Reading this inspired me to go back and try Downwell on the PC again, after trying to beat it for a while and giving up several years ago. I’m attempting to use the skill “when things seem grindy and difficult, try identifying the simplest, most obvious improvement you can make to your strategy instead of just trying harder”. So far this has included:
Using the “floating” playstyle instead of the default
Playing slowly and carefully on the first two zones, then rushing through the last two as quickly as possible.
Getting apples and other HP restoration items when at full health(I didn’t realize they contributed to upgrading your max health)
Despite playing for much less time, I’ve gotten further than I did a few years ago! I’ve made it to the boss(standard difficulty) but died halfway through. Next I’m going to try getting combos in the first two zones, to accumulate more gems early.
Have you tried playing Spelunky? I think it might be better than Downwell as a rationality testing ground since it relies less on twitch reaction skills.
I have also played (and beaten) Spelunkey. I agree it’s a pretty good option. (I also think puzzle games like Baba Is You are good in a somewhat more direct way, as are multiplayer games that require modeling incentives and coordination)
I’m spending a lot of effort these days on “training rationality qua rationality”. But I actually somewhat like that Downwell is reflex-based, because it forces to me to think “okay, how do I deliberate practice something that requires a lot of skills at once, in a domain where it’s hard to cleanly separate them?”.
The mechanism by which Downwell is hard to train is different from the mechanism by which, say, estimating the value of X-risk reduction projects is hard to train. But (I think) there is some shared structure of “man, it’s really hard to train this” and then finding a way to push through and train it anyway.
Downwell is particularly significant to me because I know I plateau’d at it previously, so it’s easier to see the diff of whether an intense deliberate practice focus can help. (This is a fairly unique fact about me+Downwell and not relevant to other people though)
Reading this inspired me to go back and try Downwell on the PC again, after trying to beat it for a while and giving up several years ago. I’m attempting to use the skill “when things seem grindy and difficult, try identifying the simplest, most obvious improvement you can make to your strategy instead of just trying harder”. So far this has included:
Using the “floating” playstyle instead of the default
Playing slowly and carefully on the first two zones, then rushing through the last two as quickly as possible.
Getting apples and other HP restoration items when at full health(I didn’t realize they contributed to upgrading your max health)
Despite playing for much less time, I’ve gotten further than I did a few years ago! I’ve made it to the boss(standard difficulty) but died halfway through. Next I’m going to try getting combos in the first two zones, to accumulate more gems early.
Have you tried playing Spelunky? I think it might be better than Downwell as a rationality testing ground since it relies less on twitch reaction skills.
Congrats!
I have also played (and beaten) Spelunkey. I agree it’s a pretty good option. (I also think puzzle games like Baba Is You are good in a somewhat more direct way, as are multiplayer games that require modeling incentives and coordination)
I’m spending a lot of effort these days on “training rationality qua rationality”. But I actually somewhat like that Downwell is reflex-based, because it forces to me to think “okay, how do I deliberate practice something that requires a lot of skills at once, in a domain where it’s hard to cleanly separate them?”.
The mechanism by which Downwell is hard to train is different from the mechanism by which, say, estimating the value of X-risk reduction projects is hard to train. But (I think) there is some shared structure of “man, it’s really hard to train this” and then finding a way to push through and train it anyway.
Downwell is particularly significant to me because I know I plateau’d at it previously, so it’s easier to see the diff of whether an intense deliberate practice focus can help. (This is a fairly unique fact about me+Downwell and not relevant to other people though)
Update: I beat standard mode. Getting lots of combos made the game much easier(and more fun)