Recommendations Levels good enough to tweak

When I discovered the amazing mekostudio tool, I started playing with it by making small adjustments to levels I really enjoyed playing again and again. Mostly to fix slight instabilities. But some levels were so good they inspired more creativity, and I started experimenting to see if I could do more with them. It was fun and a good learning experience.

I did this just for myself, but the results seemed good enough to share, so I thought I'd post a few of the edited levels here. I hope these might encourage others to experiment and learn. And also highlight the excellent work of the original authors.

This first one is an edit of Hidden Places 2 by @lichtfuerlau. He likes the changes and suggested I post the level under my name, but mekostudio doesn't allow changing the author name (for good reason). And I wouldn't want to take any credit for his fine work. I changed the mechanics in some minor ways, except the ending is quite different. The rest of the changes are just aesthetic. I hope people are willing to take a look at it.

Most of the levels in this thread include some trick moves. If you're not familiar with the Mekorama tricks, you might like to take a look here: Short Tricks Tutorial

(Solution video here)

All of the levels I've edited in this thread can be CLICKED to play online on play.mekorama.com!


Feel free to comment or critique. And if anyone else has edits they'd like to share, please do...

 

Here's the first one I edited, a revision of Mt. Everest by JC/Jim (who I haven't been able to contact). Mostly this is just artistic changes. I was so impressed by the beautiful gorge that I wanted to try to make the mountain just as majestic.

Note: This has been further edited to work with the newer versions of Mekorama, and some tricks have been added to make it a little more challenging.

(Solution video here)

 

I was really enjoying La Resistance by @Block builder yesterday (where you're supposed to plant a bomb on a Nazi tank). Then I remembered something from Hellhound II by @richardfu_. And I thought, What if you could really blow up that tank at the end...?

Turns out, with a little tweak, you can:

Spoiler: Boom!

If anyone else wants to try it, here's the new card:


I also made it easier to get down from the tower without P's help. If you direct him out of the tower ahead of you, he gets into a brawl with a Nazi!

Spoiler: Get out of France!

 

I really enjoyed Save My Lord recently, by @DDD and @Fendi, a brilliantly designed level with some great R moves. Playing it again and again, I thought about the title and began to wonder if the "Lord" could be rescued from a dungeon deep in the castle.

So I gave it a try, and was pleased with the result (Lord R is not visible initially):



UPDATE: Improvements in R stability in mekorama version 1.4.5 made the R tipping move here no longer possible. So I made another little change. The new R move isn't quite as great, but still pretty fun.

(Solution video here)

 

Here's a couple great classic levels that I love, tweaked a bit. The first is Conquer by @cpw. Playing this over and over, I wondered if the zapper could be set free, making it a little more challenging to push it off the cliff. I'm pretty happy with the result:

(Solution video here)



And I also play The Chasm often, by @richardfu_. Really great fun. But it seemed fairly often that B wasn't quite making the jump. So I made some little adjustments, and now he leaps clear pretty much every time. Made the end a bit more challenging also. Here it is, for anyone who wants to try:

(Solution video here)

 

I recently found a couple levels by @PvB that I've really enjoyed. Far Cry is a great one. The adventure was exciting and really inspired me, so I tried a few ideas. Mostly just simplifying some of the mechanisms and aesthetic changes, and then a new ending (similar to what I did with the first level I posted in this thread--I guess I'd rather not finish under water). The new ending adds one last little challenge too. Here's the card:

(Solution video here)

 

Here's another by @PvB that I like a lot, Coast. The ball that rolls out of the house gave me an idea, and I figured out a way to have fun with it. The rest of the changes are mostly aesthetic, or made it a little more reliable for me.

(Solution video here)

 

I liked this level a lot, Sail Away by Mechanizedit. Can't remember where I found it. Great idea and scenery, but not much gameplay (I wanted to hang around in this little world longer!). So I added a few things, and was happy how it turned out:

(There's a solution video for this one too.)

Thanks to @Don G Rowe for testing and advice!

 

A more recent level I really enjoyed was The Other Side, by @Jorz. Fun messing with Z, and lots of interesting moves. But I wasn't so good at the bump/jump, so started thinking, and tried a little more acrobatic version. And then experimented with a different ending. It came out pretty good, I think:

(Solution video here)

 

Another great @richardfu_ level I've played a lot is Sneak In. Exciting and fun. The ninja feel is so good it got me thinking of other ninja moves to try. So I gave it a shot, and I really like the result. I was impressed that the original didn't use any tricks, but this version does...

(Solution video here)



Thanks again to @Don G Rowe for testing (and finding a crazy shortcut).

 

Another really fun one I've played a lot is Kickout, by @PvB. To amuse myself (and hang around that amazing mechanical arm longer) I thought of a few tricks to throw in. But this level was challenging to edit, because it seemed that adding any slider or motor--anywhere--caused the kicker arm to stop working properly. I kept trying though, and the result seems pretty good:

(Solution video here)

 

I edited this level quite a bit, but the gameplay is pretty much unchanged. Not sure where I found it. I kept it because I liked the concept and my five-year-old son can play it. The original is called Altitude, by Mr Bez:

Spoiler: Original version

My new version is below. Like the original, there's two ways to win, an easy way and a more challenging way. So my boy and I can both enjoy it. Thanks for help with aircraft design goes to @JackBauer (Perfect Storm) and @Block builder (Arrr I'm a pilot). There's also a jump off the rocks--just for fun.

Spoiler: "More challenging" solution

 

Here's a more recent level I enjoyed a lot, Wooden Stele by @Fendi. Amazing moves by B in this one that made me want to see them again and again. I experimented a little with the last tower, shortened R's path, and made some aesthetic changes. And threw in a ball ride for fun. Not sure I interpreted "stele" correctly, but I like the result:

(Solution video here)

 

Here's my favorite edited level so far, based on the beautiful, ingenious El Ritual by @Jose Luis Galiano and @Chuckthulhu. I mostly just changed the inside, using some of the interesting mechanisms a different way and trying to match the visual appeal of the exterior. Also added a(nother) surprise, to make it a little more exciting for those who dare enter. It was challenging to make that new part work well, but I love how it turned out.

This was modeled on the temple of Kʼukʼulkan (also known as El Castillo) in the ancient Mayan city of Chichén Itzá, in the Yucatán Peninsula.

(There's also a video of the solution.)

 

Here's a couple great levels by @Block builder, tweaked a bit. In the first, based on the fun and surprising Mystery castle, I moved the win to a slightly less mysterious location (I had to hunt quite a while to find it in the original). Threw in a little jump too, and changed the look a bit.

(Solution video here)




And this one is based on the amazing, athletic Broken bridge. I had some trouble with P getting jammed, and sometimes the ball would get away from B at the end. So I adjusted those parts, and tried to close all the shortcuts reported in the comments. That wasn't easy. It involved removing one ball altogether, and adding a bunch of "evil eyes" under the big doors. So the gameplay is altered a little, and the look is slightly different, but the fun is the same!

(Here's a solution video for this one.)



Thanks to @ridgerunner for looking for shortcuts (and finding one too wild to close).

 

I really liked the design of Bug2, by @huijiuggbf, but it was too hard for me to win! So I started editing to make something I could manage. There's still lots of tricks (and ways to fall off--careful!) and I came up with a little twist to add too. I think the result is a lot of fun:

(Here's a solution video for my version.)

 

When I found the clever and impressive Shootout by @D Wolf, I immediately wondered if it would be possible to shoot B out of those pistols. It took some major editing, but guess what...



In my version, you need to shoot B out of both pistols to win. B has to help get himself into position to fire, so it takes a little patience. But I think the result is pretty fun.

(Here's a solution video to see how it works.)

 

I saw @vince recently posted a new level, which reminded me of one of his classics I've been playing with, Break out. Great design and great story, with fun guard action. One of the commenters had the idea of the guard chasing B during the escape, so I thought I'd see if it could be done. And yes it can. I think it adds some extra excitement to the level, and sometimes R even gets into it with the guard (giving B extra time to escape):




Here's my edited version; the gameplay is the same as the original:

 

Yesterday I had an idea for another interesting move in Temple Kulkulkan above, so I tweaked the tweak. I've got several other edited levels coming, but that one's still my favorite.