I’m sure everyone agrees how much this level was cucked from making it into the gauntlets. This entry is so freaking good, like how did it barely not make it in? The silly philosophical text, and sick animations, and how it gives you the most fitting gameplay a level looking like this can ever have. Don’t have much to say about what everyone else said really.

Speaking of levels that should've made the top 10 - what a curveball, huh? Placing just outside of it like that...was 100% positive it had safely secured itself into the gauntlets. I guess it's not so bad to have some surprises in the results, but I do think I would've preferred it getting in over Jova or something.

This one feels along the lines of entries like Planispheres and Sunshine, a more meditative, less bombastic, yet immensely rewarding level. HipVillain might be one of the most well-rounded creators of all time. This may be a near flawless level. Great, engaging gameplay, Clean visuals with lots of insane mograph, and a text-based message that, while not super earth-shattering, compliments the level in a really cute way as an analysis of human exploration and curiosity. I am in love with the way the physical level itself accompanies the text, idk if you can call this "GD mise-en-scene" but heck, I'll use that term. So many components in the level go hand-in-hand with the text: the trees and cartography maps pairing with the text's musings on the history of human curiosity, the "WHAT IF?" section playfully introducing several universe forms, the entire mograph section from the apple tree to the statue of Atlas pairing with musings on physics phenomenon as myths or fact. And these elements never detract from the gameplay either. Ilrell said it best when he described how this level doesn't try to integrate the designs into some representational art, instead they understand their context within a GD level and embrace being collage-y.

Yeah I will cut it off here, I could probably ramble for hours. But I'll leave it here with one last detail. I love how the level is all about curiosity and discovery, and how the level pairs that up with containing so many small yet impactful details. Such as the apple tree growth cycle (which isn't immedaite obvious until further scrutiny). The level truly embodies "discovery".

One of my favorite SGC entries.

I like this one a lot. I initially hated the text because I don’t think text fits the medium of classic levels in general, as the focal point will never be the text in game since you are trying to look at the obstacles, so it likely won’t be read in the way it is intended to be viewed. It does work in video at least though. It has grown on me a bit. I still think the writing is a little corny and flows strangely, but it has some charm to it. I cannot remember it word for word, but the line “with our pens pointed upwards, we marked everything with dots and lines” is quite cool. I like to think of it time to time. The way it progresses is neat. It has fun attention to detail like the downwards section where the branch repeats, showing the flowering, pollination and maturation of an apple, before the apple becomes focal. Right after this there’s a really fun way that he does song rep, where the line coming out of the plane of the solar system like wobbles to a sound in the music, it’s very satisfying. Overall the song representation is done quite well. Very well rounded level, quite good. My only real issue is the text honestly, and I don’t like the dash orby part at the start.