Topic, Game "BLockoban"

  for the hard-core-players: after months of work i completed a excel list with all the blockoban and puzzle it levels (name, highscore, category). you can use it to compare your scores. if you like one you can pm me an e-mail adress where i can send it or if you prefer you can ask me for mine. if you know how to use excel it's great stuff (i think).

  For me:
I don't rate, seriously
Cuz most levels are still too hard for me

  i'll put that too omr

for me:

5 great
4 good
3 bad
2 (rarely)
1 (rarely)

i don't really consider the age, or the skills. i consider the level itself.

  my votes are: 5 very good, 4 good, 3 ok, 2 unsatisfying, 1 bad.

sometimes i consider the age of the designer and his skill & experience too.

  In my opinion a level with a code is acceptable, as long as the code is an original type of code, never used in another level before. There is even an official one. Analysing block groups is one of several possible concepts, so I would reckon this as a code system: one is acceptable (maybe a sequel), but after that the concept is unoriginal and thus bad and rejectable.

  You're right, oldmtnguy. I and probably the other people misunderstood you. I have to agree, that we should keep the purity of Blockoban, but making some levels based on different concepts which aren't typical for Blockoban is not a problem. I really don't believe, that we'll only have other levels in future. The main part of the levels will still be classic :)

  I absolutely agree with Jyxz!

  I feel that I need to explain my thought process a little further. I am not attacking or have anything against controller or cipher-based games. I enjoy and play them in other places. In fact I play all types of mind games.
Blockoban however is a spatially oriented game which involves a different type of mind set and thought process. The level IQ Test (BLockoban) is an excellent puzzle, but it is not really a BLockoban level because there are no blocks or targets to move to reach a solution.The screen is there to provide a visual confirmation of your cipher solution. As an administrator, the reason I brought this up was to try to keep the purity of the BLockoban game and not to muddy the water of the level pool.
I really appreciate all your thoughts and comments and I am looking forward to hearing from more of you. After we complete this discussion, I intend to contact JP if he is not already aware and get his final opinion as the game's designer.
Thanks again to all of you contributors and players because it is your contributions and efforts that make this site what it is.

  I actually fully agree with Jyxz.
Blockoban is a puzzle game, it's intended to let you think. In my opinion, it doesn't matter what the concept of a Blockoban level is. It has to be well executed of course, but the level should make you start thinking and then you may be able to solve the level.

The level "IQ Test" by The_S is a great level in my opinion. I don't care if it's a controller level, because it's a great puzzle and it makes you think, and this is what a puzzle should do.

Linked blocks are a feature of Blockoban.
And I think that controller levels should belong to a game like this, because linked blocks allow you to do such concepts. It can be true that jp didn't intend such puzzles and it's true that these levels are not typical Blockoban puzzle levels, but they are puzzles and this is the only thing that matters. Blockoban is designed for clever levels and "IQ Test" is definitely one of it.

Levels of course have to be great in quality, but a controller level - if it's well executed - can also be a high quality level.

That's all I can say to this and even if I'm not a good Blockoban player, I have to mention that these levels should also belong to the game.

  That sounds reasonable to me :)

  Yes, my last level is a not standard blockoban level. It's just what tke title says: IQ test or part of it. No targets and you may need a pen and paper. I have two more levels (one of them not very good) but I did not uploaded them because I wanted to see scores and reaction to my first one. In my opinion few controller levels will not be a problem. I remember two and they were well made levels, something different. I suggest for the future only the realy extraordinary and high quality controler levels to be accepted, thus keeping their number low but still not fully excluding them.

  If you really want to avoid alzheimer, you should try to optimise your score, I think you'll train your brain a lot with that. Solving is a thing, but improving is another thing. Although I think controller levels should be kept, I like those levels. Although 'IQ Test' is still testing me. :)

  Jim, while I understand what you're saying, yes they don't take the same skills we have been developing playing other blockoban levels, I think you are forgetting the point of us coming here. Blockoban should be, and I think has been for a lot of us, challenging our minds in new and creative ways. Games like this have been proven to lower the chances of getting alzheimer's and to help delay the symptoms of those who have it. For a player like me, the levels that force me into completely new ways of thinking, the ones where I stare at the screen for 10 minutes before moving a block, are the reason I keep playing this game. Sifting thru hundreds, now thousands, of useless puzzles that present no new challenge, trick, or innovation is annoying. The levels you are attacking in your comment are the levels we should be applauding. Yes, not everyone is going to be able to solve them because they require a certain level of intelligence. Note: I know you are talking about The_S's latest level, which I have stared at for a long time, and haven't solved either. Sometimes there's just levels that not everyone is going to be able to solve, and these are the best kind of levels, not the worst. (Note: There are levels no one should be able to solve as we have proven in the past, and these are the worst.)

  What do you mean by "controller"-levels? I'm not to good at Blockoban terminology :/

  This note is to all players out there. We have recently seen a few of the so-called "controller" levels submitted. I do not feel that these types of levels belong in the game because they are puzzles, but not true Blockoban puzzles as JP designed the game. I would appreciate your input on this, but your opinions do not need to be made publicly if you do not want them to. You can simply PM me and let me know how you feel. For the time being I will not approve any more of this type of level, and would prefer to delete those already in existence unless it is a consensus of the community that you want them included.


edit: Controller level is one that uses a separate box with blocks in a devised code that needs to be deciphered in order to determine the moves required to solve the puzzle. The puzzle usually involves multiply linked blocks in a random pattern.

  whoa, I just jumped to 52nd for designer o.o

  What about me? I had 4.5 7 months ago and I got 4.729 in a month. :p

  Thanks Ferrari! :)

  AK: I'm ahead, so it's up to you to pass me :)

If I remember correctly we're also placed 9th and 10th in ML, so we could have a little HSF there as well!

Manufan: Not at all bad! Congratz :)

  I never realised this myself, but I'm 18th on the designers list!

  I really miss Toughman's levels. :( I know I wasn't able to solve them, but they were all beautiful. x3

  Whoa, he climbed fast ._.

I'll have to work even more now...

Ferrari: We're really close... How about a good old-fashioned official score fight? :D

  And I still can't complete some of my levels :P

  I must say I'm impressed that you in such a short period of time have climbed all the way up to the top 10! I'm still struggling to get into the top 50 :/

  Finally got on the leaderboard...albeit I still have a lot to do to get higher on it.

  I want to get into the top 50 now... Tough levels :|

  eh thanks ^.^

  Congrats bbdest!
Now you're really pro! :D

  I didn't talk about level flooding. I just find it great that you create many levels on many different games! :)

  Not at all, Treazer. I actually make push levels (I have like 15 in evaluation), P4M levels and JG2 levels. Also, I have a RT level that is 40% done, and I think I'll make a new level on Moonlights. I don't know about Puzzle It, I'll probably make levels in rare ocassions. I have an undone level in HP, and I think I won't finish it. I'll make a new level in BB2, but it's gonna be a speedy level because I didn't get a good idea for it. I won't make any CBCL level because I don't have any motivation. I have a Ringmania level in evaluation. Also, I am making a level in CDvZP because I don't like that game being very inactive, It's just very sad to see it like today. Everything I do here is, because I just want to see this site very active, and since I haven't completed a lot of levels these times, I win 5 EXP points for each accepted level, but actually I am not making levels for that. I make levels because I ENJOY making levels. I can probably make like 1000 levels here, or in another game, because I have fun making them. And I'm not talking only about levelflooding this game or the whole site.