Super Mario Bros. X Forums

Welcome to Mystery Contest 2021 - Solving the Rubrics Cube!

The Theme
This year's mystery concerns the levels themselves! What are they about, and what are they trying to be? Are you ready to make the most unpredictably great level?

• Participants must sign up explicitly in this thread in order to join the contest.
• After signing up, you will soon receive a PM with a set of 8 rubrics. If you have signed up in the announcement thread, you'll automatically be given your prompts on the first or second day of the contest.
• You must choose 3 of those and include your choice with your submission.
• If you want to submit a second level, you must choose 3 of the 5 remainders.

Judging

• This is a community judged contest, and the judging rubrics are (all 1-5 points)
  • Fun
  • The three rubrics you have chosen from your PM

• Point guideline:
  • 1: Not at all/Barely represented
  • 2: Underrepresented
  • 3: Used to a decent degree
  • 4: Used dominantly
  • 5: Integral to the level
• The community judging will commence at the end of the submission period, with more details following then.

Example
Imagine you may obtain the rubrics "underground", "somber", "the artist's demise", "impact", "tower", "discreet", "soul" and "skiing" in your PM. You now choose a set of 3, say, "somber" "tower" "soul" and make a sad, haunted tower level. Your level will be judged based on how fun it is, and how well incorporates the elements of towers, somberness and souls. In case you wish to submit a second level, the above 3 prompts cannot be used and you have to pick from "underground", "the artist's demise", "discreet", "impact" or "skiing"

Medals
With each level judged on different merits, competition will be less about obtaining the best placement, but instead about obtaining the best set of medals. Each participant can get up to 4 medals, which can be bronze, silver or gold.

• A score that's 3.5 or higher, but less than 4.0 -> Bronze Medal
• A score that's 4.0 or higher, but less than 4.5 -> Silver Medal
• A score that's 4.5 or higher -> Gold Medal

Other Rules

• You can only work on your level alone. However, you can make a level for your thread in the contest's subforum in order to showcase them and get feedback.
• You can submit up to 2 levels, but the potential second submission can only utilize 3 of the 5 remaining rubrics, so no overlap with your first submission!
• The level must be compatible with SMBX2 Beta 4 Patch 4 Hotfix
• To prevent issues with their systems affecting contest entries, SMBX2-exclusive basegame characters (e.g. Klonoa) cannot be used. Use Mario, Luigi, Peach, Toad, Link or a custom character instead.
• Levels must have at least 1 exit, but no more than 2
• A level can have 1 SMW Star (collectible), which does not count as an exit. Other collectibles such as Star Coins are not limited.
• If a level had already been released before the contest began or was stolen, it will be disqualified
• A level may be disqualified if the content of the level violates the forum rules or if the creator gets banned after submission.
• Due to their file size, WAV and FLAC music files are not allowed, and MP3 and OGG music files may not be longer than 5 minutes. Please follow the OGG-looping tutorial to keep your music compact.

Notes:

• Aim to use file formats with small filesizes, such as .ogg or .spc
• While secret exits and non-basegame custom characters are allowed, be careful when using them, because their use is known to backfire if handled poorly
• We encourage you to post your level in this subforum for pre-submission testing, or ask friends to test the level
• Wrong start points, music paths and other oversights may not be corrected before the start of the voting period. Test thoroughly!

Resources:

• SMBX2 Documentation
• Developer Resources
• Lunalua Tutorials
• Lunalua Forum
• Tips for starting a level
• Tips for ending a level
• Mark Brown - Game Makers' Toolkit on Platformers

Feel free to discuss the contest in the SMBX Discord Server or Darkonius' Contest Hub

Level Submission Thread (make sure to read the submission guidelines)


Voting Rules:

• You must not vote more than once. If you submit multiple sets of votes, all of your votes will be invalidated, unless you reach out to me and ask to remove your previous submission to the form.
• You have to use your forum username, or alternatively Discord username with its ID, to submit a valid vote.
• The Google Form will ensure that you judge all levels' rubrics.
• I will manually remove votes casted on your own level.
• Playing the levels is not a requirement but is strongly advised. If you don't wish to play any or some of the levels, please check the videos linked in the playlist below!

Download all contest entries in one package right here!

Vote for the levels that were submitted right here!

YouTube Playlist to view the contest entries

You may also check some alternate recordings for a handful of the levels!

I am in.

I am joining, and there is nothing you can do to stop me

Oh yes, I'll be joining this one for sure

I'm here.

Ok I'll give this contest a shot. I'm in.

I will also give it a big shot (Billy Joel reference)

babe wake up they made the maglx3 gimmick less constrictive (this is explicit sign-up)

Good luck to all the participants!

I'll attempt something for this contest. I'm in.

QUESTION
Could probably make a problem level them with the rubrics seleted?

I've missed previous year's contest, so this time I will participate.

im in

It's been a while since I've participated in a contest. I know I'm probably not gonna win, but since it'll be fun making a level for this, I'm in!

Interesting, count me in!

It's a first for me, but count me in! It just sounds super fun to me!

Even though I stink at level making, I'll join, lmao

no guarantee i'll finish a level, but i'll sign up. this sounds sick

I could try it, if I don't lose my interest on it (which is my Achilles heel).
I am going to join the Contest!

Mark my name down!