Dragon Fogel
Level: Smitemaster
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Registered: 06-21-2014
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File: NoporPuss-v05a.hold (35.1 KB)
Downloaded 53 times.
License: Public Domain

So I've decided to try my hand at making DROD puzzles, and this is what I have so far.

This is at a very early stage; I've made the hub, except it still needs a final puzzle and I haven't worked out what I want that to be yet.

So this is the deal. Every room in this hold is going to range from simple to trivial to complete. Each room will also have a pointless challenge. The challenges are written on scrolls in each room, scrolls which have been carefully placed so that you need to complete the challenge in order to read them in the first place.

In this first version, I have four hub puzzles done. There are additional levels, but they're just filler rooms leading to the "level exits" that you need to reach in order to complete the challenges in the hub. My plan is to fill the levels with rooms with similar challenges to their respective hub rooms.

Let me know what you think.

All four challenges are solvable, I ran through them myself. I will note that Temple of Pointlessness 1N was utterly ridiculous to put together and I'm hoping it's easier to actually solve.

Version log for future reference:
v0.01: Four hub rooms completed, general structure of the hold in place
v0.01a: Whoops, stairs weren't working. I also added one orthosquare in one of the rooms after realizing the one I'd added in was pointless. (Naturally, I kept that one in.) Should be fixed now.
v0.02: Some puzzle tweaks, fixed a staircase that lead to the wrong room, added Saving Brainpower Entrance. There's also a room in 1S but it's not finished yet.
v0.03: Some more minor fixes, 1S is done, 1W exists but hasn't really had a puzzle added in. I don't mean to upload a new version every time I finish a room, I just want to get the fixes up and I figure I may as well finish another room before uploading.
v0.04: Changed the name of Saving Brainpower to Save the Brains and changed the puzzles I had there. Entrance and 1S have been changed, 1W has been done and heavily tweaked. The original version is in a level accessible in the editor for the curious; I found that version was actually harder to do without going for the challenge, so I may work it into an eventual bonus level.
There's also a skeletal layout for Save the Brains and a puzzle in 1E; I don't care much for it right now, though, and will probably just scrap it.
v0.05: Added Saving Brains 2S, and The Long Way Entrance and 1N. I have comments on these but they don't seem worth going into here.
v0.05a: Stair fix, also the previous version wasn't set to Anyone Edit, now it is.

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[Last edited by Dragon Fogel at 12-12-2014 08:34 AM]

Someone Else
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Rank Points: 1304
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Well, there was no reason for me to download this. The stairs are all wrong.

Other than that, it's quite fun!

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[Last edited by Someone Else at 12-05-2014 05:43 AM]

Dragon Fogel
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Whoops! Fixed now, along with one tiny edit to one of the rooms.

I made a copy of the hold because I had some other levels on there that I didn't want to show people just yet. Apparently that messed up all the stairs even though none of them lead to those levels.

Someone Else
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Okay, actual comments:
Is it intentional that it's pointless to actually complete the challenge in 1S? It is possible, so I admit to being slightly confused that I can just take the platform over to the challenge scroll. (I can actually beat the room after doing that, too, though it is slower).

The stairs in 1W are now a different kind of wrong - they lead to the tarstuff level. I beat the room, though. It was fun!

Dragon Fogel
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Oh, that was an oversight, I didn't think about where the platform could take you. I'll fix that. My main concern in that room was having a more interesting way to waste time than a simple tar-and-trapdoor puzzle.

I also realized that the 1N puzzle didn't quite work the way I intended it to - you don't need exactly eight babies as it's set up now, because you can reach the door when a smaller number have reached the pressure plate. Fortunately, I didn't have to alter the ridiculous mechanism I had running the rest of the room.

I've also started on the brain level, so I'll include what little I have of that in a quick update.

Edit: Wait, I'm silly, you can also access the tunnel near the stairs in 1S and use it to get to the normal entrance while still invisible. Fixed that but it doesn't feel worth another upload at the moment. So for now, just don't do that.

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[Last edited by Dragon Fogel at 12-05-2014 09:22 PM]

Dragon Fogel
Level: Smitemaster
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Saving Brainpower 1S is done now, as well as the above fix. I feel like I'm getting the hang of these.

One issue is that while I have plenty ideas for ways to endanger brains, I'm having trouble thinking of interesting things to do with the brained monsters. So far both rooms on Saving Brains have just been fights with a sizable number of monsters, though I did try to add some gimmicks to make the rooms more interesting.

Dragon Fogel
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"Saving Brainpower" is now "Save The Brains". I didn't care much for the rooms in the last version, so I've changed them. I've also made a rough layout of the floor as a whole, but it's nowhere near done.

Entrance isn't really that different from the last version in terms of what you do, but it's less annoying (the roach queens won't spawn until the trapdoors go down) and the non-challenge version of the room is much sillier. I should get rid of the jumble of trapdoors I have in the second section right now and work in more hot tiles, though.

1S has been heavily changed, the main part of the room has an actual gimmick now. I'm not really sure about how it plays out, but it's beatable.

I also changed 1W but never released the original version. There's a level called "Rejected but interesting rooms?" you can access from the editor if you want to see that; these are rooms I might turn into post-mastery variants. I didn't feel the old versions of the other two rooms were worth keeping, though I do have a backup copy with them for reference.

There's also an actual attempt to make a room in 1E, but I don't really care for it. I like the mechanism (even if I had to use Characters to make it work instead of real Citizens), but it's somewhat independent from the room as a whole and I want to think about how to better incorporate it. I'll probably make it a Citizen-oriented room in general.

All other rooms have a very basic mechanism thrown in there to show the various ways I can think of to cause trouble for brains. I may drop some if I can't think of interesting things to do with them, but I've been working at a pretty good pace so I think I can manage to fill them all if I get enough ideas.

There's also a vague mechanism in The Long Way's entrance room, but I haven't really done anything with that level yet. The stairs still lead to the challenge entrance in the hub room.

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[Last edited by Dragon Fogel at 12-08-2014 01:02 AM]

Someone Else
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I'm having a bit of trouble on Save the brains:1S. I've saved the brain, but I'm not really sure what to do now (I killed the constructs, too).

Dragon Fogel
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Well, I hope you didn't kill the golems too.

Someone Else
Level: Smitemaster

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I was hoping that wasn't the solution, because I was having trouble killing everything else...

But I've got it now. Thanks!

Dragon Fogel
Level: Smitemaster
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Yeah, I'm honestly not sure about how the room plays out. I figured I'd at least try to do something distinctive with it.

I think my main goal is for the process of getting the challenges to be funny. It doesn't matter much to me whether it's easy to figure out or difficult, as long as the player is amused by it. In this regard, I'm satisfied with the Entrance, especially now that I've shut off the roach queen spawning until the red door goes down. I'm not so sure about 1S, it might go on for too long and get annoying.

I'll try raising the golem and hot tile count to see if that helps things. The room was beatable when I had just one golem and the hot tile in the lower-left, I added the other two to speed things up.

Edit: I don't think adding more golems and hot tiles changed much. I did find tricks to clearing the room with significantly less trouble, though. On my last run I killed everything (except the golems, of course) on the middle-right tile without retreating.

I think I'm okay with the room now that I know there are easy ways to do it. I'm still open to suggestions on ways to improve it, of course.

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[Last edited by Dragon Fogel at 12-08-2014 05:53 PM]

Dragon Fogel
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File: TPDoNP Save the Brains 1S Challenge completed.demo (5.9 KB)
Downloaded 40 times.
License: Public Domain

Here's a demo of Save the Brains 1S done by killing two golems before releasing the other monsters.

I think this room's growing on me.

Dragon Fogel
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 2434
Registered: 06-21-2014
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Three new puzzles in this update.

-Save the Brains 2S
-The Long Way Entrance and 1N

Save the Brains 2S will probably be changed. I've got five sections there, but the first is the only one I really like. Part of the issue may just be trying to cram an idea into too small a space, so I may just rework this room and expand some of the sections into full rooms. Still, any thoughts are appreciated.

Since brained movement puzzles are proving tricky for me, I decided to start on The Long Way for a change of pace.

I want to make one thing clear. The Entrance is more of a proof of concept right now. The "short" way takes too long and is probably too complex, and I'm not sure if I've done enough to obscure the solution for the "long" way. So I really want opinions on what needs to be done here. Obviously the snake should be shorter, but that's something I'll take care of when I've got the room in a better state.

I do like 1N, though. I think it's a good example of what I'm aiming for with this level's theme. So if anyone thinks it's a terrible puzzle, they should definitely speak up before I make a whole level out of it.

Shendy
Level: Master Delver
Rank Points: 132
Registered: 07-01-2010
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The staircase that should lead to the Long Way ends the hold.

EDIT: Also, why has the edit permission been changed to "Only You"?

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[Last edited by Shendy at 12-12-2014 08:05 AM]

Dragon Fogel
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I didn't intentionally change that. I must have misclicked or something.

And I'm guessing the staircase stopped working because I was messing with the entrance room and moved the starting point. I need to remember to double-check that.

Uploading a fixed version. Edit: Done.

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[Last edited by Dragon Fogel at 12-12-2014 08:34 AM]

Dragon Fogel
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 2434
Registered: 06-21-2014
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It's a new year, so I may as well note my progress.

I've been poking at this on a daily basis, but haven't really been focused on it. I've gotten one new room done and that's it. I'm still trying to do the brain level for some reason even though that's the one where I have the least ideas for actual puzzles - I have plenty of ideas for brain-killing mechanisms, but not so many for how to use the brains once they're safe.

I think I want to get a few more rooms done before putting up a new version, and at least fix Long Way's Entrance so it's more in line with what I want for that level. But I thought I'd note that I'm still working on this, at least.

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[Last edited by Dragon Fogel at 03-11-2018 11:04 PM]