Super Mario Bros. X Forums

I'm hosting a Super Mario World Level Contest. Anyone can apply for the contest, but first here are the conditions!

Conditions
ALL graphics must be SMW based. Additionally, all koopa troopas and Galoombas must be the original koopa troopas/galoombas. (You can have a SMW koopa with a snow coat or hazmat suit if it fits better with your level, but it must be a SMW koopa.)
The music must be in the SMW soundfont, whether it be the SMW music that comes already with SMBX or an external source, you must use SMW soundfont music. (You can probably download a song from youtube/SMWcentral if needed)
The level MUST end in a SMW end goal and it must be 11 grid-squares tall with the tape starting on the 10th square up. (The exceptions to this are that you can end a level with a green mystery sphere, castle levels don't require goal posts, and secret exits are... self-explanatory)
It is not 1.4.3, Lunalua is fine, but it is not required.
The levels are to be designed around only Mario and Luigi. (No Toad, Peach, or Link)
Levels must be sent in by 11:59 PM EST February 20
The files must be sent via private message to me. Put the graphics folder and a text document of the level's name in with the level in a zipped folder and name the zipped folder after your username. (If you have custom music have that outside the gfx folder.)
NO KAIZO

THIS CONTEST WILL BE TURNED INTO A FULL EPISODE


I will occasionally return to this topic to see if anyone has entered.

I am also taking 5 additional people as judges, you may apply in the chat, but once all judge slots are full that's it.

Participants: Judges: Good Luck everyone!

I'll have to think about this, seems cool.

Count me in!

There's nothing interesting about this contest that really affects how people make their levels. It just makes all the levels more samey and boring because they are all the same 8 themes. Blocking creativity in a contest is a bad idea

Also why does it have to be in SMW soundfont? It adds nothing and makes it feel like you're just getting people to make levels for some kind of episode that you might be making and don't want to design levels for.

Also you're giving people what, 6 months? That's unnecessarily long for a single level.

Sanct wrote:There's nothing interesting about this contest that really affects how people make their levels. It just makes all the levels more samey and boring because they are all the same 8 themes. Blocking creativity in a contest is a bad idea

Also why does it have to be in SMW soundfont? It adds nothing and makes it feel like you're just getting people to make levels for some kind of episode that you might be making and don't want to design levels for.

Also you're giving people what, 6 months? That's unnecessarily long for a single level.

You should change that, 6 months is something like an episode, this is just a level.

For the themes, I do believe you shouldn't limit the themes. It forces people to be less creative.

And for sound, you definitely should allow any soundfont, like the themes, it forces people to be a little less creative, not as much as the themes, but still.

Sanct wrote:There's nothing interesting about this contest that really affects how people make their levels. It just makes all the levels more samey and boring because they are all the same 8 themes. Blocking creativity in a contest is a bad idea

Also why does it have to be in SMW soundfont? It adds nothing and makes it feel like you're just getting people to make levels for some kind of episode that you might be making and don't want to design levels for.

Also you're giving people what, 6 months? That's unnecessarily long for a single level.

1. They don't NEED to go by the themes I provided, they can talk to me about it.
2. I'd say it's rather creative if you can make a cool level with the given themes.
3. I'm going to be making this into a SMW styled episode with these, therefore everything must be SMW themed.
4. As far as it goes with "it feel like you're just getting people to make levels for some kind of episode that you might be making and don't want to design levels for.", I wanted to allow people to all contribute and see what we could all do together. With everyone contributing we could make a nice SMW themed episode, and I will be contributing as well.
5. I don't want an imposing deadline and 6 months helps me to be able to assess everything and make the overworld for said episode.
6. Why are you bothering even saying this if it doesn't affect you? If you don't want to join, just move on.

That all being said, for anyone else I will say this : When I had this idea, I only had cooperation in mind, so please don't be angry that I wanted to unite people with this event...

CraftedPbody wrote:1. They don't NEED to go by the themes I provided, they can talk to me about it.

2. I'd say it's rather creative if you can make a cool level with the given themes.
3. I'm going to be making this into a SMW styled episode with these, therefore everything must be SMW themed.
4. As far as it goes with "it feel like you're just getting people to make levels for some kind of episode that you might be making and don't want to design levels for.", I wanted to allow people to all contribute and see what we could all do together. With everyone contributing we could make a nice SMW themed episode, and I will be contributing as well.
5. I don't want an imposing deadline and 6 months helps me to be able to assess everything and make the overworld for said episode.
6. Why are you bothering even saying this if it doesn't affect you? If you don't want to join, just move on.

That all being said, for anyone else I will say this : When I had this idea, I only had cooperation in mind, so please don't be angry that I wanted to unite people with this event...

1. From the way you're wording it, it seems like you're still gonna be severely limiting people who do anything creative
2. Yeah well, the fact that you would say that doesn't mean shit, fact is, the themes you picked are in 99% of mario games and people are tired of them.
3. Except you NEVER SAID THIS ANYWHERE, THIS IS REALLY SHADY
4. Putting your point into 2 points to make it seem like you have more to defend yourself with is also very shady
5. You don't need 6 months for that, you could make a vanilla SMW world map very easily in like 5 days
6. The "If it doesn't affect you, you shouldn't care" attitude is awful and I'm just trying to help by giving you criticism

I'm not mad about you trying to "unite" people, but the way you're doing it seems like your goal is just benefiting and making an episode out of this

As someone who has recently been very absorbed in SMW and SMW rom hacks...
1) theme stuff is superfluous and limiting. Having to talk to you when someone wants to make a crystal cave, factory or space level with SMW assets is just spoiling the surprise.
2) SMW soundfont is a nice idea. ONLY because of all the super cool vldc music though. Also, guys, there's a bunch of spc files on super mario world central for free use and 2.0 can open .spc files. Sooo...
3) speaking of that... Lunalua basically is 2.0. By not allowing 2.0 you're doing two things: 1. disallowing spc files, therefore bloating filesize of the episode like crazy (spc are a few hundred kilobytes), and 2. removing magikoopa, maverick thwomps, boo circles, boo snake, diagonal podoboo, starman and bony beetles. 7 SMW NPCs that are part of vanilla 2.0.
4) You should've said that episode thing from the start.
4.1) usually contests go like: signup --> submission --> judging --> episode
5) Secret exit rule is stupid, too. Especially since most people suck at making secret exits and not every level can incorporate a good secret exit. I've also seen nice ghost houses with one exit and castles with multiple.
6) You're forgetting Ghost Ship from your list of level themes, as well as all hybrid themes.
7) Exit rule is limiting, too. A vertical level has little reason to have a goal tape unless you append a filler section at the end. It feels like a way to make the level less individual.

Overall, I think only SMW graphics and SMW music should be rules here. Would certainly make the roster of levels much more diverse.
Also, all participants: Listen to these:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOI8KxpX2Q4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=793G25UDJ1I

Sanct wrote: 1. From the way you're wording it, it seems like you're still gonna be severely limiting people who do anything creative
2. Yeah well, the fact that you would say that doesn't mean shit, fact is, the themes you picked are in 99% of mario games and people are tired of them.
3. Except you NEVER SAID THIS ANYWHERE, THIS IS REALLY SHADY
4. Putting your point into 2 points to make it seem like you have more to defend yourself with is also very shady
5. You don't need 6 months for that, you could make a vanilla SMW world map very easily in like 5 days
6. The "If it doesn't affect you, you shouldn't care" attitude is awful and I'm just trying to help by giving you criticism

I'm not mad about you trying to "unite" people, but the way you're doing it seems like your goal is just benefiting and making an episode out of this

1. I can tell you with full confidence, I will not be limiting
2. You don't need to be nasty about it, again, people could make other styles if they want and lunalua expands that even further. People can be tired of them, but that's because most modern day nintendo stuff is plastic feeling, which is why people are tired of them.
3. That's a good argument, I am sorry for not making this more clear. That being said, all contests I've seen have it as just an assumed thing that it will be an episode.
4. Again, no need to be nasty towards me.
5. I want to go all out with the overworld. I planned on making custom GFX to suit the levels that participants make. (also part of why I limited the themes and why I want people to tell me about their special themes.)
6. Criticism is not the same as attacking someone, what you did felt like I was being attacked.

Sanct wrote: 1. From the way you're wording it, it seems like you're still gonna be severely limiting people who do anything creative
2. Yeah well, the fact that you would say that doesn't mean shit, fact is, the themes you picked are in 99% of mario games and people are tired of them.
3. Except you NEVER SAID THIS ANYWHERE, THIS IS REALLY SHADY
4. Putting your point into 2 points to make it seem like you have more to defend yourself with is also very shady
5. You don't need 6 months for that, you could make a vanilla SMW world map very easily in like 5 days
6. The "If it doesn't affect you, you shouldn't care" attitude is awful and I'm just trying to help by giving you criticism

I'm not mad about you trying to "unite" people, but the way you're doing it seems like your goal is just benefiting and making an episode out of this

1.If this project is bothering you, tough luck. You're not really going to achive something by stalling a collaboration.
2. So what if these themes are in 99.9% of all Mario levels? People can still do something creative with them.
3. Well, you quoted him saying it, so I guess that's not too shady at all.
4. Isn't "having more to defend yourself with" kind of a good thing?
5. There are lots of people here that have ranging level building and LunaLua experience.
6. Criticism is good to a certain extent, but yes, that kind of attitude doesn't exactly help in a situation like this.

Ok this is a better criticism, let's see how I can address this...
1. well I explained most of this, but to shorten my response, theme limits help me to work on the overworld (this includes custom gfx that I will be making)
2. thank you.
3. I didn't know this, I will change that rule.
4. noted.
5. I can see how this is a concern, but I trust that people ambitious enough to go for these would be good with making secret exits.
6. Sorry, I did forget the ghost ship, but hybrids are kind of just assumed I would think...
7. I don't see how that would make it feel less individual, but since it's a concern, I will mend the condition.

The one issue I'm having with your planning is really that you want to do the overworld while the contest is going on, yet you're planning it in a way that it is a response to the levels submitted.
VLDC9 did a similar thing to what you're trying to do by basing elements on the overworld on the levels that are placed on the dots. However, this map was made after submissions were over, and it shows. Especially on the submaps, a lot of the graphics do a really good job at representing the levels:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRMGg6YL8JA

I suggest shortening the signup and submission period and moving the overworld period at the end. People around here are used to waiting for months for contest episodes :p

Enjl wrote:The one issue I'm having with your planning is really that you want to do the overworld while the contest is going on, yet you're planning it in a way that it is a response to the levels submitted.
VLDC9 did a similar thing to what you're trying to do by basing elements on the overworld on the levels that are placed on the dots. However, this map was made after submissions were over, and it shows. Especially on the submaps, a lot of the graphics do a really good job at representing the levels:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRMGg6YL8JA

I suggest shortening the signup and submission period and moving the overworld period at the end. People around here are used to waiting for months for contest episodes :p

Alright thanks. The only other concern I have about shortening the deadline is that some people will probably feel pressured and also people have more time with this deadline to sign up. that being said, I'll shorten it to 3 months.

3 months is still too long for a level imo but ok.

practicalshorty014 wrote:

Sanct wrote: 1. From the way you're wording it, it seems like you're still gonna be severely limiting people who do anything creative
2. Yeah well, the fact that you would say that doesn't mean shit, fact is, the themes you picked are in 99% of mario games and people are tired of them.
3. Except you NEVER SAID THIS ANYWHERE, THIS IS REALLY SHADY
4. Putting your point into 2 points to make it seem like you have more to defend yourself with is also very shady
5. You don't need 6 months for that, you could make a vanilla SMW world map very easily in like 5 days
6. The "If it doesn't affect you, you shouldn't care" attitude is awful and I'm just trying to help by giving you criticism

I'm not mad about you trying to "unite" people, but the way you're doing it seems like your goal is just benefiting and making an episode out of this

1.If this project is bothering you, tough luck. You're not really going to achive something by stalling a collaboration.
2. So what if these themes are in 99.9% of all Mario levels? People can still do something creative with them.
3. Well, you quoted him saying it, so I guess that's not too shady at all.
4. Isn't "having more to defend yourself with" kind of a good thing?
5. There are lots of people here that have ranging level building and LunaLua experience.
6. Criticism is good to a certain extent, but yes, that kind of attitude doesn't exactly help in a situation like this.

I love the numbering thing going on here:
1. Sanct is just trying to help make this more successful, else he wouldn't have posted at all.
2. But limiting themes so much is just not necessary, especially of people can just ask to do another thing.
3. But he never said so in the OP.
4. (No comment)
5. Yeah but 6 months is too long. The chances of this getting abandonned or forgotten about are high after that much time and level design skills can really evolve over that amount of time such that something someone makes now they might hate later.
6. Sometimes a cold, rational voice is needed to kick people into action.

Anyway, I would enter this if you were to actually have a judge panel first, allow any theme as long as it resides within SMW, shorten the deadline to one month like other contests, and put the tiny piece about how you're actually going to take people's levels for your own episode (kinda REALLLY important) in the OP

Nah, im in :p

I would like to join, and maybe even judge. the SMW music should be easy, and 2.0 being allowed helps. I have plans for this, good luck fitting it in a world map though.

I love SMW,so I'm in.
But I don't know how to use/start with LunaLua unfortunently. I'll go with regular level without using LunaLua. *Faints*

I will sign up as a judge, but not join the contest as I am already in a contest right now.

might be more clear if you say something like 'your music must be an .spc' because then it's forced to be snes music