Public Discussion of the Newfound Opinion on LDC's

[MessengerOfDreams]

This post by MessengerOfDreams was thumbed up by:

Dtroid (March 5th, 2013, 12:29 am)

[Megar]

The extension point is what I'm trying to get across. If you don't have time, don't join. I see your point, MoD, but still it's not right.
Anyway, maybe not get rid of LDC's, rather, have separate ones for different skill levels, then say the top 2 of each level goes up, and the bottom 2 of each level goes down.

[Venexis]

How about you beat the so-designated legends to become a legend? It's what I did. It's what people like Amp, Brawler, DarkBlaze, Nwolf and SuperMIC did- they rose from the ashes of defeat and leapt into the top six after dragging their feet for awhile with amazing levels. And you can do that too, unless you give up.

I would agree so hard with this except for the point I raised in the 23rd topic. People (especially the newer designers) tend to finish their levels fairly regularly before the initial deadline. This is fine, for obvious reasons. But what happens after is that people who are viewed as good level designers typically end up taking longer. I don't know how progress compares for both groups, but I would assume that since they require an extension, they have less done, and therefore have gained more time to plan out their entry indirectly.

This is, hopefully, something we should all agree on as being an unfair advantage given almost exclusively to the "legends".

So why don't we just extend the deadlines for everyone? There's two main reasons. Firstly, there's no set goal to finish. entrants are free to work (read: procrastinate) as long as they desire without fear, because the deadline will just be pushed back more. The duels have already proven this; the LDC would never end (or if it did, people would be butthurt from expecting the deadline to be pushed back yet again). Secondly, extending the deadline does not benefit the people who have already finished. It's a nice gesture, but nothing more. To keep up with people who are still working on their levels thanks to extensions, they must rework their entire level, effectively completing two submissions for the contest in the same frame. It's just simple math- keeping a constant amount of time (via a deadline extension for everyone) it is apparent that the people with only one entry have more time to plan and ultimately end up with a better level than those who did all that, and then were forced to rework completely to keep pace with the ultimately better levels.

In short, our system is broken. Extensions repeatedly give advantages to the top designers, and tend to be harsher overall on the people who planned well and finished before the original deadline. It is becoming increasingly difficult for new talent to come out on top because of this.

Now, what are the solutions? Enforcing deadlines, obviously, but this will result in many more disqualifications per contest due to unfinished entries. Or maybe it won't, but it will force smaller entries. This is not a bad thing. You don't need a seventeen part story-driven action-packed movie to win. Basically, it boils down to simplification. If you can pull off a massive entry in the given time, go for it. If not, stop trying to, and stay within your limits. Either that or make a no-BS deadline that is fixed and immovable. Or, as I mentioned in the LDC topic, perhaps SM63 is at the end of its life. If there's not sufficient interest to meet a month long deadline, maybe we should stop trying. Give people free reign with contests, there's nothing stopping unofficial duels between three or four people, after all.

[Dtroid]

You know what? 70% of the reason I came here to this site was because of LDCs. They are my favorite hobby,my pastime. I can't do it now,due to work. I'm fully against removing LDC's,and if it's removed there's no point to come to this site anymore.

Some people are still interested in SM63 and Level Designing. Even topics are going around talking about "I love SM63!" or "Update the LD!" I totally support them.

SM63 is really fun. I have been playing it from when I was small. I understand why people got tired of it. It was because of work,stress,distraction(addicted to other games such as Minecraft) and seeing the same old thing over and over again.

People,if you want to register in an LDC,go ahead. You can even make a suggestion,but not everyone agrees with them.

LDC's are being too frequent here,maybe make it once in four months,not monthly.

Also we could separate the LDC into three sections: Beginner,Moderate,and Master.
The medals would be different in each section. Why me and the community made this suggestion is because beginners creating levels (like me?) definitely would get crushed,right?

About the deadline: Don't extend it for everybody since people doesn't like it. If you are planning to do an extension if people haven't finished their entries yet,why not set a later deadline in the first place so no extensions for everybody has to be made?

Never mind about my previous post in this thread. This topic is necessary. So I guess what I just said fully explained everything the community wants. Mods,please consider our suggestions.

[-BY]

This post by -BY was thumbed up by:

Dtroid (March 6th, 2013, 12:37 am)

[Megar]

I completely agree with Ven, but I'd like to make a suggestion.

Go through the 24th LDC. Allow extensions and the like, whatever. We'll see how it goes.

[CedarBranch]

I completely agree with Ven, but I'd like to make a suggestion.

Go through the 24th LDC. Allow extensions and the like, whatever. We'll see how it goes.

Maybe we should just cut extensions instead. Let us see who would place then.

[NanTheDark]

Maybe we should change the LDC system... I'm not sure if deadlines are the only problem...

Also, I think the idea of LDCs being bad because the top placers are consistent is a nasty case of quitter's syndrome. You want LDCs to be segregated because people do well? How about you beat the so-designated legends to become a legend? It's what I did. It's what people like Amp, Brawler, DarkBlaze, Nwolf and SuperMIC did- they rose from the ashes of defeat and leapt into the top six after dragging their feet for awhile with amazing levels. And you can do that too, unless you give up.

The problem is that there's not much incentive to defeat the legends, really. I mean, sure, I get a shiny medal and people's all like MAN HE'S SO AWESOME but that doesn't really... fill people. Or at least not me. Because when you start making levels to place high in contests before a deadline, it stops being fun and it starts becoming a chore.

One of the reasons for my initial quitting.

[lordpat]

This post by lordpat was thumbed up by: 2

CedarBranch (March 18th, 2013, 8:37 am) • Dtroid (March 18th, 2013, 7:58 pm)

[nin10mode]

I actually like that idea a lot.

The only potential problem is that it might encourage some people to make massive levels that are impossible to finish in one sitting, so size or playthrough limits would need to be enforced.