Level list (feel free to use CTRL+F if you are looking for a particular level):
By the way, if you updated your entry, feel free to notify me in either this thread or Pyro's thread. Unfortunately, it's hard to notice an updated entry. I do plan replaying all levels after deadline, so that my scores will be comparable to actual judges' results (just to avoid complaints after results that I rated a particular great level low because it was completely different), but that will be too late for changing entries.
As a non judge who never judged, I decided to make non reviews of levels, because why not. It works about the same as Frost's judging thread in VLDC9, I suppose.
A new thing this time is a video of me playing this thing. Unfortunately, I had problems encoding videos (for some reason Snes9x 1.54.1 only encodes two frames for me), so all I have is videos that can be played with Snes9x 1.54.1. Still should be useful.
That's all for now, because there are no more entries.
- 1UPdudes - NET SO FAST
- 9th Zentillion - FORT EXANGUISH
- Aeon - CHURRASCADA
- cyphermur9t - Hydromagmatic Fort
- Falconpunch - Starlight Symphony
- GammaSlap - Creeple Steeple
- Gamma V - YOSHI'S ISLAND 1
- Herobrine81902 - Chocolate Tower
- Hobz - Methodical Madness
- IronFoxGaming - YOSHI'S ISLAND 1
- JeanOliveira - SPINY'S TREES
- jshaaa - TWINKLE TWINKLE...
- KDeee - Dangerous Mission
- LHB - VERY DANGER LIFTS v3
- Lsh0426 - BONUS SWITCH PALACE
- Luansilva12 - DOLPHIN BEACH v2
- M A R I O W O R L D - #1 LUDWIG'S DOMAIN
- Mathos - Stratus Stairway
- MonkeyShrapnel - Covert Volcano
- Morsel - SNAKES AND LADDERS
- msi810 - Mars Colonization
- nahuelescoba - YOSHI'S ISLAND 1
- palerider - GHOST TOWN
- PMH - AREA 51 v2
- PokerFace - Blazeholic
- Roberto zampari - DARK CLOUD CASTLE
- RZIBARA - FUZZY HEIGHTS
- SMWCJullasicFox - Fort Koopa
- snoruntpyro - Swiss Ruins
- Super Stiviboy - AESTHETIC LAND
- Superwario1999 - Swiss Springs
- superwiidude - water processing
- ThePat545 - Absolute Frenzy v2
- toad64 - Abstract Road
- Twoka - PERILOUS PAINTINGS
- Wind Fish - Bowel Relaxation
- worldpeace - Cerulean Cave
- yogui - ONE EFFORT MOUNTAIN
- yoshi9429 - Ruins of Grassland
By the way, if you updated your entry, feel free to notify me in either this thread or Pyro's thread. Unfortunately, it's hard to notice an updated entry. I do plan replaying all levels after deadline, so that my scores will be comparable to actual judges' results (just to avoid complaints after results that I rated a particular great level low because it was completely different), but that will be too late for changing entries.
As a non judge who never judged, I decided to make non reviews of levels, because why not. It works about the same as Frost's judging thread in VLDC9, I suppose.
A new thing this time is a video of me playing this thing. Unfortunately, I had problems encoding videos (for some reason Snes9x 1.54.1 only encodes two frames for me), so all I have is videos that can be played with Snes9x 1.54.1. Still should be useful.
yogui - ONE EFFORT MOUNTAIN | |
---|---|
Design and Execution: 40/50 Design Creativity and Aesthetic Creativity: 25/30 Aesthetics and Polish: 14/20 Overall: 79/100 Level video |
|
I HOPE I WINNNNNNN A bit more seriously, this level nicely used tile 1F0 (level title is actually a reference to 1F0, in event that level title is weird). There were entries in VLDC before that made varying uses of 1F0 such as fast line guides or sprite-only blocks. However, what this entry did was actually NOT hiding 1F0 as some other block, which allowed for various ideas about 1F0 to be experimented with. The level starts in a relatively safe environment with a warning shot in form of Paragoomba which bounces onto 1F8 blocks and never gets down (until reaching the end). This does inform the player about how 1F0 works on sprites momentum. Player trying to jump on Paragoomba won't be affected by 1F0. However, the player doesn't have to jump. If the player won't decide to jump, the first real encounter with 1F0 by means of player jumping into it is in a dangerous spot. Player may think that 1F0 does work on Mario, but that's not true and as a result may be surprised by falling through a platform. I think the section could be improved by putting munchers somewhere below Koopas to decrease penalty of a failed jump from death to loss of a mushroom. This is odd, because the section just after it has no penalty. Then there is a section where player can get stuck (the only real way to go forward is to die) if Mario spinjumps both of paragoombas. Not sure how could you go about fixing that issue, however. Obstacle with spinjump and Koopas is not clear. The spinjump vertical speed reset mechanic is rarely seen, and it's reasonable that the player may not be aware of it. The last Dragon Coin is very dangerous. It's easily feasible to die to it, which would require restart from Midway Point. It may be worth considering lowering the penalty for getting Dragon Coin, considering Dragon Coins are intended to be optional, to encourage player to get Dragon Coin without being punishing. Bouncing Chuck is somewhat surprising with how quickly it moves, barely giving player any time to react. Line guided part seems weirdly designed. It explicitly tells the player to press R, and demands player to follow coin guides that aren't all that useful. Overall, it seems like weakest part of a level. The level looks nice, but when goal point is hit, layer 3 is visible and doesn't fade. |
Luansilva12 - DOLPHIN BEACH | |
---|---|
Design and Execution: Design Creativity and Aesthetic Creativity: 17/30 Aesthetics and Polish: Overall: Level video Level video (version 2) |
|
Aesthetics, the level. So early in contest, and yet, this level looks pretty. That said, some of changes felt like done just for sake of change (in particular tides, it probably wouldn't have hurt to use regular water or underground tileset water). In terms of level design, it felt a bit random. None of obstacles was put with rest of level in mind (other than one instance of bouncing Koopas + Koopa at top of a platform). The dolphin platforms pretty much do nothing, considering there is safe area reducing penalty of those jumps to zero, making them meaningless. Bullet Bill shooters are easily hardest part of a level, but that's due to how they work (in this level, player needs to jump through their fire range), rather than having any interesting set up done with these. Dragon Coins are badly placed. I don't think it's possible to get them all in a ROM as provided, and in final ROM, they would require beating the level twice. I think a good way to deal with this problem to make the bonus room pipe not move Mario past Midway Point, but instead move player in area nearby that pipe, so that it's possible to collect all Dragon Coins if you follow that pipe. Update (v2): The update does change the point where secret room pipe exited from, so now you can get all Dragon Coins in a single run. However, it also did introduce a new issue. As it happens, where the exit pipe is, you can jump over the cliff and get stuck. Also, here is a similar issue that I missed while testing initial version. |
That's all for now, because there are no more entries.