Haunted/Scary Level Contest (THE HORRIFYING RESULTS!!!)

Postby **The Thwomp King** » Thu Aug 27, 2015 12:33 am

So it's probably predictable because it'a October, but this was also a requested idea for a contest. I hope many will be interested

Standard Level Contest Rules
Don't put your name in any of the files
Don't post any screenshots of the level nor a download link in the comments
You must submit your level before the deadline.
You may only submit one level, if you send two levels the second will be disqualified.
No joke levels, joke levels will not be judged.
Give your level a unique name. Nothing random or funky though.
Any level theme accepted (forest, ice, mountain, lava, etc)
Level can end in any fashion.
Custom Graphics are allowed
Custom Music is optional
Adding a boss is optional
LUNADLL/LUNALUA Not Allowed (If this causes option 2 to be impossible, then I may change this rule)

Additional Rules For This Theme
One Option or Both Must Be Used:
1. (Easy Option) A haunted theme that's found all throughout various Mario games.
For example(s):

Spoiler: show

Any other ideas you think of that aren't on here? PM me so I can add it to the list.

2. (Hard Option) Create a level that is actually scary, brings on suspense, really keeps people on their toes and paranoid, etc. I understand this is a mario game, so this clearly easier said than done. This is obviously going to be graded more critically in regards to whether it works as scary, and if done well will give creators a slight edge as compared to those who went with just option 1. I don't expect any of the levels to cause people to wet their pants or start screaming, but anything that brings some kind of freaky vibe to it will do justice to me. Of course those doing this option can do option 1 as well.

Judges:
The Thwomp King
Frozen Boo
MECHDRAGON777
witchking666
Linik

Back-Up Judges:
Merio
TBD

Contestants (COMPLETED ARE BOLDED AND UNDERLINED):
Suckerman7 GM
RoundPiplup
TheKingOfBoos
LordYoshi999
Ness-Wednesday
Rubber-Parasite
Harvey36Dice
Jacob Turbo
PixelPest
litchh

Graphics:
You'll find a lot of graphics in the traditional smbx graphics packs, but I also know TheKingOfBoos also has a nice graphics pack that could work with this.

Sending Levels:
Like always, PM levels to me and the levels will be distributed to the judges once the deadline strikes.

Feel free to post below or PM with your interests in this contest. I expect there will be questions too because I sometimes can't explain things correctly.

Best of luck to all!

THE JUDGING

The Thwomp King:

Spoiler: show

Orochimaru

Spoiler: show

Linik

Spoiler: show

Border of Life - 6/10
Now here's an interesting take on the haunted/scary level concept. It's a Touhou level, and while it doesn't look creepy at first, it still maintains the rather creepy atmosphere, yet it doesn't throw it in your face. The main ideas here are about life and death. There are still Boos in the level, but they aren't as common as the Touhou enemies, but the way they are used brought some nice gimmicks such as the diagonal Boos in the final section. I also liked the atmosphere and the presentation of the level, as well as the projectile-dodging Touhou segments, although that's where the level's problems lie. The first Touhou segment is just before the checkpoint, and if the player isn't used to it, it can be really hard, and then they have to retrace all their steps because they died just before the checkpoint. Towards the end it basically turned into "see how far you can get dodging all these enemies" and I'm glad the level has a decent length to stop it being too hard.

Hallows-Eve - 4/10
Halloween is perfectly defined in this level, with the Boos and pumpkin-like enemies that are abundant. The graphics and enemy NPCs used drives the point home, and I like how a choice of character is given at the start, but it doesn't affect the level itself. Unfortunately, the level, despite being spooky, suffers from first-level syndrome. The overworld background is a bit bland, the pumpkin Bullet Bills at the very start at least appear to be just plonked here and there, and appears to be an attempt at a gimmick that wasn't executed properly, and the Banzai Bill doesn't look good with them either. The first section looks pretty bland as well as the landforms are pretty flat and barren with sparse decoration, and there aren't a lot of coins either (nearly all of them are contained in blocks). The jumping over Podoboos segment at the end had the potential to be explored in depth, but once again, it appears to be a cheap attempt at a gimmick that didn't have the potential to be explored. However, the biggest flaw was that after the checkpoint, the level became one batch of enemies followed by another, which, along with the rest, makes the level feel boring.

Rotten Flesh Spell - 8.4/10
This looks like something lifted straight out of a creepypasta! This is more than creepy: it even borders on unnerving! There's blood everywhere! The music and the graphics convey this vibe, and at some points I even got a little bit scared from just playing the level! This shows that the level does the scare job very well! But even through that, I enjoyed playing the level. The length of the level would be perfect, if a little on the short side, and the difficulty is moderate enough to keep things enjoyable (yet scary!), but at its very heart, this level requires the player to explore different paths to advance in order to alter lava formations, with some other things thrown into the mix to prevent the level getting too boring, like a fairy flying part. The clever uses of the Skull Raft made things interesting, as alongside just riding them over lava, there is also a cool gimmick involving having to stay on it as long as possible as a platform rises. However, the problem is with the Skull Rafts. Some of them end at a wall, meaning if you try to jump off them while stopped, you'll be thrown through the wall in the same direction of the raft movement, possibly dying. But it's still a really awesome level nonetheless.

The Last Shy Guy Exorcism - 5.4/10
The amount of blood in this level is too damn high! I like how the level was decorated to look creepypasta-like. and also the addition of a backstory to this level made things more interesting and rather unsettling at the same time, further driven home by the bloody graphics used, but despite that, it plays like a standard SMB2 level with a possessed Wart at the end. There is something to do in most sections, especially the second where you have to collect all the purple coins to advance. The level does feel a bit on the short side though, and it could do with a bit of lengthening, and you're not given much room to dodge Wart's fireballs either. But there isn't really much to talk about a level that's short, so I'll cut the review of the level here.

The Gengar Swamp - 5.69/10
Pretty meh ghost house level here. A lot of events drive the haunted theme nicely, such as a sizable platform disappearing as the player walks past it, and there are several different sections to add variety, including overworld platforming, an underwater segment, a ghost house, a boss fight and a chase against lava. There are also several hidden warps in the level that lead to secret sections, one of them hosting a hidden star, and it's a novel concept considering this is a haunted level, but the player is given no indication where the warps are, and some are in the most weird of places where the player won't expect to look. Despite the spooky atmosphere conveyed very well, some design choices somehow kill it. The ghost house rising out of the ground was a pretty cool gimmick, but the issue is that if the player runs too fast and jumps too far, they'll land on the rising ground, and get crushed. If they run too fast, they'll land in the water and drown. The level is also too long, especially that after the player has beaten the boss, they think they're finished the level, and then bam! Another section! If they die here, they have a lot of backtracking to do. You may have to scale the length down, but this is helpfully compensated by the abundance of powerups in the level.

Sanct

Spoiler: show

MECHDRAGON777

Spoiler: show

Border of Life

霊烏路空 wrote:Okay, this is an interesting level, and I did enjoy it, but there are a lot of mean things and it does not even fit with the theme of the contest! It is not scary at all. The bosses were fun, and I beat the first one on the first try, and the second one after two attempts! The Enemies also provide infinte 1-ups, so yeah. I also liked the variety of gimmicks you used, but did you have to take them from bossedit8? Anyway, the only thing keeping this from a 10 is how mean every thing is with enemy spam, foreground trees, and clashing.
9.0

Hallows-Eve

霊烏路空 wrote:Is this meant to be a joke level? The graphics are not pleasent in the first section, the poitless character blocks. (Can beat beaten with any of the main four) and their were clouds in a ghost house
2.416/10

Rotten Flesh Spell

霊烏路空 wrote:Okay andailfbetaria, I liked the level a lot, but their is a lot of issues here. For one, their is cutoff in a few places. If you freeze a Chain Chomp, you can bring it's chain with it which looks very weird. You meantioned the Ghost being hit will turn into a red shell; however, if you hit it with the tail you profide, it turns into a normal SMW Koopa. To fix this, you could of just made the koopa and shell have "Jumphurt=1" "nohurt=1" and "blockcollision=0" "noplayerblock=1" "noplayerblocktop=1" and make the graphics and effects invisible. During the part before the Check-point, the last Chain Chomp was not set to "donot move" which makes it look like it is having a seizure. I also would not recomend making the player go through a pipe with an upsidedown pirhana plant. Please, the pirhana plant that is upsidedown will give no warning and does not stay in they pipe if you are under it. Also, the Rex was a little weird for the fact that it had no gravity when it is small. The music added to the attmospheric condition to make it creepy though!

*What is listed here is not taken off for.

If you stand on a skull raft while it is being pushed into a wall,you can either not jump at all, or jump straight though the wall.
4

The Gengar Swamp (Donot Turn Around)

霊烏路空 wrote:This is a terrible atempt if you ask me. Why in the world is their: a "photoshopped fish" in the swamp, why can I enter lamps, why is their no Mario/Luigi/Toad Block, or even tectonic plate anti-heven!? Seriously, this is not scarly, it is just plain silly. Their is also no music during the boss...
1.001337

The Last Shy Guy Exorcism

霊烏路空 wrote:I would have to say I hated this level in all honesty. I like the water you can swim in, (blood) but I did not like that is was a water/blood fall you can swim in. The only power p seems to be a duplication mushroom, and you can jump through the blood on the sizables and it is ahead (foreground).

5.13537/10

The Results!!!

Spoiler: show

Once again thanks for participating and I'll see you guys at the Visual Contest's Results!!!

Suckerman7 GM · Postby **Suckerman7 GM** » Thu Aug 27, 2015 5:20 am

I'm gonna join.

RoundPiplup · Postby **RoundPiplup** » Thu Aug 27, 2015 8:20 am

So... If October is with haunted houses... Then December is... Oh boy. Joining, but I doubt that I have an idea.

MECHDRAGON777 · Postby **MECHDRAGON777** » Thu Aug 27, 2015 9:09 am

Uhh, I am not ure If I should request judging or not! I am easily scared, but never in a Mario level...

Postby **The Thwomp King** » Thu Aug 27, 2015 10:18 am

RoundPiplup wrote:So... If October is with haunted houses... Then December is... Oh boy. Joining, but I doubt that I have an idea.

Oh no I have something else in store for December. XD hahaha

MECHDRAGON777 wrote:Uhh, I am not ure If I should request judging or not! I am easily scared, but never in a Mario level...

I say it's worth a go, but that's just me. XD hahaha
I'll be surprised if there is a level made that's actually scary.

TheKingOfBoos · Postby **TheKingOfBoos** » Thu Aug 27, 2015 12:05 pm

Thanks for mentioning me <3 I'm in!

Postby **Valentine** » Thu Aug 27, 2015 12:15 pm

I'll judge i guess? I mean who's better to judge a haunted level contest than a ghost? Wink wink nudge nudge

TheKingOfBoos · Postby **TheKingOfBoos** » Thu Aug 27, 2015 12:16 pm

Frozen Boo wrote:I'll judge i guess? I mean who's better to judge a haunted level contest than a ghost? Wink wink nudge nudge

Going by that logic I should be judging

Guess I'll just have to win instead

PixelPest · Postby **PixelPest** » Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:50 pm

I think I'll join. Definitely going for option two.

LordYoshi999 · Postby **LordYoshi999** » Fri Aug 28, 2015 7:58 pm

sure, i guess i'll join

Superiorstar · Postby **Superiorstar** » Fri Aug 28, 2015 8:02 pm

if I had knew that this would pop up I would have not shown my screenshot.
Dangit Thwomp king XD

PixelPest · Postby **PixelPest** » Fri Aug 28, 2015 8:49 pm

Are there any regulations or limits on cartoon blood/gore within the community and this contest or is it just "know your limit, play within it" and don't go over the top.

Postby **The Thwomp King** » Fri Aug 28, 2015 9:08 pm

Cosmik wrote:Are there any regulations or limits on cartoon blood/gore within the community and this contest or is it just "know your limit, play within it" and don't go over the top.

That is an excellent question. Personally I say do as much as you want, I can take a hit and will embrace anything. I'm not sure what the community limits or the other judge's limits are though.

Postby **Valentine** » Fri Aug 28, 2015 10:15 pm

Cosmik wrote:Are there any regulations or limits on cartoon blood/gore within the community and this contest or is it just "know your limit, play within it" and don't go over the top.

Just don't spam it and you should be fine

Postby **Ness-Wednesday** » Sat Aug 29, 2015 11:11 am

Once I get back, I'm joining.
This contest sounds very interesting.
By any chance will an episode be released with all the contest's levels?

RubberParasite · Postby **RubberParasite** » Mon Aug 31, 2015 11:18 am

Exagerately stupid and fillen with jumpscares creepypasta level incoming!

Just kidding, but i'm expecting to see at least one of this type of level coming out of this contest.

(Maybe i'll join if i have time)

LordYoshi999 · Postby **LordYoshi999** » Mon Aug 31, 2015 6:07 pm

I'm gonna have to ditch this contest, sorry D:

Postby **The Thwomp King** » Mon Aug 31, 2015 10:54 pm

LordYoshi999 wrote:I'm gonna have to ditch this contest, sorry D:

There's still a whole 2 months though if that helps...

Alagirez · Postby **Alagirez** » Tue Sep 01, 2015 5:44 am

im in

RoundPiplup · Postby **RoundPiplup** » Tue Sep 01, 2015 10:41 am

Meh... Too lazy to make SUPER EXTREMELY RELATED to a spooky themed level. Oh well, maybe I'll get something else in my mind... Oh wait... A stairs-themed level!? I should try that(no).