Kaizo Contest Xtraordinaire (Judging)

[MECHDRAGON777]

Talkhaus Link

Hello everyone, after playing KCXIII (Make a Good Kaizo Level X3), I have been speaking with some others on asking a Kaizo Contest. As of right now, there are some terms of Disqualification I should point out which will be in the Rules section in red text. For those who want to judge, you will have to be able to make a post game level by the time the episode releases containing all the levels as well as be able you can even clear a few Kaizo levels (I have asked a few people specifically and there are some people who I would be perfectly okay with judging if they want.) To anyone who DOES NOT finish their level before the deadline, they can request to have their level be a guest level if at least one judge beats it and is considered a Kaizo level; however I would appreciate people trying to get their levels in on time, even with the half a point penalty per day late.

Rules

• Do not use music that goes beyond 6 minutes. (0.5 MB per song that exceeds this limit.)
  
• Submit by the deadline. (0.5 point penalty per 24 hours late)
  
• The level cannot end the game. (0.5 Points)
  
• DO NOT use the SUIT Switch Blocks's Toggle Block without having the start point place them to their default values.(0.5 points.)
  
• Not a Kaizo level.
• Unbeatable*
• your most recent submission counts
• Please try to keep level exits to a MAX of three.

*If no judge can beat the level, then the level's creator must post a video of the level being completed.

Submission

To submit the level to the contest, you must upload the level to dropbox, mediafire, discord, or megaupload (or any place that does not take a login to download that does not expire) and post the download to the level on this thread or in a Direct Message to me on Discord (MECHDRAGON777#3777) or a Private Message on the forums.


Judges

• 55Jedat555
• MECHDRAGON777
• Melko!

Participants

Spoiler: show

• loop13 *
• FlatKiwi
• ItsFuntime
• 8luestorm
• Kleetus
• Ness-Wednesday
• Veruchai

* = Beaten.
Bold = Submitted
Green & Bold = Recorded


Deadline

August 13th at 00:00 Alaskan Standard Time or when I wake up on the 13th.

Rubric

• Difficulty (Not used for placement.)
• Creativity (10 Points)
• Atmosphere (10 Points to be split between Music and Graphics)
  • Music (4 Points)
  • Graphics (4 Points)
  • How well the Music and Graphics fit (1 point apiece for Music/Graphics)
• Fun-Factor (10 Points)
• Balance (10 Points)

FAQ: show

Q: Can I work with a partner?
A: Yes, you may.

Q: Do I need to end in a SMB3 Star?
A: No, you may include anything as a end.

Q: Do I need to use .ogg/SPC music?
A: No, you do not have to use .ogg/SPC music, but it would be preferable if you did over MP3s.

Q. What version?
A. You may use SMBX2bMX3 or SMBX2Pal.

[TheNightingale]

This seems interesting, I would participate if I were more skilled in SMBX... Well, good luck to the participants anyways.

Also, love how another contest was released hours before this and then my collab project just a few minutes after this

[MECHDRAGON777]

This seems interesting, I would participate if I were more skilled in SMBX... Well, good luck to the participants anyways.

Also, love how another contest was released hours before this and then my collab project just a few minutes after this

I have been talking about hosting this for about a week or two ago. The users that know about this include Jayce, Eclipsed, 55Jedat555, Rednaxela, and Flatkiwi before I even posted this.

[loop]

i'm here
this'll be interesting

[Cedur]

who's Melko?

[Emral]

Why are we still disqualifying for things in currentyear?
- Not a Kaizo Level: The rubric and contest gimmick's jobs are to ensure that people know what type of level to submit to do well
- The rubric doesn't really do this well, but I'm sure it was the result of its own constructive development process in preparation for this announcement, so maybe I'm just not seeing it for some reason
- Unbeatable: Talk to the creator post-deadline during level testing and express any concerns about beatability, then fix it before judging if it was an oversight and otherwise penalise during judging (design score)
- One level: Just say "your most recent submission counts"?

In MAGLX3 we only disqualify a level if it was either undownloadable (even after asking the creator for an updated link) or if it's not streamer-friendly (excessive graphic imagery or adult themes). The count sits at 0. There's a case to be made for disqualifying obvious trolls, though.

Also,
- Music length ought to be irrelevant because it doesn't affect a level's quality and is purely organisational for the episode
- Aside from end game events literally not working on the maglx3 build (one of the reasons why making episodes for it is a bad idea), removing them is a literal one-minute change if encountered. Again, doesn't affect a level's quality, too and must only be accounted for for the episode.
- Same case for switch palace switch blocks, really.
- In the FAQ: You say OGG is preferred. It's, infact, only preferred over MP3. What about SPC, MIDI or not having custom music at all? MAGLX3 has some submissions that used OGG files for vanilla music (!) and I just removed those files during testing.
- Fun-Factory

[55jedat555]

In addition to what Enjl said, I think it'd be wise to specify the levels should be beatable without the use of cheats/savestates. In my understanding, the 'Not a Kaizo Level' disqualification term exists because people often mistake kaizo for bad level design, which it really isn't, and I think that would help emphasize it. With that said, disqualifying a submission is still most likely only going to be the last resort (at least for me), since there's always a question of how many submission there even will be in the end. Anyway, I'm looking forward to this!

Added in 28 minutes 50 seconds:
Oh, and one more thing, it should be specified whether or not 38A levels are allowed, just to avoid needless confusion.

[MECHDRAGON777]

Why are we still disqualifying for things in currentyear?
- Not a Kaizo Level: The rubric and contest gimmick's jobs are to ensure that people know what type of level to submit to do well
- The rubric doesn't really do this well, but I'm sure it was the result of its own constructive development process in preparation for this announcement, so maybe I'm just not seeing it for some reason
I was trying to double check everything a week or two before the announcement making sure I did not forget anything. I was asking 55Jedat555, Flatkiwi, and Eclipsed if they thought the the rubric and rules were okay. I may have missed a few things. What I should have done was ask you, and Zygl as well which is a mistake on my own part. As a result, what is a suggestion to the rubric you have? Just because it is a Kaizo contest, does not mean I want a level winning only because it is difficult after all.
- Unbeatable: Talk to the creator post-deadline during level testing and express any concerns about beatability, then fix it before judging if it was an oversight and otherwise penalise during judging (design score)
I actually took this rule from my understanding of "Make a Good Kaizo Level X 1 & 2"
- One level: Just say "your most recent submission counts"?
Yeah, I will go ahead and change that right now since that is way better wording.

In MAGLX3 we only disqualify a level if it was either undownloadable (even after asking the creator for an updated link) or if it's not streamer-friendly (excessive graphic imagery or adult themes). The count sits at 0. There's a case to be made for disqualifying obvious trolls, though.

Also,
- Music length ought to be irrelevant because it doesn't affect a level's quality and is purely organisational for the episode
I originally had it say "6 Megabytes", are you suggesting that I should remove that?
- Aside from end game events literally not working on the maglx3 build (one of the reasons why making episodes for it is a bad idea), removing them is a literal one-minute change if encountered. Again, doesn't affect a level's quality, too and must only be accounted for for the episode.
Noted that I should not just carry over rules from other contests, even if I understand the reasoning behind it.
- Same case for switch palace switch blocks, really.
Noted
- In the FAQ: You say OGG is preferred. It's, infact, only preferred over MP3. What about SPC, MIDI or not having custom music at all? MAGLX3 has some submissions that used OGG files for vanilla music (!) and I just removed those files during testing.
Although I prefer SPC files, I was told that they are not the best way to go for some reason. I remember MIDI files being a tad buggy in SMBX1.3 and never seen them used in SMBX2, so I was unsure if they still bugged out in SMBX2.
- Fun-Factory
If this is a typo I made, then Whoops. Otherwise, I do not understand.

In addition to what Enjl said, I think it'd be wise to specify the levels should be beatable without the use of cheats/savestates. In my understanding, the 'Not a Kaizo Level' disqualification term exists because people often mistake kaizo for bad level design, which it really isn't, and I think that would help emphasize it. With that said, disqualifying a submission is still most likely only going to be the last resort (at least for me), since there's always a question of how many submission there even will be in the end. Anyway, I'm looking forward to this!

Added in 28 minutes 50 seconds:
Oh, and one more thing, it should be specified whether or not 38A levels are allowed, just to avoid needless confusion.

Yeah, I was thinking about people mistakenly submitting SMBX5438A38A levels to the contest while I was trying to fall asleep last night. You are right about the use of Savestates/Cheats. The rule you pointed out is indeed about that often mistake. I should also point out that disqualification of a level has to be considered from all judges as well. I will update the Original Post based on feedback given after this.

Edit: I have fixed a few things in the Original Post. I will do more clean-up to the post after more feedback.

[squp]

I'll give this a go. Count me in please.

[MECHDRAGON777]

Seeing as the deadline has passed, and we have no submissions, I will extend the deadline by thirty-one days.

[Cedur]

Seeing as the deadline has passed, and we have no submissions, I will extend the deadline by thirty-one days.

not surprised at all

[55jedat555]

Mech, did you post on other forums (talkhaus, etc.) yet?

Anyway, even if we end up having no submissions, we could still release our judge levels as a sort of collab, and perhaps even invite people to contribute if they'd be interested.

[Ness-Wednesday]

I'd like to sign up for this, please.

[MECHDRAGON777]

Currently, we have one submission and ten days left.

[MECHDRAGON777]

We have currently two submissions which means the Contest is still going. I hope everyone who intends on submitting can submit in time. 24 hours remain.

[MECHDRAGON777]

I have finally beat loop13's level which mean judging can finally continue. Not recorded however.