Mind Games

[H2O]

This is the feedback thread for the level set Mind Games

Any feedback or review would be appreciated.

[mobius]

oooh! looks very exciting. I may, if it's alright with you, do a (blind) LP of this set, very soon!

[H2O]

A Let's Play sounds great, yet I'm slightly worried about your expectations if you haven't looked at the level list already (which you probably should do before deciding to go forward with it). Even though there are a lot of new levels, a lot of the levels come from Rising, Explorer's Delight and gm5, so it might not be entirely blind. I sent you a private message with some more details

[H2O]

Mobius started his awesome Let's Play Chips Challenge 2 series of custom sets:

Bronco541

As indicated, he started with this set, which is fantastic feedback, and I'll make changes to the levels if necessary based on the LP
And the first four episodes are out

• Let's Play chips challenge 2 (mind games) part 1
  
• Let's Play Chips Challenge 2 (Mind Games) part 2
  
• Let's Play CC2 (mind games) part 3
  
• Let's Play chips challenge 2 (mind games) part 4
  

Some words to each level which made an appearance so far:
Just for information, as always with my levels, all have replays included which can be watched in the editor...

BLUE EYED

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Designed as the first level for this set, a mostly straightforward item swapper, partly to remind the player of a lot of different cc2 collectables. With the bowling ball the player has a choice, and has to think about where to use it, as almost all levels need some kind of way for the player to make decisions; other than this, relatively easy, and worked mostly out as intended.
The unnecessary evil ice tile will be removed in the next update of the set, and the time limit will be increased by 20 seconds.

SO EASY

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It's actually a new level, I hope slightly more interesting than SO 1 from GM5 which is not in the set, but not nothing special, an easy sokoban.

GHOST TOWN

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This level is supposed to feel like you are in a hurry, even though it shouldn't feel too strict in this regard, and it felt like there wasn't enough time to figure out the ghost part, so the time limit will increased by 30 seconds.

WORKING TOGETHER

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I like how the level worked out, even though it is nothing too special, as again designed to be early in the set, to remind and/or teach the player several important things, starting with the different advantages of Chip and Melinda, switching players, working together to solve puzzles and especially exploring the level, if you don't have all the information or parts at the point to solve it at one moment in time. Even the aha moment was there, when you realize what you are meant to do, which is often the best part in solving a level.

SHIPS

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The first level from GM5 in this set, and the first of the few dodging levels in this set.

SO 2

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For SO I initially partly thought of an abbreviation for sokoban or sulfite oxidases with the numbers, but nothing too special - nothing more than so. So it is the second sokoban level of this set...

SYMMETRY

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A short easy level - from a design perspective not to much to say about it.

LINE

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The first time I saw the process of solving this puzzle, even though it got quite a bit of feedback already as it is in gm5. Definitely really interesting to see, and helpful for future level designs. A simple concept but worked out really well, and better than I expected when designing the level more than two years ago...

IT'S A MAZE

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The first really exploration based level of the set, it's pretty long, yet there are not many ways to cook it. One of the design goals is again introducing different cc2 elements for the set, having an aha moment or two e.g. once you realize how to get the fire boots and hand having fun running around exploring...

RED INK

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Even though intended to be the first really sanboxy level, I'm tempted to make it slightly stricter once again based on the episode, however I'll decide as the LP progresses if this is a good idea, when I see how easy or difficult some of the stricter puzzles feel.

TIME

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I didn't expect problems solving the first part, but it is a real time crunch level even though not that strict, with evil bombs on force floors...

SO 3

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An exploration based level this time around with easy sokobans and other simple puzzles. I like how it worked out in the LP.

GREEN THUMB

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The first clone machine puzzle of the set, and a level to give the player a chance to experiment around with mechanics based on it's short length.

SQUARES

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A short two characters maze, nothing too special, but keeping track of the positions of the Chips is something to to wrap your head around if you encounter it the first time.

NAVIGABLE WATERS

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Two puzzles, one level to explore and a bunch of bonuses.

TORI

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Chip finds himself in the world of tori and mazes starting on a torus, getting to another one with one side blocked aka cylinder and a final classical torus... I like how this teleport maze worked out.

SO 4

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As the name suggest, another sokoban level, and actually one of the last of it's kind of the set, and the first really tough level in the set. The intention was to force the player to think about the second puzzle, and not use trial and error, which is the reason for the first slightly lengthy yet easy classical sokoban an the start, and is what makes this level quite difficult. I'm not entirely sure if it was a good design decision, but in the end it adds to the variety in the set...

Since I saw in several LPs in TW and CC a recurring problem with keyboard inputs:
Slightly simplified, programs get a key press event from the os if they have focus as soon as a key on the keyboard is pressed, and a key release event once the key is not pressed anymore. If the program looses focus, e.g. by a pop up from a program update, using the super key or clicking somewhere else with the mouse, and the key is released, the program doesn't know, that the key is not pressed any longer and the player will continue it's movement. The easiest way to fix this problem is to press the same key again, and release it, and the program knows, that the key is no longer pressed. So if you are stuck going left, press the left key again...
And for those who are might wonder why program X or Y doesn't have this behavior, either they are executing one action per signal, and therefore are generally not interested in a release event (most applications e.g. your writing programs,...), or they are using a global hook or direct x or their own keyboard driver...

[mobius]

Sometimes I failed to mention some things in my videos that are happening. Let me know if there is anything you have questions about that I didn't talk about.

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Like the bomb/Force floor area in TIME. I actually liked that area and didn't find anything wrong with it.

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I didn't even think about the torus nature of the level "Tori"! Maybe change the title to Torus? It's definitely a good level but the reference went right over my head.

also thanks for the keypress issue. I know someone told me this before but I forgot.

I have a 6th and 7th episode recorded. (it's not uploaded yet).

Currently stumped on "Phantoms". In episode 6 I'm stumped on one thing but I figure that out in the next video then I get stumped on another part of the level.

[H2O]

Great episodes again

Some important ghost mechanics:

Ghosts with flippers can go over water tiles, with fire boots they can extinguish fire, with dirt boots they can clear dirt tiles and on ice ghosts normally make a 180 degree turn, with skates they will stop instead (nor really useful in phantoms, but might be handy to know later on).

I don't think it's that important to get every reference; the name tori just is the plural of torus, so not that creative in the first place as well as if you look at more than the topology of a torus not generally that accurate (<span style="font-size:12px;"><span style="font-size:12px;">except it's a 2-torus embedded into Euclidean 4-space (or higher dimension) in a specific way or if the isometry is enough a fractal like structure* - or easier might be just flat doughnut) and it can be confusing to know a level under different names, so it might not change, but I'll think about renaming it

*

[mobius]

I haven't had time to make any new videos lately; I will get back to it don't worry.

[H2O]

Great to hear, I'm definitely curious to hear your opinion on a lot more levels and see them in the LP

I made several small updates as described above and added a new level (no. 95) in Version 1.0.1

[mobius]

I know it seems like I gave up or disappeared; I'm sorry. I haven't but I've been incredibly busy with real life and other games. I will get back to this and continue my videos and review. Especially/probably when the new CC2 editor is released/gets tested I will get interested in CC2 again. And I'll download the latest version you have. Also if I found busted solutions to any levels let me know and I'll go back to play fixed versions if they exist.

[H2O]

Sounds perfect