I haven’t beaten every level in the game, but I don’t have access to any levels that I haven’t played before, because the reason I stopped playing was that I had already tried and failed every remaining available level.
(Though I suppose I could cheat and look up the solution for where I got stuck...)
I’m not sure I understand. If you have levels leftover that you haven’t beaten beacuse they were too hard, I think this is still a fine exercise (the fact that “it’s hard” isn’t a crux for me. I do think it’s doable, and I think the constraints of the exercise probably help about as much as they hinder.
(You might not succeed at doing succeeding within three tries of one-shotting, but I think you’re more likely to go on to beat the level afterwards, and still learn something from it)
On a literal level, I can’t play “a level I haven’t played before”, which is what the instructions call for.
On a practical level, I’ve already spent multiple hours beating my head against this wall, and when I stopped I had no remotely promising ideas for how to make further progress. (And most of that time was spent staring at the puzzle and thinking hard without interacting with it, so it was already kind of similar to this exercise.)
Admittedly, this was years ago, so maybe it’s time to revisit the puzzle anyway.
I will note that a level editor for this game seems to exist, so in theory you could craft custom levels for this exercise. Though insofar as the point is being potentially-surprised by the rules, maybe that doesn’t help if you aren’t inventing new rules as well.
One note: custom levels now exist and you can go browse them directly even if you’ve beaten the game.
I do agree that this exercise, as-worded, probably nudges towards a flavor of “explicit thinking”, which I don’t think is even necessarily the best strategy for Baba is You overall.
I don’t think this exercise necessarily says “think explicitly” – the section on metacognitive brainstorming is meant to fuzzy/experiential/”go-take-a-shower”/”meditate” style options.
I’m not sure I understand. If you have levels leftover that you haven’t beaten beacuse they were too hard, I think this is still a fine exercise (the fact that “it’s hard” isn’t a crux for me. I do think it’s doable, and I think the constraints of the exercise probably help about as much as they hinder.
(You might not succeed at doing succeeding within three tries of one-shotting, but I think you’re more likely to go on to beat the level afterwards, and still learn something from it)
On a literal level, I can’t play “a level I haven’t played before”, which is what the instructions call for.
On a practical level, I’ve already spent multiple hours beating my head against this wall, and when I stopped I had no remotely promising ideas for how to make further progress. (And most of that time was spent staring at the puzzle and thinking hard without interacting with it, so it was already kind of similar to this exercise.)
Admittedly, this was years ago, so maybe it’s time to revisit the puzzle anyway.
I will note that a level editor for this game seems to exist, so in theory you could craft custom levels for this exercise. Though insofar as the point is being potentially-surprised by the rules, maybe that doesn’t help if you aren’t inventing new rules as well.
One note: custom levels now exist and you can go browse them directly even if you’ve beaten the game.
I do agree that this exercise, as-worded, probably nudges towards a flavor of “explicit thinking”, which I don’t think is even necessarily the best strategy for Baba is You overall.
I don’t think this exercise necessarily says “think explicitly” – the section on metacognitive brainstorming is meant to fuzzy/experiential/”go-take-a-shower”/”meditate” style options.
To clarify slightly more: I think it’s fine to a do a hard level you haven’t beaten before, even if you’ve played it.