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!
Hey guys. It has come to my attention that rep levels are now ranked as the names of members in the community. Although creative, I'm not sure I understand the inside humor that this system is based on, and I think it is unfair that members appear to be ranked on a hierarchy in the subjective order that some of us would rank others along. (This is just my speculation). To be straight-forward, I don't see the motive to put Michael at the "zero" level, even though he is an experienced chipster in our community, and I think this is quite unfair and/or trollish to him unless he volunteered to have his name used for this purpose. (Edit: He did say he doesn't really care, so it's probably OK, but I wouldn't have him there regardless).
I am also concerned that the names of certain people outside of our community are used as rep levels, especially those of which are names on Facebook friends lists of some of our members. I am concerned that someone may be Internet-savvy enough to Google themself and come across the forum, and find that their name has been stalked and posted publicly. Although I am aware that in the case of Zane, he does not have a problem with a specific member's first name being posted, I would like to request that the first or last names of any people on my (Trevor's) Facebook friends list (outside the community) not be posted publicly on the forums or on any other website. I do not currently know that anybody has posted anything that would concern me in this respect, but it's just so people know now. Also, if people try to troll me on this I will have to make my full friends list invisible, so don't say I didn't warn you.
As such, my feedback would be to implement a nameless version of this system that uses personal qualities *not* linked to any specific person in the community (for example, Troll, New Recruit, Engineer, Professional, etc. or maybe something more CC-specific), or simply have the greatest chipsters such as J.B. or Pieguy at the top and have non-specific ranks below.
