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Dear leaders

Hey.

If you're not serious about running this project, then let's call it quits now. There are so many levels here that are going without comments, and as leaders, you guys don't have much else to do besides actually -accept- finished levels. Anyone can do that. You should also be spending time testing, helping out, etc. Half of the reason why I haven't bothered continuing my own level is because of the lack of activity that you guys are displaying. You guys had a high level of interest for this back when it started, but very little has actually been done.

Rally testers, test the levels yourselves, do something. I'm not here to make a public shaming of either of you, but rather I want you to either step up your game or call it quits now. I've already made a comment on IRC a while ago but it seems like that wasn't enough, so I have to resort to this.

Thanks.
Yup, this is the unfortunate reason why Phantoms on the Horizon has not been completed and instead I submitted a somewhat rush job second half level that still has received no criticism which I know it needs.

I will start testing again once it is confirmed this project is still on.
Your layout has been removed.
I also can test levels as well and will do video responses as long as I know the project leader are willing to that lead again.
~~~Septentrion Signature Space~~~
I'm aware that I haven't been active with the project lately, but it's been pretty much impossible for me lately to do anything useful with the workload I've been getting from high school. My school year is over in two weeks, and after that, I will be able to commit some serious time to SMWCX, considering how little I generally do over the summer. I haven't been able to get into contact much with NoelYoshi but I know he's been gathering some people to test levels on Skype. We were planning on doing a Skype call and masstesting levels, but I've been incredibly busy with school and he's been going through some issues in his own life, so that hasn't happened yet.

But yeah, I'm sorry but it's unlikely that I'll be remotely useful here for the next two weeks. I have absolutely no intention of calling it quits, however. The best guarantee that I can offer you is that, once school is over in two weeks, I will be very active here.
^ I expect so. As I said, you two were very eager to start this, and I put my trust in both of you to act as the face of the community when it comes to SMBX. I am sincerely hoping to see some increased activity from both of you once school is done then.

In the meantime, I'm hoping the people who have jumped aboard to test will continue to do so.
I noticed a lot of ambition and excitement earlier in the project, and that sort of thing is essential. If you're excited, other people will be. If you're not, likewise, no one will be.

I understand that it can be difficult to balance school and hobbies. Obviously, real-life priorities take front line, but if you're a leader, it requires that effort to be put forth even in small amounts (you don't have to kill yourself making thirty levels a day, a level review a day is more than enough to show and demonstrate your interest in helping the project prosper). If that isn't there, the rest of the project is going to fall apart at the seams. You can't really afford that, because once that youthful excitement is gone, and people begin leaving, that interest is GONE, and virtually nothing you do will get it back.

That said, it kind of worries me that eXcavator is the only leader to reply to this. The others really need to post too, and, most importantly, KEEP PEOPLE UPDATED so they don't think the project is done for.

What I'd advise is evaluating your schedules and assert honestly whether you'll be able to fit this into it or not. If you can't, you know what? You can't! There's no shame in being busy and not having the time to contribute. But say so. If we can't do this now, maybe we can try this sort of thing again later. And that's fine. But you guys are going to have to decide that for yourselves, and,
Din's post really sums it up, honestly, and it's true for any project - not just this one. Once the initial spark is gone, you can't really reignite it. Look at SMWCP2, for instance - we managed to pump out the entire hack's worth of levels in about 8 months or so because I was able to consistently update things, but as soon as school took over and I couldn't update as often, things slowed to a crawl. That being said, when I -did- update, things sped up again. The same thing is happening here - once you guys (leaders) show that you've done some administrative duties and done your part, you'll help the interest in this project stay strong. As it stands though, the level designers present seem to be totally demotivated due to the lack of testing.
Originally posted by Din
I understand that it can be difficult to balance school and hobbies. Obviously, real-life priorities take front line, but if you're a leader, it requires that effort to be put forth even in small amounts (you don't have to kill yourself making thirty levels a day, a level review a day is more than enough to show and demonstrate your interest in helping the project prosper). If that isn't there, the rest of the project is going to fall apart at the seams. You can't really afford that, because once that youthful excitement is gone, and people begin leaving, that interest is GONE, and virtually nothing you do will get it back.


I have said it before, and I will say it again: leadership positions are very attractive to look at, and there are times when people reach for them without realising that they can't handle their responsibilities--currently or in the future. People gun for leadership positions, but, when they have them, they suddenly have a ton of schoolwork or real-life work or other things to do. It's sometimes just a coincidence, but not always.

That said, I do have to say that this project progressed much farther than I thought it would. I've seen a few site side-projects appear and disappear only a few days later (hey, SNN, remember SMW 8-bit?), but this one has done extremely well, all things considered. If people start picking up the slack over the summer--notably the leaders--then I see very good things for this project.

There is a chance that I may want to take a leadership role with music later in this project, by the way. Once more levels are done, I'd like to take a look at them and make sure their music is fitting.
I agree with pretty much everything that's been said here, and right now what I'm personally planning on doing is making sure this gets finished over the summer, so that there's no need to deal with school getting in the way again (for most people, anyway). Once again, I have not lost interest in this, and I do not believe that NoelYoshi or ShadowPhoenix have either.
im not actually a leader

I was judging levels and I had done a good amount, but they were on my laptop and it crashed the screen when it falled on the floor, big fault from me, not to mention the big delay on the project, my apologies for this.

I'm going to judge entries again and after that, test more levels too.