Some quick comments on each of the entries.
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WWW:
The first scroll (can't keep 4 puffs alive) is disproven in about ten seconds, which didn't feel like as much of a twist as a good Arky room should have. The second part is slightly better, but is still a relatively basic and out-in-the-open interaction.
Tarstuff Switch Tokens:
One of the more fun entries. Each part is nontrivial and has a different solution, plus none of them are excessively tedious. Works fine as an Arky-style room as well.
Overworked Bird:
My entry. Aims to create misdirection with some deliberate red herrings. Room concept was the result of a brainstorm-session quite a long time ago but never turned into an actual room until now.
The Perils of Friendship:
The solution is conceptually good but in practice is reduced to trial and error that doesn't really make you feel like you did something clever. Keep-the-stalwart-alive is a room theme that rarely plays well, unfortunately.
Cattywampus:
What's the title about? Regardless, this entry is actually solid. There's an excuse for the caber (forces the player to use bombs to break walls), and at the same time it's what secretly allows you to break the room. Good formula for an Arky room.
Mimics in the Forest:
Simple entry without any big flaws. Perhaps too easy if you already know about the interaction between pushed mimics and water/pits.
Quest for Wisdom:
Eight roaches per spawn cycle is hardly "
no time to solve the maze"
. This Arky-statement isn't convincing enough. Monster maze that the player can secretly enter is a good concept for a room, but I don't think this was executed as well as it could have been.
River Crossing:
Very amusing. Scroll doesn't do a good job of convincing you that the room is impossible - after all everyone knows this riddle and the fact it has a solution. I suppose Arky himself might not have heard about it. Not that fun to actually solve but some points for the implementation.
Golem Rubble:
Favourite entry. Everything fits so nicely together. The layout makes perfect sense in the Arky-narrative and the actual solution ends up being completely different.
Freezing:
The first part with the magic sequence past the first two aumtlich seems unnecessary. It's the hardest part of the room and not even relevant in Arky's room description. The actual "
twist"
could be executed better too. The topmost pressure plate is so close to the door it opens you don't even need any real tricks to get through it (having to freeze the aumtlich with your sword from a distance would be an improvement, for example).
Necessary Soldiers:
Reasonable concept, though could be a bit more complex. As it is you can solve this by accident just picking up potions randomly.
Cliff Puff:
Trivialized by closing a door while a puff is on it. On the other hand you can solve this without killing the puff at all. Even Arky should know better than this.
Arky Double Feature:
Solid entry. The format is comparable to Golem Rubble's which I liked a lot, if not quite as elegant here. Random note: The bottom half can be broken by stepping on the trapdoor after hitting the orb (you can't solve the rest of the room after this, but it does show that the scroll for this half is trivially false).
Brained Roach:
This feels like a regular room and the arky-trick-touches don't add that much to the solution. Curiously this was one of the rooms I got stuck on after missing a detail about the crumbly wall formation and way overthought how the trapdoors might be used.
Shallow Thoughts:
At first I was assuming you'd have to stab the giant while it's on shallow water to maximize your resources, using the mirror to keep it in place. It quickly becomes obvious that the solution is far simpler than that (perhaps a bit too simple). You only need two golems and it's not necessary to manipulate the giant or use the tunnel. Still, not the worst entry. The spider alcove is cute enough to get some points.
Arky's Impossible (TM) Construct Room:
This one has many solutions. Concept has promise, but the room is too easily broken to be that interesting of a puzzle.
Insight:
A bit too simple for my tastes but well enough constructed to get a decent rating.
Chronocide:
Probably the messiest room. There's no obvious correct use for the potions and no clear big obstacle that needs to be dealt with in a specific way. As a result the room feels very open-ended with seemingly many different solutions. (Which can be good, but I don't think it's desirable for an Arky room) The clone feels underutilized, its interaction with time tokens is interesting.
The Problem of the Decoy:
Solid entry. The firetraps are what make this work. Without them it'd be trivially easy to break the room.
Blood and Ashes:
Plausible Arky-statement at a glance. Solution is OK, if a bit heavy on execution.
Fragicide:
Another duplicate room concept. This one I found better implemented than its competitor. The payoff at the end is amusing. Note that this is solvable with just two decoys (but the third one does make things more clean).
Fluffy Deception:
Didn't quite understand how growth order is relevant. Pretty simple room, just need one puff and one baby (which presumably is intended since you wouldn't have time for much more than that anyways).
Halph's Jailbreak:
No checkpoints is a huge red flag. If you don't do the trick at the beginning to get Halph off firetraps this room becomes miserable to play. Didn't solve it that way, but it could probably be done with enough stubbornness.
Succor:
Strongly dislike the use of esoteric interactions and this room is no exception. To be honest can't remember ever seeing this trick before (now I'm wondering if there are any older rooms that this breaks). It's consistent with the rules, I guess, but... still not a fan.
Green Coffin of Death:
Tricky for how simple it looks. The parts where you go through hot tiles are a bit on the tedious side. Actually... does this room even need hot tiles?
Thermal Regulator:
My other entry. This is inspired by a level in Chip's Challenge and someone in chat actually figured it out (Technically I was thinking of Level 45 when making it, but it also has elements of Level 121). Likely more complex than a contest entry trying to get a high grade should be, but these kinds of rooms are both more fun to make and to play. So here's one more.
You Slay Me:
Trivial with a little bit of efficiency. As it is this room isn't very interesting. Optimizing can help - hitting the conquer token on turn 2 makes this a bit more of a challenge.
Floor Spikes:
Clean puzzle design, reasonably tricky and fits the criteria for an Arky-style room. No complaints here, one of the better entries.
Solution HigherArky:
This is the kind of room you show as an argument against adding unlimited undo into the game. Playtesting without it would reveal that the final pass is... well, mostly unplayable. Doesn't follow the arky-format as clean as most other entries either.
The Persistence of Briar:
Very convenient that the scroll lists all but one of the elements in the room
Fairly straightforward combat/manipulation room.
Arky's Aquarium:
Not the most convincing Arky-scroll, it's fairly obvious how the room can be solved. Unfortunately actually doing it makes this one of the most tedious rooms. Zero checkpoints doesn't help either.
A Dance with Darts:
Compared to any of the dart rooms in TSS this is a bit underwhelming. Room theme is good, but more could probably be done with it. Scroll kinda implies Arky doesn't realize darts are ranged when giving them to the delver.
Arky's Impossible (TM) Seeding Beacon Room:
Same concept as in the mimic forest entry. Execution isn't quite as clean here - the roach trap is chaotic enough that it ends up being a bigger focus of the room than the actual "
trick"
.
Bumfuzzling:
This entry feels familiar. Possibly something very similar was in a blind race hold or something. Regardless, this is a solid room.
Nepoticide:
Clever room concept. Scroll has odd wording. Room mostly solves itself after you do the only thing that doesn't kill you/Halph.
10/10
7/10
