ajmiam's Debut Levelset--Pit of 100 Tiles

[mathgrant]

I don't want to spoil myself out of too many surprises, so I haven't read the entire thread here, but levels 2 and 5 are pretty cute and CC-like.

[M11k4]

I haven't read through all the comments here, but want to add some of my own.

#41 - Why so many extra chips? Three I understand, but seven?

#59 - I like this level but view your choice of no time limit differently (and on others with the same reasoning). I sometimes play competitively, and having a time limit increases the chances I would replay a level using a different solution to see which is faster. (And #42 really doesn't have enough randomness to be bad at all; compare it to #39 or #46.)

#67 - too easy. Why not add some obstacles in a way that it is still straight-forward for someone with a brain, but not too trivial?

#96 - in lynx, a bug can get trapped forever in the five toggle walls when the ball is operating them. Could there be an extra way to toggle the doors when this happens?

#98 - I couldn't see how many times the tank button needed to be pressed before taking the flippers, which was frightening because you loose them later. How about having a way to retain the flippers, or having an extra tank that would block the way if the button was pressed an even amount?

Please keep it at 100 levels! It's not too long and fits so nicely with the name. I also wrote a short review at the downloads page.

-Miika

[ajmiam]

I haven't read through all the comments here, but want to add some of my own.

#41 - Why so many extra chips? Three I understand, but seven?

#59 - I like this level but view your choice of no time limit differently (and on others with the same reasoning). I sometimes play competitively, and having a time limit increases the chances I would replay a level using a different solution to see which is faster. (And #42 really doesn't have enough randomness to be bad at all; compare it to #39 or #46.)

#67 - too easy. Why not add some obstacles in a way that it is still straight-forward for someone with a brain, but not too trivial?

#96 - in lynx, a bug can get trapped forever in the five toggle walls when the ball is operating them. Could there be an extra way to toggle the doors when this happens?

#98 - I couldn't see how many times the tank button needed to be pressed before taking the flippers, which was frightening because you loose them later. How about having a way to retain the flippers, or having an extra tank that would block the way if the button was pressed an even amount?

Please keep it at 100 levels! It's not too long and fits so nicely with the name. I also wrote a short review at the downloads page.

-Miika

Thanks for the review! I'm glad you had fun playing the levelset!

Now to answer your questions...(SPOILERS for people who haven't played the whole set yet):






#41: The, um, extra chips are actually all booby-trapped. That's why the level is called Constant Vigilance! The 3 in front of the cloner are pretty obvious, there's 1 circled by bugs going the wrong way, and if you go for the rightmost 3 in the room, you'll release the teeth and trap yourself. If you were able to get any of the extras and survive (except for the bug one, which can be taken in Lynx mode only with perfect timing) then there's a problem with the level that I need to fix. Please let me know if that is the case!

#59: This level was intended to be untimed from the get-go, and I do not want to change it, at least not right now. The idea is that all 4 solutions should be equally "good," and if a player wants to replay the level, they shouldn't be encouraged to stick to only one solution (the fastest one). Though now that I think about it, finding the optimal one of many solutions was the main theme of Replay (II), which I think many Chipsters really enjoyed. I'll think about putting a time limit on this one, though I won't guarantee that I will do so.

#67: You're right; this level is way too easy to even be considered a "breather" level, which was what I was going for. I'm planning to add walls, place the chips in a nicer pattern, and swap it with level 38, which is probably a bit too hard for its position.

#96: Never encountered this problem, but just in case I'll make it so you can get back to the toggle switch yourself after leading the pink ball to it.

#98: I realize now that if you try to complete the lock section before the flipper section, you won't have enough info to know what buttons the glider should press. Once you visit the upper-right, you should know all you need to know, even if you have to memorize or write down the position of the tank in front of the ball cloner and keep track of it (which is meant to be part of the puzzle). You can lock yourself in the top-right and cook the level because of the toggle wall (which you can see from the section), but not with the tank button because there is another tank button before the entrance to the lock section if you need it. (I assume you are playing with the latest version, 1.005.)

I've decided to put the keys behind chip sockets, and place a chip in the upper-right section so that you have to visit it (thereby finding out what you need to know about the position of the tank) BEFORE unlocking any doors. I can't let you take the flippers out of that upper-right section, though, as otherwise you could bust the level by taking care of the balls/bombs/ yourself. You wouldn't need the at all!



Now, from your review:

#82 (Automatic (Caution) Doors) - I loved this level! It's perfect! If I hadn't died once quite early, I might have solved it on my first attempt. That felt great! It combines having to move quickly in places while having as much time as needed to stop and think as well. The concept was executed admirably and the end result is exceptional! The only minus I can think of is to maybe rethink the name since the parentheses look odd.

The name was meant to be a parody of those yellow-and-black, circular Automatic
Caution Door
signs that you see at the entrance to supermarkets, etc. I just didn't feel that just Automatic Caution Doors or plain old Automatic Doors achieved quite the same effect.

#64 (64 Cell) - Why do I like this? I don't know. I just got stuck for close to two hours playing through it until I had a decent route. Why? I don't know. A big plus is not ever being able to cook the level (well almost, I did push the block against a wall once). Was hoping to see another entry in the series at #81, but I guess that will have to wait for your next set perhaps?

Unfortunately, the grid is too small for 81 Cell, unless I use thin walls between the cells or make each one 2*2. Neither solution would quite work right. Also, at least one playtester as well as myself seemed to think that 64 cells was enough of a stretch on the concept. Trivia: 64 Cell was among the first 15 levels whose concepts I thought up, but I actually finished building it 64th.



END SPOILERS


As for the set being only 100 levels, well, my original idea was to make a 200-level set, but have it be essentially two levelsets in one--an easier levelset and an advanced levelset. At level 101, the difficulty curve was to reset, but progress at a steeper rate. Also, I planned to move some of the levels (especially the ones requiring partial posting) forward 100 slots once I had enough levels for there to be such a slot. I released the set at the current 100 levels because I wanted feedback and CCLP1 consideration, and I knew 200 levels would take a really long time to make. I still want to go forward with my original plan, if only because it's far easier to move levels around within a single set than between levelsets. I might change my mind, though.

[Lessinath]

It is your choice and I'm sure it will be good regardless, but if you make it two shorter 100-level levelsets instead of one 200-level levelset people will be more likely to finish the two together then one big one due to burnout on a long set. Me? I'll still play it regardless.

[ajmiam]

I've now updated the set to Version 1.006.

M11k4, as per your suggestion, I remade Level 67. Same concept, but there are now walls. The level now depicts a familiar scene...at least familiar to anyone who's seen Rockdet's playthrough of Nightmare on Block Street.

Because the new version of #67 is harder, I did not swap it with #38.

I also managed to find the problem you had in #96, M11k4. I added force floors so that bugs that get trapped between toggle walls will keep moving left instead of turning around.

I made a tiny change to Level 70's hint so that it's clearer which way you need to go to survive.

I added chips to #98 and put the keys behind sockets. This way you have to visit the upper-right first, thereby finding out how the tanks and toggle walls are set, before trying to complete the lock section.

Finally, I decided to retract my retraction of Level 99 from CCLP1 submission. That is, I would like it to be considered for voting, along with all the rest of the levels in the set except for #50. I thought about this for a while and decided to do this because one playtester really liked #99 and because it's really not that long, so it shouldn't be too frustrating. Additionally, I feel (correct me if I'm wrong) that many (but not all) of the traps can be avoided with some logic or at least intuition due to knowing that the level is unfair. Plus, some levels in all 3 of the official sets had guesswork anyway. I'll let the community, by voting, decide whether this level belongs in CCLP1 or not.

I've decided that barring more bug fixes, I will not make any more changes or additions to this set. Future levels I create will go into a new 100-level set, and once I am done, I will combine the sets and order the levels by difficulty and advanced concepts used (but this set and the new one will still be available in 100-level form). Speaking of the new set, I should have a preview of ~20 levels out by the end of this month for CCLP1 voting.

[rockdet]

Just dropping by to say that your set is one of the best I've ever played.

[Flareon350]

I have yet to play it still. I stopped at level 30 for some reason.

[ajmiam]

Just made a VERY minor update, fixing a micro-bust in #24 and an unfair C/B related cook in #76.

Edit: If it's not too late, will my CCLP1-submitted version of these levels be updated?

Also, mini trivia quiz time! Everyone, try to name as many of the references in my set as you can! There's absolutely no prize, but I'm just curious as to what everyone's picked up on so far.

[jblewis]

Excellent!

The general rule of thumb is that until the voting begins, you can make modifications to levels you've submitted before the submission deadline, which, for this set is (I believe) everything sans level 50.

[rockdet]

Oh snap I gotta reopen the file to do that. Will do it eventually, but I got a good load of it.