Level Contest 7 - Topic 2 - THE WINNER

[Firespike33]

Again, it was only about 10 minutes long (maybe less) for me because the checkpoint teleported me to the above-the-tower area. Also, I guess 4/10 is a little low, but it had some really annoying flaws (cut-off rain, not very interesting boss, tower section was slow, irritating backtracking after death) and there wasn't that much I liked about the small areas that I played in.

For me, 5/10 means the pros and cons balance each other out. 4/10 means it's below average (due to some bad design choices, in this case), but not a really bad level. There wasn't anything I really liked about it, so I don't have a reason to give it a very good score. I regret getting the first checkpoint which teleports you and not playing the whole level, though, because I may have given it a higher score if that was the case (if I even managed to complete it). Sorry.

Also, I have to agree with the others. Making a level that's forty-five minutes long is cruel.

[MECHDRAGON777]

Again, it was only about 10 minutes long (maybe less) for me because the checkpoint teleported me to the above-the-tower area. Also, I guess 4/10 is a little low, but it had some really annoying flaws (cut-off rain, not very interesting boss, tower section was slow, irritating backtracking after death) and there wasn't that much I liked about the small areas that I played in.

For me, 5/10 means the pros and cons balance each other out. 4/10 means it's below average (due to some bad design choices, in this case), but not a really bad level. There wasn't anything I really liked about it, so I don't have a reason to give it a very good score. I regret getting the first checkpoint which teleports you and not playing the whole level, though, because I may have given it a higher score if that was the case (if I even managed to complete it). Sorry.

Also, I have to agree with the others. Making a level that's forty-five minutes long is cruel.

That was when I 100%ed it though! Also, How would you not play the whole level because of the check-point? What back-tracking is required if you got the first or second one? I just thought the review was a bit Bias since you did not clarify any of that in your review! All you said it was short, easy, and slow paced! That is why a 4/10 made no sense! I guess I should fell somewhat honored, but I think I did better in CC6 with 33/36, eve if I got more points this time around! It is hard to imagine something that was not true to be worth such a down-grade!

What Back-tracking is involved. If there is any, it is to get the Moon-Coin-Star, or the Ice-Fire Star! The Ice-Yoshi did not require Back-tracking. The one hidden in the pipe took none. I do not see any use of Backtracking!

As for the Checkpoint warp, It only warps you if you got the check-point star and it telepors you to the checkpoint, but you can go back to the checkpoint if you fall during the Lemmy battle!

The boss was meant to be more of a Dodge challenge, but oh well!

[Kyo]

Even if you took forty-five minutes for a 100% run, that's still quite a lot, and you are the creator and thus familiar with the level. I didn't play your level yet, (obviously, I can't yet) but the unfamiliar player will take at least twice as long as your 100% run, because they are forced to search through this gigantic level that took you, the creator, forty-five minutes long for one run. Counting deaths and places that the unfamiliar player would search in hope to find stars, they will exceed the time you needed for the 100% run very likely. I don't dislike a level with seven stars. It's good to force the player to investigate the player, but hands down, this kind of level is kinda inappropriate for a contest, and that's one of the situations where I wouldn't blame a judge to give you a low score. I can imagine your level is quite good, but not that good as a contest level.

[Firespike33]

I've said this before, but the first checkpoint teleports you to the second one, and the third one is useless; I don't know what a "checkpoint star" is. Also, I said backtracking AFTER DEATH. Getting to the boss again is annoying, even though it'll only take a few tries. Once again, I regret not just ignoring the checkpoint to get to the rest of the level. I just grab checkpoints by default.

[Djukation]

Hahah 36th nice
This is my first contest and I like the constructive feedback from most of the judges
I did indeed forgot to replace the munchers . The level was made for my episode but that never worked out so I edited a lot and i thought i removed all of the unnecessary and unfitting things, but oh well. All in all this is good :DD
Good luck to other contestants!!

[MECHDRAGON777]

I've said this before, but the first checkpoint teleports you to the second one, and the third one is useless; I don't know what a "checkpoint star" is. Also, I said backtracking AFTER DEATH. Getting to the boss again is annoying, even though it'll only take a few tries. Once again, I regret not just ignoring the checkpoint to get to the rest of the level. I just grab checkpoints by default.

I still do not see what backtracking is needed if you die in the level though, but I was going solely off of the review you gave!

[Dragonmaster146]

I wasn't expecting to be in the top 20s since my level is difficult. Or at least through my experience.

[MECHDRAGON777]

I wasn't expecting to be in the top 20s since my level is difficult. Or at least through my experience.

You did better then me, but To bad I lost my desire to Tie for first with Bossedit8! I wish you luck bossedit8 along with others!I hope You proof yourself again for making me want to tie with you!

[Emral]

MECHDRAGON777, I'm pretty sure this is your best contest, so I wouldn't complain that much.

I agree. Besides, you shouldn't be the one complaining anyways. I hope you learned your lesson, though: It doesn't matter how packed, dense or long your level is. I mean... my level is beatable in 3 minutes and I got into Top 20.
Okay, mine shouldn't take longer than 10 minutes to 100%

Anyways... The result of your excessively long level is that many people, including me, are going to skip it after trying once or twice. I heard that one star from every level except for the joke tier will be required to win the game, but there are enough 2-star levels before yours.

[RudeGuy]

The lenght of the level make it more difficult, so, to do not have a hard level, you must make the gameplay a bit easier. This is what I did with my level.
Also, if your level is easy, people will replay it though they died many times.

[Valtteri]

Tier 5 is up! Congratulations to everyone who's still in:

Bomber57
Chad
Darkonius64
Emral
Quill
reghrhre
sezixor
Shinbison-Kof
Sux
TNTtimelord

[Megar]

YOU'VE GOT THIS BOMBER

[Emral]

in this order ^^

[icez]

Wow I did better then I ever expected to do 15th place is pretty good by me I am glad to see how my hard paid off

[Megar]

as if bomber's going to get 10th

[zlaker]

Well 14th place isn't a bad spot. I was excpecting top 10, but I'm happy anyway. Good luck to the rest of you

[Fuyu]

Spoiler: show

17. Natsu - Tricky Brick Bastion (8.022/10)

• castlewars: 8.11/10
  If I had to guess who made this level, I would probably assume Darkonius Mavakar might have made this. The whole level is built entirely out of a tileset based on a couple of special blocks, and is centred on varying puzzles such as sniffing out the switches and then using them. The switches were used really effectively and weren't overused just to make nearby paths appear but also to re-open earlier paths already switched off, and they collectively form a path to the level's boss. Even with those thrown in, the level remains faithful to the original SMB3 fortress levels, in particular the first fortress in world 3, which has only one true door, and the rest lead to a water pit. Something similar has been done in this level, but in the lava section where all the wrong doors lead, it's quite hard jumping because the player is surrounded by lava: one false step can result in a fiery death. That, with the addition of the switch puzzle, and having to open doors, makes the level an interesting blend of overused level ideas which have been used in rather original ways as to not tire out already overused gimmicks, but the level is a bit long despite all this, and the switch gimmick does get a bit repetitive as they're just doing that in the latter part of the level, aside from the Mouser boss, which was quite enjoyable, in that there was a lava pit separating the player from the boss.
  Chad: 8/10
  Excellent fortress. The design and gimmicks are mostly standard for an SMB3 castle, but they feel very polished in terms of construction and are handled really well. The firebars, conveyors, skull raft, switches, keys, and door maze all make up a great variety of dangers and puzzles to put the player through. I especially like how you handled the doors, as each wrong door isn't super punishing except for having to redo a certain small room. Great second star location too, and I like the shortcut warps that are placed after certain objectives. The tileset and background tiles look nice as well, except it might be good to darken either the background tiles or background itself, as their thin edges make them blend in a little for me. I also think the midpoint should be moved back a bit because Mouser by himself doesn't really make up a full second half of the level. The greater distance to throw the bombs certainly does add some challenge, though.
  Firespike33: 9/10
  Well-designed and very polished. The graphical theme is good, being smooth, clean and fancy (looking a bit like a palace). It’s fairly linear, but the elements of repeated backtracking are actually pretty satisfying. There’s a hidden star that honestly isn’t very well-hidden, but you still have to be clever enough to find it. I like the hall of doors, where all but one send you back into the lava-filled room. The other parts of the level, while not super original, were amazingly polished and well-designed. There are few secrets and little free exploration, but it was still good.
  The boss was Mouser. It seems impossible until you jump onto the platform he’s standing on. After that, the fight is easy: just drop his own bombs next to him until he’s blown up. Overall, it’s a high-quality level.
  Quill: 7/10
  Neat level! I really enjoyed the variety in this level. The design was fairly basic, but it was interesting enough. I liked the maze and it took me a while to figure out the Dry Bones indicated which door to take (at least that's how I think the maze works). Some indication to how the maze works would have been nice. The boss was kinda weird as most of the time Mouser just threw the bombs into the laval, but overall this was a nice level!
  Valtteri: 8/10
  I enjoyed this level, except for the door maze, that was mean in my opinion. But other than that, it's a really solid level, and I kind of like how it mixes switches and the lock gates, it feels new somehow.

17th, huh? Well, can't complain after getting this far.

@castlewars: Really? There are a lot of differences between Darkonius' designing style and mine. =P

Well, I sort of knew that I might've overdone it with the lava room, and once I realized it was too late, considering it was time to review the levels already. But hey, I'm pretty much satisfied with my score, and I can't complain as I will win next time. >:D

Thanks for your review.

@Chad: I'd guess that darkening the BGOs would have been better. Thanks for your review.

@Firespike33: Was it really possible to reach his platform? I guess I have a lot of stuff to keep working on then. Thanks for your review.

@Quill: Good work finding out, pretty clever aren't you?

Nah, I honestly didn't place it so you people would find your way through the maze, but it seems it helped someone, at least. =P

Thanks for your review.

@Valtteri: Mean!!??!?!!11!?!

Spoiler: show

Not really. I guess the lava room wasn't fair enough, but the maze was supposed to be challenging, and refreshing, after all it hasn't been done since SMB3. Thanks for your review.

Thank you guys for your reviews, I really enjoyed being part of this contest, now to find out how far the rest gets to.



EDIT: Also, can I post my level now?

[Darkonius Mavakar]

Castlewars should really stop guessing the level designers in his reviews gosh darnit.

also am i seriously in the top 10...?
...wow...
and i think i jinxed it again

[Chris900J]

Well, well, well. I got PRETTY close to the top 10. I don't want to sound cocky or anything like that, but I'm kinda proud of myself, considering this is my first contest ever. Congratulations to everyone that is in the top 10!

[Navi]

"This SM3DL-influenced level is just so gorgeous. Everywhere the player goes, they are required to do some form of exploration in order to get ahold of the really unique gimmicks that make up this level, and what I really liked was the idea that new, special gimmicks are mixed in with old, overused ones such as switches. First off, the idea of a carryable NPC with nogravity=1 enabled is rather unique and original, as they are required to use it to collect one of the Ace Coins. Second off, the idea of a timed red coin hunt is interesting and well-thought out, but the player does not know when the timer is going to run out, and I liked the Mystery Box gimmick as well, which is also rather original. As well as in the gimmicks, the level excels brilliantly in terms of design and the combination of both castle and cloud tiles has been used before, but here the two have been spun around to create a unique texture, particularly with the music notes inside the cloud tiles, creating a level looking almost as if shinbison had made it. However, the spike placement is a little off as a few are placed right next to mushroom platforms meaning that the jump is restricted so hitting the spike is likely. But the pros outweigh the cons here so this level is deserved of a high score. Snow Luigi Revamped, I won't be surprised if your level wins the contest."

"Snow Luigi Revamped, I won't be surprised if your level wins the contest."

"I WON'T BE SURPRISED IF..."

"YOUR LEVEL..."

"WINS THE CONTEST."

say wuuuuuuuuuut i didn't collaborate with his level
He added it on purpose to add some called "eyecandy".