The SMBX Challenge! (Submit by February 28th!) (Terraria!)

[zlaker]

I guess I'll join this too. But can I use SMB3 recolored GFXs?

[mariogeek2]

I guess I'll join this too. But can I use SMB3 recolored GFXs?

This question has already been asked by CaptainCalamity, and the answer was NO! The rules say no custom graphics and Blank replied no to the question.

[CaptainCalamity]

Also, as I learned, you have to PM the person if you want to join.

[Julia Pseudo]

Damn, didn't submit in time. Well, whatever. The levels submitted to this are going to be great, though. I love vanilla levels.

[mariogeek2]

Come on, Blank. Say something. Give us an update! The judging date was March 1st. So...who won? Are y'all still judging? Or are y'all busy making the episode? Give us some news about this topic!

[XerX]

I have not had time to judge yet. I'll be doing that today.

[mariogeek2]

I have not had time to judge yet. I'll be doing that today.

Okay, good. Are you going to be making an episode that combines all of the levels? And, if you are, when?

[MistakesWereMade]

Come on, Blank. Say something. Give us an update! The judging date was March 1st. So...who won? Are y'all still judging? Or are y'all busy making the episode? Give us some news about this topic!

i dont think ragont has submitted the reviews

[XerX]

Come on, Blank. Say something. Give us an update! The judging date was March 1st. So...who won? Are y'all still judging? Or are y'all busy making the episode? Give us some news about this topic!

i dont think ragont has submitted the reviews

He has.

[ragont]

yeah i finished.
eat it, nien-fucker-whore.
well, i still have one last level i haven't judged yet, though.
i'll finish that one tomorrow.

E: sorry, i didnt realize i wasnt allowed to joke around with my own friend.

[Yoshibrothers]

eat it, nien-fucker-whore.

Best quote in this topic right here^

[MistakesWereMade]

eat it, nien-fucker-whore.

fuck you get better at fucking dota you fucking 1500 mmr scrub.

[ragont]

eat it, nien-fucker-whore.

fuck you get better at fucking dota you fucking 1500 mmr scrub.

mad cuz bad.

finished the last review btw

[MistakesWereMade]

oh i'll review the level tomorrow since i didnt expect this shit

[Shy-Guy]

Where is the reviews?

[XerX]

Where is the reviews?

I'm still waiting for one judge to finish a review. Until then, I cannot post anything.

[XerX]

Alright! All the reviews are in! Here we go!

My reviews.

Spoiler: show

1 - Under-w-Forest
Design: -/-
Creativity: -/-
Use of NPCs: -/-
Fun Factor: -/-

Failed to follow the rules.
"The theme MUST be SMB3. No exceptions!"
This includes graphics, backgrounds and music. You used music from another game. Disqualified. Sorry.

--/20 Points


2 - Marios Adventure
Design: 0/5
Creativity: 0/5
Use of NPCs: 0/5
Fun Factor: 0/5

Joke levels are cool and all, but this was just a waste of my time. Everything was just randomly placed and there is nothing positive about the level at all. Good job.

0/20 Points.


3 - Mysteries of the Abyss
Design: 4/5
Creativity: 4/5
Use of NPCs: 4/5
Fun Factor: 4/5

It's hard to find water levels that are actually enjoyable and not tedious. This is one of those levels. The tile placement, background placement, and use of warps were really great. The level was also a good length, not to short nor too long. Areas didn't feel to cluterred, except the moving pipes room, which was the only downside to this level in my opinion. The last room was really interesting, how you used the jellyfish blocks was genious and quite challenging to keep away. In al, this was a great level.

16/20 Points!


4 - Ascending to Decline
Design: 3/5
Creativity: 3/5
Use of NPCs: 2/5
Fun Factor: 2/5

This level has pretty short sections, which tend to be empty in most places. Lack of enemies and BGO's make this level seem bland and rather easy. Nothing really to say except it could have used more enemies and some more BGO's.

10/20 Points.


5 - Boom-Boom's armada
Design: 3/5
Creativity: 1/5
Use of NPCs: 3/5
Fun Factor: 2/5

This is like one of those generic SMB3 Tank levels, and nothing more. Sure, it fits the theme of SMB3, but it's a little /too/ SMB3, if you get what I'm saying? There was no general creativity in this level except the boss room which you fought 1 Boom-Boom then another 2 after that one. One issue I had was in the tank. It felt incredibly cramped, and I even had to crouch-hop through one space because I wouldn't fit.

9/20 Points.


6 - Overflowing Caves
Design: 2/5
Creativity: 2/5
Use of NPCs: 3/5
Fun Factor: 3/5

At first, this level looked like a remake of W1-5 from SMB3, but I thought otherwise after the first section. I managed to find the secret section with ease. The whole level just seemed really bland. Lack of BGO's in many places there could be some, and the 'Flooding Cave' flooded a little too fast in my opinion. It could have been a bit more fun if it gradually 'flooded' instead of instantly.

10/20 Points.


7 - Stone Tower of the Desert
Design: 3/5
Creativity: 3/5
Use of NPCs: 3/5
Fun Factor: 2/5

A lot of things in this level were creative, but not enough to make the level fun. The mixed pipes were somewhat annoying, and the fact that getting the ? Mushroom on the left did nothing for the pipe, so I had to go back down and go through the right one. The toad near the right pipe was also quite annoying, because everytime I tried to enter the pipe, he'd get in the way and end up saying whatever he said. The boss part was alright, nothing particularily special about it.

11/20 Points.


8 - Vanilla Woodlands
Design: 4/5
Creativity: 3/5
Use of NPCs: 4/5
Fun Factor: 4/5

I really enjoyed playing this level. Everything was placed nicely; Tiles, NPC's, BGOs. Generally, I would play this level again, because that's how much I like it. Nothing really bad to say about it.

15/20 Points!


9 - Wet Savage Grasslands
Design: 3/5
Creativity: 2/5
Use of NPCs: 3/5
Fun Factor: 3/5

Felt like a generic SMB3 level, in fact a lot of it reminded me of that one level in world 5(?). Enemies were placed nicely, but it seemed a bit empty, and flat, which in the end made it feel pretty short. Nothing much to say.

11/20 Points.

Nien's Reviews

Spoiler: show

Accending to Decline
Design:
The structure of the cave looked pretty good, it could have used more background objects, but it used the tiles nicely, although the beginning was kind of a waste of time, since you just had to jump from pipe to pipe (which was something obnoxious that was encountered later on the level), there was also a strange warp placement with the pipes, as in http://prntscr.com/2wtike, they looked strange (since it didn't have the rest of the pipe), and it also made no sense on how you traveled from entering a pipe to another one that wasn't connected in any way to the first one; The overworld part was pretty good, then when the last section (the "sky" part) came in was kind of linear, as in you just walked in a straight line hitting blocks.

2/5

Creativity:
The concept of the level wasn't too great, while the connection between the sections was smoothly done (from underground to the surface, to the sky) the design felt like a typical smb3 level (sure, that was the theme, but you could have mixed up the design)
There were also not many interesting gimmicks (asides the elevator section).

2/5

Npc placement:

to be honest, the npc placement in the underground section felt kinda dull, there wasn't any challenge in dodging the enemies, and some of them just kind of fell into botomless pits when you encountered them, and, when you were about to reach the sky section, the paratroopa placement was kind of obnoxious, as you either got hit by them, or you conveniently dodged them out of luck, and it wasn't a plausible option to just kill them, as there was a high chance of fucking that up (since, you know, you were trying to kill flying enemies while on a moving platform) the other sections (grassland and sky) had a decent npc placement, you actually did some effort into getting past them.

2/5

Fun factor:
This level was honestly "meh" tier, there were some obnoxious parts and there wasn't really any "fun" parts, you just kind of jumped from place to place, and there wasn't many challenges

2/5

Final score: 10/20

Marios adventure

Design:

Ok i really shouldn't be covering all of the aspects of the level, it was a sad attempt of a joke level, princess peach apparently asks you to save her when she's right there, the tiles looked awful, and it was just bad
1/5

Npc placement:

literally all of the npcs were friendly, except for some dumb bob-ombs, and the boss fight with bowser literally had him float over lava so he just instantly died
1/5

Creativity:
You fucking suck at making joke levels, even cool hills had a more interesting design.
1/5

Fun factor:
Nothing about this level can be praised, although i have to admit that it was kind of cool watching the uh, i'm gonna call them "rainbow rotating spheres", be shot by a projectile type spawner, so they just kind of formed a wheel.
1/5

final score: 5/20

Overflowing caves:

Design:
The design felt kind of straight, as in you just walked in a straight line and you beat the level, the level felt empty, and the part where you had to dodge the yellow brick walls while standing on the platform would have been challenging, if falling down didn't matter since you could just chase the platform, get onto it, and end the level

2/5

Creativity:
There weren't any interesting ideas, the part where the water rose would kind of been good, but it just felt that the section instantly swapped to an underwater section.

2/5

NPC placement:
I gotta admit, the npc placement wasn't bad, it was geniuinely challenging, it was placed in a way that it was fairly difficult to go through some npcs, but it was possible (this can be seen in the rising water section)

3/5

Fun factor:
The level was below average, the design wasn't too exciting, the npc placement kind of salvaged that though, as it was pretty good.

2/5

Overall:
9/20

Stone tower of the desert:

Design:
The design was pretty good at first, but then the pipes came in, which became an obnoxious chore as you had to go through each pipe to luckily arrive to the pipe where you wanted to go, and then there was the backtracking, there was a lot of backtracking in this level, not to mention, on the situation on which you unlocked the left switch after the right switch, you actually had to backtrack to go to the other pipe, since the friendly toad was blocking the pipe entrance (since you always talked to him instead of going inside the pipe) The boss section had a good atmosphere, although the walls were pretty thin so it looked strange.

3/5

NPC placement:
The npc placement was pretty good, it wasn't too difficult to get across them, but you actually noticed they were there, and they were placed in clever ways to synergize with the level design.

4/5

Creativity:
The concept was pretty good, the gimmicks were interesting (such as the moving pipe, and the moving clouds), although the idea of having to go through the desert to find a switch was poorly done since it forced backtracking, this is gonna take away some points as this was the major gimmick of the level.

3/5

Fun factor:
The level was fun, the placement of stuff was done well, then i'm back to bringing up the backtracking, which i wouldn't have minded if it wasn't done for most of the level.

3/5

Overall: 13/20

Under-w-Forest

Overall:
It's a shame that i have to think that this level disqualified, i played through it and it was really good, the design was alive, the npcs were placed in a good way, but you used music that wasn't from smb3, and some npcs that were smw styled.

Sorry

(If this somehow gets past, my score is 16/20)

Wet savage grasslands:

Design:
The design was straightforward, it was done simplisticly (which isn't a bad thing) and the scenery was placed nicely, the problem is the fact that the level was too short.
3/5


NPC Placement:

The npc placement was good, it wasn't placed in a way that you would say "oh how am i supposed to not get hurt", then the lakitu came into play and you realized that you were fucked, as there was only one powerup that was in your reach, the other one was difficult to get as the lakitu already started chasing you, not to mention, since you have to dodge shit incoming from the water and shit incoming from the sky, you're gonna have a hard time on this.

2/5

Creativity:

There wasn't any innovation, nor any actual gimmicks so it kind of fell down in that, it felt like an average level straight out from smb3
1/5

Fun factor:

Like i said, it was fun at first, but then it became an obnoxious chore to get past the lakitu part, as there was a 90% chance of you dying, it wasn't too creative, nor there wasn't any particularly interesting parts.

2/5

8/20

Design:

The design was done in a pretty good manner, it was nicely structured and everything synergized with the npc placement, the difficulty was constant (as in, the beginning wasn't easier than the end and stuff like that)
and the level felt alive.

4/5

NPC placement:
It was done in a pretty good way, you didn't see many npcs just kind of jumping off the cliffs, and ther eweren't any obnoxious parts, the powerups were placed in an intelligent manner, and it was just good, while i do have to add that the green spiky balls were kind of annoying

4/5

Creativity:
There wasn't much innovation, nor any interesting gimmicks, the pipes moving up and down were kind of nice, but everything felt unoriginal.

2/5

Fun factor:

The level was pretty good, it was nice, fairly challenging and it's designed with good synergy in everything.

5/5

15/20

Mysteries of the abyss:

Design:
The level was designed in a "meh" manner, while it looked good and it had a good atmosphere, some of the tiles were strangely placed, not to mention the level was kind of long, and the fact that the level was long and your movespeed was hindered since it was an underwater level, it kind of got annoying.

3/5

NPC placement:

It was good, you weren't destined to die to each blooper that appeared, and the enemies didn't just flat deny you from going through a section

4/5

Creativity:
There were interesting gimmicks in this level, such as the moving pipes which you encounter early on, and the movement of the jellyfish was interesting, plus it had a good concept.

5/5

Fun factor:
Like i said before, this level started being fun, then you realized that the level was pretty long and that picking the red coins was kind of annoying, it was a decent level, but it required lots of patience

3/5

15/20

Boom-Booms Armada

Design: The design was somewhat generic, nothing too special to be honest, though it was kind of bland, which i i didn't actually appreciate. 2/5
Creativity: not many gimmicks, and the theme wasn't too special. 2/5
Use of NPCs: There were like a bazillion bullets, not to mention the fact that the boss fight consisted of 3 boom booms, which was honestly pretty dumb 3/5
Fun factor: To be honest, for all its design flaws, it's kind of fun. 3/5

10/20

Ragont's reviews.

Spoiler: show

Accending to Decline

Design: Pretty good design, notable that there are quite a few unused areas but that's fine with me. 4/5
Creativity: doesn't offer much in the department of creativity, other than some neat layer moving gimmicks like the elevating ground in the second section. 3/5
Use of NPCs: Nothing bad here, other than maybe the random tanooki suit; otherwise fine placement. 4/5
Fun Factor: It's pretty fun, albeit a bit short. 3.5/5

14.5/20

Mario's Adveture

Design: ehhhhh 0/5
Creativity: uhhhh 0/5
Use of NPCs: errrr 0/5
Fun Factor: No. 0/5

fucking chill pingu god damn it this shit isnt even funny.
if you're going to make a joke level at least put in some actual jokes that arent chill pingu-tier.

0.01/20

Mysteries of the Abyss

Design: well eh, the layer movement was cool and all, but that plus the fact that you're slow when underwater made it really difficult to get past the moving pipes. yeah I had a pretty hard time maneuvering through this level. Everything seems to be about having near-perfect timing, including the jellyfish chase at the end (i found myself just barely getting out of that). 3.5/5
Creativity: despite the difficulty, the level was actually rather unique for a water level. The moving layers provided for a neat underwater gimmick (if made a bit slower, would have been easier to get through though). 4.5/5
Use of NPCs: everything seemed fine here to me. Nothing really outstanding though. 4.5/5
Fun Factor: pretty fun, although the difficulty kinda ruined it for me. 3.5/5

16/20

Overflowing caves

Design: meh, there was quite a bit of empty space in the level, making the entire thing quite bland. 2/5
Creativity: not very much creativity either, unfortunately, aside the red coin causing water to flow into the cave. 3/5
Use of NPCs: i actually felt some of the NPCs were rather unfairly placed, like almost all the fish in the third section. otherwise everything else seemed fine 3/5
Fun factor: unfortunately not a very fun level; quite bland, a bit stale etc etc etc. 2/5

10/20

Stone Tower of the Desert

Design: nice design, some neat layer movement, although the boss arena seemed a bit lacking. 4/5
Creativity: pretty unique. starts out as a desert level, moves into a tower with some nice level-wrapping. 4/5
Use of NPCs: eh, some NPCs were in places that i consider a bit unfair, like the last set of bullet bills on the pipe ride. otherwise alright placement. 3.5/5
Fun Factor: it was a pretty fun level, the boss fight was a bit stale though. 4/5

15.5/20

Vanilla Woodlands

Design: Very nice design, some really neat moving layers. Could have used some bonus rooms or something though. 4.5/5
Creativity: probably the best level in the bunch, good use of layers and smb3's default gfx make it quite outstanding. 5/5
Use of NPCs: nothing bad here, nothing really special though either. 4/5
Fun Factor: a very fun level. maybe a few extras could have been added, but other than that i really like it a lot. 4.5/5

18/20

Wet Savage Grasslands

Design: quite alright, too bad it's incredibly short. 3.5/5
Creativity: not much offered here. actually very similar to an actual smb3 level. 3.5/5
Use of NPCs: not much to say here as well, unfortunately. not that that's necessarily BAD though. also what's with the random toad at the end 3.5/5
Fun factor: it was pretty fun, but really short. 3/5

13.5/20

Boom-Booms Armada

Design: the design itself was okay, the bullet bill spam? not so much. quite a difficult level. 3.5/5
Creativity: somewhat unique in that it's the first tank level i've seen in a while. 3.5/5
Use of NPCs: spam of bullet bills is never a good thing. 2/5
Fun factor: could have been fun if the difficulty was toned down by just a bit. better luck next time. 2.5/5

11.5/20

Now for the totals out of 60 Points.


CaptainCalamity - Accending To Decline - 34.5/60
Christian07 - Boom-Boom's armada - 30.5/60
Chill Pengu - Marios Adveture - 5.01/60
ShyGuy - Mysteries of the Abyss - 47/60
mariogeek2 - Overflowing Caves - 29/60
Conxus - Stone Tower of the Desert - 39.5/60
Shinbison-Kof - Under-w-Forest - Disqualified
Darkonius Mavakar - Vanilla Woodlands - 48/60
litchh - Wet Savage Grasslands - 32.5/60


The winner is... -- *drumroll* -- ...Vanilla Woodlands with 48 Points! These levels will be put into an episode, in order of lowest points to most. The release of the episode will be unknown for now.

[FanofSMBX]

Why lowest points to highest points? That hardly makes sense in a game perspective! (See also my recent ToB topic)

[XerX]

Why lowest points to highest points? That hardly makes sense in a game perspective! (See also my recent ToB topic)

I saw your topic earlier. And I would go lowest to highest because there are only a few levels, each having pretty much the same 'world' theme, excluding a few. And this episode doesn't have to make sense, as the levels don't even fit together properly in the first place.

[FanofSMBX]

When I say "game sense", I meant gameplay. It would be weird to go to hard, then easy, then medium levels you know?