Official Level Design Contests of 2020

	Official Level Design Contests and Collabs	[view]
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Starting this year, the following changes took effect:

Contests are now held every three months instead of two, in a seasonal fashion. This means there are now four editions per year: Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn OLDCs.
Votes are now private during the voting period, and made public only when the results are announced.
Single Player levels are now compiled into one package, similar to the Multiplayer divisions.
Multiplayer levels may now include custom assets and scripts, much like the Single Player division.
The Circuit division was restored, after its discontinuation back in 2011.
Three divisions for the SRB2 Battle addon were added: Arena, Battle (for Control Point and Diamond in the Rough gametypes) and Battle CTF.

Summer

Host: SeventhSentinel

Then-current SRB2 version: v2.2.6

This was the first contest after v2.2's release, as well as the first since the suspension of the OLDC in 2015. It currently has the largest amount of entries to date, breaking two records simultaneously with 41 entries in total, 21 of them for the Single Player division alone. Starting from this contest, the OLDC began following a seasonal format instead of the previous bimonthly format. Since the OLDC's return was announced halfway through July, participants had just one and a half months to submit their entries. Due to the forums experiencing a temporary outage on the day of the deadline, the submission period was extended by 24 hours.

The Single Player entries were all compiled into a single level pack, instead of being supplied as multiple standalone files. They could be accessed through a central hub level: a system inherited from the SUGOI series of level packs, allowing players to play all maps without restarting the game, and streamlining the experience of the contest in netgames via a voting system.

A number of changes to the multiplayer divisions were made:

Multiplayer entries could now include custom assets and scripts.
Circuit was reintroduced to the rotation after being discontinued in 2011.
For the first time in OLDC history, custom gametypes were supported. New divisions for the Control Point, Diamond in the Rough, Battle CTF, and Arena gametypes from the SRB2 Battle addon were featured.

The 2020 Summer OLDC received a wide variety of entries, with some incredibly well received and others poorly received. The top stages in the Single Player division were extremely close in their rankings, with Wild West by Dead and Metallic Madness by Othius & Kanna having a margin of only a single point. Oasis Palace by So2ro won narrowly with a sixteen point lead; it was praised for its visual design, expansive layout, and good usage of existing level gimmicks. Wild West was heavily praised for its unique visual design and high replayability, with various alternate paths and numerous secrets. Metallic Madness was well-liked for its unique take on sloped gameplay and visual design that mixed graphics from Sonic CD with original assets. However, complex geometry and reliance on large transparent planes in expansive rooms led to the stage having performance issues for some. Rustic Templar by LazyMK was praised for creative use of slopes and level gimmicks, and its strong focus on character-specific paths, including paths designed around Metal Sonic (which the 2.2 vanilla campaign doesn't feature). TrickyTex and Tatsuru's Snowflake Ridge was considered a highlight of the division for its departure from regular SRB2 gameplay, using the game's engine to make a level in the style of the Spyro series focused on collecting gems throughout the level.

Metallic Madness narrowly avoided disqualification due to both a Lua script that interfered with other levels and unused music files exceeding the music filesize limit; it was allowed by the judges once those files were removed. Aqua Paradise Zone and Heroes Hall used PNG textures, causing the former to take an exceptionally long time to load, and causing some flats in the latter to render incorrectly in OpenGL. These issues, along with missing emblem definitions in Wild West and Myriad Memories, were considered significant enough to require an update to the contest's Single Player compilation, marking the first time in OLDC history that files were updated after the voting period started.

To do
talk about the multiplayer levels

SSN's Picnic, Zolton's Battle map, was made as a joke during a Discord voice chat and was heavily influenced by the events of the call. Despite her lack of experience playing Battle, the Control Point spawns were loved by many. Meanwhile, Latius' Arena Station (the only one of the levels he submitted for the OLDC) was poorly received, but despite the author stating up front that it was "based on the difficulty selection area from KHBlast", it still was allowed in the competition.

To do
Add relevant commentary about notable levels from each division where applicable.

Single Player division

MAPS6 – Oasis Palace Zone by So2ro – 757
MAPSH – Wild West Zone, Act 2 by Dead – 741
MAPSG – Metallic Madness Good Future by Othius/Kanna – 740
MAPS7 – Rustic Templar Zone by MK.exe – 723
MAPS2 – Toffee Tor Zone, Act 1 by RoyKirbs – 714
MAPSJ – Aqua Paradise Zone by Twins'R'Awesome – 677
MAPSF – Spyro Ripto Blast 2 - Snowflake Ridge by TrickyTex/Tatsuru – 674
MAPS4 – Shadow of Atlantis Zone by akirahedgehog – 555
MAPSE – Overgrown Heights Zone by InferNOr – 500
MAPSL – Hectic Harbor Zone by ACStriker – 500
MAPS9 – Heroes Hall by Zaxel – 398
MAPS5 – Cluttered Cave Zone, Act 2 by Riolucariolu – 389
MAPSC – Concordian Coast Zone by Ktoby/Pronicthewedgehog – 367
MAPSI – Myriad Memories Zone by ManimiFire – 364
MAPSB – Wasteland Wilds Zone by SunCyclone – 341
MAPSA – Cyan Heights Zone by PencilVoid – 278
MAPSD – Anteggtica Zone by Radicalicious – 239
MAPSK – Magma Falls Zone by RadicalChaos_6922 – 213
MAPS8 – Valley Falls Zone by Hamsandwich – 202
MAPS1 – Crystal Cave Zone by CST1229 – 201
MAPS3 – Hypertower Zone by WasifBoomz – 87

Circuit division

MAPR0 – HydroWing Zone by JABSphere94 – 20
MAPR2 – Greenflower Canyon Zone by Othius/Frostiikin – 17
MAPR1 – Haptic Caverns Zone by PencilVoid – 6

Match division

MAPMC – Crystalline Heights Zone by Revan – 14
MAPMD – Disco Town Zone by Trege – 7
MAPME – Spiral Cavern Zone by Su_per – 3

Capture the Flag division

No maps were submitted for this category.

Note
The levels below are designed for use with the SRB2 Battle addon and will not function properly without it.

Control Point/Diamond in the Rough division

MAPBC – Glimmer Gulch Zone by happyalm – 14
MAPBE – Peach Castle Zone by ACStriker – 11
MAPBD – SSN's Picnic by Zolton – 5

Battle Capture the Flag division

MAPC2 – Serene Shore Zone by Krabs – 27
MAPC0 – Moonlight Zone by Krabs – 22
MAPC1 – Jagged Creek Zone by RoyKirbs – 9
MAPC3 – Big Arch by Othius – 8

Arena division

MAPA2 – Gravity Station Zone by Krabs – 44
MAPA3 – Hidden Chamber Zone by Krabs – 38
MAPA1 – Mountainous Saloon Zone by InferNOr – 35
MAPA0 – Pipeline Panic Zone by RoyKirbs – 26
MAPA6 – Grassy Clearing by Apollyon – 20
MAPA4 – Symmetri-Canyon Zone by PapsTheEchidna121 – 18
MAPA5 – Arena Station by Latius – 8

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