My pledge to Gruntzerz

[GooRoo]

I have made several mistakez in my early Custom Levelz that I intend to eliminate from future Questz I create.

One (and only one) Warp letter in the puzzle. Yellow Peril... is one bad example.
One Red Warp that only allowz the acquisition of said Warp letter, since 'easy' mode playerz can never see a RW .
One Question Mark Switch , resulting in the acquisition of a Coin (and possibly a Tool/Toy/PowerUp required to complete the puzzle). Actually, since 'easy' mode allowz the QMS, there may be good reason to have multiplez in a CL.
Holez which are only hazardz, and never contain anything of value (no 'Magic Shovel').
Moundz that alwayz contain something of value (including Time Bombz ) ... no 'blankz' eating up solving time, for no real purpose.
Rockz that are either (obviously) blocking access to a required area, or that contain something of value. Furthermore, I will attempt to be consistent about the contentz, as: alwayz containz a Coin; alwayz is merely an obstacle; alwayz containz a Switch; alwayz containz a Tool/Toy/PowerUp.
Red Switchez that only control Red Pyramidz .
Green Switchez that only control Green Pyramidz .
Yellow Switchez that only control Two-Way Arrowz .
Blue Switchez that only control Bridge Tilez .
Black One-Time Switchez that only control Black Pyramidz .
Silver Timer Switchez that only control Silver Pyramidz , with mazez that easily fit within a 640X480 (minimum sized) pixel screen. And extensive mazez will have a 'preview' that cannot possibly be entered by the Grunt, to show what will happen. Prizez will be had upon completion of the SP maze ... not within it (unless another Grunt is available to re-start the timer)!
Borderz will be accessible at some time by the solver's Grunt(z), or contain a Rolling Rock that providez either hazardous conditionz, or doez something (time-controlling) to temporarily provide access to an area containing a prize.
I will also try to maintain a ratio of 4:1 of "in plain sight" versus "hidden" prizez ... and those "in plain sight" prizez will show enough for the solver to be aware of their existence.
Brick puzzlez will either be small, or Spy Gear will be provided to reveal the route ... and multiple layer Brickz will be created only by enemy Gruntz (building upon Foundation tilez ), not designed into the puzzle. Why should the solver have to break three layerz of Brickz (some containing Explosive or Gauntletz-breaker Brickz ) when a single (anonymous) Brick will be as 'puzzling', and take less 'solving' time?

As to Coinz: one Coin is reward enough for the solution of a mini-puzzle; truly difficult puzzlez (mazez, usually) may contain additional Coinz in 'safe' placez, where the solver can SAVE ... or make a required trip to the restroom facilitiez. Yellow Peril... again is a bad example.

Bridge puzzlez: one in ten tilez will be 'safe' onez, for SAVE-ing and determining what needz to be done next. (See "The Three Musketeerz" early bridge puzzle for an example of a well-designed puzzle which is eminently fair to the solver. Tough ... but fair.)

I almost forgot! I give GooRoo's rule to never give up a tool until you are certain there will be no further use for it ... but have created CLz where I exchanged Toolz frequently, sometimez re-acquiring a Tool that I had at some time previously. Knight's Tour is one that comez to mind ... but the nature of that beast was such that I doubt it could have been avoided.

These are only the mistakez I can think of (while creating this post) that I have made in previous CLz ... there are probably several other "no-noz" that Gruntzerz would take me to task for committing. Feel free to remind me of them, so I can avoid repeating them.

[Blaze The Movie Fan]

I'm glad you acknowledge your mistakes, acknowledging mistakes is part of learning from them.

So you do plan on making other Gruntz levels in the future? Sounds cool. :-) I will gladly play a Gruntz level you might make in the future.

[GooRoo]

Dec 15, 2013 14:15:30 GMT -8 Blaze The Movie Fan said:

I'm glad you acknowledge your mistakes, acknowledging mistakes is part of learning from them.

So you do plan on making other Gruntz levels in the future? Sounds cool. :-) I will gladly play a Gruntz level you might make in the future.

I am just laying out the graphicz for "The Cross 8", tentatively on a 40X60 tile map.

I will have Rolling Rockz controlling Red Pyramidz , Green Pyramidz , Two-Way Arrowz and Bridge Tilez (in space).

There will be exactly 30 Coinz acquired by one Grunt (who will not survive), eleven Gruntz (with various Toolz) who will end up occupying eleven Purple Multi-Grunt Switchez , and the thirteenth Grunt carrying the Warpstone into the King's Fortress (probably with health in the red). My goal is to force the solver into acquiring the 30 Coinz , knowing he will not survive, because only by doing so can he manage to get the twelfth PMGS occupied (by an enemy Grunt).

[Zu]

These are very good points that definitely should be taken into consideration when creating a puzzle. Notably, I didn't think about the single brick thing, which is a good idea.


Personally, I would also add a few more points that in my opinion help make the level more aesthetically pleasing:

1. The rows of tiles at the very borders of the level should not be accessible to any gruntz, nor should they be used for anything puzzle-related. It just doesn't look very professional, IMHO. The topmost part of the level should have TWO rows of tiles inaccessible to gruntz, and the King's fortress shouldn't stand on these two rows. Why? Because otherwise, the speech bubbles of gruntz and the King go outside the screen, and that just looks bad.

2. Gruntz shouldn't be able to access King's fortress from the north. Why? Because if they do, it looks as if the King was walking over them, and that's just ridiculous.

3. There should be no collectible items placed on switches. Why? Because it just looks stupid if a grunt stands on a switch for whole 2 seconds without activating it only because he has to play the "I found an item" animation.

4. Megaphonez should not be placed in any CoveredPowerup logicz, due to the Instructions Book bug.

5. A lot of people seem to forget that in the standard levelz, the King's fortress is built in a specific way: it's surrounded by brickz, pyramidz or bricklaying foundations, with the parts in the corners being Construction Stands (grey pyramidz). There are usually fortress flags near the fortress, too. It should be replicated whenever possible.




Also, do everything in your power to make sure that the tiles match! There's quite a lot of people who commit things such as:

- Placing switches or pyramidz on water/lava/etc without intersection tiles around them:



- Incorrectly arranging the intersections of alternate "ground" tiles (you can even find an example of it in the image this very thread has as a background);

- Forgetting to use intersection tiles in general (they should ALWAYS be used).


And on a more practical note, no puzzle-related content should ever be "hidden" by obscuring it with EyeCandiez, or placing it in such a way that one could honestly not find it without examining the puzzle area several times over.


If I'll remind myself of something else, I'll add it.

[GooRoo]

At least two excellent observationz in your post: Accessing the King's Fortress from the north ... and the 'bubble' going off the screen when a Grunt talkz at the very top of the map. I also agree with the 'appearance' suggestionz ... providing a 'finished' appearance to water and space islandz ... and correctly matching transition tilez ... whenever possible. The Miniature Masterz graphicz set has a problem with tubez ... not all of the necessary corner piecez exist. High Rollerz also has a problem with plateauz on the northeast and northwest cornerz. No matter which tile you use, it doesn't seem to connect properly.

I violated your King's Fortress access point in the CL I am currently designing ... but can rectify it (and will!) based upon your observation. Also, my Fortress does not have any Construction Pyramidz at the cornerz, since it is on a 3X3 plateau. (Acceptable replacement for Brickz at top, bottom and sidez, IMHO, is 3X3 gully or plateau with stairway access (but not from the north ) ... and without those ugly Construction Pyramidz.)

[Perfect Grunt]

Oh yeah, these are very good points.

Dec 15, 2013 14:06:43 GMT -8 GooRoo said:

I will attempt to be consistent about the contentz, as: alwayz containz a Coin; alwayz is merely an obstacle; alwayz containz a Switch; alwayz containz a Tool/Toy/PowerUp.

Strongly disagree. In my opinion, that's just not needed. You shouldn't see what is hidden under a rock without smashing it. Why would we need the rock, otherwise?

Dec 15, 2013 16:17:30 GMT -8 GooRoo said:

My goal is to force the solver into acquiring the 30 Coinz , knowing he will not survive, because only by doing so can he manage to get the twelfth PMGS occupied (by an enemy Grunt).

Also strongly disagree.
In my opinion, Secretz, Coinz, Warp Letterz and so on should be completely optional.

[Zu]

Dec 16, 2013 0:07:30 GMT -8 GooRoo said:

The Miniature Masterz graphicz set has a problem with tubez ... not all of the necessary corner piecez exist. High Rollerz also has a problem with plateauz on the northeast and northwest cornerz. No matter which tile you use, it doesn't seem to connect properly.

While we're on the subject, perhaps it would be a good idea to make a mod that adds missing tiles and fixes broken ones. Are there any other tile-related problems like this?

[GooRoo]

Dec 16, 2013 14:16:07 GMT -8 Zu said:

Dec 16, 2013 0:07:30 GMT -8 GooRoo said:

The Miniature Masterz graphicz set has a problem with tubez ... not all of the necessary corner piecez exist. High Rollerz also has a problem with plateauz on the northeast and northwest cornerz. No matter which tile you use, it doesn't seem to connect properly.

While we're on the subject, perhaps it would be a good idea to make a mod that adds missing tiles and fixes broken ones. Are there any other tile-related problems like this?

I only mentioned the most glaring ones, as and . There are only four duplicatez available for replacementz, so my solution is an either/or ... but not both. In the editor manual on Ground Tilez, I created some imagez that should be replacementz for some duplicated tilez, to provide workable tilez to correct the omissionz. Since I have no method to replace componentz in the Gruntz.REZ file, I cannot actually provide a 'mod' to correct those shortcomingz. I also provided some imagez for 'space' tilez (particularly for "Gruntz In Space") as replacementz for duplicated tile imagez. Since my imagez (these, for example) may all be captured, if someone has the meanz to replace Gruntz.REZ componentz (required: changing .jpg to Gruntz .pid or whatever is the proper extension/file type), I would happily make the replacement Gruntz.REZ file available for all who may want it.

[Zu]

Another thing I forgot about... Gruntz shouldn't start the game already carrying the Warpstone. The reason is that if they do, the whole "warpstone icon moving to the menu" thing happens and the camera centers on the Warpstone Grunt... before he even managed to show up. It doesn't look very professionally.

The preferred solution is to have the Warpstone right next to a barehanded grunt.

[GooRoo]

Feb 18, 2014 3:52:52 GMT -8 Zu said:

Another thing I forgot about... Gruntz shouldn't start the game already carrying the Warpstone. The reason is that if they do, the whole "warpstone icon moving to the menu" thing happens and the camera centers on the Warpstone Grunt... before he even managed to show up. It doesn't look very professionally.

The preferred solution is to have the Warpstone right next to a barehanded grunt.

Of course, in a Custom Level such as "Adventurez With The Warpstone Piece" and (my) "The Cross 7", where the only Grunt is the one that entered with the Warpstone, it is not a problem. Since the Warpstone Piece does not show up in the Statz Page image, it really doesn't matter how the object getz into the game ... unless it movez the screen away from being centered on the Grunt that should be used first.

[GooRoo]

Another thing I forgot to mention: centering the screen somewhere other than on the first Grunt to be used ... especially if that Grunt is immediately under attack ... or needz to quickly perform some action to prevent bad thingz from happening ... such as a Rolling Rock failing to reach an object (switch, bridge tile, etc.) required to successfully complete the puzzle. This is usually the case with the first Custom Level someone createz ... not knowing how to center the screen on the action area.

A minor peeve, only because of my preference to have a game-time "View the map!" image: opposing enemy Gruntz entering into battle with one another. One such battle, I can deal with; four battlez in four wide-spread cornerz of the map createz a major task in order to create a map; I have to create an alternate version of the map, changing two enemy teamz into two (mutually) friendly teamz, so that no battle occurz ... anywhere.

Also in relation to "View the map!": huge areaz filled with the exact same tile ... or hordez of EyeCandy ... without a switch (any tile with four distinct cornerz, actually) to use to "connect the dots" (piecez). This is also usually the case in first (or at least, early) Custom Levelz by a Designer, starting with too large a map for the puzzlez.