~The √25th 25quared Contest~

[Oranjui]

I'd complain about people's graphics judgings again but then I'd just look salty and in reality I'm mostly surprised I even placed

[NanTheDark]

Judgings are fair enough. Thanks for saying I'm a strong designer Shroom, I really appreciate it. Maybe I will try doing more stuff.

Tbh this level wasn't made to win, I just wanted to have fun with the concept and see if it was possible. It might be better without the limitations of 25x25, probably? I dunno.

Anyway, I'd check the Google Drive judgings, but it's not letting me see it.

[*Emelia K. Fletcher]

I'd complain about people's graphics judgings again but then I'd just look salty and in reality I'm mostly surprised I even placed

<3

[l.m]

Wow, Flambé got 3rd place in the same way P U L S E did in the 4th 25squared, which proves even further that Flambé iS A STRAIGHT UP COPY OF P U L S E AND SHOULD BE DISQUALIFIED IMMEDIATELY Congratulations for the ones who got medals, especially OJ <3

[Vajrin]

Wow 7th, really good for my first time. <3

[Venexis]

Guess I should do this, huh. Gratz guys <3

Mini-Ride through the Mines, Supershroom: show

Gameplay: (9/10)
You've got an incredible amount of stuff going on for such a tiny level, lawl. That's the first thing I wanted to say. The second thing is that you really nailed an awesome balance of difficulty, length, and loading times. I tend to point that out on a fair number of your levels, so this was especially welcome. There's nothing that really struck me as bad (or even mediocre, if I'm being honest) except perhaps the awkward areas you you mentioned in your vault post (the hold left after the pipe and the bottomless pit below it was my biggest pitfall), but hell, it's 25quared and I'll be damned if a single level has no tight spots. Your rotating shrooms were beautiful, and the slight offset of their paths made for some particularly interesting timing mechanics; but the miniboss takes the cake here. You may be the proud creator of the world's tiniest miniboss- my only regret is that it's super easy to cheese by jumping onto either of the steep slopes at the edges and holding outward.

Graphics: (5/5)
Breathtaking as usual. Cave tileset is my favorite because of all the interesting landforms you can create with it, and you've definitely accomplished that, I love how radial the level is, while also still looking somewhat like a natural cave. Your tilework is always smooth and fluent where it needs to be, but colorful and vibrant where it can be. It's a nice blend.

Other: (3.5/5)
+0.5, really digging your music.

Overall: (17.5/20)
Very interesting take on a 25quared entry. A couple areas could use a little bit of fine tuning, but even when they turned out to be fatal, I found I really didn't mind restarting. It's short and sweet, but punishing enough that you probably couldn't nail it first try. Well done.

Chromos Themepark, -Zero: show

Gameplay: (7.5/10)
Man, and I thought Shroom had a lot going on in such a tiny space. I'm gonna be honest, this was a little overwhelming, lawl. Pathways and puzzles alike were claustrophobic, and there were a handful of odd squish glitches that resulted in Mario flying into the room above (crushed between floating platforms and solid blocks in the blue room) or just flat out dying (crushed sideways by blocks/rotating platforms in the yellow and red rooms, respectively)... unfortunately, unlike Shroom's, yours has at least an entire order of magnitude more going on. This is good and bad. The bad, as I'm sure you can guess, is that replaying takes a lot of time... and beyond the first playthrough (unless you're secret hunting- which we'll cover in Other) it's a bit of a slog to input the correct sequence of actions to get back to where you were. The good, however, was that your challenges were incredibly varied and I had a lot of fun with not only each individual room, but each individual segment within a room. It was far more fun than I was expecting from the first impression the cluttered designer overview gives, and I'm super happy about that. :p

Graphics: (4/5)
As I hinted above, this level feels very messy, heh. Unfortunately, it's sometimes hard to see how to progress as a result of that (wooden platforms blend right in with the red room, and water can be a little hard to see in the blue, for instance), but once you get past the jarring first impression, the compact and cluttered decoration feels very much like what I'd expect from a bustling theme park. I particularly liked the use of bullies as spikes, perfectly implies "slightly comical but also painful". I think it's fitting.

Other: (4.5/5)
+0.5, energetic alternate music definitely helped with the overwhelming aspects, lawl.
+1, I can't tell if I'm just a sucker for easter eggs/replayability, but I really enjoyed your secrets, and the achievements you listed in the main post. Gave me something to search for while replaying after a death, and would no doubt give even the best player something to return for. The +1 here is also why your Gameplay score is slightly lower than I would normally give.

Overall: (16/20)
I'll admit it, my first impression was bad and I should feel bad. I've probably changed this score three times now because of it, but I think now it's at a point where it does your level justice. Very neat concept, and well executed given the constraints of 25quared, but damn would I love to see a larger version where everything could fit comfortably. Nice job.

dipenumbra volitation, *Emelia K. Fletcher: show

Gameplay: (6/10)
Short, simple, and straight to the point. You said nobody's tested this, does that include yourself? If so, consider me impressed- your intuition is spot on. A lot of obstacles were super close but still possible. Honestly, it's a pretty plain level without too much going for it, but there's enough to make you think (rotating platform bit at the bottom left, the coin under the island, getting back on top from the lower water), and enough that the average player will probably need to experiment a little in order to snag the shine. It might be a little basic in comparison to some of the other entrants, but I think that's enough.

Graphics: (3.5/5)
Again, very plain. I dunno what I'm really supposed to take away from this with regard to setting, or plot. Is it part of a larger chain of flying islands? Is there a massive levitating ocean threatening to drown everything? Or maybe cave tiles don't actually mean anything and nothing means anything and it's just a level. Could probably be a bit more exciting to look at, but it's pretty in a minimalist way nonetheless. I particularly enjoyed the cave landforms.

Other: (3.5/5)
+0.5, mute is actually a very appropriate soundtrack for something so minimal, and also I hate the fact that music choice has become a mainstream part of a level's score so enjoy half a point on the house.

Overall: (13/20)
Honestly, this feels like something that you made in an hour. And because you seem like precisely the type of person to do that, it's pretty solid for an hour's effort. Also I still have no idea what (a) dipenumbra is. It's a neat little level that perfectly fits the style I've come to expect from you, but something tells me it might not do so hot in the contest.

Also BTW MK, your google spreadsheets requires us to get permission before seeing it.

[~MP3 Amplifier~]

Congratulations everyone

[*Emelia K. Fletcher]

Also BTW MK, your google spreadsheets requires us to get permission before seeing it.

fixed

[npromin1]

I'd complain about people's graphics judgings again but then I'd just look salty and in reality I'm mostly surprised I even placed

I messed up so much on my graphics. I added way too many decorations. That added lag,and it made the level look terrible overall. Looks like sometimes less IS more.

[Supershroom]

New Medal Table standings:: show

Vesoralla: 17 points --> 23 points (16th --> 10th)
Asterocrat: 44 points --> 49 points (stays 4th)
Oranjui: 0 points --> 4 points (enters at 47th)
Forgotten: 0 points --> 3 points (enters at
Supershroom: 11 points --> 14 points (21st --> 18th)
-Zero: 21 points --> 23 points (11th --> 10th)

New Scores Table standings:: show

Vesoralla: 121.31 points --> 137.93 points (stays 11th)
Asterocrat: 203.74 points --> 219.66 points (5th --> 4th)
Oranjui: 52.85 points --> 68.44 points (36th --> 28th)
Forgotten: 0 points --> 15.33 points (enters at 84th)
Supershroom: 86.50 points --> 101.83 points (23rd --> 21st)
-Zero: 105.52 points --> 120.69 points (20th --> 12th)
FluorescenceLight: 30.12 points --> 44.79 points (55th --> 41st)
Nuclear_Blaze: 0 points --> 14.25 points (enters at 95th)
NanTheDark: 137.18 points --> 151.10 points (10th --> 8th)
npromin1: 14.58 points --> 28.25 points (89th --> 63rd)
*Emelia K. Fletcher: 80.74 points --> 93.99 points (25th --> 23rd)

also Yuri, where your judgings at ...