Design Challenge – Tutorial10

In the old Atmosphir, Design Challenges were always a big hit. The concept was simple; build a level to meet a certain theme or criteria, and publish it alongside other entries to be judged by members of the community. The best levels were featured on the news page, and the top three winners received Atmos as prizes. First place won 1,000 Atmos, second won 500, and third won 250.

The last design challenge given to the community was Arcade09, back in November. Since then, the community has been deprived of the most popular competition to hit the site. Thankfully this beloved contest has returned in the newest version of the game.

One of the earliest design challenges was Tutorial09. In it, players were instructed to create levels that were idea for beginners. This meant simple concepts that forgave easily and let newbies get into the flow of gaming again. Of course, the downside to that challenge was that the designer had no effective means of communicating with the player, except through the level description before the play button was even pressed. Since then, things have changed.

With the addition of the Info Sticker tool, this month’s design challenge has been taken to a whole new level. Titled Tutorial10, the criteria is essentially the same as it was way back then: Build a level which allows newbies to get used to the game. Dave (OkaySamurai) has encouraged the community to start the level easily, and move up to more advanced concepts which test previous knowledge.

It has not been officially stated how this contest will be judged. The official topic for the design challenge says “At the end of the contest, the Minor Studios staff will select their personal favorites.” This implies that Minor Studios will play and vote on the levels themselves. However, this goes against the tradition of the community selecting levels.

As usual, the prizes will be 1,000 Atmos for first, 500 for second, and 250 for third. As an added bonus, some levels may be selected to be official tutorials for the game in the future! The deadline is March 10, 2010. Good luck everyone!

Thanks for reading!