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Nuntar
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So, this is a somewhat silly idea I had for a contest, but I ran it past the good people in CNet chat the other day and a few said it sounded like a good idea. So let's give it a shot!

I've played and enjoyed a few holds recently with a theme of limiting the elements used to a small palette, such as the awesome King Nareik's Dungeon, a modern linchpin-style hold using only AE elements. I certainly don't want to steal Kieran's thunder by running an "AE elements" contest while his hold is still in development, but the idea of doing something with restricted elements appealed. After a bit of thought, I came up with this: all elements in the game (except for a few basics such as floor and walls) are divided into groups. Pick one group, and use only elements from that group.

In dividing up the elements, I started with the Floor tab in the editor, selecting eight floor types as "starter" elements for the groups. Then I considered elements that would go well with each, e.g. shallow water goes with mirrors so you can make stepping stones, and those go with eyes.... Some elements would fit naturally into more than one group, e.g. invisibility has interesting interactions with eyes, tar mothers and roach queens. In those cases, I made a more-or-less arbitrary decision, while trying to keep the groups reasonably well balanced. In any case, I felt that if some groups ended up more tempting than others, some architects would welcome the challenge of working with a more challenging selection :P

I decided that force arrows should be available to everyone, since they are so useful that giving them only to one group would unbalance things too much. (That said, avoiding force arrows can be an interesting restriction in itself, as Chaco did in Pickle Cellar.)

Also, disabled arrows are available to all groups, because otherwise there are five objects that can open/close/toggle and only three things they can affect.

So here's what I've ended up with, together with the general rules:

1. Make a one-level hold, with the same hold and level title.
2. Decide on one group of elements from the list below. You must use only elements from that group plus the "basic elements" group.
3. Your level should contain a minimum of four puzzle rooms, and a maximum of twelve total rooms.
4. Every element in your group should feature in at least one puzzle.
5. Non-Beethro player roles are fine, but only if they match an element in your group.
6. As usual, entries must be "Anyone Edit", must be masterable, and all challenges (if any) must be solvable. Usual HA rules apply.

Element groups

Basic elements (available to everyone): Beethro, sword, floor, wall, checkpoint, green door, blue door, staircase, force arrow, scroll, obstacle, lights, vision token, inert briar.

Group 1: Water, waterskipper and nest, trapdoor over water, platform over water, ice over water, fluff and puffs, fluff vent, adder, fegundo, power token, tunnel.

Group 2: Shallow water, ice over shallow water, rock giant, spider, gel/baby/mother, mirror, evil eye, soldier and horn.

Group 3: Pit, platform over pit, trapdoor over pit, red door and sister gate, bridge, wraithwing, one-use pressure plate, goblin, mimic and potion, disarm token, dagger.

Group 4: Hot tile, mud/baby/mother, aumtlich, guard, powder keg, pickaxe, speed potion, arrow rotator token, cracked/broken orb, stalwart.

Group 5: Oremites, construct, rock golem, Halph, Slayer, yellow door, on-off pressure plate, staff, citizen/relay station/PCMT.

Group 6: Floor spikes, tar/baby/mother, black door and sister gate, spear, invisibility potion, red serpent, decoy and potion, brain, orthosquare.

Group 7: Fire trap, green and blue sister gates, briar root, orb, conquer token, wubba, rattlesnake, seeding beacon, temporal split token.

Group 8: Crumbly wall, bomb/fuse, caber, seep, roach and queen, gentryii, clone and potion/horn, multi-use pressure plate, engineer.

Forbidden to all: Secret wall, master wall, hold complete wall, tarstuff switch tokens.

How to enter:

After posting this, I will open a submission topic. Post your hold file there when it's ready. Entries will be anonymised during voting, so go ahead and create your hold with the player file with the name you would like it to appear under in the final compilation.

When you post your hold, I will double-check that the entry does not use a forbidden element, and immediately notify the architect if it does. Architects may fix and resubmit their entries with no penalty.

The deadline for submissions is 11:59pm GMT, 2 May.

This is an official contest, so the usual prizes apply:

First place: 100 rank points and your pick from the Prize Pile
Second place: 50 rank points
Third place: 25 rank points
First-time entry: 10 rank points

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50th Skywatcher

[Last edited by Nuntar at 04-25-2018 05:53 PM]
04-04-2018 at 04:14 PM
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Trickster
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I like this idea but some of the categories are impoverished for monsters. Maybe basic roach could be a basic element everybuggy could use, and keep the queen in group 8...?

I mean, for example Group 5 every room will be 'kill the construct' and I don't even know if that's possible because I haven't met them yet in TSS. Another option would be to have conquer tokens available for all groups.

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[Last edited by Trickster at 04-04-2018 05:32 PM]
04-04-2018 at 05:26 PM
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Trickster
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Also, did you intend to include disarm token twice (3 and 4)?

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04-04-2018 at 05:40 PM
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Nuntar
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I've made a few changes in response to the above plus feedback from chat:

* Disabled arrows are available to everyone, so that all groups with orbs / pressure plates have something for them to affect.
* A few elements I forgot are now included: platforms go with the water and pit groups, and obstacles and lightposts are available to everyone.
* Fixed an accidental misreading from my notes sheet: "disarm token" in group 4 should have been "pickaxe".
* Rock golems have moved from group 2 to 5, since the latter was lacking in required monsters. Group 2 can still use rock giants for stepping stone puzzles.

I'm going to leave this open for further feedback and changes until noon GMT tomorrow, and after that the division of elements into groups will be set in stone so that architects can get on with building without having to worry about the possibility of changes.

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04-04-2018 at 05:47 PM
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bomber50
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Does "floor" include all the basic floor types (grass, dirt, mosaic, etc.)?

Does "wall" include wall (hard)? What about secret walls with crumbly walls?

For "clone", "mimic", "decoy", does this include the corresponding potions, and for clones, the corresponding horn?

I assume briar includes all 3 briar types? Same thing with bridges?

Does "Slayer" include 39th Slayer, and "Halph" include Young Halph?

Character scripting is allowed, if it doesn't break Rule 5?

Cracked orb, tarstuff switch tokens, vision token, persistent movement token, stalwart, engineer, hold complete wall, master wall, wall light, ceiling light, and the image stuff are missing from any group. Some of these should be added.
04-04-2018 at 06:12 PM
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Nuntar
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Thanks. I've edited the opening post with further clarifications.

"Floor" includes all six types of no-effect floor, and "wall" includes hard wall.

Mimics, decoys, clones include their potions. These are not considered separate elements for rule 4, so for example, if you choose Group 3, you must include at least one preplaced mimic or mimic potion, not necessarily at least one of each.

Cracked/broken orbs are now grouped together.

Inert briar is now available to everyone; briar root is Group 7 only.

"Halph" and "Slayer" include Young Halph and 39th Slayer if you wish.

Character scripting is indeed allowed, but you can't use build markers or "Generate entity" to get round the element restriction, nor may you use characters as custom elements.

Vision tokens and lighting elements are available to everyone. I've added a "forbidden to all" category that includes tarstuff switch tokens (because the tarstuffs are in separate groups), master wall and hold complete wall.

Stalwarts are now in Group 4 (for the aumtlich interaction) and engineers, arbitrarily, in Group 8. Finally, I've moved orthosquares from Group 1 to Group 6 for the brain interaction; I originally put them in Group 1 for the fegundo interaction, before the decision to make force arrows available for everyone.

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04-04-2018 at 07:12 PM
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superluminal
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This sounds great! I'm in. :)

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04-04-2018 at 11:06 PM
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mauvebutterfly
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Usual limit of 3 submissions per architect?

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[Last edited by mauvebutterfly at 04-05-2018 12:00 AM]
04-04-2018 at 11:40 PM
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Nuntar
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Yes, that's part of the General Rules and applies to all official contests.

There will now be no further changes to the grouping of elements; you can still ask for clarification if anything is unclear. Thanks to everyone who gave feedback, and good luck with building your entries! :thumbsup

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04-05-2018 at 11:18 AM
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Trickster
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Could we extend this contest by a week? O:- It is hard and takes time to make all the rooms that go in the hold with the puzzles and pain.

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04-12-2018 at 05:55 PM
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Insoluble
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Trickster wrote:
Could we extend this contest by a week? O:- It is hard and takes time to make all the rooms that go in the hold with the puzzles and pain.

I'll second that. Would love an extra week!

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04-12-2018 at 05:56 PM
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Nuntar
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Done :P Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!

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04-12-2018 at 11:12 PM
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blorx1
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Thanks for that extension. Definitely helps me. Or maybe it just pushes back my procrastination.

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04-13-2018 at 01:33 PM
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Nuntar
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I've extended the deadline a few more days, after chat discussion revealed that we have a real possibility of seven of the eight groups getting an entry given a bit more time.

I won't reveal publicly which is the one remaining group, since I don't want everyone to dogpile on it, and it's entirely possible someone is already working on it. I will, however, give this information to anyone who asks for it privately.

I'm not entering this contest myself, but if everything goes to plan and we do get entries for seven of the groups, then I'll make a level on the last group for the eventual compilation.

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04-25-2018 at 06:21 PM
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