Language…
8 users online: DinoMom, Firstnamebutt, masl, Odinstafel, pnaha, qantuum,  Ringo, tOaO - Guests: 252 - Bots: 436
Users: 64,795 (2,378 active)
Latest user: mathew

Questionable Level Design Contest 2021 - Feedback

QLDC

We want to hear from you!



If you have anything to say about how the contest went, the new format, the awards, judging, etc. feel free to drop your thoughts and feelings in this thread.
I said this once on discord: We need more wacky contests like this. Or contest with a vague theme, like questionable. It really gave the creators a lot of wiggle room, and it led to many unique entries, since everyone interpreted the word "questionable" differently.
Lots of unique and cool entries with non-conventional gimmicks.
As for the first thing I said.. more wacky contests.. again, becase of the unique levels/hacks we would get. It's also really fun! It was fun! I didn't partake in that many contests, but I can say with certainty that this was a unique experience.

Wow, how many times have I said "unique"..? .-.

Anyway. It was fun, so I really hope more of this kind of contest happens again!
Thanks, Amper, for hosting this! #smw{^_^}
Definitely agreeing with Donut, a contest with vague theme(s) are interesting to work with considering everyone has a different, but similar idea as to how a level should look with said theme.

The lack of actual scores is also an interesting twist, and honestly, I like this kind of system.
No need to beat yourself down for getting a low ranking place (even though you shouldn't worry about that in the first place, but still).

The additions of the "Distinction" trophies / QORBs is a great way to honor entries that stand out, but otherwise wouldn't be in the top three. Although I like their usage in this contest, I feel like they should've been slightly toned down, since giving too many of them wouldn't result in "Distinction" but more in, like, a second participation trophy, which isn't really the goal of such trophy.

Otherwise I have nothing much to add other than praise, this was by far the most fun contest I have participated in. The fact that we could also see judges playing these levels and enjoying them live on their twitch channels is one of the highlights of this contest, for me personally.
This contest was also a great way to experiment with stuff you otherwise wouldn't, like crazy, over the top story lines, memes, full on comedic acts and even the occasional funny gimmick.
Definitely would just this kind of contest again in the future. Who knows? Maybe Fishe will return with another journey... We'll see.

Anyway, as always, Huge thanks for hosting this contest, Amper, and a huge thanks to judges for judging such awesome entries, as well as the entrants for making them!
See ya next time! #smrpg{<3}
This was definitely an absolute ton of fun as a bystander- it made for some incredibly entertaining content to watch in the judges (and other assorted players) coming face to face with these levels' Questionability - I'm so glad you enjoyed doing this Amper, because I would LOVE to see another one next year.

I adore the judging system and the assortment of interesting trophies, as well as the level pack making it easier to engage with the levels created. I also adore the levels people threw together for this.

All around, well done everyone! Massive thanks to the judges, to the creators, to Amper and anyone else involved in keeping things running behind the scenes!
I really liked this contest and I want to thank Amper and the judges for making it possible. I loved the ambiguity because it led to a lot of different and unexpected entries.

I'm happy to see qualitative judging is a thing now and I hope it can be applied to other contests in the future.

Regarding feedback, all I can say is I think a few people might have interpreted "Questionable" as just "really hard", and I just hope this won't become a trend for similar contests in the future. This isn't to say there shouldn't be hard or even very hard levels (my level can also be considered hard) because a lot of the harder levels were really creative and questionable beyond just their difficulty. I just think, if the only questionable part of a level is its difficulty, then it’s not really questionable, just a regular hard level. Maybe a clarification on this could help.

Thankfully the above doesn't apply to most of the entries, and as I said, other than that, this was a really awesome contests with really awesome entries. I'm totally looking forward to participate in QLDC2.
Conceptually, this contest was a great idea. Really, I think the main issue was how the "questionable" theme was presented: it was hard to tell if this was supposed to be a sequel to the Bad Level Design Contest or not (which is one of the main reasons I didn't participate in it apart from just not having any ideas). That said, I think that issue will be worked out in QLDC 2, whenever that happens. I also agree that there are probably too many Haimari Balls; I personally wouldn't have given out more than 5 or so, but that's just me. Overall though, good contest. I'll try my best to actually participate next time :P
Check out my WIP romhack!
Here's my subjective feedback:

+ The lack of scores is good since the design variety is too wild.
+ Special awards encourages people to get creative.
+ Anonymous entries


Improvments:
- All RTA-viable design style (kaizo, puzzle, ...) should be allowed.
- Confusion between making:
|-A good level made of bad/risky/unusual decisions.
|-A level which is hard to judge if it's good or bad without being mediocre.


Overall: Excellent contest, GJ everyone #tb{:j}
My 1st romhack in progress (testing avaiable)...
(beta)

QLDC