May 2016 Time Trial
#1
Time Trial Time! This time I believe we have a couple cool levels for you.

And I know it's not quite May yet, but I have this ready so I thought I'd share them already!

The first level, Off the Humble Shelf
, is more of a puzzle of how to get all these blocks moved, but works also for competing on the quickest time. My inspiration for this come from Lessinath's use of blocks on popup walls in a couple levels.

The second level, Time Trial Mix II
, is a continuation of a concept from last year, where I took some old Time Trial levels and built a new one using pieces from the old ones. This one is quite a bit more linear to solve than the first one, as that's how many of these old levels also worked. I wonder what you will think about this mix of old and new?

http://cczone.invisionzone.com/index.php?/files/file/562-%7B?%7D/

As a twist to this month's competition, I thought we could try a bonus category of solving the levels in Lynx. The players are still ranked by their MS times, but a one-and-done bonus of five Chip Cup points
will be awarded to the person with the quickest solution in Lynx (no award for second place). Who's interested in going for that?

Standard technicalities apply:

1) The person with the highest combined remaining time on the two levels wins! Players will be ranked according to how fast they solve the levels. Scores for each level will be ranked separately and then combined in some overly clever way.
There may be a tie in overall score.

2) You may enter in either MS or Lynx. The players will be ranked by their MS times if they have one, and if not their Lynx time will count as their MS time, with the caveat that if it exceeds the best reported MS time, then it is considered equal to that time.
3) Please send your solutions (either the tws file or avis) to my own email valeosote at hotmail dot com. It would be good to include at least your username from here, perhaps even in the subject line, like 'May TT - pieguy'. I will strive to respond to your message by a confirmation that your score has been recorded.
4)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.
5) The levels aren't overly complicated 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.
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. As explained above, an additional 5 points will be awarded for the person or persons who submit the quickest Lynx solution. A randomly chosen entrant will receive a super prize!

7) Submission deadline is May 31st, 2016 where you live. I will judge the submissions without warning the 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.

8) The designer of the levels, may enter the competition, as long as he feels to not have gained any significant advantage as a result of having some advanced knowledge of the levels or of seeing someone else's submissions.

9) 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.


10) A 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.

Enjoy!


-Miika

UPDATE, 2h after first release: first level updated a bit, but if you didn't see the first version, don't worry about it Wink

UPDATE: Some scoring changes and an extra prize announced; details below!
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#2
I spent a bit of time looking at the first level just now, and the two RFFs in the corners are definitely a pain, allowing or blocking optimized routes whenever they feel like it. Combining that with just how much boosting there is on the ice, and this is definitely a grindy level for a TT.

The second level is...complex. I see in a general sense what the route needs to be but the specifics seem...well, beyond the usual TT. Either the first half (pre teleport) or the second half (post teleport) would be suitable candidates on their own, I think...
My CC1 levelsets: (25, 150, 149, 149, 149, 149, 60, 149, 43, +2 = 1025 total)
25 levels.dat | Ultimate Chip.dat | Ultimate Chip 2.ccl | Ultimate Chip 3.dac | Ultimate Chip 4.zip | Ultimate Chip 5 | Ultimate Chip 6 Walls of CCLP4 i^e
IHNN-Ultimate: 147 of my best levels (through UC5), plus 2 entirely new ones. May be overhauled soon.

My CC2 levelsets: (100, ???)
IHNN1 | IHNN2

My CC score tracker. Has lots of cool automated features!
Twitch | Youtube | Twitter
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#3
Thanks for the impressions! I think these two levels combined make for the most difficult Time Trial that I have hosted. Is this is bad thing?

In the first level, are you having trouble with the eastern random force floor? I could see there being some approaches where you push a block on the slide and need it to 'hang' in the corner for some time for it to not hit you. I thought people would either choose a different route (waiting Tongue ) or grind it out eventually if the odds were around 1% chance of success. I also hadn't realized just how much boosting is required in this until I tried to execute my own route after posting the levels, so I can see how that adds to the difficulty. In design, the level didn't first have the ice, but I added it to not force everyone to play it in Lynx and to give it a bit more zing.

For the second level, I think I know what you mean. It would be more manageable to have the parts separate. I was thinking that the way it is now makes it feel more like the levels I was taking inspiration from. Working on the halves separately and being able to combine the route into one is also a skill I think we could all practice if we really want to go for a super time on this. Would it be more fun if I watered it down a bit? One way to find out is to wait and see what the submissions look like.

Basically the issues with both levels come down to this: is someone not entering the competition because of what the levels are right now? If so, please speak up. Thief

-Miika

P.S. for the unaware, and to keep everyone on equal footing, below is a video that shows one way to do the bomb area in the original level, which you may take inspiration from. (the relevant part starts around 5:15)

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#4
I don't think having more difficult TTs is a bad thing, I just think that this is quite a large step up from all previous ones I've seen hosted and that might be. We'll see how it goes with the results: I think I've got a solid route skeleton plotted out for the second level, but it'll take a while to flesh out and execute due to the length...
My CC1 levelsets: (25, 150, 149, 149, 149, 149, 60, 149, 43, +2 = 1025 total)
25 levels.dat | Ultimate Chip.dat | Ultimate Chip 2.ccl | Ultimate Chip 3.dac | Ultimate Chip 4.zip | Ultimate Chip 5 | Ultimate Chip 6 Walls of CCLP4 i^e
IHNN-Ultimate: 147 of my best levels (through UC5), plus 2 entirely new ones. May be overhauled soon.

My CC2 levelsets: (100, ???)
IHNN1 | IHNN2

My CC score tracker. Has lots of cool automated features!
Twitch | Youtube | Twitter
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#5
Alright I've had more time to look at the two levels in depth now and my initial testing for the first level was...well, I was right about the execution difficulty but I was both being tremendously unlucky with the RFFs, and dumb with my route so that I needed very good luck in order to proceed.

The second level...is also about as crazy as I expected but at least it's linear in structure, at least. I'm pretty happy with the route I've worked out, though it's definitely the longest modern TT to date. Not necessarily a bad thing, just as I said a week ago, quite the step up.
My CC1 levelsets: (25, 150, 149, 149, 149, 149, 60, 149, 43, +2 = 1025 total)
25 levels.dat | Ultimate Chip.dat | Ultimate Chip 2.ccl | Ultimate Chip 3.dac | Ultimate Chip 4.zip | Ultimate Chip 5 | Ultimate Chip 6 Walls of CCLP4 i^e
IHNN-Ultimate: 147 of my best levels (through UC5), plus 2 entirely new ones. May be overhauled soon.

My CC2 levelsets: (100, ???)
IHNN1 | IHNN2

My CC score tracker. Has lots of cool automated features!
Twitch | Youtube | Twitter
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#6
Yep, thanks for sharing your thoughts and playing the levels! Anyone else doing that???


Well, I did and am ready to freeze my scores as soon as someone else sends in their solutions. (Freezing them before that is pointless, as I have nobody to share my times with and thus nobody that makes sure I didn't improve my score after I said I wouldn't.)

On the first level, the route was more challenging to execute than I originally thought, but at least coming up with a plan seemed to be easier than with some sokobans. For the second one, I took my own advice and worked on the halves of the level separately, though I had to backtrack quite a bit after I noticed I was doing the middle part totally wrong when I tried to combine the two. Overall I am not sure my times are the best possible, but I am happy with the route compared to the time I spent on it and can't wait to see what other people come up with. Hopefully someone will come and blow my times out of the water! I still might look at also solving the levels in Lynx, because that seems like it would be fun and even a bit different than the MS solutions.

Other than that, I have two important announcements about this competition. One is pretty exciting and the other is not really. Which would you like first? You can pick the reading order:

Mundane news:


[Click to Show Content]




Exciting news:


[Click to Show Content]




Wow, that was way more exciting than I thought it would be Slight smile This is going to be fun!

-Miika
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#7
Made a rare entry into the time trial this month. Slight smile Great levels! Level 1 took a look time just to figure out the block pushing patterns...
Mike L

My level sets:
MikeL2 - 200 levels, updated 1/22/2017
MikeL2-fix - Lynx compatible version of MikeL2
MikeL3 - 86 levels, updated 1/22/2017 - a best-of set with levels from MikeL2, MikeL4 or my now-hidden rejects set
MikeL4 - 27 levels, updated 1/22/2017 - home of any new post-2009 levels I make
MikeLrejects - 351 levels, updated 5/16/2013 - all my older/experimental/not as good levels
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#8
RESULTS TIME!! For me, that's the most awesome time there is Slight smile

I haven't uploaded the solutions for you to enjoy just yet, but wanted to post the results without delay. Despite the difficulty of the levels, we had ten participants!

For the first level, we had some interesting routes. I had added the ice to the level so that boosting would help it be quicker there, as block slapping was sure to otherwise encourage a lot of Lynx solutions. (Though cool, this was unwanted because it just increases the amount of ties, as they would all be likely converted to the same MS time. If you aren't familiar with the logic of the rules in this case, don't worry and just read ahead.) Still, the Lynx method allowed for such nice short-cuts that it remained quicker than MS!

The quickest MS score was provided by James at 274 seconds! Nice work! Ihavenoname and myself both had 272 MS, but Lynx scores of 275 LX and 276 LX, which would count at tied with James. Other scores included 273 LX by random 8, 272 LX by rubenspaans, and then sub 270 in MS by others (highest being 266 by both Mike L and Bacorn). We'll get to the exact ranking after the second level. Some players were only able to solve this first level, as the second one was even tougher!

For the second one...

(Oh come on! How is this taking me so long to type up?? Need to go but will come back as soon as I can, but it might be another 12h! Sorry! Slight smile )

I guess I'll fill in the details a bit later, and here are just the raw results if you can make sense of them:

bolds/Melinda
276 MS + 341 MS -> 617
______________ 276 LX + 320 LX

James________ 274 MS + 341 MS -> 615

IHNN_________ 272 MS + 338 MS -> 612

______________ 275 LX +(311 LX)

Miika________
276 LX + 334 MS -> 608
______________ 272 MS + 317 LX

random 8_____
273 LX + 315 MS -> 598
______________ 260 MS + 307 LX

Mike L_______
266 MS + 317 MS -> 583
Ruben________
272 LX + 298 LX -> 570
Bacorn_______
266 MS + 240 MS -> 506
chipster1059_
243 LX + 241 MS -> 484
______________ 232 MS + 223 LX

Lessinath____
255 MS + 0 -> 255
BabyPowder___
244 LX + 0 -> 244


Congrats to James for the WIN!!! You totally crushed the rest of us! Glider


-Miika
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#9
Three things:

1. Not sure if you remember but I sent a Lynx TWS that had a 311 on the second level.

2. My score should be 612 total: 275 (274)+338. Doesn't change the rankings, though Tongue

3. I think I know what I missed on the second level- it literally just hit me now what I probably could have managed to do with the fireball section. Oh well, well done to James!
My CC1 levelsets: (25, 150, 149, 149, 149, 149, 60, 149, 43, +2 = 1025 total)
25 levels.dat | Ultimate Chip.dat | Ultimate Chip 2.ccl | Ultimate Chip 3.dac | Ultimate Chip 4.zip | Ultimate Chip 5 | Ultimate Chip 6 Walls of CCLP4 i^e
IHNN-Ultimate: 147 of my best levels (through UC5), plus 2 entirely new ones. May be overhauled soon.

My CC2 levelsets: (100, ???)
IHNN1 | IHNN2

My CC score tracker. Has lots of cool automated features!
Twitch | Youtube | Twitter
Reply
#10
[quote]


That one too had a lot going on, and you could probably study this video for an hour or two while continuously noticing something new. (Like I did, and was able to spot a few more moves to be saved in Lynx but not enough for 277.)

Sorry James that I actually hid your winning route in the middle of the video. Slight smile (If others are wondering, James actually submitted a poorer quality video of his route being played in MSCC, but I uploaded the Tile World solution he provided, which was a TAS, or Tool Assisted Solution. As I write this, I realize I also used your TWS for the second level, when I could have used your great avi captured in actual MSCC. Well, I did forget my wallet home while going to the store today, so it's just one of those days.)

Ok, let's take another short break and be back with the videos for the second level!

-Miika
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