Markus's levels for CCLP1

[Markus]

Time to stop Procrastinating...

Hello Everyone, I have uploaded a levelset here at CCZone which I would like to have considered for CCLP1. The set contains 44 of what are in my opinion my best "Easy" levels from MO1.dat and MO2.dat (Which is still unfinished). Hopefully I'll get a couple into CCLP1 .

The levels should all be possible in both MS and Lynx rulesets although the set hasn't been thoroughly tested yet. If there are any problems/busts please tell me and I will try my best to fix them.

My favourite level from the set would have to be 31 - "Trapped!". It has some nice ideas involving traps and although it is a small level there is a lot to do. It is not cramped though and looks nice.

Anyway, have fun and thanks for playing! Remember that all feedback is appreciated.

-Markus

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[jbdude55]

Wow, these levels are really good. There's so much clever use of space in "16", "25" and, as you said with "Trapped!", which are all really interesting levels. I really like the concept of "Construct-A- Sokoban", it's clear and obvious what you have to do but presents you with so many possibilities as to how to do it. The one thing I would say is that I think your idea of "easy" and mine differ somewhat, probably because I'm not very good (: Some levels; "Chip Controls" and "Where did I leave my keys?" spring to mind, I found really hard. That doesn't detract from their quality as great levels, but I think they'd be too hard for CCLP1.

Will review some of the levels I found interesting or noteworthy below:

#5 - "A-Maze-ing Properties" - This level was ok, I liked it a lot to begin with but it dragged on a little too much for me.

#7 - "Infiltration" - This was a great level, small but a lot to do in choosing where to put your blocks. I know my route wasn't optimal, but I managed to sneak through to the exit eventually, with perhaps a little luck with the fireballs.

#13 - "Chip Prison" - Once I worked out how to get rid of the fireballs and bridge to the northern section I realised I liked this level a lot. I trashed my last block twice in a row, both times in the exact same way! The teeth in the middle will be an added challenge for bold seekers.

#14 - "Death Box" - Yes. Just yes. This level rules. Working out that the teeth that I spent ages dodging could help me twice in solving the level sold it, perfect for teaching new players how to use the teeth to their advantage.

#17 - "Alternate Universe" - All I have to say about this level is that invisible wall maze + sokoban puzzle + hot blocks (including a one in six shot at a yellow key in the penultimate room) = seriously uncool. After your comments about hot blocks being "cheap" in IceyLava's CCLP1 set, I really wasn't expecting this.

#18 - "Cat and Mouse" - Also, this level is just horridly annoying, I gave up trying after a few attempts. This is definitely possible, but I'm not going to sit around for hours waiting on the blob to give me a perfect run through.

#21 - "Sunken Treasure" - The fact that only five of the thirty two columns are impossible to obtain chips from redeemed this level slightly, but I still found it to be too long with too little happening. Anyone can arbitrarily push columns of blocks into the ocean, but few people I would imagine, enjoy it.

#33-35 - "Stuck in the Sandpit", "Better safe than...", "Dual" - All great examples of small levels with a lot going on. Lots to do and explore, and some great concepts. I especially liked the monster partial posting in "Better safe than...". Definitely worth playing.

#36 - "Wrong exit" - Of course, like an idiot, I took the wrong exit on many occasions, most notably at the very end, whereupon I got trampled by a fireball after taking the wrong set of fire boots. Plenty of traps and tricks, but none of them feel cheap. Another good level.

#42 - "Extraction" - I'm stuck on this level. I learnt very early on in this set never to say something is impossible, but I'm just not very good at visualising "Warehouse" style puzzles. I like the theme of "use blocks to get more blocks", especially the fact that you can't simply put a block one one trap button and keep it there, but I just can't get the last block out from row 9. Still working on it (:

All in all, the set is really good and well thought-out, if a little difficult in places. A few levels, such as "Enough Lessons", "Infiltration", "Claustrophobic", "Navigation", "Trapped!" and "Wrong exit" would make great CCLP1 candidates, and some harder levels, such as "Chip Prison", "Death Box", "Construct-A-Sokoban", "Better safe than..." and "Where did I leave my keys?" would be great for a future CCLP4 if one is made. Only a couple of one-star levels, namely "Alternate Universe" and "Cat and Mouse" (which ironically occupy adjacent slots in the set) detract from this set in my opinion.

jbdude

[Markus]

Thanks for all the feedback, jbdude! I'll make changes and fix things for the next update.

#17 - "Alternate Universe" - All I have to say about this level is that invisible wall maze + sokoban puzzle + hot blocks (including a one in six shot at a yellow key in the penultimate room) = seriously uncool. After your comments about hot blocks being "cheap" in IceyLava's CCLP1 set, I really wasn't expecting this.

I guess you didn't see the gimmick in this level. Look at it in an editor and you might see it. I'll remove it if more people complain.

#18 - "Cat and Mouse" - Also, this level is just horridly annoying, I gave up trying after a few attempts. This is definitely possible, but I'm not going to sit around for hours waiting on the blob to give me a perfect run through.

I thought I'd keep this level in to make the set feel less like CCLP3... Perhaps it should be later in the set, or I might just remove it.

#33-35 - "Stuck in the Sandpit", "Better safe than...", "Dual" - All great examples of small levels with a lot going on. Lots to do and explore, and some great concepts. I especially liked the monster partial posting in "Better safe than...". Definitely worth playing.

I'm glad you liked these levels. Unsurprisingly, they're all from MO2 . Btw, did you play this set in lynx or MS?

[jbdude55]

I guess you didn't see the gimmick in this level. Look at it in an editor and you might see it. I'll remove it if more people complain.

Now you point it out, I do see it. I must admit, that is quite clever (: Still, I think it is a rather devilish "hint", but maybe I was just being unobservant. I'm interested to see whether or not others find it.

I thought I'd keep this level in to make the set feel less like CCLP3... Perhaps it should be later in the set, or I might just remove it.

I'm all for levels with some elements of luck and/or guesswork, since I'm not really one to go for bolds religiously, but I found this level involved too much luck just to complete. Some people might love it, and I respect both their opinion and your choice to include it in the set, but it's just not my cup of tea I'm afraid.

I'm glad you liked these levels. Unsurprisingly, they're all from MO2 . Btw, did you play this set in lynx or MS?

I played in MS, but I might go through it again in Lynx if no-one else does to see what's different and make sure everything still works.

[M11k4]

So I played through this set some time ago in lynx but not in order. I posted a short review on the download page, but here are more specific comments on the levels.

GOOD FOR CCLP1:


#5 (A-Maze-ing Properties)
- I hope CCLP1 has some simple mazes and this is a decent candidate (like a couple of the others in this set).

#16 (16)
- I like this series and this one in particular for newer players. Thumbs up!

#17 (Alternate Universe)
- "I hate guessing like this! But wait... aha!" Setting up feel good moments like this is hard, though there could be a hint tile somewhere along the way if the player doesn't otherwise catch on.

#28 (Navigation)
- there are a couple of levels similar to this out there, but I liked this one for its straightforward design and length.



MISC COMMENTS:


#13 (Chip Prison)
- I found this quite hard and confusing. Overall the experience had a bit too much uncertainty of where to go and how to do it. Oh, and the teeth don't die in lynx, making it quite a bit unequal.

#15 (Yesno)
- Am I the only one who finds this quite hard? I did solve it eventually, but handling swarms of teeth isn't simple. Something like #25 (Chopping Mall)
works much better in my opinion.

#19 (Claustrophobic)
- in general I like puzzles like this, but I would rather have one that's easy to solve while playing, even possibly on the first try, or one that takes more thought even with a map. This one falls between these two sides, but maybe you could make a sequel that doesn't? (That's not supposed to be a negative comment on this level though.)

#20 (Sunken Treasure)
- I don't mind playing through levels like this occasionally in custom sets, but I wouldn't want to see it in any CCLP. I just don't want to play through that again.

#22 (Sandstorm)
- This wasn't terrible, but would it be better just slightly smaller?

#23 (Construct-A-Sokoban)
- the idea is neat, but it might work better with a smaller and more difficult sokoban. If you'd get this right, it could be a great level.

#26 (Slime Cave)
- great maze. The look is cool and the topology is interesting.

#31 (Trapped!)
- this is well built, and if I'd only played CC1, CCLP2, and CCLP3 I would love this! Not to say that it's a rip-off or over used idea, it's just I somehow didn't love it because I've seen some of the pieces elsewhere I think. It's just a feeling though, so it might fit well in CCLP1, as long as those other levels with a similar feel won't make it. I don't know; maybe I was tired when I played it?

#33 (Stuck in the Sandpit)
- busted in lynx? Scored 54. Probably nothing you can do about it though.

#34 (Better safe than...)
- so we're getting into the "stop and think about it" zone :-) Not bad. Not everyone likes this though, but with a mix of varying types of levels, this would fit well right in there.

#35 (Dual)
- same comment as above. Good level. I don't quite see the need for the horizontal teleports. It does highlight the separate rooms a bit, but it also made me wonder about some sort of partial posting before seeing the solution so it can be a bit confusing. So my question is, do you feel those teleports add positively to the design?

#37 (Where did I leave my keys?)
- didn't solve this yet. so much block pushing and I'm not sure what to actually do! Will try again with a map probably.

#42 (Extraction)
- Liked. Slightly unequal or busted in lynx; once you get a block on the third trap [16,4] you can release it just by pressing the trap button and not needing to go push it yourself. (You can try fixing this by moving stuff further right and forcing movement through this trap horizontally, though it might get a little clunky.)



HIGHLIGHTS:


#8 (Security Gates)
- Nice idea. Possibly fun to optimize, though not too ridiculous.

#12 (Chip Controls)
- well executed. Maybe not requiring all the chips would be more fun (because in comparison to getting the keys, it's quite trivial to go through afterwards and get all the chips).

#25 (25)
- A fun concept. Well, I tend to like compact levels and this one has a reason it's small: counting keys and precise steps on a larger level wouldn't be that nice. Would still have liked to see that the glider won't be coming back down if sent upward. Lynx score of 34.

#29 (Cell Swapper)
- see what I say/said about #19
? Well, this one works very well in the "looking at map" category. Liked solving it very much. (Come to think of it, I Was building a level that feels a bit like this one though it doesn't allow for re-entry into a room.)

#36 (Wrong exit)
- for me perhaps this was the favorite level in the set! Great execution of a tantalizing idea and some neat small puzzle arrangements! (I liked it also 'cuz I solved it on the first try practically...) Five stars!


#40 (Water bottle)
- a nice sokoban idea with a flavorful name. Can a sokoban level be better than this?

#44 (A Block's life)
- a very cclp3-feeling level :-) I enjoyed it, but it is quite unforgiving in the order you do things. I might not change anything for this level, but if you make more that feel the same, just try to keep it simple. Perhaps avoid extra gimmicks during other tasks (like maybe the two traps up top in this one) and, ideally, I would rather see cool tricks that aren't required but can be utilized for better times (like which two of the leftmost blocks to take first).



You've displayed some competative muscles here in the competitions, so I was interested in seeing what types of levels you churn out. This set was a positive experience. Thanks for sharing!

-Miika