Isn't it about time I wrote some thoughts on these levels? I don't have the energy to write about all of them, so I will pick and choose a few that I have something more to say than 'enjoyed this' or 'would have done things differently'
Toggle Station
- Eric119
I picked this as the winner as there was nothing I didn't like in it, and it used all the rooms very nicely. I also liked the choice of which level to use for some reason, and it still retained a little bit of the same feel with the monster dodging in the middle area.
Tracing Constellation
- random 8
I liked this level because of many tiny details but mainly because of the alternate routes Chip could take. My main complaints with it were that the different solutions didn't quite balance out in difficulty, and I thought the uppermost area is almost always avoidable. Another small thing I liked was all the different ways you avoided using new walls, but the sockets made that room feel a bit cluttered (I guess I wasn't sure if they were meant to be opened later). I love the monster paths and tricks throughout the level.
Feeble Existence
- lookatthis
When this competition started I wasn't sure how different I would like the levels to be from the one the walls are taken from. Once there were so many submissions, small things like the mirroring of some of the themes of the original level here really felt nice.
The Moment of Tooth
- chipster1059
I love seeing a puzzle that uses invalid tiles in a clever way. Not knowing what tiles are hidden does still create a small problem,
Asphalt Line
- Flareon350
A solid design that felt exciting to play for the first time.
Treasure Quest
- Ihavenoname248
A fun little level. I enjoyed it more than your other ones just because it was simpler. I don't like invisible or appearing walls in general, but here you used them sparingly enough and in the right places that they were totally the right call.
Chilled to the Bone
- J.B. Lewis
I watched the video of you making this level before actually playing it, and I was afraid it would feel too much like some levels I had already experienced. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find it had its own feel mostly due to the use of ice. I think the extra blue keys annoyed me a bit in a level where I was already lost.
Inside the Box
- Keyboardwielder
Like I said, I loved seeing a puzzle that used invalid tiles in this way. Not once but twice for a fraction of a second I thought that you must have sent me the wrong version of the level as this must be unsolvable. Please make more levels! (I wonder why I didn't rank this one any higher?)
Flight Path
- Syzygy
I love the simplicity of this level! It was very fun to play. Maybe if you made it from scratch I would recommend making the outside area a bit smaller than the whole level.
Presentiment
- rockdet
This level is the main one I really wanted to give feedback on, if only because others haven't seen it yet, but also because I'm sure Rock is wondering how it is so low in the rankings. One reason is purely the high quality of the other entries, but also the difficulty and my experience with the level. I very much appreciate that you created a puzzle in the tight constraints of this wall configuration, but I had to play through the level too many times before solving it for it to remain a great experience. Maybe adding the bug was a bit too much, as moving the block in that area felt really risky, and I was afraid it would go on the force floor slide. I could have done with one or two fewer water tiles to fill in with blocks. You also sent in a version that was not solvable until two things were changed, so while I try to not allow this sort of thing to affect the ranking if it is an easy mistake, it did have an effect on my experience and I knew you had only played the level through in your head. Your use of space is elegant, I liked the visual liberties you took with using the walls and blue walls all as clone machines, and I enjoyed how it felt so different from the original even if Chip and the Exit were in the same places. In the end, by the time you release the level, I will give it a big thumbs up and a warm recommendation, and then wait for others to disagree on this assessment here
Thinkbox
- Minus3K2
This is perhaps the best level of yours that I have seen. I like how you can drown the teeth but you have to look for the way to do this while he chases you. The item swapper adds to the level in a nice way (compared to just having chips which you are supposed to get with the teeth chasing you, and the overall difficulty of the level leans nicely on the easier side.
Movin' Out
- Hornlitz
Looking in the editor, I thought I would love this level. I still appreciate the symmetry in the name and puzzle to a previous entry of yours. I also like how this really is a simple wall layout but I hadn't realized all aspects of it from the original, because that one feels much more like just a square than this one does. Overall, I ranked it this low because it is almost too simple to play and solve, when I was hoping to really need to think about things. Maybe an update at some point, perhaps with pop-ups under the blocks? (That's my go to solution to fix a level, not sure what it would do here...)
Simple Key
- RB3ProKeys
I enjoyed many of your submissions, so thank you once again for them all. I picked this one as my favorite because it did not fall into the trap of being too complex. Several of your others did not feel as refined, and the block pushing in some of them was very long, as well as guessing the trap connections. This level was quite fun in both rule sets.
UglyBirds
- geodave
I liked the concept here but overall I felt it was missing something. I don't love blue walls and some of the block pushing was a bit clunky (which was probably due to the constraint of the wall layout). I think I ranked it this low because I saw some potential in the level but now I don't remember what I might have been thinking.
Aces High
- Cyberdog
This level had a lot of walking in long empty corridors and you needed to know which buttons were supposed to be pressed when. The teleport stuff also threw me off, as I didn't first understand what was going on or what was supposed to happen, as I couldn't see it well enough. Picking up those chips from the pink balls is not easy for everyone. My favorite part was the glider room with the two appearing walls, as this mirrored the original level nicely and still felt very different.
I guess I ended up saying something about a level for each participant, so that was more than I was really planning on getting to. Hopefully you enjoyed some of these thoughts, and maybe you even are inspired to play some of the levels you might have missed earlier. Have a good week!
-Miika
