It's Is That Time Again.... Welcome to the Chocolate Level Design Contest! Nearly three years after the last, this contest allows for the use of any resources - whatever your little heart desires, with no limitations! Well, not completely "no" - the contest rules are limitations, but you get it. It ain't VLDC, it ain't BLDC, you do not need to conform to a provided baserom for this contest. In other words: go nuts!
General Rules:
- You may work with up to one partner.
- Your level should not exceed 5 minutes to beat in a perfect run (meaning without death from front to back). If we feel an entry is too long during judging, you may get a lower score.
- You may use one secret exit, but please note you may get a lower score if your secret exit adds nothing to the level experience. Make it count!
- Kaizo levels are not permitted. If you are unsure what defines "Kaiso", you may ask little old me, or your fellow SMW romhacker friendos.
- Life farm or infinite lives please! No one wants to game over round these parts.
- Do not include your name within your entry. I beg of you.
- Low effort joke entries may be prone to disqualification. If you put no work in your entry, don't expect the judges to put work into judging it. It ain't QLDC!
- Traditional use of MSU-1 is banned, such as utilizing it for music and video purposes. That said, you may use MSU-1 for external level data and asm, as long as your entry + its' additional resources are below 10mb. No .pcms!
The following will result in a disqualification if not followed:
- Your entry must work with either Snes9x1.61 or BSNESv115. Entries that do not work in either of these emulators will be disqualified.
- Submitting an .ips will result in a disqualification.
- Submitting an .smc file or any other form of rom file will result in a disqualification, file deletion & a site warning! (really don't do this)
Judging:
The judges for CLDC are JupiHornet, Sariel, Sixcorby, and TheJavabrew. You know them, you love them. 🐎
Scoring:
Level Design: 60 Points
How well-designed is the level? Is it overall fun to play? How well does it execute its theme, gimmicks and level setups? Is the difficulty consistent or is it frustrating or boring? Does the level function properly or are there issues such as unintended slowdown?
Creativity: 30 Points
Does the level present any unique or interesting ideas? Does it have any original, nice setups? Is the theme/gimmick innovative?
Aesthetics: 10 Points
How does the level look and feel? Are the palettes pleasing to the eye? Is it polished? Does the music fit? Is the music a nuisance to gameplay? Are there any broken sound effects or samples? Completely unchanged Vanilla SMW aesthetics (meaning no palette changes, no music changes, etc) will be given a 7/10.
Submission:
You must submit your entry as a .bps file. Submitting an .ips file will result in disqualification! You can put your .bps file in a .zip or 7-zip archive if you want. For ease of submission and judge access, you should upload it to your personal File Bin on the site. The .bps file should be created using a clean Super Mario World rom, using Floating IPS. You know the drill.
Submit your level in this thread. If you are updating your entry, EDIT YOUR POST. Double posts in this thread will be deleted.
Deadline:
The deadline for this contest will be April 20th, 2023, also known as National Cheese Ball Day and International Bat Appreciation Day. How exciting! You may feast upon the lovely timer below:
