Originally posted by GbreezeSunsetWell if you aren't exactly expecting great levels, maybe you won't be dissapointed. I mean, by all means, vldcx won't be 'terrible'. But some people are expecting this one to be different for some reason. It's not better by much. Some designers improved drastically lol. Lazy, frozenquills, and ft029's levels are absolutely incredible, but I'm also a guy who loves really hard vip styled garbage lol.
If you are thinking that every level is gonna suck, that's not the issue. I don't think people really understood what happened with vldcx. Because of multiple facors, such as raocow and other player's LP's, the popularity of vldc9 and especially its overworld, the popularity of smwc after mario maker and a recent surge in hacking interest, and other things, a lot of new designers tried making a level for vldcx. The "usuals" here at smwc always make a level, so notable and frequent hackers here didn't contribute to the rise in the number of entries, and in case you didn't realize, 180 is super unusual for this contest. What we got was around the same number of really solid entried as last year, with admittedly an increase in quality, and a huge increase in the number of so-so entries. Really, the problem is that great designers rarely materialize out of thin air. Yes, they do come around every so often, but most of the time, new users make.. well.. average levels. Now normally an average level is fine, especially when there were only 50 or so in vldc9. Now there is at least 100 entirely average and boring levels. Sounds like a lot of fun to play through right? So regardless of the 30 super awesome levels and 50 hilariously bad ones, the 100 boring levels make judging and playing through the entire contest an absolute chore. I hope you can see now where the "vldcx sucks" meme originated.
e: and I completely agree with you about a beginner's level to be charming. Now play it 100 times... not so charming anymore
I expect
some great levels, and doing my research I know the VLDC collabs have a thing called the Best World. So I would hope that is where I would to get my fix of those.
My expectations are mixed, but I'd say I'm cautiously optimistic about this VLDC. I'll admit 180 levels sounds like a lot, but from what I've gathered, in the the past VLDCs you could roam freely on the map and play whichever levels you felt like. So realistically the player doesn't have to play any levels they deem not enjoyable.
There's more activity this year, personally I find that acceptable. Mainly because it expands the size of potential SMW hackers who could eventually contribute amazing things. I get that some of them will only make a level for this contest then disappear, which sucks. But getting some new SMW hackers on-board makes it worth it. It's good for the growth of this community.
I do however understand how horrendous it would be to judge. I imagine that was the case with every VLDC ever. The VLDC sounds like the sort of hack you would play in chunks rather than consistently, so I don't think the boring/beginners level will ever get unbearable.
Anyway, thanks for the insight!