VLDCX - New Leaders, the Overworld, & World X.

So as someone who regularly plays VLDC and has no interest in this community nor its interests or politics, can I toss in my two cents? I haven't read the entire spiel but I've read enough to know what's going on. Feel free to let me know if I repeat anything.

First off I'm neither surprised nor disappointed VLDCX is not coming out. But as someone who has been playing VLDCs since the 8th one (or the 7th whatever) I do appreciate the effort that goes into them. However, it is not the main reason why I've had an interest in them, or VLDCX. The compilation is just a nice delivery method for me to play all the levels with no fuss or effort, and the aesthetics that go into making the compilation hack special is something I do like, but is ultimately secondary to the submissions themselves.

So if there's one thing I was not happy with, it's how long it took the guys behind VLDCX to make up their mind on what to do with their contest. And so begins my takes on the many points of interest this cancellation has brought up.

First off, I understand perfectly that a strong development team made up of a bunch of hobbyists is very rare. It's even rarer to take a group of people and make a productive team out of them. I mean that's all skills that just making and/or moderating a level design contest doesn't just magically grant to people. However I can't be completely accepting of how this went. I mean come on. It's been how many years? 5? 6? Everyone has a life to tend to but that's not the point. The point is this has been done 9 times before and I was hoping there'd be a progressing understanding of what's needed to bring this together. Maybe there is though, because I can't tell with VLDCX since its ambitions were shot through the roof this year.

As for Vitor, maybe he isn't the devil but one thing to understand is that he was the cause of a LOT of grief, and though most of it was just him overestimating, he was still responsible for the contest's progression. If he's at fault for anything, it's his management skills. I really don't get the people coming in here to preemptively whiteknight for Vitor because so far most of the posts I've read have been valid points, neither derogatory nor opinionated. Also, I'm sure there's a couple other reasons why this contest fell flat besides Vitor, and I too will say he shouldn't be the scapegoat, but if lessons need to be learned we need to start with the biggest issues first, and just from a little bit of reading I can tell the first issue to confront is how management played a lot in this failure to launch.

And that's it. Vitor is at fault for that one thing, and though I can't confirm this because I need it straight from horse's mouth, he had an attitude about it which didn't help with motivation for anyone. That's a problem, and if we really care, we should really think about that instead of defending him from criticism, because this is a time for criticism. However, so far, that's the only thing, so we should focus on that specifically instead of assuming it's all his fault. And not as a "We have to do something about Vitor." way but as a "How can we learn from this?" way.

Also if anyone still has doubts about whether or not VLDCX's goal was possible, do you understand how very unlikely it was to get this whole compilation done? It was, a new concept, known by one guy, and I'm led to believe it was virgin territory even for him. And in addition to having to administer the contest and get it all working? In essence that was a high risk high reward scenario, and when Vitor couldn't do it, well, that's what happens when you put all your eggs in one basket. It's a mistake everyone made, from production team to community, so I'm not going to point the finger at anyone for getting their hopes high. I won't blame people for aiming high.

But I wanted to play something, so I really wished a compromise was made. Some people did good suggestions: just a level select hack or multiple hacks housing all the levels. I also did not want to see people feeling like they needed to go 150% after going 140% the year before and 120% the year before that with their overworld. Technology has its limits, and if you hit that you should keep in mind there's still creativity. Just because you can't innovate further doesn't mean you can't release something. Hell, the only thing about VLDC9 I was disappointed with was World X. I thought the rest was fine, overworld and all. Even then, I think the first priority should've been to get something out instead of get the super best thing out. Status quo and all that. If you wanna do something ambitious, prep for it in advance. Measure out how much time it'll take before committing to it.

And I'm trying to sound neutral so far but seriously, as someone who plays your contest entries, can I just play the better entries? Please? I do not accept "But then you're alienating the people who aren't that good" or "Some levels might cross that line and get into the good levels and vice versa" as excuses to not do this. Because, hello, we have this happen already when we include everything. We already have petty arguments about why X level is at Y place. I don't see why including everyone will just magically make everyone happy. Furthermore, and I'm going to really stress this, if we truly trust our level judges to do a good job judging and if they do a good job judging, there shouldn't be any complaints about ranking. I'm not trying to undersell the judge's efforts. I am really thankful for their time and effort. I'm trying to convince you that you shouldn't arbitrarily argue with the rankings as it suits your needs.

And another thing, there SHOULD be an incentive for people to make good levels. Recognition and approval can be great motivators for people to really think about level design. If people get sad over not clearing the bar, then whatever. If they still care they can try harder next year. What does it matter in the grand scheme of things? I'm not one of those players who feel obligated to play the community's levels or anything like that. I just play video games. I want to play good video games and not bad video games. I really hope this is elementary to this community and I really hope this is what people go for when they make levels, at least for this contest.

And I'm gonna really stick this to the community: you're arguing about whether or not you should include the best not-as-good levels when we already have people going "the levels suck, you aren't missing out on much"? Seriously? It sounds like people are already disappointed with this year's turnout and wants better level design anyway so uhh, is that a legitimate problem or not? Is it something this community should fix or has this community already given up on the inside?

To wrap up, I do like playing your levels, SMWC, and though there's good times and bad times I still appreciate it enough to come back next year to play some more. Buuuuut, it pains me to see you tear yourselves up just to even get something out. I was really hoping I could get your honest try at making entertainment instead of squabbling over how to technically appeal to me. For me, at the end of the day, I'm not that wowed by technical achievements in Super Mario World. I'm here for Mario levels first. And some of VLDC9's and VLDC8's levels did really impress me to the point where I tried my best to find more work by those authors.

I mean this is opinion territory but I see the VLDC, and probably all major contests, as a stomping grounds to flex your entertainment muscles. Technological breakthroughs are great to use but for someone like me, I'm here to enjoy the art of level design. That's what this contest...this vanilla level design contest, should be about. I mean, having played the past 3 or so iterations I'd imagine I would have an idea of what I like and don't like about VLDC. What I like about VLDC are the people who really come forth and bring forth entertaining Mario levels. I just want this community to do that however it pleases, because I still hold hope that SMWC can do that with vanilla assets and gimmicks, even if I've played several VLDCs already.

I have a bit more to say but I think that's enough for now. For now I'll just quote this:

and call out this person for lighting a touchy subject on fire. That ain't cool, yo.