31-Jan-2020, 10:28 PM
Hello there!
I solved and optimized all 10 levels of this set under the MS ruleset. Here is what I think of the levels, and the best times I got on them.
Level 1. Bloc Quebecois
What was the purpose of the block clone machines? I solved the level by moving the blocks with boots underneath straight downwards, and then stepped through the fire to turn the last block around and open all three traps. Speaking of that last block, the chip under it is not required to open the socket, but that doesn't really matter as the chip is unavoidable.
My Best Time: 95 / 100 seconds
Level 2. Dallas Toggle Tournament
Did you mean to not give this level a time limit? It seems that every other level in this set has a time limit, so I'm not sure why the exclusion on this level specifically, since it didn't seem particularly harder than the rest of the levels. In fact, I managed to solve it in just 1 in-game second, with only 2 presses of the toggle button.
My Best Time: [998] / [999] seconds
Level 3. Key Moves
Here we have one of my personal favorite CC concepts: the "trap door". I enjoy levels where the collection of keys must be minimized, and I think this level does its job quite well for how small it is. The only thing I could really complain about is how the sockets leading to the exit aren't visible from the start, so you don't have a real scope of how far the level goes on. This is only a minor issue, though, as I figured the level out with just a few attempts.
My Best Time: 95 / 100 seconds
Level 4. Hot Pursuit
When I was younger, I always had a strange passion for these types of "Chase Race" levels. In hindsight, I don't know why, because usually all you do is run straight in one direction with the occasional 90 degree turn. Even the suction boots in this level don't really make much of an impact on me, since the hint makes it blatantly obvious that they are not to be collected. The upcoming section can be viewed from the starting area, so perhaps the challenge here should come from "window-shopping" the lower room and determining that the suction boots are a trap. That may just be my opinion, however.
My Best Time: 93 / 100 seconds
Level 5. Blockport
Quite a well-made little level we have here, almost like a little mini Deserted Battlefield. These "blocks everywhere" genre of levels always seem to fall under "looks complex, but feels like it would have a rigid solution" in my eyes, and this level is no exception. That, however, is exactly what can make a level like this fun to play, and this one I think stands very well due to the fact that the whole level can be seen from the start. One might argue that there is no way to tell if something bad like a fire tile could be hidden under one of the blocks, so perhaps a brief hint would be beneficial.
My Best Time: 92 / 100 seconds
Level 6. Tank Destroyer
This level is heavily busted, because two blue button presses on the same move cancel each other out. If Chip simply goes LLURU from the start, he can win in less than one in-game second. Even disregarding that, though, the chip socket can be opened without collecting any of the 3 chips, and the suction boots could also be skipped in MS with a backwards boost off of the left force floor. To fix these issues, I would suggest: (1) setting the "chips required" count to 3; (2) changing both force floors to point upwards; and (3) removing both of the blue buttons by the exit and having the tank be controlled externally by another monster, for example, a pink ball outside of the player's view that presses a blue button every 2 moves.
My Best Time: 100 / 100 seconds
Level 7. Elements Placement Exam
Here we have a slightly larger all about the "elements" of Chip's Challenge: water, fire, ice, and force floors. Despite its haphazardous design, I think it's a neat little level, and a fun ice boosting challenge for more seasoned players. May I ask if there is any pattern to the placement of the tiles in this level that I do not see, or is it simply a case of carefully constructed randomness?
My Best Time: 97 / 100 seconds
Level 8. Entomology
What a strange level this is, and one I barely even remembered the second it exited my mind. The bug is not challenging to avoid as long as you don't get greedy with collecting the ice skates, and making it drown at the end doesn't really feel like it makes the level stand out any more. This may be my least favorite in the set, because I just don't see the point in it. Maybe I would appreciate the level a little more if you could explain your thought process when designing it.
My Best Time: 95 / 100 seconds
Level 9. Blue and Brown
Fortunately, we have here quite a nifty little level right after the last one; I'd go as far to say this level may be my favorite. The level's progression is deceptively difficult, and it even had me stumped for a bit. After I worked out the solution, optimizing it as well proved to be a blast! I would like to see more levels like this - small, compact, yet also deceptively hard levels - from not just you, but from Chip's level designers in general. It seems to be quite an underdone genre; I can think of only 3 levels in official sets with a size of 9x9 or smaller, those being Tiny (CCLP1 #17), Breathing Room (CCLP1 #72), and Once Upon a Troubadour (CCLP3 #50). Perhaps we'll see more small levels in CC2LP1, as CC2 levels seem to often be smaller than CC1 levels, perhaps due to the added customization of level size parameters.
My Best Time: 183 / 200 seconds
Level 10. Greek Fire
And here we have a classic, but admittedly overdone concept - a fire and water double-maze. This level seems a bit larger than all its predecessors, being a whopping 32 tiles tall, but overall the level just seemed lacking in ideas. After the first half of the water section, it just felt like I was replaying the same level twice. Even the section afterwards with the fire boots I wouldn't say is enough to be the level's "saving grace", as the concept of a double-maze like this has been done more times than any of us could count on our fingers. That's not to say I was necessarily bored while playing, though, but there certainly were more interesting creations from previous levels.
My Best Time: 214 / 250 seconds
My total score for the set is 38,140 points. I achieved all of this (optimizing the set and writing this lengthy post) within the span of a few hours. I hope my feedback will prove beneficial for improving your future designs. Given enough time, I believe that anyone can sit down and do great things with a level editor, and I hope you will eventually put out something incredible. This set is a great start, because as I mentioned earlier, small levels such as these are quite an underdone category of levels, and I enjoy seeing levels like this every once in a while. No need to constrain yourself within one specific design style, though - never be afraid to experiment creatively! If we didn't have creative experimentation, then we wouldn't have creativity, and without creativity we wouldn't have originality.
Overall, thanks for creating a fun and easy to pick up little micro levelset. It's not every day a new levelset comes out, especially so from new level designers, so it's always nice to see fresh faces.
I solved and optimized all 10 levels of this set under the MS ruleset. Here is what I think of the levels, and the best times I got on them.
Level 1. Bloc Quebecois
What was the purpose of the block clone machines? I solved the level by moving the blocks with boots underneath straight downwards, and then stepped through the fire to turn the last block around and open all three traps. Speaking of that last block, the chip under it is not required to open the socket, but that doesn't really matter as the chip is unavoidable.
My Best Time: 95 / 100 seconds
Level 2. Dallas Toggle Tournament
Did you mean to not give this level a time limit? It seems that every other level in this set has a time limit, so I'm not sure why the exclusion on this level specifically, since it didn't seem particularly harder than the rest of the levels. In fact, I managed to solve it in just 1 in-game second, with only 2 presses of the toggle button.
My Best Time: [998] / [999] seconds
Level 3. Key Moves
Here we have one of my personal favorite CC concepts: the "trap door". I enjoy levels where the collection of keys must be minimized, and I think this level does its job quite well for how small it is. The only thing I could really complain about is how the sockets leading to the exit aren't visible from the start, so you don't have a real scope of how far the level goes on. This is only a minor issue, though, as I figured the level out with just a few attempts.
My Best Time: 95 / 100 seconds
Level 4. Hot Pursuit
When I was younger, I always had a strange passion for these types of "Chase Race" levels. In hindsight, I don't know why, because usually all you do is run straight in one direction with the occasional 90 degree turn. Even the suction boots in this level don't really make much of an impact on me, since the hint makes it blatantly obvious that they are not to be collected. The upcoming section can be viewed from the starting area, so perhaps the challenge here should come from "window-shopping" the lower room and determining that the suction boots are a trap. That may just be my opinion, however.
My Best Time: 93 / 100 seconds
Level 5. Blockport
Quite a well-made little level we have here, almost like a little mini Deserted Battlefield. These "blocks everywhere" genre of levels always seem to fall under "looks complex, but feels like it would have a rigid solution" in my eyes, and this level is no exception. That, however, is exactly what can make a level like this fun to play, and this one I think stands very well due to the fact that the whole level can be seen from the start. One might argue that there is no way to tell if something bad like a fire tile could be hidden under one of the blocks, so perhaps a brief hint would be beneficial.
My Best Time: 92 / 100 seconds
Level 6. Tank Destroyer
This level is heavily busted, because two blue button presses on the same move cancel each other out. If Chip simply goes LLURU from the start, he can win in less than one in-game second. Even disregarding that, though, the chip socket can be opened without collecting any of the 3 chips, and the suction boots could also be skipped in MS with a backwards boost off of the left force floor. To fix these issues, I would suggest: (1) setting the "chips required" count to 3; (2) changing both force floors to point upwards; and (3) removing both of the blue buttons by the exit and having the tank be controlled externally by another monster, for example, a pink ball outside of the player's view that presses a blue button every 2 moves.
My Best Time: 100 / 100 seconds
Level 7. Elements Placement Exam
Here we have a slightly larger all about the "elements" of Chip's Challenge: water, fire, ice, and force floors. Despite its haphazardous design, I think it's a neat little level, and a fun ice boosting challenge for more seasoned players. May I ask if there is any pattern to the placement of the tiles in this level that I do not see, or is it simply a case of carefully constructed randomness?
My Best Time: 97 / 100 seconds
Level 8. Entomology
What a strange level this is, and one I barely even remembered the second it exited my mind. The bug is not challenging to avoid as long as you don't get greedy with collecting the ice skates, and making it drown at the end doesn't really feel like it makes the level stand out any more. This may be my least favorite in the set, because I just don't see the point in it. Maybe I would appreciate the level a little more if you could explain your thought process when designing it.
My Best Time: 95 / 100 seconds
Level 9. Blue and Brown
Fortunately, we have here quite a nifty little level right after the last one; I'd go as far to say this level may be my favorite. The level's progression is deceptively difficult, and it even had me stumped for a bit. After I worked out the solution, optimizing it as well proved to be a blast! I would like to see more levels like this - small, compact, yet also deceptively hard levels - from not just you, but from Chip's level designers in general. It seems to be quite an underdone genre; I can think of only 3 levels in official sets with a size of 9x9 or smaller, those being Tiny (CCLP1 #17), Breathing Room (CCLP1 #72), and Once Upon a Troubadour (CCLP3 #50). Perhaps we'll see more small levels in CC2LP1, as CC2 levels seem to often be smaller than CC1 levels, perhaps due to the added customization of level size parameters.
My Best Time: 183 / 200 seconds
Level 10. Greek Fire
And here we have a classic, but admittedly overdone concept - a fire and water double-maze. This level seems a bit larger than all its predecessors, being a whopping 32 tiles tall, but overall the level just seemed lacking in ideas. After the first half of the water section, it just felt like I was replaying the same level twice. Even the section afterwards with the fire boots I wouldn't say is enough to be the level's "saving grace", as the concept of a double-maze like this has been done more times than any of us could count on our fingers. That's not to say I was necessarily bored while playing, though, but there certainly were more interesting creations from previous levels.
My Best Time: 214 / 250 seconds
My total score for the set is 38,140 points. I achieved all of this (optimizing the set and writing this lengthy post) within the span of a few hours. I hope my feedback will prove beneficial for improving your future designs. Given enough time, I believe that anyone can sit down and do great things with a level editor, and I hope you will eventually put out something incredible. This set is a great start, because as I mentioned earlier, small levels such as these are quite an underdone category of levels, and I enjoy seeing levels like this every once in a while. No need to constrain yourself within one specific design style, though - never be afraid to experiment creatively! If we didn't have creative experimentation, then we wouldn't have creativity, and without creativity we wouldn't have originality.
Overall, thanks for creating a fun and easy to pick up little micro levelset. It's not every day a new levelset comes out, especially so from new level designers, so it's always nice to see fresh faces.