I think I'll get marked down quite a lot. Nowadays when it comes to vanilla, people expect you to mix tilesets, use fancy palettes, and etc. I don't like doing that, which is why my vanilla levels are simple, straight to the point (level design and fun), no decoration, just... a level. I wonder how bad of a score I'll get... I hope that's just my self esteem talking, though.
Hey, there's no reason for such underconfidence. SNN said that he deliberately limited the Map16 distribution so that people would focus on their level designs instead of aesthetics. I haven't played your entry, but if you did exactly this, I wager you'll be -fine-. :)
Everest
Posts: 3202/4349
Since:
Location: United Kingdom
Nothing wrong with some slight mixing and reasonable palettes though I do see where you are coming from. You must have balance between them to create a pleasing level.
Edit: I have a question. Will the results be released with the actual hack that contains all the levels or will it be released before that?
Actually, what if we had the ranking in the hack itself? Perhaps put the level ranking before the level name on the OW?
i.e. #X author-level name
Also, will all the levels/OWs be accessible from the start, or will the good levels be unlocked by completing the... ahem, not quite as good levels? I think this was talked about before, but I forgot what was decided.
Also, will all the levels/OWs be accessible from the start, or will the good levels be unlocked by completing the... ahem, not quite as good levels? I think this was talked about before, but I forgot what was decided.
I personally don't think this is a good idea. Games only have so long to make a good impression before players decide if they want to keep going or not, especially games gotten for free on the internet, so making them wade through potential crap wouldn't inspire confidence.
I think it was decided that the world with the worst levels would be unlockable somehow!
EDIT: Of course, what I'm really hoping for is that all of the entries are so good that a "worst world" becomes either impractical or unwarranted.
I would prefer that everything would be in one ROM, and since you got all the entries anyway, well, why shouldn't the people here which participate help you out SNN? Simply decide what would be the best way to describe who gets which resources and people could rearrange that.
I actually think it would be fairly easy to do. The trickiest thing probably would be secondary entrances, since they would need to be set up from scratch, but with some luck there won't be too much overlaps. Re-mapping the map16-tiles on the other hand should be easy as pie, though. All you need to do would be to put up a list with all your tiles on it with all the remapping instructions (like 400,450 for example) and copy-paste it into the Remap Direct Map16-tiles-window (and do that with all your sublevels.) And changing the ExGFX-slots isn't exactly a problem either.
I'm also not sure how many "bad" levels will turn up, but if there's not enough to warrant a "worst" world, I'd say it's fine with me.
--------------------
Mineyl
Posts: 733/999
Since:
Location: Vanilla Grove Galaxy
I think I'll get marked down quite a lot. Nowadays when it comes to vanilla, people expect you to mix tilesets, use fancy palettes, and etc. I don't like doing that, which is why my vanilla levels are simple, straight to the point (level design and fun), no decoration, just... a level. I wonder how bad of a score I'll get... I hope that's just my self esteem talking, though.
Hey, there's no reason for such underconfidence. SNN said that he deliberately limited the Map16 distribution so that people would focus on their level designs instead of aesthetics. I haven't played your entry, but if you did exactly this, I wager you'll be -fine-. :)
Ha ha, yes. Scorpion wins.
Anyway, yeah. I'm actually thankful there aren't that many out-and-about vanilla levels. Most of the levels that do major tileset mixing, to me, are mainly the ones that can't seem to decide on a theme. Eitherway, I'm glad with the way things turned out, and I sincerely do hope putting the base rom together will not be as much as problem as it's appearing to be.
Just to clear up a few questions (in no real order):
-I'd love for there NOT to be a "worst" world. If there are no levels that are outright bad, then it won't even be necessary.
-Yes, all levels will be open from the start (except for the "best" world, which you'll need to play through in order).
-The results will be posted before the hack is released. I'd like to ideally get the themes decided soon as well so we can start working on the maps. Once the maps are done, the hack can be released to the public.
And I think I agree with the rest of you - this can work in one ROM, it's just going to be very challenging.
I think I'll get marked down quite a lot. Nowadays when it comes to vanilla, people expect you to mix tilesets, use fancy palettes, and etc. I don't like doing that, which is why my vanilla levels are simple, straight to the point (level design and fun), no decoration, just... a level. I wonder how bad of a score I'll get... I hope that's just my self esteem talking, though.
I know I'm kind of echoing what's been said beforet, but the entries that usually rank really high are are not the ones that have amazing aesthetics, but the ones that have incredibly solid level design. A good example of this would be yoshicookiezeus' Trauma Towers, the 1st place winner of 2012's VLDC. Aesthetically, he put in a rather small effort, but what really impressed the judges was how he took a simple concept to centralize his level around, and expanded upon it in several creative ways while still maintaining a difficulty curve and not letting it feel repetitive.
I just wanted to mention that I uploaded an update to my level. However, do note that the level is still functionally exactly the same and all this did was add some minor decoration for the purpose of presentation in the collab hack itself. Since this is submitted after the deadline, I fully expect to be judged based on the version I uploaded the other day.
I'm a little on the fence about allowing updates on levels. I was thinking of it at first, but then the collab won't actually reflect how the levels were judged (eg. if I don't like the enemy placement in a particular part, but someone decides to fix it after the fact and it makes the level way better, it's going to make the level placement on the map make very little sense).
Unless there's a game-breaking glitch in the levels, I don't think I want to allow any updates at all. I hope my reasoning is clear/reasonable, and if not, let me know.
Mineyl
Posts: 735/999
Since:
Location: Vanilla Grove Galaxy
If all there is consists of
Beta < Normal (1-6) < Final (7)
for contest placing, a level whose quality improves minorly won't likely jump into another category.
I finished my new compilation video featuring nearly every entry in this contest (one wouldn't work at all):
Click image to see the video!
I'm not sure if the collab is still going to be split across 2 roms or not, but the video is divided into 2 parts. The first half has levels on Rom 1 and the other half has Rom 2 levels. When it fades to black the first time that's the indication that it's starting to show Rom 2 levels.
For the record, the reason Teyla and I's level fell through is that he got swamped with midterms and I badly pulled my hamstring and couldn't move during the final week of the submissions period. Oh well.
For the record, the reason Teyla and I's level fell through is that he got swamped with midterms and I badly pulled my hamstring and couldn't move during the final week of the submissions period. Oh well.
This makes me sad because your level was amazing ;~;
All it needed more was a goal point, then it would have definitely won the entire contest!
I finished my new compilation video featuring nearly every entry in this contest (one wouldn't work at all)
Amazing compilation. Looks definitely like lots of quality stuff in there. Is it just my impression or seem cave levels to dominate? Not the biggest issue, though, since there's still a lot else.
Overall I think this video will make some people wanting to check out the final product. I'm sure I do!
It appears cave levels dominate, second that is grassland I believe. But yeah, that compilation is just incredible. Now I really can't wait for this thing to take off.
Also, sorry for the hate, but this VLDC Hack will see a completion date much earlier than what SMWCPII could ever hope to see.
Follow Us On