START BUTTON - Chipster1059 - C1059-CC2 - Level 1

[Joshua Bone]

START BUTTON - Chipster1059 - C1059-CC2 - Level 1

Size: 52x26 Time: 100 Chips: 4

Designer comments: "Taken from C1059-2 with an added section featuring the CC2 buttons."



Concept: (4/5) The level actually consists of 8 separate levels, ranging from extremely easy to moderately difficult. Each level provides a completely separate path to the exit, similar to MONTY HAUL. The player starts as Melinda but has the option to play as Chip also. The initial room has four 'start button' paths, each of which has a button from the original CC1 lineup (green toggle, red clone, blue tank, brown trap). Pressing the button trivially clears the way into the chosen room. You can't see in advance which room you are choosing. Additionally, a red teleport takes you into a second starting room which also contains four 'start button' paths, this time using four CC2-only buttons. (pink, black, orange, grey - the yellow tank button and light switch are left out.) Rooms: Key/Door room: a simple key/door maze with a few ways to cook the level. Blob Room containing a bunch of blobs and some gravel spaces. Chip room: A maze where you must not collect more than 3 chips. Blue/Invisible room: a simple maze. Turtle/Water room: a simple chips-on-turtles puzzle with a few dead ends. Light switch room: a simple electricity puzzle. Yellow teleport room: a surprisingly involved yellow teleport puzzle. Mimic room: four mimics in a room of green floors with a few green walls.

Design: (2/5) The level arrangement felt a little sloppy. First, I didn't even notice the red teleport was an option until I opened the level in the editor. I'd like to see the 8 starting paths all leading away symmetrically from one single central room. The transmogrifier is trivial since there is no need to play as Chip. It's nice that the 8 buttons were all used, but they are used in such a trivial way that it doesn't add much to the level (The pink button doesn't even serve a function in its context.) A few of the individual levels held interesting concepts but the majority felt trivial and poorly executed. I thought there was a lack of consistency between the rooms in both difficulty and style. The electricity puzzle and chip maze puzzle both have potential to be interesting, but instead feel hodgepodge. The wire/lightning bolt maze feels pointless. The yellow teleport puzzle is good but feels very out of place compared to the rest of the level (it also takes a good 3-4 times as long to solve as any other room). There's also a continuity gap where it comes to design simplicity. Most of the level feels aimed at a brand new 7-year old player, but then the FF tack in the chip maze and the entire yellow teleport puzzle are advanced concepts, and that blob room dodging is HARD.

Action Difficulty: (range from 1/5 to 3/5) The blob room and the mimic room involve some dodging while the other six rooms do not.

Puzzle Difficulty: (range from 1/5 to 3/5) The key/door room and chip maze room have mild puzzle elements. The yellow teleport room is a clever and interesting multi-step puzzle.

Fun: (3/5) Design flaws aside, I did enjoy playing through all the solutions. The yellow teleport puzzle was the most enjoyable. There's a lot of replay value in levels like this. It would be nice to see a little more work put into either this level or another similar concept.

My


(for all 8 rooms).

[chipster1059]

Thanks for the review!

You do have a point that several rooms and the overall organisation are not that good. Looking back at this level, it feels like I was in a hurry when I designed the rooms with the CC2 buttons. I didn't even realize about the pink button! I'm especially ashamed of the wire and mimic rooms.

As for the transmogrifer, I simply put it to give the player the choice between Chip in Melinda. You may notice that it is also present in a certain number of my levels, when it doesn't really alter gameplay.

Anyway, thanks for such a long and detailed review, I will try to improve future levels.