Tip: You can use the SMW Customizer to edit tons of misc. features in SMW, including the speed of Bullet Bills, how many points a 3-UP moon gives you, and more!
A popular aspect of most hacks among many people is the overworld in which Mario moves around on. I have met some people who enjoy this so much that they devote their time to making nothing but submaps. There is nothing wrong with this though, because these people usually have a very keen sense of design and such, which makes them rather talented.
Anyway, I have been promising this contest for well over a year now, but I have failed to deliver it until this point. Due to recent popular interest though, it is here!
The Rules:
1. All custom stuff is welcome - however, please remember that while custom stuff helps enhance your overworld, it might not help you win if you have a poor design.
2. You do not need working events on your overworld - however, Mario paths and level placements are a must. While I'd love to see a plain overworld with no levels, it is the level which make up the overworld in the first place, so yeah.
3. Please do not lock it. It will be tested in both an emulator (using Start to scroll) and viewed in Lunar Magic.
4. Please make sure you can walk to every level initially. Do this by setting each level's flag to "Level has been passed".
5. Once you have completed your main map or submaps, please create an IPS patch and post it here. If you would rather keep your work private, then you are more than welcome to send it to me in a PM and I will simply note that you completed it.
There will be two separate areas in which you can enter. You may enter one, or both!
Create an overworld</b>
Using the main map area, create an overworld to your liking. It can include whatever you'd like, as many levels as you'd like (as long as they are all a different level number, and as many worlds as you like. The judging for this will be:
DESIGN (10): How was it designed overall? TERRAIN (10): Did you use plenty of landforms, one giant landform with varying degrees of detail, or was it just a bunch of boring squares of land? CREATIVITY (10): Did you work hard to produce nice palettes, effects, worlds, etc. OVERALL (10): How does it look, feel, and play overall?
The total is 40 points.
Create six submaps</b>
Some people feel better with 'less' areas to worry about, or they like the feeling of having a bunch of smaller clusters to work with. This half of the contest is for people who don't want to design a huge main map, but would rather design six smaller maps. The judging for this will be:
DESIGN (10): How was it designed overall? TERRAIN (10): Did you use plenty of landforms, one giant landform with varying degrees of detail, or was it just a bunch of boring squares of land? CREATIVITY (10): Did you work hard to produce nice palettes, effects, etc. OVERALL (10): How does it look, feel, and play overall?
(a.k.a. the same guidelines as the first one.
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The deadline for this contest will be March 4th, 2009</b>. In case you are skimming this paragraph quickly, much like you would skim a boring book assigned to you in your English class, the deadline is <blink>March 11th, 2009</blink></b>. Do not send me entries later than this date and expect them to be judged. You have a whole month to work on this.
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please post them here. Discussion is free and open.
That's all. Looking forward to everyone's entries!
(note: it is your responsibility to make sure that these links work on March 11th. I will not be chasing you down for working links.) Unexpected end tag (</b>) at 1561, expected </u> Unexpected end tag (</b>) at 2234, expected </u> Unexpected end tag (</b>) at 3042, expected </u> Unexpected end tag (</blink>) at 3228, expected </u> Unexpected end tag (</b>) at 3232, expected </u> Tag (a) was not closed. Tag (b) was not closed. Tag (b) was not closed. Tag (b) was not closed. Tag (b) was not closed.
Will events be taken into account at all? Personally I like OWs that "evolve" when a stage is beaten, rather than just a new level tile popping up. Seems an important part to me.
Also, what about OW linearity? And "special" tiles (switch palaces, mushroom house equivalents, ect)? Music? Sprites? Don't care one way or the other about any of these?
Seriously, I waited quite some time for this contest, and here is it! Well, anyhoo, I'm going to give it a go - lemme start working on my entry for the contest - I'm sure it's going to be a lot of fun! ^_^
By the way, are we allowed to use custom music as well? Just checking. ;)
I guess it really depends. If you want to do something neat with events, go ahead - I can just cycle through them in LM and check it out. If it looks nice enough, it will probably be added to the creativity score. However, they are not mandatory.
Originally posted by Kaijyuu
Also, what about OW linearity? And "special" tiles (switch palaces, mushroom house equivalents, ect)? Music? Sprites? Don't care one way or the other about any of these?
Music and sprites fall under custom things, which I said are allowed and will enhance your overworld/submaps. As for switch palaces/ghost houses/fortresses/castles, I figured that sort of stuff was just common knowledge, as most people do it anyway. The only one that I really don't care about are switch palaces - you can either include them, or not include them. It's really up to you.
Originally posted by Broozer
By the way, are we allowed to use custom music as well? Just checking. ;)
Custom music falls under custom everything-else, so yes.
Time to get cracking! Finally a contest I actually have a chance to win Off to YY-CHR for a couple days!
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EDIT: Wait! The title screen and the credits are part of the overworld. Will those be judged?
No, they will not be judged. However, you are more than welcome to make something for them out of boredom if you'd like.
Originally posted by Simple Bag
Do we have to have levels in the OW? [/quote[
I covered this in the guidelines - yes, you have to have levels on the overworld. Since they are the whole reason an overworld exists, I see no reason why they should not be judged. However, if you'd like, you can show a 'before' and 'after' pic, if you really want us to see what it looks like without levels.
Tag (div) was not closed. Tag (div) was not closed.
Will we get any advantages if our overworlds are Vanilla? You know what that means, S.N.N. 8-] I'm gonna be working my ass off on this!
I'll basically be judging the 'creativity' and such based on what you use. If you have an awesome look vanilla OW which is very appealing to the eye, you'll still get high points. If you have an OW with ExGFX, but it looks rather lame, you'll get lower points. Basically, I'll base the score off of what you're using for graphics to ensure everyone has an equal chance.
(though good ExGFX will be easier to receive a higher score on, obviously.)
Awesome! I've been waiting for a contest like this!
I've been working on a "secret" custom overworld sprite, and now I intend to use it for this contest. I'll start working on this right away!
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Off to YY-CHR for a couple days!
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