21-Dec-2021, 8:00 PM
(This post was last modified: 21-Dec-2021, 10:55 PM by snacksforsale.
Edit Reason: specifying the garbage in the zip file
)
Apologies for the delay in putting together feedback and results.
Tom B: Skeleton Head
I found this level very tricky. I ultimately had to look at your TWS, which means I am sentenced to 500 years in the shame dungeon. This level is an interesting extension of the recessed wall maze concept with additional sources of stress like clearing dirt on the way to other rooms to give you room to push blocks and managing inventory so you don’t trap yourself in a different way.
I like how all the blocks can be seen in the viewport at the start of the level and all the blue keys are just out of view. I think changing the blue keys and doors to yellow keys and doors may improve the aesthetic of this level a little, since the rest of this level is all red, brown, and grey. Can’t do much about the exit tile though, unfortunately.
Jeremy C: Forced Labor
This level felt the most sprawling and adventure-y of all the submissions, which is no small feat given the size restriction. It took a hot minute for me to figure out what I needed to do, but once I did, it still took a few attempts to slide everything into place. I thought the ice skates were unnecessary up until my second to last attempt. There are a couple of places where you can boost backwards to make the level a little easier in MS.
This level has a very utilitarian, organized chaos type feel to it. As far as I can tell, every tile is exactly placed to force you toward one specific solution. Maybe that’s the inspiration for the title? If I may suggest some avenues for improvement, I think the elements could be arranged to create a clearer sense of shape and it may be good to consider designing with multiple possible solutions in mind. I suspect the real challenge of implementing these suggestions would be figuring out how to avoid sacrificing difficulty for aesthetic, especially in a level this small.
Josh L: Fusion Core No.11
Ah, a teleport level from Josh!!! It took a while for me to figure out a sensible approach to this level. At first I was a little salty about the time limit, but, if I’m being honest, without it I could just screw around until I could scrounge together enough blocks to get all the chips in a non-sensible way, so ultimately I appreciate that the time limit is there to get me to think a little harder.
Ida R: Tic Tac Tip Toe
This was a neat little block rearranging puzzle. It’s a little weird that the solution requires pushing a directional block into a pink toggle wall as it closes; it felt like I was busting the level when I did that. Perhaps someone with more experience playing CC2 will disagree vehemently. I like how the thin walls act to reinforce the color palette of the level, but I would have liked to see them integrated into the level a bit more rather than just acting as a border.
Ida R: Yellow Pranks
I like that there’s just enough lack of symmetry that the level can’t be solved the same way in both directions.
VT: Creative Repetition
It’s unfortunate that the most difficult part of the puzzle is saved for last, since screwing something up or running out of time staring at the screen meant I had to do the first three puzzles all over again. I also had to look at your TWS which means I am now sentenced to 1,000 years in the shame dungeon. The solution is pretty clever, but there’s something VT does to solve the third room which he repeats in the fourth room. It never occurred to me to use that trick to solve the third room, which ended up being a problem because it was critical to solving the fourth room. Whoops!!
Dave V: Fool’s Gold
The layout reminds me a little bit of Puzzle Box from CCLP4. I was thinking you’d have to do some kind of nailing, but I noticed the SE exit was reachable without much effort so I went there instead.
Dave V: Fool’s Gold II
This level was submitted under all 3 rulesets (MS, Lynx, CC2). This is where nailing came in handy in MS. I’m not really a fan of the Lynx solution; if you play MS first like I imagine most people do, you’ll see a trap button in one version but not another, and then the solution is pretty much guesswork since it doesn’t use pedantic trap connections. CC2 allows for both solutions, but since there’s a separate sprite for open traps, the guesswork from the Lynx set disappears entirely. I’ll say I like the MS solution the most.
Results
This was difficult and ultimately arbitrary, but why else would one run a competition other than for those sweet numbers:
Thanks to everyone for your submissions, your patience, and your tolerance of my weird rules and restrictions which might have been way too complicated for my first attempt at running a create comp. Attached to this post are the submissions so you can play them yourself and decide whether my evaluation is harsh but fair or the ravings of a madman. Sorry for being a Mac user and making a zip file with DS_Store garbage nobody wants.
Tom B: Skeleton Head
I found this level very tricky. I ultimately had to look at your TWS, which means I am sentenced to 500 years in the shame dungeon. This level is an interesting extension of the recessed wall maze concept with additional sources of stress like clearing dirt on the way to other rooms to give you room to push blocks and managing inventory so you don’t trap yourself in a different way.
I like how all the blocks can be seen in the viewport at the start of the level and all the blue keys are just out of view. I think changing the blue keys and doors to yellow keys and doors may improve the aesthetic of this level a little, since the rest of this level is all red, brown, and grey. Can’t do much about the exit tile though, unfortunately.
Jeremy C: Forced Labor
This level felt the most sprawling and adventure-y of all the submissions, which is no small feat given the size restriction. It took a hot minute for me to figure out what I needed to do, but once I did, it still took a few attempts to slide everything into place. I thought the ice skates were unnecessary up until my second to last attempt. There are a couple of places where you can boost backwards to make the level a little easier in MS.
This level has a very utilitarian, organized chaos type feel to it. As far as I can tell, every tile is exactly placed to force you toward one specific solution. Maybe that’s the inspiration for the title? If I may suggest some avenues for improvement, I think the elements could be arranged to create a clearer sense of shape and it may be good to consider designing with multiple possible solutions in mind. I suspect the real challenge of implementing these suggestions would be figuring out how to avoid sacrificing difficulty for aesthetic, especially in a level this small.
Josh L: Fusion Core No.11
Ah, a teleport level from Josh!!! It took a while for me to figure out a sensible approach to this level. At first I was a little salty about the time limit, but, if I’m being honest, without it I could just screw around until I could scrounge together enough blocks to get all the chips in a non-sensible way, so ultimately I appreciate that the time limit is there to get me to think a little harder.
Ida R: Tic Tac Tip Toe
This was a neat little block rearranging puzzle. It’s a little weird that the solution requires pushing a directional block into a pink toggle wall as it closes; it felt like I was busting the level when I did that. Perhaps someone with more experience playing CC2 will disagree vehemently. I like how the thin walls act to reinforce the color palette of the level, but I would have liked to see them integrated into the level a bit more rather than just acting as a border.
Ida R: Yellow Pranks
I like that there’s just enough lack of symmetry that the level can’t be solved the same way in both directions.
VT: Creative Repetition
It’s unfortunate that the most difficult part of the puzzle is saved for last, since screwing something up or running out of time staring at the screen meant I had to do the first three puzzles all over again. I also had to look at your TWS which means I am now sentenced to 1,000 years in the shame dungeon. The solution is pretty clever, but there’s something VT does to solve the third room which he repeats in the fourth room. It never occurred to me to use that trick to solve the third room, which ended up being a problem because it was critical to solving the fourth room. Whoops!!
Dave V: Fool’s Gold
The layout reminds me a little bit of Puzzle Box from CCLP4. I was thinking you’d have to do some kind of nailing, but I noticed the SE exit was reachable without much effort so I went there instead.
Dave V: Fool’s Gold II
This level was submitted under all 3 rulesets (MS, Lynx, CC2). This is where nailing came in handy in MS. I’m not really a fan of the Lynx solution; if you play MS first like I imagine most people do, you’ll see a trap button in one version but not another, and then the solution is pretty much guesswork since it doesn’t use pedantic trap connections. CC2 allows for both solutions, but since there’s a separate sprite for open traps, the guesswork from the Lynx set disappears entirely. I’ll say I like the MS solution the most.
Results
This was difficult and ultimately arbitrary, but why else would one run a competition other than for those sweet numbers:
Thanks to everyone for your submissions, your patience, and your tolerance of my weird rules and restrictions which might have been way too complicated for my first attempt at running a create comp. Attached to this post are the submissions so you can play them yourself and decide whether my evaluation is harsh but fair or the ravings of a madman. Sorry for being a Mac user and making a zip file with DS_Store garbage nobody wants.