Level Design Contest #27 - Playing Phase (Discussion Topic)

[Crane]

Solution to "Mincemeat" is intended, although I'm not sure how to feel about the "ugh" feeling towards the talisman!

[IchoTolot]

Solution to "Mincemeat" is intended, although I'm not sure how to feel about the "ugh" feeling towards the talisman!

If I accomplish a big task that took quite a bit of work I let out that sound - like I just carried a large weight up the stairs.

As I said, I took that burden knowingly upon myself and the sound should not indicate any grudge or bad will against the level! I am sorry if it came across that way.

In fact I like the concept, it just took quite a bit of fine-tuning to get the talisman solution right. Nothing more.

[Crane]

Don't worry, I don't hold it against you IchoTolot, just I associate the "ugh" sound to something disgusting and undesirable, although I figured it was in playful jest!  I'm glad you like the concept.  It's not the first time I've done this (I did a similar thing with "Tough Call" years ago), but this one is mostly trimmed down to its basic components, and the talisman solution rewards as much precision as you can squeeze in.

[∫tan x dx]

All of the solutions to my level Garden of Love were unfortunately not what I was aiming for with this level. They were all still very good solutions, though!

I've uploaded V2 in the other thread

[Simon]

Icho's solutions to Inside Your Router, Bumper Cave, and Rhizome are all fully intended.

Yeah, in Rhizome, it looks like I can widen the single-block platform without introducing backroutes. I'll do it. Thanks for the feedback!

-- Simon

[kaywhyn]

Finally got around to fixing up my R1 and R2, as well as finish an R3! See the update topic for the new level and the music file for it For R3, it's another attempt at my hand of making a 1-of-everything level, and I think you all can guess what official level it's based on from the title. I simply took things further and created a solution that's only a bit harder. Honestly, this took a lot of tweaking and thinking in order to make sure it all can be done within the 1 minute time limit. In earlier versions, the intended solution was too slow by about 15 seconds! Also with figuring out how to make do with the 10 skill type limit. There were some things I wanted to include in the solution but I couldn't due to the limit I'm not advocating to expand it any further, 10 skill types max for a level is already more than enough! If you need more, there's always pre-assigned skills, but that's not allowed for this ruleset. However, I persevered and finally managed to make it work Sad to say that I couldn't really think of anything better for this ruleset. I just kept having my mind stuck on this type of level from L1 in the Mayhem rank that I wanted to make.


R1 - Armani and Icho already have the intended solution for my R1, but based on the feedback from Icho's LP video, I decided to release an update that should ease the execution in the bottom left area. In this case, it's not to fix a backroute, and I already told him that he made that area more complicated than it needs to be, as there are multiple stacker positions that still work. The position he placed it on the wooden staircase is not the only one that works. Needless to say, it was self-inflicted on his end

So, for V7 I just added a small sloping terrain on the wooden staircase. This very small and minor change is enough to break all replays, including mine, but it's just tweaking a few skill assignments and it should be good again. Not only that, it's also to enforce a trick I intended in that area better. In the previous version, it was possible to get on top of the stack without the trick I intended. In the updated version, it shouldn't be possible anymore without it, but feel free to prove me wrong.

@Simon - I took your feedback into consideration about the timer, and sorry to say it, but it will remain in place for the level. It's not to frustrate players at all (it's possible to finish upwards of around 10 seconds or so) but rather to stop any unwanted waiting you and Armani did in the bottom left area and to block off a backroute that would be possible without it, and not even pickups will stop the backroute here without the timer. Not all of us hate time limits, and I happen to be a huge fan of them, being a math person myself, and pretty much any levels of mine that do have one are pretty much for backroute prevention. I still have a handful of levels without time limits, so you might want to look at those if you're interested


R2 - Again, Armani and Icho already have the intended solution, but there was a glaring backroute that eric revealed. For V7, I covered most of the thin pole near the upper far right area with steel. Here, I want to thank Icho for telling me his method of how he achieved thin steel pieces on Hurricane 13 of Pimolems. It really came in handy here!

Once again, this change broke all replays, including mine, but to fix it here all you just need to do is tweak a few skill assignments on the far right side.

[IchoTolot]

New level + updates included.

[ericderkovits]

solved
1) Tan x dx updated Garden of Love
2) Kaywhyn's Rule 3 Hero Time Again
3) Niesch's Splash or Splat (had to slightly tweek both intended one and Talisman one)
4) Niesch's Tomb of Doom

[kaywhyn]

That's a backroute for R3. Easy enough fix, though. For V2, modified and extended the midair platform underneath the entrance.

[ericderkovits]

here are 2 completely different solutions to Kaywhyn's R3 level (V2)

[kaywhyn]

First solution is pretty much the same glaring backroute as last time, while the second solution is a closer to intended but still misses plenty of core elements. For V3, added some more blocks of terrain.

[∫tan x dx]

@ericderkovits

Nice solution, and getting very close to what I intended!

I've uploaded V3 in the other thread

[ericderkovits]

here are resolves for both V3's of
1) Tan x Dx's Garden of Love (Tough one)
2) Kaywhyn's Hero Time Again?

[kaywhyn]

Closer, but still not quite. That glider is more powerful than I thought. For V4, added more terrain! I have a feeling that it can now be abused to backroute the level, though.

[ericderkovits]

V4 of Kaywhyn's R3
Hero Time Again?