J.B.'s CC1 Levelset Feedback Thread ("Walls of CCLP1" Complete!)

[jblewis]

A while back, in his designer diary notes for his penultimate CC1 set, Josh Lee had posted a number of comments about wanting to create a set based on the walls of CCLP1. Only a few levels were ultimately converted, but the idea stuck with me and came back to mind while playing through Jeffrey Bardon's recent Walls of CCLP4 set. Originally, I was considering making a CC1 set that was entirely based on walls from various levels among all the official CC1 sets, but Jeffrey's hard work proved that there was merit in sticking with one set and going for it, regardless of the difficulty involved in the conversions. On top of that, I hadn't regularly designed for CC1 in several years, so the idea of working from existing starting points was very appealing. I love the idea of designing for CC2, but jumping from no recent design experience to a completely new game felt a bit daunting. This has made the transition much more palatable.

At first, I considered the idea of releasing the set all at once at the end of its development, much like Jeffrey did with WOCCLP4. But as I began designing, I remembered playtesting Andrew Menzies' The Other 100 Tiles and giving feedback gradually throughout the course of its construction. I like the idea of iterative releases and continuous feedback over a lump sum release, so I've decided to release this set in about 30-level increments, with the levels in each batch placed after the previous one(s) and arranged among themselves in rough difficulty order. This first release is only 26 levels, but there are some tough ones here, so I'm hoping that the next major release, at 60 levels, will include a few easier challenges. The difficulty of the set will hopefully be moderate to hard.

Feedback is very much welcomed and encouraged! Please let me know what you think of the levels, what you'd like to see more or less of, and how the set can improve as time goes on.

CC Zone attachment: /files/file/665-walls-of-cclp1/?do=download&r=10878">Walls of CCLP1

[jblewis]

With Josh's Walls of CCLP3 tentatively set for an initial release at 40 levels, I decided to follow suit with my next release instead of waiting for 60. Version 0.3.0 is now released! What's new...

<ul style="background-color:#ffffff; color:#353c41; font-size:14px; text-align:start">
[*]
Added 14 new levels (placed as levels 2, 9, 10, 16, 19-21, 26, 28-31, 33, and 40).

[*]
Twilight Struggle: replaced ice in left room with fire, replaced ice skates with fire boots, and replaced fire boots with fire to prevent boosting bust in MS.

[*]
Salsa Verde: moved force floors in nail areas on the right to prevent creation of slide delay (at least through that section).

[*]
Rundown Railyard: removed a lot of unnecessary block-pushing and interdependencies outside the "trains" and made the second train a bit less strict.

[*]
Unsquare Dance: removed some of the thin walls to make some red key grabs a bit easier.

</ul>

Enjoy!

CC Zone attachment: /files/file/665-walls-of-cclp1/?do=download&r=10903">Walls of CCLP1

[Flareon350]

I went ahead and sat down and played the first 10 levels of the newly up-to-date version of this set posted. Needless to say, they were a lot of fun! Here's some of my feedback on them.

1. I liked the teleporting bit at the end of the level, very good use of such a small space.

2. The open endedness of this level is enjoyable. I wasted one yellow key at the end and still managed to exit, but it might be worth throwing in another behind the socket?

3. I solved this with 12 seconds left lol but I liked this one. It's worth keeping

4. That random force floor is a little iffy with that walker there you can totally kill the teeth in the fire in MS, though I'm sure you were aware of this already

5. That block section

6. What an interesting puzzle! This one took me a few tries. Loved the clues to the entry points too!

7. In my opinion, this was more or less a more obvious implantation of Jeffrey's Enemy Without and I like it for that reason.

8. Fully solved this one (I never did when it was sent to me), and I really like it!

9. Outstanding level. It took the already good concept in Andrew's Conveyor Craze and just made it better, due to its size. This is one I'm hoping to see in CCLP5 someday.

10. Lol this level. I really don't know how I feel about it but it's not a bad level by any means. Though... that slide does get filled up quite a bit.

[mmoraleta]

I just downloaded the update after playing the first 18 levels in the old version. So far so good for a set that will hopefully be a full 149 set.

Here's my thoughts on the first 10 levels.

1. Interesting and somewhat complex first level.

2. Aesthetically pleasing and easy chip and boot collecting level.

3. Somewhat hard level well for me since I am not too good with teleport puzzles. Also, pretty hard to keep track.

4. Fun level with monster melee puzzles.

5. Awesome puzzles into one level.

6. Great level with a unique concept. Basically, somewhat of a monster swapper with chips.

7. Nice trap button puzzle but a little weird too. Took me several tries to get the tooth monster to the correct trap.

8. Interesting level.

9. Intuitive force floor block pushing level. I had to study where each path would lead to and the order. The suction boots at the start are very well appreciated, probably be crazy without them.

10. Somewhat hard level, close spaces with pink balls on slides could be problematic. Still interesting though.

[jblewis]

Thanks for the feedback, guys! I've added an update, 0.3.1, with some changes to help make some of the levels a bit less rigid.

• Glitterglaze Glacier: increased time limit by 50 seconds.
  
  
• Monster Recreation Center: switched walker out with glider and placed walker in 5x5 room, removing gliders.
  
  
• Balls to the Wall: removed balls at cardinal direction points.
  
  
• Three Boot Night: removed door "trap" at the end, added additional chip inside the lock nail area, and moved hint up to cloning area.
  
  
• Block Buster 3 in 2D: replaced water in zigzag block room with bombs, removed one block and sockets from bottom area, and placed socket next to exit, allowing end area puzzle to be solved early.
  
  

[mmoraleta]

Here's part 2 (11-20)

11. Very well crafted key puzzle.

12. Cool level and the tight time limit makes it more interesting.

13. Cool looking maze, reminds me of Josh's "Zabriskie Point". Second level I've played so far that has this maze concept.

14. Awesome puzzles rolled into one fantastic level. That checker sokoban is legit.

15. Brilliant sokoban and twist on the "my friend' concept.

16. Wild level is wild. Better than the original level too.

17. This level has great puzzles which are a blast (no pun intended)

18. Cool force slide section level.

19. Simple level with somewhat of a brain teasing twist. I was stumped on how to get the fireball to blow up the bomb below the exit, I figured it out.

20. Extremely fun level to play. This is kind of like "elemental park" but in a twisted way.

[mmoraleta]

Here's part 3 (21-30)

21. Superb block pushing puzzle, glad that this level got revived. Funny television with water inside it.

22. Awesome blue level and the dodging keeps you on your toes. The walkers were somewhat annoying.

23. Brilliant puzzle got stuck on this quite a bit.

24. Nice concept for a maze but it can be a bit hypnotizing. Just have to be very very careful, kind of like a cleaner mess than Divide By Zero.

25. Great level and the ending puzzle is legit.

26. Not as chaotic as I thought it would be. At first, I thought the cloners would clone crazy like Jumping Swarm.

27. Appealing aesthetic and that sokoban with force floors was legit.

28. Interesting level. Despite title it isn't too hard.

29. Funny pun on sokoban and also an awesome puzzle.

30. I had to draw on a map of this level just like Short Circuit. Still a good square looking level.

[jblewis]

I've added one additional minor update that addresses a couple of issues:

<ul style="background-color:#ffffff; color:#353c41; font-size:14px; text-align:start">
[*]
Three Boot Night: decremented chip count by one and replaced last chip with green door.

[*]
Blade Mountain: added extra gravel tile in walker dodging "mountain" section.

</ul>

Have fun!

[Flareon350]

Here is my next set of feedback based on the next ten levels I've played tonight. in addition, the change to Balls to the Wall makes the level much better!

11. This one took me a few tries but cracking the puzzle was pretty satisfying. Loved the blue wall usage of course

12. I was kind of expecting the red keys to be optional, to make for shortcuts but that was immediately blown out of the water upon playing. I think I personally would prefer that but I still liked this level a lot

13. Zabriskie Point 2.0 aesthetics aside though, I absolutely loved this one. I did not expect to see something like this from you, all things considered!

14. Another pretty great level, I liked that sokoban a lot as well as that red button section

15. This level took me a little bit longer than I was expecting to solve... I initially wasn't a big fan of it and to be completely honest, I'm still not. Though that's not to say this is a bad level. Very good puzzle and concept for sure, perfect size and all, and I appreciate the fact it exists in general. But it just wasn't my personal taste

16. Another fantastic use of aesthetics! I was thrown off guard with the yellow locks, well played

17. That starting room is the best room, but the level was very fun. The red/yellow lock room with the surprisingly simple and I don't know if I should be glad it is or disappointed it is

18. Not my favorite level but it was still fun

19. Loved that ending. I remember you mentioned there being a path outside the level to the exit but was removed because it made the level longer? I don't remember the exact reason but I'm semi hoping you'll add that back in because this felt way too short personally

20. What a level! This was very impressive and fun in a lot of ways. I especially loved the elemental room with the chips and the ending room with the glider cloner. I think the hint being in that room is much better than where it initially was as well

[jblewis]

Good news - there's another new update! 0.3.3 includes...

• Flotsam and Jetsam: replaced decoy tank button with random force floor to remove a needless red herring.
  
  
• Block Buster 3 in 2D: reverted to previous version, with some water spaces replaced by bombs, to prevent a bust.
  
  

<a contenteditable="false" data-ipshover="" data-ipshover-target="https://cczone.invisionzone.com/profile/21-flareon350/?do=hovercard" data-mentionid="21" href="https://cczone.invisionzone.com/profile/21-flareon350/">@Flareon350</a> - the section in Images of Giza that was removed was a bunch of disconnected rooms outside the pyramid where you carried a block back inside OVERSEA DELIVERY-style to fill in a water space that guarded the exit, where the hint now sits. I eventually took it out because it seemed to clash with the pyramid aesthetic and felt like needless extra work at the end, especially after all the dodging.