Mind Games

[H2O]

Mobius started his awesome Let's Play Chips Challenge 2 series of custom sets:

Bronco541

As indicated, he started with this set, which is fantastic feedback, and I'll make changes to the levels if necessary based on the LP
And the first four episodes are out

• Let's Play chips challenge 2 (mind games) part 1
  
• Let's Play Chips Challenge 2 (Mind Games) part 2
  
• Let's Play CC2 (mind games) part 3
  
• Let's Play chips challenge 2 (mind games) part 4
  

Some words to each level which made an appearance so far:
Just for information, as always with my levels, all have replays included which can be watched in the editor...

BLUE EYED

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Designed as the first level for this set, a mostly straightforward item swapper, partly to remind the player of a lot of different cc2 collectables. With the bowling ball the player has a choice, and has to think about where to use it, as almost all levels need some kind of way for the player to make decisions; other than this, relatively easy, and worked mostly out as intended.
The unnecessary evil ice tile will be removed in the next update of the set, and the time limit will be increased by 20 seconds.

SO EASY

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It's actually a new level, I hope slightly more interesting than SO 1 from GM5 which is not in the set, but not nothing special, an easy sokoban.

GHOST TOWN

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This level is supposed to feel like you are in a hurry, even though it shouldn't feel too strict in this regard, and it felt like there wasn't enough time to figure out the ghost part, so the time limit will increased by 30 seconds.

WORKING TOGETHER

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I like how the level worked out, even though it is nothing too special, as again designed to be early in the set, to remind and/or teach the player several important things, starting with the different advantages of Chip and Melinda, switching players, working together to solve puzzles and especially exploring the level, if you don't have all the information or parts at the point to solve it at one moment in time. Even the aha moment was there, when you realize what you are meant to do, which is often the best part in solving a level.

SHIPS

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The first level from GM5 in this set, and the first of the few dodging levels in this set.

SO 2

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For SO I initially partly thought of an abbreviation for sokoban or sulfite oxidases with the numbers, but nothing too special - nothing more than so. So it is the second sokoban level of this set...

SYMMETRY

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A short easy level - from a design perspective not to much to say about it.

LINE

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The first time I saw the process of solving this puzzle, even though it got quite a bit of feedback already as it is in gm5. Definitely really interesting to see, and helpful for future level designs. A simple concept but worked out really well, and better than I expected when designing the level more than two years ago...

IT'S A MAZE

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The first really exploration based level of the set, it's pretty long, yet there are not many ways to cook it. One of the design goals is again introducing different cc2 elements for the set, having an aha moment or two e.g. once you realize how to get the fire boots and hand having fun running around exploring...

RED INK

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Even though intended to be the first really sanboxy level, I'm tempted to make it slightly stricter once again based on the episode, however I'll decide as the LP progresses if this is a good idea, when I see how easy or difficult some of the stricter puzzles feel.

TIME

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I didn't expect problems solving the first part, but it is a real time crunch level even though not that strict, with evil bombs on force floors...

SO 3

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An exploration based level this time around with easy sokobans and other simple puzzles. I like how it worked out in the LP.

GREEN THUMB

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The first clone machine puzzle of the set, and a level to give the player a chance to experiment around with mechanics based on it's short length.

SQUARES

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A short two characters maze, nothing too special, but keeping track of the positions of the Chips is something to to wrap your head around if you encounter it the first time.

NAVIGABLE WATERS

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Two puzzles, one level to explore and a bunch of bonuses.

TORI

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Chip finds himself in the world of tori and mazes starting on a torus, getting to another one with one side blocked aka cylinder and a final classical torus... I like how this teleport maze worked out.

SO 4

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As the name suggest, another sokoban level, and actually one of the last of it's kind of the set, and the first really tough level in the set. The intention was to force the player to think about the second puzzle, and not use trial and error, which is the reason for the first slightly lengthy yet easy classical sokoban an the start, and is what makes this level quite difficult. I'm not entirely sure if it was a good design decision, but in the end it adds to the variety in the set...

Since I saw in several LPs in TW and CC a recurring problem with keyboard inputs:
Slightly simplified, programs get a key press event from the os if they have focus as soon as a key on the keyboard is pressed, and a key release event once the key is not pressed anymore. If the program looses focus, e.g. by a pop up from a program update, using the super key or clicking somewhere else with the mouse, and the key is released, the program doesn't know, that the key is not pressed any longer and the player will continue it's movement. The easiest way to fix this problem is to press the same key again, and release it, and the program knows, that the key is no longer pressed. So if you are stuck going left, press the left key again...
And for those who are might wonder why program X or Y doesn't have this behavior, either they are executing one action per signal, and therefore are generally not interested in a release event (most applications e.g. your writing programs,...), or they are using a global hook or direct x or their own keyboard driver...