real casino, but when you have to dodge little projectiles like the volcano lotus fire or see the little sneaky mole sand where they pop out from, it becomes kind of a problem! This level has some really interesting execution of a "gambling" and "casino fun" area in a Mario level, but that goes in the middle of many basic platforming setups, many times involving going back and forth with items essentially, and also some setups that feel out of place! Much like the disco shell hopping in the second half, which suddenly turns this into a level for more experienced players. I think you could've put more effort in being creative and make up more "gambling" ideas to fill up the level instead. Now that would've been neat. I also really like how I turn off the casino to get to the secret exit, but again, there's nothing special about the design of that area either, per se. THEME: Building ================================================= chineesmw DESIGN: 17/30 CREATIVITY: 15/20 AESTHETICS: 6/10 TOTAL: 39/60 COMMENTS: While visually cluttered and disorganized (what's with those tree pieces floating around? They look like clouds but there's berries in them lol), this has rather neat ideas! I especially like the pipes where ninjis come out of, as goofy as it looks since I can see them in the pipe's sides :p Sometimes the ninjis act a little odd, but I understand some sprites don't care much about where they're facing to and such. But well, weren't it for all the sprite replacements, I feel this level doesn't do too much in design. It's a "romp" with a lot of gimmicks that only make sense together due to the sprite replacements. THEME: Forest ================================================= NGB DESIGN: 26/30 CREATIVITY: 17/20 AESTHETICS: 10/10 TOTAL: 53/60 COMMENTS: What an amazing level! You executed the ideas you had extremely well, especially the spacial asteroid dodging action which was super interesting. Overall, this is a rather basic action and hurdle-dodging level all things considered, but the flavor made it a really fun, outstanding-for-what-it-is experience. Great work. THEME: Space ================================================= yogui DESIGN: 20/30 CREATIVITY: 16/20 AESTHETICS: 7/10 TOTAL: 43/60 COMMENTS: A rather simple level with some really neat ideas. I really dig the falling coconuts, the air bubbles in the cave and also the peach temple thingy at the end, super cool! But ultimately I feel this level did not take as much benefit from the ideas it used as it could. It's still pretty fun and solid, though! Also really, the outer sections could really use a background, especially the sunset version :| Just a random idea (that prolly would've taken too much effort), but I could see a half-hills, half-underwater BG working greatly in there~ THEME: Beach ================================================= PokerFace DESIGN: 14/30 CREATIVITY: 11/20 AESTHETICS: 8/10 TOTAL: 33/60 COMMENTS: This level looks really interesting around the beginning where it transits from an open area to an inner part of the temple - why did you just do that once in the level! D: I'm not a big fan of the level overall otherwise, as it looks really busy and the gameplay is really cramped (tight corridors with pretty spacey enemies, also the reappearing ghosts room definitely doesn't help). Sprites behind priority also turned out to be a problem in a few areas. It's also unfortunate how, for all the potential it had, it's just a "romp" - doesn't do anything inovative :c THEME: Castle, Forest, Water ================================================= nick 139 DESIGN: 19/30 CREATIVITY: 13/20 AESTHETICS: 8/10 TOTAL: 40/60 COMMENTS: You're welcome! This level basically does the basic but well crafted setups with layer 2. I like the variety of enemies presented. The section with the spikes above and below is a bit of a difficulty jump, but its fair placement (right before the midpoint) sort of makes up for it. I like the aesthetics, but I kinda wish the color transition was smooth! THEME: Abstract, Castle ================================================= Ruberjig DESIGN: 20/30 CREATIVITY: 14/20 AESTHETICS: 8/10 TOTAL: 42/60 COMMENTS: I like this level, even though I think it does some weird decisions, like the pipe that takes me to the third dragon coin as it makes me miss the second!? It's essentially a linear level, but I like how the second half is unlinearly constructed - part of me wishes this level involved a bit more of thinking and puzzles, because I really like levels that get revealed with a P-switch like this, but for a level like that this was really straight-forward! But overall, this was a fairly satisfying experience. THEME: Cave, Dark ================================================= imamelia DESIGN: 14/30 CREATIVITY: 11/20 AESTHETICS: 7/10 TOTAL: 32/60 COMMENTS: This level could've done more than it did! It doesn't have a primary focus and kind of randomly throws gimmicks at you. The second room was a bit better on that since it focuses on platforming (I super dig the propellers btw) but it's also the one that does interesting things the less. What I would reccomend is the usage of all the gimmicks you had in a more consistent, cohesive and progressive way, rather than they all being scattered in the first and third rooms of the level. I think it could've extended for a bit more, too, so you'd have more room to do more interesting things! Yeah, not a bad level, but it doesn't really feel like it goes anywhere. Though I can appreciate the "sky-ward" progression, at least. THEME: Castle, Sky ================================================= Time for the final babes Zyglrox Odyssey DESIGN: 9/30 CREATIVITY: 11/20 AESTHETICS: 7/10 TOTAL: 27/60 COMMENTS: This is the most frowned upon level of this contest for a reason. Would you have allowed more leeway for the player, this would've been a way more "accessible" level. However, if you are an experienced player and have some spare time, this is actually pretty fun to do legit. Of course, it's gonna be a trainwreck otherwise. The dragon coins and the secret exit seem like they are one level up in difficulty (I didn't do them), but I can appreciate how the difficulty of the main path flows consistently. The switches seem like they help a lot, but I didn't try activating them. I'm not gonna criticize you further, because it is a good level under circumstances that are probably not suitable for the VLDC, but I'm pretty sure this was your goal and you managed to achieve it! THEME: Cave, Fire ================================================= Oh boy Lazy DESIGN: 4/30 CREATIVITY: 20/20 AESTHETICS: 7/10 TOTAL: 31/60 COMMENTS: This level's most obvious problem is that it's either twice or thrice the length it should be, or it needed at least three or four more midpoints (considering the creativity of the level in general, I'm sure you'd be able to pull that off). It's EXTREMELY clever in general, and the minigames are super interesting, and to an extent, fun (the first and last two minigames were super finicky though). The level portions, however, do not correspond to the length of the level and the amount of content that has to be redone if you die on them. This goes especially to the areas after the minigames. I think they are well designed, but many obstacles felt as they were the "die to learn" type (too little reaction/thinking time), which as you could guess, does not help to reduce the stress in the slightest! And for the grand finale, I discover that the moon actually belongs to Switzerland. Good. THEME: Abstract, Cave, Mountain