Mattcrampy
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Man, I was overwhelmed with entries. I thought at minimum I might get half a dozen. If I was lucky, maybe a dozen or so, 15 at the max. We got double that! Wow! I hope we get enough voters, though.

There's some great entries here, too, so you've got two weekends to play through them all. It's daunting, but take it slow and remember that you only need to spend one hour on them, and many of them can be cracked in half that time; and that if you're convinced of what vote you're going to give a hold, it's okay to stop there.

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Doom
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I'm at school now so I can't do it, but could someone please pack the entries one big zip file for easier downloading?
edit: I was searching it from the end instead of the beginning...

27 is definitely a lot for a hold contest. Just being curious, how many people made more than one entry?

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[Last edited by Doom at 10-23-2006 11:08 AM]

bdwing
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The second post has all the holds in a zip file.

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Chaco
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That's more than a day of marathon DRODing.

Well, I guess I'll get started on the first couple tonight.

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Mattcrampy
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I figured it would be easier to find there because it's right under the voting post.

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NiroZ
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oh, I just noticed that strikethoughs don't work for questions.

Oh, and now they do.

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[Last edited by NiroZ at 10-23-2006 01:46 PM]

Doom
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Mattcrampy wrote:
I figured it would be easier to find there because it's right under the voting post.

Makes sense. I was just used to looking for it at the end, because they've been there usually before. (About twice because the author didn't think about it and it was posted by others, and about once after the entries when the author did think about it) Just my careless mistake.

In any case, downloading now...

NiroZ
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Having played a few of these holds, I would like to warn other people that unfortuatnly, most of the holds I have tried thus far have not challenged the barrier of quality that easy holds thus far have set.

and you beguin to realise just how long 1 hour can be .

Ezlo
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Yeah, some of the holds aren't even easy. The first two were pretty hard. I was expecting "Final Doom" difficulty.

NiroZ
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well I have gotten up to number 6, and there is only one hold I can safley say is worth your time (other than mine, of course ).

Ezlo
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#6 or #4?

Mattcrampy
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I can safely say that there is at least one hold in there that perfectly encapsulates what I was looking for, and I will be voting that one very highly indeed.

But don't discount the difficulty of making a hold that's filling yet not tough, especially as a novice architect's favourite trick is to fill a room with roaches. We've all done it.



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Krissan
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Mattcrampy wrote:
I can safely say that there is at least one hold in there that perfectly encapsulates what I was looking for, and I will be voting that one very highly indeed.

But don't discount the difficulty of making a hold that's filling yet not tough, especially as a novice architect's favourite trick is to fill a room with roaches. We've all done it.

Hey, I ran out of ideas and needed to do something in the room

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Tahnan
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Why (he asked, even though this isn't quite the forum in which to do so, but it's convenient and not totally out of place) must all entrants vote themselves "10"?

Kevin_P86
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Mattcrampy wrote:
Judge the hold on fun, where 1 is I'm not paying attention when voting and 10 is an excellent (unless you're the author of a particular entry, in which case, vote 10 for that entry).

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+++++[>+++++<-]>[>+++>++++>+++++<<<-]>.>+.>-------.<++++.+++++.

Tahnan
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Kevin_P86 wrote:

Mattcrampy wrote:
Judge the hold on fun, where 1 is I'm not paying attention when voting and 10 is an excellent (unless you're the author of a particular entry, in which case, vote 10 for that entry).

Yes, but why? Why not judge your own hold on fun, give it a 10 if you think it's excellent, and give it something lower if you think it's not?

Ezlo
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I've played up to number 13 now. Only two of these have been ANY good at all. All of them are, "Here, insane puzzles, solve within the hour", not "Here's a bunch of fun puzzles that you should be able to solve within the hour."

eytanz
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Tahnan wrote:

Kevin_P86 wrote:

Mattcrampy wrote:
Judge the hold on fun, where 1 is I'm not paying attention when voting and 10 is an excellent (unless you're the author of a particular entry, in which case, vote 10 for that entry).

Yes, but why? Why not judge your own hold on fun, give it a 10 if you think it's excellent, and give it something lower if you think it's not?

From the experience of previous contests, requiring authors to give themselves a 10 is fairer and leads to less controversy than allowing them free vote. Simply put, there may be some people who always vote themselves a 10 anyway, and that will handicap people who try to rank their own hold objectively. This then in turn leads to arguments about whether people with 10s got them legitimately. Thus, telling everyone to rank their own hold a 10 levels the playing field, and reduces headaches for everyone.

Note that this is not enforcable, so authors may still give themselves less than a 10. But in doing so, they know they are deliberately handicapping themselves; they can't complain later that other people's self-10s are unjustifed.

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Mattcrampy
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Basically that in less words - if authors are told to vote for theirs as 10, it means the authors aren't obligated to evaluate their own work honestly. And some authors don't feel that obligation, while others don't think theirs is very good, and so it's just easier all around.

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Tahnan
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I suppose that for me it's the difference between "must vote 10" and "may vote 10" (or perhaps "are free to vote 10").

eytanz
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The point is that really, people shouldn't vote at all for their own holds, but that's impossible to enforce. The solution is to even out the playing field by stipulating what people must vote for themselves, and by giving the maximal value, you therefore eliminate the possibility of people cheating.

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Krissan
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I've gone through about one third of the entries now (not in order). I have a clear favourite this far, at least when it comes to the grade. There are a few holds with REAL good design, but the puzzles are not fun or meaningless. Nice to know you have two thirds left...

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Tahnan
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As a public service announcement, correct me if I'm wrong, but: #7 (Beethro the Gatherer) can't be completed because of a required room behind a blue door; and I think #2 (A decision of no choice) may have an uncompletable secret room.

techant
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I started it the middle and the two I have done so far have been harder than I thought they should be and I didn't finish in an hour only got about half done on each one.

This is a long list but I saw a number of new entries and that is nice.



Amazing Contest Discription: The Challenge!




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DROD RPG Released!! You must try it out it is Great!!

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[Last edited by techant at 10-20-2007 01:00 PM]

coppro
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Tahnan- that is unfortunately correct, but since there is nothing behind that blue door except 12 empty squares and a staircase, I will publically announce the End of Hold Message:

As Beethro swung into the red zone, he knew that victory was upon him.

Congratulations!

Also, there is one secret room on that level (and no other puzzle rooms).

Tahnan
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Further PSA: Tim006's hold has a required room behind the master door, so it too is not completable.

Schik
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For the record, I will publicly out people who vote 10 for themselves and 1 for everyone else. Don't make me do it. Please.

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NiroZ
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Tahnan wrote:
and I think #2 (A decision of no choice) may have an uncompletable secret room.

Indeed it does. Fortunatly, the hold is anyone edit, so your not really missing out on anything.

Oh, and I would like to say as both a voter and a Architect that making a hold last for roughly 1 hour is actually quite hard, if you plan to fill it with easy puzzles. If this contest asked for 20 minute holds, it would be easier to have easy puzzles and a hold that was about the time requirement.

Tahnan
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NiroZ wrote:
Oh, and I would like to say as both a voter and a Architect that making a hold last for roughly 1 hour is actually quite hard, if you plan to fill it with easy puzzles. If this contest asked for 20 minute holds, it would be easier to have easy puzzles and a hold that was about the time requirement.

Hey, it wasn't supposed to last for an hour, it was supposed to last for an hour or less. (I'm certainly not expecting anyone to take an entire hour to finish my hold.)

Mattcrampy
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My favourite hold so far took about 40 minutes to crack. But it was a really satisfying set of puzzles, cleverly put together. I think the winners are going to be people who bring new experiences to the table moreso than those that try to cram a traditional hold into an hour.

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