February is over and this competition is now officially closed. We had eight entrants submit a total of eleven levels, all based on different wall configurations from CC1. I played and solved all the levels (in Lynx) and then gauged them against each other. This was possibly the hardest create competition to judge that I have been involved with so far. All the levels were very good and even enjoyable, and yet I had to pick a winner and rank the losers. As I didn't set many specific guidelines on how the levels would be evaluated, a lot of it came down to my own personal taste in levels and other hidden factors that the contestants really had no way of knowing. All the entries filled the requirements of the competition with matching the wall configurations exactly, and the smaller requirements too like setting a new time limit on the levels. In my mind the main reason to have these competitions is to the fun of participating and sharing one's creation with others, and the ranking comes secondary. Of course the winner can feel free to disagree
Here is a countdown of the levels, with the winner listed at the bottom. Some of the comments are copied from what I already wrote to the designers upon receiving their submissions.
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11th - Shambles by jblewis
This level involves block arrangements that need to be opened to reach the chips inside. I think it's a decent level and have actually already asked J.B. if I can use it for a time trial. The reason I am ranking it last is that it feels too disconnected from the level where the wall arrangement is copied from, and the two walls that are included could just as well not be. It wasn't a requirement to connect the new level to the old one in a specific way, but the joke of highlighting how few walls this level originally had didn't impress me this time. If anything, the fact that such a fine level can place last should just highlight the quality of all the entries this month.
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10th - CAESAR SALAD - Ihavenoname248
This level is a much harder version of its antecedent in CC1. The rooms are traversed in pretty much the same order but with different takes on the puzzles. It took me some time to figure out where all the pieces were needed, and in the end there were still some left over. I liked the sokoban, though by the time I got to it I was already pretty exhausted from thinking as well as the block pushing from the start of the level. A small note, but I'll mention it, was that a yellow key was used instead of a red one at the starting area, causing the pink balls to bounce differently in Lynx compared to MS. I did find the section with the pink balls and the force floors towards the end to be pretty elegant and how the skates allowed for going through the second time. Had this level been somewhat easier, I think I would have liked it a bit more, but even now it has some memorable aspects. Let's see how your other level fares.
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9th - Lucid Dream - BlazingApollo (4pts)
This level takes a fast paced race, turns it upside down and adds in some tough logic. I played the level some in Lynx, and solved it using the exit with the flippers. There seem to be at least two other exits that might be reachable but I couldn't figure out exactly how. I didn't understand if the fire boots were actually retrievable, or how the exits in the south could be used (the problem being how to keep the lower trap open for my own use). The level is pretty hard but I appreciate the juxtaposition of using the walls from a level with a very straight-forward solution to create a new level with several approaches. If anything, I would have liked if those approached had been more different, though only in subtle ways (for example, as far as I can tell, all the solutions still require all the chips). Anyway, I enjoyed experimenting with these ideas and I liked how some areas from the original level were reused in new ways. I'm ranking this pretty low because I asked for the levels not to be overly difficult, and this one still crosses that line for me.
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8th - Monsterflow - pillowpc2001 (5pts)
In addition to the walls, this level preserves part of the name of the level and creates a new puzzle that matches it perfectly. While playing, I messed up quite a few times but did enjoy the puzzles. Managing the different types of monsters to lead to the bombs was pretty tough, and I might have liked it more if the level had just stuck to one type of monster in the final area. Alternatively, having a few blocks at hand to undo a small mistake would have helped. I used a walker on the bomb that the blob could reach, and in MS it seems the suction boots are not needed because you boost back from the lowest area. This might be an intended alternate method to solve the level, but then I would personally like it more if it also worked in Lynx. It was a very exciting level none the less.
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7th - Zehn Feuer - Flareon350
This level has no resemblance in its game play with its wall-daddy but, unlike J.B.'s entry, it had enough walls to actually create a restriction on the level building. I am impressed by how the puzzles in the rooms connect to the walls in such a way that some of them would not be possible if the walls were different. This tells me that the designer used the walls as inspiration for the end result. When first submitted, one of the traps was connected to a button instead of the other way around and it did not work. This of course had no bearing on the results, but I had not seen this before so I thought to mention it as an oddity. At first I wasn't sure if the teeth were all disposable, but I couldn't find anything reasonable to do with them so I just killed them all. I didn't use the pop-up at [4,4] so I wondered a little about what it was for. I enjoyed the level, though it was definitely more difficult than the other one Flareon350 created. I wouldn't have minded ranking this one a bit higher, but I guess subconsciously I was harsher on the weaker entries from a single designer.
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6th - WATERMIRROR - chipster1059 (6pts)
This level takes a fire based level, fills it in with water and adds an touch of item swapping. I definitely had fun playing this one. It felt really fresh and I enjoyed the change from a fire theme to one of water. The exit was in the same place as in the original, but I was surprised Chip himself had moved because there was no real reason not to keep him in the same starting position for symmetry's sake (not that it mattered, it just caught my eye). My main complaint with the level is with glider paths being hard to predict and that I had to be quite careful in places not to accidentally cook the level. Those two things are actually connected, as some of the gliders occasionally cloned blocks in the north-east and cloning extra ones cooked the level. The gliders themselves were not set in any clear paths, which resulted in both having them pile up in some areas of the level and me having to constantly worry about maybe getting in their way, which results in a much different feeling while playing. I'm also not a fan of the blob controlling the toggle walls because in Lynx the timing can vary between attempts. The time limit is perhaps a bit too high. Other than those small things I did enjoy the open nature of the level and the straight-forward gathering of items. The teeth islands were well done and not frustrating at all, and the tanks gave the level some nice rhythm. I wouldn't mind playing this level again, so over all a good entry.
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5th - Seven Layer Salad - lookatthis (7pts)
This level takes explores the room configuration of an old level in a new way. I enjoyed the theme of carrying a block from the start to the end. Once I got to the block cloners I was a bit confused what to do with those blocks, until I realized I just need to concentrate on the old block. I didn't mind that there was a ring Chip couldn't reach, but it catch my eye at first. I was most impressed by the tank area and the recessed wall puzzle. I thought it was a neat motif to use force floors throughout the level. On some other day, I might have chosen this one as the winner even, but today I guess I was looking for something easier. How's that for some salt in your wounds?
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4th - Cellblocked? - jblewis (8pts)
This level really managed to take the simple structure of a familiar room configuration and bring it out in fantastical new light. Though I remember the original route by heart this level really made me revisit all those rooms I had forgotten about for so long. I enjoyed the simplicity of the design and the execution of the individual rooms. The two chips that couldn't be reached bugged me a bit as they went against what I loved about the concept, but I guess that is a matter of taste. It's one of those levels that won't be remembered as the best ever, but it would fit in nicely into any set as a breather.
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3rd - SCREWS AND NAILS - Ihavenoname248 (10pts)
From all the entrants this month, this level perhaps stayed the truest to the original, though the direction of advancing through the level was flipped. The puzzles resembled the originals and there were element switches in some rooms. I had a little bit of trouble at first in the glider cloning area when the blue key was erased before I got to it in Lynx. I would also imagine that this area could cause problems for beginners as the teeth controlled the cloning button and there was nothing stopping the gliders to flood this room. All the other sections were very fun and reminded me pleasantly of the original level but yet with enough twist to feel different. A very good entry and something I was really hoping this competition would produce.
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2nd - Blast from the Past - mobius (12pts)
This level takes a very simple level and adds in new obstacles. I liked the choice of which level to use and how those tight spaces are filled with a variety of puzzles. If I had to complain about something, I can only think of bringing up my minor dislike for appearing walls and blobs, and the choice of using them here. On the other hand, the teeth are in a perfect place, as if the walls were designed around him, and the pop-up section feels just as clever. If some day I could build a level as fun and well-rounded as this one, my life would be complete.
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1st - Condo Management - Flareon350 (15pts)
How can this be? As the winner, I chose a level that deviates from the original almost as much as the one I ranked last, and almost for the same reason. Here I fell in love with how the designer found a wall configuration that I had never paid any attention to and made it his own. On top of that, the level was quite fun to play too. The difficulty was spot on and it looked very pretty. And even though the original level was very symmetric, the use of the elements in just the right amounts made this interesting as a maze. I like the use of bombs as extra walls here and yet they are also used as pieces of puzzles of where to push the blocks so they aren't actually the equivalent to just having walls. I could play this level over a hundred times and not get bored. For me this is an absolute home run!
When Josh submitted this, I told him that of all the submissions so far, this placed dead last. Luckily though, it was also the first submission I received, and thus ranked first at that time too. Now it can only claim one of those spots. Good job!
Congratulations to the winner!
I have given the first time contestants their Tool Box award for participation, and will next update everyone's Chip Cup points. You can play the levels for yourself by downloading them
here (except the upload failed for some reason; I'll fix this as soon as possible). See if you can identify the wall arrangements and from which levels they originate.
Hope to see you all participate in the new create challenge too!
-Miika
