Another Perspective on Another Perspective

So you were curious about my extended thoughts on Another Perspective, were you.

Alright, let's go.

So the story of Another Perspective dates back to late 2015, where I first had the idea of a replicated structure that didn't play out the same- basically, what if you took hit levels like Color Coordination, Monster Swapper, or Encased in Carbonite. I wasn't sure how to go about executing this, and the concept first became Diametric Opposition for UC5, and later became Repetitive Repetition in UC6. But I was never satisfied. Diametric Opposition was an excellent level, but took the same solution Color Coordination did of having one tile equal a different tile on the other side. Repetitive Repetition, on the other hand, took the cop-out solution of changing the room slightly. Would satisfaction with this idea be impossible? I didn't want to use swapping, or dropping gravel everywhere, or any other changes for this. I wanted the top and bottom to be 100% identical but play out differently. Was that even possible?

Cut to October 2017. The idea comes back to me and I'm turning it over in my head, thinking about ways that I might be able to make the idea work. Blocks would have to be critical, and they could be used to go to different places. Toggle buttons could be used for cancellations on one area and then toggling on the other, creating a difference from the same. Keys could have different destinations, and the final piece that I overlooked before: using a teleport, I could have the endpoint of the first half be the starting point of the second half. That final insight was what I needed to make this happen, and so the next morning, I began work.

But where to begin with this monster of a concept? I wanted to get it right, because this was going to be taxing and I didn't have enough ideas to make the concept a second time if it didn't work out. Having full freedom over the walls would likely be a problem, as it would be one more thing I had to build and constantly be taking into account. Monster Swapper, again, one of the initial inspirations, became the heart of this new level. Its walls already met the criteria of top half/bottom half identical, and even had room for an ice slide/teleport mechanism to make that part work. The exit and starting points, then, had an obvious progression. From there, I plotted out the blocks and water as necessary to make each half distinct. At this point, I had 5 sections to build, and I was an hour in.

The tank room came first.

It was an easy enough section to build- the first half of it is trivial, just moving a block through. That meant I could focus the design on the second half, with the toggle walls and force floor constructions, to create a further puzzle of reaching the exit. The yellow lock/bomb pair guarding the chip were a late addition after I'd built most of the rest of the level, when I realized I had a spare block and yellow key, and could use both in the same section.

The teeth/ice room came second.

This took several hours and underwent a few changes as I was playing and testing. Making sure the blockslides could be re-attempted and also done in both rulesets while also managing the teeth and making sure every block had to go where I wanted it to was HARD. More than anything else, this section is why the level is so brilliant. The bug room came third, while I was still changing the teeth part. It was super basic, and went back to the teeth room.

But then, I found a problem. Lynx monster order would have one of the teeth sneak through the toggle door and there was nothing I could do about it- so the bugs had to be placed at the top. Then the two halves could be done identically with accessing the same block, so I had to add the ball mechanism to have a different path locked as a direct consequence of the toggle section being played- neither of these actually have the consequence due to monster order, mind you, but on a successful solve they're impossible to differentiate from that consequence and so the illusion is maintained. Until I spoil it here- oh well :P

The key/lock section came fourth. It wasn't that bad, honestly, I'd already determined I wanted cloning in the top right, so I had a monster available, and a bomb/block combo allowed different uses in different places.

I was now 6 consecutive hours of designing in with a killer headache from trying to keep both halves of the solution in memory at the same time, with forecasting how any change would affect the level. I hadn't even eaten yet that day, but I didn't realize- this was a flow state. I was getting this done NOW before I had to figure out everything.

The cloning came fifth.

That section, that simple section, took me two hours because I kept trying to find a more interesting way to build the room. Some sort of redirection, or block usage, or limited cloning, or something, but no luck. The glider section is pretty nice, I think, calling the block on one half but not the other, allowing a shortcut. In a way, the section is more about the shortcuts already having equipment can allow, and I think a small area delegated to that is fair and reasonable to explore, even if it is the weakest part.

And so, 8 hours in, the longest I had ever spent designing a single level... I found a bust. Of course I did. Nothing could ever be simple. An hour later, I had it fixed and the level solved in both rulesets. I knew I was looking at a winner, the only question would be... would others agree with me? Would other people agree that this is my best level? Would other people agree that this is the best CC concept? Probably not, but I think it is. I'm biased, but that's still my opinion and I'm sticking to it. No matter how you look at it, this is a ridiculously impressive construction. Would other people agree that this is one of the best levels by anyone ever? We'll see.

Five months later, it won the Walls of CCLP4 create competition with rave reviews.

James said it was super legit.
Miika said the best part was the concept and the meticulous way I stuck with it.
Andrew M. said "All in all it was a good level, I just didn't expect it to be anywhere near that hard."
I'll include other comments here when they're given.

This level is a major point of pride for me. It so easily could have been a terrible play experience, but it's not. And I'm proud of that.