December 2016 Time Trial

[M11k4]

It's that time of year again, when, uhm, oh... we all get to participate in a Time Trial!

These two fun levels (Red, Brown and Red
and Demolitions Expert
) come from Ihavenoname248 (who is, in some corners of the universe, secretly known as Jeffrey Bardon). It's been some time since we've had a competition involving this sort of manipulation and here I think it's presented in a way that isn't chaotic or too daunting. If you didn't guess from the names, they are a couple of small cloning levels and I think it's the perfect theme to finish off the year.



http://cczone.invisionzone.com/index.php?/files/file/594-%7B?%7D/



We'd love to hear your comments on the levels even if you don't consider Time Trials your favorite cup of tea!

Enjoy!


-Miika

Technical notes:

[Click to Show Content]

1. The person with the highest combined remaining time on the 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, but it will be judged separately, with the quickest solution possibly being awarded 5 Chip Cup points.
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 too hard to solve. 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 January 1st, 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 2016 season of the Chip Cup. 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 and any others who have seen the levels in advance, may enter the competition. Please be fair and do not abuse this rule; it is meant to maximize the fun, not provide an advantage.
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.
   
   
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<span style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Verdana, sans-serif;"> participant may 'freeze' their scores at some point after submitting their own solutions. They will not be able to send in 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.
    
    
    

[Ihavenoname248]

Submitted my entry!

These were more fun to work on than I expected when I designed them, Demolitions Expert in particular.

[M11k4]

Results!

I'd be lying if I said I there was a flood of entries this month. I don't like to believe it was due to the levels though, as I had fun playing them and would expect others to do so too. In any case, here are the results:

1. Ihavenoname248 - 175.4 + 194 (219.6) = 369 MS


2. M11k4_________ - 175.8 + 190 (220.0) = 365 MS


-- M11k4_________ - _ 173 + 189 (219.4) = 362 LX


3? rubenspaans___ - _ 172 + 188 (221.2) = 360 LX


X. Melinda_______ - 176.2 + 196.8(222.0)= 372 MS
Y. Melinda_______ - _ 173 + 195 (221.2) = 368 LX



See how I made that look like there were many participants by including four lines for practically myself? We usually don't report the tenths of a second in these things, but here I thought it added something interesting. I also recorded the time the socket was opened in the second level in parentheses.

Jeffrey did something the rest of us can only wish we ever got to do: he designed a trick into a level that nobody else caught. It's so obvious once you see it, or even know that it exists, but somehow it managed to slip by. On top of that, he leveraged the trick to report the best score on the level and win this competition! Can that be well-deserved?? I think it is

My own scores had to be locked in before I saw anyone else's and once I had I could go back to improve the times. (So the last two lines of the scores reflect that, though of course more improvements might be possible.) This is maybe the first time since I've been doing this that I kind of regretted not putting in more effort into the levels before freezing my scores, which actually I should expect to happen more than it does. I don't think it was just because of the missed trick either, but because I like playing around with the cloning.


I will strive to get the solutions uploaded for your viewing and analyzing pleasure when time and technology permits. In the meanwhile, let us all congratulate IHNN again. Congrats! (And I mean that sincerely despite my snide remark.)



-Miika

P.S. I'm working on releasing the next levels for January, as well as the create comp stuff. Admittedly, I am a bit busy but you can still expect them soon!