The gimmick of this contest is that you can make any level you want, on the account of it visually or thematically based around a color of your choosing.
And if this contest goes well enough, I definitely intend to have more in the future.
The Rules
Violating Red Rules will result in disqualification
Violating Orange Rules will result in a 10 point penalty for each orange rule broken
Green Rules are things that are permitted
Only Submit A level of your own work, no stealing or modifying another level and then submitting it
No Teams of anymore than two
Please Make your level on the SMBX2 PAL / MAGLX3 version
Only Submit One Level, Anymore Will Be Disqualified, Changing your entry however is okay as long as the deadline hasn’t passed
Submit Before The Deadline
No Music Tracks longer than six minutes
No Joke, Kaizo or Creepypasta Levels
No including anymore than three stars in a level
You must assume that your level can be completed with Mario, if you’re meant to use another character, use character blocks
Level Must End With A Star
Make sure your start position is in the right place so that the judges don’t have to move it there when judging
Lunalua Is Permitted
Custom Graphics are permitted
Custom music is permitted
Theming your level around more than one color is okay
Judges
PersonNamedUser
Mechdragon
Radiance
Inferno
-
Backup Judge
this judge will judge the judges themselves’ submissions.
Cedur
Contestants
Contestants that have submitted will be bolded.
Saltlord
Mechdragon
Cedur
Thehelmetguy1
gbradley231
Drmekar
Cato
Ness-Wednesday
8luestorm & Airship
littch
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Judging Rubric
Your level will be judged out of 100 points under four criteria, being Level Design & Gameplay, Creativity, Visuals, and Replayability.
Level Design & Gameplay 50/50
How well did you design your level and fun was it to play?
Creativity 25/25
How creative was the level? Did it do something original with it’s design and as such make itself pretty memorable, or did it feel like you were just playing a level that you’ve already seen before with no spice added to it?
Visuals 20/20
How well implemented are the visuals? Are they pleasant to look at? Do they not negatively impact the gameplay? And most importantly, how well did the stage intergrate its assigned color?
Replayability 5/5
Did the level make enough impact that it’d be worth revisiting? Or is it something that you play once, enjoy it or what have you and then move on?
How to Submit
submit to me or one of the other judges a zip file containing the graphics folder, level file and custom music in DM over discord(Or PM if you’re reading this on the SMBX forums).
Prize
(For members of my discord server) the winner will receive the Contest winner role as well as a spot in the #hall-of-fame channel on my discord server with their level, information about it, a screenshot, and a link to either the thread or download link(depending on what said winner wants).
Deadline
As the Autumn Vanilla Contest is going on right now and I'm sure anyone reading this is already busy with that, I’ll give you until January 7th to finish your entries. Note that this deadline isn’t strict and i’d Be obliged to extend it if need be.
Update
due to the amount of time the Autumn Vanilla Contest took, the deadline is now on January 28th instead.
Results
7th Place: Crimson Caverns by gbradley231(42.33/100)
Spoiler: show
Mechdragon777 [35/100]
Level Design & Gameplay: 7/50
Creativity: 9/25
Visuals: 17/20
Replayability: 2/5
Level is quite cramped with lava and podoboos that are on slopped ground. Even the third starcoin (excluding the impossible sections) requires getting uncomfortably close to lava. While playing the level, it appears to have been tested small, but not completely either as the warp that takes you to the third Star Coin has the wrong exit direction which as a result; instantly kills you if you are not small.
Guess: gbradley231
Radiance [57/100]
Level Design: 36/50
It’s a slightly difficult level wherein there are several lava-filled corridors which creates artificial difficulty spikes. Although I am not fond of sudden difficulties, I was amazed by the creator since every time I go into a lava corridor, it gets trickier and trickier. It would have been nice if the creator had put a checkpoint after those corridors. But the level doesn’t have any checkpoints so ):
There are also spacious spots wherein nothing is going on so I can tell that it balances the said difficulty spikes.
I am also not fond of Podoboos during a Skull Raft ride. Not only is it tricky to dodge but it also increases the chance of the player falling into the lava. It would be better if you sticked with Blaargs and Swoopers.
Power-ups are scattered nicely but there are barely coins throughout the level which is odd since it’s an average SMW level.
The Dragon Coin placement is pretty decent except for the last Dragon Coin which is located in an unfinished section. If you are going to scrap a section, make sure to remove the warps connected to it and if there is something in the scrapped section, put that somewhere else which is reachable by the player.
Creativity: 13/25
It’s a pretty standard level with skull rafts and all thus, it feels uncreative for an average SMW volcano/cave type of level.
Plus points for the usage of tight lava corridors for added difficulty though.
Visuals: 4/20
Not because you picked the color red does not mean you should use the same shade of red for every graphic. It’s difficult to distinguish which is lava and which is land when you play it the first time. Also take note that the shade of red you used is painful to the eyes.
Replayability: 4/5
Despite the unappealing visuals, this level made me replay it several times due to its difficulty curve. The level difficulty rose nicely and so are the difficulty spikes.
Inferno [35/100]
Level Design & Gameplay 14/50
What even is this. This level is just not good. It's bland, empty, no real gimmick, this might as well be a level from the Princess Cliche. The first section is fine, but the many ? blocks at the start is unnessary, the one slope slide is a giant leap of faith along with some other areas. And the pipe at the end of section 1 that goes up that leads to a section with a propellor block to get a mushroom at the top was uselessly needed. I tried grabbing that mushroom and it went right into the lava. The area with the final star coin is stupid too, cause after going up, you cant come down due to a sizeable being in your way, and coming out of that warp just might as well kill you cause you'll glitch out guranteed, I had to "donthurtme shadowstar" myself out of it. And their isnt many enemies either. I'm not even sure if this was play tested as well! Huge need of improving and needs work.
Creativity 11/25
Its a generic level, and its one of those "Oh god, a lava level, here we go again!" type ones as well.
Visuals 9/20
SMW is one of my favorite styles, but GOD the tileset and background really hurt my eyes with how bright it was.
Replayability 1/5
As I said, this is something that looks like it came from the Princess cliche, and I would probably never replay this level, this just wasn't good period. But their is room for improvement, please take advantage and play test it next time.
Total:
35/100
Guess: Cato
Level Design & Gameplay: 7/50
Creativity: 9/25
Visuals: 17/20
Replayability: 2/5
Level is quite cramped with lava and podoboos that are on slopped ground. Even the third starcoin (excluding the impossible sections) requires getting uncomfortably close to lava. While playing the level, it appears to have been tested small, but not completely either as the warp that takes you to the third Star Coin has the wrong exit direction which as a result; instantly kills you if you are not small.
Guess: gbradley231
Radiance [57/100]
Level Design: 36/50
It’s a slightly difficult level wherein there are several lava-filled corridors which creates artificial difficulty spikes. Although I am not fond of sudden difficulties, I was amazed by the creator since every time I go into a lava corridor, it gets trickier and trickier. It would have been nice if the creator had put a checkpoint after those corridors. But the level doesn’t have any checkpoints so ):
There are also spacious spots wherein nothing is going on so I can tell that it balances the said difficulty spikes.
I am also not fond of Podoboos during a Skull Raft ride. Not only is it tricky to dodge but it also increases the chance of the player falling into the lava. It would be better if you sticked with Blaargs and Swoopers.
Power-ups are scattered nicely but there are barely coins throughout the level which is odd since it’s an average SMW level.
The Dragon Coin placement is pretty decent except for the last Dragon Coin which is located in an unfinished section. If you are going to scrap a section, make sure to remove the warps connected to it and if there is something in the scrapped section, put that somewhere else which is reachable by the player.
Creativity: 13/25
It’s a pretty standard level with skull rafts and all thus, it feels uncreative for an average SMW volcano/cave type of level.
Plus points for the usage of tight lava corridors for added difficulty though.
Visuals: 4/20
Not because you picked the color red does not mean you should use the same shade of red for every graphic. It’s difficult to distinguish which is lava and which is land when you play it the first time. Also take note that the shade of red you used is painful to the eyes.
Replayability: 4/5
Despite the unappealing visuals, this level made me replay it several times due to its difficulty curve. The level difficulty rose nicely and so are the difficulty spikes.
Inferno [35/100]
Level Design & Gameplay 14/50
What even is this. This level is just not good. It's bland, empty, no real gimmick, this might as well be a level from the Princess Cliche. The first section is fine, but the many ? blocks at the start is unnessary, the one slope slide is a giant leap of faith along with some other areas. And the pipe at the end of section 1 that goes up that leads to a section with a propellor block to get a mushroom at the top was uselessly needed. I tried grabbing that mushroom and it went right into the lava. The area with the final star coin is stupid too, cause after going up, you cant come down due to a sizeable being in your way, and coming out of that warp just might as well kill you cause you'll glitch out guranteed, I had to "donthurtme shadowstar" myself out of it. And their isnt many enemies either. I'm not even sure if this was play tested as well! Huge need of improving and needs work.
Creativity 11/25
Its a generic level, and its one of those "Oh god, a lava level, here we go again!" type ones as well.
Visuals 9/20
SMW is one of my favorite styles, but GOD the tileset and background really hurt my eyes with how bright it was.
Replayability 1/5
As I said, this is something that looks like it came from the Princess cliche, and I would probably never replay this level, this just wasn't good period. But their is room for improvement, please take advantage and play test it next time.
Total:
35/100
Guess: Cato
6th Place: Plume Beds by Ness-Wednesday (45.66/100)
Spoiler: show
Mechdragon777 [75/100]
Level Design & Gameplay: 32/50
Creativity: 23/25
Visuals: 17/20
Replayability: 3/5
I had lua errors when playing this level, though it might be from playing on Beta 4. Level was annoyingly long and was unbeatable. It is rare to get me lost like that.
Okay, playing this in Pal shows how annoying the sound effects are. The second star coin is actually quite tight and mean, but the overabundance of Ice flower blocks is really a hinderance to any form of difficulty. I noticed that the Spike never broke the glass in any rendeition of the level either. Also; though it is not affecting the score, I recomend against using music with vocals in it. (At least when it comes to cases like these.)
Guess: Ness-Wednesday
Radiance [28/100]
Level Design: 10/50
It has too many gimmicks that most of them haven’t been explored. In fact the creator has introduced many gimmicks that I felt dizzy already playing with it.
Plus points for the usage of the ice flower to create a bridge for toxic water tho. Although short, I can see it developed somehow.
I can’t tell if this is supposed to be an open area or not. The warps are just there, you don’t know if you’re getting off-track or not. There’s a lack of direction hints to tell which is the main path and which is the path for Dragon coins.
There’s a lava chase on the second half of the level and it feels more frustrating than difficult. I suggest reducing the number of enemies and hazards during the lava chase. The fire from thunder of Sumo Bro adds the mood of the chase, however it makes the chase way too frustrating considering how fast the lava moves.
Also, the player is given an egg with a Lakitu’s shoe. The player is only required to pass through two upward flames and that’s it. Please tell me it’s not supposed to be in there as it destroys the flow of your level.
There are so many gimmicks introduced in the level but none of them appear on the boss fight. The steam or the toxic water could have appear at a set interval. The firebreath thingy could have appeared as well. The ice blocks can be used to defeat the boss. The ghost goombas can be an additional hazard during the boss fight considering the battleground has level warp on. Many ideas could have been implemented on the boss battle but the creator settled for the nice symmetry of the tilesets and that’s it.
If the ice physics counts maybe it’s fine but it seems the creator just added the ice blocks to create a nice contrast between the two tilesets he had used. However, the difficulty just dropped after the lava chase. It should have ended there.
Creativity: 13/25
It has several elements to spice the level up (e.g. upward flames, spikes, toxic water + ice ball + fish bones) but that’s only it.
Visuals: 5/20
It seems the creator also mixed up all the themes they could think of. It’s volcano, ice, factory, wasteland and cave at the same time. It could have been pull off better if it sticked with two themes, volcano/ice, which is dominant all throughout the level.
The tilesets and the BGOs used are actually fitting on the theme however, the fact that the creator used fog while including ghost goombas just can not justify what I said in the first phrase of this sentence.
The toxic water doesn’t seem toxic at first glance so I jumped right away. I never thought the fish bones is already a sign. If they were put in a more conspicuous location, this could be prevented.
This level has become a trial and error to know which will harm the player and which will not harm the player. The firebreath thingy + the fire BGO should have been both hurtful or both harmless. The steam should be harmless since the fog’s intensity doesn’t harm the player OR it shouldn’t have appeared since the firebreath thingy is present already.
Replayability: 0/5
Not only it is frustrating to play with, it has also annoying SFX which made me lose my will to replay the level.
Inferno[34/100]
Level Design & Gameplay 21/50
This level was sure as heck something, it was not enjoyable to say the least. Really bad enemy placement, very annoying gimmicks, everything, just no bueno for me. The ghost Goombas were annoying to deal with, the fire cracks that spew dino torch flames have a bad delay, and you don't give someone a kuribo shoe for a level like this, its just a thing for players to cheese it with. The evacuation section was hell to get through, enemy placement, yet again bad in it, the Sumo Bro lightning spread was also bad, and the torches returned to make life even more worse for me. The boss at the end was random, but cool at the same time, and I liked the Meta Knight joke. But that doesn't excuse for how bad this level was, the sound effects were fine, but really got annoying, and the extended moveset mainly the ground pound really sucked. But there can be room for improvement to fix up the level for how it is, so do that.
Creativity 11/25
Okay so a lava and ice themed level is cool, I don't see them often, but theres nothing else exciting to this.
Visuals 11/20
Aesthetics were somewhat fine, but it was annoying to deal with as things like the fog were annoying mainly with those pesky ghost Goombas floating about.
Replayability 2/5
This level is just fine, but not good though, I would sorta replay it to say the least. But there is definite room for improvement, but it needs work.
Total:
34/100
(-10 point deduction due to not being a Mario playable level. Even if Luigi was similar, it does not excuse that as their physics are different.)
Guess: Jivysaur/Ness-Wednesday
Level Design & Gameplay: 32/50
Creativity: 23/25
Visuals: 17/20
Replayability: 3/5
I had lua errors when playing this level, though it might be from playing on Beta 4. Level was annoyingly long and was unbeatable. It is rare to get me lost like that.
Okay, playing this in Pal shows how annoying the sound effects are. The second star coin is actually quite tight and mean, but the overabundance of Ice flower blocks is really a hinderance to any form of difficulty. I noticed that the Spike never broke the glass in any rendeition of the level either. Also; though it is not affecting the score, I recomend against using music with vocals in it. (At least when it comes to cases like these.)
Guess: Ness-Wednesday
Radiance [28/100]
Level Design: 10/50
It has too many gimmicks that most of them haven’t been explored. In fact the creator has introduced many gimmicks that I felt dizzy already playing with it.
Plus points for the usage of the ice flower to create a bridge for toxic water tho. Although short, I can see it developed somehow.
I can’t tell if this is supposed to be an open area or not. The warps are just there, you don’t know if you’re getting off-track or not. There’s a lack of direction hints to tell which is the main path and which is the path for Dragon coins.
There’s a lava chase on the second half of the level and it feels more frustrating than difficult. I suggest reducing the number of enemies and hazards during the lava chase. The fire from thunder of Sumo Bro adds the mood of the chase, however it makes the chase way too frustrating considering how fast the lava moves.
Also, the player is given an egg with a Lakitu’s shoe. The player is only required to pass through two upward flames and that’s it. Please tell me it’s not supposed to be in there as it destroys the flow of your level.
There are so many gimmicks introduced in the level but none of them appear on the boss fight. The steam or the toxic water could have appear at a set interval. The firebreath thingy could have appeared as well. The ice blocks can be used to defeat the boss. The ghost goombas can be an additional hazard during the boss fight considering the battleground has level warp on. Many ideas could have been implemented on the boss battle but the creator settled for the nice symmetry of the tilesets and that’s it.
If the ice physics counts maybe it’s fine but it seems the creator just added the ice blocks to create a nice contrast between the two tilesets he had used. However, the difficulty just dropped after the lava chase. It should have ended there.
Creativity: 13/25
It has several elements to spice the level up (e.g. upward flames, spikes, toxic water + ice ball + fish bones) but that’s only it.
Visuals: 5/20
It seems the creator also mixed up all the themes they could think of. It’s volcano, ice, factory, wasteland and cave at the same time. It could have been pull off better if it sticked with two themes, volcano/ice, which is dominant all throughout the level.
The tilesets and the BGOs used are actually fitting on the theme however, the fact that the creator used fog while including ghost goombas just can not justify what I said in the first phrase of this sentence.
The toxic water doesn’t seem toxic at first glance so I jumped right away. I never thought the fish bones is already a sign. If they were put in a more conspicuous location, this could be prevented.
This level has become a trial and error to know which will harm the player and which will not harm the player. The firebreath thingy + the fire BGO should have been both hurtful or both harmless. The steam should be harmless since the fog’s intensity doesn’t harm the player OR it shouldn’t have appeared since the firebreath thingy is present already.
Replayability: 0/5
Not only it is frustrating to play with, it has also annoying SFX which made me lose my will to replay the level.
Inferno[34/100]
Level Design & Gameplay 21/50
This level was sure as heck something, it was not enjoyable to say the least. Really bad enemy placement, very annoying gimmicks, everything, just no bueno for me. The ghost Goombas were annoying to deal with, the fire cracks that spew dino torch flames have a bad delay, and you don't give someone a kuribo shoe for a level like this, its just a thing for players to cheese it with. The evacuation section was hell to get through, enemy placement, yet again bad in it, the Sumo Bro lightning spread was also bad, and the torches returned to make life even more worse for me. The boss at the end was random, but cool at the same time, and I liked the Meta Knight joke. But that doesn't excuse for how bad this level was, the sound effects were fine, but really got annoying, and the extended moveset mainly the ground pound really sucked. But there can be room for improvement to fix up the level for how it is, so do that.
Creativity 11/25
Okay so a lava and ice themed level is cool, I don't see them often, but theres nothing else exciting to this.
Visuals 11/20
Aesthetics were somewhat fine, but it was annoying to deal with as things like the fog were annoying mainly with those pesky ghost Goombas floating about.
Replayability 2/5
This level is just fine, but not good though, I would sorta replay it to say the least. But there is definite room for improvement, but it needs work.
Total:
34/100
(-10 point deduction due to not being a Mario playable level. Even if Luigi was similar, it does not excuse that as their physics are different.)
Guess: Jivysaur/Ness-Wednesday
5th Place: Squibcrag Realm by Cedur (52.66/100)
Spoiler: show
Mechdragon777 [43/100]
Level Design & Gameplay: 11/50
Creativity: 14/25
Visuals: 18/20
Replayability: 0/5
So many things going on here. Switch hunt? Koopa Hunt? Timed Lava? Eitherway, the Starcoin was not set propperly and the Switches were not always in the most obvious spot. Level also over-extends it's welcome. I thought I was at the end of the level when I saw that boss door.
Note: Points are not redacted for the Sequence Break where you can throw items through a filter.
Guess: Cato
Radiance [60/100]
Level Design: 26/50
The difficulty is shown when the player is about to die. You should have shown that your level needs strict timing and precise jumps before putting them into hazards.
The presence of Magikoopas feels unnecessary. Not only does it destroy the theme of the level but it makes the level much harder once not beaten immediately.
When you make the player backtrack, make sure that there will still be hazards when they come back because normally, all the enemies have been defeated while going to a certain area and when you come back, that area suddenly becomes boring.
That one star coin makes the player require the player pass through the corridor you have backtracked before. If the hazards were still in there, it would be frustrating, otherwise it would be too repetitive.
Show, don’t tell. Although some information needs to be put in a message box, gimmicks don't need to. Just show them how they work and the player is the one who does the work for you. The sinking land needs this but you need to have a proper identification on which is sinking land and which is not.
The third quarter of the level feels like an open area so killing all the five Koopas is already enough since it’s not a guarantee that the player will end up killing the last Koopa on where you put the switch. With the presence of switch, it adds an unnecessary backtrack.
I was impressed with the evolution of its gimmick though despite its several gimmicks. The saw jumping at the five switches were brought back by making the player spinjump on a chainsaw to get the checkpoint. The sinking land on the start came back with additional hazards, swoopers.
Imo it would be better if the level ended on the timed section since it recaps the gimmicks experienced by the player + it adds an additional hazard, time. The last quarter destroyed the flow of the level and this could have achieve a higher score if the last quarter was scrapped.
Creativity: 18/25
Several gimmicks were implemented (saw jumping, sinking land, kill all koopas/hit all switches) but considering how long the level is, it isn’t that overwhelming.
Visuals: 14/20
The visuals are neat and kind fits the SMW atmosphere but not too memorable.
Replayability: 2/5
It was a lengthy level with a frustrating half and a very frustrating half. But I’d be willing to replay this level until the timed section since the flow of the level goes down after it.
Inferno [55/100]
Level Design & Gameplay 28/50
This level was pretty funky to say the least. It felt really bland and empty, and the enemy placement was very weird and at some points very annoying. It has it gimmicks, but some were quickly dismissed after a section, only thing that was probs repeated a bit was the falling floors. The "very thermal" area was not a good section, my least favorite of this level to put it at that. Enemy placement was annoying, the time limit kept me on my toes and I died my first run because of it due to me missing the switch, and I could not go back up to press it due the donut blocks from earlier regenerating. But it felt like it also took FOREVER to beat. Anyways, this is a pretty average level, but could use HEFTY improvement for sure.
Creativity 12/25
Honestly its a generic "Get out of the volcano" Mario level, and a simple open world type level, which are my favorite types, but this one wasn't really the best.
Visuals 13/20
Visuals were okay, but some things clashed, red pipe tips didn't have black outlines, SMB3 Fire Bro clashed with the SMW theme the level went for, nonetheless, everything else but was alright.
Replayability 2/5
Sorta but not really worth the replay. This level looks like it came out of a Super Mario 64 themed episode anyway with having to explore open world enviornments, other than that you only replay them for stars. But that isn't the case for this level.
Total:
55/100
Guess: gbradly231
Level Design & Gameplay: 11/50
Creativity: 14/25
Visuals: 18/20
Replayability: 0/5
So many things going on here. Switch hunt? Koopa Hunt? Timed Lava? Eitherway, the Starcoin was not set propperly and the Switches were not always in the most obvious spot. Level also over-extends it's welcome. I thought I was at the end of the level when I saw that boss door.
Note: Points are not redacted for the Sequence Break where you can throw items through a filter.
Guess: Cato
Radiance [60/100]
Level Design: 26/50
The difficulty is shown when the player is about to die. You should have shown that your level needs strict timing and precise jumps before putting them into hazards.
The presence of Magikoopas feels unnecessary. Not only does it destroy the theme of the level but it makes the level much harder once not beaten immediately.
When you make the player backtrack, make sure that there will still be hazards when they come back because normally, all the enemies have been defeated while going to a certain area and when you come back, that area suddenly becomes boring.
That one star coin makes the player require the player pass through the corridor you have backtracked before. If the hazards were still in there, it would be frustrating, otherwise it would be too repetitive.
Show, don’t tell. Although some information needs to be put in a message box, gimmicks don't need to. Just show them how they work and the player is the one who does the work for you. The sinking land needs this but you need to have a proper identification on which is sinking land and which is not.
The third quarter of the level feels like an open area so killing all the five Koopas is already enough since it’s not a guarantee that the player will end up killing the last Koopa on where you put the switch. With the presence of switch, it adds an unnecessary backtrack.
I was impressed with the evolution of its gimmick though despite its several gimmicks. The saw jumping at the five switches were brought back by making the player spinjump on a chainsaw to get the checkpoint. The sinking land on the start came back with additional hazards, swoopers.
Imo it would be better if the level ended on the timed section since it recaps the gimmicks experienced by the player + it adds an additional hazard, time. The last quarter destroyed the flow of the level and this could have achieve a higher score if the last quarter was scrapped.
Creativity: 18/25
Several gimmicks were implemented (saw jumping, sinking land, kill all koopas/hit all switches) but considering how long the level is, it isn’t that overwhelming.
Visuals: 14/20
The visuals are neat and kind fits the SMW atmosphere but not too memorable.
Replayability: 2/5
It was a lengthy level with a frustrating half and a very frustrating half. But I’d be willing to replay this level until the timed section since the flow of the level goes down after it.
Inferno [55/100]
Level Design & Gameplay 28/50
This level was pretty funky to say the least. It felt really bland and empty, and the enemy placement was very weird and at some points very annoying. It has it gimmicks, but some were quickly dismissed after a section, only thing that was probs repeated a bit was the falling floors. The "very thermal" area was not a good section, my least favorite of this level to put it at that. Enemy placement was annoying, the time limit kept me on my toes and I died my first run because of it due to me missing the switch, and I could not go back up to press it due the donut blocks from earlier regenerating. But it felt like it also took FOREVER to beat. Anyways, this is a pretty average level, but could use HEFTY improvement for sure.
Creativity 12/25
Honestly its a generic "Get out of the volcano" Mario level, and a simple open world type level, which are my favorite types, but this one wasn't really the best.
Visuals 13/20
Visuals were okay, but some things clashed, red pipe tips didn't have black outlines, SMB3 Fire Bro clashed with the SMW theme the level went for, nonetheless, everything else but was alright.
Replayability 2/5
Sorta but not really worth the replay. This level looks like it came out of a Super Mario 64 themed episode anyway with having to explore open world enviornments, other than that you only replay them for stars. But that isn't the case for this level.
Total:
55/100
Guess: gbradly231
4th Place: Thunderstorm Tempo Temple by Mechdragon777 (61/100)
Spoiler: show
Cedur [47/100]
DESIGN: I'm going ahead and say straight that the biggest problem in this level is the clouds being foreground. The first nuisance already appears in the initial section. For these reasons, I can just say that this would be a marvellous level if I could actually properly play it. Every path has something special to it and it's worth replaying them all. However it took me multiple tries to get along in this level and I still struggle on the Peach path. For example, I can't get along with the arrow platforms at all. Another classic example of getting trolled is a star-coin with a trampoline hidden by clouds and I took like two deaths before guessing the trampoline, and at another place there was just an invisible ledge that got me stuck trying to run left and getting killed by a skewer. The transmission to darkness happens too quickly to get a proper lookaround (I also don't really call it lightning). For example, you can lose track of venus piranha's fireballs. The music is enjoyable. 25/50
CREATIVITY: I can for sure say that the layout concept of twisting paths within one big section is indeed creative. However it's nowhere transparent that different groups of blocks are tied to different characters - good job on the idea but you really need to tell the player, I shouldn't need to ask you for this. 15/25
VISUALS: Aesthetics are pretty nice and elaborate, the background is cool. Some sections towards the end could have been filled a bit more. 14/20
REPLAYABILITY: Once you get the idea of this level, it's fun to visit all player paths and find all the star coins, but again, I never beat the Peach path without the jumpman cheat. There are hindrances overall that don't make you enjoy this level enough to desire many replays. 3/5
Radiance [54/100]
Level Design: 29/50
It’s a type of castle maze wherein the goal is at the center. The problem with this design is it only requires you trial and error to finish this level. It only took me less than 10 warps to finish the level.
The first section is kinda unforgiving. I had a hard time passing through the Venus Fire plant after the Ptooie. I liked the part where you used a row of bricks to shield the player once from the skewer giving him an adequate reaction time. The skewers after that feels harsh though or maybe the fact that the flash gimmick made it much difficult.
It’s a decent level since it throws you different challenges with different difficulties every time. The number of star coins are overwhelming at first but I can tell that they were spread decently and were placed in challenging locations.
However, the lightning gimmick really hurted the design of your level more than it helped it considering the fact that it is your main gimmick.
Creativity: 15/25
It’s your average SMW castle with the usual gimmicks: grinders, climbable tiles, skewers, but with lightning. I have not much to tell here but skewers + dark setting is really not a good idea. This makes the player only move when the screen is bright.
Visuals: 6/20
The visuals are excellent but the fact that the lightning gimmick only lights up the screen on a set interval makes the player appreciate the sophisticated looks of your level for a very limited time.
It looks nice when the screen is bright but I can not say that the visual is also nice when the screen is dark. It seems the creator only designed the level around the lighted screen. It should be the other way around. The creator should design the level around a dark setting since the dark screen has much more time than the lighted one.
There are also too many BGOs which makes it very difficult to traverse the level in darkness since it is hard to distinguish which is solid and which is not. Also the fact that the skewers are obscured by clouds makes it way harder for the player which area they should avoid.
Replayability: 4/5
The castle is very expansive which makes the players replay it more once they reach the exit too early. The collection of star coins also plays a big role for its replayability. However, I wouldn’t see myself replaying this as waiting for the lightningstrike every time just for me to move is very tedious.
Inferno [87/100]
Level Design & Gameplay 44/50
This level was pretty good, I had my moments at bits with the platforms and timing at points but I got through it fine and stuff. This level really is good at utilizing the black out thing too, only complaint is wait time, but thats something to expect in these kinds of levels. Everything else is good too, probably my favorite level in this contest.
Creativity 21/25
Black out levels is something I don't see often, so kudos to that, and with it taking in the enviornment it did, I pretty much enjoyed it
Visuals 18/20
I liked basically everything in terms of aesthetic and visuals for this level. My only complaint was with the clouds with intercepting stuff and giving me some trouble here and there. But in all I liked them.
Replayability 4/5
Would definitely come back to this level, as I said, I enjoyed it and probably the best level in this contest in my opinion, length of the level was good, gimmicks were nice (except for that cloud thing, twas a bit annoying), but yeah. Would reccomend giving it replays here and there for sure!
Guess: Airship and 8luestorm
DESIGN: I'm going ahead and say straight that the biggest problem in this level is the clouds being foreground. The first nuisance already appears in the initial section. For these reasons, I can just say that this would be a marvellous level if I could actually properly play it. Every path has something special to it and it's worth replaying them all. However it took me multiple tries to get along in this level and I still struggle on the Peach path. For example, I can't get along with the arrow platforms at all. Another classic example of getting trolled is a star-coin with a trampoline hidden by clouds and I took like two deaths before guessing the trampoline, and at another place there was just an invisible ledge that got me stuck trying to run left and getting killed by a skewer. The transmission to darkness happens too quickly to get a proper lookaround (I also don't really call it lightning). For example, you can lose track of venus piranha's fireballs. The music is enjoyable. 25/50
CREATIVITY: I can for sure say that the layout concept of twisting paths within one big section is indeed creative. However it's nowhere transparent that different groups of blocks are tied to different characters - good job on the idea but you really need to tell the player, I shouldn't need to ask you for this. 15/25
VISUALS: Aesthetics are pretty nice and elaborate, the background is cool. Some sections towards the end could have been filled a bit more. 14/20
REPLAYABILITY: Once you get the idea of this level, it's fun to visit all player paths and find all the star coins, but again, I never beat the Peach path without the jumpman cheat. There are hindrances overall that don't make you enjoy this level enough to desire many replays. 3/5
Radiance [54/100]
Level Design: 29/50
It’s a type of castle maze wherein the goal is at the center. The problem with this design is it only requires you trial and error to finish this level. It only took me less than 10 warps to finish the level.
The first section is kinda unforgiving. I had a hard time passing through the Venus Fire plant after the Ptooie. I liked the part where you used a row of bricks to shield the player once from the skewer giving him an adequate reaction time. The skewers after that feels harsh though or maybe the fact that the flash gimmick made it much difficult.
It’s a decent level since it throws you different challenges with different difficulties every time. The number of star coins are overwhelming at first but I can tell that they were spread decently and were placed in challenging locations.
However, the lightning gimmick really hurted the design of your level more than it helped it considering the fact that it is your main gimmick.
Creativity: 15/25
It’s your average SMW castle with the usual gimmicks: grinders, climbable tiles, skewers, but with lightning. I have not much to tell here but skewers + dark setting is really not a good idea. This makes the player only move when the screen is bright.
Visuals: 6/20
The visuals are excellent but the fact that the lightning gimmick only lights up the screen on a set interval makes the player appreciate the sophisticated looks of your level for a very limited time.
It looks nice when the screen is bright but I can not say that the visual is also nice when the screen is dark. It seems the creator only designed the level around the lighted screen. It should be the other way around. The creator should design the level around a dark setting since the dark screen has much more time than the lighted one.
There are also too many BGOs which makes it very difficult to traverse the level in darkness since it is hard to distinguish which is solid and which is not. Also the fact that the skewers are obscured by clouds makes it way harder for the player which area they should avoid.
Replayability: 4/5
The castle is very expansive which makes the players replay it more once they reach the exit too early. The collection of star coins also plays a big role for its replayability. However, I wouldn’t see myself replaying this as waiting for the lightningstrike every time just for me to move is very tedious.
Inferno [87/100]
Level Design & Gameplay 44/50
This level was pretty good, I had my moments at bits with the platforms and timing at points but I got through it fine and stuff. This level really is good at utilizing the black out thing too, only complaint is wait time, but thats something to expect in these kinds of levels. Everything else is good too, probably my favorite level in this contest.
Creativity 21/25
Black out levels is something I don't see often, so kudos to that, and with it taking in the enviornment it did, I pretty much enjoyed it
Visuals 18/20
I liked basically everything in terms of aesthetic and visuals for this level. My only complaint was with the clouds with intercepting stuff and giving me some trouble here and there. But in all I liked them.
Replayability 4/5
Would definitely come back to this level, as I said, I enjoyed it and probably the best level in this contest in my opinion, length of the level was good, gimmicks were nice (except for that cloud thing, twas a bit annoying), but yeah. Would reccomend giving it replays here and there for sure!
Guess: Airship and 8luestorm
3rd Place: Scrolling in a Bluish Winter Wonderland by Cato (62/100)
Spoiler: show
Mechdragon777[57/100]
Level Design & Gameplay: 31/50
Creativity: 10/25
Visuals: 13/20
Replayability: 3/5
Well, at least I get to see Cirno and her broken English. (Though it should be broken Japanese?) The level was fun to mess around with, but could have been mitigated by simply making the walls higher. You can jump over the first invisible wall with a springboard and even if you miss your chance to do that, you can just walk over the frozen wall. The frog refference was cute though.
Guess: Iittch
Radiance [62/100]
Level Design: 38/50
It is a snowy open area with a set of different challenges which requires few backtracking. When implementing backtracks on your level, make sure to add new hazards when the player goes back from where we have crossed before.
I don’t think that it would be better if the level started with the walrus but I also have the same thought for the current location of walrus. Maybe the little walrus setup shouldn’t exist since it is the first time the player was given a challenge revolving to a specific enemy appearing in mid-level.
Cirno’s appearance feels unnecessary since you weren’t able to confront her in the final which leaves the players hanging. It seems like Cirno is there to annoy you, not to guard the place. (ᵃᵖᵖᵃʳᵉⁿᵗˡʸ ʸᵒᵘ ᶜᵃⁿ ˢᵏᶦᵖ ᵗʰᵉ ᶦᶜᵉ ᶜᵒˡᵘᵐⁿ ᵇʸ ᵇʳᶦⁿᵍᶦⁿᵍ ᵗʰᵉ ˢᵖʳᶦⁿᵍᵇᵒᵃʳᵈ ʷᶦᵗʰ ʸᵒᵘ)
Creativity: 17/25
I really thought this will be only an average ice/water level until the walrus came up. The small setup dedicated to it feels creative and I really wished it was explored more.
Visuals: 14/20
Visuals were pretty neat. Despite the level’s spaciousness, it doesn’t feel empty. The music is too intense for the level appearance.
There is that BGO icicle that almost similar to the block icicle and if iirc you will encounter the BGO icicle first. If the player knew that that color of icicle won’t hurt him, then he’ll be confused once he landed on the block icicle.
Replayability: 3/5
It’s not frustrating to play with considering how many backtracks are required thus only adding time of the level playtime without adding any difficulty. So I can see myself playing with it anytime.
Inferno[67/100]
Level Design & Gameplay 37/50
I think it was pretty average, some sections though felt like it took forever to get by and were a bit repeitive. And the ice wall area had bad indication for when I had to use that spring to get over, in general, there were some other areas that had no indication on where to go, some form of arrows of some sort would have been nice. Some paths in the level too felt a bit unneccessary like the first section where in the beginning where you could use the vine to climb to the top area, but had no reward to offer the player. Enemy placement was pretty good.
Creativity 15/25
Not gonna lie, its just a simple generic open themed level, but I liked the segmants where that Touhou characer (forgot her name) was interrupting the gameplay to give the player some stage hazards. But I hated how she says "Eye" and not "I", felt weird. I also liked the gimmick with having to use switches to switch the water from solid to liquid
Visuals 12/20
Aesthetic placement was kinda weird, I was worried about spike hazards because of the BGOs being on the roof felt like they were gonna hurt me so it kept me on my toes, also, some things didnt make sense as frozen waterfalls being over liquified water? Made no sense to me. I really like the snow theme though, its one of my personal favorite themes for levels. Nonetheless, solid enough.
Replayability 3/5
Will be honest, I would consider giving it some replays, like I'd come back to it just a few more times.
Guess: Mechdragon
Level Design & Gameplay: 31/50
Creativity: 10/25
Visuals: 13/20
Replayability: 3/5
Well, at least I get to see Cirno and her broken English. (Though it should be broken Japanese?) The level was fun to mess around with, but could have been mitigated by simply making the walls higher. You can jump over the first invisible wall with a springboard and even if you miss your chance to do that, you can just walk over the frozen wall. The frog refference was cute though.
Guess: Iittch
Radiance [62/100]
Level Design: 38/50
It is a snowy open area with a set of different challenges which requires few backtracking. When implementing backtracks on your level, make sure to add new hazards when the player goes back from where we have crossed before.
I don’t think that it would be better if the level started with the walrus but I also have the same thought for the current location of walrus. Maybe the little walrus setup shouldn’t exist since it is the first time the player was given a challenge revolving to a specific enemy appearing in mid-level.
Cirno’s appearance feels unnecessary since you weren’t able to confront her in the final which leaves the players hanging. It seems like Cirno is there to annoy you, not to guard the place. (ᵃᵖᵖᵃʳᵉⁿᵗˡʸ ʸᵒᵘ ᶜᵃⁿ ˢᵏᶦᵖ ᵗʰᵉ ᶦᶜᵉ ᶜᵒˡᵘᵐⁿ ᵇʸ ᵇʳᶦⁿᵍᶦⁿᵍ ᵗʰᵉ ˢᵖʳᶦⁿᵍᵇᵒᵃʳᵈ ʷᶦᵗʰ ʸᵒᵘ)
Creativity: 17/25
I really thought this will be only an average ice/water level until the walrus came up. The small setup dedicated to it feels creative and I really wished it was explored more.
Visuals: 14/20
Visuals were pretty neat. Despite the level’s spaciousness, it doesn’t feel empty. The music is too intense for the level appearance.
There is that BGO icicle that almost similar to the block icicle and if iirc you will encounter the BGO icicle first. If the player knew that that color of icicle won’t hurt him, then he’ll be confused once he landed on the block icicle.
Replayability: 3/5
It’s not frustrating to play with considering how many backtracks are required thus only adding time of the level playtime without adding any difficulty. So I can see myself playing with it anytime.
Inferno[67/100]
Level Design & Gameplay 37/50
I think it was pretty average, some sections though felt like it took forever to get by and were a bit repeitive. And the ice wall area had bad indication for when I had to use that spring to get over, in general, there were some other areas that had no indication on where to go, some form of arrows of some sort would have been nice. Some paths in the level too felt a bit unneccessary like the first section where in the beginning where you could use the vine to climb to the top area, but had no reward to offer the player. Enemy placement was pretty good.
Creativity 15/25
Not gonna lie, its just a simple generic open themed level, but I liked the segmants where that Touhou characer (forgot her name) was interrupting the gameplay to give the player some stage hazards. But I hated how she says "Eye" and not "I", felt weird. I also liked the gimmick with having to use switches to switch the water from solid to liquid
Visuals 12/20
Aesthetic placement was kinda weird, I was worried about spike hazards because of the BGOs being on the roof felt like they were gonna hurt me so it kept me on my toes, also, some things didnt make sense as frozen waterfalls being over liquified water? Made no sense to me. I really like the snow theme though, its one of my personal favorite themes for levels. Nonetheless, solid enough.
Replayability 3/5
Will be honest, I would consider giving it some replays, like I'd come back to it just a few more times.
Guess: Mechdragon
Runner Up: Volcanic Valley Of Red NPCs by Litchh (76/100)
Spoiler: show
Mechdragon777 [66/100]
Level Design & Gameplay: 43/50
Creativity: 13/25
Visuals: 5/20
Replayability: 5/5
Level was quite good and fun. I hated dieing to the final red coin toggleing the bridge out from under me, but at least it lets you skip 25% of the level and gives you a broken powerup? I am really impressed with the lava geysers. The two secret stars are not well hidden (this is a plus) but seem like they are added just to be added.
Guess: Cedur
Radiance [90/100]
Level Design: 46/50
The geyser gimmick started off safely and then evolved greatly! The creator even managed to hide a secret exit inside the geysers which adds an incentive for the player risking for the sake of discovering something.
The secret star section feels good as it takes a break from the original gimmick but imo a variation of the original gimmick (e.g. sideways geyser) wouldn’t hurt.
I also liked how you use the red coin gimmick as not it only gives you a Tanooki, rare power-up, but also lets you skip almost a quarter of the level IF you could finish the harder version by putting red coins on difficult spots.
On that quarter of the level, avoid the lava gimmick, I’m having mixed opinions on it. Although it takes a break on the original gimmick but is somewhat a variation of it, moving sidewards on a set interval, it kinda destroyed the difficulty curve since the level provides you a leaf. However, following the red coins path doesn’t so it somehow evens out.
Power-ups are scattered nicely but idt this would matter since the majority of hazards, lava and geysers, can not be tanked by any power-up.
Creativity: 22/25
I loved the geyser gimmick! The shaking of the geyser is a nice touch since it makes it easier so for the player to not rely on internal counting. The avoid the lava gimmick is good on its own too.
Visuals: 17/20
It is loyal to its theme, SMW, by taking inspiration to their levels. (e.g. no aerial BGOs, no lavafall coming from above) But I admit its visuals aren’t that memorable enough.
Replayability: 5/5
Creative gimmick, player choice to play the hard/easy way, branches that give players break. There are too many things that could be said to make players replay this level. Although I had already admitted that its visuals aren’t memorable enough, its level design made up for it and I’d be willing to replay this as much as I could.
Inferno [72/100]
Level Design & Gameplay 38/50
Alright, first things first. BY GOD THE ENEMY PLACEMENT. It really kept me on my toes and I felt lucky to have gotten through the section in one go. The primary land NPCs almost barely didnt give me breathing room, and some of the jumps you need to make with the super Koopa interrupting felt like unfair enemy placement. Also, the piranha plants and how they bust out almost every pipe and it doesn't help with the lava field areas and the geysers. The spark section was meh, but that's what got me a few times, a checkpoint at the start of the section would have been very nice. But the gimmick with the geysers, sparks, and the volcano lava pits spewing that fire was pretty cool. Only problem was with spacing, the enemy placement, and timing that the player must make.
Visuals 14/20
For a SMW like level, I like this, it was really fitting for a lava land theme. But some graphics mainly being the SMB2 enemies clashed and with minor other things, hence why some points were docked
Replayability 2/5
Wouldn't really come back to this level that much due to it feeling something that youre playing from a episodes level roster thing, and I was not a fan with how somewhat difficult the level was for me with all the timing and stuff, but I enjoyed it from a "its difficult but I push through it" perspective so... yeah.
Guess: Cedur
Level Design & Gameplay: 43/50
Creativity: 13/25
Visuals: 5/20
Replayability: 5/5
Level was quite good and fun. I hated dieing to the final red coin toggleing the bridge out from under me, but at least it lets you skip 25% of the level and gives you a broken powerup? I am really impressed with the lava geysers. The two secret stars are not well hidden (this is a plus) but seem like they are added just to be added.
Guess: Cedur
Radiance [90/100]
Level Design: 46/50
The geyser gimmick started off safely and then evolved greatly! The creator even managed to hide a secret exit inside the geysers which adds an incentive for the player risking for the sake of discovering something.
The secret star section feels good as it takes a break from the original gimmick but imo a variation of the original gimmick (e.g. sideways geyser) wouldn’t hurt.
I also liked how you use the red coin gimmick as not it only gives you a Tanooki, rare power-up, but also lets you skip almost a quarter of the level IF you could finish the harder version by putting red coins on difficult spots.
On that quarter of the level, avoid the lava gimmick, I’m having mixed opinions on it. Although it takes a break on the original gimmick but is somewhat a variation of it, moving sidewards on a set interval, it kinda destroyed the difficulty curve since the level provides you a leaf. However, following the red coins path doesn’t so it somehow evens out.
Power-ups are scattered nicely but idt this would matter since the majority of hazards, lava and geysers, can not be tanked by any power-up.
Creativity: 22/25
I loved the geyser gimmick! The shaking of the geyser is a nice touch since it makes it easier so for the player to not rely on internal counting. The avoid the lava gimmick is good on its own too.
Visuals: 17/20
It is loyal to its theme, SMW, by taking inspiration to their levels. (e.g. no aerial BGOs, no lavafall coming from above) But I admit its visuals aren’t that memorable enough.
Replayability: 5/5
Creative gimmick, player choice to play the hard/easy way, branches that give players break. There are too many things that could be said to make players replay this level. Although I had already admitted that its visuals aren’t memorable enough, its level design made up for it and I’d be willing to replay this as much as I could.
Inferno [72/100]
Level Design & Gameplay 38/50
Alright, first things first. BY GOD THE ENEMY PLACEMENT. It really kept me on my toes and I felt lucky to have gotten through the section in one go. The primary land NPCs almost barely didnt give me breathing room, and some of the jumps you need to make with the super Koopa interrupting felt like unfair enemy placement. Also, the piranha plants and how they bust out almost every pipe and it doesn't help with the lava field areas and the geysers. The spark section was meh, but that's what got me a few times, a checkpoint at the start of the section would have been very nice. But the gimmick with the geysers, sparks, and the volcano lava pits spewing that fire was pretty cool. Only problem was with spacing, the enemy placement, and timing that the player must make.
Visuals 14/20
For a SMW like level, I like this, it was really fitting for a lava land theme. But some graphics mainly being the SMB2 enemies clashed and with minor other things, hence why some points were docked
Replayability 2/5
Wouldn't really come back to this level that much due to it feeling something that youre playing from a episodes level roster thing, and I was not a fan with how somewhat difficult the level was for me with all the timing and stuff, but I enjoyed it from a "its difficult but I push through it" perspective so... yeah.
Guess: Cedur
Winner: One Second Has Passed by 8luestorm and Airship (81.33/100)
Spoiler: show
Mechdragon777 [87/100]
Level Design & Gameplay: 46/50
Creativity: 25/25
Visuals: 11/20
Replayability: 5/5
This level is a blast to play and I can see some fun things in due to the cool setups with time. It is fun to throw a key and land on it to get extra height. reminds me of my anti-grav block chains from years past. Either way, some of the jumps felt tight. Maybe attach the timestop to "Ability" instead of "Drop Item" if you are not oging to disable the reserve box.
Guess: Airship & 8luestorm
Radiance [80/100]
Level Design: 42/50
The time freeze gimmick is a neat idea on its own however it becomes repetitive the longer the level is. I was afraid that this would be the case at this level since it explored the gimmick when the time is freezed and not.
But the creator of this level added elements which made the level more entertaining. The areas wherein you can’t freeze time were put fairly.
I am not happy with the inside of the castle though. It feels like the level could have ended on the gate of the castle.
The castle introduces new elements with the time freeze but the difficulty suddenly dropped. The last section before the castle was intense and then suddenly you’re forced to solve puzzles. Although you can say that pyramids/old castles require you to answer a riddle/solve a puzzle, the creator forgot to put the most important part, punishment for failing to solve it to keep the momentum of the level. Idt death could be an appropriate punishment but bringing the player a distance from the puzzle could do which makes the player redo the non-puzzle obstacles he has passed earlier.
The power-ups are scarce and makes it frustrating since checkpoints are too far from each other.
Creativity: 23/25
As I said earlier, the fact that the creator added another interesting element made it score higher. It may seem that I contradicted my review from level design but I actually loved the puzzle part of the level. Adding Mega Thwomps to create a puzzle is a clever idea.
Visuals: 12/20
It’s hard to distinguish which is a solid block and which is not. Adding the dim effect from time freeze makes it harder to differentiate.
The level is made to explore the potential of the gimmick however, the creator forgot to also include the elements that would intensify the mood of the level. (e.g. consistent darkening of background as the player approaches the castle, frozen/floating rock pieces or smth)
The appearance of the level is fine actually but it can be better than this.
Replayability: 3/5
Despite its nice gimmicks, I can’t guarantee that I can replay the level again since half of the level are puzzles. Thus, replaying the level removes the element of you thinking of a solution to finish the level.
Although the platforming involved in the mid-level is pretty intense and I see myself redoing that part. I am willing to replay this level until into the middle and restart it again.
Inferno [77/100]
Lcevel Design & Gameplay 38/50
This level was pretty cool, I really loved the time stop gimmick that the level executes. Some problems I had with this level was though was with one portion in the second section the end, it took me 5 solid deaths to understand what was going on. And the Thwomp portion was somewhat annoying, but I got through it. Another minor bicker I have was with the key placement part, it was a bit annoying to time, but thus fine as I got through it as well. I liked the levels length too, its one of those short and simple sweet section by section levels that introduces something new to go with the level's primary gimmick.
Creativity 23/25
Something I never saw in a level was time stoping, I'm in general love with this gimmick, hence why I give a high rating, besides the minor annoying portions that got me slightly angry, was still fun to play.
Visuals 13/20
Honestly for a level such as this, I think the aesthetic was nice/pretty average, what would have been good was when you time stopped in the outside area of the level with the moving cloud layer in the parallax was for it to stop, but thats just a minor complaint, pretty solid.
Replayability 3/5
This level is worth the replay to come back here and there, but would not be as often from me, but I'd consider it.
Guess: littch
Level Design & Gameplay: 46/50
Creativity: 25/25
Visuals: 11/20
Replayability: 5/5
This level is a blast to play and I can see some fun things in due to the cool setups with time. It is fun to throw a key and land on it to get extra height. reminds me of my anti-grav block chains from years past. Either way, some of the jumps felt tight. Maybe attach the timestop to "Ability" instead of "Drop Item" if you are not oging to disable the reserve box.
Guess: Airship & 8luestorm
Radiance [80/100]
Level Design: 42/50
The time freeze gimmick is a neat idea on its own however it becomes repetitive the longer the level is. I was afraid that this would be the case at this level since it explored the gimmick when the time is freezed and not.
But the creator of this level added elements which made the level more entertaining. The areas wherein you can’t freeze time were put fairly.
I am not happy with the inside of the castle though. It feels like the level could have ended on the gate of the castle.
The castle introduces new elements with the time freeze but the difficulty suddenly dropped. The last section before the castle was intense and then suddenly you’re forced to solve puzzles. Although you can say that pyramids/old castles require you to answer a riddle/solve a puzzle, the creator forgot to put the most important part, punishment for failing to solve it to keep the momentum of the level. Idt death could be an appropriate punishment but bringing the player a distance from the puzzle could do which makes the player redo the non-puzzle obstacles he has passed earlier.
The power-ups are scarce and makes it frustrating since checkpoints are too far from each other.
Creativity: 23/25
As I said earlier, the fact that the creator added another interesting element made it score higher. It may seem that I contradicted my review from level design but I actually loved the puzzle part of the level. Adding Mega Thwomps to create a puzzle is a clever idea.
Visuals: 12/20
It’s hard to distinguish which is a solid block and which is not. Adding the dim effect from time freeze makes it harder to differentiate.
The level is made to explore the potential of the gimmick however, the creator forgot to also include the elements that would intensify the mood of the level. (e.g. consistent darkening of background as the player approaches the castle, frozen/floating rock pieces or smth)
The appearance of the level is fine actually but it can be better than this.
Replayability: 3/5
Despite its nice gimmicks, I can’t guarantee that I can replay the level again since half of the level are puzzles. Thus, replaying the level removes the element of you thinking of a solution to finish the level.
Although the platforming involved in the mid-level is pretty intense and I see myself redoing that part. I am willing to replay this level until into the middle and restart it again.
Inferno [77/100]
Lcevel Design & Gameplay 38/50
This level was pretty cool, I really loved the time stop gimmick that the level executes. Some problems I had with this level was though was with one portion in the second section the end, it took me 5 solid deaths to understand what was going on. And the Thwomp portion was somewhat annoying, but I got through it. Another minor bicker I have was with the key placement part, it was a bit annoying to time, but thus fine as I got through it as well. I liked the levels length too, its one of those short and simple sweet section by section levels that introduces something new to go with the level's primary gimmick.
Creativity 23/25
Something I never saw in a level was time stoping, I'm in general love with this gimmick, hence why I give a high rating, besides the minor annoying portions that got me slightly angry, was still fun to play.
Visuals 13/20
Honestly for a level such as this, I think the aesthetic was nice/pretty average, what would have been good was when you time stopped in the outside area of the level with the moving cloud layer in the parallax was for it to stop, but thats just a minor complaint, pretty solid.
Replayability 3/5
This level is worth the replay to come back here and there, but would not be as often from me, but I'd consider it.
Guess: littch
