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Questionable Level Design Contest 2021 - Results

QLDCResults

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.

Questionable Level Design Contest #1 (Summer 2021) - DistinctionEarning some questionable distinctions in this year's QLDC are:





Questionable Level Design Contest #1 (Summer 2021) - ParticipantWe would like to thank everyone for their participation in this first ever QLDC and of course you will receive the participation trophy!


Questionable Level Design Contest #1 (Summer 2021) - JudgeAnd 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.

First!

This was a really nice morning surprise. I woke up today and saw some people were congratulating me, at first, I was confused, then I remembered the QLDC results came today, so I assumed I either got 2nd or 3rd or a QORB. I definitely wasn't expecting first place.

This was a really fun contest; I played and saw a lot of levels I liked that broke all conventions in really creative ways. It's truly an honor to have been selected as the winner out of all these entries.

Now I have to think of something fresh for QLDC2, because I have to idea what to do right now.
I have to say there are so many good entries in this contest, but I never thought I'd get 3rd, wow.

Congrats to 1st and 2nd though, as well as everyone who got a qorb #smrpg{cool}
GG everyone
I make a mistake in my credits and didn't include the music. Sorry about that
Kui - Megalovania
HaruMKT - Gusty Garden Galaxy
I adored every aspect of this contest, even the endless discourse of in what point a level turns into kaizo or not, or the dispute of why they don't allow kaizo and viceversa. All the argue ended up making this contest something completely different and personally I felt really comfy with those aspects, blending two styles of designing a level, in a questionable way but suiting the rules of this very particular event.

There are a ton of cool entries and I think if every entry would had been scored there would be a lot of ties, and to be honest I didn't expect to have an award for not explaining anything lmao. So yeah, I'm a genius, I posted my feedback in the results thread, sorry for that Amper.

Congratulations to all the participants, and especially a big round of applauses to the podium.
I'll come back and review later, just wanted to say the holiday names are not ideal on mobile phone in the event of contest results, because I can't seem to review who is who, sorry if it is my ignorance.

I enjoyed reading judges' comments regarding my entry, and glad it gave one of them lots of fun. I'll try to come with something better next time, as it is true that especially my third part of the level was rushed and suffered lack of inspiration...

Anyway. Congratulations to my friends who earned distinctions. Very glad for Aja's victory, which to me is well deserved.
Originally posted by qantuum
I'll come back and review later, just wanted to say the holiday names are not ideal on mobile phone in the event of contest results, because I can't seem to review who is who, sorry if it is my ignorance.


Just as a heads up, if you want to disable them even if just temporarily there's an option in Edit Profile.

Woah I got the "Haha Gotcha Bro" Award, I will cherish it forever. <3

What a mindblowing cool contest, everyone made such great questionable levels I genuinely got a few laughs and wows while playing em!

Congrats to everyone! :)
Grats to the winners! Sadly missed out on this one, but looking forward to participating on the next iteration of this. Lots of cool entries all around, and I found the contest theme itself to be pretty fun to work with as well.
Well I tried. #smrpg{ohno}

unipat's entry was my favorite of the contest!

Overall QLDC was a succesful contest with a lot of "masterpieces", I'm looking forward for QLDC2. #w{<3}
My 1st romhack in progress (testing avaiable)...
(beta)
Congratulations to all participants., also this contest was sure something truly special. Glad that I got my Qorb, as well. The first place level kinda surprised but at the same time, it feels very appropriate. Colorful Confusion is quite ambitious and I like that. Congratulations to FrozenQuills and Stivi with their funny gimmicks as well.

And just a reminder, I've released stuff that I've used in QLDC (except for one background, which was badly optimized and eating tons of palette rows). I hope you can enjoy these graphics as well.


It was wonderful questionable experience!
Thanks for every participants and judges!


I'll confess that I certainly started creating my actual level questionably close to the deadline... so I'll try not to do that next time. But congratulations to all the winners and QORB acquirers! I'm glad to see a lot of your fun and bizarre entries get due recognition for their unique qualities. Definitely looking forward to next time we do this.
embed fail!!




QLDCResults