QUICK NOTE: Due to the 24-hour time limit, as well as various other circumstances that have been brought up by members of the community (the timing of the contest), I have made sure to adjust my point penalties accordingly. In other words, an identical level submitted to a standard VLDC will likely get a lower score from me than in this particular contest, since the contestants would have more time to look over and polish their levels with a larger time limit. That said, I will still give the same type of constructive feedback that I would give to any other level. ALSO: I'm using Snes9x v1.60. If I comment on a bug or an issue that you aren't noticing, we may be using separate emulators. NOTE #3: If anyone would like to ask me for further details/feedback, or you just want to yell at me for scoring your level a certain way, my SMWC user ID is 24472, with the username "K.T.B." as of 2020/2021. --Additional information, just as a quick reminder to those reading (and myself)-- Scoring rubric: Design - ?/20 Creativity - ?/20 Aesthetics - ?/10 Total - ?/50 None of the entries have been disqualified. --OKAY, THE ACTUAL JUDGING NOW-- 1. SKYLIGHT Design: 9/20 Not a bad start, at least not for a 24-hour time limit. I think that the overall gimmick is a good concept - feathers falling from the sky, among other floating platforms, and you have to navigate them to the end. My biggest problem with the level, however, is that there's very little development. It doesn't take long for you to witness the "three feathers in a row" obstacle, which ultimately takes up the majority of the level's challenge. By the very end of the level, you're facing practically the same setups that you're facing at the beginning of the level. I guess you've got some flying koopas there as well, but it hardly adds to the challenge. I guess what I'm saying is that the level as a whole feels rather "monotone" in its difficulty, since there's very little difficulty *progression*. The other problem I have with the level's design is the fact that there are a lot of moments where I feel like I'm just waiting for the next piece to fall into place to allow me to continue; waiting for the feather I'm on to move down to just the right point, waiting for the next feather/platform setup to be positioned in just the right way, etc. This style of obstacle is not very engaging to the player, and it made me feel somewhat impatient more often than not. I also think that some aspects of the level's design could've gone better with more testing. There was one point in particular (shortly after the midway, right beneath some munchers), where I was getting some bad slowdown thanks to all the feathers on-screen. At this same spot, I also found myself completely stuck, forced to kill myself! This is because I accidentally spawned some of the right-most feathers I needed to use, and let them fall too far while I was fiddling with the parakoopa while trying to get the Yoshi coin. As a result, once I was ready to move on, I jumped onto the next platform and realized that the next feather was too high for me to use to save myself. I would've just stayed on the wooden platform and waited for another set of feathers to spawn, but I couldn't, as that wooden platform continuously jumps into a ceiling of munchers. Welp. Creativity: 13/20 An especially creative stage for this contest, considering that you have not one, but TWO separate references to the theme at play here! Not only does the primary gameplay mechanic revolve around feathers (which are light in weight, WOOOO), but the day turns to night as you progress in the level, with Mario gaining a lovely little light around him. I wish I could glow in the dark like Mario. Anyway, I think these are both really clever usages of the gimmick. I think the "day to night" progression is especially underrated, because it causes the level to effectively tell a "story" in the way it plays, and I give massive props to people who do this sort of thing because it elevates the stage into feeling super memorable. Anyway, the level's creativity excels thematically, and visually, but as I mention in the "design" section, the creativity in the level DESIGN feels lacking. I get that using falling feathers was meant to go along with the theme, but none of the individual setups feel very fresh or unique. Aesthetics: 10/10 Aesthetics-wise, the level is absolutely beautiful. The multi-layered background makes for a great effect, and it's always easy to recognize what you can and can't interact with in the level. The spotlight gimmick integrates itself really nicely with the rest of the visuals, never feeling like a nuisance. The custom graphics in general are really nice. They all feel like they go really nicely with each other, and the palette. Fitting song choice, as well. The only (ONLY!!) problem I can see with the level aesthetics-wise is at the very end, actually; once you hit the goal post and begin the "victory" animation, the spotlight surrounding Mario darkens and becomes rather ugly. I didn't deduct any points for this, though; It's so minor that it's hardly an issue (especially since it only happens after the level is over), and I'm sure you would've found a way to fix this had you spent longer than 24 hours on it. Final score and overall thoughts: 32/50 The level absolutely excels in the aesthetics department, and is really creative, but needs some more work with its actual level design. I feel like a lot of the problems I had with it could have been worked out with additional testing, which wouldn't have been a problem if you had more than 24 hours. Still, it just feels a bit uninspired, and would have done better if it had more interesting setups. 2. The Cheap Lamp Design: 5/20 I think the first half of this level is pretty good. It's more challenging than your average level (somewhere in the "very hard" range), but a lot of your setups early on flow pretty nicely with each other. The rooms and whatnot are a bit tight and small, but that's not a huge problem on its own - that is, not until you factor the darkness gimmick into the equation. Like I will mention in the "Creativity" section, I think the energy concept has the potential to create some pretty fun gameplay, but it just doesn't go well with this style of level design. When I'm constantly made to be worried about how much time I have left before I go blind, all of the trickier setups just start to feel more anxiety-inducing than necessary. This is even worse when you get to the second half of the level, which is a jarring jump in difficulty from the first half. Even without the darkness gimmick, I feel like this section would be too hard for an ordinary player. The thwomp that chases you around makes things way too hard to be fun, especially when the level ends with a setup of three other thwomps coming at you all at once! At that specific instance, I honestly couldn't figure out how you were supposed to avoid getting hit. Some more specific comments: - At the very beginning of the level, there should be some indication of where the two pipes go. One of them goes to a helpful room with a powerup and a hint box, but I didn't realize that at first because the one that the player will likely try first is one-way, and leads to the rest of the level. - For the P-switch race at the end of the first half of the level, I really think you should include a reset pipe or something. If you mess up (and it's very easy to do so, as a lot of precision is required here), you're completely stuck. I guess you could just kill yourself with the saw or wait for the timer to run out, but since this is right before the midway point, you're asking for the player to redo a lot of progress. - In the same room as the aforementioned P-switch section, there's a pipe leading to a tiny room with a fire flower and a circular saw going back and forth along the floor. It's a little tricky to time yourself so that you don't come out of the pipe at the same time as the saw is where you are, and since most people are probably reaching this stage of the level as small Mario, this could mean an unfair instant death. This point in the level is right before an already-tough segment with the P-switch, so I don't think there's any harm in being forgiving with the powerups here and just removing the saw entirely. Creativity: 9/20 For what it's worth, I think the energy gimmick is a pretty good idea, and one that I could see working incredibly well - however, I'm sorry to say that I don't think this level does a very good job of utilizing that gimmick. When you have a level that is already incredibly challenging and frustrating on its own, adding a timer and a blindness mechanic will only stress the player out and make them look forward to the end of the level. Aesthetics: 5/10 Not bad at all, honestly. It's nothing outstanding, but I like that you went for some more unusual FG and BG tiles. It isn't particularly eye-catching, though, and it's hard to notice anyway since a fair chunk of the level is spent either in pitch blackness, or in tight-fitting areas full of so many enemies at once that the player is generally occupied with whatever else is going on. The arrows on the pipes indicating their direction is a pretty nice touch. The music is fine, but considering all the intense fast-paced action that goes on in the level, I wonder if something more upbeat than SMW's slow fortress theme would have worked better here. This gets even weirder in the second half, when we get to listen to the standard overworld theme during the hardest part of the level. I'm guessing that was an oversight? Final score and overall thoughts: 19/50 It feels like the audience for this type of level is too narrow. With all the tight spaces and unreasonably difficult thwomp setups (especially towards the end), the only people who would really have a fun time with this stage are people who are into incredibly tough challenges. Even then, though, the difficulty feels almost unfair at times, especially with the level's final segment. Ironically, the level feels like it would have been a lot better *without* the light gimmicks, since the first half of the stage would actually be pretty fun without them. 3. COSMIC JUMPS Design: 18/20 The level is VERY well-designed, and was really fun. The gameplay and gimmicks are introduced in an extremely fair way, the aforementioned gimmicks are explored satisfyingly, and the level is very good overall. In particular, I really like the way you introduce basic concepts before utilizing them in more challenging setups (such as how the player is told in a relatively "safe" way that Yoshi can eat those red blocks, just before getting to that final challenge). This might have just been me, but a few setups in particular feel like they required a bit of trial and error. For example, there's one segment where you need to activate a block snake, and then slowly jump around on the falling platforms to stall until the objects blocking your way are eaten. This is a really awesome and creative setup, but I think you should have been given at least a *few seconds* more wiggle room, here. As far as I can tell, you can only pass this obstacle by jumping and killing some time before you even land on the topmost falling platform, but the player wouldn't know to spend some time doing this unless they already knew what sort of obstacle was coming up. The first time I played, I immediately jumped to the falling platforms after first activating the snakes; after a bit of trial and error, it seems that this approach guarantees a death. Darn. Creativity: 20/20 The gravity gimmick is really cool, especially since it's an unexpected take on the definition of the word "light". On the whole, this level absolutely excels in the creativity department, constantly coming up with really interesting setups to throw at the player. Everything feels like it flows really well together, which is exactly what a level needs in order to be fun to experience. Aesthetics: 8/10 The aesthetics are pretty good. The background and palette all fit together to form a very pretty level that fits the moon theme. Having the rocks appear as different colors to indicate their functions is a nice touch! Solid music choice as well. Final score and overall thoughts: 46/50 Aside from my own personal nitpicks, I really don't have a lot to complain about. It's a solid, exciting level that manages to be engaging from start to finish. Well done! I hope you succeed in becoming the first person on Mars, as the intro level implies. 4. SKY HIGH DINOSAURS Design: 17/10 The puzzles are really well-made, and the difficulty curve is competent. I really respect having instant retries/respawns in the areas you die, it makes the level feel a lot less painful than it could have potentially been otherwise. The majority of the puzzle rooms felt really satisfying. I liked how you included coins in the last room to indicate to the player where they needed to be to avoid thwomps. If I may nitpick for a moment, though, I think it's a little strange how a level that's mainly focused on puzzles and making the player *think* suddenly turns into an action / reaction-time challenge in the last room. It feels like a strange tonal shift that hurts the otherwise "consistent" feel that the level had. Creativity: 16/10 The "gravity" gimmick was something I expected to see from this contest, but making it so that you're only lightweight while riding Yoshi was a really cool twist that lent itself well to this type of level, and the puzzles utilized this thoroughly. There were a few rooms here and there that didn't feel as "inspired" as others (even near the end of the first section, some were as simple as "just jump off of yoshi towards wherever the pipe is"), but most of the puzzles felt really fresh and interesting. Aesthetics: 6/10 The backgrounds look pretty nice on their own, though they clash a bit with the foregrounds and sprites. This probably would've been better if you altered the FG graphics as well, but even the palettes alone feel kind of .. off. The bright green bush tiles seem like they don't belong on top of the dark-colored ground tiles. There are also a few incorrect FG corner tiles as well, though this is much more minor. Final score and overall thoughts: 39/50 A pretty fun level overall. The puzzles are well thought out and a lot of fun to play, if a tad repetitive at times. I do think that the last room feels weirdly inconsistent with the rest of the level, as the rest of the stage aside from that is fine without it. 5. Blackout factory Design: 7/20 Design-wise, this level doesn't do anything very interesting. Aside from a FEW brief moments with the mecha-koopas and electric fences, most of the level's gameplay amounts to little more than moving right and jumping over enemies. On top of that, it's also just really short. It never feels *annoying*, at least, so it mainly just feels like a filler level at the moment. It just doesn't do anything design-wise that would make it super memorable (It does feel memorable for the aesthetics, though, but we'll get to that later). Creativity: 13/20 The main "light" theme here refers to the interior aesthetics, where the lights slowly come on and off. Personally, I love how much this adds to the level's atmosphere, but that's just the aesthetics. It doesn't feel like this gimmick does anything for the level itself - if you took out all of the lighting changes, the level wouldn't play any different otherwise. I mean, if the level got dark enough that it actually obstructed the player's viewpoint, then maybe it would make a significant difference, but at the moment, they don't; So it doesn't really feel like the contest's theme was really explored here. Aesthetics: 10/10 The graphics and music work really well together - both the BG and the song choice give off a dark and unnerving vibe, amplifying each other. I don't know if I can say the same for the FG, but it still looks nice. The level as a whole gives off a really nice tone, and even some of the more minor details really speak to me. I love how the first area ends with you being unable to enter a locked door, so you have to enter into a hole off to the side, hidden away from civilization. It really gives off the tone that you're about to go somewhere you're not supposed to be, adding a sense of unease. And then you enter inside, and suddenly you're hit with Misty Menace, as the lights slowly come on and off.. It's always incredible to me when levels can "tell a story" this way. Final score and overall thoughts: 30/50 The aesthetics here are fantastic, but the level itself is too short and simple. It seems like most of the effort went into creating a dark atmosphere in the level, which I respect, but the actual "fun" factor of the hack suffers as a result. On the bright side, the fact that it's not terribly frustrating means that it could probably pass off as a (very good) filler level in a longer hack, but if the level was redesigned to feel more inspired then it has the potential to be an awesome stage on its own. 6. CAVERN Design: 12/20 It's nice how lines of coins are used as hints to where some of the pits are, but it doesn't change the fact that there are a lot of points where I'm just slowly moving along, scared to move until the light enemies allow me to see. Fortunately, those light enemies are placed pretty well, and are decently helpful, but if you accidentally kill one too many then you're in trouble! The first time I played the level, I actually didn't realize that those enemies were the ones providing light, so I kept killing them thinking that the light was just randomized or something. This later came back to bite me in the rear end when I found myself lost in the darkness, falling into pits left and right. I could be alone on this, but that was certainly an issue I had. I'm not big on the second half of the level, though. I explain my reasons why in the next section, but in particular I don't like the final setup. You have to throw a dynamite block on the munchers and use that as a platform to get to the exit pipe, but since you're in the darkness, I didn't realize this until after I already died there. Additionally, since the gap is rather wide, the player will most likely be tempted to perform a running jump. But there's a problem: If you hold the run button, the player automatically picks up the dynamite box, making this part really frustrating. I ended up getting through here by performing an awkward "walking" jump, where I only started to hold the run button after I made the final jump. This setup just doesn't really feel smooth at all. Creativity: 14/20 This level conforms to the light theme ... by taking place in the darkness! I like how you have to use various items in the level (like the dynamites) to create brightness, but I can't help but feel that you take the whole darkness thing a bit too far? The level is so dark for so much of the level that it almost started to feel exhausting at points, especially during the second half of the level. The player needs to spend a lot of time stepping on a bomb, waiting for it to blow up, and hoping that the one second of brightness they get reveals something that will be useful to them. Since the bombs are a very limited resource, this ends up not being as helpful as one would like it to be, and since the bombs also *hurt* the player, I tended to run away whenever they were about to go off. I mean, I'm activating the bombs so that they can tell me where the pits are in the first place, but ironically I end up falling into them because I'm trying to avoid getting blown up by the bombs in the first place. Maybe this was the trade-off you were going for, but it's not very eloquently implemented and feels tedious more often than not. Aesthetics: 7/10 Even though most of the level is spent in pitch-blackness, the custom graphics that *are* there when the dim lights come on look very nice, and fitting for a mysterious cave level. The custom enemy graphics work really as well - I don't know what they're from, or what they're supposed to be (my best guess: Metroid?), but they add to the foreign and "alien" feel that the level's clearly trying to give off. The music choice works great as well. 999's music tends to sound psychologically disturbing as-is with its weird melodies and chord changes, so it was a great song choice for the entry. There's a yellow pipe in the second half that you can go through. Travel through it, but you just immediately come out the same pipe? Carrying a P-switch? I couldn't figure out what that was all about, as it didn't seem to serve any real purpose, but the P-switch has completely garbled graphics, so that's a little strange. I'm assuming that wasn't intentional? Final score and overall thoughts: 33/50 I actually think this level is pretty good overall. It's got some great aesthetic choices and some cool gimmicks. I just feel that the level just needs a lot of polish to be truly great, and some of the specific points that need polish end up bringing the level down. 7. Calciferol Design: 11/20 The puzzle-like setting is really nice, and many of the setups are really great - up until the last room. The first time I went through the final daytime area (just before the first Big Boo fight), I ended up having to start over without even realizing what was coming. The player can't possibly know that they'll need to carry a shell with them until they reach the top, so that's basically a forced death. However, even after the player learns this, there's still a lot of trouble involved. The final setup with the falling platform and the parakoopa is very unforgiving, and requires a lot of precision to get right. If the trampoline and the shell aren't perfectly positioned together, and if you take even a split-second too long bouncing off of the parakoopa to escape this area, then you've messed up and need to start over again. This happened to me a couple times, and even when I did manage to get through it, it felt like it was mainly by luck. Also, I really don't think it's necessary to have *two* Big Boo fights, especially when both of them are set up so that they require a lot of careful precision to get right. Beating the first one and dying on the second is not a good feeling! Creativity: 16/20 Ah, the classic "parallel level" gimmick, except this time with "moving vs. unmoving" sprites. I think it works super well, and makes for a great atmosphere, especially when considering the contrast between the light and dark worlds. When I first started playing the level, I actually was starting to get worried that the level was broken somehow, but when I went through the pipe and everything came to life, it was a really good feeling. This level sends off some great vibes. Aesthetics: 8/10 The main attraction here is the contrast between the level during the day and the night - the night is dark and calm, with little activity, and the day is bright and lively. For that reason, it's a little strange to me that the "night" music is really lively on its own, almost evoking the image of a casino, when everything else in the night sections feel so dull. The day music is more fitting, though. Also, I found a small bug with the graphics: If you chuck a throw block at one of the saws during the nice section, they "die" and turn into glitched-out skeleton fish! Final score and overall thoughts: 35/50 I'd say it's a good level overall, but could have been polished a lot better. If you had gotten feedback from a blind player, they might have been able to tell you how unnecessarily difficult some parts are to someone who doesn't know the level, and I think it could've been improved pretty greatly that way. 8. Light as a Feather Design: 8/20 The propeller powerup is a pretty decent resource, and you use it pretty effectively throughout the level - you get a few points for that, but a lot of the setups that actually utilize this ability take place in really tight and cramped spots that tend to feel more frustrating than fun. In fact, the level's difficulty as a whole is something I have a gripe or two with.. Some of the segments here are borderline kaizo! At the start of the final area, you have to drop a propeller box and quickly jump off of it while holding another one - some pretty drastic precision is required here, and the rest of the level after this point continues on in the same way. I managed to get through the level okay, but most players will probably get really frustrated by this. As an occasional kaizo / "very hard hack" player myself, I actually do think that some of the harder setups here are pretty cool, but the levels submitted to this contest were meant to appeal to a wider audience, without the use of savestates. With this in mind, a lot of the individual obstacles feel a bit unfair at times. Creativity: 10/20 The propeller box, which makes the player really "light" so to speak. It's not a bad interpretation of the contest theme, if a bit simplistic. However, as I mentioned in the "Design" section, most of your actual uses of this gimmick are unnecessarily hard, even teetering on the edge of what I would consider to be kaizo setups, so you need to be a bit more careful here. Aesthetics: 4/10 I can tell that you changed up the palettes a bit, so I appreciate the effort, but the palettes themselves still feel rather generic and uninteresting. It's still just a typical "dark fortress" theme, only a bit more velvet. The BG feels rather empty, too. Final score: 22/50 You've got some good ideas here, but the difficulty just feels out of place at times (for this contest, anyway). If making a kaizo-esque level was NOT your intention, then I think you might have needed to get a playtester or someone to tell you which parts of the level do and don't work well from a beginner's standpoint. 9. A Light(ning) Storm Design: 7/20 I don't want to call this level "kaizo" necessarily, but it's way too difficult for its own good. There's nothing wrong with putting together a challenging level (I mean, considering your gimmick, it was guaranteed to be hard no matter what), but in my opinion you went way too far with the difficulty in pretty much every setup. Was it *really* necessary to put a red pirahna plant in every single pipe, making it impossible for the player to take a breather? Do the net-like blocks that destroy the key (when you throw it upwards) really add anything to the level other than forcing the player to change the direction in which they're temporarily throwing it? Not that the level's bad or anything. It just feels excessively hard to the point that it doesn't belong in a contest like this, where the levels are meant to appeal to a wider audience. I actually think the level would be pretty nice if the lightning gimmick was taken out, since the base skeleton itself might work as a simple, challenging filler level. Of course, that would mean that it doesn't conform to the contest's theme, so... Creativity: 8/20 The gimmick sounds cool in THEORY (you have to let go of the key at certain points in time), but in execution, this just turns into a standard, normal level, only the player has to hold up and release the Y key every few seconds. And you also have to hit the B button too, by the time you get to the second half of the level when the metal blocks come into the picture. I'm sorry, but that's not fun, that's just annoying. Maybe a longer time interval or some more interesting puzzles/setups would have improved things, but much of the level would need to be completely redesigned for the gimmicik to have any lasting appeal. Aesthetics: 4/10 The background is interesting, and suits the "stormy" vibe that the level is going for, but it clashes with everything else pretty harshly. I would say that the music fits, though. ....Yeah, not really a whole lot to say here since it's mainly just default palettes and graphics. Final score: 19/50 Okay in concept, not so great in practice. I'm sure those who adore insanely hard hacks would love this, but most of the level just feels too unfair and tedious. Sorry for not having a lot to say about this one, but it's difficult to point to specific critiques on the level when the entire level is based around a gimmick that is simply frustrating at its core. 10. TIMED LANE. Design: 8/20 The level's all right, ignoring the fact that it doesn't clearly adhere to the contest's theme. Floating platforms usually make for a fun level, and I actually think that your setups are pretty nice, on top of having a pretty competent difficulty curve throughout the course of the level. If the stage was a little longer and had done some more interesting things with the gimmick, then I would consider it a pretty good entry. I did notice a few bugs, mainly with the way some of the "ceiling" tiles were positioned. Namely, it was possible in some places to jump into the tiles on the ceiling, glitching through the walls. You probably could've avoided this by increasing the height of the "ceiling walls"; which, based on a quick look in Lunar Magic, you did not do! Make sure you can avoid things like this in the future. Creativity: 3/20 How does this tie in with the "light" theme? Is it because the level is based around floating platforms, which are in a sense, "light"? Is it because the BG looks very bright near the top? You didn't include a TXT file explaining the gimmick, as the rules required, so I don't know for certain. The connections I brought up are very tenuous as well, so I'm afraid I can't give you the benefit of the doubt in good faith here. It seems like you have some custom sprites used in tandem with the "floating platform" gimmick you have going on, so I guess I can give you one or two creativity points for that..? Aesthetics: 5/10 There is no music. At all. Nothing to occupy my mind except the sound of silence. Is it meant to be poetic? I'm not sure. But it doesn't really serve the level in any way, and just adds to the feeling of "blandness". I think the background's nice, though. It can be hard to find custom BGs that really fit with vanilla SMW FGs and don't clash, but you certainly did here. It helps the level give off a dense "jungle" vibe, especially since the titular timed blocks look bushy and jungle-y themselves. I can't really complain there. Final score: 16/50 Not a bad level by any means, but it doesn't clearly convey its theme in any way that adheres to the contest's rules, and is too short and simple to be really memorable. To make matters worse, a glitch has caused the music (50% of the aesthetics!) to be completely absent, bringing the score down even more. If you fix up the bugs, then I'm sure that this level has the potential to be pretty good on its own, but it needs a more clear "light" theme to fit better in this contest. 11. UI (ugly interface) Design: 13/20 As cool as the concept of the level is, the actual level design leaves a lot to be desired. First of all, it's way too short. You find one "piece" of the white switch at the end of the first area, and then find the other three all at once by the end of the second. Did you run out of time on this? Considering how much effort was clearly put into the visuals and other factors, I wouldn't blame you! There are a few weird sections, too. At one point in the first area there's an obstacle with a wiggler, but I found this to be pretty annoying. The wiggler is hard to control, especially in such a tight area, so I end up just letting myself take the hit and running through it. Creativity: 18/20 Okay, the style here is amazing, extremely unique, and by far one of the most memorable levels in the contest. This level comes along with a story; Mario is tasked with removing Discord's "light" theme, which is hilarious on its own, and the areas are meant to represent channels in SMWC's Discord server .. There are only two areas, but it's still really cool nonetheless. It's worth noting that, while the tie-in with the contest theme is really clever and entertaining, it only really serves the level's story (and arguably the aesthetics, since the FGs and such appear very "white" and "bright". It doesn't do much to impact the actual gameplay of the level, so I have to wonder if more could have been done here. Aesthetics: 10/10 The visuals, music, and even the cutscenes all do a lovely job of getting the point across that the player is "inside" Discord themselves, trying to shut off some digital feature. It elevates the experience of the level as a whole, turning it into something really great. Final score: 41/50 A memorable level with some great aesthetics and creativity behind it, but it feels very unpolished in the design sense. I can only assume that this is mainly because of the time limit, and that the level itself would have been much more fun had there been more than 24 hours! 12. LIGHT SLEEPERS Design: 17/20 A great level all-around. It has an interesting gimmick, and explores it pretty well over the course of the stage. That's all a level needs to do to be really fun and memorable, and that's exactly what this level does ON TOP of having a really unique gimmick as well. There are some bits (i.e. with those purple pipes near the end of the first area) where things get a little too hectic IMO. When you have to time your movements carefully through pipes while surrounded by fish going back and forth, it's a little annoying trying to not get hit there. This complaint seems oddly luck-based, though - I played through the level multiple times, and this only ended up being an issue on some playthroughs more than others. Weird. Creativity: 19/20 "One definition of light is to be easily disturbed by sleep." <-- Aha, so you decided to go for a much more obscure interpretation of the word. Lots of respect for that! The gimmick here is that we have Rip Van Fish (which wake up when you go near them), except they've been modified with ASM so that they can't ever fall back asleep. A subtle change, but an effective one; the fish are far more hostile here than they are in most levels, but the level never feels terribly annoying or unfair. This is probably somewhat due to the fact that normal water physics don't actually work in this level, so Mario and all the fish are subject to the terrors of gravity! Anyways, I think the gimmick is great. A lot of clever setups are made from it, and the level ends up being pretty fun to play. Aesthetics: 6/10 Maybe it's just me, but the yellow-green FG doesn't look pretty next to all the dark blue/water graphics. It just seems to clash in a very unappealing way. If nothing else, though, it does make it easy to distinguish things from one another, so it's not all bad. I did notice some graphical glitches though, mainly in the way that some items like the keys interact with the ON/OFF switches. I also can't help but feel somewhat put off by the fact that the level has entirely normal, non-underwater physics... yet has a water background. It's a little confusing at first. I feel like the music fits pretty well with the upbeat-yet-whimsical style of the level, so that's a plus for sure. Final score: 42/50 A very fun and creative level overall, though it needs some work in the visual department. Other than that, I don't really have any criticisms aside from minor nitpicks. 13. AFLARE FREEZE Design: 20/20 The level is very well-designed. On top of having a really cool gimmick, the level follows the general skeleton of a perfect level: It introduces the gimmick/mechanics in a simple and harmless way, slowly builds on that gimmick over the course of the level, gradually increasing in difficulty as more complex and interesting setups are thrown at the player, until the player reaches the climax of the level's difficulty and finishes. This level was an absolute blast to play, and I have nothing to complain about on the design front. Creativity: 13/20 According to the TXT file, the main connection between this level and the "light" theme is the fact that most of the obstacles are fire/electricity-based, which is a source of light. This could just be me, but personally I kind of feel that this connection is a bit tenuous? Especially since it's a detail that sort of flies below the radar if you aren't really paying attention. If I didn't have the TXT, I'm not sure I would've figured out what the connection was at all. I'm aware that this is a rather subjective nitpick, but I do think there probably could have been more done to incorporate the contest's theme into the entry. Besides, the main creative spotlight here is the wall-grabbing gimmick. As I elaborate in the "Design" section, this concept is pretty well developed and explored over the course of the level, so I love the way it was integrated into the entry. Aesthetics: 8/10 The palette's nice, and does a good job of giving off of the "frozen wasteland" feeling that the level's going for, without even using any ExGFX. The music choice is great as well, really adding to the entry's atmosphere. Final score: 41/50 I still would've preferred a more creative connection to the contest's "light" theme, but this level was loads of fun to play. It's got a good atmosphere, some really creative gimmicks/setups, and everything that a level needs to be awesome and memorable. Nice job, mystery person. 14. PHYSICAL PROPERTIES Design: 14/20 I really like how the light-based gimmicks work themselves into the gameplay in two different ways. First you have the laser powerup, and the blocks that can only be destroyed by them. It's a neat idea, but there are some instances where it doesn't work very well. When you have a whole bunch of laser blocks right next to each other, and the player's goal is to meticulously shoot them out of the way, adding a bunch of lasers surrounding this point just seems unnecessarily annoying, especially when the collision between the lasers and the blocks can be a little finicky to begin with. The second half of the level (with the invisible enemies and powerups) is good, but some of the Big Boos definitely could have been placed better. The problem with this half is that I'll be heading to the right, and suddenly I'm hurt by an enemy that I couldn't have seen coming. I understand that this is "the point", but if I just find myself going through the whole level pausing every few steps to turn around and check for upcoming enemies, it starts to become less fun. Creativity: 18/20 The designer of this level decided to go with a more physics-based definition of "light" this time around - as a result, everything in the level behaves like an electromagnetic wave; Bullet Bills reflect off the walls, there's a laser powerup, and a powerup that allows photons to pass through you. Additionally, some of the graphics are misaligned to represent "refraction". I like this theme because it works itself into both the aesthetics AND the gameplay! Aesthetics: 7/10 While not exactly eye candy (almost everything in the level being some shade of dark blue or black is a little uninteresting), the graphics work fine, giving off a rather high-tech vibe from the level (which fits with the whole sci-fi/physics theme). In particular, I really like the graphics for the coins, and for the blocks that can be destroyed by Mario's laser beams - they stand out rather nicely. Final score: 39/50 A great level overall, with interesting gimmicks, but it's lacking in the finer details. If some of the setups and enemy placements were polished up a bit (especially in the second half), then you're golden. 15. FIREWORK FACTORY Design: 13/20 Design-wise, the level is fairly decent. All of the setups feel fair and interesting. I'm not sure why, but I found myself enjoying the fact that you sometimes have the "fire Pokeys" placed right on the edges of platforms, so that you have to wait for them to fall while dodging enemies on the conveyor. These setups really added to the intensity of the level, making it feel more action-packed. In fact, the only real problem I have with the level design is that it doesn't seem like it really goes anywhere. The level starts off easy and straightforward, and by the end .. it's still easy and straightforward. There's no development or difficulty progression to be found. Additionally, the level is so short that nothing about its setups really feel as explored as they could've been. Creativity: 15/20 The connection to the theme in this level is primarily a cosmetic one; most of the enemies have been re-skinned to be be fire-based. The Pokeys are made of fireballs, and the Torpedo Teds resemble fireworks. There are also some enemies that are fire-based anyways, like the firebars and flames, moving on conveyor belts. While I love how this serves the aesthetics, it doesn't have any noticeable effect on how the level *plays*. If it wasn't for the light theme, and if the enemies were skinned normally, the level would still play pretty much the same way. Aesthetics: 10/10 As the level name suggests, we're supposed to be in some kind of factory; and the level absolutely gets this across! The background and music both fit pretty well, but what really makes this level shine for me is how many smaller aesthetic details are included that really compound the setting. There are little visuals off to the side, showing fire powerups pass through pipes to be converted into fireballs and fireworks - I love this sort of thing, it really adds a lot to the "story" of the level and makes it aesthetically memorable. Final score: 38/50 It's a good level, with some awesome creativity in the aesthetics department, but its level design could have been fleshed out a lot more. Heck, I have a feeling this could've been one of my favorite levels, had the time limit been longer than 24 hours. At the moment, it feels like something that a player would find memorable for its visuals, but not so much for the actual gameplay. 16. BOOTSTRAP PARADOX Design: 20/20 Cutting right to the chase, this level's a blast to play. The puzzle setups are fun and interesting, the difficulty curve is very well made (we start off nice and simple, and end on a really tense/challenging "race" section that feels both fun and fair), and the gimmick just feels very well-developed as a whole. I also like how multiple midpoints are included, so that the player doesn't have to redo a lot of progress if they die or lose the bootstrap. Creativity: 20/20 You decided to go with the "weight" definition of lightness this time around, in a very puzzle-based fashion. As I said above, this is utilized pretty much perfectly throughout the level, and is a very well-explored gimmick. Aesthetics: 8/10 While the graphics/palettes feel a tad basic, they do fit nicely together. The music choice is a good one, as it helps the level to feel lively and upbeat (which seems to be the overall vibe you're going for). That's all I have to say here, really; it's nothing new or mind-blowing, but it works well. Final score: 48/50 Even WITH nitpicks taken into account, I really can't find anything I seriously dislike about this level - it's very well-made! Fantastic job. If something more clever or creative was done with the visuals as well, then this would get a perfect score from me. 17. Nation Blue Design: 14/20 The level's decent overall, but there were some setups I'm not particularly fond of. There are a lot of relatively tight spaces with little wiggle room, so the Hammer Bros are frustrating to deal with if you don't have the fire powerup. Additionally, there's a section where you have enemies parachuting from the sky; but since the ground is so high up, I was getting hit by enemies I couldn't see just because I jumped a little too high. I liked how one of the Yoshi coins was hidden in area you can only access with a trampoline, I thought that was a nice touch. Creativity: 15/20 As the entry is casino-based, it effectively creates a lot of "light" in the sense that everything shines in the darkness. While the gameplay isn't really benefited or changed by this, it makes for an amazing atmosphere, so kudos for this! Aesthetics: 9/10 The level is beautiful. The animated BG and pipe graphics look wonderful, and everything does a terrific job of giving off the vibe of a casino-like area. I'm not a big fan of the dark-colored pipes that you can walk behind, though; they ended up being confusing more often than not. I understand that they're a different color, and that you can see them stemming from closer FG tiles in some areas, but it's still a little disorienting. On a more minor note, why is the water near the beginning invisible? It causes some things to look weirdly cutoff. Also, I think it was cute that you replaced the Bullet Bills with little birds that shoot out of the cannon. :) Final score: 38/50 The level's aesthetics are great, and send off a nice atmosphere, but I wish there was more going on with the level's actual gameplay. I think you've got some potential here with the chucks and the blocks that bounce when you step on them, but there ultimately wasn't a whole lot happening design-wise that adds to the level's memorability. 18. The Lighthouse Design: 16/20 First and foremost, the time limit should have been longer. A lot of the rooms are somewhat puzzle/exploration based, but even when I tried running through some rooms, I still ended up beating the level with very little time left to spare. That said, I think the level is pretty good anyway. The setups are interesting and challenging in a way that still feels fair, and it's a pretty satisfying stage to complete. Creativity: 18/20 The electricity powerup is pretty sweet, and the way it integrates itself into the level is just awesome. I like how the "electricity balls" start to move in a straight line when they land on those horizontal metal bars - it makes for a few interesting setups that are nice to go through. Aesthetics: 5/10 The palette is unusual, but it's all right. The music fits nicely as well. The level is average overall in the aesthetics department, though it exhibits the glitch where note block graphics glitch out when you bounce on them. This is usually so minor (and common) that it isn't worth noting, but since your level is filled to the brim with note blocks, it's much more glaring here. Final score: 39/50 A lovely level, and I'd like to see more similar to this one. If the time limit was longer and if something more was done with the visuals, then that would make it even better! 19. Flashlight Cave Design: 15/20 I like how the level has nonlinear and explorative elements, while still never feeling annoying or frustrating to traverse in the dark. The "puzzles" with the trampolines are pretty creative. The setups where enemies get trapped by the "only Mario can pass" blocks are pretty nice as well, especially in how they allow for the enemies themselves to act as platforms for Mario in some instances. The one setup that I don't think was well-thought out was the part where you have to position a trampoline on a bed of munchers, and THEN activate a rising gray platform to send it flying into the sky where you need to reach it again by bouncing off of the trampoline at just the right time. It's a nice little puzzle, but since the level takes place in the darkness (and since that's the first appearance of a rising platform in the entire level), most players might not realize what's going on until after they've already activated the first gray platform, sending themselves into a bottomless pit. Creativity: 17/20 The level takes place in the dark, with Mario himself appearing as a small beacon of light. How lovely. I like that this decision impacts both the gameplay and the aesthetics of the level, as it requires the player to be careful and aware of their surroundings while also giving the cave a very dark and mysterious vibe. Aesthetics: 6/10 Since the level mainly takes place in the dark, there aren't a whole lot of aesthetics to be found in the first place, but I do think that the palette/tileset are nice for what it is. I don't really like the song choice, though. The level is dark and spooky, so I would expect the music to be something a bit more ambient than than one of Sonic 3's Endless Mine theme. Final score: 38/50 A good level, but a few parts could be ironed out (detailed specifically in the "design" section). I'd recommend changing the music as well. 20. mario commits arson Design: 12/20 I love the concept as a whole, and most of the setups are really great; There were a couple moments that felt a little strange, though, like when you're dropped onto a bed of flaming hot blocks, and you need to continuously spin-jump off of the jumping flames until the wall on the right opens. I didn't at first realize you had to just wait around for the blocks to disappear, so I thought that I had messed something up! There are a few other moments that require a lot of foresight, like the puzzles where you need to throw a fireball and then race it to the end of the room via a labyrinth of pipes. This is a great idea, but it should've been toned down in difficulty. So much pixel-perfect precision is required here that it ends up being rather frustrating. Creativity 20/20: The "light" theme mainly comes here mainly comes from the level's *story*: Mario needs to get into a house, so he uses his fireballs to get through the stage, causing the house to become fire-filled as the stage progresses. I love this theme, because it serves both the gameplay and the style: It gives the level the reason for its aesthetic progression (see the below), and it brings a lot of cool gameplay mechanics to the table by leading to the involvement of both ice-based and fire-based puzzles. Aesthetics: 9/10 The graphics and music are all right (I love the ice/fire duality in the graphics), but what really elevates this level for me is the aesthetic progression that takes place as the level progresses, where the house becomes more and more fire-filled as it's implied that Mario's burning the house down as he travels through the level. Final score: 41/50 Great aesthetics, and some great concepts. I would just polish up some of the individual setups, though, because not all of them feel like they'll really be all that fun to a blind player. 21. Photoshoot Design: 15/20 The concept is awesome, and the rooms themselves are pretty fun mind-bogglers as well. I do think there are a few cases where the task goes a little too far, though. It's nice that you have unlimited retries (by killing yourself lol), but some of the jumps you need to do at certain points, like making tight jumps over the circular saw while trying to preserve the coins directly above you, are a bit too precise for me. Sometimes it feels like I only made it through a certain room by luck! The majority of the setups feel pretty nice anyway, though. Minor nitpick, but in the final room, why is the leftmost sphere the one that ends the level? Wouldn't it make more sense for the sphere on the right to be the correct one, since grabbing that one actually recreates the photo you're shown? Creativity: 20/20 Light as in camera flashes. And the entire level is based around puzzle rooms where you have to replicate images! It's super creative, and not something I expected to see at all. Room-based puzzle levels are always unique to see, so I'd say this level was great in its creativity there. Aesthetics: 6/10 There's not a lot to say about the aethetics here since it mainly just original SMW graphics and palettes, but the flashes look nice at least. Though, the palette does get weirdly ugly during the victory animation. I'm not sure why that is. Final score: 41/50 An awesome level overall, even if some of the puzzle rooms feel a liiiiittle too precise for my personal tastes. I kind of wish you did something a little fresher with the aesthetics, too. 22. a glimmer of hope Design: 14/20 Any reason why you needed to have a secret exit here? It feels kind of superfluous, since it's pretty much right there with the regular exit. I don't mind the key babysitting, though, so maybe removing the normal exit would've been the better choice. Anyways, this level is super well-designed. The light gimmick is introduced well, and while I feel it's explored well, I just wish the difficulty ramped up more at some point. Even by the end, when you have that shell moving back and forth to spawn those rock enemies on the ground, it's very easy to avoid getting hit by simply jumping over those spots. The level has a lot of potential, but it's not challenging enough to feel very rewarding. Creativity: 20/20 In this level, you need to break blocks to release rays of light, that sprout up plants and items when they hit the floor. Wow. This concept is absolutely brilliant! From start to finish, it was a blast to see what could grow from this idea, and it was utilized very well throughout the course of the entry, constantly keeping me on my toes. Aesthetics: 7/10 Nothing particularly fresh on the graphics side, minus the beams of light, but they work fine and fit well. The music choice is great (some kind of distorted version of Corridors of Time?), as it suits the level's overall vibe of "hopefulness". Final score: 41/50 A very cool level, but in some ways it seems too short. While the concept is fantastic, the lack of any meaningful difficulty progression causes it to not really live up to its full potential; Not that it brings the level down a whole lot anyway, though, as 41/50 is still really good! 23. THE BLINDING LIGHT (aka "Yooka-Laylee and the Curse of Fatal Death" by Dahir Insaat. nice retsupurae reference btw) Design: 9/20 My biggest problem with this level's design is the fact that there aren't enough blocks that replenish your vision. Throwing in a few more of these blocks scattered throughout the level would've improved it a lot; things eventually devolved into me just running as fast as I good through the stage, as any amount of hesitation or exploration meant that the majority of the screen is completely obstructed by the sun. This is made even worse by the fact that quite a few portions of the level take place in the upper region of the screen, where your vision is the most hindered. A lot of hits I took felt unfair/annoying as a result. Additionally, there's a huge bug with the mechanics. I tried speeding through it on one playthrough just to see what would happen, and found that when the sun eventually gets small enough, it suddenly becomes huge and fills the whole screen! Creativity: 14/20 The sun keeps getting bigger, and it blocks out your vision as it does so. I like the creativity, but as I mentioned above, the level's actual design needs to be changed a bit in order to play more nicely with this gimmick. Aesthetics: 8/10 Considering the status bar, the BG/FG, the sun itself, and that awesomely atmospheric music track, the aesthetics of the level are overall pretty good! Not exactly anything to write home about, but they work together pretty well. Final score: 31/50 This has a lot of potential, but needs some more work. Adding some more sun blocks or maybe even slowing the sun's growth rate would have made this level feel a lot more fun, but there's also the matter of the game-breaking sun bug that would need to be fixed first. 24. ARCTIC MOUNTAINS Design: 12/20 It's a pretty decent, average ice level. I don't have anything to complain about, but there's not a lot to praise either; it's just very "safe" without doing anything too new. I think that the Yoshi coins were hidden pretty nicely, though. Creativity: 9/20 Part of the BG includes the northern lights (aurora borealis!), which fits in with the whole "light" theme. Its impact on the level is mainly cosmetic, though, and doesn't add a whole lot else to the level, gameplay or otherwise. Aesthetics: 8/10 I noticed a few graphical glitches in some enemy sprites. In particular, some winged enemies appeared to have only one wing for some reason; and unless your ROM was taken over by Sephiroth, I'm going to assume that's not intentional. Otherwise, the music and BG are both very nice, and convey the feeling of a frozen, yet beautiful, wasteland. Final score: 29/50 Although the level looks very pretty, it's not too interesting in any other way. The "light" theme of the contest isn't exactly on display here in any sense other than graphically, and the design of the level doesn't feel terribly memorable either. My advice for you would be to try something a bit more unique next time, taking the theme into consideration for both the gameplay as well as the aesthetics. 25. Variable Floats (aka "Come on Mario, We Gotta Outrun the IRS" by Yoshi) Design: 15/20 The design is pretty solid all throughout. I like how the floating blocks are used to lead to secrets and Yoshi coins, rewarding the player when they can make some tricky jumps off of these. The level does seem to lack any real difficulty progression, though. The obstacles that face the player at the beginning of the level are of roughly the same difficulty and style as the obstacles near the end, which causes the level's gameplay to feel not very memorable at all. Also, this is a very small nitpick, but Yoshi feels somewhat out of place at the end. I understand that he serves the purpose of allowing you to get the final Yoshi coin, but it still seems to come out of nowhere, and doesn't thematically tie in with the rest of the stage? This might just be me, but I think it would make more sense to have little secrets and side challenges "fit in" with the rest of the level in some sense, or else the stage will lack an important sense of cohesion or consistency. Creativity: 16/20 The platforms and blocks are "light", so they're floating due to all the wind. It's a theme that works itself into the level both aesthetically and mechanically, which is good. The floating blocks are used in a lot of puzzle setups throughout the entry, and its always good to see when the mechanics are being utilized thoroughly. Aesthetics: 7/10 Both the music and the BG give off a very "majestic" feel, which is oddly fitting with all the flying blocks. I don't think the FG palette's as fitting, though. The darker FG colors clash a bit with the brighter, whiter colors of the background. Final score: 38/50 An average level, ultimately. There isn't a lot wrong with it, but there also isn't a lot it especially excels at. It fits in with the contest's theme, and is "fun" as a whole, but lacks memorability, in my opinion. Also, this didn't affect the score at all, but I love the message that comes up when you get Yoshi .. :D 26. CROSSOVER CAVE Design: 16/20 As much as I love the gimmick, it's hard not to notice some of the inconsistencies in how the sprites are affected by it. Why is it that grinders and platforms freeze when everything is turned off, but certain enemies like thwimps and those electric spheres continue happily chugging along? I guess the rationale here is that you're only "turning off" the mechanical obstacles, while the "living" ones will continue to remain active, but since it takes some time before the player witnesses the first "living" enemies, it's a bit unexpected. If some thwimps or something were placed in a non-threatening spot somewhere near the beginning of the level (so that the player could see how they're unaffected), then this probably would have caught me less off-guard. I admit this is a kind of minor problem, but honestly I don't have a lot to complain about in this level. It has a great gimmick, feels pretty clever, and is very satisfying to play. Creativity: 15/20 The gimmick here is honestly really good, and creates a lot of puzzles that are rewarding to complete. It fits the contest's theme, and adds a lot to the level, mechanically speaking. I guess it affects the level aesthetically as well (since the screen needs to appear as different colors in order to work in the first place), but that's more of an extension of the mechanics rather than an aesthetic impact on its own. Aesthetics: 3/10 I think you could have found a better way to indicate the position of the ON/OFF switch as opposed to filling the entire screen with the color. Aside from the potential epilepsy problem that you pointed out yourself, it also just doesn't make the level look very good. No matter what color is on-screen, I feel like I'm looking at a screen that has one of those translucent color sheets stretched out in front of it. It kind of hurts my eyes as well, since the graphics don't contrast as well with one another. Final score: 34/50 Aside from the aesthetic problems, and some personal nitpicks, it's a fun level overall. Nice work! 27. Neon Dreams Design: 13/20 It's not bad. Everything feels fair and fluid, and the stage does feel like it gradually gets harder as you progress throughout the stage. The enemies and platforms periodically disappearing is an interesting trick, but it doesn't change the gameplay a whole lot because the interval at which their visibility changes is so fast that it hardly matters. Creativity: 11/20 The "neon" aesthetic is an interpretation of the "light" theme that works, but I feel like the connection is kind of weak? On the plus-side, it serves the aesthetic side of the level really well, but the gameplay is hardly impacted at all. In fact, if you took this same level and removed the color-changing mechancis, it would just feel like an average, standard level that would have nothing to do with this contest at all. Aesthetics: 9/10 The level looks awesome. It feels like I'm in some kind of disco/party zone, and the graphics work very well to that effect. Something I noticed while playing is that the enemies turning invisible hardly makes any sort of difference at all, because their wings are constantly visible no matter what. I can't tell whether or not that was intentional. Were the enemies supposed to be completely invisible, wings and all? Honestly though, I think I prefer it this way, since the enemies being completely invisible would have probably gotten annoying at times. Final score: 33/50 The level mainly just feels average. The aesthetics are good, but the gameplay does nothing out of the ordinary, and doesn't tie in with the level theme in any interesting or unique way. I would keep the aesthetics, but find some way to tie in "light" with the gameplay as well as the visuals, and I would score the level much higher. 28. Molded by it Design: 15/20 The first portion of the level (the platforming, before the boss) is pretty well-made. Some of the setups feel really almost puzzle-like, and are a lot of fun to mess around with. It's pretty satisfying to get through a lot of these parts, too. There are a few spots that I think required a little more precision than necessary. For example: A little while before the big red boss door, there's a part where you're on a moving platform, and you need to jump off onto a smaller stationary platform to move on. However, there's a spiny bouning up and down on this small platform. This setup is rather annoying, because you have to time your jump very carefully to avoid getting hit by this spiny, and since you have a very small window of time before the moving platform you're initially on disappears as it passes through a wall, this setup feels pointlessly frustrating. It usually ends with me just taking the hit and moving on - so hopefully I still have a powerup by that point! Other than spots like this, most of the rest of the platforming section feels very fair. The boss battle is a lot of fun to play, though the platforms don't always line up in a way that makes it possible to reach Bane's head in time before you lose sight of the platforms - a somewhat serious bug in my opinion, though luckily it doesn't happen all the time. Creativity: 16/20 No TXT file was included, but the "light" theme seems to manifest itself here in both the visibility of the platforms (as they come on and off), and in the fact that the level ends with a boss fight against .... Bane (who is the antithesis of light, I suppose). I gotta say, even despite the level title, I did NOT see that boss fight coming, and it was a super hilarious surprise, so great job there. I feel like the connection to the contest theme is a BIT tangential, but the level is still quite well made anyway. Aesthetics: 8/10 I think the invisible platforms should have been a different color, or at least a different shade that would've contrasted better with the BG. Since the platforms flicker so briefly, I had to turn my brightness up to see them better, since they aren't always easy to see compared to everything else. I often found myself straining my eyes to see them. Otherwise, the aesthetics here are great. The Bane graphics in the end are awesome. Final score: 39/50 I liked this level, but a handful of small issues bring it down a bit. I don't have any problems with the level that are TOO major or fundamental to the way the level is structured overall, so I feel like this level would actually get a really good score from me if you simply fixed all of the specific issues I pointed out here. Nice job. 29. Spittin' Straight Fire Design: 13/20 We start off with a pretty basic introduction to the gimmick (the fire enemies), we're then faced with some more challenging setups, until eventually we have a decently challenging automatic room to finish the level off. The difficulty progression feels pretty competent, which is a plus, and none of the individual setups or obstacles feel unfair or out of place. That said, I do think that the setups themselves feel a little too 'safe' at times. Take the final room for example: Most of the individual obstacles basically just amount to "time your jump" in between fireballs being thrown down by those chuck-like enemies that throw fireballs. It makes for a nice challenge when the level's moving, but it still feels a bit repetitive at times. Some more variety in the level structure or enemies would have been nice. I would have made some of the areas a little wider / more open as well. Some of the tight spaces really don't jive with how massive the flames are that come out of the ground, making some sections more painful than they need to be. Creativity: 8/20 Most of the obstacles are fire-based, and since fire produces light, there's your connection to the contest theme. It doesn't feel like a very strong connection to me though, since the level's theme ends up coming from something that's tangentially light-related, rather than being *directly* based around a definition of the word "light". Even aside from the contest theme, however, the level feels a bit lacking in the creativity department anyway. An onslaught of fire-based enemies is a good start for a level, but when that's all the stage is, I find that the level leaves a lot to be desired. Use at least some other enemies here and there to change things up a bit, or find some other gimmick that works with the fire enemies to make them seem more interesting/memorable in some way! At the moment, the level feels like it's just sort of .. there, and would hardly make a serious impression on the player's mind. Aesthetics: 4/10 Standard SMW FG's and hand-drawn Yoshi's Island BG's clash pretty badly, so that doesn't look very good. If you had chosen a more fitting foreground (i.e. some other Yoshi's Island graphics), then this would've looked much better. Additionally, the fact that everything in the level (the BG, the FG, even the enemies and sprites) all have some "red"-like tone to them causes the level to visually feel very monotonous. A bit of variety in the palettes would've helped to make the level a lot prettier than it was. Final score: 25/50 It's a good START for a level, but it needs a lot more to feel memorable or interesting. Fix up the aesthetics, and come up with a more creative way to utilize the "fire enemy" gimmick, and then you might really have something here. I DO think that the level design itself is fair and competent enough that I'm sure there's potential here, but that potential just isn't realized. 30. Moonlight Teleport Design: 8/20 While I think using the turn-block glitch is a nice creative choice, it's not a very easy thing to work with. In fact, when I first played the level, I kept dying on the *very first obstacle*, as I kept falling off of the top side of the turn block and landing on the munchers. This is because you need to jump fairly high to reach the underside of that turn block in the first place, so I needed to do some running jumps to give me momentum. Apparently, that momentum carries over. This was a continuous problem for me throughout the entire level. I understand if the way the glitch works is outside of your control, but the least you could do is remove the munchers, or make the "teleport" points safer to use. There are some precision problems, as well. Most of the turn-block setups are based on the position of the flying ? block, so if you hit it when it's too low then you've effectively screwed yourself over, even if you didn't realize it at first. That's not very fair, now! This would be a lot better if some other means of getting to the ceiling were given to the player more often. Some of the other setups throughout the level actually flow pretty nicely with one another, so the design isn't all bad. Creativity: 6/20 According to the TXT file, the main connection to the contest's theme is the presence of moons in the background (because of moonlight), and .. that's it? The moons in the BG aren't actually all that bright, sadly, but even then, that theme ties in pretty weakly with the level, considering how inconsequential the BG GFX ultimately are in a largely action-based level such as this. I can give you some creativity points for using that turn-block glitch, but even that comes with its own set of frustrations and problems, so I don't think it's used very well within the level. Aesthetics: 4/10 Even taking into account that the level's meant to take place at night, everything being so dark-colored causes the level to feel aesthetically monotone. I think the music fits pretty nicely, but other than that... It doesn't seem like anything too creative was done with the (largely vanilla SMW) aesthetics aside from adding the yellow moon to the BG, presumably just so that there would be some tie-in to the contest's theme. Final score: 18/50 While some nice ideas are attempted for sure, none of them really go super well together and the execution suffers as a result. A ton of unnecessarily precise jumps, combined with almost mandatory player hits cause a lot of the setups to feel excessive. In particular, I think the primary gimmick (the turn block glitch) should have been designed in a way that was more mindful of the player's unawareness of what's going on during their first playthrough. Even then, the level still lacks any clear or interesting connection to the contest's theme, so I would almost recommend just rebuilding the level from near-scratch once you come up with a better way to integrate the "light" theme. 31. IN SEARCH OF LIGHT Design: 3/20 I'm just going to be blunt here. This level, in its current state, is very not-fun. The first message box made me think that the level would be a "just bounce off of enemies over and over again until you get to the goal" type of thing, but the level's design doesn't support this at all. There are plenty of portions where bouncing gets you nowhere, and you need to rely on your gut instinct to figure out where the platforms are that the player can actually walk on. Because said platforms are few and far between, the vast majority of the gameplay from the player's side is luck-based, trial and error. I guess it makes more sense to treat the level as a puzzle level in which you need to carefully analyze enemy movements to indicate where the platforms are. That makes things a *little* better, but if you accidentally kill an enemy, that indication is now lost. Also, back on the topic of the message boxes, they're useless. They both say the exact same message, even though they're positioned at different points in the level. Did one of them say something super useful and interesting that would have made the level better? Creativity: 4/20 The light theme here manifests itself in the sense that the level doesn't have any light at all. Despite the TXT file saying that the level contains "limited" light, there's actually no light at all in the level, leaving the player constantly in pitch blackness. I like the attempt, I suppose, but it serves the level very poorly. Whatever you were going for was lost on me until I replayed the entry a few times. I do get the impression at least that we're supposed to do some bounces off of enemies for some of the level, and use the enemy placement to locate the platforms in other parts of the level. That's a nice idea I guess, but as I explained above, this doesn't work very well with how you implemented it. Aesthetics: 3/10 Well, there basically aren't any. The lack of *any* BG or FG tiles at all means that the entire level is spent staring at a black void filled with floating enemies and platforms. This doesn't go well with the level at all honestly, since far too much guesswork has to be made by the player with where they can stand, where they could be walking, how long they'll need to wait around before they can make the next jump, etc. It makes the level impossibly difficult to navigate, thanks to this aesthetics choice. The music is certainly nice and fitting though, so I can probably give you a couple points for that, but a "creepy"-sounding song like that doesn't really work unless the level's giving me a reason to be creeped out. There's not really anything creepy to see in this level, because there isn't anything to see at all! Final score: 10/50 Normally this is where I write a laundry list of things to fix/change, things I think could be improved, etc. However, for this level my only real recommendation would be to just start from scratch honestly. Nothing about the level feels like it knows what it wanted to be, and is nearly impossible to have fun with as a result. Sorry. 32. GRAVE INTENTIONS Design: 9/20 The design's all right, even though there's nothing really fresh or new about it gameplay-wise. I would argue that the lightning gimmick (considering the very slow intervals at which they strike) make the level a bit too slow-paced for my personal tastes (since the player ends up having to wait a lot before it's safe to assume whether or not they can make the jump they were about to make, walk to the right a few times, etc), but it's still passable in my eyes. That said, there were two points in particular that did kind of bother me: - There's one point in the level where you have to climb up some floating tiles to get to the upper portion of the level while dodging Podoboos. The tricky thing here is the fact that the floating tiles all act like cement blocks (you can't faze through them from the bottom), so you have to make awkward sideways jumps to get to the top. Since there are *three* Podoboos in the same place (all rising to different heights), this part ends up feeling somewhat obnoxious. The timing of their jumps is all over the place, and I had to play the waiting game before it was clear when I would have the opportunity to make it through without getting hit. - Right after that, there's little section where you can slide down a hill and follow some coins to jump over an acid pit in succession, making for some fast-paced Sonic-like action. I don't mind these types of setups, but it didn't work out well for me here. I ran through this part numerous times (for testing purposes), and found that most of the time I would just get hit by the Podoboos, even when it felt like I was timing my jumps pretty well. To make matters worse, there's a Bony Beetle positioned on the final ledge you're expected to land on, and it turns into its "spiky" form just as you make it over there! Creativity: 12/20 The level continuously lights up due to the lightning, which is where "light" comes into play. A pretty simple implementation of the contest's theme, but it works pretty decently I think. On one hand, it boosts the aesthetics, since the lightning really elevates the "spooky" vibe that you'd get from the whole graveyard ambiance. On the other side of the coin, it adds a layer of challenge to the level itself, since your vision is obstructed. It's a rather SMALL layer of added challenge, though, since it usually just amounts to making the player wait around for the lightning to strike again before they move on. Aesthetics: 7/10 The FG and BG ExGFX are really nice (despite the fact that you can't see them most of the time), and along with the music they do a pretty good job of creating that "spooky graveyard" vibe. I like how the lightning adds to the aesthetics as well, fitting in with the level's ambiance. I had kind of a hard time recognizing what I could and couldn't stand on. I almost died right at the start of the level, since those clouds in the background almost look like they're in the foreground. At first anyway; it's more obvious once you've made some distance into the level and noticed that they scroll differently from everything else. Final score: 28/50 As I said already, the level's passable. The graphics are memorable, and there's a lot of potential with the lightning gimmick, but the gameplay otherwise isn't anything special, and has a few weird segments that could use improvement (that I pointed out above). 33. Castle To The Blinking Design: 6/20 I discuss more about the gimmick itself below, but I think even design-wise, the level's not built to fairly accommodate the theme. The "shields" you need to hide behind are too small, and are so far apart that it's very unfairly difficult making it to the next shield in time. To make matters worse, a lot of these shields are positioned right next to enemies and spike balls. That means it ideally takes some time to position yourself "safely", as you need to first maneuver around obstacles and kill any enemies that might end up in your way. Either put these shields closer together, or make the time interval between light flashes longer. I'd go with the latter, as it would probably be an easier fix (and some of the setups would likely feel fine otherwise anyway). This especially becomes a problem during the Big Boo fight. I couldn't figure out how to beat him without just letting myself take several hits (meaning a powerup and a mushroom in the item box is required), because asking the player to grab a throw block, chuck it at the boss, and return to safety in time is a near-kaizo task! Creativity: 8/20 Here we have a stage where the light is your enemy! A bright light periodically goes off, and you need to protect yourself by hiding behind little FG tiles before the light reaches the apex of its brightness. It's a great idea, but I feel like it wasn't tested very well. A lot of the platforms that you have the opportunity to hide behind are very small, making things tight; and I'm telling you, there were numerous points where I could swear that I was totally behind the shield - But since I was apparently JUST too close to the edge, I took a hit anyway. It almost never felt fair. Additionally, there are some weird bugs involved. It looks like if you jump in front of a shield as the light is turned on, an invisible block suddenly appears. Yes, I checked, and those invisible blocks aren't there normally. I have no idea why this might be. Aesthetics: 5/10 The redrawn GFX are a really nice touch. They ultimately add very little to the level, but they do cause the level to feel fresh visually. That's certainly a plus. I don't like the graphics on the spikes, though. They blend in too much with the rest of the foreground, and I accidentally walked/jumped right into them several times, forgetting that they're an actual obstacle. Final score: 19/50 The gimmick and design choices simply don't feel well-tested. At all. Just to be 100% clear here, I do LIKE the overall concept of the gimmick, it just lacks in the execution. The shields from the light are seriously finicky and buggy, and the level really doesn't feel like it was designed with the given time interval in mind. 34. FEELING LIGHTER Design: 13/20 The Yoshi coins are pretty well-hidden, and are rewarding to find. The level as a whole has a pretty non-linear vibe to it that makes it fun to explore. The area where you're falling, downwards, with spikes following after you is pretty fun. In fact, I'm not even 100% sure if you realized this yourself, but there's almost a duel challenge here: If you show up to this area with regular Mario, then the challenge is trying to land on the P balloons so that you can maneuver your way to victory. However, if arrive with the cape feather (as I did on my first playthrough), then the challenge actually becomes trying to AVOID these balloons, since it's harder to avoid jumping off them into the spikes when you have the cape. I'm not as fond of the following area (where you're moving upwards while avoiding falling enemies), though. There seems to be very little indication of where it's safe to travel. I can't tell if there's supposed to be some pattern to where the Spinies fall, it just seems very random. That's not a very fair challenge! Creativity: 17/20 Everything is light-weight, hence the low gravity. I like this theme, as it has a role both aesthetically and mechanically. Aesthetically, you can see a ton of balloons in the background, which are nice for the overall atmosphere/vibe of the level. Mechanically, not only do you have the low gravity gimmick, but you also have some sections at the end of the level featuring low gravity gimmicks (with the P balloons). It's a decent utilization of the theme all-around, and the fact that it serves both the visuals and the gameplay is a great touch on top of that. Aesthetics: 7/10 The background and all the balloons look awesome, but I still found it a little hard sometimes to tell what Mario can and can't walk on. The balloons look like foreground tiles to me, and I kept semi-instinctively trying to jump on them, hoping I could ride them a la Yoshi's Island. Even after I stopped doing that, it still was a little distracting? The music choice was very good, in my opinion. It feels light and awe-inspiring, which fits both the balloon theme and the space theme! Final score: 37/50 A lovely level that makes use of the contest theme pretty nicely. A few of the setups here and there definitely need some polishing, but there's nothing terribly wrong with it overall. 35. Aurora Hills Design: 11/20 Design-wise, the level is .. fine. It's not bad, by any means (there isn't a single spot I can point to and say "this needs to be fixed"), but it doesn't do anything interesting or engaging either. First off, it's very flat - I counted, and there are a grand total of two slopes throughout the entire stage. Adding some more variety would make the level feel a lot more interesting to explore! It's one of those levels that mainly consists of "hold right and jump every time you approach an enemy". That's fine if the level is meant to be some sort of "filler" level in a much longer / more interesting game, but on its own it fails to be very memorable. I guess the Flying Hammer Bros manage to spice up a few sections, but it's not anything substantial. I actually kind of wish you went further with this, because I feel like "Hammer Bros. + ice level" actually could probably make for a pretty interesting gimmick, since it's a challenge to position yourself in a spot where the hammers won't land on you. Creativity: 8/20 The tie-in with the theme only really seems to come from the presence of that aurora borealis in the background. Good meme. It serves the aesthetics nicely (by having a BG presence), but it doesn't tie in at all with the gameplay. As a result, I just don't have a lot to say here. You could and should have done more to make the level adhere to the contest's theme, because right now it just gives off the impression of a random level that someone added a bright background to when they saw the contest's theme. Aesthetics: 9/10 The graphics and music both evoke a very cozy and relaxed feeling from the level. The pokeys wearing santa hats is quite a lovely touch. The background is especially impressive to me, since the graphics are completely vanilla (as far as I know), yet manages to feel very fresh and new. It's also nice how it manages to incorporate the "light" theme by featuring an aurora borealis-esque gradient. Final score: 28/50 It's an okay level on its own, but it needs to do more with the theme for it to be interesting. Even outside the context of this contest, the level doesn't have any sort of special gimmick or anything to make it feel memorable or fun, so it falls flat. Like I said above, it would feel at home in a longer hack, but it doesn't stand out at all on its own. 36. Desert Sunlight Design: 9/20 Some of the setups here repeat themselves too much. The puzzle where you have to "grab a dynamite box, throw it at the munchers, and jump off of them to the next area" was fine the first time I saw it, but the second time was just a little annoying. I also think you use the "poison mushroom moving back and forth on a gray falling platform" setup too much as well; That one is especially frustrating, since you always encounter this setup during fast-paced action settings where you have zero time to prepare yourself to aim your jump accordingly. I'm just glad you were generous with the powerups in this level, or it could've been a lot more frustrating. Creativity: 5/20 According to the provided TXT file, the contest's theme is only represented by the lens flare graphics that appear over the level at all times. It just feels like a really weak connection, honestly. Not only is that connection a purely aesthetic one, but it's also not very noticeable to begin with. For the record, I do think that the lens flare effect is neat in a *subtle* way, but the fact that it's so subtle means that it shouldn't have been your primary connection to the contest. The other creative avenue contained here is the dynamite block thing, but it doesn't work very well. The moment the player hits the "run" button, they automatically pick up the dynamite, even if they were already holding the button and land on top of it. This is a huge problem gameplay-wise; some setups expect the player to throw the dynamite onto munchers and jump off of them, but this is hindered by the fact that most players will likely be holding down the run button while moving during these more action-packed sequences. This was an issue for me *CONSTANTLY*. On top of that, I had this occasional glitch where not all of the necessary dynamites would spawn in their proper position, making certain obstacles impossible for me to complete until I killed myself and got to that point again. Aesthetics: 5/10 I like the desert setting (the lens flare effect is cool), but the catci distracted me at times - they look like they should interact with Mario in some way, so I instinctively found myself trying to avoid them whenever possible. The note blocks are pretty annoying, too. Even with the small, barely-noticeable palette change, I'm still expecting Mario to be able to interact with them, so jumping towards one and falling through it is a rather aggravating feeling. Final score: 19/50 I love the idea you had here, but the jankiness of the TNT sprite really brings it down for me. If the TNT was programmed or modified in such a way so that you don't pick it up just from landing/jumping off of it, that would have honestly been a huge improvement. If you aren't good at ASM, or if you don't know how to modify these sorts of features, it would have been smart to consider this in your design and come up with much more lenient setups. Removing the pits and including reset doors would have gone a long way in making the level feel more fair; as it is now, the stage is incredibly unforgiving to even the smallest player mistakes. 37. ACCELERATE Design: 18/20 This level is simply awesome. It's very hard, but short enough that it doesn't feel unfun or irritating. I think there are some spots that require a little more precision than necessary (mainly in the second room, the lava's rising speed felt a little strange on some playthroughs..?), but it's not a *huge* deal. This is one of the few entries that actually had me legit smiling the whole way through, so that's a great sign! I think the gimmick is implemented really well as a whole, since the level is both engaging and memorable. The boss is cool too. I think the "rising lava" gimmick could have been communicated to the player more effectively. When I was first thrown into the level, told nothing but "run", I didn't realize what was going on at first. By the time I figured it out, it was already too late and the lava had already reached me. Maybe you could have had something similar to the final normal room (where you have a long hallway and it's just a straight shot to the pipe), but at the beginning as well? Creativity: 18/20 According to the provided TXT, the contest theme mainly presents itself here in the bright and luminous graphics (with all the stars and such). I guess the balloons seem to be relevant, too, since they effectively make the player more "lightweight". It's nice that the theme manifests itself in both the aesthetics and the mechanics. The level is certainly pretty, though it's so fast and challenging that the visuals sort of fly under the radar. The balloons are utilized pretty well throughout the stage. Aesthetics: 9/10 The visuals work pretty well to help the level feel memorable. The "pink" aesthetic is definitely unique, so I respect that. The music choice fits the upbeat/fast-paced vibe of the level. I especially like the final room, with the long hallway just before the boss. It's a very small detail, but I do think it adds a lot to the overall tone that the level gives off. You enter this room, and music gradually fades away, leaving only that eerie thumping sound, telling the player that something horrifying awaits... The levels I find engaging me the most are the ones that manage to "tell a story" with their designs, so this small little thing happened to catch my eye, and I appreciate it a lot. Final score: 45/50 A great level! I do think there are small bits and pieces that could be ironed out a bit, but it's still fairly enjoyable all-around. As a side note, THIS DID NOT AFFECT THE LEVEL SCORE AT ALL, but I think the tutorial level was pretty well-made. It felt like it introduced the mechanics in a pretty smooth and intuitive way. (Also that intro had me laughing, heh) 38. I SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE ONE TO FILL YOUR DARK SOUL WITH LIIIIGHT Design: 10/20 I like the usage of unusual enemies (Flame Chomps, Sky Guys, electric balls), it makes the level stand out a bit. I also like how the second half of the level takes place mainly underwater, as it provides some variety to the gameplay. Other than that, it's just about average. Nothing really stands out to me in the level as being either really good or really bad, so it sort of blends in with a lot of the other levels. Creativity: 7/20 The connection to the contest them in this level refers to the fact that the level takes place in a very cloudy place, which I guess is tangentially related to things being lightweight (because clouds are light, I suppose). It serves the aesthetics decently enough, but I feel that this connection to the contest's theme is just kind of weak and not very well-explored. If it wasn't for the TXT file, I probably wouldn't be entirely sure what the connection was at all. You definitely could've (and should've) done more with this! The level is very aesthetically creative though (the pretty and unique palette, Waluigi, etc), so I can probably still give you some creativity points for that. I also appreciate the usage of more unusual sprites/enemies, so there's also that. Aesthetics: 8/10 Using Waluigi for the player character was a good touch. I also think that the graphics throughout the entire level are pretty great. The "pink" aesthetic is a very unique one (...though it's the second level in a row I've played from this contest with that color theme), so that's a plus. The background especially is very pretty. Final score: 25/50 Sorry for not having a lot to say about this one. It's overall a decent level, but it needs a stronger link to the contest's theme, on top of the fact that it lacks any unique style to make the level feel really fun on its own anyway. (Also this DID NOT AFFECT THE SCORE AT ALL but that intro level was pretty funny to me for some reason) 39. Refraction Airway Design: 20/20 This level is a perfect example of what I'd consider to be great level design. All of the setups and gimmicks are introduced in ways that are very intuitive for the player to figure out, and they're explored very nicely over the course of the level. Something I found interesting about this level's design: It's very "tight". As in, a lot of the setups take place in close quarters, without a whole lot of room to maneuver. Now, USUALLY levels are called tight in kind of a bad way, as if that hurts the level and makes it less fun. In this particular case, however, it ends up working surprisingly well; "tight" levels are only ever a problem when the individual setups within the level aren't built to accommodate it, resulting in unfair and unfun difficulty. Impressively, this stage avoids that pitfall. Every obstacle feels like the sort of thing that feels right at home within the tight setting (challenging AND fair!), so the level remains an absolute blast to play. Very lovely. After playing through the level multiple times, there's nothing that I can even nitpick on (maybe I would've adjusted the placement of the first Hammer Brother, but even that's not really an issue). Every setup is fair, interesting, and engaging. Furthermore, the difficulty curve is really well-made. The level's not even that long either; it's a fairly short one all things considered, and yet you managed to have the setups go from basic to pretty challenging in a way that's both fair and gradual. Nice! Creativity: 20/20 The contest theme is represented here by having a lot of obstacles skinned in a way so that they appear light-related (such as how the rainbows bounce off of glass like a reflection of light, and how the prisms shoot out little lasers at you). The light is incorporated into the level in both the gameplay and the aesthetics at the same time, which I like a lot! On top of being a very pretty level, the gameplay elements revolving around the theme are very fun on their own. The theme is just utilized extremely well all-around. Aesthetics: 10/10 The visuals here are great. The little rainbows bouncing around inside the glass is an awesome way to incorporate the theme with both the aesthetics and the gameplay at the same time. The mini-rainbows look like they would taste delicious if they were candy.. Something I love a lot about the graphics in this level is that they do what Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze does with its level aesthetics: It gives the obstacles a *reason* for being there. Let me use an example, to make it more clear what I mean by this. Many other levels (including other submissions in this contest) have used the custom block that only Mario can pass through, to allow enemies to basically "float" on top of it. This sort of thing works well gameplay-wise, but it always rubbed me the wrong way from an aesthetic perspective. Realistically speaking, why should an enemy float? Does gravity work differently in the Mushroom Kingdom? This level uses the same sprite concept, but there's a huge difference here: Because the "only Mario can pass" blocks have been reskinned to look like glass, and the enemies bouncing around inside have been reskinned to look like lights/rainbows (as if the light was reflecting within a prism), there is now a *logical reason* why the enemy behaves this way. I absolutely ADORE this sort of thing, and it adds an amazing layer of immersion to the level. The fact that some areas take place in a darker "night" area is a pretty cool way to make the more dangerous portions of the level contrast aesthetically with the "safer" ones. Also, it took me a while before I even noticed the random sun in the upper-right corner. How cute. Final score: 50/50 Yeah, I pretty much said everything I needed to say in the "design" section. Everything in the level falls into place pretty much perfectly, and all the obstacles are superbly well done considering you only had 24 hours. I'm impressed! It's a fantastic level overall, good work. :) 40. Blue Mystery Data (aka, "Kingdom Hearts 3" by Square Enix) Design: 7/20 Maybe it's just me, but the gimmick needs to be explained or hinted at better. I ended up stuck in the *very first puzzle* of the level, because it didn't occur to me that the shell would be affected differently depending on whether I hit the prisms with either the fireballs or the capespin. At first I was just hitting the prism with the fireballs (the default powerup), and all it did was kill the shell. For a while, I honestly thought the level was broken or something. This probably could've been fixed if you added a message box at the beginning of the level that explained the difference in functionality between the two powerups. This would have been useful for more than just the first room, too: There's a section later on in the first area where you need to repeatedly shoot the fireball at the prisms so that you can "levitate" a gray coin over to the switches. I got stuck here as well, because it took me a while to realize that the gray coins are propelled upwards even when they're already in the air. Otherwise, the concept has loads of potential, and some of the individual setups are actually pretty decent! But the problem with this level overall is that much of it is way too precise, asking far too much of the player. One of the puzzles in the second area requires you to do the following: Capespin the prism, switch to the fireball, and shoot the prism again so that the airborne shell is turned into a coin and launched further upwards to hit a switch on the ceiling. You have to do all of this within the span of one second, all while bouncing off of note blocks and dodging line-guided circular saws. This is absolutely insane, and arguably kaizo. This level just doesn't feel fair most half the time. Creativity: 5/20 I'm really just not getting how this level connects to the theme. Apparently, the connection is due to the fact that the "POW blocks" that the level is based around have been reskinned to resemble ... some item in Mega Man Battle Network 2/3 that happens to be called "prism"? Sorry, but this sort of connection is just way too vague and unimaginative. If you have to draw a flowchart or a Venn diagram to explain how the level connects to the contest's theme of light, then you probably could have done better than this. Design: 6/10 Aside from the Mega Man prisms, it seems to be entirely vanilla. If you changed the palettes at all, it wasn't substantial enough of a change for me to notice. I didn't notice any graphical glitches or anything like that, so the level isn't brought down terribly much over it. It just feels a little unoriginal, I guess. Final score: 18/50 An all right level in concept, but it barely conforms to the contest's theme, and suffers from a lot of fundamental design problems. Did you try sending the level to anyone for playtesting? I found myself having a bit more fun with the level on the second and third playthroughs, so this feels like one of those levels that's hard to enjoy unless you already know what's coming. 41. You are the light that get rid of my darkness Design: 10/20 Considering some of the tight spaces, I don't think that hammer bros fit really well here; especially not flying ones! Some of the setups get really hard toward the end, because the level eventually gets so dark that you can't see anything. However, by the time the darkness reaches its peak, there are still a few jumps left that aren't easy to do in total darkness, so... Also, this is more minor, but the message boxes are kind of meaningless. What's going on with the whole "money" thing? Creativity: 7/20 The level slowly gets darker over time, and that's the only real connection we get to the contest theme. To be honest, I don't really like this implementation of the theme. For most of the first half of the level, things are still bright enough that this doesn't change anything about the level at all. Towards the end, the level starts getting really dark so quickly that, before you know it, you're in pitch blackness. I ended up turning my monitor to full brightness, and still could hardly see anything. This is pretty rough, considering the fact that there is still some platforming left to do after you get to this "blind" point. The gimmick would seem better to me if the lights flickered on and off throughout the level, or if the level was designed in some way that was clearly meant for this darkness. Aesthetics: 7/10 The foreground and background both look really nicely together, and evoke the image of a deep, mysterious cave. The music is really fitting in this regard as well. ...That's all I have to say about that. Final score: 24/50 FUTURE EDIT: Okay, it turns out that the gimmick is actually that grabbing coins causes the screen to get brighter. That would explain the message box at the end of the level. I played this level multiple times, and didn't notice that at all. In fact, the only reason I eventually found this out was because I was in the Discord group VC with bebn and a handful of others when we were replaying all the levels after the judging was finished. Despite me now knowing this, I won't go back and retroactively change my scores/comments, because this really should have been made more clear in the level (it's just not a good sign that I wasn't able to figure this out on my own). 42. Nyctophobia Design: 12/20 I don't really like how the disco in the second room can't be controlled by the player. I kept falling into pits because you can't see anything at all other than enemies when the lights are turned off. That's the only specific complaint I have. I don't have much to complain about on the design-side of things, since the level's gameplay feels pretty basic and simple overall. Creativity: 8/20 The first part of the level takes place in the dark, though Mario himself is illuminated so that he can see. A solid theme, but in some ways the level doesn't utilize this effectively. There are too many points where enemies just came out of nowhere and hit me, because it would be impossible to see them coming. You could argue that this can be avoided by just moving really slowly through the stage, but that causes the level to just have no momentum for me. The second part of the level takes place in space, so we get some anti-gravity gimmicks. This part of the level just feels kind of inconsequential though, since nothing interesting is done mechanically and it turns into a basic "hold right and jump over everything"-type of level. Aesthetics: 6/10 The graphics in the first part of the level seem to be mostly vanilla, with a few altered palettes. It works to the level's effect, even despite the fact that it primarily takes place in pitch blackness. In the second half of the level, we get some more custom graphics that actually resemble the moon and outer space. I don't have anything to complain about here, really, it all just "fits". Final score: 26/50 It's an average level, it just doesn't feel like it really does anything special, despite having TWO different interpretations of the "light" theme. 43. Lost Shrine of Light Design: 15/20 The boss battles are pretty clever (if pointlessly precise, thanks to all the homing bullet generators) - unless the RNG is mean to you. On a few of my playthroughs, some of the bosses tended to feel kind of tedious, since you have to wait for the right color of shell to appear. In some cases I had to wait for quite a while before the color I needed appeared. I know this isn't something you can easily control without fundamentally changing the way the boss battles operate, but it still bugged me a little bit in some instances. The level design is pretty solid overall. Creativity: 15/20 The level centers itself around different colors of bosses, representing the primary colors, which I guess can be tangentially connected to the concept of light. It's a bit of a rough connection if you ask me, but the level does end up being a lot of fun as a result. Aesthetics: 7/10 The BG is beautiful and most of the graphics as a whole have some really good visuals. I love how most of the areas have their own unique palette themes. The music choices are really great as well; the main one gives off a really intriguing/msterious vibe. Final score: 37/50 A pretty neat level overall. I don't have a lot of specific complaints besides minor nitpicks (other than the bosses feeling rather hectic at times), but it's definitely above average for sure. 44. Curse Lampshade Design: 16/20 I think the design is where this level shines more than anything else. A lot of the puzzle setups are very well-crafted, and were rewarding to solve. It was a level that required me to think quite a bit. A few puzzles are very easy to break, even accidentally. At the section where you drop down and kick two shells while you're falling, it's possible for the third shell to despawn when you kick it as you're climbing back up. This means that the subsequent vine can't grow, and there's no way for the player to progress. I like that the lava's there so that you can kill yourself (it would really suck if this softlocked you!), but that still requires the player to redo already completed progress for something that isn't their own fault. I'm sure you could've moved things around a bit in a way to prevent this from being a problem (i.e. moving the vine a few tiles closer). Creativity: 11/20 The light connection is mainly story-based: the level revolves around Mario trying to return a lamp to Peach. This is an .. okay start, but it doesn't mean much for the level other than preventing Mario from spin-jumping or grabbing other items. Aside from that, the level feels like it would be just fine without this gimmick, so I can't say that the contest's theme really feels like it's on display here. On the plus side, the gimmick is still interesting enough, and has enough well-crafted puzzles that I still think the level feels pretty creative overall anyway. Aesthetics: 7/10 The main aesthetic theme on display here just comes down to the story, which is nice. Otherwise, there's not a lot going on here. I'm fascinated in the graphical route you chose for Peach's design, that's certainly memorable at least (in my nightmares). ...Yeah, that's about it. Final score: 34/50 A very fun level with some super nice creative spots. It would be even better if the contest's theme was utilized more thoroughly! 45. SPEED OF LIGHT Design: 18/20 It's the classic "room by room" puzzle setup! I like it. I think all of the puzzles and individual rooms are both very fair and very fun to get through. I couldn't get the 3UP moon, though, you must be some kind of wizard to get it. Anyways, the level left me yearning for more, which at the end of the day is probably the biggest sign of an awesome level. Creativity: 15/20 The light gimmick is used as an "enemy" of sorts, driving each puzzle room. It's a great gimmick, and one that I think is utilized decently well, mechanically speaking. Aesthetics: 6/10 It seems like the graphics are mainly vanilla, aside from a few miscellaneous blocks here and there, and possibly the background. It's not aesthetically new or fresh, not that it brings the level down a whole lot. Final score: 39/50 A pretty great level overall. It doesn't do anything *too* incredible, but it's pretty fun to play for a little while. If you had some prettier / more engaging visuals, then the level would have scored even higher. 46. Boo's Blinding Bank Design: 13/20 I actually really like this level's concept, but I do have a handful of small complaints: - It's a little strange that you have to die in order to get to the second half of the level. What if the player is on their last life? You could have just used a teleport block or something there, as well as some ASM to reset the player's coin count (assuming that's the reason why you needed to kill the player). - There are also some weird glitches in the Big Boo fight? I kept getting hit by apparently invisible enemies. This is a problem for sure. - On a more minor note, I got 31 coins in the second half of the level. That's not a massive issue or anything, as the gate still worked for me, but I still get the impression that this was an oversight, considering that the first half of the level only allowed for a round 30 number, and the level seems to place emphasis on the fact that you need to grab every coin in the level to win. It's not a big enough problem that I'm deducting points for it or anything, I just felt it was worth pointing out! Creativity: 7/20 According to the TXT file provided, the connection to the contest's theme comes from the palette, and the focus on coins (since gold coins are shiny). To be honest, if it wasn't for the TXT file then I wouldn't have been able to figure out what the connection was. The palette is bright and contains a lot of white, but lighter palettes like this aren't super uncommon or anything. The coin connection is especially weak. I like the level, but it doen't fit with the theme of the contest very well, or in any innovative way. Aesthetics: 5/10 Other than some custom palettes, the graphics are almost entirely vanilla. Well, aside from the "GATE" graphics, whose bright green color stands out a little too much from the rest of the level. Final score: 25/50 Design-wise, the level's got some good moments. I would even go so far as to say I have quite a bit of fun playing the level, in the few minutes that it took me to beat it. The design just needs to be polished in a few ways, and it's got some problems that should be addressed. Additionally, it doesn't really adhere to the contest's theme. You've got some interesting ideas here, but I'd like to see them have a more meaningful connection to the "light" theme!