Vermillion Pack - Discussion

[Flareon350]

Okay so I just finished playing the Vermillion Pack and I wanted to give my shot on a review of the levels so here you are. I hope my comments aren't bad to you guys.


1. Lesson 10
Was an okay level. Could of had a little more dodging though. It was boring to walk around the teeth half the time.
2. Guidance for Experts
This is one of my levels, and I don't really need to play it to know if it is worthy of CCLP1. But to be fair, I'll give it a 4 because of the bottom left section being really difficult, especially to newcomers.
3. Progress Bar
Awesome idea. Awesome sokoban.
4. QuadPort
Decent level but kind of a random ending. Not bad though.
5. Traveler
Really good. The teeth at the end was a nice touch.
6. Slimy Swarm
Fun level. Would of been nice to know there were extra chips but no complaints.
7. 436f6c6c6973696f6e73
Precision timing. Loved it. But please give it an actual level name, not this.
8. Thief Street
I liked the twist to the level. Nice partial post too.
9. Ice, Ice, Maybe
Great level, one of my favorites of the pack.
10. Cloverleaf
Nice twist. Cool design.
11. Pole Position
If this doesn't get a 5, then I don't know what will.
12. Meteor Shower
I love levels like this. The pattern of the fireballs doesn't really change either. Very well suited for beginners.
13. Busted?
An okay level. It made me think of CC1 a lot.
14. Assembly Line
Loved this level so much.
15. Choices, Choices
Amazing level. That is all.
16. Pattern
A pretty good level. Very trivial though.
17. Key Farming
Great level, I think it will be perfect for beginners

18. Pickup
This was probably the best chip collecting level I've ever played. It was different compared to others to me.
19. Action!
Well I wasn't expecting to use blocks at the end, but otherwise good level.
20. Pow
It might be a little difficult for beginners, but I think they could use a blocksliding challenge or two!
21. Evaporation
Nice little block pushing level. I'm thankful it wasn't abused.
22. Thief, You've Taken All That Was Me
This really needs to be in the 140's of the finalized set. It's amazing in almost every way possible. All I would advise is a much higher time limit, for newcomers.
23. The Inner Plague
Fun teeth level.
24. Propaganda
Another fun one. Awesome design too.
25. Pickpocket Land
Cool looking design and concept. Not much else to add.
26. Connect the Dots
Good level idea. Plenty of room for error too.
27. Flowchart
Very confusing. The design is alright, but I don't get this level at all. The random sliding monsters didn't help either...
28. The Pace Quickens
Awesome level idea! Reminded me of Oorto Geld.
29. Be Quick About It, Man!!
An pretty well crafted chase level. Ended up with a few extra keys which was nice.
30. Gate Keeper
Nice idea. Seems to be perfect for beginners.
31. Warehouse 8
Another good sokoban level. It fits the theme from the Warehouse series in CCLP2.
32. Checkmate?
It was kinda good. Not one of my favorites though.
33. Mirages
I liked the idea, that's all I can really say about it.
34. The Bright Idea
Have to mention I died right at the start by going left... lol but good level.
35. Vlost
This one reminded me of various other ice levels, like Ice Cube and The Lake in Winter. Both of which I did not like at all.
36. Gold Mine
Great aesthetics.
37. Lesson 5
Kinda cool introducing blobs. I lol'd at the arbitrary blob by the exit.
38. 4^3 Cell
Well designed puzzle but not a big fan of these kinds of things.
39. Square Dancing
Decent.
40. Burning Desire
Blue walls plus an interesting maze equals pure win for me. Loved this one a lot.
41. Spumoni
Another amazing level. I love the design and concept of this one.
42. Blue
Sort of reminded me of Mishmesh from CC1. Other than that, I have no further comment on it.
43. The End
Okay.
44. The Big Apple
I like the design, however, it took me about 30 minutes to figure it out. Might be a little extreme to beginners.
45. Yeti
I think the northwest room would intimidate players but it was still a lot of fun to play.
46. The Elements
Pretty good tutorial for the elements.
47. Enter the Fortress
One of my levels and it's pretty linear. The only thing I can see newcomers will get stuck is to how to get the last teeth monster on the toggle button. Gave it a 3 for this reason.
48. Twice the Fun
It's so different than anything I've played in this pack and I actually enjoyed this level.
49. Frog in a Well
Not bad but kind of repetitive.
50. Lesson 3
Anybody would get this on at least their 2nd try. Guaranteed.

[Eric119]

7. 436f6c6c6973696f6e73

Precision timing. Loved it. But please give it an actual level name, not this.

Interpreted as hexadecimal ASCII, the title is "Collisions".

[Lessinath]

7. 436f6c6c6973696f6e73

Precision timing. Loved it. But please give it an actual level name, not this.

Yeah I know that needs changed. It is a name, it's just in hex. Its name is "Collisions".

(JB if you read this feel free to make this change!)

Interpreted as hexadecimal ASCII, the title is "Collisions".

100% correct.

[Flareon350]

Yeah I know that needs changed. It is a name, it's just in hex. Its name is "Collisions".

Oh wow then that is clever of you

[Lessinath]

Oh wow then that is clever of you

Unfortunately, I think this is one instance where "clever" and "good idea" diverge. It was fun doing that, though. I think that you're also the first person to say anything about that level's title.

[Bowman]

What's the deal with Vermillion #32, Checkmate?? It seems impossible. Every time I press the first button and run to the end the toggle doors never open and I die. I remember having the same problem in ajmiam's set and thinking it was broken so I stopped. But now that it's in voting I know it must be possible, I just don't see it.\

?Bowman?

[jblewis]

Do the fireballs travel across every square on the way to the toggle door?

[Bowman]

I thought they did.

Oops, I'm stupid. Maybe gravel should be placed there so a beginner won't miss it like I did. But it doesn't need to be. Thanks JB.

[jbdude55]

Some of my thoughts on a few of the levels from the Vermillion Pack. I found this a really hard pack to rate in general as I found there to be so many good levels - I'd vote one level, say, a 5, then play a similar level that was even better and think, "Wait, this should be a 5." Good stuff.

Without further ado...


#3 (Progress Bar) - This level stumped me at first but was an absolute wonder to solve once the order of block extraction was worked out. The sokoban isn't the most lenient, but with only ten blocks in total to maneuver, it's not too much effort to restart after a mistake. Nice high time limit too, which allows for plenty of thinking space.

#8 (Thief Street) - I remembered this level from its original set, and was just as much fun to solve this time around. A compact, clever, itemswapper.

#11 (Pole Position) - A cute little level with a simple but fun concept of moving tanks through a maze that was just the right length. It might have been nice to have separate maze for the north and south sections, say, to add a bit of variety.

#13 (Busted?) - I found this one surprisingly tough, to be honest. Several times I thought I'd sussed it only to be a chip short, needing a different boot or a key spare, etc. Thankfully there are only two options on how to use the red and yellow keys, but not realizing you've cooked the level until five minutes later was a bit of a downer.

#14 (Production Line) - This level was just brilliant. A great concept, well-executed and plenty of variety. The generous interval between block cloning allows the level to be taken at a sensible pace without forcing too many player mistakes, and the pre-clone "warning click" is a really thoughtful touch that ensures beginner accessibility. One of my favourites so far. On a side note, I was curious to see how the cloning mechanism worked after completing the level, and can I just say, the clock is beautiful. A beginner probably wouldn't see this, but I wanted to mention it nonetheless. (:

#22 (Thief, You've Taken All That Was Me) - I've seen a lot of people on here putting this in their dream "Secret Level List" for levels 145-149, and I can see why. I was expecting a challenge and I was not disappointed! The puzzles are reasonably varied and interesting, and the level allows for detailed investigation of puzzles before they are tackled, which is most welcome given the relative stricness of the puzzles themselves. This really is "put-it-in-the-140s" or bust, depending on what kind of levels are in the rest of CCLP1 to prepare new players for a test like this.

#27 (Flowchart) - I get the feeling there's something on this one I'm not quite getting. It's not a bad concept, but it just seems a bit... Messy. From start to finish I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing or where I was supposed to be going, and I just can't rate it that highly for that reason.

#29 (Be Quick About It, Man!!) - A fun chase level with several paths to choose and plenty of neat monster interactions. I had a least one key to spare at the exit, so I guess reasonably beginner accessible as well.

#32 (Checkmate?) - Very easy to miss the one safe spot in the first fireball cloning room, and also to forget to go back and use the yellow key to block the blue button and open the path to the exit. While these are annoying and could be made a bit clearer, they don't detract from the level too much.

#41 (Spumoni) - I loved attention to detail in this level - since you have various combinations of equipment, the paths through the central maze are different every time, and you can't simply blast through by brute force. Simple concept, well-designed, fun, and beautiful aesthetics. Top stuff.

#45 (Yeti) - Looks intimidating, but not too difficult with patience and a bit of logic. Not too much slide delay in MS, which would be a major downfall. The south room is great fun watching blocks whizz around doing their own thing. Also, the clone room in the NE is hilarious. I had a "What does this button do?" moment, and promptly fell off my chair laughing. Excellent (:

#46 (The Elements) - A good ELEMENTARY-style early set level with plenty of simple, fun challenges and lots of variety.

#49 (Frog in a Well) - This. Just this.



On a minor side note, the hints for levels #44 (The Big Apple) and #50 (Lesson 3) are too long to display in the MS window, so just show up blank.

[Lessinath]

Huh, that's funny. Every time I've done Yeti I have had tons of slide delay. In fact, I almost didn't submit it because it was bad enough that I thought everyone would hate it. Could you tell me in more detail how you solved it?