Official Level Design Contest #6 (Playing Phase - Discussion Topic)

[Geoffster]

My solution for Safe Descent v3 (with rr99)

Haven't solved the others yet.

[namida]

bsmith's "Safe Descent" (V3)

The same general idea still works; once again, it's just a matter of changing the exact details of the execution.

[Crane]

Released version 3 of "Mind the gap!" - if anyone wants any clues... Nepster is the closest to my intended solution.

And here's my solution to "Parking Garage".  Some pretty nice tricks there!

[Crane]

Just managed to do "The Adventures of Lemdiana Jones".

Spoiler

The start contains a brilliant red herring in that you think you have to dig down that crystal column just prior to the drop, but instead you need to mine that way to nick the column opposite, otherwise all you can think is "how the hell do I get the lemmings out?".  After that, everything falls into place, although I pretty much had to learn how to use Cloners on the fly - what a wonderfully creative skill!

"Don't call me Junior!" - not sure if the music fits the level, even if the snake designs are pretty cool, but it's still a nice tune to listen to!

[Crane]

I will admit that the second half of the level is mostly designed for the excuse of having 5 of everything (other than floaters, builders and diggers), with the main meat being the first half.  Still, I'm glad people like the beginning of the level!  I hope that my one-way arrows aren't making it messy.

[namida]

Nepster's "Altruism"

Hm. I'm not sure how I felt about this level; especially under Lix where I'm not as used to the fine control features (does it have frame-perfect ones?). Although I have no idea what the solution could possibly be on the newer versions where basher staircases are not possible...

That leaves just geoo's level left to beat. I did have a quick look at it, and have no ideas; I haven't made any attempts at actually solving it yet though.

[Nepster]

@namida: Lix has the "zzz"-button, which slows the game to about two frames per second. With a little experience this allows for almost all frame-precise actions (especially in combination with the pause-button).

[namida]

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.

[namida]

bsmith's "Safe Descent" (V4)

Alright, the original backroute seems to be completely gone now. This new solution requires a fair bit more thinking; still not overly hard, but a nice level.

I've had some more tries at geoo's level, but I haven't been able to solve it yet. It would appear that it either relies on very good timing, or some detail of Lix mechanics that I'm not fully aware of...

[geoo]

I've had some more tries at geoo's level, but I haven't been able to solve it yet. It would appear that it either relies on very good timing, or some detail of Lix mechanics that I'm not fully aware of...

Spoiler

One thing to be aware of is the precise trigger area of the frogs, it's narrow and shallow (open the level in the editor to see it). Apart from that, there's no lix-specific or otherwise unobvious behaviour needed. There are two precision moves near the beginning, but while obviously some timing is involved, you always get quite a bit of leeway.

Btw, please remind me at the end of the playing phase to post my solution.

<V4> "Safe Descent" by bsmith (NeoLemmix)

Spoiler

My solution still just goes straight down, though it's a bit more elaborate than before now.

<V3> "Mind the gap!" by Crane (NeoLemmix)

Spoiler

First part is a lovely puzzle, the second part feels a bit like filler and spoils the level a little bit imo.

<V1> "Cogopolis" by DynaLem (NeoLemmix)

Spoiler

I really like the idea here, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I should have for various reasons. (Well I kinda did but then it got a bit frustrating when I had to repeat everything a few times). One is, the triggers are small and in a colour that's very prevalent in the rest of the level, so I missed one of them. The required tweak was really minor, but due to its length the level punishes mistakes early in the level very hard and I had to replay most of it again. Then I ran short of bashers (as I saved the exploder), and I realized there are a few spots where depending on the exact basher placement, you need 1 or 2 bashers to get through. With that in mind I think either the number of bashers could be more generous, or tight with those ambiguous spots eliminated.

<V2> "Parking Garage" by Geoffster (NeoLemmix)

Spoiler

Easily my favourite here, and that's not because the competition isn't good. Amazing level which in principle can almost be solved just looking at it, and execution then is a triviality. The terrain in the middle is structured and simple and yet it's traversed so many times. Very elegant. When I had worked out the main solution, the last thing to solve was how to get the climber home which took me longer to spot than it should have. Only nag is the time limit which is completely pointless here. It doesn't eliminate any backroutes afaik, and only might make you restart the level to do it over for no good reason. Would you mind if I ported the level to Lix, and added it to the Community Pack (with appropriate credit, of course)?

<V1> "The Adventures Of Lemdiana Jones" by IchoTolot (NeoLemmix)

Spoiler

Solid level, there are a few things to put in place though it didn't take me that long to solve. I definitely enjoyed playing this one a lot. The cloners were new to me, I can see the potential in them, though I don't remember applying them to workers specifically.

<V1> "House on a Hill" by mobius (NeoLemmix)

Spoiler

Pretty straight-forward after having seen variations of this many times. At first I thought I have to set up some complicated blocker release gadgets, but then I saw I had walkers. Looks nice though.

<V1> "Altruism" by Nepster (Lix)

Spoiler

Cool trippy design. A bit technical for my taste, a lot of execution tricks in there.

[IchoTolot]

Ok more replays of updated versions!

Safe Descent:

Spoiler

Finally I see a challenge! Now it's a nice little level.

Mind the Gap:

Spoiler

Little bit of finetuning needed, but my opinion has barely changed.

Parking Garage:

Spoiler

This solution (hopefully intended) is even better and cleaner than my first one! Exellent level!

lasranas:

Spoiler

Now without a time crunch! Had to rework my solution though, because of the extra frog. But now the level is a lot better than before! (Did not use the left steel, too! )

For Nepsters level: I looked over geoo's shoulder as he solved it (I also got his replay here), but it's his solution so it would be wrong from me to also post it.

[Crane]

I feel like I've failed because of it being 'filler' rather than a challenge in itself. Yes, I focus on the negative - it's what I do and how I work. But I think I need to take a leave of absence; I'm sorry. Perfection or naught; nothing in between.

[geoo]

Filler might not be the right word, but you said it yourself, the second part was tacked on as an afterthought and when I read that in your post it immediately made sense to me. There is one somewhat tricky part to work out, namely, how do you turn the crowd at the right. But most of the skill placements fall into place because they can't go anywhere else. So the second part feels more like a set of little tasks than like another puzzle as a whole. I guess after the excellent first part that was a bit of a let-down to me, especially considering I'm a fan of short levels. The part left of the gap is small and dense of ideas, and the part right of the gap is quite big and spread out. The left part on its own stands as an excellent level to me.

If you're about perfection or naught, then you're gonna have a hard time because in reality there is no such thing as perfection.

Has anyone else tried Las Ranas Hermanas? Or is everyone wary of trying out Lix?

[Crane]

Oh, by the way IchoTolot, you posted the actual levels, not the replays.

[namida]

I'll just remind you of in the first level contest - you felt like giving up because of backroutes, but in the end, your level won the contest.