#\D+ NAME
?/30 Level Design
?/15 Creativity
?/5 Atmosphere
* Theme guess
^ YT Desc
COMMENT
#22 Those Dang Ol' Moles
22/30
14/15
5/5
* Judge
^ Stop! Hammer time!
Very inspired by the Game Watch theme. Mixing the hammer with the autoscroller
is an interesting combo. The moles were mostly well placed. There were a
couple of tricky jumps, but due to the insane amount of powerups, I never felt
in danger. Not sure it was a good call to give a mushroom box every couple of
screens. Made the whole thing feel a bit short? Not sure another section
would have spiced it up
Using only moles and mole related sprites was gutsy, but I feel like it held
you back a bit. The throwing moles really can't do too much damage in an
autoscroller given how they target the player's current location. Still, I
admire the pluck.
Really enjoyed the aesthetics. You've embraced the flatlaned with this one.
#13 Hammers Down!
5/30
13/15
2/5
* Oil Panic
^ Mario definitely wishes he had a helmet, among other equipment.
I kinda like the concept. Timed arcade style survival rooms are kinda
cool...but this just drags. The various sources of RNG eventually add up to a
not too fun time. The choice of the transparent window for the bomb dropping
was hard to see...in the levels where it was visible. Room 4 was especially
egregious because of the Erie spawner. Second time I got there, one spawned on
me before I could move. Not sure why there wasn't some sort of midway, but one would have been
appreciated. After room three or something. Eventually cheated my way through
just to see what I'd have to do, and seeing what I saw, my interest in a legit
clear dropped precipitously. If I wanted to play bullet hell, I'd get some
Touhou.
Like, good concept, but the execution wasn't quite there.
#8 SMW Helmet
21/30
14/15
4/5
* Helmet
^ Spinies make a good helmet, provided they've been emptied first.
Six rooms. Disabled running/jumping. Simple enough. You've gone with the game
as a direct inspiration, and it works well enough. Adding in note blocks to
allow for verticality definitely helps, but I definitely found myself wanting
a little more variety. Not quite sure how you'd do that without sacrificing
the purity of your concept though. The last room's there and back approach at
least shook things up at the end.
Room three can be defeated by just holding right, which is kinda funny. Also, I
noticed that the text at the beginning isn't correct. A/B are definitely still
enabled for both bounce height and regrabs. Not complaining. Life's weird
without those.
Aesthetics are simple, but fine. The blocks convey the concepts well.
#11 sadistic entomologist
29/30
14/15
5/5
* Greenhouse
^ I always get entomology and etymology mixed up. Would have made a weirder level if it was the latter.
Moving platforms mounted on bugs. Sounds like a H.R. Giger painting. There's
something so very odd about each different insect's lurching movement and
how you've used them for make nightmarish moving platforms. Well, maybe not
nightmarish, but definitely weird.
There's nothing superfluous in this level. Everything has a purpose and
serves it well. You get taught right up front that we're gunna be playing
stacks and switches and that concept runs through the entire level. Never
really gets old either. The variations on those themes work well, though I did
get a bit tired of the back and forth switch setup by the poor hammer bro.
I really enjoyed this one. Lots of good puzzles. Some very pleasant setups.
The finale with the falling spider just adds to the greatness. Couldn't quite
make out the iconography at the bottom of the level. Wonder if that'd be an
author spoiler if I did.
#12 Oil Panic
13/30
10/15
3/5
* Oil Panic
^ "This is more Q than all QLDC entries" -- ASMagicianMaks
I'm not sure what to make of this one. It's an odd little rompy level, with
some kinda messed up graphics. The oil swimming losing you time is kinda
unimportant, given the amount of time you have to work with. The green berries
are nice in that respect, but they're never important to go out of your way to
get, so they're kinda superfluous. The health mechanic kinda doesn't matter?
Giving people 12+ hp is pretty silly in a level like this. Really, this level has some mechanics that
don't really have much to do with each other and don't add up to a cohesive
whole. If this was QLDC, I'd probably be kinder, but that's not this contest.
The ending is probably the most confounding bit. I'm not sure if there was a
special p-switch or if doing a p-switch jump ends the level or if it's a
sprite count thing. Really, this whole level just left me kinda confused.
#5 Holy Men
25/30
13/15
5/5
* Man Hole
^ It's raining men! Hallelujah!
Ha, I get it. Took me too long.
Anyway, love the simple concept. Self destructing levels have a long and
storied past, but this one does that history justice. Starts off showing
exactly what to expect and then runs with it. Loved the dragon coin placement.
Always just a little off the beaten path, but it makes routing through the
level just that wee bit more dangerous.
Midway troll's also classic.
Adding faster Holy Men in the second half was a good choice to shake up the
pattern a bit. I'm kinda torn between this level being exactly the right
length or if it could've used a bit more. Not sure. Either way, what's here is
enjoyable. Definitely would recommend this one.
#19 accounting analysis
27/30
15/15
4/5
* Judge
^ Accounting is my formula for moolah!
One screen puzzles. Really clever ones that require knowing interesting things
about SMW's internals. Yeah, I'm going to love this.
Anyway, the puzzles are well designed. Every level has a logical solution. No
guessing is required, just keen observational skills. Really enjoyed the
p-switch one, because I think it could be solved by either visual or audio
clues. Dang clever.
Midways are placed well. Even if you were missing a trick or two, having to
guess a path wouldn't be the end of the world. And the troll at the end was an
absolute master class in Pavlovian conditioning. Well played!
#7 GET PINBALLED!!!!
27/30
14/15
5/5
* Pinball
^ Sonic was the only reasonable choice.
Hiro-soft accused the creator of this one of being a Kaizo person...and I
think he's right. There's some fairly standard Kaizo setups in here. A few
places where regrabs help. The block bridge is a staple of the genre, but even
then, this level works on the standard axis. Mostly because of the generous
midways.
Really appreciated that you couldn't cheese that bridge by spin
jumping on the grinder. Definitely felt some SMW hacking experience there.
If anything, I think I'd like to have seen a few more sections, given how
short they were. The level kinda ended when I was getting going.
The flipper is cute. Wonder if it was ripped from somewhere or hand drawn?
Anyway, this is a case of taking two simple concepts and running with them to
create unique and interesting setups. Always appreciate a level like that.
#2 vermin vvrangle
26/30
12/15
4/5
* Vermin
^ Moles into summer!
Door into Summer and moles. Classic combo. A very setup based level, which
works well. A decent amount of waiting for moles to spawn or fall while also
having to manage your shrinking reserve of platforms, though I found a small
cheese for one of them.
Would have been cool if the hammers actually did kill the moles, but alas.
Well placed midway. Never felt like I had to redo too much.
The dragon coin placement was really clever. Can't get the first one without
being big. Others require clever timing. Never quite got the fourth one without
dying. Adds some challenge while also serving well as mile markers. Might've
been my favorite bit of the level.
#14 Pinball Reverse!
16/30
14/15
4/5
* Pinball
^ Gotta love those huge springs!
Gotta love those huge springs! This is a really solid concept. Building levels
where the main mode of movement is downward is hard to do, but by keeping the
sections short, you've made it work well. Really enjoyed boards one through
three, which is kinda the problem. It's sadly too short! If there'd been a few
more boards or something, I'd have enjoyed it a lot more, but as your box
said, 24 hours is a pretty short period of time.
Would have also liked to have seen some more variety in what you needed to do.
Just finding the switch every level got a bit stale.
Anyway, take your time and make a whole hack like this. I'll play it.
#9 Greenhouse
12/30
8/15
5/5
* Greenhouse
^ There's a shocking amount of wood furniture in this greenhouse.
This is a perfectly fine rompy level. It's a bit on the short side, and the
midway is placed like...four feet from the door. Would have liked something
with a bit more meat on it.
That being said, the aesthetics are top notch. This good blend of vanilla
backgrounds and well chosen off the shelf graphics really works. FF6 music
suits it well.
The best part was the dragon coin placement. Required some exploration to find
them all, and some of them had some fun little fakeouts.
If this was the first ghost house in a Standard: Easy hack, it'd be a perfectly
fine level, but for this contest, it was just not quite enough.
#6 Eraserhead
27/30
14/15
4/5
* Helmet
^ I'd rather have an Eraserhead than The Skittles touch.
Dang, this one is something. I'm definitely reminded of FerpyMcFrosting's
QLDC2023 level with the layers locked to Mario's position. This is, of
course, a good thing. Lots of interesting ideas spring from this concept.
The first room introduces the concept gently. The second builds upon it
stylishly, though the ending to the second room confused me. I think there was
a puzzle there? It didn't seem to work right when I played through. Either it
was somehow broken or I solved it by accident. Either way, odd.
The third room was...tighter than expected. Maybe I'm just bad at coloring in the
lines, but it felt like it dragged a bit, especially because you couldn't stop
and wait at any point.
The fourth room really took the cake. A discoshell hat is both stylish and
functional. Led to some interesting interactions. The ending is just a little
trolly, but that works well in the framework of the level.
Yeah, this one's really cool. Go play it.
#17 Lifeland Rescue
18/30
9/15
5/5
* Life Boat
^ This is the most Yoshi's Island Mario sprite I have ever seen.
Fits the theme well. Would have liked a little more interaction with the boat.
The only real use for it is the couple of jumps per section where you have to
wait for the boat so you can clear a single pillar, which is fine, but not
exciting. You can even skip some of the waits with creative jumping.
This is a very linear, almost autoscroller like level. Some
diversion would have been nice. Maybe a bonus room or something to seek out.
Also, this is one of the most on point style wise Mario sprites I've ever
seen. Dunno if you made it yourself or ripped it from somewhere, but it looks
great in the full Yoshi's Island aesthetic. The level looks fantastic too.
#18 The sewer of BOMBS
21/30
13/15
5/5
* Bomb Sweeper
^ Dunno if Wario is the most trustworthy bomb squad member.
This is an interesting one. I'm not sure the mop really adds all that much to
the level. Its main purpose is to blow up the bombs to setup quick platforming
sections, which could be done with almost any other mechanism. It's fun to
play with, and the poking animation is funny, but I don't feel like I ever got
any use out of it that a cape without flight would have given.
That being said, the level itself is pretty fun. There's some jank with the
KooPhD sprite, but it wasn't too bad. The midway is placed a little oddly with
some waiting before you can get back into the meat of the level. Might have
been better placed after the pipe.
There were some parts where the bomb throwing mole is placed just offscreen
and it's hard to react to the thrown item you're not expecting. That mushroom
behind the bomb bombs right after the midway is a key example.
Kinda uneven, but I can definitely say the level looks great.
#21 Bowser's pinballs fall on your head...for 16 screens
27/30
13/15
4/5
* Pinball
^ Bowser sucks at pinball. All his shots end up in the drain.
I swear, that mushroom's looking at me...
Really solid level. Good use of the ball theme. Some interesting setups
involving, shockingly, balls. A good mix of tight timing and some more sedate
sections where you can take your time and work out what you want to do. The
long rolling ball section was almost cheesable, which was kinda nice for
learning what you need to do there.
The second section didn't really introduce anything new, but did give some
cute timing setups to overcome.
The star of the show is definitely the ball yo-yo section. Kinda wished
there'd been a second section full of that to play with. Could have been cool.
Maybe even doubling it up. Dunno. The last section definitely felt shorter
than the other ones, even with having to double back.
Almost felt like this needed a boss to cap it off narratively, but 24 hours definitely
wouldn't allow for that...
Still, this one's cool. Definitely would recommend.
#4 oil panic lol
11/30
7/15
2/5
* Oil Panic
^ If it's an oil panic, shouldn't the red Yoshi catch the level on fire? 🤔
Gunna be honest, this level didn't really do it for me. The combination of
slippery well lubed ground and oil currents, while thematic, wasn't a lot of
the fun to play around. The football chuck also got a bit old after seeing so
many of them in awkward to kill places. Just a lot of awkward parts in general.
I really liked the Dragon Coin placement though. Good spots that served as
both mile markers and little extra challenges to grab them without getting
hit.
Also, having Yoshi as the major powerup for a level without doing Yoshi setups
is a bit odd. Not sure about that one. Kinda wished you'd found some setups
with the red Yoshi to justify having him around. The redness didn't really
make a difference and kinda hurt your theme a bit.
#10 Greenhouse
21/30
10/15
3/5
* Greenhouse
^ With all the fire in here, it should be nice and tropical!
It's definitely kinda green. Maybe greenish house? Not sure the slight recolor
of the Ghost House background sells it, but the plants and glass tiles
definitely do.
You've centered the entire level around the plants more or less, which kinda
works. The block escort missions are kinda cute. You could choose to play
them straight, or clear the path and go back to get more blocks. It's nice
that there's a choice. Adding Thwomps and sparkies in addition to the red
Piranha Plants was an interesting idea, but it mostly just makes the player
wait for cycles to line up. A couple of cycles together is perfectly fine, but
lots on top of eachother can make the player start looking for epicycles. At
least with the blocks to clear things, you didn't make it too annoying to wait
or kill most obstacles.
#15 DODGE JUDGE
27/30
13/15
4/5
* Judge
^ I used to hate Hammer Bros...Still do, but I used to too.
I used to hate Hammer Bros...Still do, but I used to too. However, here I think
you've used them quite well. The first number platform section definitely
demonstrates an understanding of the behavior of Hammer Bros. Jumping onto a
different platform to match the jump of the Hammer Bro. was really clever. The
first half felt like it was going to be a combination of setups and simple
platforming, but you changed it up in the second half with some timing puzzles
and wayyyy faster hammers. Other than the Hammer Bro. over the mushroom, all
of the setups had reasonably graspable solutions.
And I did find the midway and ending trolls kinda funny. At least you gave an
out for both, by having the number platform within reach of the landmass under
the midway. And adding a Bullet Bill generator at the end was an inspired
choice that took the ending troll from kinda mean to really cool.
Yeah, this is just a really good level. Go play it.
#16 sparkies on a ship
16/30
12/15
4/5
* Life Boat
^ If the raft is also made of wood, shouldn't it be on fire too? 🤔
Cute story to start off with. This level is perfectly fine. Like, I had fun
running through it. The setups were reasonable and readable. the big issue I
have is that it's pretty short and fairly forgiving. You gave a lot of
powerups for how little distance there is to travel. Definitely feel like
another section would have sold this one better. And maybe a few fewer
mushrooms. It's cute for what it is, but it definitely feels like wasted
potential.
Also, would have been nice if the level was a bit lower so we can see the
other clouds in the background. Most of the time, we're just looking at blue.
#1 Space Bomb Sweep
28/30
14/15
5/5
* Bomb Sweeper
^ Bombs IN SPAAAAAAAACE!
Dang, this is a good level. I always like a level that shows off its gimmick
in a quick, learnable way. Especially if the reason you learn the gimmick is
greed. The bombs are simple to understand, but you've used them in some clever
ways to create pleasing setups. The very first real setup with the 1 bomb, the
3 bomb and the falling platform is really cute. Powerups are placed in
reasonable locations, but I generally felt like the most dangerous obstacle
was the floor...
Which of course changes in the second half. I'm not sure world wrap really
fits with the theme, but it was definitely a fun choice. Also, glad it was a
proper ASM wrap rather than tons of greenbeans. If I had any criticism, I think
the second half was a lot easier than the first. The bombs and munchers are
dangerous, but not dangerous enough to pose a real threat with how powered up
I was at that point. I think you could have tightened up some of the setups to
compensate for the lack of kill plane. Not really sure. But the fact is, I
died plenty in the first half and not once in the second, this it's a pretty
minor complaint.
Dragon coins were well placed. Encompassing both a reward for more careful
platforming and serving as milestones.
Anyway, go play this one. It's pretty and pretty fun.
#20 Sticky Situation
29/30
15/15
5/5
* Oil Panic
^ The prequel to Mario Teaches Handwashing
This is a puzzle level. I like puzzle levels.
Pretty sure the hacker picked the oil/water gimmick first and then saw where that
took you. Every area exploits the mechanic well, without it ever feeling
superfluous. Starting with shells and keys, keeping Mario from spin jumping or
forcing Mario to kick a shell he may not want to kick and then moving to
living Goombas was inspired, given it forces a timer without making it all
explicit that you just
can't get rid of the bombgoomba.
Dragon coins were placed very well for this sort of level. Either requiring a
little bonus puzzle to get or exploring just a bit off the beaten path. They
just add some extra joy to this sort of level.
On the other hand, the health system wasn't quite necessary. None of the
sections were really long enough to justify it. Didn't detract from the level,
but it's ultimately a minor quibble.
Go play this one. Seriously. Might just be my favorite of the contest.
#3 Double Dipper
25/30
15/15
5/5
* Manhole
^ Split screen action!
Split screen action! Wasn't sure where you were going with this at first, but
it's actually really cool. The screen split felt like it wasn't going to have
too much of an effect, but it turns out to be a pretty interesting constraint.
Because you've only got one jump of height on the lower section, you really
have to focus on short jumps and avoiding general nastiness rather than more
involved vertical setups. The Rip Van Phanto Fish as a key example. Or the
rubber tree ants. Both of these work well in tight spaces, rather than larger,
more open areas where you have the space to work around them.
I think you would have benefitted from adding some dragon coins or something
to maybe force some other transfers between the two halves. Would have allowed
you to spread out some of the more intense obstacles. Not sure.
Would have liked a few more sections, given how often there were midways/the
reset door. The idea has legs, but I could definitely feel that it pens you in
quite severely.