#----------------------------# # 14th 24hoSMW Judging Notes # #----------------------------# # Entry 01 "Random Puzzles IDK" - interesting use of the bomb timed platforms as a puzzle solving device to clear out obstacles - the spiny eggs weren't used much in the level besides being an obstacle to clear but given the contest brief and the puzzle constraint the level creator seemed to put themselves under, it was well executed. - puzzles were well laid out and the gimmick was explained well in each section - aesthetics were vanilla D:27, C:15, A:3 # Entry 02 "Mt. Icarus" - a lot of repeated setups involving dodging either a spike throwing a spike ball at you or a spike ball rolling towards you on a line guide, the multi-jump gimmick also featured in this level made a lot of those obstacles trivial to avoid or get around. - some of the obstacles were interesting nonetheless I would have liked to see more variety than just "dodge a spike ball", "spin off a spike ball" - the first and second halves were largely the same sorts of obstacles, except with one extra jump in the second half, if the goal was to use to jump to avoid spike balls I suppose the creator achieved that although I don't think the gimmick was used to its full potential here. - if the design was tightened up with some more engaging setups and the spike balls were a little less in your face, this level would be great - the aesthetic and theming of the level was clean and not overwhelming, colour choices were nice D:24, C:10, A:5 # Entry 03 "Claus for Concern" - nice fun little ice level but the use of the custom sprites was a bit underwhelming - the leaf platforms didn't see much use and the custom mechakoopa, given how featureful that sprite is, was mainly just used like a vanilla mechakoopa. The most interestingly used and most integrated in the level theme were mega moles but they were not in the set lists. - cute theming, the ice aesthetic was well executed on and including incorporating the air jump gimmick into the story of the level was a nice touch D:21, C:12, A:5 # Entry 04 - [Untitled] - the air jump gimmick was well integrated and taught from the start of the level with a cheeky message box. - the leaf platforms were nicely telegraphed by detailing in the tree overhang and tied into obstacles well, the spinies were a good obstacle but the timed platforms were under-utilized or completely unnecessary at times given the double jump - the mechanics and the custom sprites were well introduced at the start and the level progressed towards you putting them all to use at the end, my only gripe is that the level was a bit bare overall and you weren't tasked with much to do as the player - the aesthetics were a nice, safe vanilla-like forest set D:23, C:11, A:4 # Entry 05 - "Illusionary Infrastructure" - this level doesn't guide you into the custom gimmicks, you're thrown right into it - there were some nice setups in the puzzly elements of this levels, and the multiple ways to complete them based on your choice of switch were interesting - overall though the rooms felt a bit disjointed and lacking cohesion as a whole, the player is just warped into the next bit of the stage that could be anything at all without much continuity with the room before - the switch blocks and sprite choices were put to good use in the level, as was the vertical scrolling gimmick. - the vapourwave-like palette and aesthetic, while not to my taste, seemed to be cohesive and there was some good reuse of vanilla assets to construct a cloudy sky background D:23, C:12, A:5 # Entry 06 - "77 Pipe Woods" - the air jump gimmick wasn't introduced or explained short of "jump out of this pit" and most of the level can be completed without use of the air jump at all, since the player is not required to make use of it - the pirahna plant and spiny eggs were used well, and having the boost platforms be a "gate" in some places was a clever use of those - overall the level had some interesting and fun obstacles with good variety but it lacked good integration with the air jump - the aesthetics were vanilla except for a custom background, not turning any heads with that D:25, C:13, A:3 # Entry 07 - "Elevation Heist" - this level was well-integrated; the requirement of coins to stay alive was explained well and gave urgency and purpose to the level - coins were placed fairly and in enough quantities to not make you scramble for them to stay alive and they were well-integrated with the obstacles - the use of layer 2 smash in a later section to block your path temporarily made for good survival sections and made the urgency of coins more apparent, this is excellent melding of the level with the gimmick - the thwomps in the latter sections seemed to serve to punish more often than not - little disappointing to have the pipe featured only once and it really doesn't serve much purpose beyond bringing you to a door, placing the door where the pipe would be would make the level pretty much the same - aesthetics were well executed and the custom overworld was a nice touch here, but some tiles were unclear that they were non-interactable and the choice to add black bars in some sections which restrict visibility was unclear D:22, C:11, A:4 # Entry 08 - "Distant Skyline" - pretty uninteresting level, obstacles were not challenging at all and very little was asked of the player. sprites were placed seemingly without reason and the custom sprites were not used to their full potential at all - the lack of almost any ground or elevation changes made the level feel rather boring, as almost all areas were the same height - quite often the player is just standing on a timed platform waiting or walking/jumping forward, not a lot else happening - use of the air jump gimmick was pretty unenforced and not really used beyond forcing you to jump higher over munchers or - the forced death at the midway and the goal sphere troll was pretty uninspired - points for using a custom tileset and background but the level was so sparse with objects that the aesthetics were not put to good use D:9, C:3, A:3 # Entry 09 - "spike,snake,switches!" - since this level didn't make use of any uberasm gimmick or a sprite choice from set 2 it's going to lose points for creativity - the snake blocks also break in the level quite easily as they will eat a path straight through obstacles, which appeared quite unavoidable during my playthrough - nevertheless the first half of the level had good progression and introduction of the sprites and the RBY blocks, but given how the level would break it was unclear what was intended for the second since the eating blocks would eat through everything or softlock mario - overall the intent was in this level but some major breaks make it difficult to see what the creator wanted for players - more or less vanilla aesthetics with a palette change D:15, C:9, A:3 # Entry 10 - "Hazy Linear Cavy" - the gimmicks were well-integrated and explained and the first half of the level was a nice introduction to what was chosen however the long tunnel at the end without warning or explanation (and without coins) is a bit unfair to the player - the second half of this level seemed determined to kill the player; venus fire balls often did not force player movement rather they seemed to just be a hazard to make coins harder to get which was more irritating than a challenge on the brown boost platforms - also the boost platforms put you either in awkward positions off the screen because there were no ceilings to prevent that or you were boosted into ceiling munchers - despite some roughness the theme of the level being a hazardous cave was top notch and it was well-built even if some sections felt unfair - aesthetic was well excuted, gave the sense that this was a cave full of toxic gas which was thematic to how the coins for life gimmick was implemented D:24, C:12, A:5 # Entry 11 - "Glacial Athletics" - the chosen sprites were well-used and setups were interesting and provided a rewarding challenge - the air jump climbing sections were fair and worked with the limitations of the vanilla camera scrolling so obstacles were largely understandable, however some offscreen (and therefore unseen) ceiling spikes were unwelcome - gonna knock points off for not explaining or teaching the air jump gimmick to the player at the start of the level, that first jump becomes very difficult without the knowledge of the gimmick - the frozen yoshi coins being used as an optional challenge to add difficulty to the level for someone trying to collect them all was neat, however if that is the block ingredient in this level, I would have liked to have seen the frozen blocks used for more than just optional content - the glacier theming and aesthetic was effective and cohesive D:27, C:15, A:5 # Entry 12 - "Tenant Mario" - this level was ambitious in its use of the coin for life gimmick, but some of the snake block set ups were a bit obtuse and the survival sections a bit unfair - the level seems determined to keep you on the brink of death at all times especially in the survival rooms in the second half which seemed particularly unforgiving with the coin timers - the survival rooms had some unfair construction; the coin snake room with the spike ball, the red coin room with walls that were just a tad too high, and the yoshi room had awkwardly placed berries - the last room with the goal seemingly had no purpose or felt like it was missing something, hard to tell. - aesthetics were vanila, the spike and ball sprites had broken palettes D:15, C:12, A:2 # Entry 13 - "Industrial Society and its Future" - could've probably done without the unabomber manifesto reference on the title but ok. - the use of the on/off blocks and L/R gimmick was well integrated - the level had nice challenge and great difficulty progression and the the sprites were used in fun and interesting ways along with the on/off gimmick and blocks - aesthetics were cohesive, but the red glowing pipes weren't immediately readable as danger D:28, C:15, A:5 # Entry 14 - "Pane Production" - on/off gimmick was well integrated and it was nice to see a variety of uses of the on/off blocks both as obstacles and to contain or move sprites along - the use of the TNT was a bit underwhelming beyond clearing a sprite from your path, but the thwomps and wacky moles were put to good use - the lore for the "Pane" Reznors was over my head but it was nice to see a boss fight - bit strange with some odd memey elements but the aesthetic of the level was cohesive and whole. D:24, C:15, A:5 # Entry 15 - "A Mountain Anecdote" - solid entry, the setups were fair and readable and the difficulty progressed well. The first half of the level wasn't as adventurous in its use of the available sprites as the second half and rather than choosing to integrate their resource choices throughout the level in both halves - the all-direction thwomps were used interesting ways to force your movement - aesthetically this was pretty safe, sticking with vanilla assets and some palette tweaks. nothing fancy but also nothing broken D:24, C:12, A:4 # Entry 16 - "Sub Zero Gravity" - this was a nice and fun standard level and felt like something Nintendo would have made themselves, or that would be right at home in a full hack. - obstacles were fair and the level was well-balanced - the choice of low-gravity wasn't used to its full potential aside from changing mario's physics; I would have liked to see the level make use of the low gravity in a way that was required, if you removed the low gravity the level will still be largely the same. - the winter aesthetic was well executed on with lots of nice detailing, which helped integrate the frozen blocks into the theme D:27, C:12, A:5 # Entry 17 - "Onigiri Showtime" - this level was very repetitive, very long and denied the player a checkpoint to break up that length. there were many similar setups of slope and pipe objects, with koopas and pirahna plants, so much so it felt like was just copy-pasted and edited. - slopes were overused as an obstacle in this level, the one-tile variety especially, which is not a particularly interesting way to add challenge while avoiding sprites - this level did not use its resources well, the spiny eggs, the mega man scrolling gimmick and the on/off blocks were relegated a one screen sublevel that concealed the goal sphere - this level was an interpretation of a standard level one could find in some older hacks but it was neither fun nor rewarding and due to its samey-ness felt more like a slog to complete, which is disappointing given the potential within the resources. - aesthetically, the background was aggressively bright and the palettes were only a small edit to vanilla. D:18, C:3, A:3 # Entry 18 - "Horrorbular" - the lack of communication with the player is incredibly unfair and frustrating; the fact the air jump gimmick exists isn't told to the player, nor is it disclosed that it has a limit on it. - some obstacles were more easily done using the carriable pipe as an aide than using the (as I assume) intended air jump - the vanilla aesthetics with a fresh palette won't be turning any heads D:20, C:12, A:3 # Entry 19 - "Sunset Sunday" - for a kaizo level (and to evaluate it like one) it was well designed, tricks were neither tight nor demanding - in kaizo air jump asm can be overbearing, but it was used effectively to get you to progress while carrying the pipe - would have liked to have seen more done with the carriable pipe than just carry it, but the timed platforms and spike were used well in conjuction with the on/off blocks to create obstacles to navigate - aesthetic was pleasant, while mostly vanilla, the nice palette tweaks and an addition of a custom background created the "sunset" vibe the level promised - despite all this the setups and obstacles fell into kaizo design, which is out of the scope of the contest D:24, C:12, A:4 # Entry 20 - "Thwomp Palace" - this level has potential and the obstacles were interesting and varied but the airjump gimmick plus generous powerups in the second half of the level allows one to bypass several obstacles just by damage boosting through thwomps. tightening up the design to disallow this would improve this section - vanilla aesthetics D:18, C:9, A:3 # Entry 21 - "Crazy Canyon" - the on/off toggle gimmick was integrated and explained well, however the level is noticeably short - the first half of this entry was extremely easy relative to the second half which laid into the player with sprites. - the level sets up the second half to use TNT but it is almost entirely unneeded to get through everything, except in places where you were blocked by sprites - vanilla aesthetics D:21, C:10, A:3 # Entry 22 - "Spinies on the Moon" - fun little level with a small bit of awkwardness, which I'll blame mainly on the low gravity ASM. - I would have liked to see the boost platforms used in a more full way that took advantage for their function, they seemed to be placed within the level without a lot of intent to use their boost (also unfortunately they are extremely awkward to use with low grav) - the space theme worked to sell the low gravity gimmick as it was implicit to the Moon setting and obstacles were designed around and made use of the low gravity D:27, C:14, A:5 # Entry 23 - "Life is a videogame" - frankly, this level is an unintuitive mess. - the coin are life gimmick is incredibly frustrating in a puzzle level like this since you have no time to explore or figure things out before you're dead. this feels more punitive than a challenge because coins are kept from you rather than as an aid to give you more time to figure things out. - the RBY blocks and custom sprites were extensively used but in such a way that made little sense within the level other than just being there for the sake of it - overall the level is die until you figure things out well enough to climb through the mess to the end which is neither rewarding or fun, it's an escape. - aesthetics are vanilla, the way blocks and ground is arranged haphazardly in the level isn't appealing and adds to the confusion. the palette for the spike enemies was also not applied so they appeared with no colour D:5, C:6, A:1 # Entry 24 "Cold Cash Crisis" - fantastic level, this one was is extremely well designed. the premise, the gimmick, and how the level builds on itself is executed nearly perfectly. - all obstacles and sprites had purpose in the level and weren't there as scenery or to be in the way. - the gimmick was coins are life and the coins were placed generously and integrated into the obstacles - introducing the frozen coins in the second half to build on the coins for life gimmick was a great iteration on the theme and a new added challenge for the player - aesthetics are a little simplistic and bland, and colours are washed out, potentially more could have been done to maximize the theme, but that's not a big deal overall. D:30, C:15, A:4 # Entry 25 - "Danny Bananas" - great open-designed level with good aesthetics that I had a lot of fun with - the level was well-structured around the camera scrolling in a way that forced exploration to find power ups, items or switches that the player needed to progress - my only disappointment is that the mechakoopas weren't used to their full potential given how much additional function they have built in, they were largely treated as vanilla mechakoopas D:30, C:13, A:5 # Entry 26 - "Electric Leakage" - some great ideas with the on/off electricity however there's a lot of problems with its implementation. - the first section is neat with how the path changes when you switch on/off the electricity but you can damage boost through the electricity by hitting the thwimp by the door, skipping that part entirely. - in the second section, there is a lot of waiting for the layer 2 to rise and fall before you can trigger the on/off to make progress otherwise you'd be sealing yourself into a death trap, I would have liked to have seen safety spots for the player in the floor perhaps so that wasn't an inevitability. Also the door at the end is an unknown factor, and you can only learn by going ahead and dying. The thwomps did not need to stun lock you in this section, it is already tough enough and it more irritating than a challenge - the third section is extremely constraining, taking the mushroom (which is pointless because the electricity is insta-kill) makes it a lot harder because mario's hitbox increases in the tight spaces. if there were more space for the player to move around on the boost platform and between the bars of electricity on layer 2 this would feel like a more fair section. - also the overall lack of a checkpoint makes the level an irritating prospect to do over and over when you die with all the above issues - aesthetics were on theme and coherent, I would have liked to have seen a layer 3 background in the sections that used layer 2 however but that's minor D:15, C:15, A:5 # Entry 27 - "Bit to the Futute" - the coin for life gimmick wasn't introduced or explained at all, but it is also not much of a threat or challenge since coins are plentiful in the level you're never in an sense of urgency to collect coins to stay alive - there was no incentive to interact with the RBY block maze in the latter half of the level, in fact you can pretty much run right through it to the end pipe since there is a path open right to the end - this was a pretty flashy level with the bold aesthetics and environmental story telling but it was lacking cohesion with the game mechanics chosen D:19, C:10, A:5 # Entry 28 - "Suspicious Cave" - there was a lot of noticeably similar obstacles in this level since the terrain and object placement was not all that varied. - in almost every instance of the leaf platform, you were forced to wait for the leaves to fall before you could proceeed - while the mechakoopa was used extensively in the level they were often not much of a threat or put to use all that much - the money is life gimmick wasn't a huge challenge here as the creator gave plenty of coins to start with and there were a lot of coins throughout the level available to the player - the change to custom graphics for the cave was nice, but the background being static made the spikes blend in too well D:17, C:10, A:4