(Discussion) 3rd Annual SMWCentral Level Design Challenge

I entered my first contest a few months ago, and surprisingly, I ended up with fourth place. Since I know I actually have a chance at these, I'm ready to compete! I've already got a good idea in mind..

1. Well, the patch doesn't do anything more than fix 3 tiles in GFX33
2. I'd imagine not. They are very un-vanilla.

Probably a bad idea to have a person who's relatively out of touch with SMW hacking advancements to run a contest but oh well.

Rotated tiles: Yes, by all means, go ahead.

Hex Edits: I'm going to have to stop everyone here because aside from the patches that fix minor details like the SMW-Fix patch, there's no good way for me to gauge exactly where the line when hex edits would come in. THe situation would likely end up being something like "well you let him do a hex edit here, my edit isn't all that different," and before I know it it becomes a case-by-base scenario of hex edit wanting all based around people trying to loophole the rules. SO I'm going to nip it in the bud and say that unless you have a really good reason for me to include a hex edit that ALL PARTICIPANTS could truly benefit from, no hex edits outside of the allowed list.

About MORE.asm: What exactly does it do? I'll decide once I know.

No Sprite Tile Limits patch: I can't recall but I feel like this question came up last year and it was allowed. All it does is allow placement of large sprites without them messing up right? I think I'll allow it because really it's just to make things work correctly, much like the other patches in the list do. I'll add it to the list.

Midway fix: If you really must I guess you can, but can't you just make the fix yourself in an editor? In that case it's not technically changing graphics as much as it is fixing them.

Ceiling Generator: No, as Chaotic Fox said, it's rather un-vanilla. Just find workarounds.

Well samples are only extras for music and I'm not allowing them. I need a true explanation before I can decide.

Never mind SNN told me what it does. The answer is yes.

Okay then.

S.N.N EXISTS.

Enough stupid crap, I made a thread about this on Raocow's forums.

Link

If I ended the game by putting the player in an endless room, would I lose points?

It wouldn't be a trap, it would just be a black screen with the words "THE END", like the ending of the original Super Mario World.

Sort of what I did with the last chocolate contest?

Hmm. Do y'all reckon there would be the same level of interest? I know i'd be curious.

(by the way, it's a vanilla contest this time)
I'm sure people'd love to watch you play our levels again (especially us ^^). I'd go for it, vanilla levels have evolved into fountains of creativity.

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Yes, raocow...yes...

If you do it, I can't wait for the swarm of youtube messages saying:

OMG OMG RAOCOW LPED UR LEVEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111

Wanna bet?

Remember, this is Raocow we are talking about here.

So I was wondering about the "no multiple exits" rule. I understand the level can only have 2 exits, but what about the intro?

I want my level to play differently based on several factors, including which of the switches have been pressed. Would it be permissable to place the 4 switches in the intro, so that they're easy to get to, and won't take the judges too much time to find?

The judges won't have to play all the switch combinations or anything. None of the switches will do anything like open a secret exit or bonus room. They'll make some parts easier, some harder. The most they might get you is a couple of coins or a power-up, but it'll be obvious so a judge could say "Well, I didn't press switch X, but it's obvious it's not crucial to the level..." So no pressure to play the level 6 billion times...

If I can't do that, would it be OK if the secret exit led to all 4 switches, but it was set up so that once you hit one switch, you can't go back? It's techninally like 5 exits, but only 2 are available on any one playthrough.

Or could I just limit my level to 2 switches, one for each exit?

And another: I'm confused about the music. If I understand correctly, we're allowed to change the music that plays in the main level, but no crazy sfx changes, P-switch music changes, or anything like that, right?


Thanks for your time.

PS: Raocow, I'd love to see you try this. I'd say I wasn't saying this only because you'd play my level... but that would be a lie. Of course, there's no pressure. I'm sure somebody, if not multiple people, would LP the contest levels, and I just want to watch somebody play my level. It lets me know in real time, where people are having trouble, what they think is weird but cool, or weird but dumb, etc... actually, the only reason I'm entering this is to know just WHY my level design sucks...

I didn't get one youtube message about my level, and I don't really care to be honest. But yeah, I'd love to see you playing the levels of this contest.