23-Nov-2015, 12:21 AM
After spearheading two CCLPs, I'm kind of torn about "reserving" level slots for certain types of levels, especially after trying so hard to do so in the past. The classic example of this is making room for levels corresponding to the decade messages for levels 51, 61, and 131 to make a CCLP "MSCC-compatible." 61 especially is a tough one for which to find an appropriate level: for CCLP1, we thankfully had Highways as a top-performing level, so it was easy to slide it right in and have something in the set that qualified as a "thrash-a-thon." For CCLP2, Dale Bryan had posted a post-release message on the NG about placing Icy Moat in that slot because bumping into toggle walls was the closest thing the staff had among the top 149 levels. And for CCLP3, well...we considered Blue Moon but ended up going with Bump and Run instead, so at least there were options. These days, with CCLP4, I could probably count on one hand the number of active community members who primarily play CC using MSCC, so is it even worth it?
I think it can be as long as the reservations are broad enough to allow for all manner of possibilities from the voting results and staff decisions (which kind of disqualifies 61). I feel like we've reached the point now where we've checked off so many boxes across CCLPs that levels that are unique and interesting should be given more consideration for this set. After all, CCLPs are meant to showcase the best from the community - and there's no definitive answer on whether or not this will be the final CC1 CCLP, but if it is, why not showcase the compositions that are fun, of sufficient design quality, and unique enough that there's nothing else like them in the voting pool or in any prior CCLP? For instance, do we need to feel like we absolutely need a "Trust Me" type of level in the set?
Along the same lines, why not try something different with the beginning of the set? For instance, CCLP1 had lessons, CCLP2 just dove right into the difficulty with its levels, and CCLP3 had a fairly complex, all-in-one first level. Perhaps CCLP4 could start things off with a series of easy levels that would have been too complex for CCLP1. Pit of 100 Tiles and Ultimate Chip 4 are good examples of sets that accomplish this fairly well. We could include easy but not trivial levels such as the aforementioned Molecule and State of the Art, as well as mechanic-specific levels like The Other 100 Tiles's Hammered into Place.
The same goes for the Cypher level - I like Jeffrey's idea of using secret hints for passwords, particularly since we have so many levels out there in the voting pool that have them - or at least can be tweaked to include them. And it frees up an additional spot for another normal, non-Cypher level already in the voting pool. My only concern is that a lot of the levels with existing secret hints are mainly levels where you can walk outside the boundaries of the main gameplay area and find a hint on the edge of the map. Levels that involve actual work to reach the secret hints, like those in The Other 100 Tiles, are pretty rare. My favorite from there would probably be Pneumatic Diversity Vents, and I'd vouch for it even if it didn't have a secret hint.
Slots with a broad enough spectrum of material from existing official sets, for which I'm pretty much in total agreement with Jeffrey with respect to general definitions:
Level 51 (ice level): Ice in a Blender (IHNN-CCLP4 Mix) or Snow Patrol (Josh-CCLP4)
Level 131 ("unfair" or expectation subversion or lateral thinking level): Water Bottle (Markus-CCLP4), Lean Thinking (Ida4), or Skydiver's Maze (JB-CCLP4)
Level 144/149 (capstone levels): Monorail (TS-CCLP4), Repugnant Nonsense (TS-CCLP4), Gallimaufry (Chip56), Strandquist (Josh-CCLP4), or Toothankhamun's Tomb (if tensorpudding submits levels)
Level 147 (uber-difficult level): Voices (Rock-Alpha), Color Coordination (JB-CCLP4), or Lounge Act (TS-CCLP4)
Sequels I wouldn't mind seeing: Repair the Automatic (Caution) Doors (The Other 100 Tiles)
I think it can be as long as the reservations are broad enough to allow for all manner of possibilities from the voting results and staff decisions (which kind of disqualifies 61). I feel like we've reached the point now where we've checked off so many boxes across CCLPs that levels that are unique and interesting should be given more consideration for this set. After all, CCLPs are meant to showcase the best from the community - and there's no definitive answer on whether or not this will be the final CC1 CCLP, but if it is, why not showcase the compositions that are fun, of sufficient design quality, and unique enough that there's nothing else like them in the voting pool or in any prior CCLP? For instance, do we need to feel like we absolutely need a "Trust Me" type of level in the set?
Along the same lines, why not try something different with the beginning of the set? For instance, CCLP1 had lessons, CCLP2 just dove right into the difficulty with its levels, and CCLP3 had a fairly complex, all-in-one first level. Perhaps CCLP4 could start things off with a series of easy levels that would have been too complex for CCLP1. Pit of 100 Tiles and Ultimate Chip 4 are good examples of sets that accomplish this fairly well. We could include easy but not trivial levels such as the aforementioned Molecule and State of the Art, as well as mechanic-specific levels like The Other 100 Tiles's Hammered into Place.
The same goes for the Cypher level - I like Jeffrey's idea of using secret hints for passwords, particularly since we have so many levels out there in the voting pool that have them - or at least can be tweaked to include them. And it frees up an additional spot for another normal, non-Cypher level already in the voting pool. My only concern is that a lot of the levels with existing secret hints are mainly levels where you can walk outside the boundaries of the main gameplay area and find a hint on the edge of the map. Levels that involve actual work to reach the secret hints, like those in The Other 100 Tiles, are pretty rare. My favorite from there would probably be Pneumatic Diversity Vents, and I'd vouch for it even if it didn't have a secret hint.
Slots with a broad enough spectrum of material from existing official sets, for which I'm pretty much in total agreement with Jeffrey with respect to general definitions:
Level 51 (ice level): Ice in a Blender (IHNN-CCLP4 Mix) or Snow Patrol (Josh-CCLP4)
Level 131 ("unfair" or expectation subversion or lateral thinking level): Water Bottle (Markus-CCLP4), Lean Thinking (Ida4), or Skydiver's Maze (JB-CCLP4)
Level 144/149 (capstone levels): Monorail (TS-CCLP4), Repugnant Nonsense (TS-CCLP4), Gallimaufry (Chip56), Strandquist (Josh-CCLP4), or Toothankhamun's Tomb (if tensorpudding submits levels)
Level 147 (uber-difficult level): Voices (Rock-Alpha), Color Coordination (JB-CCLP4), or Lounge Act (TS-CCLP4)
Sequels I wouldn't mind seeing: Repair the Automatic (Caution) Doors (The Other 100 Tiles)