Super Mario Bros. X Forums

Welcome to part 1 of this year's Vanilla Contest duology! The Vanill-ART contest.
Across past vanilla contests, people have taken and used the built in assets in unimaginable ways that yielded otherworldly, exceptionally intricate visuals. Indeed, level design doesn't always have to be about pushing onward. Sometimes it can be just to show off.
A new SMBX2 update was recently released, and with it many new vanilla options for aesthetic have opened. I suggest, why don't we get everyone warmed up for vanilla design with a contest focused entirely around this aesthetic power.

THE DEADLINE IS ONCE MARCH 6 2024 HAS ENDED AROUND THE WORLD.

ABOUT LEVELS

• Submission is restricted to levels made for the newest version of SMBX2 (Beta 5 Patch 2).
• Your level may be up to 7 screens big. Whether this is 3 screens wide and 2 screens tall, one section of 2x2 screens and one of 1x3, or simply a very long 7x1 screen hallway is up to you.
• Your level may contain 1 custom music file, and up to 10 Block, BGO or NPC config files (not 10 each, 10 total)
• Other forms of custom graphics, sounds, scripts and configs are disallowed (no parallax, no effects, no lua)
• Your level may not contain any exits
• Try to avoid making it easy to die
• Assume the level may be played as Mario, Luigi, Peach, Toad or Link.

META RULES

• You may work alone or in a team of 2 people.
• Only one submission per person/team.
• Levels must be your own.
• Levels must abide by the forum rules. No NSFW, no AI, no harassment, no collaboration with banned members, etc. Simple stuff.
• Submissions deemed to be in bad faith will be disqualified.
• Please name your level something that can be displayed in a vanilla SMBX message box.

Of note:

• We encourage you to post your level in this subforum for pre-submission testing, and/or ask friends to test the level
• Please only showcase your entries on the dedicated platforms. (such as the contest's own channel on the SMBX Discord server, or the Contest Hub, rather than regular showcase channels) The primary purpose of this is to avoid spoilers for the judges.
• Wrong start points, music paths and other oversights will not be corrected before sending levels to the judges. Test thoroughly!

Judges:

• Augustus
• Emral
• Waddle

When the submission period ends, the levels will be distributed to the judges, who will then start reviewing the entries.

Rubric:
After the submission period, the aforementioned judges will review the levels based on these rubrics. The maximum score you can attain is 10/10, which is the weighted average of the following 3+2 rubrics. Pay close attention because these are not like your usual rubric!

• Navigation
  + The level can be moved around in
  + Moving around in the level is engaging
  - The player gets stuck on terrain
  - The player can clip through collision
  - There is collision that is not supposed to be there
• Appeal
  + The level can easily be parsed by looking at it
  + The level is pleasant to look at
  + There is a lot of attention to detail
  - It is difficult to look at the level, be it because of darkness, clutter or some other reason
• Mood & Identity (2x value!)
  + The level executes the vibe it is going for well
  + The level is memorable and can be identified at a glance
  - The level’s composition feels unfocused
  - The level doesn't try anything interesting
• Wildcard (up to 3 bonus points)
  + A judge may grant up to 3 points to something they think the level does particularly well
  (Points are added before division)
• Playability issues (-10 penalty points)
  - Errors/crashes, lag
  (Points are subtracted before division)

Total: (40 - 10 + 3) / 4 = 10 points
Points cannot go above 10 or below 0.

The judges may also hand out medals for each level's unique quirks, to reward participants outside of their placement. There are 2 medals which each judge is required to hand out: "Favorite Idea", "Overall Favorite"

Resources:

• SMBX2 Documentation
• Developer Resources
• Flick through this if you're struggling for ideas
• Invite Link to the SMBX Contest Discussion Hub

Submission:
For details regarding the submission of your level, please head over to the submission thread. However, if you've got any questions, please ask them in this thread!

Reminder:
THE DEADLINE IS ONCE MARCH 6 2024 HAS ENDED AROUND THE WORLD.

Added in 17 minutes 9 seconds:
i forgot the pings sorry

In! Wait.

Waddle wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 18, 2024 8:44 am

In! Wait.

I'll jump in as sub to personally judge your creation.

What are the "10 config files" that the submission thread is referring to? The Vanillart rules mention nothing about config files

Ness-Wednesday wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 18, 2024 9:19 am

What are the "10 config files" that the submission thread is referring to? The Vanillart rules mention nothing about config files

Spoiler: show

Looks like I forgot one very important set of bullet points. Thanks for catching that.

[*] Your level may contain 1 custom music file, and up to 10 Block, BGO or NPC config files (not 10 each, 10 total)
[*] Other forms of custom graphics, sounds, scripts and configs are disallowed (no parallax, no effects, no lua)

Why may not the level have exists? I mean, contest's levels are supposed to be compiled in one episode, I wonder if there's anything different planned in terms of gameplay.

Sux wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 19, 2024 10:18 am

Why may not the level have exists? I mean, contest's levels are supposed to be compiled in one episode, I wonder if there's anything different planned in terms of gameplay.

Think of the level less like a level and more like a painting to move around in. I'll handle exiting via the menu in the episode.

New rule because I just peeked at the subforum thread titles:

Please name your level something that can be displayed in a vanilla SMBX message box.

There's less than a week left for submissions! Make sure to submit by the time the clock turns to March 7th in your timezone.

Wow! It's the last day!

When does the day end around the world? In 25 minutes. Get your levels uploaded if you haven't submitted yet! The level package will be available later.

Added in 1 hour 2 minutes 6 seconds:
LEVEL PACK!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OGtqDx ... sp=sharing
SuperAlex and Treeboi's submissions I was unable to download. They will be available at a later date.

Enjoy a short downtime before VanillISH starts. Take a few days to relay, or maybe finish your entry to the MFGG Contest!

Emral wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 07, 2024 5:37 am

SuperAlex and Treeboi's submissions I was unable to download. They will be available at a later date.

Know what? It's my fault for the rush, I was updating the folder wrong, but that's serious.