~The Fourth 25quared Contest~

[MessengerOfDreams]

I don't mind that you did it with the reasoning you had but you were kiiiinda crabby about it.

[Jumbo101]

Thanks guys.

Probably I'll be able
to do much much
better next time.

Oh, and you did
fascinating too
everybody!

[Megar]

curious as to why harm thought my level was incomplete
it was fully playable and i only ever post the finished work

[Raiyuuni]

I glance away from the screen for one day and this much happens. Even more so with the top 6? Wow.

About KABOOM: called it! Even so, he still overcame my wildest expectations. Congrats!

About Shroom: granted, I did not immerse myself on his level to the extent that a judge has to, yet it still felt like.

About Ven: ... what?

Finally, about Harm and the level: I did notice your slight staggering with finishing the judgings and I have definitely not made myself clear enough on that last post prior to the deadline. I had been gathering graphics and gameplay concepts to test from the 8th of May and, at times, even prior to the contest announcement (the bullet bill flower was from the 29th Party Crasher attempt, some might have even seen it on the IRC). Still, as what often happens within my routinely attitude, the most intense, repetitive and tiresome hours of work were left to the four last days prior to the deadline. I'd often design all the way to 1 am (which, with college and an actual 5-am waking-up schedule to keep up with, is not healthy at all). I eventually got worn out enough to disregard it all and went to bed.

In my defense, here are some extra small points that added to my dropping out, as well as some extras about the level itself:

Spoiler: show

(why a red coin there? defeats the purpose of having more than one silver star)

One of the eventual achievements (thanks, Nan) stated that there was a sixth Silver Star, hidden away from the common eye, but collectible within the level's borderlines. That one did not have a red coin, so that the player can finish the level while gathering only the regular five Silver Stars in display.

No really, trying to get that with the wing cap in such a cramped space is ridiculously hard to do, especially since you can't crash into one thing.

That wing cap obstacle was... ehh... devised in the earliest iterations of the level, and it even was playtested by Ven. Even without my noticing it, he collected that silver star flying from the lower-right platform, and ground-pounded at the first switch to return to safety. It was a very similar trick to what I had done in Downfall when returning from the Thwomp, and even then it wasn't that popular, so... :P

Some of the items were completely pointless, especially some of the moving platforms. For example, one of them near the bullet-bill formation doesn't do anything at all

That was a specific platform for another achievement, which consisted of the ultimate wing cap trajectory which led all the way to the lower-left 1-UP when pulled out perfectly. As for the rest, it'll be explained on the following:

and the one in the cage at the top of the level serves no purpose other than moving a koopa shell that had no bearing on the level.

The chaotic return of shell surfing. Koopa shells have an annoying tendency to do random diving on water, and it was imperative that Mario did not touch it while calmly bouncing on the shell to get the Metal Cap. It took so long to playtest that that's where I left the level, even with the starting position and the invincibility star. Mario's spawn, in its turn, was supposed to be on the lower left corner of the map. None of them should be there.

the water is completely disconnected and not smooth

It took loong enough to connect them properly, and their position would spontaneously drift at random whenever I loaded a new level code.

the flamethrowers weren't even attached to anything.

The finishing magic touch to the cluster - steaming hot water. After everything else was dealt with in the level, the width of every immersed flame sentry would be set to 0. It takes crazy ninja skills to fine tune them otherwise.

Aaand... that's about it. Thanks a lot, however, for taking your time to crack an indecipherable sandbox. No promises (things got tough quickly down here), but the level will be moved to the Portal as soon as I'm done with working everything out.

[NanTheDark]

(thanks, Nan)

Am I the only one who does achievements?

[Harmless]

Didn't notice the achievements, whoops.

Regardless, I'd just put a red coin there and not a silver star overlapping it, makes it impossible to get the shine without getting the achievement.

[Megar]

curious as to why harm thought my level was incomplete
it was fully playable and i only ever post the finished work

don't you ignore me harm >:(

[MessengerOfDreams]

I think how barebones and empty it was especially compared to your usual work made me question how complete it was.

[Harmless]

whoops missed you megar

I think how barebones and empty it was especially compared to your usual work made me question how complete it was.

what he said sums it up

I mean, what was I supposed to say? "The level was okay, but there wasn't really much platforming considering you left so much empty space in the level." "Oh, and the bullies were rather annoying, don't use them if there's hardly any way to get rid of them." "The silver stars were placed alright, though I was hoping for more action in the middle of the level as well." "The level needs more decoration, but that's pretty obvious." ... I mean, that's literally all I could've said. That's hardly enough to pass a complete judgement.

[KABOOM]

Have all judges posted their judgings?