More of my experiences playing through the set. Note: There may be spoilers to the solutions of these levels in my comments, so don't look if you haven't solved yet! (Covers levels 11-17)
Level 11 (Prison Hall): For something so short it sure drove me mad, since no matter what I tried it always took 3 blocks to get the chips, and then one would get stuck against the left wall! Then I figured out the trick...I didn't need to blow up ALL the bombs right away...well played, Josh! Good puzzle.
Level 12 (Blue Key Chamber): Another small level that took me several tries to beat. The difficulty is definitely ramping up! Though I probably could have been a bit more observant. The 200 second time limit kind of made me nervous, I think...it may be a relatively small level, but there's a lot to do, and the more stuff is crammed into a section, the more closely and carefully I have to look at it. (Thinking of the top-left.) Still, a fun level and I was pleasantly surprised to see the key behind the bomb at the start get used for something after all.
Level 13 (Fire Glide Caves): The locks-and-recessed-wall paths were nice. I liked how you could choose whether to use monsters or blocks for some of the buttons (like in the bottom-right room), but unfortunately the two glider rooms were practically identical (both involved sacrificing one block in water, then using the other to direct the gliders from the outside straight through the center). The ending got me because I totally forgot to pick up the last chip before heading through the force floor the first time...my bad! This was definitely easier than the previous two levels.
Level 14 (Green Fever): Pretty standard maze, but the extra chips and losing the boots at the end (even if it was still really easy to get to the bottom-right corner and the exit) helped it to stand out just a bit.
Level 15 (There Goes the Neighborhood): There were several tricky cooks to avoid when you couldn't see everything remaining in the level (but could kind of guess at it), such as: not filling in the water with the block at the start, not cramming the ball all the way against the tank, and not being able to clone more than one glider. The third one was heavily implied, though, by the blocks next to the clone button, and the others were early in the level (which is overall short) so not a big problem. It's a little strange, though, how the set seems to go between extremely straightforward levels like the previous two and levels where trying even the slightest obvious-looking thing could be a cook. I definitely liked how you clear paths to get around the recessed walls you used up earlier and travel between the upper and lower parts of the level.
Level 16 (The Whoa Zone): Mazes with tons of teleports have been done before, but never quite the same way as this.
"Albeit, there's no way to make this concept uncookable..." Josh says. However, as a player, one thing you can do, I realized, is avoid teleporting right, lest this happen:
[img]<fileStore.core_Attachment>/monthly_2018_03/image.png.e6ffef8112655bf1d3bf7795dffc528b.png[/img]
Thankfully, I got it on the second try. There are plenty of ways to approach the chips, and the high density of recessed walls compared to teleports meant it wasn't too hard to get to any of them. (Looking for ways to teleport up or down to a chip definitely helps.) I think the level size was chosen well.
Level 17 (Slytherin Common Room): Hmm...I know Slytherin students sleep in a dungeon, but I hope it's not this gross! Anyway, the blob-filling chip-collecting room at the start was pretty neat, kind of what I hoped to achieve with my level "The Green Virus" but on a smaller scale so the pressure felt more immediate. The rest was OK, thankfully not too hard. I did have the misfortune of having to wait a long time for the final blob to drain from the flipper hallway right before the end. I did go back to get the secret hint, which took a fair amount of patience and courage...most of the time, there were 3-4 blobs in that upper-left corner of the starting room, so I had to wait for it to go down to 1 blob and then make a beeline to the red key. Luckily I was able to escape using the force floors. I did manage to get it without dying even once.
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Level 11 (Prison Hall): For something so short it sure drove me mad, since no matter what I tried it always took 3 blocks to get the chips, and then one would get stuck against the left wall! Then I figured out the trick...I didn't need to blow up ALL the bombs right away...well played, Josh! Good puzzle.
Level 12 (Blue Key Chamber): Another small level that took me several tries to beat. The difficulty is definitely ramping up! Though I probably could have been a bit more observant. The 200 second time limit kind of made me nervous, I think...it may be a relatively small level, but there's a lot to do, and the more stuff is crammed into a section, the more closely and carefully I have to look at it. (Thinking of the top-left.) Still, a fun level and I was pleasantly surprised to see the key behind the bomb at the start get used for something after all.
Level 13 (Fire Glide Caves): The locks-and-recessed-wall paths were nice. I liked how you could choose whether to use monsters or blocks for some of the buttons (like in the bottom-right room), but unfortunately the two glider rooms were practically identical (both involved sacrificing one block in water, then using the other to direct the gliders from the outside straight through the center). The ending got me because I totally forgot to pick up the last chip before heading through the force floor the first time...my bad! This was definitely easier than the previous two levels.
Level 14 (Green Fever): Pretty standard maze, but the extra chips and losing the boots at the end (even if it was still really easy to get to the bottom-right corner and the exit) helped it to stand out just a bit.
Level 15 (There Goes the Neighborhood): There were several tricky cooks to avoid when you couldn't see everything remaining in the level (but could kind of guess at it), such as: not filling in the water with the block at the start, not cramming the ball all the way against the tank, and not being able to clone more than one glider. The third one was heavily implied, though, by the blocks next to the clone button, and the others were early in the level (which is overall short) so not a big problem. It's a little strange, though, how the set seems to go between extremely straightforward levels like the previous two and levels where trying even the slightest obvious-looking thing could be a cook. I definitely liked how you clear paths to get around the recessed walls you used up earlier and travel between the upper and lower parts of the level.
Level 16 (The Whoa Zone): Mazes with tons of teleports have been done before, but never quite the same way as this.
"Albeit, there's no way to make this concept uncookable..." Josh says. However, as a player, one thing you can do, I realized, is avoid teleporting right, lest this happen:
[img]<fileStore.core_Attachment>/monthly_2018_03/image.png.e6ffef8112655bf1d3bf7795dffc528b.png[/img]
Thankfully, I got it on the second try. There are plenty of ways to approach the chips, and the high density of recessed walls compared to teleports meant it wasn't too hard to get to any of them. (Looking for ways to teleport up or down to a chip definitely helps.) I think the level size was chosen well.
Level 17 (Slytherin Common Room): Hmm...I know Slytherin students sleep in a dungeon, but I hope it's not this gross! Anyway, the blob-filling chip-collecting room at the start was pretty neat, kind of what I hoped to achieve with my level "The Green Virus" but on a smaller scale so the pressure felt more immediate. The rest was OK, thankfully not too hard. I did have the misfortune of having to wait a long time for the final blob to drain from the flipper hallway right before the end. I did go back to get the secret hint, which took a fair amount of patience and courage...most of the time, there were 3-4 blobs in that upper-left corner of the starting room, so I had to wait for it to go down to 1 blob and then make a beeline to the red key. Luckily I was able to escape using the force floors. I did manage to get it without dying even once.