So what did I do in January regarding Chip's Challenge?
One of the first CC related actions I took this year, was to sign up to a cool new forum I found. Since you're reading this post, I'd venture a guess that you've found said forum yourself.
The activity on here has been incredible! We've had more than a thousand posts per week! And some of those have even been about Chip's Challenge 
During the first week I worked on finding some levels in CCLP2 that could be modified for Lynx play while changing as little as possible. I'll probably be sharing more thoughts on this subject in the future, so I won't say more quite yet.
I also played some CCLP3 in Lynx. I had been saving the last thirty levels for a while. It felt great to play the same levels again that I had just worked on exactly a year ago, except this time in a different format. It was nice to spot some small differences in between how the levels worked between the two rulesets. So finally during the third week I managed to solve the whole set! My score is 6,030,400 but there's a lot of levels I could go back and optimize. I only played through them casually and plan on going back to optimize if someone else actually starts posting competative scores.
Then I built a level! I haven't touched a blank page in an editor since CCLP3 came out, so it was about time to try doing that again. I was inspired by a conversation on the newsgroup about block slapping, so I guess I needed a little nudge to get back to building stuff. Now that I've mentioned it, I'll have to share it with you guys as soon as possible. I'll see if I can do that this month, and then I'll talk more about it and the other levels I've made. Hopefully I can find about ten that are worth releasing.
And pieguy posted new records for the original levels. Yes, you read that right, not just one record, but the plural with an s! Incredible. Let's see someone else match that, even for CCLP2.
I also recorded some avis for levels in CCLP3. You can get them on Mike's site, but here's a link to all of them at once: http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?r1pdq6197hrr95c They are mostly alternate bold routes to levels that already had their bolds made public. It would be interesting to see if someone else has still found other routes that score the same on some of these levels (like Pac Man).
Amidst doing that, I took a look at the new CC Zone time trial and treasure hunter competitions. Man, that was quite fun as well! The treasure hunt was fun, and the time trial levels were just the right difficulty. I didn't get an idea for a level to enter into the create competition untill the very end of the month. Can't wait to hear the results from that or see the other entries! And of course it will be fun to try out the new ones this month as well. Hopefully lots of people enter all the competitions.
Now that I wrote all that, I really wonder where I found the time to do it all? Looking back, I don't really know, particularly since I mainly procrastinated for the last week in the month. It's been a crazy start to the year. Here's for hoping it won't get much worse!
Next time, I'll be thinking about the competition formats, but maybe writing about that topic will have to make way for something more current. See you around! And leave comments!
-Miika
Where did I find the time to do that? Looking back, I don't really know. It's been a crazy start to the year. Here's for hoping it won't get much worse!
One of the first CC related actions I took this year, was to sign up to a cool new forum I found. Since you're reading this post, I'd venture a guess that you've found said forum yourself.
The activity on here has been incredible! We've had more than a thousand posts per week! And some of those have even been about Chip's Challenge During the first week I worked on finding some levels in CCLP2 that could be modified for Lynx play while changing as little as possible. I'll probably be sharing more thoughts on this subject in the future, so I won't say more quite yet.
I also played some CCLP3 in Lynx. I had been saving the last thirty levels for a while. It felt great to play the same levels again that I had just worked on exactly a year ago, except this time in a different format. It was nice to spot some small differences in between how the levels worked between the two rulesets. So finally during the third week I managed to solve the whole set! My score is 6,030,400 but there's a lot of levels I could go back and optimize. I only played through them casually and plan on going back to optimize if someone else actually starts posting competative scores.
Then I built a level! I haven't touched a blank page in an editor since CCLP3 came out, so it was about time to try doing that again. I was inspired by a conversation on the newsgroup about block slapping, so I guess I needed a little nudge to get back to building stuff. Now that I've mentioned it, I'll have to share it with you guys as soon as possible.
I'll see if I can do that this month, and then I'll talk more about it and the other levels I've made. Hopefully I can find about ten that are worth releasing.And pieguy posted new records for the original levels. Yes, you read that right, not just one record, but the plural with an s! Incredible. Let's see someone else match that, even for CCLP2.
I also recorded some avis for levels in CCLP3. You can get them on Mike's site, but here's a link to all of them at once: http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?r1pdq6197hrr95c They are mostly alternate bold routes to levels that already had their bolds made public. It would be interesting to see if someone else has still found other routes that score the same on some of these levels (like Pac Man).
Amidst doing that, I took a look at the new CC Zone time trial and treasure hunter competitions. Man, that was quite fun as well! The treasure hunt was fun, and the time trial levels were just the right difficulty. I didn't get an idea for a level to enter into the create competition untill the very end of the month. Can't wait to hear the results from that or see the other entries! And of course it will be fun to try out the new ones this month as well. Hopefully lots of people enter all the competitions.
Now that I wrote all that, I really wonder where I found the time to do it all? Looking back, I don't really know, particularly since I mainly procrastinated for the last week in the month. It's been a crazy start to the year. Here's for hoping it won't get much worse!
Next time, I'll be thinking about the competition formats, but maybe writing about that topic will have to make way for something more current. See you around! And leave comments!
-Miika
Where did I find the time to do that? Looking back, I don't really know. It's been a crazy start to the year. Here's for hoping it won't get much worse!