April 2017 Time Trial - Random No More

[M11k4]

New Time Trial levels!

http://cczone.invisionzone.com/index.php?/files/file/617-%7B?%7D/

You may notice something a bit odd about the levels. First, they may seem familiar. This is because they are heavily based on previous Time Trial levels. I took two levels with heavy random components and edited them to something a bit more predictable. Thus they feel a bit different than ones I might have built myself from scratch, but also they have a quality that is hard to capture in new levels.

The other odd thing is that the set does not just have these two levels. First, there is more than one version of both of these Time Trial levels. This is to provide simpler still simpler versions if you don't want to combat the boosting and monster timing. The competition is about optimizing the first two levels, Not Random
and Dissenter
, but if you can score a better time on the alternate versions (levels #3-5), then we'll count those as your score for that level instead. So instead of Not Random
, you may solve either Simply Not Random
or Still Not Random
; and instead of Dissenter
you may solve Simply Dissenter
. Note that the time limits for the alternate versions of the levels are slightly lower than that of the main two levels, so the optimal should not be better on them (even without taking into account stuff like boosting differences). If you provide solutions for all the levels, we'll just count the one that gives you the best score, but I may post your other scores too.

I realize that this is the last month of CCLP4 voting, so I hope you can juggle your time between all these interesting activities. The deadline for this competition is May 3rd. Please send your submissions, either in tws or avi or some other form, to me at my email valeosote at hotamail dot com.

Finally, what about levels #6-11? You'll have to check the April Create Competition thread for info on that!

Enjoy!


-Miika

UPDATE: the first level (and it's other version, #3) has gotten an update. Solutions from the original will still be accepted, but discouraged. Details below in a new post.


Other technicalities and details:

[Click to Show Content]

1. A participant's highest remaining time on any of the levels #1, #3, #5 will count as their score for "the first level" and likewise for levels #2, #4 for "the second level". The person with the highest combined remaining time on these two levels wins! There may be a tie in overall score.
   
2. This competition is primarily meant for MS rules. You may send in a Lynx solution too and we'll try to combine all the scores in one category in a reasonable way.
3. Please send your solutions (either the tws file or avis) to my own email valeosote at hotmail dot com. I will strive to respond to your message by a confirmation that your score has been recorded.
4. The levels aren't incredibly hard to solve and picking the easier versions makes them even easier. Don't be afraid to send in your solutions even if you sense they aren't perfect, and simple casual solutions are also appreciated. You may enter if you solve at least one of the levels, but solving both will obviously place higher.
5. Submission deadline is May 3rd, 2017 where you live. I will judge the submissions without warning during the following days but will accept submissions until I do. If you need a more specific time, you can always ask. To avoid losing on time (it is a time trial after all), get your solutions in early rather than later! You can send in improvements while the competition is running, so there is no downside to sending in something you know might not be your best effort if you had forever to work on it.
6. This is part of the 2017 season of the Chip Cup. The winner will be awarded 15 points, second place 12, third 10 points, and so on. If you win a competition here for the first time, you receive the "You're Winner!" award. All participants who haven't participated in a Time Trial earlier receive the "Run, Chip, Run" award.
7. The designer of the levels may enter the competition, but won't.
8. The levels may receive an update within the first week of their release. This will only be done if there is some significant problem with the first versions of the levels. Please contact me if you suspect something is off. First level updated!
   
9. Do not post your solutions or solution times or share them with others before the competition results are announced. All times will be published at the same time, and the quickest solutions will eventually be released.
10. As an exception to the above rule, a participant may 'freeze' their scores at some point after submitting their own solutions. They will not be able to submit any more updates after this, but they may talk about the levels and their times with other people who have frozen their entry. I may update a public list of people who have frozen their score.
    
    

[M11k4]

Update time!

If you tried the first level, Not Random
, you might have noticed that the final room is a bit annoying. Sure, the original RANDOM was also annoying, but this one wasn't meant to be quite as faithful in that aspect. This also affects the level Simply Not Random
so in that regard this simplification also fails to be much simpler.

I have decided to update the level and its simpler version. I have removed both pink balls in this room from the monster list. They still are in the level but do not move in MS. As the change does not slow down any existing solutions, I will accept solutions to either version, but there shouldn't be a reason to use the first version if you see this text. You can download the new version again or apply the change yourself to the file. This change should not have any effect on existing solutions nor on Lynx. Apologies.

Thanks for Xindictive for pointing this out to me. And thanks for your quick submissions too!

[M11k4]

Results!

1. Ihavenoname248 15
pts 915 +(239)+ (0) + 243 +(906)-> 1158 MS

2. Kevin_________ 12
pts (0) + 241 + (0) + (0) + 905 -> 1146 MS

3. rubenspaans___ 10
pts (0) + 243 + (0) +(241)+ 882 -> 1125 Lynx

4. Xindictive_____ 8
pts 880 + 214 + (0) + (0) + (0) -> 1094 MS


Congrats to IHNN for pulling out the win with these uninviting levels! I honestly used these levels because I didn't want to play them and knew I could concentrate on CCLP4 voting. That actually sounds worse than I meant it, as a big reason I couldn't participate was that I designed the second level around in a way where it would not have been fair for me to participate. Still, the design of the first level might be a low point for the levels I've made for these competitions. Great work from all of you, and in particular Ruben's score of 243 without boosting in Lynx stands out to me as very nice work. Thanks to all of you for bearing with(out!) me through this month.


More design related comments:
<div class="ipsSpoiler" data-ipsspoiler>

[Click to Show Content]

I learned now that if I have a level that is simply too complex like the first one here, and I try to make a simpler version of it, I really need to make a simpler version. I like the idea that a simpler version can exist and be part of a competition, but it really means the original level could be simpler to begin with and the second level should be even more simple than I first think. Like if you look at the simpler version of the second level (Simply Dissenter, #4), you'll see I could still have made it a bit easier, and the middle version of the first level was also pretty pointless.
I made these levels at least a year apart from each other and it tickles me a bit to now look back and see how similar the concept ended up. Both were based on previous Time Trial levels with a heavy random component. Both were trying to do something non-random with the underlying structure. Clearly, the second level worked out much better. What I tried to do with it was to take the structure of the chips in the rooms and see how they could be picked up the quickest. The interesting bit about this was that doing so required as many turns between the rooms as possible, that is going through the rooms in a straight line always lost some moves. So I mapped out a path that I thought was good and then started adding obstacles into the rooms in such a way that the timing of the planned route was not affected. This is the first time I designed a level around a route instead of the other way around! So this is the main reason why I couldn't participate on this level, and you will find my original route that scores 247 MS in the second video below

And here are some of the quickest solutions:






Leave comments! (like how everyone picked up the extra yellow key! (well, except Kevin, but his solution is not shown))

-Miika