25-Aug-2015, 11:41 PM
All right! A couple of things: first, I've updated Centennium with a fix for #38 (JUNGLE FEVER) that places Chip on the map. I totally overlooked this when redoing the design for the maze, but thankfully, it's solvable now.
But the more exciting news is that Centennium II has reached 10 levels! I've gone ahead and uploaded an initial version for feedback in the downloads section. I'd like for others to feel free to contribute to the production of the set while it's in development rather than waiting until the 100-level mark has been achieved. I plan to update the set whenever it hits subsequent multiples of 5 levels and post here to see what everyone else thinks of the new material. Some of it may be removed from the set if the feedback is negative, and there isn't much that can be done to adjust a level without practically destroying it. Here are my notes for these initial levels. Please let me know what you think!
http://cczone.invisionzone.com/index.php?/files/file/498-%7B?%7D/
#1 (WARM UP): The title is a reference to my "review" level from the long lost set I created when I was about 9 or 10 years old. I created another version of this one with 3x3 rooms in the style of ArchieP1's IN A NUTSHELL, but it felt far too claustrophobic. The bonus can be achieved only by item dropping, which I do not plan on teaching until a tutorial level, which will probably be level 2. Like the original Centennium, I intend on including a set of tutorials to introduce the new elements and abilities, but they will play like normal, albeit easy, levels. Speaking of which...
#2 (CHRISTMAS TREE): ...this level is one of those tutorials! In the final, 100-level version of the set, I hope to place it after separate tutorials that introduce green walls, bowling balls, and differently colored teleports. The idea and general aesthetic were inspired by an Escape level I had created several years ago with a similar look but also a more puzzle-oriented task to complete. Here, the challenge is meant to be simple. There are a few ways to solve it, but there should be only one way to collect all the bonuses.
#3 (ROUND TRIP): Another tutorial, this time teaching blue teeth behavior. It will be placed after a yet-to-be-made level introducing Melinda. I hoped to make at least a few 10x10 levels, as well as a level that involved leading a teeth around while switching characters. The maze was going to be bigger, but after a while, I decided to go the smaller, time-crunching route. Shouldn't be too difficult.
#4 (SPLITSVILLE): This was actually the first level I made specifically for CC2! It's a CC-ified version of a puzzle from Nancy Drew: Sea of Darkness. (If you haven't watched my LP of it on YouTube, what are you waiting for?
Go check it out! /shameless plug) For anyone who may be wondering, I tried to have no space between the middle switches and the diverging tracks above and below. Unfortunately, I discovered that on/off switches affect objects immediately above or below them, including railroad switches. So I ended up opting for an extra row of track to prevent any changes not brought about by fireballs traveling through.
#5 (PANDEMIC): Ever since the spread of slime was known as a blob ability in CC2, I wanted to make a large level where Chip would have to face expanding seas of the stuff. Originally, I had only the blobs in the larger pools, but the level was far too easy. Adding more blobs and some isolated slime spaces hopefully makes it a bit more challenging without being too obnoxious.
#6 (SOKOBOMB): I didn't include UNSTOPPABLE from JBLP1 as a level in Centennium because I wanted to make a different level based on the same general concept. The result was this. Since getting by with four blocks is rather trivial, I'm debating whether or not to force the player to use only three dynamites to destroy all the blocks and relocate the bonus. What do you think?
#7 (TRAIN OF THOUGHT): I played the Lumosity game of the same name a short while after CC2 was released and began wondering what the idea would look like in the world of CC, particularly since there were now literal railroad tracks and switches. This is arguably the level that I've gone back and forth with designing the most. At first, the entire thing was about half the length, with an extra switch at the end of the ball path separating the bombs there into two groups. After a while, it became obvious that I needed to compensate for the limited viewing space in the game and the need to walk between switches, so I spaced out the monsters more and made the central "viewport" 5x5 instead of the original measly 3x3. I don't know if this level is going to be the most well-received idea ever, but I thought I'd include it for now. Perhaps instead of enforcing perfection, I could include more bonuses as rewards for perfection and require only three bombs along each monster path to be destroyed for the chips. Let me know what you think.
#8 (AXIS): One of the concepts I had thought of during my initial idea rush was a level called DON'T LOOK UP (which I still plan to make). Basically, the player would be forced to go every direction but up, as there would be a mimic near the start blocked in every direction but up, where some button would spell the player's doom whenever pressed. Then, I thought - why not try this same idea, but with both Chip and Melinda stuck along straight lines?
#9 (NOW YOU SWITCH IT): Ah, the other potentially irritating level. After playing through several levels in Joshua Bone's Walls of CC1 set, I felt inspired to make a few of my own. This is the only one I've finished so far! The original inspiration came from a maze idea I had that involved going through different sections and pressing gray buttons in separate areas adjacent to a specific cluster of toggle walls to open only the doors necessary to gain access to the awaiting chips. Initially, I was hoping to build a pretty large maze, but it became evident that the gameplay would be really tedious, with plenty of backtracking. So, I decided to use a CC1 level and build on it instead, with a lot less puzzle-solving involved. The layout for this level comes from NOW YOU SEE IT, with the original chips marked by green ones, and the blue walls within the borders replaced by toggle walls. The open toggle doors even correspond with the fake blue walls (and the closed ones with the real blue walls). Surprisingly enough, there were only 10 chips I couldn't reach before the socket.
#10 (MANIFEST DESTINY): I guess you could call this level the dirt version of Tyler's CHIP AND MELINDA GO ICE SKATING. It's also meant to be one of the "holy grail" levels in the set with respect to collecting bonus flags. I haven't been able to verify all of them yet.
But the more exciting news is that Centennium II has reached 10 levels! I've gone ahead and uploaded an initial version for feedback in the downloads section. I'd like for others to feel free to contribute to the production of the set while it's in development rather than waiting until the 100-level mark has been achieved. I plan to update the set whenever it hits subsequent multiples of 5 levels and post here to see what everyone else thinks of the new material. Some of it may be removed from the set if the feedback is negative, and there isn't much that can be done to adjust a level without practically destroying it. Here are my notes for these initial levels. Please let me know what you think!
http://cczone.invisionzone.com/index.php?/files/file/498-%7B?%7D/
#1 (WARM UP): The title is a reference to my "review" level from the long lost set I created when I was about 9 or 10 years old. I created another version of this one with 3x3 rooms in the style of ArchieP1's IN A NUTSHELL, but it felt far too claustrophobic. The bonus can be achieved only by item dropping, which I do not plan on teaching until a tutorial level, which will probably be level 2. Like the original Centennium, I intend on including a set of tutorials to introduce the new elements and abilities, but they will play like normal, albeit easy, levels. Speaking of which...
#2 (CHRISTMAS TREE): ...this level is one of those tutorials! In the final, 100-level version of the set, I hope to place it after separate tutorials that introduce green walls, bowling balls, and differently colored teleports. The idea and general aesthetic were inspired by an Escape level I had created several years ago with a similar look but also a more puzzle-oriented task to complete. Here, the challenge is meant to be simple. There are a few ways to solve it, but there should be only one way to collect all the bonuses.
#3 (ROUND TRIP): Another tutorial, this time teaching blue teeth behavior. It will be placed after a yet-to-be-made level introducing Melinda. I hoped to make at least a few 10x10 levels, as well as a level that involved leading a teeth around while switching characters. The maze was going to be bigger, but after a while, I decided to go the smaller, time-crunching route. Shouldn't be too difficult.
#4 (SPLITSVILLE): This was actually the first level I made specifically for CC2! It's a CC-ified version of a puzzle from Nancy Drew: Sea of Darkness. (If you haven't watched my LP of it on YouTube, what are you waiting for?
Go check it out! /shameless plug) For anyone who may be wondering, I tried to have no space between the middle switches and the diverging tracks above and below. Unfortunately, I discovered that on/off switches affect objects immediately above or below them, including railroad switches. So I ended up opting for an extra row of track to prevent any changes not brought about by fireballs traveling through.#5 (PANDEMIC): Ever since the spread of slime was known as a blob ability in CC2, I wanted to make a large level where Chip would have to face expanding seas of the stuff. Originally, I had only the blobs in the larger pools, but the level was far too easy. Adding more blobs and some isolated slime spaces hopefully makes it a bit more challenging without being too obnoxious.
#6 (SOKOBOMB): I didn't include UNSTOPPABLE from JBLP1 as a level in Centennium because I wanted to make a different level based on the same general concept. The result was this.
Since getting by with four blocks is rather trivial, I'm debating whether or not to force the player to use only three dynamites to destroy all the blocks and relocate the bonus. What do you think?#7 (TRAIN OF THOUGHT): I played the Lumosity game of the same name a short while after CC2 was released and began wondering what the idea would look like in the world of CC, particularly since there were now literal railroad tracks and switches. This is arguably the level that I've gone back and forth with designing the most. At first, the entire thing was about half the length, with an extra switch at the end of the ball path separating the bombs there into two groups. After a while, it became obvious that I needed to compensate for the limited viewing space in the game and the need to walk between switches, so I spaced out the monsters more and made the central "viewport" 5x5 instead of the original measly 3x3. I don't know if this level is going to be the most well-received idea ever, but I thought I'd include it for now. Perhaps instead of enforcing perfection, I could include more bonuses as rewards for perfection and require only three bombs along each monster path to be destroyed for the chips. Let me know what you think.
#8 (AXIS): One of the concepts I had thought of during my initial idea rush was a level called DON'T LOOK UP (which I still plan to make). Basically, the player would be forced to go every direction but up, as there would be a mimic near the start blocked in every direction but up, where some button would spell the player's doom whenever pressed. Then, I thought - why not try this same idea, but with both Chip and Melinda stuck along straight lines?
#9 (NOW YOU SWITCH IT): Ah, the other potentially irritating level.
After playing through several levels in Joshua Bone's Walls of CC1 set, I felt inspired to make a few of my own. This is the only one I've finished so far! The original inspiration came from a maze idea I had that involved going through different sections and pressing gray buttons in separate areas adjacent to a specific cluster of toggle walls to open only the doors necessary to gain access to the awaiting chips. Initially, I was hoping to build a pretty large maze, but it became evident that the gameplay would be really tedious, with plenty of backtracking. So, I decided to use a CC1 level and build on it instead, with a lot less puzzle-solving involved. The layout for this level comes from NOW YOU SEE IT, with the original chips marked by green ones, and the blue walls within the borders replaced by toggle walls. The open toggle doors even correspond with the fake blue walls (and the closed ones with the real blue walls). Surprisingly enough, there were only 10 chips I couldn't reach before the socket.#10 (MANIFEST DESTINY): I guess you could call this level the dirt version of Tyler's CHIP AND MELINDA GO ICE SKATING.
It's also meant to be one of the "holy grail" levels in the set with respect to collecting bonus flags. I haven't been able to verify all of them yet.