Some recommended changes to the official contests and ToB

FanofSMBX · Postby **FanofSMBX** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 1:43 pm

1. Have there be prizes for at least 2 and 3 place. It's a bummer getting nothing at 2nd place.
2. Make SOME sort of game-logical episode progression in the new Tower of Biased episodes. Level theme, difficulty, etc. just look at the last episode, the second to last level was Wart's Castle, and the last was "Flittering Snow Twilight". Instead, how about placing a trophy npc at the goal of each of the top 3 levels? Before anyone says that's too much effort, keep in mind that these episodes get LPed and spread a lot - there's no room for laziness in the SMBX community's top export.
3. Have a "veto vote": if there's a point of contention raised in the placement of a level, allow a 2/3 vote (if the "Yes" option technically wins but not by 2/3 it doesn't count), and if that's voted the positions are changed.
Yeah, I just thought these would improve the contests.

Emral · Postby **Emral** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 2:42 pm

Here's my thoughts on your recommendations on how to improve Bias of the Towered:
1. Were the prizes ever worth anything and long-time exclusive? If I remember correctly they were a few graphics which were public shortly after.
2. I don't agree with that. I like the ranked system and it wouldn't make much sense to have 5 factory levels right after 10 castle levels or something (unless they all got roughly the same score). I like the trophy idea though. I could make some graphics for that.
3. I'd just say make the lowest-tier levels optional, like the talkhaus contest did. What point is there in changing the position when you'll have to play it anyways?

FanofSMBX · Postby **FanofSMBX** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 2:58 pm

"What point is there in changing the position when you'll have to play it anyways?"
It's an ethical thing.
Also what do you think about difficulty arrangements?

zlaker · Postby **zlaker** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 3:14 pm

I'm more agree with Emral. Doesn't if the level is hard, it should be ordered after what position you came in. That has been a tradition for TOB. But yeah 2nd and 3rd place should get a prize. It's huge bummer coming so close to win then get nothing..

Megar · Postby **Megar** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 3:22 pm

I personally like how you have to tank through the worse levels to get to the good stuff.
...besides, if you really want a certain order, it's not that hard to change the hub.

FanofSMBX · Postby **FanofSMBX** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 3:26 pm

zlakerboy357 wrote:I'm more agree with Emral. Doesn't if the level is hard, it should be ordered after what position you came in. That has been a tradition for TOB. But yeah 2nd and 3rd place should get a prize. It's huge bummer coming so close to win then get nothing..

Tradition is meaningless. If there was a crashing bug in a game that remained after 3 patches, it would hardly be traditional!

Mable · Postby **Mable** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 3:35 pm

The next TOB shouldn't even allow joke levels like this_sounds_legit_iso people will think smbx episodes are terrible made.

Valtteri · Postby **Valtteri** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 3:38 pm

Emral wrote:1. Were the prizes ever worth anything and long-time exclusive? If I remember correctly they were a few graphics which were public shortly after.

The latest contest had a Steam game as a prize, worth 20 bucks or something.

Anyways, it's pointless to sort out the levels by difficulty or trying to arrange them "logically". It would only be very difficult and time-consuming. TOB an episode that's made out of level contest submissions, not a community project like Super Mario Bros.: Revisited or Super Mario Bros.: The Next Generation. It's a formula that's widely used for this kind of episodes (even the recent MAGL X episode on Talkhaus is doing it) and, again, there's no point in changing it. No, this does not compare to a game-breaking glitch that's kept in the series as a tradition. There's nothing wrong with it.

FanofSMBX · Postby **FanofSMBX** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 3:44 pm

"It would only be very difficult and time-consuming"
So what? SMSE was time consuming for Chad, poring over every detail, and look how popular it is!

Postby **Raster** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 3:48 pm

So was every other well-received episode in this community. Your point is moot.

I think you should put more effort into the development process for the next contest episode though. I'm aware that people play them for the extras and the contest entries but what about actually setting up a storyline and a few extra levels? The ToB thing is getting old.

Megar · Postby **Megar** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 4:01 pm

Well, normally the ToB series has a simple plotline. The other suggestion with extra levels... well, that kinda makes the entire idea of ToB moot in itself, doesn't it? It is meant to simply showcase the contest levels in a hub.

Postby **Shadow Yoshi** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 4:01 pm

Personally, I don't like the name "Tower of Biased".

I also don't think we should change the structure of the episode - it's not supposed to be a story with great episode development (we have other legitimate episodes for that), it's supposed to be a hub that lets you play all of the contest levels.

zlaker · Postby **zlaker** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 4:04 pm

FanofSMBX wrote:"It would only be very difficult and time-consuming"
So what? SMSE was time consuming for Chad, poring over every detail, and look how popular it is!

There's a difference between the SMSE and ToB. ToB is not supposes to be the a success either. It's just an episode with collection of other people custom levels they have submitted to the contest. SMSE was time consuming episode because Chad probably wanted to make it a success.

Megar · Postby **Megar** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 4:11 pm

I don't see the problem with the name 'Tower of Biased' myself... I mean, it's just meant to be a joke based on the whole cries of biased in the first contest... nothing too special, really.

Postby **Shadow Yoshi** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 4:12 pm

Maybe I'm really just annoyed by the fact that the community misuses the word "biased" a lot, even if it's not as much as it used to.

*shrug*

silent_ · Postby **silent_** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 4:28 pm

Joey wrote:misuses

biased

*shrug*

"tower of biased" doesn't make any sense

FanofSMBX · Postby **FanofSMBX** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 4:30 pm

Kep wrote:
Joey wrote:Maybe I'm really just annoyed by the fact that the community misuses the word "biased" a lot, even if it's not as much as it used to.

*shrug*
tower of biased doesn't make any sense

Since "biased" was a buzzword during the first contests, Ignoritus chose to call the first episode Tower of Biased. (It was spontaneous and on the dot - the first episode was very bland beige tower, and there wasn't even a final boss)

Postby **Julia Pseudo** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 6:22 pm

Tower of Bias(ed) is too iconic a name by now, though. I'd be opposed to changing it at this point. Also, it's called the Tower of Biased because, if I remember correctly, Ignoritus said that "Biased" was the name of the (unseen) villain of the episode (so it's a tower belonging to a character called Biased).

Megar · Postby **Megar** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 6:44 pm

Basically, what happened was after the first contest, (from what I gather Igno both hosted and won) people were screaming biased and shit. So Igno fucked with them after the second contest by naming it Tower of Biased. Biased himself (or herself?) is just another joke that originated from it.

Postby **Julia Pseudo** » Tue Mar 11, 2014 3:24 am

^
Yeah, I know where the term "biased" came from, I'm just explaining why "Tower of Biased" is grammatically correct as a name. Someone asked about that earlier.