Hey everyone,

I apologize for the double post here, but I've been informed off-forum that Helmet #38 (Fire Walking) was unsolvable in Lynx. This issue has been corrected, and the file has been reuploaded. So sorry for the inconvenience!

Mazes are level genres that truly have been overlooked during CCLP2 and CCLP3 voting. There are about nine in CCLP2, and CCLP3 only has four (though, depending on your interpretation of what a maze is, these numbers could be slightly greater or fewer). How many did CC1 have? Around 23. The distaste in mazes can be attributed to the fact that they don’t offer much optimization potential, and many of them are just plain monotonous. Look at CC1 and some of its most despised levels. Rink, Doublemaze, and Stripes? are all mazes. Levels like Scavenger Hunt, Chipmine, and Now You See It aren’t too exciting either. On the other hand, mazes are excellent for beginners because failure will rarely occur. Time is the only enemy. I compiled a list of what I consider 10 well-designed mazes that I would like to see in CCLP1.

A-Maze-Ing

Ida4.ccl #11

Remember playing Strange Maze and feeling that great sense of triumph after collecting all the chips and being able to bust open all the chip sockets? This level extends such a concept throughout the whole level, though in four separate quadrants. However, the keys that are just out of reach truly make this level interesting, and would make a wonderful level early in the set.

Chip Be Steady

CCLP1Submissions-KTNUSA #17

J.B. has praised this level in the past, and although I initially thought this level was nothing special, I am starting to agree with him. The “avoid the toggle button maze” is a concept that has been around for ages, but this level truly perfects it. It has the best aesthetics of levels I’ve seen of this type, and the actual maze is confined to a space small enough as to not make the level tedious.

Choices, Choices

pieguy1.dat #11

This choice may surprise many of you. Pieguy isn’t exactly known for his beginner-friendly levels. This level is seemingly complex, however, one must realize that all sixteen combinations that the player chooses in this level are solvable. This, while additionally being extremely impressive conceptually, adds a ton of replay value for the player. Plus, it’d be neat to have a computer generated level in an official CCLP.

Elemental Park

ajmiam-the-other-100-tiles #13

The four element maze is a concept explored quite often, and Elemental Park is probably the only one that has done it right. Eight chips per element, and no unintended shortcuts to be found. That teleport is an excellent touch as well.

Invisibility Cloak

Markus_CCLP1 #38

Here’s a word of advice – avoid invisible walls as much as possible. Blue walls and hidden walls are more reasonable, as their true identity is revealed after a simple touch. Invisible walls are often abused to hell, sometimes filling up entire levels (cough cough Stripes?), but this levels confines its invisible wall usage to a 9x9 space, and uses normal walls to guide the player. It is amazing how the addition of the invisible walls actually make the level more intriguing.

Fiery Fogstorm

JCCLP #48

Here is yet another acceptable use of invisible walls. Their usage, along with the usage of the fire, makes this level quite appealing to look at. While the force floor navigation could possibly be tricky for beginners, this level is wonderfully straightforward but its design choices elevate it above other mazes.

Frozen Labyrinth

JCCLP #37

Everyone knows that I am in love with this level, so there is no real need to go into detail. Just the sheer concept of this level is brilliant and nothing in the level is arbitrary. The fact that the thin walls and ice can combine to form a straightforward maze is incredible.

Slide Labyrinth

GAP’sSub.ccl #24

Very few levels seem to have a large open space with rooms arbitrarily scattered. I think it creates a unique atmosphere. Ice mazes are too often made to span the entire 32x32 map. This level cuts the ice maze in half and adds in some neat pink ball dodging rooms. Play it yourself; it’s really fun to navigate. My only qualm is the short time limit, which can easily be changed.

Tunnel Clearance

TS0 #11

Yes, this is my own level, but it is one that I am very proud of. It is a maze concept that to my knowledge had not been used before, coupled with symmetry and some cool aesthetics, this one belongs in CCLP1.

Whirlpool

JBLP1 #82

This level is quite beautiful, and uses blue walls in a wall that is sensible, i.e. not filling the entire level with them. A beginner may easily get lost, but we need higher difficulty mazes in the set too

Okay so I just finished playing the Vermillion Pack and I wanted to give my shot on a review of the levels so here you are. I hope my comments aren't bad to you guys.


1. Lesson 10
Was an okay level. Could of had a little more dodging though. It was boring to walk around the teeth half the time.
2. Guidance for Experts
This is one of my levels, and I don't really need to play it to know if it is worthy of CCLP1. But to be fair, I'll give it a 4 because of the bottom left section being really difficult, especially to newcomers.
3. Progress Bar
Awesome idea. Awesome sokoban.
4. QuadPort
Decent level but kind of a random ending. Not bad though.
5. Traveler
Really good. The teeth at the end was a nice touch.
6. Slimy Swarm
Fun level. Would of been nice to know there were extra chips but no complaints.
7. 436f6c6c6973696f6e73
Precision timing. Loved it. But please give it an actual level name, not this.
8. Thief Street
I liked the twist to the level. Nice partial post too.
9. Ice, Ice, Maybe
Great level, one of my favorites of the pack.
10. Cloverleaf
Nice twist. Cool design.
11. Pole Position
If this doesn't get a 5, then I don't know what will.
12. Meteor Shower
I love levels like this. The pattern of the fireballs doesn't really change either. Very well suited for beginners.
13. Busted?
An okay level. It made me think of CC1 a lot.
14. Assembly Line
Loved this level so much.
15. Choices, Choices
Amazing level. That is all.
16. Pattern
A pretty good level. Very trivial though.
17. Key Farming
Great level, I think it will be perfect for beginners

18. Pickup
This was probably the best chip collecting level I've ever played. It was different compared to others to me.
19. Action!
Well I wasn't expecting to use blocks at the end, but otherwise good level.
20. Pow
It might be a little difficult for beginners, but I think they could use a blocksliding challenge or two!
21. Evaporation
Nice little block pushing level. I'm thankful it wasn't abused.
22. Thief, You've Taken All That Was Me
This really needs to be in the 140's of the finalized set. It's amazing in almost every way possible. All I would advise is a much higher time limit, for newcomers.
23. The Inner Plague
Fun teeth level.
24. Propaganda
Another fun one. Awesome design too.
25. Pickpocket Land
Cool looking design and concept. Not much else to add.
26. Connect the Dots
Good level idea. Plenty of room for error too.
27. Flowchart
Very confusing. The design is alright, but I don't get this level at all. The random sliding monsters didn't help either...
28. The Pace Quickens
Awesome level idea! Reminded me of Oorto Geld.
29. Be Quick About It, Man!!
An pretty well crafted chase level. Ended up with a few extra keys which was nice.
30. Gate Keeper
Nice idea. Seems to be perfect for beginners.
31. Warehouse 8
Another good sokoban level. It fits the theme from the Warehouse series in CCLP2.
32. Checkmate?
It was kinda good. Not one of my favorites though.
33. Mirages
I liked the idea, that's all I can really say about it.
34. The Bright Idea
Have to mention I died right at the start by going left... lol but good level.
35. Vlost
This one reminded me of various other ice levels, like Ice Cube and The Lake in Winter. Both of which I did not like at all.
36. Gold Mine
Great aesthetics.
37. Lesson 5
Kinda cool introducing blobs. I lol'd at the arbitrary blob by the exit.
38. 4^3 Cell
Well designed puzzle but not a big fan of these kinds of things.
39. Square Dancing
Decent.
40. Burning Desire
Blue walls plus an interesting maze equals pure win for me. Loved this one a lot.
41. Spumoni
Another amazing level. I love the design and concept of this one.
42. Blue
Sort of reminded me of Mishmesh from CC1. Other than that, I have no further comment on it.
43. The End
Okay.
44. The Big Apple
I like the design, however, it took me about 30 minutes to figure it out. Might be a little extreme to beginners.
45. Yeti
I think the northwest room would intimidate players but it was still a lot of fun to play.
46. The Elements
Pretty good tutorial for the elements.
47. Enter the Fortress
One of my levels and it's pretty linear. The only thing I can see newcomers will get stuck is to how to get the last teeth monster on the toggle button. Gave it a 3 for this reason.
48. Twice the Fun
It's so different than anything I've played in this pack and I actually enjoyed this level.
49. Frog in a Well
Not bad but kind of repetitive.
50. Lesson 3
Anybody would get this on at least their 2nd try. Guaranteed.

There can be only one person responcible for placing all the Fire under Pushable Blocks! It has to be...



RED HERRING!

File category: CC1 Levelsets

This is my latest levelset. Now has 20 levels including one Decade Message and one level which begs for a name.

• Added 1 level: ROUNDABOUT

Attached Files

  ELEMENTARY_PARTICLES.ccl (Size: 12.98 KB / Downloads: 1198)
  ELEMENTARY_PARTICLES.ccl (Size: 12.17 KB / Downloads: 640)
  ELEMENTARY_PARTICLES.ccl (Size: 11.81 KB / Downloads: 469)

Here is the blog message from Nvidia talking about up coming games http://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2013/05/14/5-games-shield/

And here is an unboxing video of the Nvidia Shield which is to be released at the end of the month for $299.99

[media]



[/media]

File category: CC1 Levelsets


Hmm... why am I uploading this set? You probably all worked out that I was behind almost all of these levels - who else would adorn multiples of 11 with harder levels than the rest? Who else would make level 121 one of the hardest and one of the most frog-filled?

Koba indeed made a few of these levels, and helped me with making a lot of them (he just wanted frogs everywhere)... other people made a few levels for this set, but I made most of them. I could put some of them in JacquesS2... there's an idea

Attached Files

  KobaM1.dat (Size: 96.77 KB / Downloads: 356)

File category: CC1 Levelsets

This levelset is extremely evil. Made in the early 2000s, the levels here show no mercy - they are pure evil! Easier versions of these levels will appear in Jacques.dat... until the 900s! >

Attached Files

  JacquesOld.dat (Size: 203.75 KB / Downloads: 377)

File category: CC1 Levelsets


986 levels. That's right, 986. The levelset with the largest number of levels.

For a levelset including only the good levels in this set, I recommend JacquesS1, but Jacques.dat has 763 more levels for you to... enjoy, I guess.

• Updated timelimit....

Attached Files

  Jacques.dat (Size: 718.45 KB / Downloads: 530)

Hmm... I'm going to join in you guys and help with the voting (just make sure level 121 has teeth. ) So, without further ado... Zephyr.

1. Blockage. This one confused me so bad. I haven't a bloody clue how this level works, even looking at it in the editor. Is it even possible? Uh, it is Jacques, because it's in the pack. But whatever it is, I cannot complete it. This pack is aimed at players like me, who aren't very good at the game. I had no idea and was totally lost, so this level does not belong anywhere near the pack. All in all, not a great start for Zephyr.

2. Shoes Wanted. Not too bad. A little too easy... but you can never have it too easy. Would be good as a level in the 10s. Stupidly, I attempted to do the teeth section first, because I'm just stupid like that. Turns out the yellow key was useless anyway. The level is untimed for some reason... but I completed it in 70 seconds, including the exploring since I wasn't sure what to do. Not too bad.

3. Slide Labyrinth. Very fun! The ball rooms aren't too hard either. I enjoyed this. My only complaint is that the time limit is too low. Raising it would be perfect for beginners like me. I ran out of time after collecting 7 chips.

4. Making a Difference. Very easy level, though the fireball room was pretty fun - that was the highlight of the level.

5. Stairway Mazers. I liked this. The bug at the start was fun to move around against. No dirty tricks, just mazey fun. But when you see a thief and a stairway made of force floors? GO ON THE FORCE FLOORS AS SOON AS YOU SEE THEM! I completed the water and ice part before doing the force floors bit... and I thought "if I make another block, I wouldn't be able to advance to the corridor of fireballs. So I left out that chip and went towards the exit without it. The rest of the level was very fun though.

6. Treasure Island. I did this level quite aimlessly. Still pretty fun though - there are some islands that you'll need to use the blocks on other islands to get to.

7. Criss Cross. This one sure was confusing, but I got the hang of it, after a few deaths. No, I'm not doing that on purpose, you stupid game. A bit repetitive, I must say...

8. Holy Chip. Aah... collecting lots of chips level. Coming from the guy that subjected people to filling a room with Computer Chips under Computer Chips, and calling it a level, seen in Jacques.dat like 30 times, I found it never unbearable, and the designer kept it interesting. A bit scary with that ball on the ice, and going back and forth to deal with the blocks and traps was a bit boring, but you only had to do it 5 times. Really good stuff. Easy, but never unbearable. Speaking of collecting lots of chips, is my stupid level BuggyChip in one of those packs? It made it into the final stages of CCLP3 voting for some reason I cannot explain.

9. Occupied. Fun concept, and not too tricky. A few switches were hard to get to when pink balls were released, but all in all it was fine.

10. Slow Melting. AAUGH! ICEDEATH LEVEL! Oh wait, Ice Skates. Phew. Kinda meh, really, but there's always that one chip you forget to get. Always.

11. Parody Bit. Pretty fun. Short but sweet. Definitely reminds me of something I would make, especially the toggle room with monsters, which is a staple in many of my levels. W-wait, was Mr. Designer parodying me? Thanks, Mr. Designer!

12. Paid in Full. It took a little while to realise what the hell I was doing, but this turned out to be a fun and straight-forward little level. Could have added a bit of challenge, but it's alright. What's up with the name?

13. Four Ants. This level was just annoying... and you had to use some of the blocks to go to the exit. It got old after the fifth time being killed after an ant.

14. Cakewalk. I enjoy these kind of levels very much. This one was really fun, and it was a bit of a rush for me (though leave the time limit alone - it encourages you to move quick but not too frantically.) I ran out of time first time, but that enticed me to try again! The block section was a bit scary... but we all need those scary sections otherwise Chip's Challenge would get boring. My only complaint is that the panels could look a bit neater - levels built with panels do have a tendency to look messy in the MS graphics. The top-left with the alternating north and south panels could be edited to look a bit better, but a good level.

15. Center Priority. Easy stuff. I missed my exit on the paramecium section so I had to do it twice. It did not make me a happy bunny. And the SE Panel... use it! (There was a point where it could have been used neatly but the designer opted for separate N and W panels. I'm really stingy about panels...) Not particularly fun.

16. Taking. This level would either be evil (the bugs/paramecia would circle a 2*2 square after a chip was collected so timing was key) or dull (the bugs/paramecia would continue the 3*3 circle). Indifferently surprised, it took the dull option.

17. The Maze That Turned On And Off. Really, really fun! This could be a contender for level 121 - as level 121 must have teeth. You'll find yourself praying for that pink ball to hit the button quite a lot, but this was an exciting, fun level. 5'd.

18. Confounded. I kinda got bored of this one fast. There weren't any moving tanks by the point I got bored. A bit annoying too, really, I was going round in circles at some points.

19. Fresh. Nothing fresh about this level, which was essentially a Jumping Swarm, just with some gravel here and there. Well, at least it wasn't a 900s Jacques.dat Jumping Swarm, because that would get a 1/5.

20. Protect Your Fortress. Very, very fun. Took me a little while to realise what to do, because somebody didn't read the hint. Not hard, and very fun. 5'd.

21. Enough Lessons. Fun enough. Very straightforward and no challenge whatsoever... would be perfect as a very early level. Nothing much else to say.

22. Synchronisation. Just... really frustrating. I ran out of time before that BLASTED PINK BALL created the second block so I could detonate the bomb AAAAAURGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

23. Into the Vortex. Easy, but fun stuff. What was the point of the pair of suction shoes?

24. Boa, Boa, Boa. What a silly name, I first thought whilst playing this bizarre level. However... it was exciting, exciting stuff. And soon enough after playing, I understand why the designer gave it such a name. The boa constrictors are very numerous and I made a mess of it a lot of times. A very exciting, and fun level. I think I will... Yeah, 5'd.

25. Spirals. It's alright, a bit repetitive though. The odd sliding that monsters tend to have didn't bother me once here.

26. Backfire. "Moving blocks are dangerous, try not to get squashed by them". Well duh. Basic stuff here, executed quite nicely here. Would be fun as an earlier level.

27. Renewable Swarm. Exciting stuff, and lots of frogs! Could be a contender for level 121, but I'd prefer level 121 to be a full level which uses the entire space of the 32*32 map. The rhythm of the button pushing by the enemies was easy to get into. Click, click-click, click, click.

28. Fireball. What a mess! How the hell do you get past the tanks? The beginning with the fireballs was hella hectic too. Harumph. We'll swiftly skip this one.

29. Ballroom Blitz. Nice concept. Could have been a bit harder, but I liked it, random as it was. Ballroom dancing with pink balls.

30. Start Off. Just hideously dull, really. We want to entertain our beginner Chipsters, not bore them!

31. And The Buttons Were Gone. Fun. Though it involves the killing of those cute widdle fwoggies. Oh well, it proved to be a fun level. You may need to think before quickly trapping the frogs, warning from Jacques.

32. Guarded Hallways. Perfect difficulty... oh rats, that fireball room. It made it so confusing with the fire under the fireballs - everything was hard to see. It might look better in Lynx... but I never liked Lynx graphics, I'll stick with MS, however 'crappy' it looks, because Chip to me will always be the guy with green trousers and a teal blue shirt, not some random guy with a backpack who's so ugly you can't see his face! Oh, what am I even talking about? This was pretty good, not 5 quality stuff, but fun nonetheless.

33. Ratchet. My lucky jersey number. Yeah, it would be 121, but that's too big to fit on a baseball jersey. Jacques, stop rambling. A great concept. The first time I tried it, of course I let the fireball through, but yeah, I can kill all those frogs quite easily. I then realised what was going on, and thought "this concept is great but... could have been used better". Then I saw the trap, and quickly rethought. Interesting concept, used well, in the end. All in all, a good map. 5'd.

34. Route 66. More cruel than it should have been because my left and right arrow keys were playing up, so the glider and fireball rooms, and the 2*2 squares with enemies were a nightmare when they really shouldn't be. Not at any fault of the map, that is, which is a fun romp. with nothing too tricky. Damn arrow keys. I will 5 this, whatever.

35. Teleporter Action. A short boring level on partial posting. That is all I really have to say.

36. 4 Ways to Win. I did it... the bomb way. I don't see any other way to do it, but there you go. GreenKitten, everyone. A fun little puzzle which was satisfying to solve. I enjoyed this level.

37. Mega Blocks. I can easily see this level in CCLP1. It's just jam-packed with little block puzzles which are never boring, and not too hard, but with a bit of thinking ahead involved. Nicely built and always entertaining, this level is 5'd.

38. Kill Blob. Aah... my kind of level - killing those disgusting green objects. That was about 5% of the level... the rest of the level was a scavenger hunt - which did entertain me - it wasn't too long and irritating a-la CC1 #32. I was thinking the scavenger hunt to be a while-u-wait for the blobs to drown, but you had to get the blobs killed and the chips collected before you could enter the scavenger hunt. Not the way I would do it, but who cares? And this level gives us a chance... to kill blobs!

39. Peek-A-Boo. Ooh, another scavenger hunt. Unlike Zommy08 I found the item-swapping here to be more interesting than the previous level - you have to do a bit more thinking here. But there's no blob-killing... this level sure could use some blob killing.

40. The Perks of Dodging A Block. Annoying timing needed here - once you get all the chips and pass the socket, the level is reminiscent of the block nightmares of Blockbuster I... and II. That's not a good thing - and especially after you've gotten all the chips, it just makes it a bit annoying, really.

41. Novice Hall. No animals were touched in the completion of this level. Which is just as well. Nothing special really... the only danger is if you make a misstep into the frog cage - which is almost certain death. Basic... but is it too basic?



I shall continue later, and I'll do all the voting once I've finished the set.