The 2nd Annual Kaizo Level Design Contest
(See the second post for TASes of the entries)
(See results thread for results and compilation download link)
Hello, this is Ultimaximus, and I'll be your host for this year's Annual Kaizo Contest! At long last, the opportunity has come once more, another chance to show off your skills at Kaizo level designing! We'll have plenty of old and new faces, new glitches and tricks, as well as remixes on the classic tricks we all know and love/despise!
An important note, a 'category' refers to the two categories in which entries will be submitted to: "Creative" and "Difficult". A 'section' refers to the sections with which an entry will be judged under, such as "Appeal" and "Understanding".
The contest will be open for 1 month, in which submissions must be posted and linked to in this thread. You are free to privately PM an entry, though this is not recommended. All entries must be posted in the File Bin, a.k.a. "My Files" in the sidebar. If you are unable to use the File Bin for any reason, then you must privately PM me with your reason, and you may use an alternative file hosting website such as MediaFire or MegaUpload, which will be re-hosted by me for the duration of the contest and judging.
DEADLINE:
The deadline for submitted entries will be April 30th, 12:00 (EST). Later entries may or may not be allowed at my discretion.
RULES:
The rules are as follows:
- All submissions must be in the form of an IPS patch
- For instructions on creating an IPS Patch, check the F.A.Q.
- The category you are entering must be stated in the posting of the level
- If the category is not stated, it will be entered into the "Creative" category by default, and points deducted in "Understanding"
- You may participate in both categories, but not with the same level
- All entries must be possible to complete
- After the deadline, updates will only be excused if they are to fix game-breaking errors, such as impossibility, freezing, and corrupt patches
- You may or may not be informed of game-breaking issues, so be sure to test your level and patch thoroughly
- If your entry requires an update, and you were informed of this by a judge, points will be deducted
- The term "game-breaking" refers to anything that severely hampers playability.
- This not only includes the old "definition" that included freezing, crashing, and corrupt patches, but expands it to allow for fixes that involve impossible levels, massive shortcuts that need no effort (thus includes something like leaving in test doors, but does not include wall-jumping to get past stuff), unintended consequences, etc. Again, this will be only if necessary, and will cause a deduction in your grade.
- Entries will not be downloaded until the deadline has been reached, so your link must be in working order at that time
- Do not lock your entry
- Only one level may be entered into the contest per category
- You are free to use any material in your hack, such as ExGFX, custom music/samples, blocks & sprites, patches, and other ASM, as long as you have the permission to use such content
- Submitted content on SMWC is free to be used
- Your level may contain no more than 2 exits. Period
- This is to prevent delay of judging
- The level to be judged must be clear, obvious, and easily accessible, on the Overworld
- A "sub-level", or intro, will be accepted, but will not be judged
Failure to comply with these rules will result in deduction of points in the "Understanding" section, or a disqualification if severe (such as a corrupt patch, impossibility, or a ROM).
GUIDELINES:
These are the guidelines which you will be judged by:
- "Creativity" Category
- Creativity (15): Did the entry display creativity? Did it display original tricks, and put new spins on old ones, or blatantly used unoriginal tricks?
- Difficulty (10): Was the difficulty just right? Challenging enough to be difficult, but not agonizing? Was there a smooth and consistent difficulty level throughout the entry?
- Fun (10): Was the entry fun to play through, or just an uninteresting bore?
- Appeal (10): Was the entry visually appealing? Were there any glitched graphics, cutoff, or floating & stacked munchers? Did the music add to the mood of the entry, and fit well?
- Understanding (5): Did the entry display understanding of all the rules?
- "Difficulty" Category
- Difficulty (15): Was the difficulty just right? Very hard and challenging, but not excessively? Was there a smooth and consistent difficulty level throughout the entry?
- Creativity (10): Did the entry display creativity? Did it display original tricks, and put new spins on old ones, or blatantly used unoriginal tricks?
- Fun (10): Was the entry fun to play through, or just an uninteresting bore?
- Appeal (10): Was the entry visually appealing? Were there any glitched graphics, cutoff, or floating & stacked munchers? Did the music add to the mood of the entry, and fit well?
- Understanding (5): Did the entry display understanding of all the rules?
Just to clarify, glitches are allowed, but could lower score in the "Difficulty" section of the "Creative" category. It also depends on the type of glitch used. For example, the "Big Mario in Small Gap" glitch will probably not lower points in the "Difficulty" section. Just make sure that the glitch is easy to pull off and widely known. If you must, put the information in a message block. But if it's an insane glitch like "Walljumping", it will lower the points in the "Difficulty" section by a lot, since only a small margin of people can walljump with some ease. It is best suited for the "Difficult" category, since it is actually possible, but very hard. If you still are not sure which glitches could lower your score, just post a question here.
...and that's that! To review, the entries are due by the end of April, and must be entered in either the "Creative" or "Difficult" category. If you have any questions, feel free to ask in this thread for clarification. Good luck, both you and us judges will need it!
Official Userbar:
[url=http://www.smwcentral.net/?p=thread&id=32080][img]http://bin.smwcentral.net/15436/2ndKaizoContestant.png[/img][/url]
(If you wish to participate in this contest as a judge, PM me privately with your proposal)
Completed, closed, and moved.
