03-Mar-2012, 10:12 AM
Addressing a few points:
This would be just showing that the set is solvable in both rulesets. There's no way to certify a complicated set as even reasonably bust-free with a minimal glean from a playtester, it has to be studied a lot. Making a good CCLP1 requires work that can't be avoided.
Ida, there is nothing to making a TWS. You put the .DAT file in the Tile World .DAT folder, create a .DAC file using your levelset editor if it has that feature, or if not writing it using your favorite text program, one for Lynx and one for MS, then solve the level in Tile World. There, you've just created a TWS. You just need to copy that file out of where it hides in the solutions folder and zip it up with your levelset and your DAC files.
I'm sure there's other tools for writing DAC files, I've also written a terminal utility that will make them without you having to do any work. I'll make it available sometime after it's cleaned up.
TWS files are not large. They're on the order of half the size or so of the DAT file they are paired with, so having an MS or Lynx one will only double the size. That would sound bad except that DAT files are only hundred or so kilobytes at most, and can be compressed somewhat. Unless there are people out there with 54k modems yet, they won't notice it too badly.
I think it should be voluntary at this point, there's certainly no reason to foist this requirement mid-stream and Tile World has some glaring issues that crop up and anyone using it would need to be familiar with it. Hopefully though, with TW2.1 going to come out soon enough, we might require people to use its facilities to help the team deal with the glut of levelsets in the next round, whenever that's going to be, and assuming that round has Lynx compatibility as a rule.
The other bonus is that it's much easier for everyone to use TWS files to demonstrate busts than a verbal description or an AVI file if the playteam and the designer are both using Tile World.
I don't think people having to learn how to play Lynx is unreasonable if Lynx compatibility, and a reasonable parity of difficulty between rulesets, is a requisite of acceptance.
This would be just showing that the set is solvable in both rulesets. There's no way to certify a complicated set as even reasonably bust-free with a minimal glean from a playtester, it has to be studied a lot. Making a good CCLP1 requires work that can't be avoided.
Ida, there is nothing to making a TWS. You put the .DAT file in the Tile World .DAT folder, create a .DAC file using your levelset editor if it has that feature, or if not writing it using your favorite text program, one for Lynx and one for MS, then solve the level in Tile World. There, you've just created a TWS. You just need to copy that file out of where it hides in the solutions folder and zip it up with your levelset and your DAC files.
I'm sure there's other tools for writing DAC files, I've also written a terminal utility that will make them without you having to do any work. I'll make it available sometime after it's cleaned up.
TWS files are not large. They're on the order of half the size or so of the DAT file they are paired with, so having an MS or Lynx one will only double the size. That would sound bad except that DAT files are only hundred or so kilobytes at most, and can be compressed somewhat. Unless there are people out there with 54k modems yet, they won't notice it too badly.
I think it should be voluntary at this point, there's certainly no reason to foist this requirement mid-stream and Tile World has some glaring issues that crop up and anyone using it would need to be familiar with it. Hopefully though, with TW2.1 going to come out soon enough, we might require people to use its facilities to help the team deal with the glut of levelsets in the next round, whenever that's going to be, and assuming that round has Lynx compatibility as a rule.
The other bonus is that it's much easier for everyone to use TWS files to demonstrate busts than a verbal description or an AVI file if the playteam and the designer are both using Tile World.
I don't think people having to learn how to play Lynx is unreasonable if Lynx compatibility, and a reasonable parity of difficulty between rulesets, is a requisite of acceptance.