Re: imagination problem

[Proxima]

Yes, but having someone else find backroutes can really improve a level. A couple of examples: on my "Repton 3: Toccata", you have to save 59/60, but guest found a backroute that saved 100%. I fixed it up to make the backroute much harder, so now my solution is still the main solution, but it's possible to save 100% if anyone wants a challenge. On my "Zorn's Lemming", the main puzzle is to use a diggers' staircase to get as high as possible up a wall; guest kept finding backroutes, but by incorporating the ideas from his backroutes into my main solution, I was able to raise the gap in the wall you have to reach to around double its original height.... and I love the resulting level, because when you first look at it, it looks truly impossible!

As for how long it takes me to make a level.... gosh, I don't know; it depends so much. A long time, usually, because I'm very fussy about getting it to look perfect, even decorative terrain that has no role in the solution. And then of course there's removing backroutes, which can be very quick or very convoluted, depending entirely on what the level is like! So there's no simple answer to that question.

[chaos_defrost]

Ya. The guest found about a million backroutes to my level "The Mon0lith" -- and I still think there's a couple in there, but they are all much harder to execute than my intended solution.

In my first six LemEdit levelpacks, also, Martin Zurlinden managed to find enough back-routes to make two brand new packs. Seriously. I've always had a huge problem with my levels being back-routable. I've taken a few tricks from these back-routes and made whole new levels with them. Which, in turn, get back-routed. And the cycle continues.

And @Ahribar -- when are your sets going to be available for download?

[guest]

If a backroute is harder or the same difficulty as the intended solution it doesn't matter so much, and it can be used for a new level idea. But if someone finds a backroute that is easier, say it was the intended solution and hope people believe you. I expect the guest will find some backroutes in my levels...no matter how hard they are.

[Proxima]

And @Ahribar -- when are your sets going to be available for download?

Well, my main sets, like yours, are an ongoing thing; I'd like eventually to have six difficulties with thirty levels in each. But I'm planning on releasing a "taster" with about twenty levels in my new styles, as soon as guest finishes doing the music for them

As for the Repton levels, that one's my fault..... I want to make six, but I've only got round to doing three. So those will be available as soon as I force myself to finish the others.

[guest]

I have encountered another problem which makes levels take longer to make. It is basicly an I-wrote-a-program-and-it-is-hogging-the-CPU type of problem.
It isn't a problem when one of them is running but when I have two running it makes it hard to run any other program. This may add to the delay of making my levels because I might not be able to wait for one program to finish before starting another one.
All of that may have seemed weird but it caused me to not be able to work on my levels today until now (11:05 pm).  X_X
My levels take a long time to make anyways so don't expect my pack to be done soon (I am working on my 3rd level).

[the guest]

Why do you need to run your programs in the first place?  And why so CPU intensive?  Just curious.

----------

If you use Win XP/2k/etc., you can press Ctrl+Alt+Del to bring up the task manager, and then go to the "process" tab.  There you can right click on the process corresponding to your program, and set the priority to "Low" or "BelowNormal".  This may help allowing you to run other programs alongside, at the expense of slowing down the process whose priority you lowered.

[guest]

Oh, thanks, setting the priority to below normal works fine. The reason I am running them is because they perform a very long calculation, and it is interesting to see the result. It is so CPU intensive because I wrote it. If you are interested in what the program does, just ask and I will try to explain it.

[the guest]

Yeah I'm curious what calculations you are doing.  Finding the next largest known prime number or something?  

[guest]

You probably haven't heard of cellular automata. Here is an explanation:

The universe consists of a grid of cells that are either on or off. The state of a cell in the next generation is decided based on the rule, its state, and the state of the surrounding 8 cells, like this:
bbb
bab
bbb
The rule will look something like this: b3/s23. What this means is, if a cell is off then it will only turn on if exactly 3 cells are surrounding it, and if it is on then it will stay on only if it is surrounded by 2 or 3 cells. A rule can have any of these: b12345678/s012345678. Just ignore what happens with b0 because it is very weird.

Here is the best program that plays it: http://www.xs4all.nl/~jbontes/

There are many types of interesting objects but I am most interested in gliders. A glider is a pattern that reappears in a different place after a certain number of generations. The program that I wrote searches for gliders.
A glider can be very small, like this:

#R B35678/S34678
.o..
.ooo
oo.o
ooo.
.o.o
.oo.

Gliders can also be very large and yet still be found easily:

x = 12, y = 46, rule = B357/S1358
o2bo4bo2bo$o10bo$2bobo2bobo$2b3o2b3o$2b2o4b2o$3bo4bo2$3b2o2b2o$
2o8b2o$2bo2b2o2bo$2obob2obob2o$b2o6b2o$4b4o$3b2o2b2o$5b2o$3b6o$3b
o4bo$5b2o$3bob2obo$4b4o2$4b4o$4b4o$3bo4bo$5b2o$4b4o$b2ob4ob2o$bo
bo4bobo$2b2o4b2o2$3bob2obo$3bo4bo$4bo2bo2$4b4o$3bo4bo$2bo2b2o2bo
$2bo6bo$2bobo2bobo$3bo4bo$3bob2obo$b2obo2bob2o$o2b6o2bo$b3ob2ob3o
$b2obo2bob2o$2bob4obo!

To view one of those gliders you must copy it, and then paste it into the program that I put a link to way up yonder in this post. The second one is encoded so it doesn't take up as much space. My program usually finds gliders instantly if they are small. The second glider took a few seconds.

[Shvegait]

Is that like the LifeGenesis game from the Windows Entertainment Pack?

[the guest]

You probably haven't heard of cellular automata.

That might have been a good assumption, but I do actually know a little about them (but not really anything more than your explanation of what they are).  Others may have heard of "Conway's Game of Life", which is basically what you are describing but using a specific rule, and is shipped as "LifeGenesis" in one of the Windows Entertainment Pack (as Shvegait mentioned).

[guest]

It can also be very memory intensive. The program consists of 208 lines of C++. That is not much, but it is insanely fast.

________


On topic, I have finished my 3rd level.

[JM]

Are you still working on the levelpak?

[guest]

Yes, I am still working on it. Here are the levels I have made so far (in the order I made them):
1. Stuff In The Way (done)
2. Oh No, Not Again (done)
3. The Gr8 Escape (done)
4. The Very Large Staircase of Doom (in progress)
I think Conway made a level called "The Great Escape", but I found out about it after making level 3. That shouldn't be much of a problem because the levels are totally different, and "The Gr8 Escape" fits the level perfectly. If anyone has used these titles before, let me know.

[JM]

Some very good level names.

EDIT: I haven't used any of those level names before but I can tell your levels will suit the names.