Level of the Week! (PR2)

[Dangevin]

This Week's Winner is...

Celestica by Levente77

(Submitted by @Levente77)

This race has gameplay that is very fun to run through fast, and has an amazingly drawn background fitting with the name of the level. Overall this is a great level!

Week 123 Submission List:

1. Sandstorm by ZRD

2. Purgatory by ZRD (Runner Up)

3. Celestica by Levente77

[Overbeing]

The creator of your submission's PR2 username: The Duck
Your PR2 username: The Duck
What the level name is: 3.1 Adept
What the level ID is: 6514623
When the level was last updated: 10/Apr/2024
What type of level it is: Race
A description of the level: A gatekeeper level in my "The Duck Campaign". Adept asks the players to use the things that they have learned so far and put them to use.

[ZRD]

The creator of your submission's PR2 username: ZRD
Your PR2 username: ZRD
What the level name is: Rodent Rally
What the level ID is: 6515072
When the level was last updated: 11-04-24
What type of level it is: Race
A description of the level: Welcome to Rodent Rally By ZRD.
How practical are you as a Rodent?
i think its time to put your skills to the test!
Difficulty : Hard
Enjoy!

[Levente77]

The creator of your submission's PR2 username: Aphex Twin
Your PR2 username: Levente77
What the level name is: Pulsewidth
What the level ID is: 6515133
When the level was last updated: 11/4-24
What type of level it is: Race
A description of the level: Just fun speedrunnable gameplay :]

[Mia]

The creator of your submission's PR2 username: Tweet
Your PR2 username: Platform Racing 2
What the level name is: Lucky Race!
What the level ID is: 6515189
When the level was last updated: 21/Apr/2024
What type of level it is: Race
A description of the level: A fun little twist on the classic luck test level! You can finish every time, so come race your friends!

[Dangevin]

This Week's Winner is...

Culinary Quest by Stunt

(Submitted by @Stunt)

This race features a mix of different gameplay styles that take place in different food set pieces. There is clever usage of different items and custom stat blocks. Definitely recommend checking this out!

Week 124 Submission List:

1. 2.6 Time by The Duck
2. Culinary Quest by Stunt

3. Purgatory by ZRD (Runner Up)

[ZRD]

The creator of your submission's PR2 username: ZRD
Your PR2 username: ZRD
What the level name is: Pursue
What the level ID is: 6514312
When was the level last updated: Feb 10 2024
What type of level is it: Race
A description of the level: Welcome to Pursue By ZRD.
a obstical course suitable for anyone!
Difficulty : Easy
Type : Race
Art Inspired By Levente77
Hope you Enjoy!

[Overbeing]

The creator of your submission's PR2 username: The Duck
Your PR2 username: The Duck
What the level name is: Precision Lap
What the level ID is: 6513828
When the level was last updated: 2/Apr/2024
What type of level it is: Precision
A description of the level: Uses custom stat blocks to have the player complete 2 laps on the course with 2 different stat distributions that open up new paths.

[Dangevin]

I'd like to comment on a few things people have been bringing up as of late about LotW, as well as some general updates I'd like to mention as well.

• Frustrations about winners not being announced on a timely manner and delayed weeks
  
  I know that this has been a sore spot for those that want to see if their level will win Level of the Week, and I completely understand that seeing there be a 2 to 3 week queue of levels doesn't sit right for many. Truth be told, having only 2 judges has been a bit complicated for deciding winners and although I would like to have more judges, I don't get any applications for it at all. Sometimes TRUC or I may not be available for Sunday specifically, so the winning post gets delayed. Whether that's because of lack of internet, or because I simply have plans for the day and night, delays happen. As of late those sort of delays have pushed the weeks back quite a lot. As for me personally, I'd like to have both our perspectives on which level should win before posting a winner as I don't want to be the sole deciding factor on it.
  
  
• Frustrations about prizes not being awarded on time
  
  Prizes are a bit tricky. I typically set up a time frame of 3 days for winners to tell me what prizes they want after winning Level of the Week. However, sometimes a lack of response makes me question if I sent a Private Message in-game or not, leading me to send them another Private Message. Because of this, prize distribution can take quite a while, and that is on me. I'm going to talk about my work flow of posting winners later in this post, but I would like to add that having that 3 day delay has resulted in having me forget about the prizes truthfully. I will do better at distributing prizes for all you winners as you deserve them!
  
  
• Frustrations about artifact placement timing, and also my philosophy on artifact placements
  
  When I announce the artifact placements I tend to do so close to the moment I announce the winner on JV. When I go to place the artifact, the designated day for the placement is typically Thursdays. That was what was agreed upon when I set up this contest. This can result in instances where we had delays announcing the winner of Level of the Week for that week, and the winning post is made on Thursday, that being the same day the artifact goes live. Having little time to be aware of the placement makes it unfair for users, and I apologize for those short timeframes where that has happened. I will do better with that.
  
  Now I'd like to talk about my philosophy on artifact placements since I don't think I have publicly said this on this thread before. My philosophy is to have a wide range of placements that can vary from easy to difficult, obviously placed to secretive. Some levels don't allow the artifact to be in a secretive place, or some levels are long so a difficult artifact pathing isn't possible. I know people possibly would want an easy artifact placement every time, or a difficult artifact placement every time, but I try and give it some variety so that it doesn't get boring to obtain for most people. Also, I try and change up the time of which the artifact is live so that different time zones can attempt to finish with the artifact first. I hope this has maybe put things into perspective the next time you go looking for the artifact!
  
  
• Frustrations about lack of communication on these matters
  
  I truly did not realize that these issues were bothering players as much as it has been aside from the delayed submission lists, and that a lack of communication on these matters were bothering players even more. From now on, if a delay is to be made, I will be more vocal on this thread about it as well as on the JV Discord. If you ever have any questions regarding the contest I would highly recommend DMing me on Discord as I can get back to you a lot quicker through there than say JV or PR2 PMs.
  

• My workflow for Level of the Week
  
  To give you a better understanding of my workflow for announcing winners, this is how it goes down:
  
  - TRUC and I either group up, play through each level, discuss positives and negatives on a level, then decide a winner, or if TRUC is busy/I'm busy, we will leave our thoughts on the levels in the LotW Judging group on Discord when available.
  
  - After this, once a winner and runner up has been decided (if there is a runner up), either TRUC and I will go into the winning submission, or I'll go into the winning submission, and find a good place to take a screenshot. I'll take the screenshot, edit it, and then save it.
  
  - Once this part is done, I will go on the forums, and start working on the post. This requires a nice description of the level, a good amount of formatting, and then upload the screenshot to imgbb so that I can include the screenshot in the winning post.
  
  - When this is done, I update the submission list post on the first page of the thread as well as the Original Post. The changes can include changing bold letters, adding in the URL for the winning post, and then updating the Hall of Fame if needed.
  
  - Afterward I will go back into the level and decide a good spot for the artifact, along with deciding what time the artifact should go live. Then I will send a PM to the winner telling them they won and what prizes they would like.
  
  - Once I place the artifact, my attention is focused on the JV Discord. I make a post for the winning submission, add the link to the winning post on JV, and add in both a Unix time zone code so that the time shown for the artifact represents a users local time zone as well as the screenshot I took earlier. I then take this post, make an event for it, while removing certain aspects of it so that it doesn't have filler. I'll typically post the event link in #pr2 on the server afterward.
  
  - Finally, I will update the Level of the Week Winners thread to reflect the recent winning submission, which includes a decent amount of editing.
  
  Hope this has given some insight as to how much time is spent updating Level of the Week!
  
  
• Update on a timeline for the upcoming few weekly winners
  
  To catch up on the current queue of submissions for Level of the Week, I plan on updating the winners for Week 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, and 130 as follows:
  
  Week 125: We will be announcing the winner for this week on April 26th, and placing the artifact on April 27th
  Week 126: We will be announcing the winner for this week on April 30th, and placing the artifact on May 1st
  Week 127: We will be announcing the winner for this week on May 3rd, and placing the artifact on May 4th
  Week 128: We will be announcing the winner for this week on May 7th, and placing the artifact on May 8th
  Week 129: We will be announcing the winner for this week on May 10th, and placing the artifact on May 11th
  Week 130: We will be up to date by this week. We will be announcing the winner for this week on May 12th and placing the artifact on May 16th
  

I think that's all I really wanted to comment on for now. If you have any comments or questions about this post, feel free to let me know. Apologies for the delays and lack of communication.

[Dangevin]

Please welcome @Stunt, our newest judge for Level of the Week!

[Dangevin]

This Week's Winner is...

Purgatory by ZRD

(Submitted by @Overbeing)

This trip through purgatory is an equally fast and dangerous one. The artwork on this level is great, and the gameplay fits the dark tone the level sets.

Week 125 Submission List:

1. SolarSystem by zfury
2. Sandstorm by ZRD (Runner Up)

3. Purgatory by ZRD

[ZRD]

just keep rollin rollin rollin

The creator of your submission's PR2 username: ZRD
Your PR2 username: ZRD
What the level name is: Sandstorm
What the level ID is: 6514706
When the level was last updated: 06-03-24
What type of level it is: Race
A description of the level: Welcome to "Sandstorm" By ZRD. Speed run through the Storm to the finish to make it out alive! dont get caught up in the tornado! Difficulty : Easy Enjoy!