Chocolate Contest 2023 - Results!

[ShadowStarX]

It's been a while, but the results are finally out for last autumn's Chocolate Contest!

Results Sheet

The reviews are ordered by level name. Detailed reviews and scores are stored on a separate sheet from the results, marked by each judge's name!

Top 3 and judge favorites: show

(Saltlord) Demolition Dudes ~ ShadowStarX's Favorite
(Master of Disaster) Snowcapped Peak ~ Lusho's Favorite
(Akromaly) She Moved to the Big City ~ Blake Izayoi's Favorite

3. (Jur1121) The Fallen Shipyard ~ GenesisJames' Favorite
2. (Shinbison-Kof) Lunar Gravity Groove
1. (Ness Wednesday) Retropolitical Establishment Tributing Rushegi Otymaimo

There were 39 levels submitted and all of them were reviewed by 4 judges: GenesisJames, Blake Izayoi, Lusho, and myself.

I'd like to thank and congratulate everybody who submitted a level and also applaud Ness-Wednesday for making an amazing entry that won the contest!

Regarding the medals: Unfortunately they have not yet been made and I do not know of a date for certain when they will be, that's why only judge favorites were revealed as of now and no others!

[Alagirez]

Me being in top 10 again is just unexpected haha, since some people who played my level after the deadline didn't enjoyed it that much, but hey, the average score of my level is better than the previous one, so that's cool.

Also I'm so glad that Ness won the contest, his level is definetly one of my favs, and I can see his progression as a designer over these years, so congrats to him!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ness-Wednesday]

Me being in top 10 again is just unexpected haha, since some people who played my level after the deadline didn't enjoyed it that much, but hey, the average score of my level is better than the previous one, so that's cool.

Also I'm so glad that Ness won the contest, his level is definetly one of my favs, and I can see his progression as a designer over these years, so congrats to him!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tysm! <3

I honestly was not expecting to win, because this contest had so many great levels. 2023 in general had some of the best contests in a long time. Congrats to all the participants!

[wyldstrykr]

okay... why i didnt get last place?? i didnt finished the level on time and i STILL not finished it. ty for the contest regardless and the judges and the participants. hope i can get a time to participate in another contest.

[Mal8rk]

12th place! I feel so good about the level design progress I got over the years.

Congrats to everybody who participated in the contest! Y'all's efforts are all valid. And congrats to Ness-Wednesday for winning! you should feel proud!

[Emral]

After the high-production entries Waddle (squp) and I submitted last year, Waddle and myself set ourselves the goal of scoping down hard and seeing how far a level could go that has "bog-standard design" like if an evolution of 2011-era design was in the forefront of the community to this day.
Something to give the judges a break between all the amazing spectacular levels that often take half an hour to judge, but also something with a lot of replay value through secrets and bonus content.
In that sense I hope people try to speedrun Frostwood Glimmer sometime. It works with all 5 characters and we even tested it with Mega Man for all the sickos out there. And to try and find the secrets we hid without looking in the editor first.

I'm very happy with our result (above 8/10! for most judges is awesome!), and even moreso than that I had a blast playing the top 10 entries back when submissions closed. Needless to say once again people have outdone themselves with their entries, and a huge congrats to Saltlord, Master of Disaster, Akromaly, Jur, Shinbison and Ness-Wednesday for standing out in a contest as competitive as this one.

My personal favorite was Jur's entry :)

[Jur1121]

Hey. I'm glad the result made it out finally. Congratulations to Ness, and big props to the judges again for the volunteer work and the great feedback they give to refine your craft with.

I fee like I pulled so many "tricks" in my book on my own level I don't know how to approach the next contest But we'll see, it's always worth trying for the comprehensive reviews you get from multiple judges.

My personal favorite was Jur's entry

Thank you Your feedback was valuable during the submission period!

[Shinbison-Kof]

Yeyy, second place! It's amazing, soooo close! haha

Thanks to every judge for the great feedback! And thanks to everyone who tested my level before.

Congratulations everyone, the top 10, and especially Ness and Jur, I've played your levels before and they are amazing! Gzzz

[ElTipsta]

i've not been active for a while but came back to check in on the contest results. Glad to see the judges liked my level and congratulations to the winners! Glad to see there are so many high quality levels!