With the upcoming CCLP1, I thought it suitable to reminisce over my first experiences of the levels of CC1. Well, this blog post will be too detailed and perhaps boring, but I'm not writing only for you but also for me. And, it will give me material for maaany blog posts...
I've already told you about my first impressions of Lesson 1: sort of dull. But obviously I was intrigued enough to continue.
Lesson 2 meant the first contact with monsters which was a bit scary (remember, my career of playing computer games had virtually no monsters involved. Snake hardly counts as the player controls that monster...) and at first, I didn't understand the rules of bug movements so I didn't quite see that there is only 1 square in the whole level where you have to cross their path. I also remember cooking this level by forgetting to step on the dirt before trying to push the second block...
Lesson 3 seemed so advanced compared to the first two levels. Actually, I never thought of the Lesson levels as tutorials but they were real levels to me. I don't know when I learnt that there was a difference between Ice and FF's, but it wasn't from this level. In this level, they work pretty similarly. I must soon have noticed that the ice goes both ways and FF's only in their direction, but there was really an 'aha'-moment when I learnt that FF's can be overriden while ice cannot.
Lesson 4 - oh, I liked this level. This is probably where I begun to really like this game. Obvious fails in this level: the hot block (though I think I was warned about it, but of course had to try for myself), and stepping on the green button on the way to an open door and thus closing it again *facepalm
Why is there a flareon smiley? (looking for facepalm-smiley)
Lesson 5 - now this was long my favourite level! Well, maybe not soooo long time but until I advanced to more challenging levels. I really didn't understand what the bear traps were or what they did, but I just tried stepping on the buttons which of course worked, after all, it is a lesson level. And I was so proud when figuring out on my own how to stop the fire balls from cloning! I played this level again and again and tried to improve my time.
Lesson 6 was boring. They could have made more of that level. No need to have a whole level just to explain the invisible and fake walls. Plus, I only went to the left side so never had to encounter the appearing walls.
Lesson 7. Well, I certainly didn't learn from this level where the teleports take you. It was only some ten years later when I started designing levels that I learnt about the reverse reading order and all that, back then I thought that the designer designated a destination for them. Of course, I stepped on the thief carrying both boots, who didn't make that mistake? So that was a good lesson.
Lesson 8 - I actually beat this level at first try and was very proud of it. My friend must have explained to me, or if I read it in the help file, how the frogs move.
Finally, Nuts and Bolts! I ctually think the FF section was the hardest to execute. I remember cooking the block section a couple of times, and of course dying a few times later on, and so having to play the FF section many times. Oh, the ice section. I could do that in my sleep. When playing this level after several years of playing only other levels, it's still there in the muscle memory. RDLULDRULD2RDLULU. You should try it. Next section - a bit cheeky that you close the first door if you don't step on the button twice. Also, the very first time I got this far, I was of course killed by the fire ball on the ice. I love sokobans so the bomb section was my favourite, and I remember being stumped for a while in the very last room with the beartrap and fireball.
Now, I've been writing for too long. It's teatime and then bedtime. Over and out.
4/30/2016: Have a "best of" set. 149 levels, mostly from UC4 and UC5 but some levels date back to around 2011, with the most recent being designed just yesterday. I hope you check it out, if only for the new levels note: these links are currently dead, but the sets can still be found on the forums or pieguy's site http://cczone.invisionzone.com/index.php?/files/file/565-ihnn-ultimate/
As always, any and all feedback is appreciated!
2/14/2016: Two years. It's been two years since I first rejoined the CC community. Wow, have I done a lot in that time.
It's done, released and uploaded, ready to be played by anyone who cares to play it. Post any and all feedback/comments/questions you have on levels here.
This is the 2nd major set I'm releasing, 5 and a half years after my first major set, Ultimate Chip.dat. This set contains 149 levels, all tested and guaranteed to work under the MS ruleset. I have not tested under the Lynx ruleset, but I've done all I can to try to make the levels compatible. Levels 1-21 were designed around 5 years ago, before my first hiatus. Levels 22-90 were designed between 3 and 2 years ago, when I found the editors on an old flash drive. Levels 91-149 were designed within the past year, once I regained interest in the game. If there's a noticeable shift in design philosophy between sections, this is why. However, I think it works to create a difficulty curve quite nicely.
Feedback is always appreciated, and enjoy
Confirmed solvable? MS Only, should be cross-compatible
What's New in Version 2.0
v2.0
-Assorted Lynx and bust fixes. Some of these are untested, but everything should be solvable in both rulesets now.
What do you guys think of my level design? I am honestly worried about how good my level design I make might be...
As a side note, I might release demo 2 for CamsLP.dat, my current main project, soon, with levels 1-50. I only have 1-45, so please bear with me if it takes awhile; I have had a writers block for level making.
Posted by: M11k4 - 11-Mar-2014, 7:03 AM - Forum: Blog Station
- No Replies
Almost half a year ago I promised an update on what has been done so far in this project. I've started writing this update perhaps a dozen times and every time have instead been inspired to advance the project in some other small way. Like instead of saying "oh we still need to check level #14 for other options" I would actually try to do that. Gradually we have been doing more stuff, and now I'm finally shedding some light on all of it.
Who has been working on this?
In the beginning a few chipsters responded to my request for working on this thing jointly. So at the beginning of 2012 we formed the CCLP2 Lynx Team, comprising of myself, Rock Généreux, Josh Lee, and Dave Varberg. We communicated by email and shared our suggestions for how to convert levels into Lynx. Things advanced sporadically. Later Michael Warner came on board, as some members of the team had to focus on other things in life.
Where did you get your ideas for how exactly to change the levels?
We have examined the levels a lot ourselves, as well as looking at all possible ideas from others that we could come upon. This includes Andrew Bennett's notes on levels at the Chip's Challenge wiki, Ultimasonic's conversion available at the yahoo group, and Syzygy's more recent upload on his own site. Other members of the community have also contributed with ideas, including at least Tyler Sontag and Lessinath. Some ideas have come from multiple sources so it is hard to credit everyone exactly.
Which designers have given permission to use their levels?
All the ones we have managed to contact. Sadly, this has so far only been Mike Lask, Luc Longpré, Rolf Redford, Eric Schmidt, David Stanley, and Kyle Wightman. We are still trying to reach Tyrethali Ansrath, Dave Borgman, Dale Bryan, Paul Hobden, Anders Kaseorg, Hank Lin, John Matthews, Anne Olsen, Christian Ståhl, Drew Thomas, and Drake Wilson. If you can help us get into contact with any of these people, it would be of great help.
What will the set be called?
Had I answered this half a year ago, I would have said CCLP2LX.dat, but now I am not sure any longer. The two current preferred options seem to be CCLP2-LX.dat and CCLXP2.dat, as you can see from this poll. Go vote and we can decide this one together!
Will there be a score board for the set?
Yes, James Anderson has agreed to host one. We kind of already launched the CC1 Lynx board with this in mind and have learned a few small things to improve from that. We considered splitting the scoring on this set into three parts depending on how large the changes to the levels are going to be, but now it seems two sections will work just as well. This is done so that the originally solvable levels can be solved in the original set if one wishes, and the other ones are kept separate. It basically looks like the distinction between timed and untimed levels in CC1.
So what does the set look like right now?
We have a version of the set that is pretty close to being ready for beta testing. All the levels work in Lynx. There are some levels that have pretty clever stuff going on, some where the changes have been pretty obvious, and others where we could still go in some other direction.
Will there be an expanded story?
This is definitely something that would be fun to include. At the very least we will have a new ccx-file that contains some hints for the more complex levels or possibly comments on why some changes were made. An actual story has not yet taken form and this is one of the things YOU can still help shape. Where would be a good place to discuss ideas for this?
What other stuff still needs to be done?
Well, we need to test the levels and see if any of the changes we've implemented have any odd effects we hadn't anticipated. We need to figure out what times to use for the launch of the score board. We need to pick which versions of certain levels we like the most. We need to document our thought process on many of the levels as well as give some measure of how much each level has changed, though admittedly these could partly be done after a release. We need to decide what to do if we can't reach all the designers.
When will the set be released?
We initially envisioned no exact time, but hoped to first contact all the original designers. As this is proving pretty hard to do, we should soon set some sort of date by which we'll make a decision on how exactly to proceed.
How can You help contribute to this thing now?
We have a group chat on Skype that you can ask to join. There we try to discuss what still needs to be discussed, including analyzing levels. To get a taste of this, you can download this and comment on the levels in it here. Take some time to look at even one of the levels and weigh in with your impressions. If you do not want to come on Skype to talk more, we can definitely talk here on the forums too.
Hopefully that brings you up to date on what's been going on so far. Though there is still lots to be done, it looks like we are on the home stretch on this thing! Thanks for your interest and help.
So there's a new version of ChoicesLP2 available and we can discuss some of the suggested versions here.
Please take a look at the levels before voting in the poll. Here are some comments too:
And Then There Were... Four? (#48)
This is pretty much an aesthetics question. Do you think the level looks better with extra clone buttons, making it harder to find the right one? Last time I asked this question the option to do something else got the most votes, but there was no explanation by anyone what that something else could be.
Quad-Boot (#57)
This too is largely a matter of preference, but also a measure of how much like the original would you like the modified version to be like. There are three sections in the level that all can be decided on separate from the other parts (the start, the water area behind the teleport, and the last teleport). If you like a combination of some ideas from the different versions, do tell us. What are the pluses and minuses of each version?
Checkerboard II (#94)
Here the choice more one of game play. Which do you think feels in Lynx the most like the original in MS?
YAP demo puzzle
This one is only part of the level being considered. It is not an easy level to convert to MS as the original solution requires a behavior in MS that is not too common (transparency). I could write a whole essay on what types of things we could try in Lynx and how this current demo puzzle relates to that, but for now all we need is to gauge how difficult you think this small level is. Compared to solving the original, how hard is this? Can anyone even solve it? Can you find the bust in this version?
Frozen Birdbath (#130)
Here is an example of a pretty difficult level to convert to Lynx, in my opinion. We have managed to analyze the original though and tried to replicate each area somehow in Lynx usually using popup walls and ice. The main question here is if you like the larger version more than the more compact one. These levels also showcase some of the ways a level can be made to only work in Lynx and not MS. For the larger one, would you prefer hint tiles instead of thieves? For the smaller one, would you prefer a clone block on top of the exit, or some other device? You can also comment on the difficulty and if you think it matches the original's.
Any and all comments welcome! This means if you agree with some choice, it is very good to hear from you! If you have some other suggestion that we didn't think of, please do share. Thanks!
(looking for facepalm-smiley)
