The Judging System

[Volkove]

A simple score out of 50 seems more straight-forward, rather than going into the negatives.

Otherwise, it seems like a suitable system to me.

[AwesomeJRFD]

It is a bad idea to include fully optional elements like a story, easter egg and finale (maybe animation too) in the scoring. All they will do is force competitors to throw in said story / easter egg / finale to ensure they get an advantage, whether the level actually needs these elements or not. The story bit is a big one in particular.

Yeah, I thought for a while about whether to include those, but I decided to keep them to see what the general opinion was.

Plus it seems like the process is just being overcomplicated. It's better to leave it open-ended, with a minimal number of broad categories, so that all types of levels will receive the same treatment.

That's what I was going for, but it was 1am and I lost track. :p

Also, Volkove, what you're suggesting is to basically go with the SM63 system. Gameplay alteration... I dunno how that would work in a level that doesn't shift genre for some reason or another. The thing is, I think he wanted a system that can't be biased by a single focus. In the SM63 system, just because a judge could give a full 10/10 for Fun, even if the level design was broken. We were talking about "Other" being renamed "Design" because it's 5 points for any given design choice that's not in either Graphics or Fun already. Perhaps this system needs to be a bit more lax, but it's more rigid than the current SM63 system. Quite frankly, I feel like more than half of the score me and Nan got for our 23rd LDC entry was because of the gimmick we used. Or at least that's what I got out of reading the full reviews. A few of them pointed out a few bad decisions, but I still feel like we got way more score for basing the level design on a story gimmick, than we rightfully should have. Should a system really be that lax?

I agree that it should be lax enough so that the judges make their own decisions, but not too much that one small thing can mean the difference between first and fourth place.

I never said to go with the SM63 system, nor anything close to that. All I was saying was that an overly complex system similar to what AwesomeJRFD is suggesting is not ideal. It is both unnecessarily convoluted & cumbersome as well as biased towards certain types of levels. Judging is completely subjective after all, for different people value different things in their own experiences.

Well, it was unfinished, written at 1am, and I left a lot of optional stuff in there to get your guys' opinions. You don't have to be rude about it. :p

So, here goes my attempt at this... I hope this one works...

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Gameplay: +/- 20 Points
Guideline questions include: Was the level straightforward, or was there gimmick? If so, do you do you think it add to, or took away from the level? Does the level feel broken? Did the level have a difficulty curve, spikes, or one solid difficulty? Did the difficulty get in the way of the level? Did you feel that the level was being cheap at times, and that dying wasn't really your own fault? If the level had a boss, what was your opinion on it? If the level has a story, did it help the gameplay, or did it get in the way? Would the gameplay give you a reason to play this level again? Feel free to answer these and/or use your own questions.

Visuals: +/- 15 Points
Some guideline questions include: How well were tiles and items used? Was the background used? If so, did it add to, or take away from the level? Should there have been background in places that didn't have one? Did the foreground look good? Where there instances where the player ended up going behind the background? Did the player interact with an object that felt like it was in the wrong layer? If the player made custom sprites, were they any good? Did the visuals enhance the gameplay in some way? Did the visuals tell a story? If so, did it help the overall story of the level? Would the visuals give you some reason to play this level again? Feel free to answer these and/or use your own questions.

Other: +/- 15 Points
Some guideline questions include: Did the music fit the level? Was there lag? Were load times between screens too long? Were there Easter Eggs? If so, do you think these were worth the effort, both to make and to find? Were there bugs worth pointing out? Was there a story? If so, was it any good? Would the story make you want to play this level again? Would anything else make you come back to this level? Feel free to answer these and/or use your own questions.

Overall Final Score
For giving a summary of your rating. This is also where you include other comments, critique, etc. You can also list suggestions for improvement here, note how the designer has improved, say you're amazed/disappointed, etc. You can also place anything here that doesn't feel like it should be mentioned in the above three categories.

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Notes: I lumped story into the "Other" section because it isn't inherently related to either the gameplay or the visuals. Both the gameplay and the visuals can tell stories though. It is possible for the story of a level to affect the gameplay/visuals though. However it affects the gameplay/visuals is noted under either "Gameplay" or "Visuals" while critique on the story itself goes under the "Other" category. The questions listed are guidelines you can use when judging a level. As stated, feel free to use your own. This is a floating scale though, with points either added or subtracted for each major point you make. The highest possible score is 50, while the lowest is -50. Or perhaps it should float at 25 points and make the highest 50 and the lowest 0. I'm open to suggestions, opinions, critique, etc. on this system.

You should have given me more time. I was going to fix my mistakes myself. :p

Your version is almost exactly the same as what I was going to say, though, albeit simpler-looking. So kudos.

I'm likely going to edit your version a somewhat to make it a bit clearer tomorrow. That is, if the deadline is extended.