|
Post by swietymiki on Apr 6, 2024 9:21:57 GMT -8
This is a tricky part. Since you only get 3 Gruntz and there are 3 purple switches to press, you have to lead an enemy Grunt to hold the red switch for you. If I remember correctly, you should make use of the springs enemy who is the area. He is quite slow so you will be able to outrun him easily. Also, he will not jump over obstacles such as spikes or holes.
|
|
|
Post by swietymiki on Feb 17, 2024 6:07:53 GMT -8
You should be able to find anything using the search option on your taskbar. It is normally visible as a magnifying glass icon. Type in "cmd" to get the old command prompt.
|
|
|
Post by swietymiki on Feb 16, 2024 4:41:36 GMT -8
If anyone asks you to pay something to get Java then that's a rip off. JDK is freely available for download from Oracle's official website and can also be automatically downloaded by some IDEs, such as IntelliJ IDEA, which I personally use to code in Java. IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition is also a completely free software.
|
|
|
Post by swietymiki on Feb 5, 2024 14:04:56 GMT -8
I revisited this level to verify my old statement that it should rather be placed in the "Easy" category. The conclusion is that I still agree with my old self - the level is not challenging at all. There are no parts in it that could stop the solver for a longer while, except the digging section at the end - but that one is only going to make you fall asleep. All the enemy fights can just be skipped because there is no goober straw in the game. For how large the map is, the level is very fast to complete. Only getting the coins is a bit tricky, because it involves knowing that space tiles can sometimes be walked on (introduced in Gruntz in Space, Stage 1) and that there are no secrets in the level to take you there. It really makes you wish for a multi-component difficulty system, where such things could be directly highlighted. For that reason, and only for that reason, I'd consider an "Easy+" difficulty rating for this level. I think it's just too straightforward overall for a "Medium" or higher.
|
|
|
Post by swietymiki on Feb 5, 2024 5:01:01 GMT -8
Amazon web services customers: please be aware that due to a ridiculously high number of SPAM/SCAM/Phishing abusers of the service exist, and I am forced to ban ALL IP addresses (globally) that use Amazon. Please try again, using an unpolluted WiFi system.I am afraid they might not be able to read that message, after you banned them.
|
|
|
Post by swietymiki on Feb 5, 2024 4:52:23 GMT -8
Definitely the biggest impediment to solving this level is the lack of information given to the solver - lots of different objects are hidden behind trees... Look for another set of goo puddles in the northern part of the map.
|
|
|
Post by swietymiki on Feb 4, 2024 14:07:03 GMT -8
No, the Grunt was created in a legitimate way. There are enough goo sources on the map to even get a half of the sixth Grunt.
|
|
|
Post by swietymiki on Feb 4, 2024 13:09:48 GMT -8
I agree, the Gruntz in the pyramids section are unreachable. But enemies killed by the death touch do leave goo. By the way, the fifth Grunt is not actually needed for anything in the level. I only used him to fix my earlier mistake and pick up the invisibility powerup, as I could no longer reach it with my other Gruntz.
|
|
|
Post by swietymiki on Feb 4, 2024 9:50:48 GMT -8
I managed to solve the 13 coins version to a "Perfect" score, but I admit it's somewhat difficult.
Not because of the bridge at the beginning. The timing is synced perfectly to a Grunt's walking speed, so you can just click on the last bridge tile and get to the other side - what's so hard about that? Definitely the biggest impediment to solving this level is the lack of information given to the solver - lots of different objects are hidden behind trees, with no way of knowing what before walking into the tile. The red warp, which is required to unlock the secret switch, is also in a completely unmarked location. Combine this with the erratic behavior of the silver switches, which are also used to control bridges, and you get a pretty chaotic landscape, where nothing is known for certain until activation. However, this is not entirely a bad thing - it makes the level quite interesting to play. Once you learn all the tricks, it doesn't take long to solve - my final attempt took me a little over 22 minutes.
The level's likely to have multiple solutions, as I managed to complete it without using the wings and invisibility powerup. In fact, I did not know of the existence of that powerup before I reached the king's fortress for the first time. The level also has some oddities related to the crumbling bridges, which seem to be caused by modifying default tile attributes - as somebody mentioned earlier, it is possible to walk on water in some places.
|
|
|
Post by swietymiki on Feb 3, 2024 15:01:41 GMT -8
As part of my ongoing project to clean up some issues in custom level announcements, I decided to merge two threads containing similar versions of the same map. Generally, such cases are handled as multiple downloads in a single post and this map has for a long time been an exception.
Another reason for the merge was that the two maps were evidently mixed up - the older (according to the GLE) version, with less content, clearly made by a less experienced designer was labeled as the "Gamer update" version. Meanwhile, the newer version was apparently the "original" by MechaDragon. I swapped the labels to indicate the later version as the updated one.
|
|
|
Post by swietymiki on Jan 31, 2024 11:48:18 GMT -8
"Jumala" seems to translate to "God" in Finnish, so content of the site would make sense. The domain was probably sold and reused by someone else.
|
|
|
Post by swietymiki on Jan 31, 2024 11:33:10 GMT -8
Personally, I avoid reading the discussion of a level before starting it because it often contains hints or solutions to difficult puzzles. The difficulty rating displayed in the main post should be matching with the result of that discussion, so that solvers wouldn't have to read spoilers before playing.
|
|
|
Post by swietymiki on Jan 31, 2024 9:34:07 GMT -8
Let's elaborate cause I think there's quite a few interesting points to discuss there! My primary goal in making this one was to more closely adhere to the usual Monolith Productions, Inc. practice of Red Warp only there to get the Warp Letter. And that there be exactly ONE Secret Switch and ONE Red Warp. I realize that MOST of my Questz fail to adhere to those 'standards', probably because the first Custom Level Quest that made me think was "A World Of Sweetz" ... which violated just about every 'rule' of the Standard Questz; all 4 Warp Letterz, FIVE Red Warps and FIVE Secret Switches, "Magic Shovel" and (the one 'legal' special thing) multiple CoveredPowerUps on a single tile. So I picked up some bad habits by following "The Leader" (at that time), Paul. I can't help but notice how contradictory this paragraph is. You say you picked up so many bad habits from "A World Of Sweetz", yet Paul's level is one of the most widely acclaimed Custom Levels. Clearly, those 'illegal' things as you call them are not a problem and do not downgrade the quality of "A World Of Sweetz". It does not only matter if it's done, but how it's done. I agree, the tasks to do in "Gruntz Land 2" are very straightforward. But I think we should still keep in mind the timed part. That is not an element of most Easy levels either. Easy+ seems like a reasonable compromise to me, to indicate that there are some elements of the level that are more difficult. But the current situation, with the original being Medium and this one being Easy, just seems off to me, because both are about the same difficulty.
|
|
|
Post by swietymiki on Jan 27, 2024 10:29:50 GMT -8
I like the new version, especially the addition of red pyramids and the secret switch interactions throughout the level. However, I totally do not understand why this one received the Easy rating! It's definitely not easier than the original; if Gruntz Land 1 remains Medium, this version should not get a lower rating.
|
|
|
Post by swietymiki on Jan 25, 2024 16:05:21 GMT -8
Creating a more extensive remake of the level sounds like a good idea. There is still quite a bit of unused space in the original, maybe you could add some more content there.
|
|
|
Post by swietymiki on Jan 25, 2024 3:38:18 GMT -8
Personally I think the 2005 version is just right. The race against the Rolling Ball is the challenge that makes the level Medium difficulty, but I don't think it's enough to raise the difficulty any more, since the other parts of the level are so simple. I just had a go at the map and reached the yellow switch with the ball on the corner before the final stretch, which shows that there is plenty of time left even if you go and collect all the coins. But you have to keep moving, yeah, this wouldn't be something you play for relaxation, so I think the Medium rating is well earned.
|
|
|
Post by swietymiki on Jan 24, 2024 16:24:09 GMT -8
To answer your questions in detail, I'm afraid I'd have to replay all of those levels again, since I gave these ratings over 4 years ago. But, back in the day I used to post lengthy descriptions from my experiences playing Custom Levels, so perhaps some of your questions could be answered by those. For instance, here's a link to my post regarding Uphill Battle: gooroosgruntz.proboards.com/post/25937/thread
|
|
|
Post by swietymiki on Jan 24, 2024 13:20:05 GMT -8
I think what you suggested are good guidelines for designers who are starting out. Sticking to these suggestions should help avoid some mistakes that make levels either too boring or too annoying to complete. However, I do not see the connection of these criteria to difficulty ratings. Lack of secrets doesn't prevent a level from having super difficult puzzles that take hours to solve, and putting two coins to collect per area wouldn't make me think that the level was any harder or easier. The guidelines for specific difficulty ratings should be related to level traits that players pay attention to when thinking of custom levels as difficult, because that's what they're for, to help people find the suitable level for them. To elaborate: - A hard or very hard level would be a level that requires a lot of thinking, with the solver often having to stop and analyze the situation on the map carefully to find the solution. This is to some degree subjective, as some players are better than others at finding the solutions to puzzles, but certain levels have a long history of tricking even very experienced players. Another thing that could make the player think of a level as hard would be having very tight and/or long dexterity sections without a safe place to rest and save your game. These are the places where players have to reload their game a lot and it adds to the overall solve time of the level.
- An easy or very easy level would be the opposite, a level that does not take much thought as it is mostly about walking around the map while doing basic tasks, such as breaking rocks, killing poorly armed enemies and only being met with easily passable obstacles. Someone would play a level like that if they wanted the satisfaction of beating it without having to go through the hardship of solving puzzles.
- A medium level would be somewhere in the middle, not hard enough to make you think that the designer is out to get you, but also not easy enough to make you yawn. It should have some kind challenge in it; if there is no challenge whatsoever, that's what the easy category is for. What exactly makes a challenge is difficult to define, one piece of advice that I once saw in a discussion under a custom level was that there must be a possibility to solve a puzzle wrong and have to redo it.
|
|
|
Post by swietymiki on Jan 24, 2024 12:31:53 GMT -8
Out of curiosity, I loaded Wayback Machine again and found some new information regarding the authorship of the level "High on Swordz".
The level can be seen in the October 29, 2000 archive of the downloads page of the "gruntz.calcon.net" site. That is way earlier than the date it was registered on our forum (October 23, 2003). The very early publication date and similarity of its design to "Alevel" makes it possible that Colin was the original designer of "High on Swordz". Perhaps it was brought to this forum from a second hand, possibly as an edited version, and another person got the credit. Unfortunately, Wayback Machine did not backup the level zip files, so we cannot download it and know for sure if that 2000 version of the level was any different from the one known to us.
Also, notice that Colin is consistently called bcmel2 on the site (not bemel2), this is even reflected in his email address.
From the old "gruntz.com" site I also learned of the existence of some more CLs we don't have, such as a Battlez map named "Grand Central Station, NY". Back in the day levels seem to have been sent from person to person through emails, so it's highly unlikely we'll ever get a hold of them.
|
|
|
Post by swietymiki on Jan 15, 2024 8:31:07 GMT -8
I agree that there's no point in designing levels if it does not give the designer satisfaction. Trying out a different mindset should be for the better.
On another note, I think it's worthy of praise that you are still trying to design something new, when so many designers have stopped designing at all.
|
|