100 Second Vanillish Contest - RULES AND QUESTIONS

[Ness-Wednesday]

Welcome to the 100 Second Vanillish Level Contest! For the first Summer Vanilla Contest, we’re making it hot hot hot! Your levels must be beatable under 100 seconds!

Rules: show

GENERAL RULES

• Submissions must be compatible with SMBX2 Beta 5.
• Levels must follow the forum rules: No NSFW, theft, impersonation, harassment, AI-generated content, collaborations with banned members, etc.
• Submissions deemed in bad faith will be disqualified.
• Teams of up to 2 participants are allowed.
• You may work on up to 2 submissions*
  • (* you can work in different teams for each submission: Team A, Team A - Team A, Solo - Team A, Team B - Solo, Solo are all valid)
• Level names must be displayable in a vanilla SMBX Message Box.

LEVEL CLAUSES

• Config clause: Up to 10 Block, BGO, or NPC configs are allowed (not 10 each, 10 total).
  • BGO configs shouldn’t be used to obstruct the hud.
• Particles clause: You are allowed to use up to 2 particle descriptor files.
• Custom asset clause: Other custom assets such as parallaxing backgrounds, shaders, and scripts are BANNED.
• Message clause: Talking NPCs and events that show messages are BANNED.
• ACE clause: Arbitrary code execution is NOT allowed. This mainly concerns Grafs and Crates.
  • Graf logic is restricted to the v, x, y, and t variables and may not define nested tables or functions.
  • Crates should use the extra settings fields instead of the legacy text input field.
• Filesize clause: Submissions exceeding 10 MB in size will be IGNORED.
• Audio clause:
  • Please keep your music files below 5 MB.
  • Audio sources must only play sounds available in the base game.
  • Any 3 of the following sound effects can be customized by placing them inside your level folder:
  • Please be courteous when formatting and adjusting the volume of your sound effects.
• Timer clause: Enable the LEVEL TIMER in Level Settings.
  • The level timer must be set to, at maximum, 100 seconds.
  • The level must be beatable within 90% of your time limit.
  • All SMW stars/star coins must be reasonably obtainable within the time limit.
  • If calling the "Level Timer - End" event, the event must force the player to die or restart.
  • You are limited to a maximum of 20 Green Yoshi Berries per level.
• Exit clause:
  • Levels can have up to two exits. SMW Stars count as 1 exit.
  • All Exits except for the Bowser Game Ending and Palace Switches are allowed.
  • Only three Star Coins are allowed per level.
• Character clause: Bowser, Ninja Bomberman, Solid Snake, and Samus are banned.

OF NOTE

• Please share your level in this subforum or ask friends to playtest before submitting.
• To avoid spoiling the judges, please showcase your entries on the dedicated platforms (Such as this subforum, the contest's channel in the SMBX Discord server, or the Contest Hub) instead of the regular showcase channels.
• Wrong start points, music paths, misplaced assets, and other oversights will not be corrected before the levels are sent to the judges. Test thoroughly!

Judging: show

Judges:

1. Ness-Wednesday
2. Valentine
3. MegaDood

When the submission period ends, the levels will be distributed to the judges, who will review the entries based on the following rubric.
THE RUBRIC
Levels in this contest will be judged on the following criteria:

• Timer Usage /10 (30% weight)
  + Does the level benefit from the level timer?
  + The timer adds a sense of urgency to the gameplay.
  - Would the level be better without the timer?
  
• Flow /10 (40% weight)
  + Does the gameplay flow naturally?
  + Is the level fun to play from start to finish?
  - Is the flow of gameplay unpolished?
  
• Creativity: /10 (30% weight)
  + Does the level's design realize its concept potential well?
  + Are there any elements in the level that make it stand out among its peers in a positive way (such as flavourful location, humour, or design language)?
  - Does the level's identity exist in the shadow of another level?
  - Do the non-gameplay elements detract from the experience?
  
• Extra credits [0, 1 or 2]
  + A judge will award up to 2 extra points for levels that stood out to them among the submissions
• Stability /-3
  - Points deduction for lag, error messages, visibility issues, softlocks or other technical problems with the level

The maximum attainable score is 10/10, or 11/10 with two extra credits.
Judges may also hand out medals to levels for their unique quirks. Each judge is required to hand out: “Overall Favorite,” “Most Suspenseful,” and “Biggest Surprise.”

Resources:
BGO Config
Block Config
Light Config
NPC Config
Particles Config
Developer Resources
Level name generator
Level concept generator
Invite Link to the SMBX Contest Discussion Hub
The Spawn Algorithm
Waddle’s Tips and Tricks
ꜱᴍʙx 𝓣𝓮𝔁𝓽𝓻𝓪𝓿𝓪𝓰𝓪𝓷𝔃𝓪

Submission:
Please head over to the submission thread for details regarding the submission of your level. However, if you have any questions, please ask them in this thread!
The deadline is once August 31st has ended around the world!!!

Added in 8 minutes 52 seconds:
Round of pings!!!!
I hate how replies work...

Spoiler: show

[Shaktool]

Question: can we use Level settings like weather, screen effects?

[marioSuper21]

Should I write my username next to the level name or not? Should I send the level and README file as a folder or a zip file?

[Shaktool]

Should I write my username next to the level name or not? Should I send the level and README file as a folder or a zip file?

go in the submission thred, it explains that question

[55jedat555]

Question: can we use Level settings like weather, screen effects?

if it's not explicitly prohibited by the rules, you can assume it's allowed.

Should I write my username next to the level name or not? Should I send the level and README file as a folder or a zip file?

this is answered in the submission thread (linked at the bottom of the original post)

i have two questions of my own:
1) to what degree will the "beatable within 90% of your time limit" rule be enforced?
2) i'm a little confused about the green berry rule. wouldn't that theoretically allow people to just make a 300 second level?

[ASMagician Maks]

I don't understand the rule about 2 submissions. Can you submit 2 entries that you made solo?
I think vanilla and vanillish levels are meant to not have graphics replacements for basegame assets, but that doesn't seem to be stated in the rules.
What purpose are Green berries supposed to have in a level? Do they increase the time limit of which you have 90% of to beat the level?
Would a level having 2 SMW stars in different sections, but no other way of leaving the level, count as having 2 exits?

[marioSuper21]

What purpose are Green berries supposed to have in a level? Do they increase the time limit of which you have 90% of to beat the level?

What is Green berry?

[55jedat555]

I don't understand the rule about 2 submissions. Can you submit 2 entries that you made solo?

you can have your name attached to at most two different submissions. whether they're both done solo or only one of them doesn't matter, as stated in the examples in the rules.

I think vanilla and vanillish levels are meant to not have graphics replacements for basegame assets, but that doesn't seem to be stated in the rules.

it is generally understood that "custom assets" also includes graphics replacements, so yes, they are disallowed.

Would a level having 2 SMW stars in different sections, but no other way of leaving the level, count as having 2 exits?

pretty much any contest nowadays (except one which explicitly states otherwise) can be assumed to have a base rule of "every submission must be beatable", i.e. levels need to have at least one actual exit. since smw stars don't end the level, having two without an actual exit would just get you disqualified on grounds of submitting an unbeatable level. the rule is phrased this way simply to limit the amount of collectible stars people throw in their levels.

[CopyLeft]

regarding the audio clause, just to be totally clear, we can make up to 3 of the listed sound effects ANYTHING we want? (provided it doesnt break another rule such as no nsfw or no sound file above 5mb)

[Ness-Wednesday]

What purpose are Green berries supposed to have in a level? Do they increase the time limit of which you have 90% of to beat the level?

What is Green berry?

It's the green fruit NPC from Super Mario World that extends the timer by 10 seconds (npc-399).

regarding the audio clause, just to be totally clear, we can make up to 3 of the listed sound effects ANYTHING we want? (provided it doesnt break another rule such as no nsfw or no sound file above 5mb)

Yep! Go crazy!