This is going to be a looooong blog post.

I first played Chip's Challenge way back in 1998, when I was 3 or 4 years old. My mom and I were able to beat most of the levels, and managed to get all the way to and through Special, albeit by skipping a few levels. I remember we never beat Cake Walk, Mind Block, Mix Up, Mixed Nuts, Totally Unfair, Stripes?, The Last Laugh, Eeny Meeny Miney Moe and Icedeath. There were probably other levels we had to skip that I can't remember, but we had fun playing through. Even then I wasn't satisfied with simply "beating" the game, I wanted to beat every level, despite not being skilled enough to at the time. So I kept playing to have fun, not really having any other games to play at the time-my favorite levels included All Full and I Slide. Then at the turn of the millennium we got a PS1 and I shifted to playing Spyro, Crash Team Racing and Ape Escape, and the next year a PS2 which added more games to the list I would play. Chip's Challenge faded from most played to hardly touched, though I still went back every so often and picked off another level or 2. Until about 2004 this cycle continued, and the computer Chip's Challenge was on stopped being used, its monitor needed for another computer. I had beaten every level barring Totally Unfair, Icedeath, and Cake Walk despite (perhaps due to?) an uncle hitting F2 to start a new game, not realizing that going back to level 1 would have the same effect. It certainly got me to go through the torture that was On the Rocks.

A couple years later, in 2007, I got a laptop. It didn't take too long for me to remember Chip's Challenge, and I searched for it on the internet and found a download. Unfortunately, I wasn't too smart when it came to being safe on the internet and the download contained a virus. I'd also spotted Tile World, and grabbed that too off of Mike L.'s site. Also linked there was a nifty little program that offered the impossible dream of being able to design your own levels: ChipEdit. I immediately began work on a sort of test set, known as 25 levels.dat. I believe I posted this to the Yahoo group, but I can't find it on the internet anymore. The levels in it were all very simple or had rather lame concepts, outside of Level 6: Gauntlet. That's the oldest level I'm actually happy with, even if it is pretty simple, I utilized a few concepts that at the time seemed pretty rare, including a miniature maze of toggle buttons where hitting one would result in the level being cooked.

It was around this time that I caught wind of CCLP2, and I started playing that. I didn't get too far though, as the levels just weren't that enjoyable to me. I did realize I could load the set into an editor and get the password for the next level, and did so. Still, I beat very few levels as I felt the designs were rather cheap. It did open my eyes to the idea of invalid tiles, an idea I used with abandon while making levels in my next set, meant to be a full 149 level set. This is to date my best set, Ultimate Chip.dat. I'm working on a much better one that's been announced with some teasers, with luck I'll have it out before CCLP1. I worked on this and banged out 149 levels then made a bonus level after, which I still feel is one of my better levels. The process took a month and a half...most levels had very little effort put into them and were made because I wanted to make a level, without having a real idea for it. This is best exemplified with Mega Bomb, which I fully admit is a terrible level and it should not exist.

Shortly after that I found out about CCEdit, and made a quick 10 level set in a day to test out its features. Rather than keep this to myself like a sensible person, I posted it to pieguy's site. It was at this point that I played every set I could find, at least trying every level...once. CCEdit's test feature that let you skip between levels at will was exactly what I needed, and I still use it to test today...despite having switched to CCDesign. There were a few levels I liked, a few sets I liked, but nothing really stood out to me. Nothing ever really captured the feeling of going through CC1 for the first time. I found MLMaze and PC Block Dude and played those, made a few levels in each (which no longer exist) and actually beat one of the best move scores in Block Dude (but didn't submit because I didn't realize how). Then I began work on a set that was meant to be the greatest CC set ever created, 999 levels with no blank levels. This was a foolish endeavor.

I got up to about level 200 by making every level part of a series consecutive to the one before it. This was lazy designing, best shown with a series I was calling "+1-x", where x was the level in the series. The first of these was literally dodging 2 balls and stepping into the exit. Thankfully (though I didn't think it at the time), I lost the set to a bug with set saving, which is why I've been backing up everything I edit now. I was pretty mad because of this and left to go do other stuff, but not before submitting Ultimate Chip.dat for consideration in CCLP3. At the time, I thought it was a guarantee I'd have some levels in, though looking back I'm shocked any got in. Anyway, I left the scene for a couple years, then by chance I stumbled on a CC video on Youtube. In the related videos was a rockdet LP of 25 levels.dat. I just had to watch to confirm if it was mine or someone else's.

It was my set. I did a bit more looking around and found James A.'s started LP of Ultimate Chip, and watched what he had for that. This was enough for me to dig up the old CCDesign (which I'd downloaded shortly before taking a break) and began work on the real Ultimate Chip 2, working in bursts. When I release the set I'll give a bit more insight into what I was thinking for each level, it's kind of interesting to see how my design process has changed. I also saw the wiki page for CCLP3 and immediately did a double take. I was credited for a level in it? What could it possibly have been? Well, Recess. I'm going to be completely hoenst, that level took me less than 10 minutes to create. I guess it does show one criteria often overlooked these days: simplicity. Sometimes a simple level with a minor challenge can be fun, and clearly that's why it made it in. CCLP3 was much better than CCLP2, though I didn't get even a third of the way in before stopping. I had also discovered speedrunning around this time, and Touhou shortly later, so CC again took a backseat, with Ultimate Chip 2 sitting at ~50 levels.

2011-2013 were marked by no CC play or design outside of a level idea here and there until around November. I took a class on board game design, and came up with an idea for a level that required you to go through it twice, but a bit different the second time. I didn't do as much with the concept as I could have, but I hand drew the level so it was a bit tougher to design-I couldn't move a tile if something went wrong. I also mapped Icedeath out as the computer with CC1 was still running, albeit lagging after a few minutes. It took a day to map the stage on graph paper, I solved it on the map and the next day executed the solution. This left Pain and Cake Walk as the only levels I had never solved, though I'd done the top half of Pain. Still, I didn't really mess with CC too much until this February, when of all things seeing the existence of the CC1 149 level blind race on SRL got me interested in trying again. I dug out the old CCDesign, did some research and began designing levels again. I had 80 levels or so done, and now I'm sitting at 110 or so. I had a lot of ideas that I was able to implement, which is why my progress was so rapid.

A couple days ago someone I met through speedrunning asked if I wanted to blind race CCLP2...to which I had to answer it would be blind, and I explained why it wouldn't be a good race-invalid tiles and such. I also mentioned CCLP3 wouldn't be a good idea, but CCLP1 would be perfect...if it existed. That resulted in checking up on the CC community for the first time since 2010-2011, finding this site, seeing a release date set for CCLP1, and just generally rekindling an old interest. I joined this forum, kept designing levels, and now I'm trying to take a more active role. Hopefully CCLP1 can recapture that feeling of playing though CC1 for the first time. I know I'm trying to do that to the best of my ability with my set, with a mix of puzzles, aesthetically pleasing levels, some overlap, some melee, all mixed throughout.

That's pretty much my story of how I got here. Now, if anyone could suggest a fun set that's not too hard for me to just play through, I'd appreciate that. It's been a while so I have no idea what the best ones are any more :V

File category: CC1 Levelsets


This ZIP file contains all 33 CCLP1 voting packs used for CCLP1 voting. You can download this for the "Gotta Solve 'em All!" CC Zone award too.

NOTE - Some levels in these packs may have been updated or changed after CCLP1 voting finished so bear that in mind for any future CCLP voting.

• 1.0 - Original release.

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  CCLP1Voting.zip (Size: 571.33 KB / Downloads: 359)

I figure this is close enough to finishing, especially with the progress I've been making lately, that an "official" announcement of its existence wouldn't be promising something that may never come to be. Anyway, I've been working on this on and off for the past...5 years or so, though mostly off. It's essentially a sequel to my first big set, Ultimate Chip.dat, in that I'm trying to make it outright better. Less (to the point of only a couple breather levels) throwaway levels, no invalid tiles, a lot more Lynx compatibility (though I got tired of designing around that after a point, I think level 70-80 is where), and generally better design. Here's some samples of what I've got so far:
Teaser 1:

[Click to Show Content]

I'm pretty happy with how this one turned out, as a sort of open-ended puzzle level. Lots of options as to how to solve it, though currently it's untimed. Perhaps I should make the timer 999 just to see how it gets optimized...

[Click to Show Content]

A simpler level a bit later in the set, more to focus on aesthetics. I know that brutal puzzle after brutal puzzle gets old fast, so I've been mixing in easier levels, simpler levels, even some action levels though for the most part I'm bad at designing those.

[Click to Show Content]

Lastly, the top left corner of a level that I designed around the concept of having everything you need in the field of view from the beginning of the level...but needing to go to every extreme just in order to complete it.

Hi!

So we want to lock down the name for this edition of CCLP2 that would work in Lynx. The main options to consider are CCLP2LX and CCLXP2. The first one is short for "Chip's Challenge Level Pack 2 Lynx" but the X also references the ten years it has been since the original release. However, this might not be a perfect fit, as the acronym is pretty long and when all the letters are capitalized it is a bit heavy to read as well. To offset this, we could separate the LX from the rest of it by a dash or a period. These might still confuse people, as there is no established way to name Lynx versions of sets. So some people already use names like cc1-lynx.dac and CHIPS-LYNX.DAT on their own, and thus CCLP2-LX might be easily confused with the original CCLP2. The last choice is to move the X and get rid of one of the L's by using CCLXP2, which might stand for "Chip's Challenge Lynx Pack 2". Does that look too weird? Weigh in with your votes and thoughts! First impressions are valuable, so tell us how the suggestions made you feel!

Thanks!

-Miika

Happy Valentine's Day to all Chipsters!

Did you realize we have an award here at CC Zone for participating in a Valentine's Day competition? Here's your chance to get one!

Valentine's Day is all about remembering those people that are dearest to your heart and making sure they know how you feel about them. I want to give you all the chance to express your love towards a classic set, CCLP2. To do this, all you have to do is redesign two small levels from CCLP2 for Lynx play. The levels in question originally use invalid tiles in a way that is hard to translate over to Lynx.

The first level is #87, The Walker Machine
. This level uses chips hidden under fake blue walls and a cloned stream of walkers to make your collecting job harder. In addition, the chips form the shape of a castle. To make a similar level for Lynx, you can consider hiding chips under blocks, enlarging the size of the castle, and whatever you can think of that recreates the feeling of the original for Lynx. Don't be afraid to keep it simple, but you may also go crazy and do something totally different as long as you explain the connection to the original.

The second level is #120, Frost Rings
. This level uses ice hidden under chips to create a puzzle that seems open to easy collecting of chips, but actually limits your movements more and more as the ice is uncovered. The level is symmetric with the exit in the center. To make a similar level for Lynx you might want to use pop-up walls to restrict the movement of Chip, or enlarge the level just a bit, or come up with something else that feels like the original. If you can make the puzzle be about the same difficulty as the original, that would be a plus.

This challenge is open for a week, so the deadline for submissions is Feb 21st where you live
. Send your submissions to me at valeosote at hotmail dot com. The submissions will then be published for everyone's enjoyment. This is not a standard create competition for the Chip Cup, but rather a mini challenge, so the scoring is a bit different. Participants can earn up to 5 Chip Cup points, on a scale that measures successful effort roughly like this:

1 point - you submit something.


2 points - your submission meets the requirements.


3 points - you have clearly put effort into creating something that works.


4 points - you submit one great level and the other one is pretty straight-forward.


5 points - you have grasped what this task was about and created two levels that feel like the originals.


At this point you might guess that this task has something to do with the CCLP2 Lynx Project, and you would be right. The main connection is the motivation for running this thing. I have seen some attempts at making lynxified versions of these levels, but I want to find out if someone out there still can come up with a new take. At it's best this might produce something great we could use, and at it's worst we will have more versions of the levels to compare to each other. However, this challenge is otherwise disconnected from that project in the sense that if you want to participate and not have your creations utilized for the project, you can do so. If we wish to use any of your ideas we will discuss it with you separately.

If you have any questions, please ask! Have fun!

-Miika

Dear Chip's Challenge Community,
It has recently come to my attention that the user Zane "IceyLava108" Kuecks has passed me, Tyler J. Sontag, in reputation points here on Chip's Challenge Zone. This news is shocking to me, to say the least, as I am clearly more charismatic, humorous, and good-looking than Zane Kuecks. How such a man could pass me in the infallible system of human worth measurement known as the CCZone Reputation Point System™ is beyond me, other than the community being composed of hypocritical scumbags delusional about what truly makes a man great. Therefore, I have lost all trust in the Chip's Challenge Community and have made the decision to leave as promptly as possible. I have removed all of my level sets from the Internet, because they apparently are worthless in comparison to the brilliance of the levels of Zane Kuecks. I have sent an email to James Anderson to request removal of my scores from all scoreboards, and another email to J.B. Lewis requesting the removal of my 7 levels from CCLP3 and my [CENSORED] levels from CCLP1. I hope you are all happy with your decisions in awarding Zane Kuecks with the coveted reputation points over the years, rather than the more worthy recipient being myself. My time spent at this community has been a waste. I'm out.

~ Tyler J. Sontag

oh yeah this post is a joke btw

Greetings, fellow Chipsters!

The CCLP1 staff is excited to announce that April 4, 2014, 11:59 P.M. GMT will be the official release date of CCLP1. We're very excited about how the set has come together and are very excited to unveil it to everyone. To whet your appetite, check out our teaser poster for the set below. And be sure to watch for more news and updates in the weeks ahead!

File category: CC1 Levelsets


"Valentines" levelset has 15 playable levels with 10 of the levels imported from "Gifts" levelset...as I have changed almost all of those levels to be more understandable or easier to figure out ...particularly levels 1 & 2.

Many of the levels have at least one of every TYPE OF TILE- as a point of intest and also fun for me to accomplish.

Much thanks to MikeL, who has made an avi of levels 11 & 12 available at the NG. Also there is a MS Excel spread sheet of these two levels at the NG and Yahoo group: look for "LEVELS". Plus there is a copy of CC1's level 136 - "Double Maze" on another tab that you can print out on one sheet of paper- so that you can draw lines for the different routes ( in different colors, I would suggest.)

I believe that MikeL has made an AVI of level 5, but maybe (hopefully) he will do a new one, since I changed the gravel tile.

Ian Wilson - thinker

Level 5 has been a very tough level to make and get the timing right with the two different modes. Plus, I had other problems to address, but now, after replacing the gravel tile in the start area - in this update- I am happy with it and hope that you give it a try.

Happy Valentines Day! -eveyone.

Ian Wilson - thinker

• With all the updates and changes and also the redesigning of the NE area of level 5: I decided to have a clean slate and do an Updated- NEW UPLOAD
• This update is to use extra block in NE water / Ice area.
• Some feedback on level 5 - indicates the need for there to be more info at the start: I replaced the gravel tile and put in a W-thin wall near the circling glider -to eliminate the possiblity of Chips filling in the two single water tiles and ALSO_to enable Chips to get through the trap under the glider "early" and get a better view of all the action in the start areas

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  Valentines.ccl (Size: 17.28 KB / Downloads: 343)

post a puzzle here or help solve them. Any kind.

I have begun with one. This will be part of a series of puzzles that link together to form another puzzle. Let me know how easy/hard it is. comments are welcome.

the title of this puzzle is: Cash for birds. 'I.' indicates this is the first in this series. I will upload hints from time to time or if anyone asks.

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a puzzle I made up

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