clickbait description: it took me 5 whole minutes to die in some questionable level
Actual vulgar language warning
This TAS contains some SWEAR words that might frighten CHILDREN and CONCERNED PARENTS!

Introduction

The Questionable Level Design Contest is a Super Mario World hacking contest hosted by AmperSam where entrants make a short, one level hack with the theme of simply being "questionable". It's a neat hack jam where folks make lots of interesting interpretations of the idea of "questionable" with incredibly silly and strange ideas that probably wouldn't fit in a full, conventional SMW hack.
QLDC #2 is where this particular SMW level hack comes in. Specifically, it's #18 in the Anonymized Entries patch collection. The main idea of this hack was the idea of making the map the actual meat of the level. The "actual" level at the end is intentionally terrible as the main punchline. I found this level really fun and interesting to play. As a goof I also decided to TAS the level as well since it is April Fools Day and all that.
Contest entry patches available here: https://www.smwcentral.net/?p=viewthread&t=123606
I'll add actual hack author details and level name (assuming one exists) when the judging results actually come in. As of this writing (21 March 2023) the results haven't been finalized. I also intentionally didn't look up who's who with submissions so I'm in the dark about it until then.
Update 4 April 2023
The winners have been announced! The results thread is here: https://www.smwcentral.net/?p=viewthread&t=124298
The hackers who teamed up to make this entry are Faro and MM102. This entry also won 1st place in the contest, so congrats the them. Also congrats to the other entrants in the contest.

Run notes

  • Emulator used: BizHawk 2.8
  • BSNES 115+ core
  • Single level ROM hack
    • QLDC 2023, Anonymized Entry #18

Technical and mechanical notes

Going faster on the map isn't available until the 3rd map screen where the text above says it's an option. It's also not available for some maps for comedic effect.
Since this is a hack jam with a short deadline there are bound to be bugs in any given hack. In this particular one, due to going too fast the music for later sections simply do not start which sadly breaks some of the musical goofs in the hack. I can confirm they do work normally when I did a casual playthrough on the same core and emulator version.
I tried using the SMW BizHawk Lua script for info on subpixels but due to the extensive nature of what was changed the scripts simply didn't work. That definitely means that there's probably subpixel management that can be done to save extra time here and there.
Jumping off the P-switches in mid-air was faster than going back into the map movement sections. The one over lava saved roughly 10 frames over using map movement. It looks cool if nothing else.
I could have ended the inputs at frame 19947 with a jump into the muncher ceiling but I felt at least showing off a little bit of the "level" was worth it. Gotta show that the hacker committed to the bit at the end.

Special thanks

  • AmperSam, for hosting this year's QLDC, and the QLDC judges for judging these weird and wild entries
  • The SMW hacking community for their incredible hacks with a wide array of ideas
  • Masterjun, for his incredible work on messing with Super Mario World and also actually being funny with his April Fools Day goofs

someone: I'm gonna kinda judge this or something 🙃
ThunderAxe31: Wow, what a cool hack! And you even picked it before anyone knew it was going to be the winner of the contest! 😃
Regarding the ending, I have to note that the only way to "beat" this game is by dying. Getting hit or falling doesn't make you lose lives, except in the last level. However, committing suicide in that last level is really trivial, so it makes sense to allow the author to perform there whatever playaround they wish, and still consider the movie goal as fastest-completion, as the rest of the game was cleared as fast as possible. In the practice, we will consider this as a stylistic choice, for which the publication page will have the "Contains speed/entertainment tradeoffs" tag.
Accepting!!!

EZGames69: Processing...


TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #8167: Darkman425's SNES My QLDC Level (QLDC 2023) in 05:34.40
Patashu
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No opinion on publishability, but this was hilarious, thank you!
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This one is a keeper for sure.
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That was fantastic at 2x speed
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Twisted_Eye
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Absolutely incredible hack, everything between the long straight walking sequences was mindblowingly creative.
lexikiq
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What a creative hack! This was a delight to watch, eager yes vote from me
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So... are we sure there is no way to beat the level at the end? Can you please contact the creators of this hack and ask, please?
my personal page - my YouTube channel - my GitHub - my Discord: thunderaxe31 <Masterjun> if you look at the "NES" in a weird angle, it actually clearly says "GBA"
Patashu
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ThunderAxe31 wrote:
So... are we sure there is no way to beat the level at the end? Can you please contact the creators of this hack and ask, please?
Given custom code runs when you die in this level (it doesn't normally say THE END), it can reasonably be assumed that this is the intended progression.
My Chiptune music, made in Famitracker: http://soundcloud.com/patashu My twitch. I stream mostly shmups & rhythm games http://twitch.tv/patashu My youtube, again shmups and rhythm games and misc stuff: http://youtube.com/user/patashu
EZGames69
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I am pretty sure the final level is a joke, as it feels like the type of level you'd play if you sort by new in Mario Maker.
[14:15] <feos> WinDOES what DOSn't 12:33:44 PM <Mothrayas> "I got an oof with my game!" Mothrayas Today at 12:22: <Colin> thank you for supporting noble causes such as my feet MemoryTAS Today at 11:55 AM: you wouldn't know beauty if it slapped you in the face with a giant fish [Today at 4:51 PM] Mothrayas: although if you like your own tweets that's the online equivalent of sniffing your own farts and probably tells a lot about you as a person MemoryTAS Today at 7:01 PM: But I exert big staff energy honestly lol Samsara Today at 1:20 PM: wouldn't ACE in a real life TAS just stand for Actually Cease Existing
fsvgm777
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I believe for individual contest entries, the hack title should follow a distinct norm. I propose the following: <contest name> - <name of entry level> or, if the level doesn't have a specific name, <X's entry>, where X can have multiple authors. For this instance, it'd be "QLDC 2023 - My QLDC Level". Any opinions? ...btw, this actually was kind of hilariously interesting, watching it.
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fsvgm777 wrote:
I believe for individual contest entries, the hack title should follow a distinct norm. I propose the following: <contest name> - <name of entry level> or, if the level doesn't have a specific name, <X's entry>, where X can have multiple authors. For this instance, it'd be "QLDC 2023 - My QLDC Level". Any opinions?
I agree with the idea. I'll add that if enough runs from contests are submitted, I think they could be added as Game Groups ("Mario", "QLDC 2023").
EZGames69
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I like this idea. I don’t mind if you wanna rename it to that.
[14:15] <feos> WinDOES what DOSn't 12:33:44 PM <Mothrayas> "I got an oof with my game!" Mothrayas Today at 12:22: <Colin> thank you for supporting noble causes such as my feet MemoryTAS Today at 11:55 AM: you wouldn't know beauty if it slapped you in the face with a giant fish [Today at 4:51 PM] Mothrayas: although if you like your own tweets that's the online equivalent of sniffing your own farts and probably tells a lot about you as a person MemoryTAS Today at 7:01 PM: But I exert big staff energy honestly lol Samsara Today at 1:20 PM: wouldn't ACE in a real life TAS just stand for Actually Cease Existing
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I think it would be more appropriate to name it "My QLDC Level (QLDC 2023)". We use this kind of naming when there are homonym game titles. See this example: [4178] NES Angry Birds (Nice Code) by ThunderAxe31 in 07:51.21
my personal page - my YouTube channel - my GitHub - my Discord: thunderaxe31 <Masterjun> if you look at the "NES" in a weird angle, it actually clearly says "GBA"
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I personally think it makes more sense to put the name of the contest first, as it's the main reason why the entry exists in the first place. Something like this could be read as "This is a TAS by Darkman425 of an entry from QLDC 2023 called "My QLDC Level"". Conversely, I think for otherwise identical game titles (not contest entries), putting the name of the developers at the end behind brackets makes more sense, cause it'd be a bit awkward to read otherwise IMO. With the Angry Birds example above, I'm reading it as "this is a TAS by ThunderAxe31 of the game Angry Birds developed by Nice Code".
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IMO, I'd just stick it in the category. It'd look proper in quotation marks. It fits the style of the site more than the other suggestions. Then it could all share the same game page as well, and just have a bunch of different categories. I've seen other examples as this as well. Otherwise wouldn't the system technically require separate game pages? (Which will get very messy very fast) [TAS] SNES QLDC 2023 "Darkman425's Level" by Darkman425 in 05:34.40 That's really the TASVideos style, shares the same game page, and has the most readability. It allows for co-authors, obsoletions, etc., all without needing to create/add/append a bunch of game pages.
fsvgm777 wrote:
With the Angry Birds example above, I'm reading it as "this is a TAS by ThunderAxe31 of the game Angry Birds developed by Nice Code".
Agree. This makes more sense as it's the developer. I wouldn't use that style here.
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Example.
Published TASes: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12 Please consider voting for me as Rookie TASer Of 2023 - Voting is in December 2023 My rule is quality TASes over quantity TASes... unless I'm bored.
fsvgm777
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OtakuTAS wrote:
IMO, I'd just stick it in the category. It'd look proper in quotation marks. It fits the style of the site more than the other suggestions. Then it could all share the same game page as well, and just have a bunch of different categories. I've seen other examples as this as well. Otherwise wouldn't the system technically require separate game pages? (Which will get very messy very fast) [TAS] SNES QDLC 2023 "Darkman425's Level" by Darkman425 in 05:34.40
Except it doesn't fit the style at all. Indeed, there is no compilation hack of the contest in question, and as such, it doesn't make sense at all to put the name of the contest entry in the branch label. Secondly, the entry was not made by Darkman425, but by Faro and MM102, as mentioned in the submission text, and the entry is literally called "My QLDC Level", as mentioned in the contest's results thread (behind spoilers).
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Just used his username as an example. It can be adjusted as needed. Along the lines of this, which I would probably use in a case like this where it doesn't really have a proper name like here (the name of the hack is arguable as it's kind of... default, nor does it appear to have a working title screen):
fsvgm777 wrote:
or, if the level doesn't have a specific name, <X's entry>, where X can have multiple authors.
------------------------------------------------------------------ It is true that it is not all contained on one ROM file, however at this same time in 20 years when we're TASing Super Mario Maker, it would likely all fall under the same game. (I'd imagine some kind of custom save file or patch would be required there without near-impossibly hacking into the internet capabilities somehow while maintaining frame skip, I digress) If we are being that specific, "QLDC 2023" isn't a game either, nor is it in the title given by the authors (solely "My QLDC Level"). Someone like LogansGamingRoom who submits a lot of interesting homebrew runs built for contests will usually put the contest in the description but there is never any mention in the title. It's a bit of an odd scenario though as usually those games are full-fledged games, where these are single levels speedily built for a contest that tend to put more weight on being Super Mario World than their own entity, not to mention the name being thrown on after the fact... or in this case, really not at all. It doesn't really have a name. It does, but it doesn't. This would obviously be a lot more cut and dry if it was a full-fledged hack like Kaizo rather than this rare scenario. I do think it's very important to have here (hacks are like a breathing life force of speedrun.com and the same could be said for here and drive quite the daily competition), and I hope it gets sorted out. If we're looking at this as a normal ROM hack, the title should stay as-is, and it makes more sense to me now reading that the title is the actual given name rather than Darkman425 describing a contest entry he made. The name of the game is literally "My QLDC Level". I thought it was the author describing the game. Thunderaxe31's example also now sounds a lot nicer. I guess my opinion now is that it should stay as is, just as it'd be named if it was a full-release hack... wouldn't make any mention of the contest nor the base game.
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Alternatively, it could be branded under a game title like "Super Mario World Single-Level Hacks", rephrased somehow. It's a bit of a slippery slope as otherwise it's very possible to end up with a ton of different game pages, a bunch of different YouTube titles, etc., etc., when it's all really the same base game at heart. Some clicks on "Best Game Ever" expecting something, and it's just a Mario level hack that isn't even a full game. One of the interesting discussions to be had after allowing ROM hacks and also relaxing the standards of acceptance: what constitutes a "different" game and what level of editing is required to take it to that extent? I think some form of grouping these together and standardizing them as similar if not the same, whatever it be, would be best. It also may not end up being a problem, but thinking theoretically if we get a few of these.
Published TASes: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12 Please consider voting for me as Rookie TASer Of 2023 - Voting is in December 2023 My rule is quality TASes over quantity TASes... unless I'm bored.
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<contest name> - <name of entry level> isn't something we've done so far, but for a new thing, it feels natural and intuitive for "games" that are just joke hacks, with potentially joke names. If there's a clash in names, we can still put author(s) in parentheses, as always. Now regarding <name of entry level> (<contest name>), it emphasizes the actual name of the hack, and helps making the contest a completely separate notion, effectively preventing possible viewer misunderstanding, so I like it too. Name of the hack is not a branch goal within an existing game, so it can't be a branch label.
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ThunderAxe31 wrote:
I think it would be more appropriate to name it "My QLDC Level (QLDC 2023)". We use this kind of naming when there are homonym game titles. See this example: [4178] NES Angry Birds (Nice Code) by ThunderAxe31 in 07:51.21
I agree with this suggestion. I think the ordering is important as well. If we had written it like “QLDC 2023 - My QLDC Level”, people might be confused about what the name of the hack is called, they might think it’s called QLDC 2023. However, using “My QLDC Level (QLDC 2023)” makes it clear what the name is, and they can assume the Parentheses is the contest name (especially when they read the description explaining where the hack comes from).
[14:15] <feos> WinDOES what DOSn't 12:33:44 PM <Mothrayas> "I got an oof with my game!" Mothrayas Today at 12:22: <Colin> thank you for supporting noble causes such as my feet MemoryTAS Today at 11:55 AM: you wouldn't know beauty if it slapped you in the face with a giant fish [Today at 4:51 PM] Mothrayas: although if you like your own tweets that's the online equivalent of sniffing your own farts and probably tells a lot about you as a person MemoryTAS Today at 7:01 PM: But I exert big staff energy honestly lol Samsara Today at 1:20 PM: wouldn't ACE in a real life TAS just stand for Actually Cease Existing
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Aight, reading feos's and EZGames69's posts has convinced me to put the name of the contest in brackets. That way, we still have a very clear distinction that it was part of a contest and not a one-off thing. Thank you for your proposal, ThunderAxe31. I feel the authors of this entry should be mentioned in the description, by the way.
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Post subject: Movie published
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This movie has been published. The posts before this message apply to the submission, and posts after this message apply to the published movie. ---- [5226] SNES My QLDC Level (QLDC 2023) by Darkman425 in 05:34.40