Quote:On the other hand, if I feel a level set out to be a lesson level fails at its objective, I will rate it lower than if it didn't give the impression of being such a level. Case and point, Right Roving Monsters. I thought it had the goal to be a lesson level but was all over the place, not having any clear objective besides fireballs and paramecia. And there were some concepts that were a little advanced for a lesson level, even for beginners as a group, I thought. Not to mention it took up so much space and did so little with it.
That's an excellent point, but I think there's also something to be said about levels that could do well outside their "stated" purpose (for instance, a lesson level). I completely agree that "Right-Roving Monsters" wasn't suitable as a lesson level, but I think it has potential elsewhere later on in the set based on what it is, though it still isn't in my personal top tier.
What I meant by "in the context of what it sets out to be" was more or less directed toward evaluating levels in the context of their difficulty and style of gameplay rather than comparing them to levels that are completely different. It's also a reminder I've had to keep telling myself - to be less selfish about how I vote when considering what this set is supposed to be. Okay, maybe "selfish" is kind of a harsh word, but here's what I mean: I think we as a community are a hard bunch to please because we are veteran players who have seen so much from this game. We so easily forget that the levels we find "dumb" or simple, even if they're well-designed and well-calibrated, would probably blow away a lot of first-time players, who ultimately comprise the audience for whom this set is intended. I've been trying to resist the urge to vote based solely on what I find interesting and put myself in their shoes instead. It seems like there are just certain game elements and types of levels - like mazes - toward which we tend to carry some sort of stigma as experienced players. The same goes for easier levels: sadly, I haven't seen a whole lot of easy-difficulty levels get 5s in the voting, and the only explanation I can think of for this is that when we judge them, we have a certain type of level in mind already to which we're comparing them, and most likely, that level is an orange to our evaluated level's apple. And chances are, people playing this game for the first time would actually find both types of levels fascinating. The same principle applies to levels that actually make good use of blobs, blue walls, invisible walls, or other elements that, despite any potentially negative experiences we've had with them in the past, are still a part of the game and deserve to be properly experienced by beginners.
For instance, I've given "Chip Be Steady" (Lipstick #50) a 5 out of 5 rating. It isn't a mind-blowing level that left me with a sensation of "Whoa!" when I solved it, but in the context of being a maze in which you had to avoid touching toggle buttons and a level that beginners would find inventive, it succeeded. The only other levels I'd even be thinking of when looking at it would be similar mazes in which the player isn't allowed to touch the "walls," not the campaign level with every game element included that I may also enjoy too. The reason why this one in particular stood out was because of its symmetrical "border" with the colored doors and teeth waiting to be released, which made it look a lot neater than similar levels.
I guess I'm just a bit concerned that we're going to end up with homogenous voting results like CCLP3's if the current voting trend keeps up. Despite the fact that CCLP1 is designed to accomplish what CC1 did, I fear that if we were approaching CCLP1 voting from the standpoint of having played CCLP2 and CCLP3 only and were to encounter the exact CC1 levels that a lot of first-time players found memorable, we'd probably downvote all of those levels too just because we didn't find them "interesting enough" compared to other levels that are completely different and ultimately aren't proper bases for comparison. And while I certainly understand that we're also trying to exceed the standard that CC1 set, it would be a shame to do so at the expense of variety.
Quote:Flouncy #15: Frozen Maze is busted.
Already noted - thank you, though!
On another note, we are so close to getting 10 votes on every Flouncy level. Let's see if we can release the next pack - the Tungsten Pack - by tonight! Who's in?