In a one-level hack, cutscenes are supposed to give the player a sense of progression. But if you leave all of them for the end...well, you just wasted a bunch of screens. Now if the contest was not a level design contest, but a "most clever use of vanilla stuff" contest, then sure, go ahead (has there been/will there be such a contest?)

That is not an excuse. The way you have the spot set up requires more work to get past than necessary and is also a blatant, BLATANT case of Big Mario Discrimination.

That's why you try to minimize the issues as much as you can. You just did not do a good enough job at it. To be honest, the more I play through this level, the more I just want to give the thing a lower score.

Yep. Totally not the creator's fault that they decided to not pay more attention. In fact, everyone who has designed a level in video game history has designed absolute crap because they assumed that players would try and avoid obstacles hiding in plain sight.
Also, the method you may be taking is probably enforcing big mario discrimination. It's like a less obvious case of this:

The whole reason I actually didn't use bright colors was because I didn't want to give the player a seizure

I'm still up for knowing what was actually bad in my level (Kaleidoscope Castle). The people I've had actually test it were too nice to spit any criticism.

the only responses I've really gotten were from friends who probably didn't feel like arguing

all the drapes with spikes behind them had holes

The yoshi coin beneath the turn blocks isn't a problem because you can effectively SEE turn blocks beneath it. Logic should say "Oh, I can spin jump through turn blocks, but there is lava beneath another set of turn blocks".

And the thwomps hiding behind scenery shouldn't be that much of a problem, as they are still VISIBLE, such as the fourth screenshot. It's not as if they are completely obscured.

Also, what's with everyone getting upset at the sections which require you to wait for a magikoopa? It's not like you're standing still or something

ALSO Also, I don't see a problem with a little challenge, as long as there isn't an ultra-specific way you have to do it.

THANK YOU! Those levels are fun to me.

The magikoopa segments are hard, and I actually expected people to not like that section as it actually involved waiting.

Nine times out of ten there is some form of visual hint (such as curtains being cut out to show a thwomp is behind them, or a football being kicked to make the player quickly locate the source).

Everything else should be noticeable and able to be handled by any player, unless they have some problem seeing, or they're too worried about everything else going on.

Well maybe I wanted to make it that way?

Level design is not an absolute science as it relies on the opinions of others, not facts.

User error is an excuse, otherwise we will reach this point:

Also, in my honest opinion, if a judge's judgement is affected by emotions to the point where he or she has to bash areas where they are clearly at fault, then that doesn't make a good judge.

Holy hell, this is hopeless. You seem to have this jaded take on difficulty that is blinding you to what is right there to your face. The amount of precision necessary to make it past that setup at the start, especially as Big Mario without taking any damage, is just stupid.

It's nice to beat things into skulls once in a while.

This is just overkill here, made even worse by the obscuring tarp-thing. Shown here: Mario is obscured behind the tarp-thing, and I have no idea where he's going to land. I then landed on a saw and died.

Also, considering the last section, there's no way in hell I'm going after that thing I think may be a yoshi coin.

Most of the post

I'm not saying anything about your level (I haven't played any of the levels, and I don't plan to), but here's a tip: if you want to avoid making bright, distracting colours, try desaturating them instead of plain darkening them. For example, take #00FF00. If I darken it to #004000, well, that's not exactly easy to look at, especially against a black background. Instead, try slightly desaturating the colour as well as darkening, to #337733, or something like that. The way you've done it, judging by TRS's screenshots, is actually, to be honest, quite painful to look at, mainly in the cases of the deep bleeding red, darkly ominous purple and soul-consuming blue. Again, desaturation looks nicer. And even then, I don't think anybody has any qualms with a bright rainbow, do they?

Then, do you want feedback so you can improve your level, or so you can argue?

How exactly are players supposed to pick up on such a subtle nuance while at the same time grappling with the high difficulty?

The entire turn block formation is obfuscated by a fence, and there are three grinders buzzing around as well. Again, how are players supposed to identify the danger while at the same time focusing on the grinder brigade (and the magikoopa, if it's still active)?

Their visibility doesn't tell the whole story. That setup in particular comes right after a harrowing sequence of precision jumps, and players are led into a false sense of security that nearly guarantees they get hit at that precise spot. Why do you think the point has come up so many times? The level conditions players to fail. It's not like the concept of hidden thwomps is properly introduced, either- there's only one other before this setup, and that one is quickly forgotten amid all the other demanding setups the level throws at players.

While I agree there is more than one way to pass some of the obstacles in the level, pretty much all of these ways require a very high level of precision, so in actuality, all you've managed to do is provide multiple ultra-specific ways to do things, which again, isn't much better.

Then, are you trying to do well in this contest, or advertise your level design style? Surely someone interested in winning would take care to craft obstacles that people do enjoy...?

Again, are you trying to do well in this contest, or advertise your level design style? You do realize the feedback you're getting is targeting the former...?

Are you aware of the term "false dichotomy?"

You appear quite enamored with this idea of "user error," which seems to boil down to "players just aren't paying attention." However, as I've pointed out several times already, the level demands that players' attention be in too many places at the same time. Do you really think new players aren't paying attention in your stage? I mean, there's an awful lot to pay attention to! And that's exactly the problem- the level exploits this to overwhelm, trick, and punish players repeatedly. When first-time skiers are unwittingly cajoled into attempting a black diamond trail, can their repeated blunders really be blamed on "not paying enough attention?"

So now you're stooping so low as to question our competence? Let me tell you something: perfect objectivity is a childish pursuit. The very reason we have multiple judges is to account for multiple viewpoints and interest curves. If your level comes under fire despite all that, then I think it's more likely that the designer is at fault. This contest doesn't reward levels that target niche audiences. Of course, that brings us back to the same question: are you here to do well in the contest, or to hawk your level design style? Frankly, if it's not the former, I think you're completely wasting your time, not to mention missing the point. Contests are avenues for growth- take a step back and think long and hard about that.

I prefer difficult levels, but not unfair

I said this because I feel as if a judge who implies their judgement is swayed by frustration (as the target did, or so it feels as if to me) that doesn't make a good judge.