Author Topic: Qualities of a good challenge?  (Read 2331 times)

Im not a fan of Mold's Challenge either. They are 90% jumping challenges.

Im not a fan of Mold's Challenge either. They are 90% jumping challenges.
while i agree that it should probably be labeled 'jumping challenge', it isn't. it's still a good challenge, and has interesting tricks.

tbh a good challenge just needs more variety than most new challenges these days: too many times i'll join a challenge server to see "oh, choose a door in this level 8 times! you might find the right door!". there is 0 skill involved in that.

i'm not a big fan of click challenges but meh, a well made one can pull in a lot of players.

a good ping is always a necessity.. joined a challenge today that had two levels based on timing, which is pretty hard to do when your ping is consistently above 1000. needless to say, i told him that he needs to either lower player count or get a better isp to host.

and finally, you need to draw the right audiences. naming your challenge simply 'challenge' can be super misleading, as i said at the top of this post: i could join a challenge, expecting it to be something involving, say, jumping, only to find that it's a click challenge! oh no, i then leave the game in disappointment. basically, name your challenges something relevant; you'll attract more people who are interested in that kind of level design (ie i was hosting a grapple rope challenge; people who came were not complaining about the lack of mechanical jumping skills required to beat the challenge) and instead you'll get better feedback on your actual levels.

and finally, you need to draw the right audiences. naming your challenge simply 'challenge' can be super misleading, as i said at the top of this post: i could join a challenge, expecting it to be something involving, say, jumping, only to find that it's a click challenge! oh no, i then leave the game in disappointment. basically, name your challenges something relevant; you'll attract more people who are interested in that kind of level design (ie i was hosting a grapple rope challenge; people who came were not complaining about the lack of mechanical jumping skills required to beat the challenge) and instead you'll get better feedback on your actual levels.
Have you been to my challenge(s) before? What would I call them? They aren't necessarily all jumping levels.

molds challenge got stale real fast

tails / skill4life's was the bomb


http://forum.blockland.us/index.php?topic=60909.0

Also add puzzles.  
Oh that reminds me I had this awesome idea for a level but the vce events didnt work smoothly enough so I scrapped it. Anyone remember the water gym from pokemon emerald/ruby/sapphire where you had to touch all the ice without stepping in the same spot twice? That's what I was trying to replicate
« Last Edit: September 05, 2012, 12:03:41 AM by PieSlapper »

A challenge that is unique, that starts easy and becomes progressively harder, and that it will not be frustrating, and no luck/random challenges.

mold's covered as much tricks at i thought possible
then placid broke my brain with pnobeo's stupid glitch level that took me three days

click challenges are a lot harder to make than jumping ones, and although less frustrating they're a lot more boring. i loved mold's because i got a feeling of success ~60 times in a few hours, since all of his levels looked nice but didn't take too long to beat and were slightly different every time.

I believe a good challenge is one that uses more than just "jump challenges" and also has the feeling that when you fail, it was your fault and not the builds. I can't stand when builds revolve around pixel perfect reaction/jumping/movement.

Be creative with your levels, don't make run of the mill levels. Add puzzles.

Avoid constant relays. This slows the server down which messes up timing both event and player wise.

Themeing is always nice: give your challenge a personality through a constant build trait. Atmosphere is key to immersion.

Secrets are always fun. Reward players for exploits (not as far as to give them an edge above others)

Use checkpoints. Nobody wants to start over again.

Add a timing/point system and add a leader board for top scoring/fastest players.
« Last Edit: September 05, 2012, 02:22:50 AM by Mr.Noßody »

I just came up with a challenge desing that looked 100% awesome but stuff with low/no shaders because the fog is gone then D:


Memory challenges.

No. You can have at most one of these. Memory challenges are lame.
Id rather not have to figure out which of the 50 something doors wont kill me then write it down.

All that crap is, is filler that makes your challenge "longer" and more of a chore.
A challenge should be fun.

what's a click challenge?

what's a click challenge?

A click challenge is where in order to activate certain events and learn about your surroundings, you click on them. Like a point and click game like SBCGAP.