★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★ That pink hair guy rye ah's reviews (Heads up: Some reviews are ***much*** longer if they took me a lot longer to compose my thoughts. If there are typos then I'm sorry :derpyyoshi:) ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Bramble Climb Entry Number: 00 Design: 40/60 Creativity: 18/30 Aesthetics: 5/10 Total: 63/100 Review: I want to first start by listing the positives that I had with this level. I think that the usage of the gate Koopa Troopas was executed in a way where it wasn't annoying at all to move past them. I believe that the music choice and palette give this level an atmosphere that makes it feel very spacious and calming to play. However, this is where my problems begin. The level itself is very condensed in a way where there are areas that you can accidentally take damage from due to the low amount of space. One of the biggest issues I have with this level so far is that the gimmicks don't feel like a blend of seasonings in a single cooking dish. I noticed through all of my playthroughs that the gimmicks don't feel very combined at all and are a lot more on the random side and could have been fleshed out a lot more as the newer gimmicks were introduced. The only other issue I have is that the dragon coin placements could have either been taken out completely or placed in a way where you actually feel like you accomplish something by getting the coins. Right now they basically seem to be there for no reason other than aesthetic or area filling purposes. With a level like this, it's hard to necessarily say that it's a bad level because it's not. It just feels incomplete. I would have loved to see more challenging variants of the pink block and flip-gate gimmicks in different setups. Some of which could have even rewarded dragon coins since as I mentioned, the coin setups didn't feel very interesting to me. The level itself isn't very difficult either which fits the setting. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Vanish Castle Entry Number: 01 Design: 48/60 Creativity: 26/30 Aesthetics: 7/10 Total: 81/100 Review: This level was so fun to play. I think that the overall gimmick of the level was properly expanded on and that's what made this level feel so unique to me. I love that you set your rooms up in ways where if you have to move backwards, it doesn't feel like a tedious mirror of the obstacles faces while moving through the sections primarily. The color choices for the layer 2 tiles and NPC pass-through tiles really do the job with letting the player know what's safe and what isn't. Outside of those changes, the graphics are fairly simple. One thing that really caught my eye in terms of aesthetics are the candle flames and spiders hanging from webs in some sections. I have never seen someone use escalators in such an unexpected way so when I first saw them I was like "No way." The setbacks I did have mainly involved the Boss and the long sets of 1 coin blocks that gave you nothing productive when hitting them. The Boss itself does utilize the second half of the gimmick, though it would have been cool (if possible) to include usage of the first half of the gimmick set. There is nothing in the boss as it is now that feels truly challenging or memorable. Though I do feel that some setups could have been expanded on a bit more, I think this level really achieved what it was going for. It's a good length and it isn't frustrating to deal with. If I could really compare it to anything, I'd say that this level reminds me a lot of the hack "JUMP" which had some pretty neat castles that fit this design aesthetic. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Crystal Forest Entry Number: 02 Design: 23/60 Creativity: 12/30 Aesthetics: 6/10 Total: 41/100 Review: I'm not too big of a fan of this level. The aesthetics are pleasant to see but offer more inconveniences to the actual level design which isn't a good sign. One of the biggest examples I can give are how some of the platforms that connect to trees are able to be completely walked on while others have gaps where the trees are. It's pretty inconsistent and a bit annoying to deal at times. I didn't really like how the first mushroom puts you in a bit of a tight spot since you don't see where the boo circle is and the boos that were following you could be right under you which puts you at an immediate risk of losing your powerup. Generally my biggest gripe with this level is the koopa shell section at the beginning. The jump is very tight and doesn't really take into account that the platform under the pipe is a bit too short to make the jump as conveniently as one would hope. Later on after this section, you can easily skip the entire part where you need to bring the key with you if you just keep the springboard you were given a short moment prior. Generally as the level progressed and I played through the rest, I noticed that I really wasn't having much fun playing. It feels like the goal of this level aimed more towards the aesthetics rather than the actual gameplay itself. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Bounce and climb! Entry Number: 03 Design: 10/60 Creativity: 12/30 Aesthetics: 5/10 Total: 27/100 Review: Welcome to SMW hacking! First of all I would like to say that for a first level, you're off to a very good start. Though the simplicity of this level is explained through your first-hand adjustments to SMW hacking in general, I think that this level is very short and sweet to play. There wasn't a point where this level was unfun or anything. The only real issues I have with it are that the P-Switch portion felt a little unnecessary. Since the coins that turn into a wall are right behind the wall that turns into coins, it's redundant having the player wait for that. The only other thing I think that could have been changed was the placements of the powerups at the beginning. Having the player grab both a Mushroom and a Fire Flower felt redundant as well as only one of those powerups at a time could have done the job. As I started to explain before, this level is more on the simple side which I'm very indifferent about. So unfortunately I can't give a high score due to nothing in the level giving any sort of "awe-striking" vibe. Just know that this score I'm giving does not mean that I think this level is bad in any way. What I will say though is that I am really hoping to see more hack content from you and I really encourage you to continue making more levels as like I said before, you're off to a really good start. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Sugarless Cave Entry Number: 04 Design: 28/60 Creativity: 12/30 Aesthetics: 5/10 Total: 45/100 Review: This level actually sat pretty well with me. I love the music and it really gives the level a memorable atmosphere. The gameplay however isn't as atmospheric to match this very energetic music, though it still does the job. I think that the level in general, while pretty simple in gameplay, could have been a lot longer as the part after the midpoint can be completely very quickly without much challenge. My only issue with aesthetics is that the teal colored ground doesn't contrast as well with the bright red and orange colors in the lava. Though this isn't too much of an issue for me. Generally I think this is a pretty okay level with a lot of potential to be pushed forward into something greater. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Getting Up Entry Number: 05 Design: 2/60 Creativity: 1/30 Aesthetics: 0/10 Total: 3/100 I'm not entirely sure what I just played and I'm not entirely sure that I want to know either. This level was not good at all. The palette and the messily put-together platforming just doesn't sit well with me. The thwomps in this level are one of the most annoying things to get by since you can't even see them in some cases. At first, I was led on to believe that the level wasn't possible due to how obscure the Thwomp racing part was. I feel that if these ideas were executed better and giving a lot more space or even better indication, then it could have made for more clever, fun and engaging settings throughout the level. I can't really think of anything positive to say here other than really encouraging the creator of this level makes levels that are not like this in the future. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Adventurous Ascent Entry Number: 06 Design: 35/60 Creativity: 15/30 Aesthetics: 6/10 Total: 56/100 Review: The music used in this level is what really caught my attention primarily. I'm absolutely in love with this song. Though as I continue to play the level, I started feeling really bored. The aesthetics are nice for the most part outside of the very saturated blue castle tiles. Though I thought the city building were extremely clever. The one thing I didn't like is that the gameplay felt very repetitive. Once the first Dry Bones jump was introduced, the rest of those jumps in the level were pretty much the exact same thing with nothing new to add. Going back to aesthetics, the one thing I didn't like outside of the castle tiles I mentioned were the strange formations of dirt seem at points throughout the level. It didn't seem to add anything in that aspect. I guess the best way to explain my feelings on this is that all I felt like I did in this level was constantly jump up and up and up with nothing interesting or attention-grabbing in between. I would have loved to see more development with the Dry Bones jumping since we as players are led on to believe that this is the featured gimmick of the level at the beginning. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: le Reservoir Entry Number: 07 Design: 47/60 Creativity: 18/30 Aesthetics: 5/10 Total: 70/100 Review: I'm not really so sure how I feel about this level. It has really good ideas but I feel like these ideas could have taken some sort of twist later on rather than repeat in a near exact setting. I do think this is a pretty good level despite that. The weird thing is, I can't really name a part that was particularly my favorite due to the point I mentioned where the ideas don't take any sort of turn. The level itself was basically just like platforming -> autoscroll -> platforming -> autoscroll -> platforming with nothing completely eyecatching. The one thing I did like however, was that the water slowly rising in the autoscroll sections seemed to give depth to the water being back in the main section after you press the switches which was neat. There was also this one part in the second section variant that wasn't an autoscroll where you're given a powerup and then a hard-to-see thwomp was placed immediately after behind a thick pillar. Not sure why this was done but once more it's one of those situations where a person playing for the first time may not know that this is there unless they already knew it was there prior to. Overall, I think the only things I actually liked about this level are the usage of colors and most of the first section and the last part of the non-autoscroll second section. My advice here is to not include design ideas that are specifically easy for the creator but ignoring the fact that there are going to be people that play this for the first time and won't know about everything that's included. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Plumbing Job Entry Number: 08 Design: 52/60 Creativity: 22/30 Aesthetics: 8/10 Total: 81/100 Review: This level had really great idea. Though I feel like the setting feels pretty mixed up. The background you used along with all of the different flashy colors and the music makes it feel like it's the castle that it portrays rather than a sewer. I think that the part where you remove the clog was pretty simple, yet clever. Because of all of these very intriguing points in this level, it makes me come to the conclusion that the beginning part probably should have been removed as it doesn't really add anything to the level that drastically changes the players idea of what is going on. Despite that, I really like this level. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Yescroll Entry Number: 09 Design: 49/60 Creativity: 24/30 Aesthetics: 6/10 Total: 79/100 Review: I'm really loving this level. For the most part outside of the beginning section, I like how the autoscrolls aren't too long primarily. The one thing I love is when a level has a mechanic and then there's a twist that makes it super interesting. The second run through the first part after the cave section is what really caught my eye. It was a surprise because while playing it the first time, I didn't expect the level to suddenly start moving upward which was a very unique touch. Personally the one thing I didn't like too much was the fact that it was a tad bit confusing that you were meant to go down at first when the cave autoscrolling stopped. Though this isn't too much of an issue since the autoscroll in that section isn't too long. But it can get really tedious if you have no idea where to go as there is no indication for any path. Overall this is a pretty cool level and I feel really good after playing it. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Stalwart Ramparts Entry Number: 10 Design: 38/60 Creativity: 12/30 Aesthetics: 7/10 Total: 57/100 Review: I have a few things to say about this level. At first I was very interested in the usage of the flying turnblocks and how they were used in ways that kept you on your feet. Though as the level went on, I started to see myself getting more annoyed at the usage of this mechanic if anything. What I don't like specifically is the autoscroll section. It felt like that autoscroll took longer to beat that the other sections of the level combined. Personally I think the entire level could have went without it due to how time consuming unfun it was to get through. Moving back to the main level though, there is a portion where you have to dodge both a thwomp and a thwimp while there are spikes above you that are offscreen until the level scrolls up. I'm don't like this. The only way I would have known to dodge that the first time is if I already knew that the spikes were there to begin with which isn't very thoughtful in a design aspect. The things I actually did like however were the music and palette choices, the aesthetics, the first part of the first section and the last part of the non-autoscroll second section. My advice here is to not include design choices that are only convenient for the creator and inconvenient for people playing for the first time. A lot of things in this level suffered from this and that's what really threw the entire thing down for me. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Glowing In The Deep Entry Number: 11 Design: 20/60 Creativity: 12/30 Aesthetics: 2/10 Total: 34/100 Review: The moment I went into this level, my eyes shot wide because there were already 500 things happening at once and the level had barely started. This palette is so saturated that it actually makes it harder to see what is going on in many areas. The enemy spam in certain sections really doesn't help any of this either. The glowing graphic feature is a neat idea but I personally feel like it lost the energy it could have had due to everything that was going on in the level at once. It almost feels as if it could have been much better if literally every graphic wasn't so bright. The portion where you have to navigate through the puzzle is something that could have used it's own level section. Trying to decipher what is glowing and what isn't would have made much more sense with a dark background. What's truly unfortunate though, is that if you gain the cape near the midpoint, then you can skip all of this just by flying once. Overall I didn't really like this level that much but I can at least see where it was trying to go. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Za Warudo Tower Entry Number: 12 Design: 45/60 Creativity: 18/30 Aesthetics: 4/10 Total: 67/100 Review: This is one of those levels where the ideas are extremely neat but the execution is more on the below average side. I feel that the biggest setback of this level are the non-solid tiles that were used. They completely obscure the paths that you're supposed to take because they look solid. I do think that the water mechanic was pretty cool. Though it's completely ditched once the spike mechanic is introduced. It almost feels as if I'm playing two different levels and that's not a very good thing. What I do think is that the colors of the water really do the gimmick a lot of justice. One thing I will point out though is that at points in the level, there are random blocks that hurt you that aren't supposed to hurt you. The one I can clearly remember is in the second section's grinder portion where the first thwomp at the start of that. Overall I think that if this level were more polished, it could have really had a better chance to shine brightly. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: KingOfTheMountain Entry Number: 13 Design: 17/60 Creativity: 10/30 Aesthetics: 2/10 Total: 29/100 Review: To start this off, I feel pretty bad giving this review because I can tell that the creator put in a ton of effort to make this how it is. Though the issue here is that the level itself presents a ton of issues that make into something that isn't very fun to play. It really seems like this level is all over the place as the gimmicks don't combine well and there are points where open areas lead you to paths that end up being dead ends. What I specifically don't like about these dead ends though is that they usually mean that there is a pipe nearby that you skipped over that doesn't even look like it's supposed to be the exit to the actual section. The underground gimmick is something I'm not too fond of either. The space the player is given to explore with this gimmick is very limited as the lava puts you in an immediate situation where you either learn everything about the gimmick right then and there or you suffer trying to memorize where each platform is. It's not executed well at all. I feel as if there could have been a beginning portion of this where the switches could have been introduced in a non-lethal manner while also being much cleaner and not so condensed. What bugs me even more about this gimmick specifically is that it is completely ditched after you leave the underground section. The most unfortunate part is that it really seems like you wanted to include the boss in the level but either ran out of time or knew that there wasn't in-game time to fight it. I can't count the boss level itself because it's not in the main level, but what I will say is that it damages the "plot" of the level when the part that you're supposedly building up to gets cut off so abruptly by the goal sphere. I know this review is fairly long so I will cut it short here. This level one of my least favorites so far due to how jumbled and messy it is. Though I do applaud the overall effort as it shows throughout the entire level. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Roaming Fiber Entry Number: 14 Design: 55/60 Creativity: 28/30 Aesthetics: 9/10 Total: 92/100 Review: To be completely honest. I think that this is one of the most creative gimmicks I've seen. It's a very simple concept but is executed in a way I wouldn't have expected. I think that this level is simply fantastic in terms of how well it blends together each category of the rubric into something that isn't forgettable. However with all good things there are some downsides. What I noticed is that due to the strange physics of climbing in Super Mario World, some sections are very finnicky to work with. For example the last section before the exit has you dodging a jumping Bowser statue while trying to get behind a thwomp. The issue here is that for whatever reason you have to be very specific in jumping from the corner of the moving gates to the gate that the thwomp is in which can be a bit weird to do. This section also has weird cutoff but thankfully that's the only case of this that I noticed throughout the level. Overall, I think this level proves that you can still come up with really unique ideas despite the limitations of a "Vanilla" contest. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Brown Block Factory Entry Number: 15 Design: 57/60 Creativity: 29/30 Aesthetics: 10/10 Total: 97/100 Review: This is a heavily interesting level. It has a focus and actually keeps that focus throughout the entire level. It's easy to tell what you need to do in order to make progress through the different areas. The aesthetics and music along with the overall gimmicks and setups make this level feel completely new and extremely fun. What I really liked especially was the little puzzle section where you have to stop the Brown Blocks in mid-air. Though I do wish that there was more of that to be seen later on as that idea completely vanished after we saw it the first time. Despite that, this level does an amazing job at not only keeping the player on their feet, but making the player feel comfortable enough to move around in the level with the the feeling of wanting more and more as you progress. I'm absolutely in love with this level. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Plains Water Entry Number: 16 Design: 50/60 Creativity: 27/30 Aesthetics: 10/10 Total: 87/100 Review: To start this off, I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about this level. However, after playing it a couple times, I realize that I love this level. It's such a simple idea yet the usage of the aesthetics takes it to an entirely new level. The moving water mechanic in general was executed really well though there were some slight slipups. Specifically, the parts where you have to swim in tighter spaces are not my favorite. The part before the midpoint was the sole place where I died the most due to how tight these spaces are paired with the weirdness of SMW's swimming physics. Despite this, you can easily decipher what tiles are solid and what isn't solid which is very good. The twist in the castle portion where you're tasked with moving through lava and water is what really caught my eye too. It just feels really well thought out. I'm also in love with the hearts that the Rip Van Fish have instead of the normal Z animation. This level overall made me feel really good inside even after replaying it. I laughed when coming across the boss because I didn't expect the exit to be right next to it. Really great work on this. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Darkmoon Riverside Entry Number: 17 Design: 12/60 Creativity: 5/30 Aesthetics: 1/10 Total: 18/100 Review: I have to really sit back and think about this one. I'm not too big of a fan of it. There is a lot of cutoff in the level tiles, the enemy spam is ridiculous and the music has this weird mix of being pleasant and also unpleasant at the same time. I'm not too sure what the overall direction of this level was but so far it's not a very positive direction. The autoscroll section is almost unbearable unless you're really careful with the powerups you gain or you grab the star near the middle of it. I will say that I do like the design for the ship, but aesthetically, that's all that I like. The palette is a jumbled mess of colors that isn't too pleasing to look at. What I will say despite all of this is that I believe the creator of this level should continue making levels. It seems at the moment that as a first level, the creator lacks a specific direction in terms of what will look and feel good to the player and what won't. I believe that making more levels will really hone in on these skills in the future. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Quiz Mario Academy! Entry Number: 18 Design: 25/60 Creativity: 20/30 Aesthetics: 8/10 Total: 51/100 Review: This level is quite the sight. I think it's a very interesting idea to have a quiz as a level. Though I don't really like the idea of having the play the guessing game or use google just to play a Mario level. What's very unfortunate though is that other than this quiz mechanic, there isn't really anything that necessarily catches my eye. I think you did a great job with aesthetics and whatnot but generally there isn't anything completely interesting about this level other than the questions. It's one of those where it's only truly fun if you actually know the answers. Imagine if someone was playing that didn't know any of these answers and had to spend a long time searching or guessing in order to progress. It's not a completely fun concept. Though I do appreciate the time and effort that went into this idea. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Flying Fish Fort Entry Number: 19 Design: 20/60 Creativity: 10/30 Aesthetics: 2/10 Total: 32/100 Review: What really disappoints me is that this song adds so much mood to this level but there are no aesthetics to match it. The level is generally has a pretty basic design which isn't really good or bad to me. I just feel like there should have been something to make the level feel more than what it actually was. The edition of the Reznor boss made the level feel a bit weird to me since it makes no sense that the theme of the level is "flying fish" yet nothing involving that is included in the boss. Thankfully, despite the simplicity of the level design, there is nothing in this level that made me want to pull my hair out. Hopefully next time the creator can really utilize aesthetics and better level design to match the music and make the level shine. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: The red ghost house Entry Number: 20 Design: 27/60 Creativity: 13/30 Aesthetics: 3/10 Total: 43/100 Review: This is another one of those levels where the ideas are good but aren't executed very well. I believe that a lot of this level functioned as if it were an actual Ghost House. Though it makes no sense that there is so much emphasis on the color red but it plays no part in the actual level other than being in the background. This is where the problems start. The background itself is very unfitting and I believe the entire level could have functioned much better without the red backgrounds. If they remained the same color scheme as the ghost house tiles then I think it would have made the level much better to look at. The real problems however lie with the actual level design. The first section was a bit questionable with the placements of the enemies, though it wasn't a bad start to the level. Once entering the level though, it became apparent that the slight enemy spam was going to be a problem. There are way too many eeries present in the first part and with it being the first real Ghost House section, it really takes down the feeling of the level. While thinking about this, I died because I wasn't aware that the ceiling was going to come crashing down due to no warning being present whatsoever in case you didn't see it happen on screen already. The true problem is later on in the level when you reach the portion where the ceiling slowly falls. If the ceiling falls completely before you run under it, the level will softlock and you will end up being trapped and forced to restart. As the level went on, I really noticed how random the design started getting as if the creator either ran out of time or ran out of ideas. This is especially the case at the last section of the Ghost House before you actually exit it. Overall, this level is one of those where it's a mess mainly because there isn't enough attention being put into the things that actually count towards the level's design and atmosphere. Even with the negative points there are present here, I do not believe that this level is a complete bad experience. I just wouldn't want to replay it after beating it. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: House of Holes Entry Number: 21 Design: 29/60 Creativity: 8/30 Aesthetics: 4/10 Total: 41/100 Review: I'm not too sure how I feel about this level. It's one of those where I can't really put into words what I experienced while playing. It's not bad but it's not that interesting. The palette is very weird too. Not bad weird though. It sort of reminds me of Shovel Knight in a way with the way the background looks. But considering the level is called "House of Holes", I guess I can say that it pretty much follows that guideline. The thing that really sets the level back for me is that the design is very linear and not in a good way. By my fourth playthrough, I noticed that I wasn't necessarily bored while playing but rather there wasn't much to do in the level. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Greystone Grotto Entry Number: 22 Design: 47/60 Creativity: 18/30 Aesthetics: 4/10 Total: 69/100 Review: Another weird one. At first I was thrown off due to the level having "Grotto" in the name. The level itself has challenges that seem a bit specific in some cases. For example, notice how in the cave section, there are places where you wouldn't really know how long a platform is going to take to raise until you either see it happen or die a couple times trying. The rest of the level is pretty solid though. Neat platforming mechanics and things that keep you on your feet. Though the one thing that stands out in a bad way to me is the fact that you can accidentally reset the cave room section by going back to the midpoint if you aren't aware that you're going backwards. I feel as though something could have been added to the Layer 2 that could cover the pipe to prevent this. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Buster Quarry Entry Number: 23 Design: 47/60 Creativity: 19/30 Aesthetics: 6/10 Total: 72/100 Review: I will say that this level has some pretty interesting setups. What completely throws the atmosphere off is the unfitting music though. Nothing against Crash Bandicoot music, but this song just makes the level feel a bit awkward to work through. The unfortunate thing is that the dragon coin section tends to break sometimes but this isn't something that the creator is at fault for. SMW has very awkward physics that can easily break and a lot of the time there just isn't any way to bypass this other than restarting a section where something messes up. I do really like the flow of this level though. None of the mechanics were annoying by any means and the length of the level was very decent. The palette choices were also a nice addition to the level. Generally this is a pretty okay level. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Cloudcracker Ruins Entry Number: 24 Design: 30/60 Creativity: 10/30 Aesthetics: 6/10 Total: 46/100 Review: Where can I start here... Basically the way I feel about this level is that it has some very weird aesthetic choices. It's clever to have the main bricks on Layer 2 in order for the Clouds on Layer 1 to show up in front of them. Though it seems like the creator of this level also messed around with Layer 3 shenanigans and placed the background clouds there. I'm not sure what logical reason there was to do this and there was a point where I actually noticed it when a grinder went behind it and seemingly disappeared until it hit me. The only other things I would say that confused me aesthetic wise could either be how bright some of the graphics were or the fact that some pillars with Goomba statues on them had solid tops while others didn't. It was a weird choice that I'm hoping wasn't done on purpose. In regards to the actual level design though. I was pretty okay with the parts before I reached the line-guide sections. I didn't really have any fun playing them due to the fact that you can pretty much skip both completely by remaining at the top or bottom of the spots you're holding onto. Generally I would say I had an average time playing but I can see that the end parts are rushed. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: The Camping Episode Entry Number: 25 Design: 26/60 Creativity: 8/30 Aesthetics: 3/10 Total: 37/100 -Don't like how close the goombas at the start are Review: Um. To be completely fair, I don't really think this level makes much sense. I feel like it went in a direction that completely paralleled from what I was originally expecting. The goombas at the very beginning didn't really give a good first impression due to how close they were. The rest of the level was essentially the same strictly linear jump and dodge gameplay that gets boring after a while. What surprised me is that the background suddenly goes from a semi-okay looking autumn type of forest to dark aesthetic land and I'm not too pleased with how sudden that change was. A huge suggestion I have for this is to focus way more on the camping theme where you could have given your level an atmosphere that surrounds that which would have been super interesting to see. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Easiest Judgment Entry Number: 26 Design: 2/60 Creativity: 2/30 Aesthetics: 1/10 Total: 5/100 Review: Thank you ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Harmonious Heaven Entry Number: 27 Design: 49/60 Creativity: 21/30 Aesthetics: 10/10 Total: 80/100 Review: I actually like this level quite a bit. The palette was good, the music helps set the atmosphere, and the platforming is pretty solid (For the most part). The one part that I didn't really enjoy playing all that much was the part of the puzzle section where you had to keep the mushroom in order to progress. It's cool that the different reset doors allow you to get a new mushroom though that didn't really help me have much more fun than I originally did though this could just be personal taste. Overall this level is very clever. Using the the double Yoshi glitch in such a way really adds a lot to that section specifically. Though I feel it doesn't any anything to the rest of the level. If the level is supposed to be a puzzle level, then it would have been cool to see more puzzle features using that mechanic. Unfortunately this level also suffers from out of place gimmicks that don't seem to merge together due to some sort of creative constraint whether it was a shortage of time or something else. Either way, I do think this level was pretty good for what it is. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Cold and Colder Entry Number: 28 Design: 38/60 Creativity: 15/30 Aesthetics: 5/10 Total: 47/100 Review: This level is quite a weird one. Not because any gimmicks are bad or anything like that but mainly because of how sudden things switch. At first I figured it wwas just going to be a normal ice level with a slightly above average set of platforming. Though like I said before, I personally think that the transition between aesthetics and gimmicks was very sudden and not well thought out. Personally I feel like the aesthetics were a little too powerful considering how simple the gimmick changes and original palette were. Other than those things I don't think the level functions in a way that's unfun, but more so generic. I do feel that some portions of the "Painful Ice" section could have been limited a tiny bit as SMW ice physics are a lot more slippery than you'd expect. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Tangerine Wetlands (DISQUALIFIED) Entry Number: 29 Design: 8/60 Creativity: 2/30 Aesthetics: 2/10 Total: 12/100 Review: I'm not feeling so good about this one. The palette isn't the best and there isn't really any actual level design. Just sprites everywhere. There were issues throughout the level where sprites were disappearing due to too many of them being on screen. To be completely honest, this level doesn't feel like it's own level. Almost as if the thought process here was to take Yoshi's Island 4 and add everything under the sun into it. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: The Frozen Way Entry Number: 30 Design: 49/60 Creativity: 27/30 Aesthetics: 10/10 Total: 86/100 Review: I really like the concept of this level. It flows nicely, the color choices are good, and the music adds an insane amount of depth and atmosphere to the overall plot of the level. I think the platforming is very reasonable and allows you to actually analyze your surrounds before throwing unexpected things at you which is a really good touch. On to the things I'm not too okay with. Starting off, I'm not too fond of the P-Switch wall before you get into the actual castle part. It seems like a pointless addition since it doesn't add anything to the level overall and seems a bit randomly placed. The thing I don't really like, however, is the large amount of powerups you get before the boss fight. Since it's just a Big Boo, I don't think anyone would need Fire Flowers when there are no enemies that you can actually hit with fireballs. So mushrooms probably would have been the better bet which also goes along with my next point. I'm also not a big fan of the placements of the two fire flower powerup blocks under that pipe mainly because if you grab the cape and then hit the two blocks out of curiosity, then that entire alternate route would have been pointless. Personally it would have made more sense to move those blocks over and put coin blocks under the pipe instead to avoid this. Despite the things I didn't like, I do believe that this is a really great level. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: hunted as wolves, folly and brey. Entry Number: 31 Design: 58/60 Creativity: 26/30 Aesthetics: 10/10 Total: 94/100 Review: To start this off, I just want to say that this is one of my favorite levels. The music is great, the colors are great, the atmosphere is great. Just all around the level is really fun to play. However, like I always say, most good things always have a slipup or two and I do believe that this slipup is how tight some of the platforming is. The most specific part I can apply this point is the water part. The hitbox for a saw is pretty big so it's much harder to navigate through the area if you're big. Throughout the level I pretty much just notice that some jumps are a little hard to do because different sprites tend to fill them a little more than one would hope. But even saying that, I think that this is a beautiful level. I really hope to see more levels like this in the future. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Frozen Grassland Entry Number: 32 Design: 28/60 Creativity: 8/30 Aesthetics: 5/10 Total: 41/100 Review: This level doesn't sit well with me at all. It's one of those where it has no clear goal and uses ideas that either aren't properly explained or they are just not fun to work through at all. I think that the entire concept of the night and day variants of the level wasn't executed too well. It was made out to seem like the switch block gimmick was going to be a very important feature of the level, but it's not significant at all. To put it simply, it seems more like the level is way too open and this eliminates a lot of possibility to actually condense the gimmicks so that there is a clear focus. To be completely honest, I think that the day variant of the level should have been completely scrapped. The P-Switch challenges near the end of the level aren't my favorite either. They seem more like things that could have been taken out as they add nothing productive to the level. The fact that there needs to be reset doors for these challenges despite them not being tricky or anything is a little questionable to me. Especially with how the last second P-Switch challenge doesn't even give you a clear path to follow when you press it so there's a chance that you could get slightly lost before finding the reset door. Basically this level just heavily suffers from having way too much space. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Dimension Traveling Entry Number: 33 Design: 47/60 Creativity: 18/30 Aesthetics: 6/10 Total: 71/100 Review: The entire time I was playing this level, I was wonder when I was going to travel to another dimension. Not saying that there is no dimension traveling in place, but it feels like there isn't much depth behind the dimension traveling mechanic to give you the feeling like you're actually in an altered version of the area you were previously in. The platforming and whatnot is actually quite fun to play, but I will say that I think the first section with the green graphics and weird flashing cement blocks could have been taken out. That section seems more like a pointless edition with a bit of a misleading approach considering we as players may get the idea that the urchins and flashing blocks actually contribute something to the level (which they don't.) My diagnosis here is that this level is a jumbled mess of multiple gimmicks that aren't blended together or give anything to the general goal here. With things as out of place such as the invisible block section or the entirety of the first section, I would say that the creator of this level could really benefit from making up their mind on what gimmick they're wanting actually feature. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: go directly to jail Entry Number: 34 Design: 47/60 Creativity: 23/30 Aesthetics: 8/10 Total: 88/100 Review: This level intrigues me so much. It's such a simple concept and is executed pretty well. I like the aesthetics and colors and whatnot. Though the spikes are something I'm not too fond of. Not because of their placement for the most part but because of their design. To be completely honest, they kind of look like GBA DOnkey Kong graphics in a way. But overall, the level isn't too long, it isn't too difficult, and it basically achieves what it was going for. Though I think that the plot is a little ignored as you progress since you just kind of leave with nothing stopping you in-between to actually make it feel like a "prison" break. Despite all of that, I really like this level and I think that it's a good step in the right direction. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Overless Way Entry Number: 35 Design: 44/60 Creativity: 23/30 Aesthetics: 8/10 Total: 75/100 Review: Not really sure how I feel about this level. I think that the aesthetics are very neat, though a tiny bit distracting at points while getting a little messy in some areas. The way the skull switches are utilized is a little confusing since when I first see them, I somehow thought they were solid. As the level goes on, I began to notice that some enemies felt a little out of place. Specifically the ring Thwimps and the disco shell. It really seems like those additions to the already increased amount of sprites felt a little unnecessary to me. Mainly because the discord shell comes out of nowhere and makes the one ghost house block that stops it from falling off seem unfitting as well. Overall I think the level, despite being a bit linear, was fun to play and looked pretty nice. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Silver Sky Entry Number: 36 Design: 30/60 Creativity: 13/30 Aesthetics: 8/10 Total: 51/100 Review: These autoscroll levels seem to have a very similar scheme to them. They're long, slightly boring and there isn't much going on other than just sitting and waiting for the moment to actually progress. I think the song and aesthetic choices work well but the gameplay is what really brings this entire level down for me. I'm by no means impatient but if I have to wait an entire 10 seconds just to jump to new platforms or get to new areas, then I can't help but question the design choices a bit. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Vanilla Emulation Entry Number: 37 Design: 54/60 Creativity: 28/30 Aesthetics: 8/10 Total: 90/100 Review: This level does a lot of things that I actually like. The platforming methods are nice and challenging but aren't the type of difficulty where you'd want to quit before beating it. The colors are nice and the usage of enemy placement is very on point. The only thing I can say about this level that makes me ask a couple questions is why the creator chose to use Funky Forest as the level music. It feels unfitting in this sort of cave setting. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Rocky Forest Entry Number: 38 Design: 25/60 Creativity: 10/30 Aesthetics: 2/10 Total: 37/100 Review: I'm not really liking this. It feels so random and not well though out with how weird and tight some jumps are. The layer 3 is probably an addition this level could have went without due to how weirdly it moves. The best way to describe how I feel after playing this is that there was a little too much going on throughout the entire level. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Turrim Caulo Entry Number: 39 Design: 37/60 Creativity: 25/30 Aesthetics: 8/10 Total: 70/100 Review: I wasn't very sure if I was going to like this level from the first glance. Mainly due to the fact that so far, a lot of the levels with really pretty aesthetics have been lacking in the actual level design aspect. However I do believe this level tackles a slight few of those issues a bit. I think that the ideas are somewhat clear, concise and consistent, but lack any general polish. The only thing I truly disliked and didn't want to see more development on was the survival section. It wasn't hard or anything but it wasn't that engaging considering all you had to do was just jump over and over and over. The line guide gimmick is interesting but I don't think that it's too clean. The beginning makes it a bit clear that there wasn't too much polish going on in regards to the actual level design. I'm in love with how different and new the aesthetics/enemy design gives a very modern Super Mario Land sort of vibe. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Boney Basin Entry Number: 40 Design: 43/60 Creativity: 16/30 Aesthetics: 4/10 Total: 63/100 Review: After playing this level a few times, I'm pretty set on my feelings about it. Even though it's a tadbit bland on the actual design aspect, it's a very solid level with a low amount of faults. The thing I don't like that I was noticing a lot in the cave section especially was that there are a few jumps that aren't choreographed well. This issue isn't something that makes the level unfun or anything. The one thing here that I can say I didn't enjoy was the midpoint placement. It's something that's easily skippable on the first run since you don't fall off towards the midpoint but rather the exit pipe. The water section is also pretty solid though to make it through even though I like the way you've constructed the exploration aspect should the player decide to. All in all, I think this level is pretty simple and neat for what it is though it could use more things to make it feel unique. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Neverland Entry Number: 41 Design: 47/60 Creativity: 20/30 Aesthetics: 5/10 Total: 72/100 Review: What's funny is that even though this level is a mild difficulty, it seems more like a base idea for a kaizo level than it does for a VLDC level. With that said, I can say that I'm not so sure if the music fits the setting with how on your feet you have to be throughout the level. The vines seen throughout the level do get a little over-the-top since there are so many. Perhaps if these vines were split up in a way where they give you a general path to follow them it might feel a lot more organized. I had a lot of fun while playing though. The end part is what made it a really and fun nice twist. This is also why I'm going to label this level as a very simplified kaizo level. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Fort Hoversaw Entry Number: 42 Design: 26/60 Creativity: 25/30 Aesthetics: 3/10 Total: 54/100 Review: Before I even get into how I felt about this level, I want to make it clear that this probably wasn't as appropriate of an event to submit a level like this. I didn't think the level was bad by any means, but when a person has to spend over 10-15 minutes trying to beat a level for the first time then it starts to enter this weird territory where you can't really categorize the level amongst other VLDC levels. I love how clever some of the platforming was near the middle part of the level. Most ideas there are crafted in such a way where you could see what you needed to do without suddenly having random objects thrown at you from unknown places. The placement of the boss however is what confused me even more. I don't think having the boss right after the midpoint and right before a section that's not that difficult was entirely necessary. Unless the boss door was there by mistake I don't see any logical reason to have it placed there when the actual boss door isn't that far away. To move on to the boss itself, I this is what solidified my beginning statement where I don't think this type of level is fitting for a VLDC. The boss itself is difficult in a way where the average SMW player will probably not want to finish it. Not saying that the boss is bad or anything like that but it just isn't the type of difficulty one would normally expect to see in this type of contest. Perhaps something like this would be better suited for a KLDC since it seems to be reaching towards that category. Even though I personally enjoyed this level after spending almost 2 hours attempting to fully complete it, I'm going to have to give this a lower score than others due to how specific this design is. There's more of a risk for this level to be unfun for people who aren't very fond of levels that tread into the Kaizo line and I believe that this level didn't do a very good job assessing that fact. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Cloudy Lake Entry Number: 43 Design: 21/60 Creativity: 8/30 Aesthetics: 3/10 Total: 32/100 -Don't like the blue and black tiles that munchers are standing on Review: The moment I read the first message box I was a bit confused as to why the creator decided to make the starting pipe orange if the "gimmick" is to not touch anything orange which is a bit inconsistent. I'm not too fond of the scenery and random addition of turning the entire screen into a water level solely because it doesn't seem to fit with how there is a sky background. Both of the gimmicks feel lazily put together which is made clear by the second message box where the creator feels the need to say something along the lines of "don't ask me why it's just like this" which doesn't make any productive sense. If you have to verbally explain very simple gimmicks, then there is a chance that the gimmick idea either lacks construction or needs to just be replaced with something better. I didn't really like this level due to the messiness within the design choices. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Underworld Chapel Entry Number: 44 Design: 25/60 Creativity: 16/30 Aesthetics: 7/10 Total: 48/100 Review: There is so much going on at once to the point where I could barely process my thoughts while playing. The placements of enemies is so extreme to the point where you can't really take a moment to breath because there is always something coming right at you. Throwing 500,000 enemies at the end of the bottom path before the intersection was not a smart move as you can't even focus on the platforming due to how many respawning enemies you have to dodge constantly if you mistakenly move a little too far in one direction. What I really don't understand is why there is a completely disconnected path that leads to a midpoint. This path is easily skippable and also adds an extra layer to the enemy convenience as you can barely move through the high amount of things trying to kill you just to get to the midpoint in the first place. To add insult to injury, I will say that I'm not too certain why the aesthetic of this level led to a crazily flashing section. I feel that the aesthetic of the level gave the feeling that something actually spooky was going to happen, but instead, the player was thrown into yet another section with the same enemy issue. The first mushroom in that section is placed in a way where you can accidentally skip it if you kill each koopa before noticing that it's actually in the second block and not the first. The platforming alone itself in that section was pretty solid, though like I mentioned earlier, you can't focus on what you're trying to avoid when you have to avoid so many things consecutively. Moving back to the first section. I spent a bunch of deaths trying to figure out where I was actually supposed to be going. Due to the strange mix of too much space and too little space, I instantly noticed that the paths seemed to stretch out in ways that made little to no sense. Overall the level itself isn't something I would have fun replaying again. I'm gathering that much more care was spent figuring out the aesthetic portion rather than the level design. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Skyway Sanctum Entry Number: 45 Design: 38/60 Creativity: 25/30 Aesthetics: 7/10 Total: 70/100 Review: A lot of levels so far have been having this weird issue where the gimmick is very clear yet it's explained in an unnecessary amount of detail through Message Boxes. The colors here are very nice outside of the color of the 1F0 tiles. Those tiles could have been a different color to make it easy to actually distinguish where they are since the color is so similar to the background palette. The first 1-UP is placed a tadbit too early on which could have been taken out completely. The rest of the first section went reasonably well until the Thwomp above the first falling spike flame. That thwomp is a little hard to see as the scren doesn't completely scroll until you get up there which can disorient players that are jumping up quickly. I believe some sort of coin setup could have been used to indicate that the thwomp was actually there. In the section with the midpoint, I noticed during my second playthrough that playing the level with activated switch blocks actually made it a bit more inconvenient to play. While in the first and third section, it seems more like the switch blocks didn't really provide anything that was much easier than the original level variant. It would have been nice if the slightly hard to reach areas actually gave you rewards rather than just singular coins and whatnot. Which ties into my switch point as the switches could have been utilized in a way that could have supported the player in getting to these points if they had better rewards. The platforming in general is something I really like however. It isn't too difficult and even though some editions are a bit random (like the podoboos in section 2), the level wasn't one that I could say I didn't have any fun playing. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: G. U. C Plains Entry Number: 46 Design: 48/60 Creativity: 28/30 Aesthetics: 9/10 Total: 85/100 Review: Another level where the aesthetics and level design are about even. I love the idea of having paths that are not only non-linear, but also give a varying amount of challenge depending on if you decide to take the harder path or not. I appreciate that the signs are used to differentiate which paths will take you to a separate route. Though I will say that there wasn't much going on at all in the easier path in the castle which was a bit of a disappointment. The one issue I really had though is with the amount of detours that you can accidentally come across. The first underground section can be a bit confusing as the intended exit actually functions as an entrance back to the area. I'm unsure if this ewas intended considering both the entrance and exit pipes do this. The other detours I have a small issue are the single coin blocks mini-areas where it seems more like a powerup would fit better if placed in these types of areas. I think that even though there are some points where I definitely questioned why some things were designed the way they were (and still do in a way), this level is pretty neat and follows the exploration concept in a very unique way. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Deep Soda Sea Entry Number: 47 Design: 32/60 Creativity: 10/30 Aesthetics: 8/10 Total: 50/100 Review: I feel as though the "I hope I win" joke was taken to an entirely new level here. While the palette choices are definitely pleasing to look at, the rest of the level lacks heavily. The actual design aspect is about as up to par with a regular SMW water level and doesn't do anything unique. The music choice completely takes away whatever atmosphere this level was trying to go for. Not saying that water levels should have calming music or anything like that, but when you have this very energetic music matched with slower swimming movements, it takes away a lot of the feeling from what this level could have been. The powerup placement is also something I'm not really liking the powerup placement either. This level is much too short and abrupt to actually have any sort of long lasting fun. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Knuck If You Chuck Entry Number: 48 Design: 35/60 Creativity: 12/30 Aesthetics: 8/10 Total: 55/100 Review: There's so many things about this level that shine and so many things that don't. My biggest problem here is the disconnect between all of the features in this level. We're led on to believe that the level will be featuring Chucks in some sort of unique way and that's where the level design fails. The creator here introduced the gimmick of spin jumping off of things when you see blue coins but nothing involving this gimmick was developed any further than the first time you see it. Moving on to aesthetics. Graphically, I think the aesthetics are beautiful. They're unique and actually make the level very pleasing to look at. The rest of the aesthetic choices such as music don't sit well with me at all outside of the last two parts. It wasn't a smart idea to use Bowser's Road for a happy looking sky area. the song itself is a very specific song that indicates that you're in a final area of sorts and is incredibly unfitting. The goal of this level seems very unclear to me. The second section has to be my favorite even though the generic and repetitive design was still consistent with the issues I had in the first section. I think that this level would have had a better image if it chose a specific gimmick or two and really honed in on those in order to actually have a flow instead of just a random assortment of whatever the creator could figure out in Lunar Magic. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Deep Deluge Entry Number: 49 Design: 28/60 Creativity: 14/30 Aesthetics: 7/10 Total: 49/100 Review: Leaving my own personal tastes out of this, I will aggressively argue that this level takes everything about water levels that isn't desired and magnifies them by at least 250%. I'm not sure if the creator ran out of time or anything of the sort, but what I'm noticing is that this key gimmick is very underwhelming. You'd think that something that important that's needed to progress would have a bit more depth rather than searching around and hoping you find it. The Ghost House enemies and Bill Blasters tend to clutter the level a lot and make it so that you can't move around too much or else you risk getting hit way too much. This is not a wise design choice considering it seems that the idea in this level is to be able to swim around in a more open space. If your open space is very cluttered and condensed then it makes no sense to have the space so open in the first place. I won't complain about aesthetic choices as I think the music and simpler palettes work well together. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Crystarp Hollow Entry Number: 50 Design: 59/60 Creativity: 30/30 Aesthetics: 10/10 Total: 99/100 Review: I adore this level. The design and the mechanics are so clear and concise with a bit of a challenge that feels new and fresh. The colors and music really add to the feelings I had while playing as well. What threw me off initially was that the first section had you go to the left instead of the right. However, I believe that this choice was very significant as it prepares the player to expect things that usually don't happen which was a really neat touch. Figuring out the puzzles felt very fulfilling since they weren't too difficult and provided reset doors at any point where you'd need them. I was completely caught by surprise to find out that you actually needed to carefully use fireballs in order to progress through the second part which actually amazed me as I've never seen anything like it before. I don't personally think there is anything in this level that's actually "bad" or anything like that. What I will say is that I do wish that the reset doors were actually normal sized as it can get a little weird having to take damage just to enter the small door if you lose a Yoshi or mess anything else up. Despite that, this level has surpassed a lot of my initial hopes for what a good puzzle level should be. ---------------------------------------------------- Entry 51 DISQUALIFIED ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Metallic Metropolis Entry Number: 52 Design: 41/60 Creativity: 14/30 Aesthetics: 6/10 Total: 61/100 Review: The biggest problem that some of these levels with off the wall aesthetics have is that the aesthetic choices tend to be a little overwhelming for first-time players. All of these ideas are brillant but lack the proper construction needed to make it feel like you can actually move through the level without a random inconvenience that shouldn't even be there. My best example could be how hard it is to actually decipher what is solid and what isn't. A lot of "background" tiles are very similar to the foreground tiles which make it extremely hard to move around without worrying that you might accidentally fall. On the topic of falling, I will say that the replaced lava was a very clever edition and is something I wouldn't have expected to see. I personally don't have a problem with this other than me feeling like the introduction to this could have been a bit clearer. Because of how overwhelming the aesthetics are, I completely missed the enemies falling into the replaced lava tiles because of how much was going on at once the moment the level began. Perhaps if the decoration around these tiles was reduced then it would be much easier to actually see it properly. As the level went on I noticed that a lot of the platforming mechanics were scattered across different sections where things were added that didn't really contribute much to the overall goal of the level. The big problem here is that the underground sections didn't actually align with what was going on outside. The random dragon coin challenge didn't add anything that made it feel like it connected with what was going on throughout the main level. Moving on to the boss now. I didn't like the music. The port isn't very pleasing to listen to and it made the boss feel like a very random edition. There was no build-up to this at all which felt disappointing after reaching it. I think that it would have been a bit better to add more of a warning to show that the smashing layer was going to actually fall. The ! block graphic didn't really do that job well since it can be easily missed. In conclusion, I am certain that I would have liked this level much more if it had more of a focus that worked specifically with how the categories were setup rather than filling the level with a ton of aesthetic tiles and level gimmicks that are introduced quickly and forgotten even quicker. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Yoshi's Island 2 (???) Entry Number: 53 Design: 15/60 Creativity: 3/30 Aesthetics: 3/10 Total: 21/100 Review: This kind of level really makes me not want to touch it ever again. It's so randomly put together in such a way where it makes me question how much the creator actually tested it. There are so many ways you can die and each death doesn't feel like it's the fault of the player for the most part. The first screen is incredibly misleading because it looks like everything is completely normal. However, the moment you move to the right then that is when cutoff hell begins. Munchers floating in the air, single out of place bridge/rope tiles are everywhere, and the enemy/muncher placements are almost atrocious. The colors used in the main palette are nice too which is what makes it so unfortunately to see it being used in such an unfun setting. It's clear that the midpoint is placed incoherently as you instantly spawn in only to be bombarded with a flurry of baseballs. It's not well thought out and could have been changed to actually feel like a safe spot. Moving on to the Disco Ball section. The fact that the entire level up to this point has been a random assortment of any random feature that Lunar Magic and Map16 can create, I feel that keeping this theme and adding darkness was the last thing the creator should have done. It just doesn't work. I didn't like this level at all and was happier beating it the second time knowing I wouldn't have to play it again. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Caelum Coast Entry Number: 54 Design: 30/60 Creativity: 12/30 Aesthetics: 8/10 Total: 50/100 Review: To start off, I was really hoping that this level would be one of those where it didn't follow the pattern of good aesthetics and unpleasant level design. When I entered the level, I was in awe with how different and unique the graphics were. Though as I began to progress in the level, I quickly noticed that there was no focus whatsoever. The main level itself basically feels like a bit of a mess especially once the spiky tiles are introduced. There's no real introduction to anything that was going on in this level which made it pretty strange to try to progress through. To generalize my thoughts here, I believe that it's clearly shown that the creator of this level spent way more time on aesthetics and other (specifically) unnecessary things which really covered the light that I was hoping this level would have. The surprisingly short length of the level is what really caught me off guard. Though I think I can probably blame that and the lack of focus on the fact that the creator decided that including an entirely complete extra level in the rom under this time limit was a good idea??? ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Night Grassland Entry Number: 55 Design: 26/60 Creativity: 13/30 Aesthetics: 4/10 Total: 42/100 Review: I'm a little weirded out by this level. The palette is nice and the flow is somewhat smooth, but the level itself feels so incomplete. The map16 usage felt very messy and unfocused (specifically in parts where the dirt tiles extend dramatically in diagonal directions). While they don't obstruct any part of the actual level design, I think that having that sort of "all over the place" aesthetic design isn't healthy for the overall look of the level. The actual level design itself is very short and cut off in a way where it almost feels like the level either wasn't finished or just didn't have as much solid effort put into it as it could have. I wasn't really a fan of how the top path is a tad bit shorter than the bottom half yet it does nothing to feel challenging in any way when compared to the simplicity of what you have to do in the bottom half. It seems that the upper portion is supposed to be trickier to stay on yet all it does is take you to where you would have gone anyway had you walked a good 2 extra screens taking the "easier" bottom half. Even though I feel the way I do here, I don't think the level is just outright "bad" or anything like that. It just needs heavy work to actually feel like a unique level that isn't just a random assortment of basic concepts that work in that moment and don't contribute to any sort of overall goal for the level. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Mushroom Langs Entry Number: 56 Design: 30/60 Creativity: 15/30 Aesthetics: 6/10 Total: 51/100 Review: Pretty short and sweet. I think the music adds a nice touch to the level even though the design is a bit bland. I could imagine this being an early level in some sort of romhack. Nothing here is bad in any way so I would consider this level average at the most. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Traumerei Entry Number: 57 Design: 57/60 Creativity: 29/30 Aesthetics: 8/10 Total: 94/100 Review: What's interesting is that this level leaves an incredible first impression. The music is very energetic and the palette is beautifully crafted. Each section has puzzles that are very clear and challenging but not in an annoying way that would make me not want to play them. I had so much fun and there wasn't any point where I didn't have fun. The only thing I could say I didn't understand is why you used enemy graphics as solid blocks that would lead the player to think that you could spinjump on them. I was able to normally progress through the level despite this issue though I personally think it would have worked a bit better if you could actually spinjump on them. With all of that in mind, I believe that this level achieves really great things and I really hope to see more like it. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Timber Tower Entry Number: 58 Design: 40/60 Creativity: 19/30 Aesthetics: 7/10 Total: 66/100 Review: When utilizing slow layer 2 scrolling, it's not very wise to have the player wait for constant long periods of time. I think this level does about half the job in regards to preventing this issue. I feel that the level design here is not as clear as it could be. Even though we gave a limit of 500 seconds for level times, I don't think this level utilized that to the fullest. I found myself running out of time during my first playthrough which was due to me trying to explore and figure out which way I actually needed to go. The only other things I don't feel should have been included are the bubbled sprites and the bill blasters. It seems more like they don't function in any productive way other than at single points which makes them easily forgotten as you move on. I do think that this level makes interesting use of the things that it includes other than the faults that I mentioned. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Loopy Labyrinth Entry Number: 59 Design: 20/60 Creativity: 17/30 Aesthetics: 5/10 Total: 42/100 Review: I'm very surprised to see that more people are using the tall horizontal level type. I do think that what this level attempted to do with the background was pretty cool but the palette isn't too fun to look at. The colors do blend together well but it just doesn't really have anything eye capturing. The actually level itself is pretty short and simple with aspects you'd pretty much see in a normal SMW level. What I don't really like is that the reset pipes aren't properly indicated so you could go into a pipe thinking it leads to another area and then you'll just end up back at the beginning of a section which isn't too fun to deal with. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Reach ForThe Summit Entry Number: 60 Design: 57/60 Creativity: 26/30 Aesthetics: 9/10 Total: 92/100 Review: To think that somebody would actually think to bring a Celeste adaptation to Super Mario World. I was completely caught off guard when I entered this level because the atmosphere is so on point. It actually feels like what Celeste would be like if Mario was meant to be the main character. The Celestial Resort portion has to be my favorite part of course. However, I do think that some of the platforming in that section is a bit weird to do because of fireballs being shot at you from the right side once you're at that wall. The P-Switch portion in the first section was a tad bit weird as the blue blocks can be missed due to the rest of that section following the same color scheme. What I'm really appreciative of is that the HUD is made to be invisible in the first two sections. It gives the atmosphere much more of a calming and less distracting feeling. The third section where you fly is a cute recreation but I would argue that it is a tad bit on the boring side compared to the rest of the level's flow. This level is one of the best ones I've played. There are some downsides as I've mentioned before but I think it really captures how Celeste feels in a way that makes it feel new and fresh. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Sky Castle Entry Number: 61 Design: 35/60 Creativity: 15/30 Aesthetics: 4/10 Total: 54/100 Review: For a first level entry, I believe that this is a lot better than what one would usually expect. Of course there are different troubling things about this level which I will go in depth about right now. To start off, the level began normally as any other castle level would, but I was caught off guard by the Thwomp that leads to the first dragon coin. I think that the placement of the coin is pretty okay where it is. However, the Thwomp itself could have had more indication of its placement as the way the screen scrolls vertically makes it so that you don't have any idea initially that you need to slow down to avoid getting hit. The rest of the level progressed normally with slightly bland design. After making it towards the end, I didn't quite understand why the creator decided to start indicating sprite placements with coins at a random point where you can actually see where everything is. It would have made more logical sense to include these green coins throughout the level so that they wouldn't feel so out of place. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Otherworldly Monument Entry Number: 62 Design: 25/60 Creativity: 15/30 Aesthetics: 3/10 Total: 43/100 Review: I'm not too certain on what the theme of this level was. I guess it was supposed to be creepy in some way but the map16 tiles completely distracted from whatever the goal was here. The map16 is horrifyingly distracting as you continue through the level (especially in the second section) and gradually gets worse as you continue. The level begins with having you under the impression that you're going to be focusing on the pass-through floor but after you get to the second section, the gimmick just disappears. It sucks too because the part where you have to carefully fall through the floor was really neat. Moving on to the second section. I feel like this portion is where the entire level lost focus. The random blue enemies didn't feel significant at all considering how drastic of an enemy aesthetic change the colors cause. If these enemies were supposed to emulate ghosts of some sort is what I'm very curious about. This section didn't do much that was interesting as like I mentioned before, the map16 tiles completely ruin any actual atmospheric feeling the player could have while playing. I overall didn't like this section at all. The boss however is what really baffled me. I can see where the idea for this was going, but the boss itself was way too underwhelming. Suddenly throwing the idea that keys are this important at the player while the sprites themselves had no purpose prior to this boss was not a very swise decision. To put everything I feel into quicker terms, I don't believe that this level does much that would make it feel like something I would want to play again and enjoy. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Olivine Pass Entry Number: 63 Design: 28/60 Creativity: 10/30 Aesthetics: 2/10 Total: 40/100 Review: It kind of bugs me that the trees have cutoff that is this unsavory. Immediately I wish that the creator would have used the wood tiles that are in the 8x8 editor as those probably would have made for much more interesting tree graphics. The level design itself is not good at all. It's very messy and not well put-together. I'm not fond at all of how the cave section basically feels like a completely different level and has no connection whatsoever to the first section. I was seeing a lot of blind jumps and random enemy placements (ex: Banzai Bill in cave) throughout the first section of the level and those could have been properly labeled with something as simple as coins. I can't say that anything here made me actually like this level other than the palette in the cave section which was pretty nice. I do appreciate that the person who created this level actually made an attempt to do something different with aesthetics. I just think that more should have been done to actually make these aesthetic choices feel unique and new rather than how they look now. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Forest Blitz Entry Number: 64 Design: 1/60 Creativity: 0/30 Aesthetics: 1/10 Total: 2/100 Review: :really: ---------------------------------------------------- ENTRY 65 DISQUALIFIED ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Athletic Synergy Entry Number: 66 Design: 2/60 Creativity: 5/30 Aesthetics: 4/10 Total: 11/100 Review: I guess this is supposed to be another one of those weird Kaizo levels. All throughout the level, the platforming is a strange mixture of either way too tight or way too open and the power-ups are pretty much nonexistent. I don't understand the purpose of the walk-through portion at the beginning as there is nothing there. After a bit of time dying and getting stuck at the part with the turn block in the wall, I was very confused and wondering if this level was tested to make sure that the average (VLDC) player could actually complete it. The platforming mechanics here are so messily put together leading me to have to open it in Lunar Magic to learn how to even progress at points. The music is pretty good at least but everything else doesn't leave a good taste in my mouth at all. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Panic at the Docks Entry Number: 67 Design: 25/60 Creativity: 10/30 Aesthetics: 7/10 Total: 42/100 Review: Really unfortunate that this level had to be cut so short. I feel like if there were actual gimmicks in place to match the neat palette and aesthetic design, then it would have turned the level into something very memorable. As it is right now, I can tell that this level is very unfinished. This became clear to me when I got through the inside section and immediately the level was just over. I see a lot of potential for this level and it sucks that that potential wasn't reached. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Koopa Kaboose Entry Number: 68 Design: 20/60 Creativity: 20/30 Aesthetics: 10/10 Total: 50/100 Review: I'm in love with this train setting. The music and everything just works so well with it. What really upsets me is that the train is all that actually catches your eye in this level. The level design is consistently with a lot of other autoscrolls where you're just waiting and jumping and that's it. There's nothing going on here other than things that you'd see in a pretty below average level. This is another one of those that lacked a lot of things that could have really helped the creator achieve the potential that this level had. I actually hope to one day see this level constructed in a more unique and engaging manner. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Altair Entry Number: 69 Design: 25/60 Creativity: 12/30 Aesthetics: 4/10 Total: 41/100 Review: To start off, I firmly believe that there are waaaay too many things going on in this level in both the level design and aesthetic field. The moment you enter the level, I was a little caught off guard by the heavy amount of tiles I was seeing. The foreground trees really make the level feel very condensed due to how high the spike-filled ground is. Generally there are just so many aesthetics and mixed tiles that it really makes the level lose whatever focus it was aiming to achieve. As I continued on through the level, I eventually got to the midpoint. What confused me is that a pipe to a completely different section is placed before the midpoint which isn't a very wise design choice with how messy and cluttered this level is. The main problem in this level that's even more clear in the light section variant is that the coin placement is insane. There are coins everywhere and it is a bit distracting in a lot of cases where you need to actually look and see what's going on. Moving back to the light section though, it really feels like these sections don't really connect to the previous section at all outside of the messy level design and music style. Nothing else atmospherically connects these two sections due to the lack of focus on a specific set of level gimmicks or ideas. Overall it just really feels like this level is really lacking direction. I personally think that this level could have been heavily improved if the amount of dangerous blocks and aesthetic tiles were cut by around 60%. Due to the state this level is in, I can't say I really liked it too much. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Muramur Entry Number: 70 Design: 48/60 Creativity: 20/30 Aesthetics: 5/10 Total: 73/100 Review: This was such a cute little level. It was one of those where no part of it was unfun in the slightest. I replayed it a bunch and I loved it. What really upset me is that the level is a little short. While the ideas are fairly simple, I feel like the level could have definitely worked well with a slightly longer setting. What I'm reeeaaaalllyyy upset about is that this level could have functioned so well with new aesthetics. I think the Vanilla graphics do it justice though it would have been neat to see some newer design ideas. Despite these things, I really enjoyed this level and it made me feel really good after completing it. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Line Green Lane Entry Number: 71 Design: 20/60 Creativity: 10/30 Aesthetics: 3/10 Total: 33/100 Review: Not too sure what to really say about this one. It feels almost as if a vanilla SMW level and typical VLDC Map16(tm) was combined into one single entity. The level design isn't really that interesting since most of it is just Monty Moles and Chucks coming at you with no eye-catching features that make you feel like you're playing something that's actually memorable. ---------------------------------------------------- Entry 72 DISQUALIFIED ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Vanilla Valley Entry Number: 73 Design: 30/60 Creativity: 20/30 Aesthetics: 7/10 Total: 57/100 Review: This level gives such a beautiful first impression. The graphics, while simple, feel executed very well alongside the palette. I'm in love with how the glass tiles are used as ice while also giving a faux-visualization of light reflecting off of ice thanks to the Layer 3 usage. Unfortunately, after the first couple screens, this is where the level begins to lose its spark. What really felt felt weird to see is that the glass tiles ended up being used in a heavy abundance which heavily reduced the impact they had at the very beginning. It probably would have been cool to see some sort of blue outline around the glass in order for it to actually feel more like ice throughout the level. The actual level design itself doesn't feel very good to play. Since it feels like more of a messy assortment of tile usage. There are a lot of places where you can pretty much slip off due to ice physics if you aren't too careful though this isn't too much of a problem. However I really didn't like seeing how weird the ice block formations were as you continued. The one the that absolutely upset me is that this level doesn't use custom music. By no means am I saying that custom music is a requirement but I feel like the vanilla Athletic theme is way too unfitting with this setting. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Hide and Seek Items Entry Number: 74 Design: 49/60 Creativity: 22/30 Aesthetics: 6/10 Total: 77/100 Review: I actually thought this level had a very neat concept. The idea is clear and concise and it has an actual atmosphere despite using purely vanilla assets. I actually enoyed figuring out a lot of the puzzles and I think the idea is very unique. I do have two main issues with this level though. The first problem I have is that some of the puzzles are a little too concealed behind the riddles you have placed. One suggestion I have that could have fixed this is to identify important hints that you could use to figure out a section with things like coins or something. This could have especially been effective in sections where things were hidden either in blocks or placed in a way where they would be invisible until touched. The other issue I had is that the portion with Yoshi and the dialogue with it felt unfitting as the rest of the level up to this point had been pretty much single screen no-plot sections. It would have been nice to see more actual plot buildup in the earlier sections if the Ghost House portion was meant to be that significant. Even still, I really enjoyed this level and I think the music adds a lot of puzzle feel to it where it doesn't get boring or anything like that. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: The Ground is Gold Entry Number: 75 Design: 38/60 Creativity: 20/30 Aesthetics: 8/10 Total: 66/100 Review: I must say I felt like I was playing Minecraft in the first part of this since the gold ore graphics resemble that game a lot. I'm a bit concerned about the lack of identification of where offscreen munchers are going to be when you're falling down from higher areas. It's a bit inconvenient to have to do the statue section again due to munchers being placed in areas where you wouldn't have any way of knowing that it wasn't safe to fall there. I was a bit confused when wondering why the sliding gimmick was introduced with an in-depth description even though it was completely scrapped once you get to the second section. You can pretty much go the entire level without really focusing on the sliding aspect and it's a little weird with how it was made out to feel like an imporant addition to the level's flow. I was a bit disappointed seeing that the golden section was just a couple screens. It would have been very fun to see that have a more developed setting since the level's base idea is surrounding the golden theme. The statue section was pretty fun to play when ignoring the muncher issue. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Dents d'Ouranus Entry Number: 76 Design: 23/60 Creativity: 8/30 Aesthetics: 6/10 Total: 37/100 Review: To start off, I don't like this level design. I feel like if platforming this specific had more happening in it other than overly spaced out jumps, then it would have been much more engaging. The music felt like a very nice edition along with the palette but I didn't have much fun playing the level at all because of how weird the platforming was. There wasn't much going on here that made me feel that good while playing other than the music/graphics. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: VLDC11 - getthefish Entry Number: 77 Design: 24/60 Creativity: 15/30 Aesthetics: 7/10 Total: 46/100 Review: So what I'm really unclear on is why this level is two different levels. The grass section and castle section have absolutely no correlation to each other. I didn't really like the first section because there was no real goal there. It was just basic platforming with every Map16 tile imaginable. But what's even weirder is that the random castle section felt like the more significant part (possibly due to it being an autoscroll section). The fact that the castle portion is much more interesting and fun than the grass portion is what really bugs me. What was the reason that the creator decided to just throw these together with no in-betweens or anything to actually connect them? ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Vanilla Plains Entry Number: 78 Design: 10/60 Creativity: 12/30 Aesthetics: 5/10 Total: 27/100 Review: There's not too much to say here. This is a very Vanilla level. It's not necessarily unfun or anything but it's pretty bland in design. I do think that the VLDC Overworld remix was a nice addition though. The level itself feels more like someone's first or second level (on the better side) when it comes down to what I feel about the quality. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Flames of Muspell Entry Number: 79 Design: 43/60 Creativity: 19/30 Aesthetics: 8/10 Total: 72/100 Review: I'm not a fan of skull raft or autoscroll levels usually, but I like the attempt this level made to be and feel different. The aesthetics fit the setting, the plot is short and to the point, and the level gets the tasks it has completely. Generally I don't have much fun while playing these types of levels because they feel a lot slower and less "in the moment" if you will. During the majority of the first part, there were a lot of obstacles that felt really strange when encountering. The podoboos were placed in ways where you could get hit while you were getting coins which I don't like too much but that isn't much of a serious issue. The lakitu dodging just isn't much fun to me since there are a bunch of things jumping around that you're already meant to dodge. So being thrown back at the very beginning of the level and having to wait a while just to get back to where you were is a bit unfun. The second section is definitely my favorite though. I love playing it and it really had me on my feet the entire time and I had a ton of fun while getting through it even when I died. The boss is cute too. Even with it just being a Lakitu, it has a lot more depth because of how descriptively short the in-level messages were. One issue that was very evident in the first section was the confusion with determining what was foreground and what was background. I didn't like the process of getting adjusted to that while dodging spinies, bouncing fire and the still fire all at once. Despite this, I do believe this level is executed fairly well for what it contains but has a lot of areas where it could have been improved a lot. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: bridge i guess Entry Number: 80 Design: 36/60 Creativity: 14/30 Aesthetics: 8/10 Total: 60/100 Review: I think this was actually pretty entertaining to play. There wasn't much that was significant going on but to a general degree the gameplay was alright. I'm not liking that pillar at the beginning with the two sets of flying turnblocks. If the pillar was raised a bit then there wouldn't be as much of an issue trying to jump past it. As the level continued I noticed that it was very short. I was able to beat this level in less than 100 SMW seconds and that estimates to about a little over a minute of gameplay which isn't bad but is something to point out here. It feels more like this level was something quick that was thrown together rather than something that had a lot of thought put into the design ultimately. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: don't climb mountain Entry Number: 81 Design: 44/60 Creativity: 15/30 Aesthetics: 4/10 Total: 63/100 Review: I'm not too sure what was going on here but I don't think I had a bad time. So because of this, I'm a bit conflicted. I think that the level had a pretty open design despite paths being pretty linear in feeling. The aesthetics are very jumbled and it feels a bit weird. I believe a custom song could have fit very well in this level since the normal Overworld music is pretty bland. What I'm gathering is that this level lacks a design goal. It pretty much seems like a bunch of stuff thrown together to make something work. This doesn't seem completely bad in retrospect, but there could be a lot of things included here to make it feel more special and consistent. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Blue Dabadi Dabadu Entry Number: 82 Design: 46/60 Creativity: 22/30 Aesthetics: 4/10 Total: 72/100 Review: What's weird is that even though I really liked this level, something about it is bugging me and I can't really put my finger on it. I think it was really fun to play and the palette actually worked well with what the main obstacles in the level were. I'm not too big on the palette itself but I think it does the job when it specifically comes to things like the rope platforms and knowing where some layer 2 tiles will be coming down. Overall I think this level does well despite having some gameplay that is a little tight for a player that is playing for the first time though this isn't too severe of an issue. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Bouncy Ruins Entry Number: 83 Design: 54/60 Creativity: 24/30 Aesthetics: 8/10 Total: 86/100 Review: I actually really like the way this level moves. It's very to the point with every new gimmick or sprite that is shown and that is very helpful for any player to get adjusted to the above average difficulty. The sections themselves are a bit long, but not frustrating in any way that would make me want to quit before beating them. There wasn't really a specific point where I didn't have fun so that's a very good quality this level has. What I'm a bit confused about is why the creator here decided to give the player Fire Flowers when they do absolutely nothing to any of the enemies. That's not too significant of a concern though. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Canyon of Bombs Entry Number: 84 Design: 33/60 Creativity: 18/30 Aesthetics: 4/10 Total: 55/100 Review: I'm seeing that the big thing with this level is that the open space works for and against what the creator wanted to achieve. At the very beginning, I was a little confused as to why there was so much open space near the first powerup. I personally don't think this powerup should have been placed how it was since you can easily ignore it. Not too sure why Bob-ombs are placed in that portion as well. Moving on to the actual level design. It was "meh" at best for the most part though I really did like the vertical section a lot. The foreground hills obstruct a lot of your vision which isn't executed very well. With things being placed specifically behind the hills, the player can't know what is going to come from where at times. On this same note, it is also not too good to have the kicking Koopas so high up where the player can't properly see what's happening until after they see the shells flying down. I'm also not too big on how spammy the sprite placements get at the end of the level. The Yoshi Coins and plot don't really seem that necessary as neither really contribute a challenge or set goal to the player. The plot tells you that you have to get the goal sphere "[before the koopas do]" but generally it doesn't seem like it adds anything that would actually highlight the fact that Koopa Troopas are present and are actually a threat in this level. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Industiral Desert Entry Number: 85 Design: 18/60 Creativity: 10/30 Aesthetics: 3/10 Total: 31/100 Review: I don't like this level very much. I can see all of the effort that went into creating this but I'm not sure the result was very pleasant as a whole. The level design itself is very scattered. There are a bunch of different paths to take and each one doesn't really give you a reason as to why you would want to take that path compared to another path. I saw a lot of what seems to be quicksand cluttered throughout the level and I don't think this graphic needed to be a different color. The moving animation with the same colors as the base sand tile would have been more than sufficient. The brightness of the color gives the illusion that the quicksand will be an important feature when it has no solid function in the level other than just being there for no real reason. As I continue into the level, I was really upset when discovering the darkness gimmick. It's extremely unfitting and serves no positive purpose in the level as you can easily get mixed up and be forced to navigate larger parts of these sections blindly. It's not a very well implemented gimmick and doesn't fit at all with whatever the previous section was supposed to be. The transitions between the first, second and third sections is in no way smooth and doesn't flow into each other at all. In general, there are a ton of graphical issues where tiles cut off, some aren't solid and you can fall through them, and some have issues where they work as slopes and you can walk through them. There clearly really wasn't much attention put into this level (or there was too much attention put towards everything at once) when there are this many issues here. The music itself doesn't really help either as the changed instruments in this variant of the port really make it lose the energy and atmosphere it gives levels that use it. Perhaps if the instruments were changed then it would be a lot more pleasing to here. There is a lot of work that would need to be done to make this level something that would actually feel good to play. Right now it's just a big mess. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Sunny Shoreline Entry Number: 86 Design: 23/60 Creativity: 12/30 Aesthetics: 4/10 Total: 39/100 Review: A fairly simple level that's way too short. The shortness of this level really takes a hit out of the design as there is nothing to really remember about it since it goes by so fast. I don't think the general design is necessarily flawed in any way on its own. I do question why the three Yoshi Coins at the end are so close to each other. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Black And White Entry Number: 87 Design: 11/60 Creativity: 3/30 Aesthetics: 3/10 Total: 17/100 Review: Seeing that this level is Super Mario Land inspired, I thought it was a neat goal to work towards. However, I don't think this level was executed well at all. The palette has a bunch of random dark and bright shades of grey that make Mario look completely different and messy. I was noticing that some bush tiles had actual color in them which made no sense. It would have been more efficient to just lower the saturation of every used color to 0 in the Lunar Magic palette editor to avoid these midhaps. What I don't like design-wise is that the level itself is very jumbled and doesn't give a clear idea with what it wants you to do at points. To give some examples, the very start of the level launches you directly into a jumping Piranha Plant and it's weird trying to dodge it when the level had barely started. The fact that this is placed over a pit of munchers over a thin pipe is what's even more confused and you don't see either of these things at all later in the level. As I continued, I saw that there were a bunch of weird jumps and sprite placements that served no functional purpose to the overall movement of the level. The midpoint being so close to the goal point is what's even more confusing to me. This level would need a lot of work in order to actually feel nostalgic yet new at the same time. Right now it just doesn't do any of that. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Militarized Iceberg Entry Number: 88 Design: 42/60 Creativity: 22/30 Aesthetics: 8/10 Total: 82/100 Review: This level was very fun to play. I liked the ideas it presented and they were pretty easy to get adjusted to. The palette is nice and the music fits well alongside the other things. Getting to the midpoint was actually pretty simple to do once I got used to the level design in the first section. The second section is where it starts to get a bit questionable. After reaching the midpoint, I immediately began to enjoy working my way through the second section. It was very engaging and made you have to really think on your feet. My issue here is that this section plus the third is about 2.5x as long as the first section. So if you die, you have to do everything again and the third section makes doing that very annoying at times. In the third section you're introduced to the fast moving layer 2 platforms which get a little weird to time towards the end. I wasn't really a fan of making it through all of that and then dying suddenly because the smashing layer 2 makes exceedingly difficult to make it into the pipe safely. The level itself did make me feel good for the most part after playing it and I don't think there is anything generally unfair in any way outside of that last pipe before the goal that I mentioned. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Temple of the Fish Gods Entry Number: 89 Design: 45/60 Creativity: 17/30 Aesthetics: 8/10 Total: 70/100 Review: I get a really weird energy while playing this level for the first time. Immediately when I entered, I took a moment to appreciate the usage of music and colors to form the atmosphere. The level design itself was a bit above average at best. Though the first half wasn't as engaging as the second. With the way the Rip Van Fish gimmick is set up, it can be a bit finnicky to work with considering you have to risk running into spikes when trying to get them to go faster. Moving on to the second section, I felt that this section did really well. I'm just not too big of a fan of how weird some of the movement between the two platforms is. At some points you have to shuffle a bit to actually safely get through the section which can be a bit inconvenient. The entire section as a whole is pretty fun to play though. The only thing I specifically don't like here is the urchin replacement. The level as a whole works well with what it looks to achieve. I'm just not so sure if there is anything here in terms of level design that is too remarkable or eye-catching but it was a good level nonetheless. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Linear Farms Entry Number: 90 Design: 27/60 Creativity: 15/30 Aesthetics: 7/10 Total: 49/100 Review: I'm going to keep it real. I'm not too big of a fan of this level's design. The aesthetics have waaay too much attention put in them in a way that actually makes it feel unfitting in a Super Mario World setting. It feels like a big mess of tiles basically. The 1F0 tiles don't make much sense either as they don't contribute anything to whatever the level design was trying to offer. There seems to be two different paths the player can take though neither is significantly different than the other so it serves no real point to want to take one path compared to the other. The distance between the beginning of the level and the midpoint itself is incredibly short. Too short, if you will. The second section's layer 2 usage was neat but the aesthetics made it slightly weird trying to navigate because the bright background. The 1F0 tiles became a problem here because they made it a bit hard to differentiate what was solid and what wasn't. It wasn't until this section that I also noticed the checkerboard graphics. I'm not too fond of them but I don't think they are necessarily bad or anything like that. At this point I'm unsure if there was actually a level design goal here. I'm pretty sure most attention in this level was put on the aesthetics and that's where this level fails in that aspect. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Super Mario Bros? Entry Number: 91 Design: 39/60 Creativity: 17/30 Aesthetics: 6/10 Total: 62/100 Review: What a neat level. For some odd reason, I was expecting it to take a weird turn from the very beginning (the music gave it away) and it was a very nice twist. The usage of the darkness mechanic was such a subtle yet clever twist as it completely changes the atmosphere of the entire level. The platforming itself is mixed between solid and not completely clean. Using Mega Moles is tricky because they have strange hitboxes which makes it a little annoying to land on them at points in the level. With the aesthetics, I already mentioned that I felt it was very clever to use the darkness gimmick in the way it was used here. Despite this, I'm not a fan at all of the cutoff and aesthetic choices. The ExAnimation and whatnot is very cute though. It adds a lot to the abstract feeling in this level. There is a lot of cutoff through this level which isn't very pleasant to see and even makes some Mega Mole parts act weirdly when they walk on the cutoff tiles. The platforming through the level isn't too interesting and feels mildly empty at points which isn't that good of a quality with a level that's using the tall horizontal level feature. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Petroleum Pipeland Entry Number: 92 Design: 30/60 Creativity: 15/30 Aesthetics: 6/10 Total: 51/100 Review: This is one of those things that would be considered "almost kaizo" but it's not too frustrating to deal with. My first thought when entering the level was "I really don't think this music fits", but as I continued on through the level, it makes sense that the creator would use this song specifically. Moving on to what I feel about the level design. As expected from the music choice and atmosphere, I figured it would most likely end up being 1F0 land which it definitely was. Most of the gimmicks here depend on 1F0 in order to properly function. And while that isn't necessarily a bad thing, it would have been nice to see more variety in the design during the beginning half. Some of the platforming itself is very tight which isn't much fun trying to get right when you're getting adjusted to the way the level works. Throughout the entire level, I can't really say that anything here feels new or exciting to experience. I will say that this entire level is strangely easier when you're small Mario and that seems very backwards to me. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Purple Waves Entry Number: 93 Design: 58/60 Creativity: 30/30 Aesthetics: 5/10 Total: 93/100 Review: I absolutely love this level. At first I was confused because I didn't know what was going on but after I realized that standing on platforms will lower the layer 2, I just fell in love with what I was witnessing. The gimmick itself is executed in a way where it isn't too hard to get adjusted to, everything here is just really fun to work with. The level isn't too long either in a way where if you die, there isn't that feeling of internal pain where you know that you have to go through an entire long setup again because of a simple mistake. I'm not too fond of the rainbow shell Koopa on the top level of the first section since it feels a bit randomly added. The second section is really neat as well. It uses similar assets from the first section but executes them in a completely new way and even introduces some new things that you wouldn't expect. The flying portion was really awesome since you wouldn't expect to have so much room to fly with such a small space. The last section was fascinating since it's so easy to work through yet somewhat precise as well. My only qualm with this level outside of the rainbow shell thing is that I'm not that much of a fan of the aesthetic. It's very simple and to the point for sure, but I feel like more could have been done to make this level feel even more significant. Although I don't think this is something severe at all or anything like that. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Phantasmagoria Entry Number: 94 Design: 18/60 Creativity: 5/30 Aesthetics: 3/10 Total: 26/100 Review: I'm a little disappointed that this level is as generic as it is and includes an "I Hope I Win" at the end. My biggest issue is that this level has no actual flow. It just happens and there isn't anything in place to actually make you feel like there is a challenge. The cutoff at the midpoint is what really bugs me though. I can see the creator knows how to utilize map16 features if they managed to get 1F0 working right so it would only make sense to have some sort of tile to make it not so unpleasant to look at. The flight section bugged me a bit because you can just fly at the top and you pretty much skip that entire section. What was the purpose of it? What was the purpose of having switch blocks for a part of the level that you can easily get by. I don't even understand it. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Get the mushroom! Entry Number: 95 Design: 37/60 Creativity: 16/30 Aesthetics: 7/10 Total: 60/100 Review: I didn't have too much fun playing this level. The idea to keep your powerup in order to progress was a neat concept, but I don't think the a lot of the puzzles were as clear as they could have been. Throughout the level there were points where some mechanics were set up in ways where you had a harder time getting through different setups mainly due to them being built to be inconvenient. This is very evident in the first section that you need a koopa shell in. The offscreen thwomp near the end wasn't that good of an idea considering you have no way of knowing that it's there until you get hit by it. This level needs a bit of work I think. Aesthetically I think it does the job though some things are pretty simple outside of the background. The level design doesn't do too much to ensure that the player has an ultimately fun experience and that should have been the main priority here. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Technical Loopholes Entry Number: 96 Design: 42/60 Creativity: 26/30 Aesthetics: 6/10 Total: 76/100 Review: Not really sure where to start here. I think that this level does really good things but I don't think that this really good things are given the prime spotlight that they deserve. I was a little worried when first entering the level because everything felt really cluttered in the beginning. This feeling stuck around throughout many parts of the entire level as well and it didn't feel very pleasant at points. I really do appreciate the usage of the "teleportation" mechanic and how to works to make the enemy physics feel almost new and unexpected in a way. It made figuring out a lot of sections pretty fun. I'm not so sure this works very well in the survival sections or the section near the beginning where it starts to spam Chuck rocks and other things at you. Generally I'm liking this level but I'm not loving it. It has new ideas but executes them in a way that leaves a weird feeling in my mind. I think that this level needs a bit more polish and perhaps a bit more space to feel cleaner and more interesting to space. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Have Sweet Dreams Entry Number: 97 Design: 33/60 Creativity: 18/30 Aesthetics: 6/10 Total: 57/100 Review: These aesthetics are not fooling me. I do not like a majority of this level design at all. It's diverse in different ways but these ways aren't always good. I'm not a fan at all of how the cave tiles look like foreground tiles due to the palette. The aesthetics on their own are beautiful, but since they are used in such a heavy abundance, it tends to get very distracted after the first few screens. When I made it to the portion with the P-Balloon, I got completely thrown off by it and thought that I was given a P-Balloon specifically because I couldn't climb the vines, so later in that section when the powerup timer ran out, I immediately fell into the pit of spikes that a small trail of coins led to. I think that the vines on their own could have been given a bit more to make it clear that you could climb them instead of introducing them immediately after giving a powerup that would technically make the vines useless for a large majority of that area. At the end of this section I noticed that a hidden cape was made completely obvious by the unnecessarily placed coins that were by it. I feel like the red Koopa could have been enough of a hint since it can walk through that wall. This could have easily made the player think like "Wait why can it walk through" without the coins blatantly giving it away. The rest of the level was the part that was much more enjoyable in terms of level design specifically. Though the ideas were still very messy and there were a ton of different enemies being seen all over the place which wasn't too nice to see. The autoscroll portion was pretty good. I think that the beginning part was a tad bit slot before the actual enemies started spawning but overall the section itself was interesting and kept me on my feet. I was very confused on why the blue switch blocks led to a star that didn't really benefit the player that much in terms of challenge. The part that you could get by with the star was not hard at all and only lasted a couple screens which made the star pretty much useless unless you wanted an extra 3 lives with little to no effort. Keeping on the topic with things that confused me, I couldn't really figure out if there was meant to be a set way to get that 1-UP at the very beginning other than the hidden cape at the very end of the section. There are coins under the ceiling which gives me the hint that the player is meant to fly upwards but it's a bit unreasonable considering a single 1-UP is not worth backtracking all that way. I ended up just shell jumping to see what the coins were leading to and was a bit disappointed after getting a good feel of what was happening. Generally levels like this tread through very risky territory due to the aesthetics being a crucial factor in how the rest of the level is handled. The overlapping layers is a cool feature but because it's used so much, it feels messily put together. I feel that the level could have went without the nonp-solid cave tiles as well. I really did like the music and colors though which added a lot of actual atmosphere in the level despite the large amount of clutter. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Sweet Dreams Entry Number: 98 Design: 5/60 Creativity: 23/30 Aesthetics: 6/10 Total: 34/100 Review: Before I get into detail, I just want to say that I don't think it was very wise at all to include the suicide section at the very beginning. When you first enter the level, the atmosphere makes you gain a calm feeling, and you don't even have enough time to understand what's going on before going into that room if you decided to. That entire room should have been axed for the sake of the plot and the sake of whoever is playing the level. The level itself is very short and messy, but the colors and music make it feel soothing to working through. There is nothing that's really out to get you and the way you go is linear and harmless. To keep it short and simple, there isn't much actual design here other than the plot since the entire section is just you walking forward and jumping pretty much. I think the plot itself is very incomplete. It would have been nice to see an actually developed emotional story since that seems to be what the creator was going for. Executing a suicide story in a short plot is very risky because that is a subject that's hits the hearts of a huge amount of people. So like I said before, it wasn't wise to throw it in at the beginning like that. It almost seemed like it was meant to be a suicide joke due to it showing up way too soon. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Mountan Castle Entry Number: 99 Design: 15/60 Creativity: 30/30 Aesthetics: 6/10 Total: 51/100 Review: Welp, I guess it's appropriate for me to say once more that this is probably not the right contest to submit this kind of level. The level is really fun but makes it seem like one of those that should have been in a KLDC. The concept of using the warp mechanic as a teleportation ability while mashing it with other things like water and gate climbing is neat. Though on a Vanilla Contest scale, this gimmick is not convenient at all for the average vanilla player. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Mecha Mountain Entry Number: 100 Design: 29/60 Creativity: 18/30 Aesthetics: 7/10 Total: 54/100 Review: This level frustrates me in such a weird way. It's not hard at all and getting through it is extremely simple. My issue here is that I can tell the creator noticed how creative and new these aesthetics looked and then got way too trigger-happy and just threw them everywhere. It ends up being a huge mess because the graphics are very distracting as a result of this. I think the background is really neat and the tiles themselves are cool but there isn't much of anything in this level that actually makes me have that feeling of joy while and after playing it. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Grand Koopalopolis Entry Number: 101 Design: 36/60 Creativity: 22/30 Aesthetics: 6/10 Total: 64/100 Review: There is absolutely way too much going on here in such a large space. The construction-themed graphics were a very cute touch, but I have a hard time focusing on these aesthetics when the areas are so large, so clutter and and very confusing in terms of what's solid and what isn't. The level design isn't really that clea0r either. At the beginning there is a cape that you can obtain by using a throwblock that doesn't look anything like a throwblock which makes it super easy to pass up. When getting into the inside section, I was a bit thrown off by the layer 2 usage. It wasn't used in a bad way or anything like that, but the segments of the level that use it seem to be the only truly enjoyable parts. The section leading up to the boss was neat but lacked proper development and felt way too short. What I'm seeing a lot in these entries are that the tall horizontal level mode seems to come off as one of those things where level designers feel forced to fill in every single bit of space they can with something, which is usually how the usage of aesthetics and level design starts to become messy and unclear at points. This level is a prime example of that. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: To2lly Terrible Entry Number: 102 Design: 42/60 Creativity: 19/30 Aesthetics: 5/10 Total: 66/100 Review: I will say that the creator of this level is really brave for submitting a P-Balloon level. I like the usage of it throughout the level and how the falling platforms are utilized to change the physics of the powerup. What I'm not very sure about is the lack of energy in this level. The mechanic itself does what it wanted to do, but I feel like the level itself is a bit on the boring side. It almost feels like if the Special World level "Tubular" was extended which really shows the lack of interesting level design. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: General Trotyl Entry Number: 103 Design: 50/60 Creativity: 25/30 Aesthetics: 4/10 Total: 79/100 Review: This is such a good level idea. Utilizing the player physics while in the shooting pipe state is something I wouldn't have expected. The only issues I can really see here are that the level itself needs polish in the aesthetics and level design departments. The design itself is fun and fluid but I think the coin indicators could be adjusted to help the player have a better understanding of when to hold which button. Though this isn't much of an actual issue considering the level includes reset pipes in case you fall. I definitely don't like the palette usage but it fits the atmosphere that the music sets. Overall I'm really appreciative of what this level does and I hope to see more things like it in the future. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Ambrose Asylum Entry Number: 104 Design: 37/60 Creativity: 23/30 Aesthetics: 8/10 Total: 68/100 Review: This level leaves a really good first impression, though I think it would have been much cooler to have a build-up song in the first section since there isn't that much energy in that part. I really appreciate the usage of tiles to make the Ghost House look completely different and new. The level design wasn't completely fun to work through which was unfortunate. I don't necessarily think that the design is bad, but I just think that it gets a bit random and inconsistent at points when it comes to enemy placement and mini-gimmicks. This is very evident during the part where you have to hang on to the rope. Personally I think that the pink gate should have been a different color as it stands out a bit too much. Despite the pink issue, I heavily appreciate the usage of aesthetic design here and I think that it does the job completely. Only real issues I have there in regards to that are that the lava is two different colors and there is slight cutoff in some areas. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Grandma's Paradise Entry Number: 105 Design: 35/60 Creativity: 18/30 Aesthetics: 6/10 Total: 59/100 Review: This is one of those cute levels that has really nice music and a really cute gimmick but fails to truly expand the gimmick to its highest potential. Jumping across the Paratroopas was very easy to do even in the weird spots but it felt like I was just being given the same exact scenario over and over and over. It didn't get boring or anything but it was just way too repetitive. Throwing in the ice physics randomly was a bit weird too. I'm genuinely curious though, how exactly does the name "Grandma's Paradise" fit here? I guess the best way to describe this level is that it is way too simple and lacks proper development. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Shrine of Souls Entry Number: 106 Design: 43/60 Creativity: 20/30 Aesthetics: 9/10 Total: 72/100 Review: I'm not so sure how to feel about this one. Seeing that the gimmicks and graphic choices here are the exact same as the level "Unsettling Bastion" from VLDC9, I'm going to go ahead and assume that this is supposed to be a sequel of some sort which is neat. What's unfortunate to say is that I didn't like the level design that much. More specifically at the beginning there wasn't much that felt interesting and having the fireballs and Pokeys land on you with no real challenge or interesting setups in between felt a little off. The Boo blocks being nearly the same color as the stone blocks that they are near was a bit misleading. Since you spawn away from where you can see the sprite, it took me a moment to actually realize that there wasn't some sort of hidden block or something. I did like that the moving coin indicated that the ground there was solid. The third section was okay but nothing really gave me that spark of joy and awe while playing it since the taks you had to do in order to trigger the layer 2 were pretty basic and not too intriguing. My biggest thing here is that the idea of finding the Dry Bones' soul is an intriguing concept that could have been fleshed out much more in order to actually feel new and not recycled in a way each time you come across a new setup. On a more positive note, I adore the colors and aesthetic design outside of the unclear distinction between the vines you can and can't climb on. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Oh That's Hot Entry Number: 107 Design: 35/60 Creativity: 18/30 Aesthetics: 7/10 Total: 60/100 Review: At first I really thought that this level was going to flow a certain type of way due to how well the music and color choices set the atmosphere. This was very misleading though. The level was progressing normally up until like 20 seconds later when enemies are spinning and spawning in midair (which was done on purpose) and feels messily put together. I'm a little disappointed that this level seems to focus on Skull Rafts and even performs really cool methods of making them spawn but then leaves a lot of that behind to become 1F0 land. I can tell that the creator of this level put effort into this but I think that a little too much effort was put in certain places when it should have been placed more in the areas that contributed the most to the flow and gimmick of the overall level. It would have been very nice to have this level focus solely on skull rafts and doing more cool aesthetic transitions between skull rafts and whatnot. A bit of a letdown here but I can see all of the potential and how far this level's concept could have actually been taken. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Sunset Land Entry Number: 108 Design: 25/60 Creativity: 10/30 Aesthetics: 6/10 Total: 41/100 Review: It seems like whoever made this level is getting used to using map16. I don't think this level is bad or anything like that, it just has more empty space than it needs to. There isn't too much going on other than enemies sparsely placed around the level. The atmosphere was nice but could have really used a custom song to really nail the sunset aesthetic. The palette is very nice to look at but could use some work to feel not too "orange" if you kind of get what I mean. This is more on the basic side, but given more time and proper development, I think this could have transformed into something really neat. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Magnetic Net Entry Number: 109 Design: 32/60 Creativity: 17/30 Aesthetics: 9/10 Total: 58/100 Review: I'm not all that sure what was going on here. I didn't like that the path you were meant to followed was obscured by alternate pathways that seemed to completely distract from whatever the level's goal was. Some of the platforming was tight and made it very easy to fall if you had a powerup. It would have made more sense if the underground/water sections actually shared similar gimmicks to what was going outside but everything in each new section was random and felt so disconnected. The aesthetics were so good too which is what really bummed me out. It would have been so cool to actually see the gimmicks and scenery actually blend together instead of feeling like a maze with extra paths that are slightly obnoxious just for dragon coins. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Primary Pipes Entry Number: 110 Design: 25/60 Creativity: 13/30 Aesthetics: 7/10 Total: 45/100 Review: Um. I'm very confused. So this is a pipe level that has normal overworld music that transitions into a castle that transitions back to pipes that transitions back to a castle and then into a sudden boss???? Where was the buildup for any of this. The big problem this level seems to have is that there is too little space to make your moves. Especially at the beginning I immediately noticed how cluttered everything felt. I'm not sure what the difficulty of this level was supposed to be but it's all over the place and doesn't help this level have a flow at all. There was absolutely no warning that there was going to be a boss which I didn't like at all. The boss itself was neat but unfitting in every aspect. I think that this level would have been so much better if it actually had a general direction that was clear enough to follow through on. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Crevice Climb Entry Number: 111 Design: 38/60 Creativity: 22/30 Aesthetics: 7/10 Total: 67/100 Review: I think that this level is fairly solid. It's not the best but it's nowhere near bad for sure. I was a tadbit confused with how the first section was so empty and spacious. It appears that it sets the atmosphere but it feels a bit too empty to me. Seeing the aesthetics was pretty cool in this section though. I'm just thinking that it would have been cool to sort of introduce the line guide mechanic in this section with a basic setup to help the player understand that they would be using the lineguides to work through the level. The level itself was pretty much average fun at best. Like I said earlier, nothing about the level was bad or anything. Some setups felt a bit too low in space which is funny considering what I said about the first section. The first obstacle involves you getting a Koopa shell from one of the two Red Koopas. This is a decent setup but having something that could be so easily messed up due to the low space probably isn't something that should be there without a reset door or a different setup maybe. The rest of the level was pretty alright but nothing was necessarily challenging. The portion before the end where you had to hit a block to get a shell in order to kill 2 Red Gate Koopas was a bit awkward to work with since the line guide sprite that leads you to this area can despawn at points. I think putting the block in a more reachable spot may have made this a little less weird to deal with at points. The last section where the setting suddenly shifts to night was way too sudden. I think having a nice little setup to try and get a high star count on the goal tape would have worked really well here. The level itself needs some work but I believe it's on the right track. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Level Entry Entry Number: 112 Design: 24/60 Creativity: 20/30 Aesthetics: 7/10 Total: 51/100 Review: Not completely sure what was going on here. This is one of those where it felt like there was no clear objective on what you were meant to do. Like of course you're meant to get to the end of the level but the atmosphere felt really out of place for some reason. I think the color palette was cool but I didn't like how weirdly the contrast between the two bone colors are. My biggest issue with this level is that it feels way too open. I think havign a set path to follow with a few bonuses here and there would have worked much better rather than leaving the entire area to be explored with no real benefit. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Dude, Jill Entry Number: 113 Design: 40/60 Creativity: 24/30 Aesthetics: 8/10 Total: 72/100 Review: Yet another weird one. I think that the scenery and everything looks pretty great and unique and definitely fits what the creator seems to have been going for. With the actual level design, I'm very 50/50 on it because it's not fun at all to get used to and only slightly lost that unfun feeling after I played the level around twice more. The first portion was really fun but I didn't like the part before the pipe at all. It's not necessarily hard but using the fast layer 2 smash in a tight setting like really makes it difficult for a player to have an easier time getting used to what they are supposed to do and when they are supposed to do it. I think it would have been cool to implement the slim ceiling opens that are near the end of the level in this portion as some sort of an introduction to dealing with that later on. The section with the trampoline confused me a lot. Not exactly sure why the creator decided to used this type of setup that can either be really easy to mess up. With the way the rest of the level is set up, I'm a bit confused on why th level didn't just include the section building up to the midpoint after that pipe and just give the player a new trampoline to use or something right after a midpoint. The next part is pretty solid and probably my favorite part. Going back and forth between the tiles isn't hard to catch on to at all even though it can be very finnicky a lot of the time. Playing through the rest of the level was much more of a breather and very fun compared to the first half though. ---------------------------------------------------- Level Name: Tangle Rance Entry Number: 114 Design: 42/60 Creativity: 20/30 Aesthetics: 6/10 Total: 68/100 Review: I love that we're ending off the contest with a level that has no visible name which is pretty funny. For starters, I really love the music choice. The song is pretty energetic which is really nice. Definitely not a fan of having to go that far up in case I accidentally mess up due to not realizing that the first obstacle you see the moment you enter is a time trial. It's not that smart of a design move if the creator's plan was to make the reset doors for these puzzles easy access. Playing the sections was very fun and I'm a little disappointed that the level ends that quickly with how nice the vine setups were. The level being a verticle level really adds to the high speed feeling that you're meant to feel as a player which is a nice touch. I feel that with soem improvements and even additions to the level design, this level could have had a lot more of a shine to it. ★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★