CCLP1 Retrospective

[Ihavenoname248]

What? Retrospective? But the set hasn't even been out 2 weeks! Well, I think it's worth putting down my initial thoughts on the set, partly due to the way I experienced it. Some of you may know that I played through the entire set in one sitting, in a blind race._[1] I had not played any of the levels in the voting packs (though I had played through some of the levels from their original set, though I only remembered about 4 in any detail, and certainly not enough to remember the exact solution), and so it was a fresh experience, a new set to play through. I expected to have a bit of difficulty with some of the levels, but for the most part blast through and have a blast playing.

I could have been a bit more accurate with that assessment.

For the most part, I did speed through the levels, figuring out the trick to levels such as Loose Pocket (#100) in around a minute (my solve time was a 315 with a 326 reset after exploring past the pink ball, totaling 59 seconds playing the level) while taking forever on Deserted Battlefield (#99) and some other levels. And yet, as I've gone back and optimized, these levels are about the same length. I did struggle to solve some of the puzzles, especially in the 130s and 140s, though I think the easier levels are perfectly placed between the harder ones. I do still have to complain about Clubhouse (#149) as I don't think it's particularly engaging, being a simple Sokoban level with nothing really memorable about it other than the crude cooks possible in the starting room. I don't think it's a bad level, or a bad level for CCLP1 even (I just wish there was a bit more fire in the first room to remove the possibility of cooking the level by moving the block to the top left), but I don't think it was suitable for a level 149. On the whole, the final part of my expectation going in was met: I had a lot of fun playing the set, and the people I raced generally agreed, though none of them had time to finish the race, they have gone on to complete the set. I even got someone who'd never played the game to join, and they got quite stuck on #37 (Habitat) for over a half an hour before finally breaking through. For comparison, I had solved level 25 by the 28 minute mark-certainly a slow pace if I was executing all the bold routes, but for blind, that was fast! (Hornlitz was around for the first couple hours before having to leave, and was playing alongside-I was keeping pace with him and even passed at one point). Overall, this shows CCLP1 is definitely a good CC1 stand-in; I had more fun playing through this set than CC1 (in Lynx), both of which I did in the past couple weeks. The race shows it's good for beginners as well, and it proves to have a few challenges for experts. Still, it has a few shortcomings for me...

The first and most glaring to me may come as a bit of a surprise, but I feel like the lesson levels are too long and involved on the whole. I'm going to take just the first level from each set here, as it shows my point the best I feel.



It's a sense of scale that the rest of CCLP1 does better, I feel. These levels both teach you the exact same mechanics and Lesson 1 did it near perfectly, showing almost everything you need from the first window. As the introduction to the set, no, the game as a whole it's not very overwhelming, in fact, it's quite welcoming. Key Pyramid might as well be pieguy's "too many keys?" compared to Lesson 1. You can't see the exit from the starting point, and though the order of unlocking doesn't matter like Lesson 1 there's a lot more running around. In fact, Key Pyramid takes 32 seconds to Lesson 1's 17, with only one additional key/lock pair. As an intro, it's much more overwhelming. I feel like the lessons could have been more compact and gotten the same point across, but that's coming from someone who solved them all in 5 minutes. This sense of scale is gotten absolutely correct, however, by Present Company (#3). Even Block Party (#4), despite being a 43 second bold compared to Lesson 2's 10 second time, nails the sense of scale. Every room is different and shows something new about blocks, and you're constantly doing something instead of running from small room to small room. Key Pyramid is a small complaint, and since it's my biggest that speaks very well for the set as a whole.

Graduation (#10) vs. Nuts and Bolts is another no brainer-Graduation is the better level for the recap. The red herring exit still shows a new concept, similar to what I believe Nuts and Bolts tried for in the end with the fireball and trap room (monster guiding-or at least that's always what I did as a kid). Graduation nails everything you could want as a first campaign level-no difficult parts, room to explore, and yet a clear progression and goal in mind.

As I played through, I had a few levels that I really really liked, easily becoming some of my favorite CC levels. In the order they appear in the set...

Tiny (#17): A perfect example of how to teach a concept without explicitly stating what needs to be done. Moving 2U to the fireboots immediately cooks the level, but due to the small size this is an "ohhhhh, so that's what I do" moment. Similar to Lesson 7 from the original CC, it teaches "when in doubt, don't get a boot", though in a more up front manner-Lesson 7 is so stealthy about it I didn't even notice until recently, while this does it perfectly. Also, this took longer for you to read than the level takes to solve!

Generic Ice Level (#21): This is anything but generic. I've never seen another ice level give you skates immediately (Dodge! doesn't count!), the blocks sliding feel natural and everything about this level just screams win, aesthetically and gameplay-wise. Easily in my top 10, if not top 5.

Repair the Maze (#22): One of the few I remembered from before CCLP1, I love the concept of having a maze being able to breaking through parts-in CC1, Strange Maze was one of my favorites as a kid. Like the bold route, I would always end with the sockets, though unlike the bold route I would go through and dispose of every single socket in the level before walking to the exit! Now, if this had 3 color keys and 2 of each...

The Last Starfighter (#28): Perfect use of blob cloners, blowing up the walkers with no randomness is cathartic, the aesthetic is beautiful and the level is pretty fun too.

Spitting Image and Alternate Universe (#33 and #111): These are just such a cool concept of taking one room as an exact forecast of what's in another room. For the most part, I hate hot blocks. These 2 levels use them perfectly with no treachery involved.

Sundance (#48): It looks like a difficult dodging level, but it's simpler than meets the eye. Perfect appearance as well, I only wish it were a bit longer, though I suppose that would ruin some of the appeal.

Juxtaposition (#70): I was wondering why there hadn't been any blue wall mazes up to this point, as CC1 had Mishmesh and Chipmine by this point in the game. Then this level came up and I couldn't get enough of it. Thin walls don't see enough use, and fake wall mazes are incredibly difficulty to design without being predictable or overly tedious. This level uses all of them flawlessly. Another top 10 for sure.

Colors for Extreme (#81): The opening room is amazingly designed to manipulate the glider in a progression, the level is another itemswapper but it feels like such an epic campaign level. It's also relatively simple, though certainly not easy. A perfect fit for the middle of CCLP1.

Loose Pocket (#100): Though I figured out the trick fairly quickly, it's a perfectly executed twist on the Trust Me style level. Most of the red herrings are obviously so, but that only makes some of them look more realistic. It's short, simple, and arbitrary in its design in places.

Frozen in Time (#102): Chip's Challenge is not an eerie game. It's not a spooky game. It doesn't have an environment. It doesn't have anything that creeps the player out. This...this manages to do all of the above. It's incredibly simple, and yet it's perfect. I remarked in the call when I got to this level that it was spooky, and wasn't exactly believed. Well, someone else got to this level around the time I was in the 140 range and immediately gave a cry of shock at the teeth, and then agreed that yes, it was spooky. Beautifully done, and not what I was expecting at all. Not needing the chips is a nice touch, too-now I wonder what the level would play like if everything were to be unfrozen...

Tunnel Clearence (#105): Amazing concept, amazing design, almost goes on too long but in the end it's just the right length. The ability to ignore the red key at the start and explore makes this level just that little bit better.

Exhibit Hall (#108): A level I'd seen a variant of but never played. Said variant being the background for J.B.'s commentary on Chuck's Challenge 3D, which I had watched less than a week before CCLP1! (by the way, I agree with pretty much everything you said-if I wasn't optimizing the game, it'd have been over and done with very quickly, though the editor has a lot of nice possibilities) The avoidance level is a rarely seen concept, due to its difficulty to pull off well. This does it with 8 4x4 rooms, some with puzzles, some with dodging, some with simply items to collect. The ability to skip the fireboots by taking a block from the water room doesn't hurt either. Incredibly fun level.

Runaway Train (#118): This level has such an amazing aesthetic to it, and the design, through cramped, still feels exploitative. The teleports to switch cars and give the illusion of a longer level space than actually exist is pure brilliance as well-I caught it immediately, but I've been playing this game for years. A newer player would probably wonder how the designer made a level bigger than the grid, if they even thought about it. Oh, and the level is fun too.

Automatic (Caution) Doors (#140): Another level with lots of branching paths, lots of exploration, lots of ways to go-and yet, it's linear. The concept is unique (I've never seen it done before) and beautifully executed in how each step grants you access to another area. The chips are only the first step in this epic level. Easy top 5 level right now, and it will probably remain in the top 10 regardless of what CCLP2 and 3 hold for me.

Of course, there were a few I did not enjoy that much-in the same order...

Quincunx (#31): Too easy to die, not very interesting either. If it was smaller (say, lop off the bottom 2 rows) it might be better, but it's one of only 3 levels in the set I would rate as

Just a Bunch of Letters (#34): The cypher level of the set, but it's very dull. The original Cypher was cryptic yet obvious in hindsight, Cypher II was brutally difficult but the name and connotation it came with was a useful hint, Motion Blur was an amazing concept and beautifully executed, and this falls flat in comparison. Maybe I'm being too hard on it due to it's slot, but I don't enjoy it as a level either.

Design Swap (#62): CCLP1 has a lot of itemswappers, and this is one of the most bland. It's also hurt by its huge size, though it gets better when you open up the center, it's still very boring running back and forth across the entire length of the grid.

New Block in Town (#63): Another level. Too many things that must be done in the exact right order or the level is unsolvable, and then right at the end subverting the order that had to be used for the rest (chip then button). Thankfully, I didn't run into the hidden wall, if I did I would have been seriously pissed at this level. As it is, cool concept, poor execution.

Ruined World (#83): Bleh. It's one of 2 "push all the block" levels in the 81-90 decade, along with Chip Block Galaxy (#88). I was neutral on #88, but I do not like Ruined World. In both it's very easy to miss a block, but here it's easily lethal while in #88,the worst that can happen is trapping the block-though there are many places to put the used blocks, mitigating it.

Time Suspension (#101): The button device is cool. The toggles and tanks are interesting. However, I absolutely detest the walkers in this level, mostly the one in the 3x4 room. Retrieving the blocks for the bombs is so much of a hassle, and there's quite a bit to do on each run up that just gets old fast.

Comfort Zone (#114): Incredibly easy to cook the level, especially if you stay in the comfort zone given as long as possible. I can't really say why I dislike it as much as I do, but it falls into this bottom CCLP1 levels list.

Utter Clutter (#124): Very long, very tedious level. It feels like it attempts to emulate All Full from CC1, but it fails in that its puzzles are based around key snatching and then realizing something incredibly non-obvious near the very end-which, for me, took 5+ minutes to reach every time. Requiring all the chips works for forcing all the puzzles to be completed, but works against the concept.

Amphibia (#143): The final level. If you were around at the end of my stream you would have heard a LOT of raging at this level. I hate it. There's a lot of waiting for cycles that aren't exactly clear, and though it's similar to Fireflies, I liked Fireflies. However, I figured out why-Fireflies is completely symmetrical and has a much lower monster density, and loops around to itself. Amphibia forces a specific path to each chip, turning a monster dodging cycle waiting level into an incredibly tedious and lethal maze. My only praise is that it's infinitely better than a similar level I played in a voting pack (more on that later).

And finally, my top 5 hardest levels in the set.

5: Bummbua Banubauabgv (#142): I took forever to figure out this puzzle, even though the solution is painfully simple.

4: Flush (#141): This is a flawlessly crafted puzzle (barring the bold route, which I've figured out the method but not the timing...) where every step is timed with a pink ball chute that holding a trap button drowns. Avoiding the keys took 2 plays to realize, and even still I cooked the level several times after that point. However, every time it was my fault and foreseeable in advance, so I can't hold it against the level. (related note: levels 141-145 took me nearly an hour, with the last 2 of those taking about 10 minutes. 141-143 are the hardest run of levels by far!)

3: Double Diversion (#69): Didn't see that coming, did you! I struggled quite a bit with this level, triggering things too early, too late, standing in the wrong spot, moving at the wrong time, into toggle walls...it's a simple level, but I struggled quite a bit finding the solution.

2. Utter Clutter (#124): I covered this above. I believe this is the level I spent the most time on, due to the length before the part I screwed myself on. Twice.

1: Thief, You've Taken All That Was Me (#147): Of course #147 is the hardest level. It's an amazingly crafted puzzle, up front with what it expects you to do. The 4 sections of the level are all tricky puzzles in their own right, with special mention going to the sokoban in the bottom right-that took me a solid minute of looking at to figure out, and there's only 3 blocks in it! Nothing is unreasonably difficult, 3 of the 4 puzzles are logic based, the order they can be tackled is up to the player-everything is done to make this as anti-frustration as possible. The result is a puzzle that feels right at home in the #147 slot, alongside the fast paced Force Field, the monster manipulating Cloner's Maze and the ultimate (outside its sequel) sardine can level, Avalanche.

CCLP1 does capture everything I liked about the original Chip's Challenge, avoids the long tedious block pushing levels, is fairly varied and unique in places. I've been playing through the voting packs after the release as well, not for the award okay maybe slightly but for a sense of perspective-I can appreciate the final product that is CCLP1 much better if I have a frame of reference for what didn't make the cut. If the voting packs are the best levels the community had to offer for the set, then CCLP1 is made up of the best of the best. So far, I agree with a vast majority of the levels that made it in (though I still don't like Amphibia or Blobs on a Plane, and think that Asteroid #44, Chip Joins Mensa Club would have been awesome to see) and most of the ones that got cut (Asteroid #3, !? for being what is this I don't even, I still don't know how you would solve this in Lynx as my route was VERY MS only, Baguette #44, I Hate You for being unnecessarily sadistic, Bookshelf #35, Coovet Blocks taking 10 minutes and having difficult dodging AND easy screws, Bookshelf #44, Audacious Scavenger Hunt for being incredibly overwhelming in its design and easy to screw without realizing it, and Cardboard #39, What's Rightfully Mine for taking its concept too far).

I would give CCLP1 a 9.5 out of 10, compared to about an 8 for CC1 (I still want to finish CCLP2 and 3 before I can fairly compare to them, but I'm pretty sure my order will go CCLP1>CCLP3=CC1 for different reasons>CCLP2).

Job well done CCLP1 staff. Mission accomplished.

[1]
If you desire, you can watch my playthrough here.