How do you top yourself after having 32 levels inducted into an official set?
Andrew M. (known as “ajmiam” here on CCZone) took the level design world by storm when he released his debut levelset, Pit of 100 Tiles. Originally conceived as a 200-level set, Andrew decided to cut it in half so that a full set could be released in time for CCLP1 submissions, but that didn’t stop him from releasing an early version of the set’s successor, The Other 100 Tiles, with 13 levels, 4 of which were voted into CCLP1. Now, TO100T is finally complete at a full 100 levels. Is it a worthy follow-up? In a word, yes.
It’s quite apparent that a lot of intentionality went into producing both sets, which are ultimately designed to be two halves of one product. The second half is exactly what it’s supposed to be: a notch up in difficulty and complexity. And yet the friendly nature of the first set is retained here. Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of the relationship between the two sets is Andrew’s choice to reference some of the first 100 levels throughout these 100 levels by building sequels or “harder takes” on concepts explored there while not going too far. An example: immediately, the challenge kicks off with the aptly named A (Slightly) More Complicated Maze, which abandons its predecessor’s open-ended solution with multiple routes to the exit in favor of a more twisty labyrinth where collecting everything is required, yet how one could go about doing so was still open-ended.
The set continues with a few introductory levels. Most of them don’t feel nearly as instructive as Po100T’s, but in many respects, this is for the best, as TO100T is supposed to be for seasoned players. It doesn’t take long before the difficulty really ratchets up, with the lengthy maze Elemental Park (also in CCLP1) occupying the 15th slot. Throughout the journey, we encounter new twists on familiar ideas (Repair the Maze, Build-a-Bridge Workshop, and yes - Automatic (Caution) Doors), but Andrew mostly steers the proceedings into entirely new territory, with levels involving inventive monster manipulation, maze, and navigation challenges. By the time it ends, we feel like we've explored a huge breadth of new ideas.
Many of these new ideas are not so much new as much as subtler revisits to familiar territory that have rarely or never been attempted, yet they comprise the standout compositions in the set: Encased in Carbonite, which uses elements from the CCLP1 levels Alternate Universe and Frozen in Time for something incredibly original; Pneumatic Diversity Vents, an Automatic (Caution) Doors-style challenge where the method of navigation around the little challenges scattered around the map also functions as a challenge in its own right; Platforming?!, which places the player into a 2-D, “gravity”-filled set of pathways to “jump” through; The Whole World’s Sitting on a Ticking Bomb, where Chip must race against an internal clock of bombs shaped like (what else?) a bomb; and the unforgettable Jigsee and Jigsaw, in which the former levels is cut into 3x3 pieces and jumbled together to form the latter level. And these are just a handful of the best levels - I could write several pages on my favorites, but I’ll stop here.
The only two criticisms of this set that I could possibly offer are purely subjective and a matter of personal taste - a testament to this set’s wide accessibility (despite its increased difficulty). First, TO100T doesn’t quite seem to achieve its predecessor’s amazing balance between providing both excellent gameplay and compelling aesthetics. But this is understandable and only a very minor qualm. As Andrew himself has even stated in the past, this set is meant to be more “experimental” than its predecessor. Perhaps the easier difficulty and simplicity of Po100T provided more of a reason to build levels around aesthetic concepts, as the gameplay had to be kept simple and familiar while giving the levels something with which they could stand out. But here, the levels are all about the ideas, and rightfully so - and the focus has to be on developing them so they could work properly and still be approachable for the vast majority of players. The upside to all of this is that the levels almost entirely avoid throwing in tons and tons of extra clutter in attempts to make the design more interesting, which seems to be a new trend in level design these days. And there are still some wonderful aesthetic-centric levels, such as Excavating the Flooded Chipmine, which feels like an excellent marriage between Po100T’s Mining for Gold Keys and The Shifting Maze.
Second, the final string of levels, with some of the most difficult challenges among the two sets, can be a bit hit-or-miss. Levels like Brutal, which feature a tough ball-dodging section, thankfully allow the player to tackle their tough bits early, but others, like Falling Up the Steps, are a bit long in the tooth and require a tad much in both precision and brainpower. But these levels are the exception rather than the rule. I absolutely enjoyed playing through The Other 100 Tiles, and I hope to see many of these levels in a future official set. (That, and a compilation with the originally planned 200 levels, perhaps reordered, would be amazing!)
(9 out of 10)
Also, thank you to Jeffrey Bardon for streaming the set and providing his feedback; in addition to being fun to watch, the stream helped me find a few minor issues and frustrating parts that I've now taken efforts to correct.
