0. On DQ's:
I'd argue for DQ'ing levels that are made to "mock" the contest. Levels with obviously no effort put into them. Levels like Medic's streamside, which could be considered jokes, are still honest levels with effort put into them.
1. On categories:
Managing a bunch of categories seems like a complete waste of time for a VLDC. Tho there might be potential in supporting it to prepare a judge for an anonymous level.
2. On the music thread:
More songs sounds good and I kinda hope we get some tracks that don't necessarily go with SMW's melody (but still sort of fit the style).
3. On mode 0:
mode 0 seems completely out of style for the VLDCs and while it might be interesting I'd rather see a 24hos for mode 0 before I'd even imagine it in a vldc.
4. On exiting unbeaten levels:
Please do enable this. Getting stuck in a level sucks and there are levels in VLDC9 where you could get stuck, having to wait for the timer to count down.
5. On score charts:
Honestly I don't care about the score charts. I'd even prefer to keep them out of the game. Maybe there could be a way from an OW pause menu to just warp to a judge's favorite level?
7. On flight free regions:
Given that counter-breaks are used I think it's up to the designer to
provide the cape or not. Now arguments could be made about adding extra powerups to a VLDC (think eg SMB3), but I don't think anyone would want that for VLDCX.
8. On optional bug fixes:
Please don't. Just create a base rom with all the necessary bug fixes and force designers to accept that.
9. On changing sfx:
I'd prefer sfx to stay vanilla, to the point of limiting the usage of songs that change the sfx.
10. On level badges:
Refer back to the score charts. Badges seem like a neat idea and might even have it's own warp system. I don't know though, might be a lot of work for little reward.
11. On spinjump fix patch:
OH MY GOD PLEASE YES. The bug in the original game is infuriating and this patch is a god send.
13. On upscaling:
Sure, provide 2x assets in the base rom. This is more than vanilla enough and while SMW didn't use the gimmick it's been present in previous installments.
14. On rotation:
Eh. I don't even see a use of this to begin with. I'd prefer not to mess with rotated graphics.
19. On the status bar:
I'd again like to keep this as vanilla as possible. The Mario x Infinity looked great to me.
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Additional ideas:
Personally I very much like the idea of adding resources that are very SMW-like. There are certain things SMW could do that we can't because the original asset is hard coded. Sprites like
Better Creating/Eating Block Snakes would be fantastic. I'd also really love more customizable auto-scrollers (god auto-scrollers are awful but I personally love designing levels with them ;_;).
Ultimately I guess there's really two ways to look at VLDC. Take the assets SMW (Lunar Magic) gives us and make whatever you can, or take the look SMW has and expand to create something SMW-like but better (I can't word this properly but I hope you'll get the gist). I personally prefer to make something SMW like but use assets that Lunar Magic doesn't necessarily give you, but I see nothing against levels Lunar Magic to its fullest.
I'd also like to see if a different scoring system could be applied entirely. I am personally a big fan of ranking levels, and there's many different methods to combine multiple rankings into a single representative ranking (each with their own drawbacks). I'm not a big fan of the whole categories for scores mechanic, but that might just be me.