[READ FIRST] Judging Panel Rules/Information
Sept 10, 2019 18:27:56 GMT -5
alex ffrtegfd, WillFlame, and 6 more like this
Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2019 18:27:56 GMT -5
Welcome to the revamped Judging Panel.
NOTE: All levels that were in the panel before the revamp have been archived. Please tag a judge to move it back, or create a new thread if you still would like a review.
Here you will be able to get constructive criticism from other members of the community, as well as our team of established Level Judges.
Before you post a thing, please make sure to review the rules of the panel. Failure to comply to the rules will result in all of your levels being archived and removed (i.e. we won't judge them), and on multiple offenses may result in being banned from the Judging Panel entirely. We all want to give you the feedback you are seeking, so please reciprocate simply by abiding by these rules.
JUDGING PANEL RULES:
1) All submissions must include an ID. We will not spend time searching for your level for you.
2) You may not have more than one of your own levels in the panel at any given time (including in the same thread). If you have multiple levels in the panel, only the newest will remain, while the rest will be archived.
3) No submitting hacked, impossible, or joke levels. Don't waste our time, and only post levels you want serious criticism for.
4) No submitting unfinished levels, including but not limited to layouts, previews, etc. These go in the Level Suggestions (Non Judged) board.
5) No submitting rated levels.
6) No submitting levels by other players. However, posting someone else's level on behalf of someone who has requested for you to do so is fine.
7) Do not post any IDs nor reference your own levels in someone else's thread. It's extremely disrespectful.
8) Members who offer helpful and respectful criticism to others in their own threads may often find that their levels are judged more quickly.
9) Absolutely no harassment of judges or anyone who has reviewed a level. If you disagree, want clarification, or another review, feel free to respectfully request for it.
10) If your level has not been reviewed after 3 days of the post date, you may tag a judge to request for a review.
11) If no judge has been tagged and the level has not been reviewed within a month, the thread will be archived. You may tag a judge to have it moved back into the panel, albeit highly annoying us for not doing so earlier.
12) When reviewing another person's level, make sure to be constructive, detailed, and most importantly, do not insult the creator.
Also do note that although optional, a video of the level greatly helps with speeding up the review process.
*The Level Judges are the sole moderators of the Judging Panel. Staff members who are not level judges may not move any threads within.
Below you will find a treasure trove of valuable information. Thank you for visiting the GDForums, and we hope you will use the criticism we give you to improve as a creator.
RATING SYSTEM:
Written by Kirie:
Feature-Worthy
The best levels go here. These could definitely be featured and both the design and gameplay have feature-worthy quality!
Good
If your level goes here it means that the level is good! It is definitely star-worthy and has a chance of getting featured if you're lucky. The problem with these levels is that there are one or more factors that aren't good enough- like gameplay, for example- and therefore the judge may think your level isn't quite good enough for the Feature-Worthy board.
Decent
If your level goes here, it has some good points, but it most likely won't be featured and you'd have to be lucky to get it rated. Maybe it's unoriginal or the gameplay, design, or both are mediocre and need some improvement. You still have a lot of potential if your level gets here! It's just that your level isn't bad, but not specifically good either!
Needs Improvement
If your level goes here it's self-explanatory: It unfortunately needs improvement. The level just isn't that good and needs improvement regarding most points. In many cases it's best to just make a new level.
The judges can also give a "low-end" or "high-end" term. That means that the level is closer to one category than another.
FAQ:
Written by Kirie:
"How do I get level judge?"
Make frequent good reviews which are liked by everyone and are polite, fair, and unbiased. Being liked by the judges team is a plus. You WILL get noticed if you do this, and then you can perhaps join the team!
However, when you're a judge, we REQUIRE you to both approve and make frequent good reviews, or you might be demoted.
"Can I suggest new ideas and concepts to the level judge/suggestions system? If so, where do I suggest them?"
It's wonderful if you have any suggestions for this board!
Recommendations and suggestions are welcomed here! Either make a thread about your idea in the "Forum Recommendations" board, or PM me, Megaman or the other judges! But do NOT post it in this board, this board is for levels only.
"I'm not satisfied with the official review, what do I do?"
We are all humans- even the judges- so all judges can make mistakes/be inaccurate. If you think the review is not detailed enough, biased or/and inaccurate, I really recommend tagging another judge! That is perfectly fine. If the official review IS indeed inaccurate, the judges will discuss about whether or not the level should be moved.
"I have waited 2 days and still no replies!
What do I do?"
You wait. Writing a review takes more time than you think. DON'T bump, or tag judges in newly made threads; that won't help your situation. When the thread is2 weeks 3 days old you can do this
HOW TO GET YOUR LEVEL REVIEWED FASTER
Written by Jayuff:
Well, I'm creating this because lots of people post here, and lots of times it is hard to review levels, since typing in the ID is such a hard job and all, but here I am, going to tell you all, how to get your level reviewed quickly, in the least amount of time. This thread is also tips that I have found to work for MYSELF, and I just want to share some knowledge with you guys
Step ONE: Providing proper information.
When you are submitting a level, remember it can take time for a judge to review what you have provided them with, so be sure to provide them with a large amount of the level details so that it is easier for them to judge your work. Judges don't particularly like to find all the information about a level, and listing it all would be a great help for them, so they can find info quickly and easily.
An example of this would be as followed:
Level Name: Sneeze
Level Creator: Jayuff
Level ID: 24765748
Level Difficulty: Normal 3*
Level Song and Author: Ena by Hinkik
Collaboration / Solo Level : Solo Level
Step TWO: Providing a YouTube Video
Creating a YouTube video is extremely helpful when it comes to level judging, as it helps judges get a feel of what the level looks like. Judges love it when people provide a video, and it makes it easier to judge, since they don't have to go into GD and type in the level name and such to manually play it and find it out.
Judges, do keep in mind that some levels need to be manually played to get an accurate representation of the ideology presented in the level. An example would be for judges, is that you can't specifically judge gameplay without playing the level, so do keep in mind that playing the level is always helpful when it comes to judging!
Also, if you don't have a YouTube video, an Everyplay link is always appreciated! If you can't make a video of the level, you can always provide either a pass to copy your level or make an auto version and provide the ID of that. Both of these make levels A LOT easier to judge since both allow us to explore a level better and makes it easier to judge decoration and music sync, especially on demons.
Step THREE: Titling your thread
Titling your thread is also important, because it makes it easier for judges to see what they are judging, and what the need to be judging. For example, an appropriate level title would be as shown.
Sneeze, by Jayuff [YouTube Video] {3 Stars}
As you can see, shown in Red is the level name and author. This shows who is making the level and gives a fair idea of what they are judging. For example, if the author name was FunnyGame, they would imagine it would be an effect level, so the judges would go, "Hey, this is gonna be an effect level" and have a fair idea on what to judge, and how to judge it.
Shown in Yellow shows that the creator of this thread has supplied a YouTube video. This makes judges more inclined to judge your level, because they can instantly see that it will be easier to judge considering they have a video of it.
And lastly, shown in Green is the difficulty. This makes it easier for judges to know what they are judging, also. Keep this in mind!
Here's another tip which I've been seeing people do quite often that you might want to take advantage of. Instead of putting 3 stars for the difficulty, you can just put the face of the difficulty. So the title would be Sneeze, by Jayuff [YouTube Video]
.
Step FOUR: Tagging judges
This isn't really so much as of a rule, but it's more of a, "common sense" sort of idea. Tagging judges can be a nuisance, and it makes judges less inclined to judge your levels, because it stresses them to do what you want them to do. Tagging judges can be rude, also, because it's basically like forcing them to judge your work. When tagging them (if you decide to do it), make sure to tag different judges each time, and not repeatedly tagging the same one, unless he or she has asked you to tag them when they have submitted a new thread. Although, you may only tag judges after1-2 weeks 3 days has passed since your day of post if not reviewed. Try not to abuse this though.
Step FIVE: Be patient!
Remember, judging levels can sometimes be stressful work, and takes time! When waiting for a level to be judged, make sure to be patient, and not pressure judges to review your level, because they will eventually get to it. Judging usually takes about 1 hour, to 3 days! Remember, there are also about 30 or more people wanting their level judged, so make sure to be patient!
Thanks for reading all of this, and I honestly hope it helps!
TIPS ON MAKING A GOOD REVIEW
Written by Skylighter:
How to make a good review:
1. Take note of both the flaws and strengths of the level you're reviewing. It's good to tell the builder what you think is good and what needs to be improved.
2. Being non-descriptive and just giving a score won't help the builder. The score doesn't do anything to help the builder become better. It's the description that helps the builder become better.
3. Don't just say that "this part is fun" or "this part needs more improvement". You can't just say that because the builder may not know what needs improvement and what makes that part fun. You have to EXPLAIN WHY this part is what it is. In other words, you need to justify what you say.
4. This is obvious, but make sure your review is legible and isn't filled with errors that can impede understanding. You always want the builder to know what you're saying!
5. If how you score gives a rating (Feature-Worthy, Decent, etc.) that is much different than what you really think, then put in your preferred rating and then explain why you chose that rating instead of the score rating. This is common for judges who don't have a consistent rating system. If you get this often then it's time to tweak your system!
This really only applies to ORIGINAL levels. If it's just copied or is a harder or easier version of another level, then it's basically an automatic 0 unless there is highly new design/decoration added to the level.
Written by TimeLink:
Hello everyone not looking for the TL;DR yet.
Recently, I´ve repeatedly noticed a lot of Things related around Judging, and since there always seems to be confusion around it like it´s the most difficult Thing in the World, I wanted to clear some Things up today. Some of this is already in the stickied Thread in the Judging Panel, but apperently not a lot of People read that.
1. I can´t make Reviews when I´m not Judge.
Over and over, I´ve seen Non-Judges Review. Some of them better, some worse. But what I´ve noticed several Times now is the fact that when they´re getting told their Review is too short/undetailed, they say something like; "I know, but I´m not a Level Judge. I can´t review properly anyway."
Now, this Statement is wrong in about every way. First off, you can always review. No matter your rank, let it be member, mod or even guest, you can always, and are always appreciated seen review. It doesn´t matter whether you plan on doing it, maybe are forced to(I hope not) or are simply doing it for fun, it´s always and had always been allowed for any and everyone.
Secondly, as for the members, reviewing is actually how you get Judge in first Place. You can´t say; "Please make me Judge, I´ll make quality reviews then."
We have to know if you can do what you promise. And thus, the best and most active non-judge Reviewers will eventually get noticed and promoted, if they keep their work up and make good Reviews, which I´ll tackle on later. I can promise you, there is a lot of talking about promotions and considerations in the Level Judges Discord Chat, and lots of other Chats as well. We know you have that potential, and if you just keep reviewing nicely and frequently, and it´s just a matter of time.
2. How do I make a good Review?
This Part, has been in the stickied Thread already, but I´ll try to pack it up clearly so you know what to watch out for when you try it yourself.
A) Be detailed.
This is by far the most frequent mistake I see people doing when attempting to judge. You can´t just say; "This Part was good." "The Music Sync was bad." "The Design looked stupid."
You have to go way more into detail. WHAT about it was good/bad? In which way did it make you think so? How could the Creator have done better? These are all Questions you need to ask yourself and answer the Creator then.
Imagine you just joined the Forum, submitted your Level you worked really hard on, and then someone tells you it´s bad. Just like that, without any further Reasoning. Would you be satisfied with that as a "Review"? Of course not. And that´s why you have to go into detail, specifically pointing out what in the Level was good, and what not, why it was good/bad and what the creator can improve. There is always way up for People. You just have to signalize them that.
B) Be active.
This does not even mean you have to review a level or two every day. This only means people notice your presence in the Judging Panel in a way. See a Thread that has been reviewed multiple times already and you agree? Tag a Level Judge to move it! See a Thread that breaks the Rules? Tag a Judge to lock it! Now, I´ll emphasize on who you should tag in this case in a bit, but let people know you´re there and you´re trying to help. Now as for Reviewing itself, active does not mean three levels a day. Active means you judge on a regular basis. If you´re just getting warmed up, 2-3 Reviews a week is fine. If you´re going to seriously aim for a spot as a Judge, then I´d say 4-5 is a good way to go.
One last Thing I want to emphasize on here, is that you can always ask people how you´re doing. None of us Level Judges are monsters who try to eat these foolish people trying to achieve something, we´re actually very welcoming towards newer members and On-The-Way-Judges. So, feel free to contact anybody who you like, let it be via PM on the Forums, asking them in the Shoutbox, or even Discord if they´re willing to give you that.
C) Be good with Words.
From quite a few new non-judge Reviewers, I´ve seen their woody language in terms of expressing what they want to say. You may be right on what you´re saying, but the way you´re saying it could potentially be boring and for anyone reading it, it might not seem like you spent as much time with it as you really did. Take an Example.
"This Part was good because of the varied Block Designs." "This Part was bad because of the lack of detailed Music Sync." "The Gameplay in this Section was worse than the Rest of the Level."
Notice anything? The sentences look entirely chopped off and unemotional. I´m not saying you have to write a novel here, but look. The Sentences may be entirely correct, but it´s really bad to read through because it feels like you just straight wrote down whatever came to your mind. And that´s not what you want. As for some Advice here;
- Vary the Structures of your Sentences. This means you may go a bit less and more into detail here and there, but keep it fresh and interesting for people to read. Especially the Creator might hardly understand what you even mean if everything you write looks the same.
- Do different beginnings to your sentences. Don´t always start with "This Part..." or "This Section...". Mix it up and get creative. Try something like; "Now, about this..." "But, in this Section I think..." or the champion; "I must say that here...".
See, it´s a lot easier to read that way. Some People like me also read stuff out loud in their Mind and something like this can be really annoying.
- Expand your Vocabulary. This means replacing the next maybe with a possible or a perhaps. Removing the but for a however. Or just take a shiny instead of a glowy. It´s about variation that makes your sentences a lot more clean and fluent to read, and it will become extremely easy once only you get used to it.
- Be professional. This Step is kinda optional since not everyone can write perfect Essays in English,(Not even I can, you might remember I´m german) but you should maybe try to compensate what you´re saying by using more professional and advanced tools of writing. This can be the replacement of something long with something short;
"You can find away around this problem." = "You can circumvent this Problem." or it can be stretching what you want to say a bit.
"I think that this Part is good because of the Music Sync, which is underlined by the nice pulsing Objects and the moving Deco." > "I like this Part because of the Music Sync." Just experiment with it a bit, and you´ll get entirely used to it.
D) Be aware of what you´re doing.
As far as being Level Judge goes, I can most definetely say this isn´t in any way a "Rank just to have a Rank"-Type of Rank. Being a Level Judge means being active, constructive, and serious. It means devoting Time into what you do, and wholeheartedly fulfilling your Job. This isn´t something you just do, you should have fun doing it and do it more as a hobby than a job. And once you do get promoted then, don´t start laying back in your Seat. We still expect you to do about nothing less than you did before, you only just crossed the first gap. Chances are you´re going to want to become Senior. Don´t let up just now! As we all know, the Gods put the Work in front of the Prizes. (No I´m not religious, that´s just a saying)
As a sidenote on this, you should also be confident that where you end up putting the Level in the four Categories is right. If you´re not good with a score System in Numbers, just do it without! You should also know atleast most of the rules without having to look at them, and know that for Example a Thread without an ID has to be locked, regardless if a video or anything else is given, or that there is only one Level allowed in a single Thread.
3. My Thread is so old already, what do I do?
In most cases, nothing. Bumping your Thread will only put the Level on the first Page again. And most of the Judges review from the back of the Judging Panel, because of exactly this Reason. We want old Threads reviewed and moved, so bumping your Thread will only make it worse. But what´s even worse than bumping is either bumping it several Times in the desperate Need for attention, which can also be warned(Not actually with a warning percentage, but it is highly disapproved but people trying to judge your level) or bumping it too early. If you try to bump your Thread after it´s been up for two Hours, that won´t do anything but earn bad Reactions from the Community. This is not how it goes here.
And should it really happen you just need the Feedback in your Level so desperately, then try tagging judges in your Threads should it be AT LEAST 2 weeks old. And to do that, don´t make a stupid double Post, go find your Thread again and edit the OP to have a few Tags and reason why you need it this badly. Again, be careful with tagging, and I´ll elaborate on that in a second. But what you need to know is that it´s not only your Level in the Judging Panel. There are lots and lots that technically need judgement every day and your Level is really just a sandcorn in the hourglass. As of right now, there are three Pages of Levels that could potentially be judged ever day, but we are only humans as well and it is very hard for us to manage. So, try seeing it from our perspective next time.
4. Who do I tag when I want a Level Judge to move/lock something or need a review?
Good Question, I´m glad you asked. Normally, Judges that are online on a regular Basis and don´t mind being tagged if it comes to Things in the Judging Panel have that either in their Signature or they can quickly tell you in the Shoutbox if they happen to be online. When you see something like my Signature for Example where it clearly states I don´t mind being tagged and will respond as soon as possible, then just go ahead and tag me. This is the case with a few other Judges too, however, not with all of them.
Some of them might happen to be on vacation, or currently can´t moderate the boards because maybe something has happened in their Life. So, really only tag someone when you´re absolutely sure and it´s explicitly stated the Person doesn´t mind it. Additionally, you can also look if there´s currently one of these People online and see if you can tag them for a direct response then. That way, other Judges who may be enjoying their free time don´t wake up with even more Notifications.
One last Thing I want to emphasize on here is that you should refrain from using the @ judges tag at ALL COSTS. This tag isn´t supposed to be used by anyone, and was originally only used to make Judges see an important event in terms of forum changes. It is really annyoing for all the Judges mentioned in that tag as even some that possibly can´t even review your Level will be tagged, and so will everyone else in the group. If you do end up using this, it doesn´t violate the rules but you will definetely have earned yourself an imaginary red cross on your head, so congratulations.
5. I´ve been reviewing levels for ages already, and I still didn´t get promoted, what do I do?
Wait. Seriously. Time heals all wounds, and so will only the passing of time be able to get you noticed. You can´t expect everybody to immediately see you, especially if you´ve just been starting. However, I can 100% guarantee you that if you really do happen to make quality enough Reviews, you WILL inevitably be noticed. After a good month or two, there sure will be a lot of talk about you, you might just not know because you aren´t in those groups, and obviously Staff Members (And Level Judges) can´t reveal everything. However, it WILL eventually happen that you get promoted, it just takes time. Everybody needs to be sure that you´re up for the job and you bring sufficient quality and quantity and that you can add to the team. The Process of this might take shorter or longer, but it will happen eventually.
Now, all this finally being said, feel free to still contact me and ask me anything you want, judging related. I will be sure to help you out as far as I can and I will gladly answer any remaining questions you may have, so Level Judging isn´t the big Mystery it happens to be for some People anymore.
TL;DR I can´t believe you´re looking for a TL;DR here which I find really rude because I devoted a sheer incredible amount of time on writing this and the fact that you have the time to read all of this sure does prove that you could stop spending your time reading this, which is not going to get you anywhere at all and rather read everything above so you can contribute to the discussion and post something in a constructive manner rather than not even having understood the context if what I was saying.
Written by Fabman650:
Geometry Dash has over 36 million levels, some good, some bad. Criticism is a great way to help the not-so-good creators to improve their level design and eventually rise up to the likes of Serponge, Viprin and me many other famous creators in Geometry Dash. If you feel that a certain part of a level could be tweaked, or if the whole level is garbage in your opinion, then one of the best ways you can help them to get better at creating is to send them criticism, be it through the GD comment section, through a PM, or through other means of communication (such as Discord or Skype [LUL]). However, when judging/reviewing a level it's important that your criticism is constructive.
Example of Non-Constructive Criticism:
"Holy shit your level sucks. The gameplay sucks and your design is generic. Congrats, you're a shit creator".
In the above example I'm giving non-constructive criticism to the creator of a level. Lets go over some of the main problems with this review:
1. I'm being extremely rude. Directly insulting the creator with curse words will not get them anywhere. If anything, it will demotivate them.
2. I've only listed two problems with the level - gameplay and design. Try to expand on your criticism and go into detail - what exactly is wrong with the gameplay/design?
3. I've only noted the problems with the level - the negatives. Try to be more positive - tell them how they can improve the level. Do you have any tips that will help them out?
4. The review is super short. On the comments section of GD levels this is fine, as you can still be constructive using only a few sentences. Plus, you can post multiple comments giving your thoughts on the level. Even with a few points you can give the creator an idea of where they went wrong and how they can improve.
5. Do not EVER use the term "generic". It does not mean anything. It's a pretty stupid term to use when rating a level.
Why shouldn't you use the word "generic"?
The term "generic" is mostly used to describe a level which is either unoriginal, or looks like no effort was put into it whatsoever. Saying a level is "generic" and using it as criticism is a pretty flawed argument, as you can't tell whether or not a creator put effort into a level just by looking at the decoration. Somebody can spend hours a day making a level and have it come out with many flaws and mistakes. Just because a tileset looks unoriginal or unexciting, does not mean that the creator never put time and effort into making it. Many people complained about "Soulseas" getting an Epic rating because it was viewed as "generic" by most of the community. Some of the more seasoned creators of GD think differently - as long as a level looks good and has decent gameplay, it is worth a Feature/Epic rating. "Soulseas" was a brilliant level in terms of visuals and gameplay, and personally I think the Epic rating was well deserved. It was a simple style but the creator pulled it off spectacularly. The end result? A beautiful level which was fun to play. Sounds like an Epic level to me. Using the term "generic" is basically you saying you want EVERY level in GD to be completely different. Using that mindset, you are basically saying that "The Colossus II" was generic because it borrowed tilesets from the original level. You are saying that "The Hydragaryu" is generic because it uses tilesets from "The Yatagarasu". See where I'm getting at here? It's a dumb thing to say.
Example of Constructive Criticism:
"While your level was good, it had a few flaws. There was a pretty nasty bug during the transition between the ship and the ball part which killed you if you flew too high into the portal. If you added another gravity pad directly to the right of the one you've set up, you would allow the player to fly higher going into the portal without the fear of crashing into the spikes at the bottom. Your deco was slightly bland as well, I think a bit of background decoration could spice up the level a bit and give it some more feeling, Overall though, your hevel is decent. Follow my instructions and the level will be much nicer and a lot more fun to play. To improve, one extra tip I'd give you is to look at other people's levels and experiment with different styles using "test levels". When you feel that a certain style is working, you can use that "test level" as a reference when you start work on a new level and you want to use that theme."
You can instantly see that this example is a lot more detailed. I've been a lot more polite here - complimenting the creator rather than insulting them. While assuring them that they've done a good job, I'm expanding on certain aspects of the level that didn't work for them. I'm suggesting improvements to said parts and explaining how these improvements will make the level better. I'm also giving them a personal tip for creating better levels in general - something that helps me when I'm working on a level. This can be a new technique for creating levels, or something to help you come up with new ideas for levels. Be sure to give tips that will improve creators' creativity - creativeness is a fundamental part of creating levels. A creative creator can make more visually appealing tilesets and create stunning levels which follow a certain theme, or utilise elements of the editor that creators don't normally use, making a level stand out among others. Providing new creators with techniques to making levels can help them improve greatly as well - encouraging new creators to experiment with new concepts is brilliant and will send them on their way to making brilliant levels in future.
6 Quick Tips on Constructive Criticism
1. Go into detail. Chop the level up into bits and describe each part in detail. What went wrong? What worked?
2. Give tips on how to improve. Any new techniques they should try out? Any editor tools they should utilise more?
3. Be polite. Don't blatantly insult the creator, it will demotivate them. Tell them they're on the right track, but can do better.
4. Expand your review. Make it long. A long review is more detailed, and provides more constructive criticism.
5. Don't use the word "generic" in your review. At all.
6. Don't judge a level based on its rating. You shouldn't give extra brownie points if a level has stars, nor should you lower your score if you think they didn't deserve it, as it's not their fault the level got a star rating. RobTop alone decides what rating a level gets, not the community.
So, that's all I wanted to say on the matter. Use these tips and your reviews will be a lot more constructive.
Cheers,
Fabman650
NOTE: All levels that were in the panel before the revamp have been archived. Please tag a judge to move it back, or create a new thread if you still would like a review.
Here you will be able to get constructive criticism from other members of the community, as well as our team of established Level Judges.
Before you post a thing, please make sure to review the rules of the panel. Failure to comply to the rules will result in all of your levels being archived and removed (i.e. we won't judge them), and on multiple offenses may result in being banned from the Judging Panel entirely. We all want to give you the feedback you are seeking, so please reciprocate simply by abiding by these rules.
JUDGING PANEL RULES:
1) All submissions must include an ID. We will not spend time searching for your level for you.
2) You may not have more than one of your own levels in the panel at any given time (including in the same thread). If you have multiple levels in the panel, only the newest will remain, while the rest will be archived.
3) No submitting hacked, impossible, or joke levels. Don't waste our time, and only post levels you want serious criticism for.
4) No submitting unfinished levels, including but not limited to layouts, previews, etc. These go in the Level Suggestions (Non Judged) board.
5) No submitting rated levels.
6) No submitting levels by other players. However, posting someone else's level on behalf of someone who has requested for you to do so is fine.
7) Do not post any IDs nor reference your own levels in someone else's thread. It's extremely disrespectful.
8) Members who offer helpful and respectful criticism to others in their own threads may often find that their levels are judged more quickly.
9) Absolutely no harassment of judges or anyone who has reviewed a level. If you disagree, want clarification, or another review, feel free to respectfully request for it.
10) If your level has not been reviewed after 3 days of the post date, you may tag a judge to request for a review.
11) If no judge has been tagged and the level has not been reviewed within a month, the thread will be archived. You may tag a judge to have it moved back into the panel, albeit highly annoying us for not doing so earlier.
12) When reviewing another person's level, make sure to be constructive, detailed, and most importantly, do not insult the creator.
Also do note that although optional, a video of the level greatly helps with speeding up the review process.
*The Level Judges are the sole moderators of the Judging Panel. Staff members who are not level judges may not move any threads within.
Below you will find a treasure trove of valuable information. Thank you for visiting the GDForums, and we hope you will use the criticism we give you to improve as a creator.
RATING SYSTEM:
Written by Kirie:
Feature-Worthy
The best levels go here. These could definitely be featured and both the design and gameplay have feature-worthy quality!
Good
If your level goes here it means that the level is good! It is definitely star-worthy and has a chance of getting featured if you're lucky. The problem with these levels is that there are one or more factors that aren't good enough- like gameplay, for example- and therefore the judge may think your level isn't quite good enough for the Feature-Worthy board.
Decent
If your level goes here, it has some good points, but it most likely won't be featured and you'd have to be lucky to get it rated. Maybe it's unoriginal or the gameplay, design, or both are mediocre and need some improvement. You still have a lot of potential if your level gets here! It's just that your level isn't bad, but not specifically good either!
Needs Improvement
If your level goes here it's self-explanatory: It unfortunately needs improvement. The level just isn't that good and needs improvement regarding most points. In many cases it's best to just make a new level.
The judges can also give a "low-end" or "high-end" term. That means that the level is closer to one category than another.
FAQ:
Written by Kirie:
"How do I get level judge?"
Make frequent good reviews which are liked by everyone and are polite, fair, and unbiased. Being liked by the judges team is a plus. You WILL get noticed if you do this, and then you can perhaps join the team!
However, when you're a judge, we REQUIRE you to both approve and make frequent good reviews, or you might be demoted."Can I suggest new ideas and concepts to the level judge/suggestions system? If so, where do I suggest them?"
It's wonderful if you have any suggestions for this board!
Recommendations and suggestions are welcomed here! Either make a thread about your idea in the "Forum Recommendations" board, or PM me, Megaman or the other judges! But do NOT post it in this board, this board is for levels only."I'm not satisfied with the official review, what do I do?"
We are all humans- even the judges- so all judges can make mistakes/be inaccurate. If you think the review is not detailed enough, biased or/and inaccurate, I really recommend tagging another judge!
That is perfectly fine. If the official review IS indeed inaccurate, the judges will discuss about whether or not the level should be moved."I have waited 2 days and still no replies!
What do I do?"You wait. Writing a review takes more time than you think. DON'T bump, or tag judges in newly made threads; that won't help your situation. When the thread is
HOW TO GET YOUR LEVEL REVIEWED FASTER
Written by Jayuff:
Well, I'm creating this because lots of people post here, and lots of times it is hard to review levels, since typing in the ID is such a hard job and all, but here I am, going to tell you all, how to get your level reviewed quickly, in the least amount of time. This thread is also tips that I have found to work for MYSELF, and I just want to share some knowledge with you guys
Step ONE: Providing proper information.
When you are submitting a level, remember it can take time for a judge to review what you have provided them with, so be sure to provide them with a large amount of the level details so that it is easier for them to judge your work. Judges don't particularly like to find all the information about a level, and listing it all would be a great help for them, so they can find info quickly and easily.
An example of this would be as followed:
Level Name: Sneeze
Level Creator: Jayuff
Level ID: 24765748
Level Difficulty: Normal 3*
Level Song and Author: Ena by Hinkik
Collaboration / Solo Level : Solo Level
Step TWO: Providing a YouTube Video
Creating a YouTube video is extremely helpful when it comes to level judging, as it helps judges get a feel of what the level looks like. Judges love it when people provide a video, and it makes it easier to judge, since they don't have to go into GD and type in the level name and such to manually play it and find it out.
Judges, do keep in mind that some levels need to be manually played to get an accurate representation of the ideology presented in the level. An example would be for judges, is that you can't specifically judge gameplay without playing the level, so do keep in mind that playing the level is always helpful when it comes to judging!
Also, if you don't have a YouTube video, an Everyplay link is always appreciated! If you can't make a video of the level, you can always provide either a pass to copy your level or make an auto version and provide the ID of that. Both of these make levels A LOT easier to judge since both allow us to explore a level better and makes it easier to judge decoration and music sync, especially on demons.
Step THREE: Titling your thread
Titling your thread is also important, because it makes it easier for judges to see what they are judging, and what the need to be judging. For example, an appropriate level title would be as shown.
Sneeze, by Jayuff [YouTube Video] {3 Stars}
As you can see, shown in Red is the level name and author. This shows who is making the level and gives a fair idea of what they are judging. For example, if the author name was FunnyGame, they would imagine it would be an effect level, so the judges would go, "Hey, this is gonna be an effect level" and have a fair idea on what to judge, and how to judge it.
Shown in Yellow shows that the creator of this thread has supplied a YouTube video. This makes judges more inclined to judge your level, because they can instantly see that it will be easier to judge considering they have a video of it.
And lastly, shown in Green is the difficulty. This makes it easier for judges to know what they are judging, also. Keep this in mind!
Here's another tip which I've been seeing people do quite often that you might want to take advantage of. Instead of putting 3 stars for the difficulty, you can just put the face of the difficulty. So the title would be Sneeze, by Jayuff [YouTube Video]
.Step FOUR: Tagging judges
This isn't really so much as of a rule, but it's more of a, "common sense" sort of idea. Tagging judges can be a nuisance, and it makes judges less inclined to judge your levels, because it stresses them to do what you want them to do. Tagging judges can be rude, also, because it's basically like forcing them to judge your work. When tagging them (if you decide to do it), make sure to tag different judges each time, and not repeatedly tagging the same one, unless he or she has asked you to tag them when they have submitted a new thread. Although, you may only tag judges after
Step FIVE: Be patient!
Remember, judging levels can sometimes be stressful work, and takes time! When waiting for a level to be judged, make sure to be patient, and not pressure judges to review your level, because they will eventually get to it. Judging usually takes about 1 hour, to 3 days! Remember, there are also about 30 or more people wanting their level judged, so make sure to be patient!
Thanks for reading all of this, and I honestly hope it helps!
TIPS ON MAKING A GOOD REVIEW
Written by Skylighter:
How to make a good review:
1. Take note of both the flaws and strengths of the level you're reviewing. It's good to tell the builder what you think is good and what needs to be improved.
2. Being non-descriptive and just giving a score won't help the builder. The score doesn't do anything to help the builder become better. It's the description that helps the builder become better.
3. Don't just say that "this part is fun" or "this part needs more improvement". You can't just say that because the builder may not know what needs improvement and what makes that part fun. You have to EXPLAIN WHY this part is what it is. In other words, you need to justify what you say.
4. This is obvious, but make sure your review is legible and isn't filled with errors that can impede understanding. You always want the builder to know what you're saying!
5. If how you score gives a rating (Feature-Worthy, Decent, etc.) that is much different than what you really think, then put in your preferred rating and then explain why you chose that rating instead of the score rating. This is common for judges who don't have a consistent rating system. If you get this often then it's time to tweak your system!
This really only applies to ORIGINAL levels. If it's just copied or is a harder or easier version of another level, then it's basically an automatic 0 unless there is highly new design/decoration added to the level.
Written by TimeLink:
Hello everyone not looking for the TL;DR yet.
Recently, I´ve repeatedly noticed a lot of Things related around Judging, and since there always seems to be confusion around it like it´s the most difficult Thing in the World, I wanted to clear some Things up today. Some of this is already in the stickied Thread in the Judging Panel, but apperently not a lot of People read that.
1. I can´t make Reviews when I´m not Judge.
Over and over, I´ve seen Non-Judges Review. Some of them better, some worse. But what I´ve noticed several Times now is the fact that when they´re getting told their Review is too short/undetailed, they say something like; "I know, but I´m not a Level Judge. I can´t review properly anyway."
Now, this Statement is wrong in about every way. First off, you can always review. No matter your rank, let it be member, mod or even guest, you can always, and are always appreciated seen review. It doesn´t matter whether you plan on doing it, maybe are forced to(I hope not) or are simply doing it for fun, it´s always and had always been allowed for any and everyone.
Secondly, as for the members, reviewing is actually how you get Judge in first Place. You can´t say; "Please make me Judge, I´ll make quality reviews then."
We have to know if you can do what you promise. And thus, the best and most active non-judge Reviewers will eventually get noticed and promoted, if they keep their work up and make good Reviews, which I´ll tackle on later. I can promise you, there is a lot of talking about promotions and considerations in the Level Judges Discord Chat, and lots of other Chats as well. We know you have that potential, and if you just keep reviewing nicely and frequently, and it´s just a matter of time.
2. How do I make a good Review?
This Part, has been in the stickied Thread already, but I´ll try to pack it up clearly so you know what to watch out for when you try it yourself.
A) Be detailed.
This is by far the most frequent mistake I see people doing when attempting to judge. You can´t just say; "This Part was good." "The Music Sync was bad." "The Design looked stupid."
You have to go way more into detail. WHAT about it was good/bad? In which way did it make you think so? How could the Creator have done better? These are all Questions you need to ask yourself and answer the Creator then.
Imagine you just joined the Forum, submitted your Level you worked really hard on, and then someone tells you it´s bad. Just like that, without any further Reasoning. Would you be satisfied with that as a "Review"? Of course not. And that´s why you have to go into detail, specifically pointing out what in the Level was good, and what not, why it was good/bad and what the creator can improve. There is always way up for People. You just have to signalize them that.
B) Be active.
This does not even mean you have to review a level or two every day. This only means people notice your presence in the Judging Panel in a way. See a Thread that has been reviewed multiple times already and you agree? Tag a Level Judge to move it! See a Thread that breaks the Rules? Tag a Judge to lock it! Now, I´ll emphasize on who you should tag in this case in a bit, but let people know you´re there and you´re trying to help. Now as for Reviewing itself, active does not mean three levels a day. Active means you judge on a regular basis. If you´re just getting warmed up, 2-3 Reviews a week is fine. If you´re going to seriously aim for a spot as a Judge, then I´d say 4-5 is a good way to go.
One last Thing I want to emphasize on here, is that you can always ask people how you´re doing. None of us Level Judges are monsters who try to eat these foolish people trying to achieve something, we´re actually very welcoming towards newer members and On-The-Way-Judges. So, feel free to contact anybody who you like, let it be via PM on the Forums, asking them in the Shoutbox, or even Discord if they´re willing to give you that.
C) Be good with Words.
From quite a few new non-judge Reviewers, I´ve seen their woody language in terms of expressing what they want to say. You may be right on what you´re saying, but the way you´re saying it could potentially be boring and for anyone reading it, it might not seem like you spent as much time with it as you really did. Take an Example.
"This Part was good because of the varied Block Designs." "This Part was bad because of the lack of detailed Music Sync." "The Gameplay in this Section was worse than the Rest of the Level."
Notice anything? The sentences look entirely chopped off and unemotional. I´m not saying you have to write a novel here, but look. The Sentences may be entirely correct, but it´s really bad to read through because it feels like you just straight wrote down whatever came to your mind. And that´s not what you want. As for some Advice here;
- Vary the Structures of your Sentences. This means you may go a bit less and more into detail here and there, but keep it fresh and interesting for people to read. Especially the Creator might hardly understand what you even mean if everything you write looks the same.
- Do different beginnings to your sentences. Don´t always start with "This Part..." or "This Section...". Mix it up and get creative. Try something like; "Now, about this..." "But, in this Section I think..." or the champion; "I must say that here...".
See, it´s a lot easier to read that way. Some People like me also read stuff out loud in their Mind and something like this can be really annoying.
- Expand your Vocabulary. This means replacing the next maybe with a possible or a perhaps. Removing the but for a however. Or just take a shiny instead of a glowy. It´s about variation that makes your sentences a lot more clean and fluent to read, and it will become extremely easy once only you get used to it.
- Be professional. This Step is kinda optional since not everyone can write perfect Essays in English,(Not even I can, you might remember I´m german) but you should maybe try to compensate what you´re saying by using more professional and advanced tools of writing. This can be the replacement of something long with something short;
"You can find away around this problem." = "You can circumvent this Problem." or it can be stretching what you want to say a bit.
"I think that this Part is good because of the Music Sync, which is underlined by the nice pulsing Objects and the moving Deco." > "I like this Part because of the Music Sync." Just experiment with it a bit, and you´ll get entirely used to it.
D) Be aware of what you´re doing.
As far as being Level Judge goes, I can most definetely say this isn´t in any way a "Rank just to have a Rank"-Type of Rank. Being a Level Judge means being active, constructive, and serious. It means devoting Time into what you do, and wholeheartedly fulfilling your Job. This isn´t something you just do, you should have fun doing it and do it more as a hobby than a job. And once you do get promoted then, don´t start laying back in your Seat. We still expect you to do about nothing less than you did before, you only just crossed the first gap. Chances are you´re going to want to become Senior. Don´t let up just now! As we all know, the Gods put the Work in front of the Prizes. (No I´m not religious, that´s just a saying)
As a sidenote on this, you should also be confident that where you end up putting the Level in the four Categories is right. If you´re not good with a score System in Numbers, just do it without! You should also know atleast most of the rules without having to look at them, and know that for Example a Thread without an ID has to be locked, regardless if a video or anything else is given, or that there is only one Level allowed in a single Thread.
3. My Thread is so old already, what do I do?
In most cases, nothing. Bumping your Thread will only put the Level on the first Page again. And most of the Judges review from the back of the Judging Panel, because of exactly this Reason. We want old Threads reviewed and moved, so bumping your Thread will only make it worse. But what´s even worse than bumping is either bumping it several Times in the desperate Need for attention, which can also be warned(Not actually with a warning percentage, but it is highly disapproved but people trying to judge your level) or bumping it too early. If you try to bump your Thread after it´s been up for two Hours, that won´t do anything but earn bad Reactions from the Community. This is not how it goes here.
And should it really happen you just need the Feedback in your Level so desperately, then try tagging judges in your Threads should it be AT LEAST 2 weeks old. And to do that, don´t make a stupid double Post, go find your Thread again and edit the OP to have a few Tags and reason why you need it this badly. Again, be careful with tagging, and I´ll elaborate on that in a second. But what you need to know is that it´s not only your Level in the Judging Panel. There are lots and lots that technically need judgement every day and your Level is really just a sandcorn in the hourglass. As of right now, there are three Pages of Levels that could potentially be judged ever day, but we are only humans as well and it is very hard for us to manage. So, try seeing it from our perspective next time.
4. Who do I tag when I want a Level Judge to move/lock something or need a review?
Good Question, I´m glad you asked. Normally, Judges that are online on a regular Basis and don´t mind being tagged if it comes to Things in the Judging Panel have that either in their Signature or they can quickly tell you in the Shoutbox if they happen to be online. When you see something like my Signature for Example where it clearly states I don´t mind being tagged and will respond as soon as possible, then just go ahead and tag me. This is the case with a few other Judges too, however, not with all of them.
Some of them might happen to be on vacation, or currently can´t moderate the boards because maybe something has happened in their Life. So, really only tag someone when you´re absolutely sure and it´s explicitly stated the Person doesn´t mind it. Additionally, you can also look if there´s currently one of these People online and see if you can tag them for a direct response then. That way, other Judges who may be enjoying their free time don´t wake up with even more Notifications.
One last Thing I want to emphasize on here is that you should refrain from using the @ judges tag at ALL COSTS. This tag isn´t supposed to be used by anyone, and was originally only used to make Judges see an important event in terms of forum changes. It is really annyoing for all the Judges mentioned in that tag as even some that possibly can´t even review your Level will be tagged, and so will everyone else in the group. If you do end up using this, it doesn´t violate the rules but you will definetely have earned yourself an imaginary red cross on your head, so congratulations.
5. I´ve been reviewing levels for ages already, and I still didn´t get promoted, what do I do?
Wait. Seriously. Time heals all wounds, and so will only the passing of time be able to get you noticed. You can´t expect everybody to immediately see you, especially if you´ve just been starting. However, I can 100% guarantee you that if you really do happen to make quality enough Reviews, you WILL inevitably be noticed. After a good month or two, there sure will be a lot of talk about you, you might just not know because you aren´t in those groups, and obviously Staff Members (And Level Judges) can´t reveal everything. However, it WILL eventually happen that you get promoted, it just takes time. Everybody needs to be sure that you´re up for the job and you bring sufficient quality and quantity and that you can add to the team. The Process of this might take shorter or longer, but it will happen eventually.
Now, all this finally being said, feel free to still contact me and ask me anything you want, judging related. I will be sure to help you out as far as I can and I will gladly answer any remaining questions you may have, so Level Judging isn´t the big Mystery it happens to be for some People anymore.
TL;DR I can´t believe you´re looking for a TL;DR here which I find really rude because I devoted a sheer incredible amount of time on writing this and the fact that you have the time to read all of this sure does prove that you could stop spending your time reading this, which is not going to get you anywhere at all and rather read everything above so you can contribute to the discussion and post something in a constructive manner rather than not even having understood the context if what I was saying.
Written by Fabman650:
Geometry Dash has over 36 million levels, some good, some bad. Criticism is a great way to help the not-so-good creators to improve their level design and eventually rise up to the likes of Serponge, Viprin and me many other famous creators in Geometry Dash. If you feel that a certain part of a level could be tweaked, or if the whole level is garbage in your opinion, then one of the best ways you can help them to get better at creating is to send them criticism, be it through the GD comment section, through a PM, or through other means of communication (such as Discord or Skype [LUL]). However, when judging/reviewing a level it's important that your criticism is constructive.
Example of Non-Constructive Criticism:
"Holy shit your level sucks. The gameplay sucks and your design is generic. Congrats, you're a shit creator".
In the above example I'm giving non-constructive criticism to the creator of a level. Lets go over some of the main problems with this review:
1. I'm being extremely rude. Directly insulting the creator with curse words will not get them anywhere. If anything, it will demotivate them.
2. I've only listed two problems with the level - gameplay and design. Try to expand on your criticism and go into detail - what exactly is wrong with the gameplay/design?
3. I've only noted the problems with the level - the negatives. Try to be more positive - tell them how they can improve the level. Do you have any tips that will help them out?
4. The review is super short. On the comments section of GD levels this is fine, as you can still be constructive using only a few sentences. Plus, you can post multiple comments giving your thoughts on the level. Even with a few points you can give the creator an idea of where they went wrong and how they can improve.
5. Do not EVER use the term "generic". It does not mean anything. It's a pretty stupid term to use when rating a level.
Why shouldn't you use the word "generic"?
The term "generic" is mostly used to describe a level which is either unoriginal, or looks like no effort was put into it whatsoever. Saying a level is "generic" and using it as criticism is a pretty flawed argument, as you can't tell whether or not a creator put effort into a level just by looking at the decoration. Somebody can spend hours a day making a level and have it come out with many flaws and mistakes. Just because a tileset looks unoriginal or unexciting, does not mean that the creator never put time and effort into making it. Many people complained about "Soulseas" getting an Epic rating because it was viewed as "generic" by most of the community. Some of the more seasoned creators of GD think differently - as long as a level looks good and has decent gameplay, it is worth a Feature/Epic rating. "Soulseas" was a brilliant level in terms of visuals and gameplay, and personally I think the Epic rating was well deserved. It was a simple style but the creator pulled it off spectacularly. The end result? A beautiful level which was fun to play. Sounds like an Epic level to me. Using the term "generic" is basically you saying you want EVERY level in GD to be completely different. Using that mindset, you are basically saying that "The Colossus II" was generic because it borrowed tilesets from the original level. You are saying that "The Hydragaryu" is generic because it uses tilesets from "The Yatagarasu". See where I'm getting at here? It's a dumb thing to say.
Example of Constructive Criticism:
"While your level was good, it had a few flaws. There was a pretty nasty bug during the transition between the ship and the ball part which killed you if you flew too high into the portal. If you added another gravity pad directly to the right of the one you've set up, you would allow the player to fly higher going into the portal without the fear of crashing into the spikes at the bottom. Your deco was slightly bland as well, I think a bit of background decoration could spice up the level a bit and give it some more feeling, Overall though, your hevel is decent. Follow my instructions and the level will be much nicer and a lot more fun to play. To improve, one extra tip I'd give you is to look at other people's levels and experiment with different styles using "test levels". When you feel that a certain style is working, you can use that "test level" as a reference when you start work on a new level and you want to use that theme."
You can instantly see that this example is a lot more detailed. I've been a lot more polite here - complimenting the creator rather than insulting them. While assuring them that they've done a good job, I'm expanding on certain aspects of the level that didn't work for them. I'm suggesting improvements to said parts and explaining how these improvements will make the level better. I'm also giving them a personal tip for creating better levels in general - something that helps me when I'm working on a level. This can be a new technique for creating levels, or something to help you come up with new ideas for levels. Be sure to give tips that will improve creators' creativity - creativeness is a fundamental part of creating levels. A creative creator can make more visually appealing tilesets and create stunning levels which follow a certain theme, or utilise elements of the editor that creators don't normally use, making a level stand out among others. Providing new creators with techniques to making levels can help them improve greatly as well - encouraging new creators to experiment with new concepts is brilliant and will send them on their way to making brilliant levels in future.
6 Quick Tips on Constructive Criticism
1. Go into detail. Chop the level up into bits and describe each part in detail. What went wrong? What worked?
2. Give tips on how to improve. Any new techniques they should try out? Any editor tools they should utilise more?
3. Be polite. Don't blatantly insult the creator, it will demotivate them. Tell them they're on the right track, but can do better.
4. Expand your review. Make it long. A long review is more detailed, and provides more constructive criticism.
5. Don't use the word "generic" in your review. At all.
6. Don't judge a level based on its rating. You shouldn't give extra brownie points if a level has stars, nor should you lower your score if you think they didn't deserve it, as it's not their fault the level got a star rating. RobTop alone decides what rating a level gets, not the community.
So, that's all I wanted to say on the matter. Use these tips and your reviews will be a lot more constructive.
Cheers,
Fabman650