The Results of the First Questionable Level Design Contest!
After a questionable timeline, we’ve finally made it! I would like to thank everyone for their phenomenal turnout for this event and the astoundingly high quality of entries across the board. It has been a great debut for a brand new and experimental contest here at SMW Central.
Now before you keep scrolling past all this preamble to the results, I want to show some words of appreciation for our judges for this contest: authorblues, Kezcade, shovda, and ThirdWall. In addition to playing and judging an astounding 80+ entries they have put in some great work to give all entrants the feedback they deserve and make this contest a constructive experience. Additionally, they did the important work of setting expectations and developing a foundation for future QLDC events.
I also want to give a special thanks to rezephae, who needed to step down from judging due to other commitments. Without her original idea for a “cursed” level design contest (which became the “Bad Level Design Contest” of 2020) then the ground work for event would not exist.
Gimme The Results
Alright, it's results time. But before we get into them, I would like to remind everyone that these results are not score based and trophies were awarded in a qualitative way and through consensus of our four remaining judges. Without further ado:
The winners!
But wait there’s more! There were many extraordinary and notable entries that impressed (or horrified) our judges, so in recognition of their creativity each and every one of the following creators is earning a shiny Questionable Orb of Questionableness (patent pending) for creating some truly special experiences for this contest.
Judge Comments
If you would like to see the detailed notes the judges gave on each entry you can view the following spreadsheet that has a breakdown by judge and by level:
Judges Comments →
Disqualifications & Exclusions
Unfortunately, we have had to disqualify or exclude a number of entries from this contest for a variety of reasons, again these were also determined by consensus.
The following levels were determined to have made an effort to engage with the contest in good faith but there were other circumstances that made it impossible to judge effectively--their authors will still get awards for participation.
The following levels either broke contest or site rules, did not meet minimum expectations for quality or effort for a contest of this scope, or were broken in ways that made them impossibly to judge, and have been determined to be unsuitable for this contest as submitted and disqualified
I would also like to take this moment to emphasize that in several of these cases disqualification is not meant as a punitive action, it is to give you the opportunity to put your best foot forward next time. In a lengthy contest like this one it is important to use all available time and resources effectively.
Also I would like to remind would-be contest entrants that tool assistance (savestates and the like) is a resource the judges have at their disposal to aid in their completion of levels and should not be expected to be required or needed extensively to complete your entry.
The QLDC Level Pack!
We’re doing something new to go along with these results! Since there were so many levels worth experiencing from this contest (aside from the award winners), we are releasing a pack of all the levels with updates from some creators, and we encourage people play or try them out! However, if the award winners are the only ones you are interested in playing, this pack includes a very easy way to patch just those.
Level Pack →
This pack and all of the level patches will be maintained here with updated or fixed versions provided by the original authors, so you can play their levels as intended.
Tell Us What You Thought
Since this contest was the first of its kind, we would to hear from you about what you thought of this event, good and otherwise, so we can improve it next time.
Feedback Thread →
Thank you all for a great event, see you next time.
After a questionable timeline, we’ve finally made it! I would like to thank everyone for their phenomenal turnout for this event and the astoundingly high quality of entries across the board. It has been a great debut for a brand new and experimental contest here at SMW Central.
Now before you keep scrolling past all this preamble to the results, I want to show some words of appreciation for our judges for this contest: authorblues, Kezcade, shovda, and ThirdWall. In addition to playing and judging an astounding 80+ entries they have put in some great work to give all entrants the feedback they deserve and make this contest a constructive experience. Additionally, they did the important work of setting expectations and developing a foundation for future QLDC events.
I also want to give a special thanks to rezephae, who needed to step down from judging due to other commitments. Without her original idea for a “cursed” level design contest (which became the “Bad Level Design Contest” of 2020) then the ground work for event would not exist.
Gimme The Results
Alright, it's results time. But before we get into them, I would like to remind everyone that these results are not score based and trophies were awarded in a qualitative way and through consensus of our four remaining judges. Without further ado:
The winners!
But wait there’s more! There were many extraordinary and notable entries that impressed (or horrified) our judges, so in recognition of their creativity each and every one of the following creators is earning a shiny Questionable Orb of Questionableness (patent pending) for creating some truly special experiences for this contest.
Earning some questionable distinctions in this year's QLDC are:
We would like to thank everyone for their participation in this first ever QLDC and of course you will receive the participation trophy!
And our dear judges will all be receiving this trophy for generously donating their time and effort to this contest!
Judge Comments
If you would like to see the detailed notes the judges gave on each entry you can view the following spreadsheet that has a breakdown by judge and by level:
Judges Comments →
Disqualifications & Exclusions
Unfortunately, we have had to disqualify or exclude a number of entries from this contest for a variety of reasons, again these were also determined by consensus.
The following levels were determined to have made an effort to engage with the contest in good faith but there were other circumstances that made it impossible to judge effectively--their authors will still get awards for participation.
The following levels either broke contest or site rules, did not meet minimum expectations for quality or effort for a contest of this scope, or were broken in ways that made them impossibly to judge, and have been determined to be unsuitable for this contest as submitted and disqualified
I would also like to take this moment to emphasize that in several of these cases disqualification is not meant as a punitive action, it is to give you the opportunity to put your best foot forward next time. In a lengthy contest like this one it is important to use all available time and resources effectively.
Also I would like to remind would-be contest entrants that tool assistance (savestates and the like) is a resource the judges have at their disposal to aid in their completion of levels and should not be expected to be required or needed extensively to complete your entry.
The QLDC Level Pack!
We’re doing something new to go along with these results! Since there were so many levels worth experiencing from this contest (aside from the award winners), we are releasing a pack of all the levels with updates from some creators, and we encourage people play or try them out! However, if the award winners are the only ones you are interested in playing, this pack includes a very easy way to patch just those.
Level Pack →
This pack and all of the level patches will be maintained here with updated or fixed versions provided by the original authors, so you can play their levels as intended.
Tell Us What You Thought
Since this contest was the first of its kind, we would to hear from you about what you thought of this event, good and otherwise, so we can improve it next time.
Feedback Thread →
Thank you all for a great event, see you next time.