On the topic of the 501 seconds disqualification, i'd say the key word here is consistency. The rules have been defined, and the judges should make sure to follow them as they are, and if a level breaks them, it should get punished.
No matter if it's a joke, it's still breaking the rules, and being "innocent" is no excuse either, as the rules were made to be followed, and if the judges would start making one exception for an "innocent" joke, there wouldn't be anything stopping other people to come up with more excuses to break the rules even further.
Also, the rule clearly states to "Not make your level's timer higher than 500 seconds", even if the level can be completed in less timee. This was the most discussed rule of this contest, so it should've been clear for everyone.
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Now, i wanted to comment a few stuff i didn't get to coment before as i had to go off to college, so i'll do it now.
First of all, i'd like to say that the judges' reviews were fair and well made, and i do agree with most of their comments about my level.
There are, however, a few that i didn't fully understand or agree with, and i'll quickly comment on a few of them. Note that i'm not doing this to sound rude or ungrateful, or to say that it should've been different, these are mostly just a few questions and comments i have on their feedback.
Originally posted by FPzeroSo I have no idea how you accomplished basically any of the gimmicks in this level but I am impressed. I'd better go try and understand what I just played through. (I went to go check at this point) Oh wow, THAT is clever manipulation of sprite limits. Really interesting that you can overload the level with sprites and cause everything else in the sublevel to despawn. That's some super technical creativity.
This is the first thing that called my attention on FP's review (as it's the first thing that's written there lol).
The fact is the review dedicates a whole paragraph to talk about creativity and how the level was completely impressive in that matter (and in fact, it's the one review that talks the most about creativity), yet this was my lowest score in creativity =P
Like, i don't mean i'm not satisfied with the score or that i think it's not fair, as i noticed FP is pretty picky with creativity scores, and 24 is already a pretty high one! But if i'm being totally honest here, i did expect to get some higher scores, and i'm saying this mostly because that's what i heard from pretty much everyone who played my level ever since the contest started, including the 2 Fan-Judges who gave it a 30/30 and said it was "an example of creativity at it's fullest" or that they've "never seen such a creative level".
But i'm not writing this to say i don't agree with the score, or that i preffer other people's opinions. But rather, i just wanted to know, what was my level lacking in creativity that made it lose a few points? I'm asking this out of genuine curiosity, and i don't mean to disagree with your opinion, i just want to know what's your opinion on the creativity category as a whole, as i kinda have my own definition of what i consider a full example of creativity (which is what i used to give 30/30 scores in my Fan-Judge thread, even though i know i was a bit too generous), and that's what i used to try and make my level to shot heavily for the creativity category. So i'm just wondering what is your opinion on it, and what you think my level was missing, or what could've been improved in that matter. (Also, if the other 3 judges wanted to answer this question as well, it would be much appreciated!)
Originally posted by RyaaThe setbacks I did have mainly involved the Boss and the long sets of 1 coin blocks that gave you nothing productive when hitting them. The Boss itself does utilize the second half of the gimmick, though it would have been cool (if possible) to include usage of the first half of the gimmick set.
Well, the coin blocks weren't really meant to be anything other than the simple coins/coin blocks scattered around every Mario level in existence. They're just the kind of standard collectible every level has, and i don't think any of these were ever meant to be productive. That's a kind of a weird nitpick to comment, but it's ok xD
As for the boss, i don't exactly get what you mean, the boss does utilize both gimmicks of the level! It was the way i found to end it by combining the two gimmicks i developed throughout the level: the first, the sprite limit cap, was used in the boss fight to allow just the Boo and the Koopa to spawn, leaving the Keys out, and the second, the sprite loop gimmick, was used to make the Keys instantly spawn when the Koopas are killed.
Originally posted by FrozenQuillsHowever, while the enemy despawning trick and enemy puzzles are cool, it's really not much different than entering a different room or just having a differently arranged set of obstacles.
I'd just say that this comparation isn't exactly fair. I mean, doing things like this by using two different levels has been done a million times before, even vanilla SMW does that.
The whole catch with my level was finding a way to do it without utilizing two rooms! Having everything happen in the same room, without having to use a screen exit, reset door or anything! That was the whole uniqueness of the way this gimmmick works!
And i don't think it's fair to just throw that uniqueness out and say it's similar to the "easy way" that everyone has done before.
I hope i'm not sounding rude with this, as it's really not my intention, and i did like your review! It's just that, as i said, i don't feel it's a fair comparation.
Originally posted by MorselThe level begins with a VLDC11 staple: an opening area with peculiar decorations. The switch seems like it must work by magic. Let me scroll the screen to the left so I can see the enemy vanish before my very eyes---the enemy stays where he is. A magician never explains his tricks. (Of course you can just ignore the switch and go above it to its horizontal position or scroll right some way before it.)
Gotta love how Morsel starts his review by utterly breaking the only unnavoidable technical limitation of my level: screen scrolling! xD
Originally posted by RyaaThere is nothing in the boss as it is now that feels truly challenging or memorable.
Originally posted by FrozenQuillsThe boss was a bit of a let down however. You basically just do the same thing 3 times. There's also lag, probably due to how the key spawning works.
Originally posted by MorselThe boss fight is an interesting concept, but it is rather repetitive, and there is not much to killing three blue koopas.
I get that the boss was a little underwhelming gameplay-wise, as there isn't really much i could have done. By using both gimmicks combined, i was unable to work with sprites (because of the sprite limit) and with Layer 2 (as it was needed to make the Keys fall), so the only thing i could work with was Layer 1, and i've been told before that using spikes isn't a way to make a boss more challenging, but just more annoying.
Also, about it being repetitive, i don't know what i could've done to change that, the Key spawning setups had to be a single setup, otherwise the sprite limit wouldn't work.
I'd just say i'm rather disappointed none of the judges mentioned the mechanics used in the boss, by combining both gimmicks into one single setup for spawning the Keys instantly after killing the Koopas. Though that's mostly because the boss took me the longest to actually find something that would work while utilizing the gimmicks previously seen in the level, and i was really happy when i managed to combine both of them into one setup!
But well, i do understand the criticism about it being uninteresting from a gameplay perspective, and it being rather repetitive.
Also, a little weird FrozenQuills mentioned lag, since he said he was playing on Snes9x, and the level didn't lag for me in Snes9x. (Though it does on ZMZ)
Originally posted by FPzeroThe level looked and sounded pretty basic, but I liked the little animated "candles". They were a cute touch.
Originally posted by RyaaOne thing that really caught my eye in terms of aesthetics are the candle flames and spiders hanging from webs in some sections. I have never seen someone use escalators in such an unexpected way so when I first saw them I was like "No way."
Also, thank you guys for the comments on aesthetics! I'm glad you liked the candles!
Welp, i guess i can't make a post without writing a book lol.
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