honk honk im tahixham. haha im british. Welcome to the Overworld Design Contest! This contest's premise is simple: make a funny little silly overworld. You know the rules! And, well, if you don't, you should check them out below:
Rules
• This is a Chocolate contest, so you may use any custom ASM, Graphics, Music, etc that you would like.
• You may work with a partner.
• Your submission must be anonymous. Don't add your name anywhere.
• You may not submit an overworld that was finished or worked on before the start of this contest. Please start fresh!
• You may not use MSU-1.
• Your entry must work on the most recent, stable versions of BSNES and SNES9x with zero modifications.
• You must have fun
Guidelines + Advice
• There are no restrictions on what you do, or don't do, with events. They're not required by any means, but if you feel you can do something cool with them, then go for it. If you do decide to use events, see about the Overworld Event Debugger below.
• You don't have to use level names, but can if you want to.
• You do not have to use all the submaps and the main map in your entry, but we encourage the ambition!
If you decide not to use events or level names, it won't negatively affect your score. However, if you do, their effectiveness will be judged alongside everything else.
Overworld Event Debugger
If you use events in your entry, we strongly suggest you include the ability to easily beat levels to see the events. Making the judges have to enter each level with a goal orb is Not the Tea.
A very easy to apply patch we encourage people to use is the Overworld Event Debugger patch, by Koopster. This patch makes it so pressing A/B/X/Y while on a level tile will enable the event, easy peasy! If you need additional help setting up the patch, you may ask over on our Discord at #overworld2022-showoff (not the discussion channel please, no spoilers there!).
Judging + Scoring
For this time around, the judges will be revealed from the get-go, but remember your entries must be anonymous, so please do not show your overworlds directly with these people! No spoilers! 🔪
Our judges this time around are Koopster, Major Flare, and Ringo.
Scoring is very much the same as last time, with two main categories. Below is a breakdown of their points value, and what will be considered in this category when judging.
General Design (40 Points)
• Functionality - Does the overworld work? Do the paths connect together? Does any placement of Switch Palaces, secret exits, bonuses, etc, make sense?
• Connectivity - Do the warps and worlds work well together? Is there a logical sense of progression?
• Events (if used) - Do they benefit the overworld created? Do they cause any substantial change to the elements of the overworld?
Aesthetics (60 Points)
• Visuals - Do the palettes work well together? Are decorations present and used well? Do the graphics used clash or fit well together?
• Shaping - Does the overworld look interesting? Does the terrain have varied and interesting shapes? Is there any cutoff?
• Atmosphere - Does the music used fit the world? Does the overworld accurately convey the emotion it sets out to (ie, does the Beach world make you feel like you're on a beach)? Do the decorations contribute to the atmosphere?
• Perspective - Does the overworld work as an actual space? Is the perspective of the terrain all harmonious?
• Level Names (if used) - Do they work towards the theme of the world?
Both categories will then be combined into a total of 100 points!
Prizes
Trophies are of course available to our winners and participants!
Submission Guidelines + Deadline
Please submit a BPS file in this thread by Wednesday, April 20th, 20:00 UTC. You can package your BPS file into a ZIP folder, if you wish. There is no need to include any additional files for your entry (such as a TXT file explaining your entry).
To make it easy, here's a handy little timer counting down towards the deadline:
If you want to make an update to your entry after submitting it, edit your existing post. Do not make a new post.
Remember, this thread is for submissions only! For discussion and questions on the contest, please use the discussion thread. We also have #overworld2022-discussion and #overworld2022-showoff on our Discord server for you, too!