31ˢᵗ SM63 Level Designer Contest

[Supershroom]

Hey, how are the judgings doing and such?

[Vajrin]

the LDC results will be out tomorrow

[~Yuri]

the LDC results will be out tomorrow

Aka, today

[Supershroom]

Aka in a very few seconds

[Raiyuuni]

Good morning, everyone! Welcome to the closing ceremony of yet another contest! We're live from the soon-to-be former Stage 6 for the audience present here today as well as for all Level Designing enthusiasts worldwide!

Nearly four months have passed since the first theme poll was set up. Our numerous team of designers, scattered across the globe, seasoned and rookies alike, have put their entrants forth. The judging panel, with its prolific, observant, well-versed, vigilant, occasional know-it-alls, has made great strides in reaping every ounce of fresh fun the participating levels had to offer! But make no mistake: they were irreparably meticulous and relentless in their reviews, down to the last Shine Sprite!

And now, with all tiles laid down, hopes had, bets set, let's close this arc of festivities by announcing:



★ THE RESULTS! ★


*crowd cheering*

We start off with a shout-out to our level designing companions, npromin1, Harmless and -BY, as well as Panel member awesomeguy 99, who have stepped up to the challenge but never got to wrap their efforts up. May the tides turn to your favor, gentlemen, wherever you need them to.

As for the lot of you who have presented a little something, I'll let you in on a tidbit beforehand: this contest wasn't much far behind its predecessor in terms of Bullet Bills and performance issues. With that said, there was still a fierce fight to the last point, for that extra mile that warrants a spot higher up on the scoreboard. So don't let yourself down if you just couldn't hoard as many points as you wanted to this time: there's still a whole lot of them to go for in the future, events to enjoy, fun times to be had, here and/or elsewhere!

Now, let's do what needs doing and put all that to the test by crushing dreams and ambitions! Meet the bottom end of the ladder!






Peaks and Valleys
made by NuclearBlaze

with a final score of 10,167
(and a high score of 12 from NanTheDark)

This series' execution fell flat with monotonous landscaping and a story interrupted halfway through. While what you set out to do didn't exactly match the theme, it still has a fair share amount of potential. You can still reveal it with a little more polish!




Reality and Dreamland
made by asdfmoviecaleb

with a final score of 10,167
(and a high score of 13,5 from )

They say the best things come in small packages. You've presented an interesting approach to the theme while leaning toward simplicity, but once again it was wrapped up too early. Were this entrant complete, you'd keep the veterans on their toes.




An Undreamable Adventure
made by LuigiTheBowser

with a final score of 12,5
(and a high score of 14 from )

While the previous entrants set up levels leaning toward the unchallenging, yours was often over the top with gimmicks widely regarded as frustrating. Even so, it has interesting bits most of the way through it. Given some more playtesting, this series can shine.




Vanishing Point
made by Oranjui

with a final score of 13,167
(and a high score of 16 from )

You made this from scratch halfway through the contest. That change of plans took its toll on the level per se. Despite its being underwhelming on the gameplay side, the story was delivered nigh flawlessly - what's more, accomplishing replay potential within limits this strict is one hell of a feat.







Next in line are the awards!

For our first ribbon we have a very special surprise: our guest Dr. Gero will be the one to pin it on the next participant! A round of applause for our first medalist!





In 5ᵗʰ place



stands the majestic entrant:






Dreamscape
made by Supershroom

with a final score of 15,5
(and a high score of 18,5 from )

It's evidential that there's strong competition in the field when even near perfection in platforming doesn't warrant one of the main awards. There were some issues with respawning here, seeing that your level was demanding performance-wise. More importantly, what truly backfired here was the level's setting, as the Panel reached no consensus over whether the theme could be delivered well without a story, and the consequence of that is an all too preemptive announcement here in the results.







But wait! We've still got one more ribbon to go! It's a very special occasion to me, so I'm handing this one out myself. Finally, I get to award this one rather than receive it! You guessed it, folks! It's the cursed one. It's the infamous, the feared, the recurrent blue ribbon!







... is what I would say, were it not for a tiny constraint: there is no blue ribbon for me to award! That's right, everyone! The following couple of clods were fortunate enough to pull off a Garnet and avoid the ribbons altogether, in an astonishing Michael Phelps-fashioned tie for third place!

And so it all comes down to the last four entrants standing. These are the main awards of the evening! Of all competitors from far and wide, already brilliant and tenacious, these stood out the most! Give it up for this contest's best, our Dream Team: , DualFreezor07, FluorescenceLight and Forgotten!

But still the issue persists: there's only one spot at the top of the podium!


Now, meet our ingenious bronze medalists!





In 3^rᵈ place



we have...






Azathoth Paradox
made by FluorescenceLight

with a final score of 15,667
(and a high score of 16 from Oranjui and )

Well done! This was the most massive entrant this time around. Your story could use some minor tweaks, but it's great as it is. Your graphics were highly praised, which is unsurprising by now. Here, some performance issues and recurrent difficulty spikes have restrained some of the series' potential and prevented it from placing even higher.







as well as...







Grounded Fantasy
made by DualFreezor07

with a final score of 15,667
(and a high score of 17,5 from )

What an incredible debut! It's a perfect equivalent to Fluoresence's execution - no wonder you both are tied! Your aesthetics were dazzling, and you set up a compelling story. Gameplay-wise, however, you've played with fire: your obstacles and game balancing were dangerously oscillating between the outstanding and the outrageous. All in all, you did great in this contest, and we're eager to see more of this action.








Finally, I present you the 31ˢᵗ SM63 Level Designer Contest champion!


It's time!












The winner is...





Dear Diary
made by

with a final score of 18,5
(and a high score of 19 from )

Congratulations! Your intriguing puzzles and unique level atmosphere made up to your letting go of traditional platforming challenges, and have earned you the top spot of the podium once more! I have assigned a team of dancing monkeys to the Story subforum and they're now working triple shifts to make sure this isn't one of MoD's works, because this might as well be one.








And the runner-up is





Dreamfall
made by Forgotten

with a final score of 17,167
(and a high score of 19 from )

Your series has earned you a closer-second-place-than-it-seems for its being extraordinarily solid work. You've accomplished to tie together a fresh story with gorgeous landscaping and exemplary playtesting. Your flaws here were very minor, so I'm probably better off leaving those for the Panel to point out.





Here's the spreadsheet with all scores from the Panel! God bless Excel.


Judges, you're in. Post your shenanigans.


Thank you all for waiting! See you next time.

[Oranjui]

This post by Oranjui was thumbed up by: 2

Forgotten (August 16th, 2016, 2:50 pm) • Vajrin (August 16th, 2016, 3:53 am)

[NanTheDark]

This post by NanTheDark was thumbed up by: 2

Forgotten (August 16th, 2016, 2:50 pm) • Vajrin (August 16th, 2016, 3:53 am)

[MessengerOfDreams]

18.5?!

♥♥♥♥!

[~Yuri]

This post by ~Yuri was thumbed up by:

Karyete (August 15th, 2016, 11:08 am)

[Oranjui]

I want to share something Ven said during the panel discussion because it feels pretty applicable here.

[7:14 PM] Venexis: I'd be willing to give it another go if y'all feel like my score's way too high but I really don't want to because doing different things in levels is pretty much the only thing I do and frankly not something people do often enough, especially in competitive environments. I want to reward that partly to prove a point (bigger, more complicated, laggier is NOT always better) and partly because it's what level designing used to be back when everyone had fun with it

This entire event has been thrilling. Many of the entrants were just astonishing, and a lot of them felt... different, unique. Fresh. Maybe that was a result of the theme being Dream, lol. But anyway I'm proud of everyone, amazing work y'all <3