May 2021 Create Competition- Ahead of Time

[Ihavenoname248]

It's been a bit since the last create, let's fix that.

It was suggested on the Discord that a CC2 competition be run for levels with a 5 second time limit, that required using the stopwatches in order to complete. I thought this idea sounded too restricted to be interesting, but the core idea was broad enough that with the right changes, there was some real potential. And so, here are the requirements for a submitted level:

• The level must take more time to complete than the starting timer.
  
• Completing the level should require the player to be aware of the timer: this is somewhat vague and can be interpreted in multiple different ways, so be creative.
  

That's it, the starting timer can be anything (even untimed if that's best for your idea!), and the time limit should be a factor.
A bad example of this theme would be Phantoms or Touka from CC2LP1: the timer is irrelevant as it remains stopped the entire time. Another less than ideal example is Freeze Frame from CC2: the timer is something to note, but trivially dealt with by keeping it stopped most of the time.
A good example of this theme is Red Key Dungeon by Zane (can be found in Silver, or CC2LP1 voting), or Ten Second Ninja by me (can be found in IHNN1, or again CC2LP1 voting). These are not the only possible interpretations of the theme, and freezing the timer is not a required part of the level.


Submit your levels (max 2- if you submit more, tell me which ones you want rated) by sending them to me (IHNN#3459) on Discord, or by private message on the forums. The deadline is June 7th, at midnight Eastern time- in practice it will likely be when I wake up the following day. Your levels should be new- at the very least I shouldn't have seen them before. Please do not share your levels before the competition ends- it's more fun to see what everyone made all at once!

[Ihavenoname248]

Results have been frozen in time for a long time. But no longer!

8th [Click to Show Content]

eevee - Red Light, Green Light (unranked)
The gimmick of the level is fairly straightforward - don't move when the walls/chips are toggled. However, in practice this is fairly punishing for even the slightest mis-move, made worse by the use of green walls as both an aesthetic and gameplay consideration. The suction boots in particular require taking a risk to reach (or extremely precise timing to be able to use the boots themselves to block the ball). If the red light green light mechanic had a little bit of buffer time (even if only about a move) or the level was clearer about where you could and could not go this could have been a great level, but as it is I can't say I enjoyed playing it very much.

7th [Click to Show Content]

chipster1059 - Think Slide (unranked)
It's Think Fast from CC2 but every path is an ice slide filled with chips and force floors at the intersections with plus clocks. Taking the upper route first instantly kills you for running out of time, while taking the bottom path gives so much spare time immediately that the timer becomes a complete non-factor. The nature of the level also requires a lot of waiting while re-sliding finished paths, and I honestly found it kind of boring.

6th [Click to Show Content]

geodave / Dave Varberg - Time to Die (5th place)
It's a level a guess, I feel like it's a less interesting version of a later level since it uses time freezes (though it is one of the only levels to use time freezes here). There's a lot of spare time (25 seconds) regardless of whether you cheese the freeze in the top right by hitting it twice.

5th [Click to Show Content]

magical - Tranquil Atoll (unranked)
Tranquil Atoll is a simple maze level with minus clocks guarding all of the chips, and some plus clocks scattered around. I finished the level with 23 seconds remaining going counterclockwise, while going clockwise works as well. There's even enough time for an extra lap around the atoll if it comes to that. A pretty solid level.

4th [Click to Show Content]

chipster1059 - Throw It (4th place)
Throw It is a level in two halves. The hook/directional block puzzles where you can be creative to avoid some minus clocks are quite nice, though limited by the level structure into being fairly small. I would have loved to see something larger here. The actual chip collection rooms (with the toggle wall checkerboards) are kind of needlessly slow and serve just to slow down the level to the point where you have to be somewhat careful in the hook rooms. I'd rather have seen this done with less plus clocks in the chip rooms and a faster chip room, but overall this level was pretty solid. I wouldn't mind playing it again.

3rd [Click to Show Content]

calica / Will C-S - Latin Square Dance (3rd place)
Very funny reference to the sudoko game meme but the level did not take me between 10 and 30 minutes to complete. There was an interesting dynamic between collecting and spending keys that ultimately can be easily solved by the green + green room in the corner, and the optional shortcuts (fireboots, flippers, transmogrifier) don't seen to be worth the time to collect. The walker room is also a bit unnecessary, and though I did like playing this one it didn't stand out or use the gimmick as well as the top two spots.

2nd [Click to Show Content]

magical - Making the Necessary Preparations (2nd place)
I'm honestly not sure how loose this puzzle is, but it's a good puzzle where it's not clear what kind of setup is going to be fast enough, and some of the most efficient possible setups are blocked by the layout of the level. I was able to finish with 2 seconds left which may be optimal? Definitely one of the best levels submitted, but I didn't like it as much as...

1st [Click to Show Content]

eevee - Time Dilation (1st place)
I first thought that the timer of 30 seconds was "real" and that I easily won on my second attempt with 12 seconds left. I was wrong because I didn't realize that Melinda was constantly freezing and unfreezing the timer, rendering the 30 second time limit as much longer. This level is great as it gives a feeling of very high time pressure while actually, the time pressure is fairly low. But it's there, and you have to be somewhat efficient! A great balance here and well deserving of the win.

And so the overall results are:

[Click to Show Content]

eevee: 15 points
magical: 12 points
calica: 10 points
chipster: 8 points
dave: 7 points

Sorry that this took so long to get to, my life went more than a bit crazy around the time this competition was opened and while I always meant to get to it, I always had something else that was a little higher priority or a little lower effort. Thanks to Matthew for wanting to watch some Chip's Challenge today that gave the perfect opportunity to finally knock this out.