Look in the back ground

Because there's not enough of these threads...

+1 for the number you want to heal, -10 for the number you want to hurt. A number will be eliminated from the round when it hits 0.

Copy and paste the latest post reply, then make your changes with +1 and -10 to your choices and numbers.

Rules - No double posting! Wait until at least two different people after you have responded minimum before you post again!

NOTE - If a number you want to give a -10 score to has only 1 remaining, the -10 vote must be shared with another number.

0 [1011] +1

1 [1010]

10 [1010]

11 [1010]

100 [1010]

101 [1010]

110 [1000] -10

111 [1010]

1000 [1010]

1001 [1010]

1010 [1010]

+1 for the level you want to heal, -2 for the level you want to hurt. A level will be eliminated from the round when it hits 0.

Copy and paste the latest post reply, then make your changes with +1 and -2 to your choices and numbers.

Rules - No double posting! Wait until at least three different people after you have responded minimum before you post again!

NOTE - If a level you want to give a -2 score to has only 1 remaining, the -2 vote must be shared with another level.

Round 1

Excommunicated [10]

Whirlpool (J.B. Lewis) [8] -2

Xenocide [10]

Infinite Grunge [10]

The Sewer (Tyler Sontag) [11] +1

Grump Jan Swim [10]

A Puzzle (Dave Varberg) [10]

Primal Rage [10]

One Block to Rule Them All [10]

Hate This and I'll Love You [10]

I have noticed that my post count has not increased for about the past ten posts. Is there any way to find the actual number and fix it?

Steven

Hello Chipsters,

I've been heading down a slippery slope lately, and don't feel I am mentally "fit" enough to keep running CC Zone for much longer. My tenure for CC Zone has been 3 years, and I personally feel it is time for me to step down as Site Owner and Administrator. The site isn't going to close down. It will stay functional until I find a successor, but there seems to be a "demon" lurking inside me and the Tom who adored Chip's Challenge is no longer present.

I'm not a perfect creature. I've made mistakes, and have had a bit of a "dark" vibe inside me for quite a while. As the years have passed, the positives have diminished, which is ironic because I originally created CC Zone: The Next Level to give myself some purpose in life and cure my severe depression. It worked for the first year, but after that I haven't really been doing a good job with keeping the site functional and looking after the Chip's Challenge community effectively. I still haven't done all the "Level-Up" rankings and given out all the correct CC Zone awards to members for example.

I can't say I deserve to be forgiven for the many bad things I have done. I don't believe anyone starts evil though. I certainly didn't, but that's how I feel about things.

If you are interested in becoming the new CC Zone owner/administrator, just reply in this topic or PM me on CC Zone.

Tom P (AdrenalinDragon),

CC Zone Site Owner/Administrator

File category: Archived


Hi!

These are the levels submitted for the February 2015 Create Competition - Walls of CCLP2. These levels were made by:

Eric119

random 8

lookatthis

chipster1059

Flareon350

Ihavenoname248

J.B. Lewis

KeyboardWielder

Syzygy

rockdet

Minus3k2

Hornlitz

RB3ProKeys

geodave

Cyberdog

James

M11k4

Thanks to all who participated! Check out the thread for more details, such as what in the world is this crazy order of the levels?

-Miika

Attached Files

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  CCZoneFebruary2015CreateLevelsPackaged.ccl (Size: 30.82 KB / Downloads: 439)

Think you know Chip's Challenge and it's inner workings? Then this competition is for you!


For the past couple of years, the March Create Competition has been characterized by a mechanical restriction that has limited the submissions to be 'small', or 'short' or 'simple' in one way or another. While I have a cool new idea in that vein, I have decided to use that restriction next month instead (for reasons that will become clear at the time), so for this month I had to dig up something else. I almost saved this concept for May, but decided it was so intriguing that I couldn't wait to see what you all would cook up now! It's a mechanical restriction that is very wide in some sense, yet very narrow at the same time.


Your job is to create a level that is solvable in MS or Lynx, but not both. You may either make a level that works in MS but does not operate in Lynx, or the other way around. If you choose MS, you are free to use 'invalid tiles' and even 'advanced coding', though be advised that I will play the level in Tile World and will judge heavily on the game play, not how unintuitively you can build a level. If you choose Lynx, use some mechanic that is different in MS and yet is not too hard. Whichever you way you go, make the level fun! Make it so the differences in rules arise naturally and don't seem forced. I also encourage you to find something in the rule sets that simply can't be copied in the other in some way. This time I am looking for levels that are of reasonable difficulty and length (not too long), but will play anything you make. If you need an idea for a theme for your level to get started, I suggest you use some element from the latest dream you remember.


Notes:

-Submissions are open as long as it is March 2015 where you live!

-Do not make a overly difficult level. Please be considerate of not making the judge work too hard on solving your creation.
-The level must be solvable. If it isn't, an update is allowed but it does take extra effort so please play your levels before sending them.
-The level must be new; it must not have been released earlier.
-Please give the level a name, time limit and set a password.

-You may submit more than one entry, but please keep the levels distinct from each other. Your best two entries is recommended.
-Points will be deducted for late entries, but will be accepted until a notice is posted in this thread.

-Entrants receive the normal prizes: the "You're Winner!"-award, Chip Cup points, and "Tool Box"-award for first time entrants.
-Please ask about other unclear situations.


Email and attach your submissions to valeosote at hotmail dot com. I will strive to reply with a confirmation that I have received your entry.

I prefer if you use your username and this competition in the subject. Keep it short and simple, something like: "March Create - Barrack"


Let the submissions pour in!


-Miika

Level 31

"Culprit"

(CCLP1 Level 135!)

[Click to Show Content]

One design idea I always thought CC1 overlooked was using tanks to push tank buttons, thus making them constantly move back and forth like pink balls. (Yes, I know Paranoia involves tanks pushing tank buttons, but it's not a constant back-and-forth and I never got that far back then in CC1 anyway.) So, in Levelset 1, I made this Level 17 called CULPRIT (in all caps for no good reason; no, I did not name all my other levels in caps) that was basically a simple tank dodging level, similar to the middle column of the final product, where one of the tanks far from the start was pushing buttons controlling the rest of the tanks. I can't quite remember whether I was actually smart enough to make it so you couldn't stop the whole mechanism by just pressing one button while the tank hit the other....

Anyway, I liked the concept enough to bring it back in Tiles 200, where I thought of a few things to add--the long line of tanks preventing you from exiting until they're stopped, the upper-left area with the tanks arranged so you can only go through each row in one direction *coughIactuallyscrewedthatupandthere'senoughtimetogothroughbothways* and the icy tank section inspired by Think Tank's southeast corner. Oh, and I added force floors above the bottom tank so that you could only stop it using a block, not by pressing the buttons yourself. The Pit of 100 Tiles version is very similar to the Tiles 200 version. It was originally going to be Level 17 as a throwback to my first set, but I moved it to 31 since it was rather difficult for the teens.

In both the Tiles 200 and Po100T versions, I made sure to leave room at the bottom of the level for you to turn the block. Back then taking the block through the middle column of tanks was a bit of a harrowing experience for me, and it would have been even tougher if I couldn't take the block along the side walls while going through there. I'm not sure if adding the hint (saying that there's room to extract the block from the side when it reaches the bottom) was totally necessary for CCLP1, since it seems like a reasonable thing the player would assume, or at least check for, while they're getting the chips down there. Oh well, I guess as long as it helps some people, it's fine.

I'm quite pleased that the "culprit" tank was given plot relevance in CCLP1's storyline!

[Click to Show Content]

The inspiration for this level is a very silly Levelset 1 level. It was called "Promenading Paramecia" and it involved a few instances of a bug and paramecium walking around the outside of a room in opposite directions, meeting up in the middle and walking side by side up the center, sort of like this:



I guess I imagined the para and bug dancing with each other to the tune of the MSCC music or something. Anyway, I thought it was kind of cute but not really challenging, and planned to remake it for Tiles 200. However, before I even started, I realized that there was a massive problem. Promenading Paramecia had worked when I playtested it in Levelset 1, but I had only playtested it in Lynx mode (I liked it much, much better than MS back then because animations were cool)! In MS mode, the concept would always fall apart since one of the insects would have to move first and the other would step out of line instead of following alongside. Thus, I had no choice but to scrap the concept.

But I liked the idea of a bug/paramecium couple, so I decided they could be king and queen in a palace filled with their fellow noblebugs and servants! From there came the idea of a moat filled with glider-sharks and a small "forest" of blue walls that you had to traverse for some blocks. Then I just added some rooms to the palace and some locked doors, and made the "throne" out of traps, and the level was pretty much done. The only real original concept inside the palace was the pair of "Push the block and RUN!" hallways adjoining the throne room, something that I had originally planned to make an entire level out of but never got around to doing.

Don't ask me why I used so much fire as decorative walls; I know it doesn't make a super huge amount of sense. Maybe to make the monsters seem more evil...? Anyway, I kept in a little of the old Promenading Paramecia aesthetic with the bug and paramecium that walk side by side in the lower-left room of the palace around those blue walls.

Overall, I'm very happy with how this level turned out, and quite proud of its inclusion into CCLP1. One little thin I think is weird about this level is that when I require you to walk through the fire on the left side, the bugs in that tiny room are out of your way, but in the equivalent room on the right side, you have to dodge them. Arbitrary asymmetry >_>

[Click to Show Content]

This one is, as the name indicates, based on the concept of difficulty settings in games. I've always thought difficulty settings are a good idea since they add a bit of replay value and make the game accessible and interesting to a wider audience. Anyway, here I implemented difficulty settings by letting the player set the frequency at which the toggle doors and tanks switch throughout the level. The player does this by pressing a red button, which triggers some blocks to clone to knock a fireball into an alcove where it bounces between the two switches. The depressions are larger (making the switching happen slower) further away from where the fireball starts. Oddly, in my first iteration of the level, I had the red button trigger a stream of ball cloning from the right side of the passage to deflect the fireball instead, but it proved highly unreliable (especially in Lynx) and took up more space. The image below shows what it looked like:



This level is where the ice/toggle wall timing challenge I mentioned in Four Corners (Level 11) first returns, and most people seemed to dislike it here. I understand why completely. If you step towards a toggle wall, often it will be solid when you slide into it, and the wall you came from will be solid when you bounce back to it, etc. until Chip eventually lands on one side or the other. Annoying waste of time. In retrospect, I think my biggest error when designing this section was putting the toggle walls so far away that you couldn't see the next one from where you were.

The bug section in the upper right was entirely experimental. I put the bugs and toggle walls down, not really knowing how I could expect them to behave. Fortunately, they turned out to be pretty manageable to deal with.

I think the most dangerous (and exciting!) part of the level is snatching those two chips (at (2, 13) and (2, 18)) away from the tank moving vertically in the center of the force floor loop.

The reason for those four toggle walls at (8, 3) to (9, 4) is to hopefully prevent you from running too far and slamming into a tank or onto the force floors out of there after sidestepping off the force floor leading to that area.

The first week of March flew by and finally we have a new competition starting!

Your task is to download this file and complete the first two levels as quickly as possible. The first one, Fly Me to the Stars
, involves some boosting, so I have dedicated it to Paul Gilbert who always beats my scores on boosting levels. The second one, Time Trial Mix I
, is the first level in a (possible) series that collects pieces from earlier Time Trial levels to create a new experience. It is dedicated to Tom Patten, as all the levels it borrows from are his. It has some random elements, so I added a third level, Time Trial Mixed I
, which you may use for practice. If you don't solve the second level, I will accept any solution on the third level to replace it, but do note that the time limit is a second shorter. (Though the randomness is not really too bad.) I can't wait to see how you all solve these puzzles!

Enjoy!


Technicalities:

1) The person with the highest combined remaining time on the two first levels wins! You may use the third level in place of the second one if you wish, but note that its time limit is one second lower. There may be a tie in overall score.
2) You may enter in either MS or Lynx, with the former being the primary rules. This means that any Lynx solution times that exceed the best MS solution time will be considered equal to that MS time, but otherwise all the times will be compared together in one category.
3) Please send your solutions (either the tws file or avis) to CCZoneNextLevel at gmail dot com, or to my own email valeosote at hotmail dot com. Do not post your solutions or solution times or share them with others before the competition results are announced. All times will be published at the same time, and the quickest solutions will eventually be released. I will strive to respond to your message by a confirmation that your score has been recorded.
4) The levels aren't too hard to solve. Don't be afraid to send in your solutions even if you sense they aren't perfect, and simple casual solutions are also appreciated. You may enter if you solve at least one of the levels, but solving more will obviously place higher.
5) This is part of the 2015 season of the Chip Cup. Winner will be awarded 15 points, second place 12, third 10 points, and so on. If you win a competition here for the first time, you receive the "You're Winner!" award. All participants who haven't participated in a time trial earlier receive the "Run, Chip, Run" award. I may consider dedicating a level to you in a future Time Trial this spring if you are the first to send in solutions this month.
6) Submission deadline is April 1st where you live. I will judge the submissions without warning the during the following days but will accept submissions until I do. If you need a more specific time, you can always ask. To avoid losing on time (it is a time trial after all), get your solutions in early rather than later! You can send in improvements while the competition is running, so there is no downside to sending in something you know might not be your best effort if you had forever to work on it.
7) The designer of the levels (myself), may enter the competition, as I have not optimized them, nor will I have significantly more time to work on them compared to the rest of you. I never work on my own scores after seeing someone else's solution. However, if someone protests against this, I may exclude my own submission. This month it looks like I won't have time to participate anyway.
8) The levels may receive an update within the first week of the competition. This will only be done if there is some significant problem with the first versions of the levels.


-Miika

P.S. I have played all the levels submitted to the February Create Comp, so expect some results soon, though not immediately.

File category: Archived


The levels for the March 2015 Time Trial, by Miika Toukola.

TT 15.3 A - Fly Me to the Stars


TT 15.3 B - Time Trial Mix I


TT 15.3 Z - Time Trial Mixed I
(may be used instead of the previous one)

For more details, check out the thread.

Enjoy!

Attached Files

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  CCZ-TT-1503.ccl (Size: 2.82 KB / Downloads: 344)