Line #24 VideoGame/VanillaLevelDesignContest


1	Vanilla Level Design Contest is a series of collab hacks of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'', starting with VLDC 7 in 2014. In these contests, the levels are created using only graphics and objects found in vanilla SMW, with custom music being an option starting from VLDC 7. The first six design contests did not include associated hacks until 2017, when VLDC 1 got its own collab hack.
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3	!! In addition to all vanilla gameplay tropes, the VLDC franchise contains examples of
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5	* AntiFrustrationFeatures:
6	** Prior to VLDC 14, PlatformHell levels are made completely optional for obtaining HundredPercentCompletion.
7	** In VLDC 7, only 1 exit per stage is required to get 100% completion.
8	* BagOfSpilling: You cannot take powerups or Yoshis into levels with you.
9	* BaitAndSwitch: [=VLDC8=]'s version of Hostel starts with the same submap as its VLDC 7 predecessor, but once you enter the door, a bright and lively platform level is there.
10	* {{Bowdlerise}}: 1.0 of [=VLDC 9=]'s version of Streamside had a voice saying "Fuck You!" during the second half of the level. Starting with 1.1, it's been muted.
11	* CompilationRerelease: The first 6 VLDC collabs would get one in late 2023 called Six-Pack. This marked the first time contests 2 through 6 got a collab hack.
12	* ContinuityNod: [=VLDC9=]'s level Hotel has a secret exit that is a tribute to the author's [=VLDC7=] level Hostel.
13	* {{Crossover}}:
14	** [=VLDC9=] has levels set in [[Franchise/HarryPotter Hogwarts]] and [[VideoGame/HalfLife Aperture]].
15	** The [[Franchise/StarWars Death Star]] makes an appearance as a level in VLDC X.
16	* DescendingCeiling: Layer 2 is used to replicate the trash compactor from ''Film/ANewHope''. This trope is present in many other levels throughout the franchise.
17	* DownTheDrain: VLDC 9 has a sewer level.
18	* EmptyRoomPsych: VLDC 8's "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Epic Nothing]]" is a long level that is devoid of ''anything'' except the goal post and a single checkpoint. Even the music is completely absent. Needless to say, the judges weren't impressed, as it ranks at the very bottom of the list, even below the blatant StylisticSuck mess "A Vanilla Level".
19	* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: VLDC 8's "Signs are Useless" has signs that either tell you to go backwards or lead to a pit.
20	* ExtremelyEasyExam: VLDC 11's "Quiz Mario Academy" is a trivia quiz on various facts about the canon Mario games, with it being very hard to lose.
21	* FakeDifficulty: The lower-ranking a level is, the more likely it is to employ unfair level design elements such as [[LeapOfFaith Leaps of Faith]], TrialAndErrorGameplay; etc.
22	* GuideDangIt: Some of the secret exits can be this trope.
23	* HellHotel: The VLDC 9 level ''Hotel'' is bright and cheery for the normal exit, but the secret exit has the player go in a creepy basement resembling VLDC 7's ''Hostel''.
24	* KaizoTrap: [=MariYOLO Adventure=] features plenty of fake goals that kill you in the Kaizo route of the level.
25	* LethalLavaLand: Some of the collabs have fire-themed submaps in them.
26	* MarathonLevel: Some levels have been penalized for going on for too long, such as with "Variety Path", "Red Hot Ruckus" or "Twilight Lakeside".
27	* MascotMook: The Muncher is the icon of the Worst World in the first three collabs.
28	* NakedPeopleAreFunny: Waluigi in Abstract Plain's.
29	* NoFairCheating: In VLDC 7, altering the hack in Lunar Magic prevents you from getting 100% completion.
30	* NoSwastikas: In a prototype build for VLDC 7, the worst world submap was in the shape of a Nazi swastika. The [=SMWCentral=] release version replaced it with glitched tiles in the shape of a Muncher.
31	* OddballInTheSeries: VLDC 6 didn't allow the use of merging tilesets or custom music, making it more akin to the later ''Old-School Level Design Contests'' than other VLDC contests.
32	* OneHundredPercentCompletion: In VLDC 9, this involves getting every exit, every moon and every Dragon Coin in the game.
33	* OverlyGenerousTimeLimit: [[spoiler:{{Subverted\|trope}} in]] PlatformHell level "Nice Ice Adventure". It gives the player roughly seventeen minutes to complete the level, [[spoiler:but it's a MarathonLevel where ''every second counts'']].
34	* PlatformHell:
35	** In earlier contest, these levels are optional, with either free skips or not being required to play them.
36	** VLDC 14 makes these levels part of the contest, with their own scoring and judges.
37	* PublicDomainSoundtrack: One VLDC 8 level had an unsampled version of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata as it's music.
38	* PutOnABus: Starting with VLDC 12, the Worst World submaps don't exist in the collabs.
39	* ResurrectiveImmortality: This trope is used in VLDC 9 to explain Mario having infinite lives in that collab.
40	* {{Sampling}}: Sampling songs from other SNES games is common, as is songs from more recent games. [[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack The Imperial March]] makes an appearance in VLDC X's Death Star level.
41	* SequelDifficultySpike: The announcement thread for VLDC 14 stated that Kaizo levels will be allowed in this contest for the first time, naturally resulting in increased difficulty compared to earlier VLDCs.
42	* SequenceBreaking: Levels where it's possible to use the classic World 1-2 trick tend to score much lower in these contests.
43	* ShoutOut: VLDC 9's Red Switch Palace quotes the ending text of the NES ''VideoGame/Ghostbusters1984''.
44	* StylisticSuck: The Worst World overworld maps from VLDC 7 to VLDC 9 are designed to mimic low quality SMW ROM hacks.
45	* ThemeAndVariationsSoundtrack: In addition to custom music from other games, remixes of the Super Mario World theme are used.
46	* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: In VLDC 8 and 9, the bonus judge worlds qualify as this.
47	* TrollFic: Confirm Level Viewer's levels, as well as "A Vanilla Level" and "Epic Nothing" are examples of this, and these were the lowest ranked levels in VLDC 7 and VLDC 8.
48	* {{Understatement}}: When starting "Nice Ice Adventure" (the lowest-ranked level in VLDC 7), a text box appears and warns players that it's a [[PlatformHell kaizo level]], and that they should grab the sphere to their left if they wish to skip it. What it ''doesn't'' tell players is that [[spoiler:the level runs for ''[[MarathonLevel seventeen minutes long]]'', yet barely gives them enough time to complete it, even if played optimally]].
49	* UnexpectedGameplayChange:
50	** VLDC 12's Space Cave Rescue feels like an ASM-heavy level out of VideoGame/BrutalMario, and is a puzzle level where you select what blocks spawn before playing the level.
51	** The level that Daizo made for VLDC 9 attempts to be a Shump, but ranked very low due to nigh-unavoidable hazards.
52	* UnintentionallyUnwinnable: In the 1.0 version of VLDC 8, the intended path through [=MariYOLO=] adventure is made unwinnable due to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUERz93M2dw a muncher preventing a saw you need to spin jump on from progressing]]. A 1.1 patch was issued very soon after, fixing this bug.

Context VideoGame / VanillaLevelDesignContest