Language…
10 users online: abhinavkrishna123,  Alex, CroNo, Green, Nirv, recam, Rykon-V73, signature_steve, Sweetdude, WouterBM - Guests: 94 - Bots: 268
Users: 64,667 (2,405 active)
Latest user: DarthHylian

(Closed!) (Rules + Submissions) 4th Annual SMWCentral Level Design Contest

Link Thread Closed

Other Contest/EventRules

The submission period is over! Judging will last until 4/6/2011.

Welcome back to the 4th Annual SMWCentral Level Design Contest. We're restarting the contest this year because things were getting out of hand and frankly, the contest was straying too far from its original roots. So I've decided that we should go back to them.

Before I start, if you submitted a level already to the other thread, your entry is now nullified because we're changing the rules and you will most likely need to redo your level.

You will have until March 6th at 11:59 EST to submit your level to make up for the 6 days this contest went on in its previous format.

So here are the new rules:

-You may only use Lunar Magic 1.82 or lower for your level.

That's it? Well, yes, that's it. This means you are not allowed to do/use the following:

-ExGFX
-ASM
-Patches
-Custom Blocks
-Custom Sprites
-External Tools
-Custom Music
-Hex Edits
-Lunar Magic's 8x8 editor to redraw graphics (This one has to be specifically disallowed because I know people will see "LM only" and think they can use this to edit graphics)

Let's be honest here, before 2006 or so, there was none of this stuff or if there was, it was very minor. And yet people were able to create fun and enjoyable hacks. In this age of custom everything, why can't we place limitations on ourselves and still create fun levels without all those things? I believe we can.

If you're turned off by the strict limitations imposed here and don't want to compete anymore, I'm sorry but that's how it will be. If you have to remake your level because of this, I'm also sorry, but that's how things are.

Inclusion of any of these in your level will result in immediate disqualification of your level when the judging period begins. I will not be notifying you this year if you included any of these. If you feel that I unjustly or accidentally disqualified your level, let me know by PM with your reasoning and I'll review your level to see if it should be allowed back into the running or not.

If you're worried about having points deducted for glitches and inconsistencies the original SMW included, don't worry. Since I'm disallowing Patches, judges shall not score down a level for something that cannot be fixed without a patch or hex edit. Unfortunately, this means you cannot use the Classic Piranha Plant since it requires tile and hex editing to make work correctly, sorry.

So if you're suddenly restricted to just LM, what CAN you do?

-You can use custom palettes
-You can use map16 manipulation
-You can use BG2 and BG3 in LM 1.7x and later to add more GFX (not ExGFX) files to a level.
-You can use Layer 1 and 2 for overlapping and pseudo-layering
-You can use the Exanimation dialog.

That's plenty of leeway for you to create levels. The first contest was like this for the most part and we had plenty of great submissions based around creative and fun levels.

Like last year, you are also not allowed the usage of more than 2 exits in a level due to exit abuse in previous years. If you use a switch palace in your level, it counts as one of your exits used. Max 2 exits.

You must include a midway point in your level unless for some reason your level is short enough that it does not need one. This also means that your level needs to be short enough where it doesn't take 5 minutes to reach the midway point without dying and 5 more to reach the end. Think original SMW levels or a little longer. The only case in which you can avoid using a midpoint is if you are using the "Midpoint collected" checkbox on the overworld.

To complement this, I am also instituting a 75 (4B) screen limit on submissions. This is to prevent "hacks-within-a-level" like we got plenty of last year. A screen that counts towards the limit is one that Mario interacts with. Having blank screens between areas does not count towards the limit. Cutscenes however, DO count. Instead of going into full showcase mode, you should be focusing on making on cohesive, thematic level, that uses creative level design and nice resource usage instead of length as the main attraction. You don't need hundreds of screens to make a decent level. Judges WILL be checking this and notifying me of any levels that break this rule.

So now that we know what you can and can't do let's get back into the rest of everything.

You may still partner up with one other person if you so wish.

The following list is a list of things that you can change that will not affect your overall score:

-Editing the Overworld
-Editing the Title Screen
-Editing the Intro and its message
-Adding and editing a Credits sequence if applicable

Judging will remain the same as in the other thread:

40-point scale:

Level Design (10 pts): How well is your level designed? Is it creative and interesting?
Appeal (10 pts): Are your palettes nice overall? Did you use SMW's resources in creative ways?
Functionality (10 pts): Does your level function properly, i.e., no glitches (an easy 10 if it does!)
Fun (10 pts): Is your level fun to play?

If you applied to be a judge, you do not need to resubmit your application. If you still want to judge, Download this .zip file and score the .ips file inside using the Scoring Application I've provided. Note: The level is from the 2008 contest and is definitely old and flawed by today's standards. Please judge it as you would a contest entry submitted this year. You have until February 8th to finish your application and PM me the .txt file.

When you're done with your level, upload it to your File Bin and post it in this thread. Do not post anything but submissions or revisions in this thread. If you are posting a level revision, please make a new post instead of editing your original post. Do NOT PM me your submissions, they will be ignored. Levels not submitted to the File Bin will not be counted because we cannot guarantee link stability if you are not using a link from your File Bin.

Any levels submitted after the March 6th deadline will not be accepted.

Do not use this thread for discussion purposes or you will be warned via PM and have your posts deleted.

Hopefully these changes will make this contest better and return it to its original purpose: Fun and creative level design.
Number of Submissions: 86

  1. Thehoundsquad: Journey
  2. Whoamme: Mario Lost Color 2
  3. patgangster: Firestorm Fortress
  4. Blind Devil: Misty Horizon
  5. Doownayr: Bronze Forest (V2)
  6. Roykirbs: Blueberry Way
  7. SomeGuy712x: Lines and Stuff (V5)
  8. horribleTASer1.1: Unnamed
  9. Sockbat Replica: Unnamed
  10. Ripperon-X: The Legendary 4 Statues (V3)
  11. abduel: Castle Zero
  12. RaindropDry: The Haunted Island (V2)
  13. KevKot: Switch Castle (new submission entirely)
  14. Giga: Unnamed
  15. Artsy3...: Fort of Confusion
  16. deedeedeechu: Purple Lake Ridge
  17. yogui: Perverted Creatures
  18. superwiidude: Ghosting Factory
  19. martin9172: Western Borders... (and Stuff!)
  20. Glitch.Mr: Forest Cave (V2)
  21. Lunar Rico: Party City
  22. Riolu180: Grinding Guides
  23. agie777: Chocolate-Dipped Vanilla (V2)
  24. Hyperme: Swamp Cabin
  25. Volke: Midnight Forest (V2)
  26. Rainbowslime: Dolph Isle 1-1
  27. Kicezand: Shallow Lake (V2)
  28. Lucas: Eclipse Ruins
  29. Zeldara109: Reznorland 1
  30. Phantor: Crazy Cliffside
  31. notgoodwithusernames: Burning in Hell -- For Noobs
  32. moltensnow: The Great Mole Hunt (V2)
  33. Diddy Kong: A Normal Day For Mario
  34. Limepie20/Argumentable: Stuck in a Rainbow (V2)
  35. Alice: Frigid Frenzy
  36. PotatoNinja: Gemstone Mines
  37. MalcolmBellman38: Tech Support vs. WWSPA 2: Journey for Altruism
  38. Blaze.128: Mario Takes a Walk (V2)
  39. paper mario world: A Level in an Island (V2)
  40. The Shady Nerd: Koopa Plains
  41. TheOtherGuy25: Dense Forest Area (V2)
  42. mariosyoshishade: Luigi's Revenge
  43. MarioFan22: A Generic Vanilla Level
  44. Caracc: Neapolitan Road
  45. Noobish Noobsicle: Bowser's Mine
  46. GeorgeVsSonic: Silent Shivers
  47. Mr ESC450: Siskart Hills
  48. GravityxHammah: Castle Escape!
  49. Forty2: An Aerial Anomaly
  50. aj6666: Skull Island
  51. miguel21450: Castle Hassle (V2)
  52. E-Man: Forested Field
  53. Mrgoomba909: Unnamed
  54. The Secret Exit: Vanilla Plains (V3)
  55. Darky: Desert Beach
  56. TomPhanto: Rainbow Fortress
  57. Chibikage89: Just A Level
  58. Master S: The Stroll... (V2)
  59. K3nny: Desert Discovery
  60. Pikerchu13: Gravity Castle (V2)
  61. Storm Kyleis: Fantasy
  62. IonDrako/K3fka: Unnamed
  63. Vic Rattlehead: Shining Moon Tourguide
  64. losoall: Losoall's Binary of LULZ
  65. neosaver: Sand Castle (V2)
  66. Morsel: Mario Fights the Big Boo, with the participation of Yoshi Superdragon
  67. Spud Alpha: Sea Brine Shrine (V2)
  68. Kristian: Teal mountain
  69. S.N.N.: An SMW CeNNtral Production
  70. ZMann: The Factory
  71. Extroble: Mario Goes Home (V2)
  72. RedToonLink: Mineral Mines (V2)
  73. x1372: Unlock the Key (V2)
  74. everest700: In the Sunset
  75. LunarYoshi: Dungeon Disaster
  76. MSAhm3d59113: A Starry Night Sky
  77. Ninja X: The Haunted House
  78. Mario's Hat: Wide Island Exploring (V2)
  79. Uhrix/GN: Lunar Limbo
  80. TheGamer: 105 Days
  81. .Lester Vine.: It's Raining
  82. TRS: Scared Mario
  83. PowerStrike: An Autumn Adventure (V2)
  84. King Boo: A Challenge?
  85. Aqualakitu: Lakeside Island
  86. DragonLX: Abandoned Toy Factory


-----
http://bin.smwcentral.net/40774/ThehoundsquadsJourney.ips
Custom Music taken out, (Vanilla made nonpatch...made) classic piranha plants removed....
Name is still Journey...
Living life takes forever
Mario Lost Color 2

There is my level.
I have nothing to put here, so I'm putting these filler words in until I can think of something that I can fit here.

Originally posted by Me, in the old thread
Warning: Hard level ahead
Firestorm Fortress

Words.
[22:25:05] <%andy_k_250> Turkey and Grease will one day be reunited - that day will be... Thanksgiving
BlueBerry Way

Heh, I didn't even have such patches, music, and whatever inserted to begin with.

BUT... THE LEVEL DECIDED TO CHANGE.
What, I can't use custom music now? Man, that kind of stinks...
Well, here's my level again, with the custom music removed:

Lines and Stuff
http://bin.smwcentral.net/40431/Pkmnmasterred24Vanillacontest.ips





my rom level for the vanilla contest
I've read the new rules I didn't use classic piranha plant or custom music or anything so it looks like mine is in compliance with the new rules so here's my submission again. http://bin.smwcentral.net/40612/SockbatReplicaVanilla2011.ips
My Youtube Channel
My Soundcloud
I think I fixed everything. My entry below:
The legendray 4 statues
http://bin.smwcentral.net/40808/Castle%20Zero.zip

Well this is my submission without the custom music.
I'm a generally nice guy.
Here comes again:
Misty Horizon. Another minor update (that doesn't affect on score or the level itself, but meh):
-Fixed the Star Road on the OW. It had all the walking directions enabled, what could make the game crash sometimes if you try to walk down/left/right. Coincidentally, RaindropDry was who pointed that glitch to me. Thanks!
MK2TDS

This is a thing that's happening, now. Achievements in old video games.
Thank you for the layout, Erik557.
Man, I wish this would've worked. Oh well.
If not for respect, but dramatic effect, take on the face of Guy Fawkes.
I didn't have to make changes so here I go again Purple Lake Ridge
Here's an updated version of Castle Zero. The game works this time!
http://bin.smwcentral.net/40873/Castle%20Zero.zip
I'm a generally nice guy.

Other Contest/EventRules

Link Thread Closed