Top 40

[Dr Guru]

Hi,

I have just seen that Arno has posted a Top 40 playlist of Boulder Dash Caves on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpOnKOg ... lkwVzekloP

It is well worth having a glass of wine, leaning back in the armchair and watching this amazing succesion of caves. The caves are all from the "Krissz period", so there are no caves created by CLCK, PLCK, gdash or from the original Boulder Dash games. Also there are actually 46 caves . Be prepared to watch some caves twice, either to understand what is going on or to believe what you have just seen.

I personally found the following caves particularly interesting:
"Stop the attack" (by Nesdori), because I remember I had a very similar idea when building Brain Delicacy, but I wasn't technically able to realize it.

And the three "deflection caves":
- "Airdrops" (by Trischi83/Arno):a firefly is used to deflect a diamond
- "Jumping Flies" (Arno): a firefly is deflected across a gap by droping a boulder an instant before, so that the firefly walks across the falling boulder
- "Ultra Jump" (by Trischi83): an explosion is jused to guide a firefly across three air spaces
These were all deflection methods I had never seen before.

So, I had big fun watching these videos; thanks to Arno for making that collection!

Dr Guru

[Arno]

Thanks Andreas for the appreciation!

This list is now a top 50! I've just added a few caves, including two caves from your Brain Delicacy (remake) which, to my opinion, deserve a place in this "ultimate hall of fame"!
Perhaps I will add more older caves, but currently I'm going through a very long history!

I assume that you have already seen the caves I'm going to mention, however the following sidenodes are probably interesting for other readers too:

"Stop the attack" (by Nesdori), because I remember I had a very similar idea when building Brain Delicacy, but I wasn't technically able to realize it.

Some other caves with "dancing flies" include: "Ultra Horror Cave Plus" (Trischi83), "Firefly Walk With Me" (Nesdori), and "Delta" (Arno). But Nesdori's idea of stopping the firefly attack using dancing butterflies is indeed very original!

- "Airdrops" (by Trischi83/Arno):a firefly is used to deflect a diamond

"Diamonds Enigma" (Arno) applies the same trick to a falling boulder.

- "Jumping Flies" (Arno): a firefly is deflected across a gap by droping a boulder an instant before, so that the firefly walks across the falling boulder

"Airjumps for Experts" (Trischi83) is an extreme variant of this idea, because some of these deflections occur outside the visible area!

- "Ultra Jump" (by Trischi83): an explosion is jused to guide a firefly across three air spaces

"Ultra Horror Lagoon" (trischi83) uses a similar idea to prevent a butterfly touching a voodoo. There also exist caves (outside top 50) in which you have to push a boulder over an explosion puff after killing a firefly.

Other deflection techniques are possible with the light boulder: see caves "Ultra Non-plus Ultra", "Ultra Open Borders", "Ultra Light Boulder" and "Super Pushing" (all by Trischi83).

[Dr Guru]

It will be difficult to rate old/classic caves vs the caves on Krissz site. E.g. how would you rate cave A1 of the first Boulder Dash? On the one hand, it is iconic, the most famous cave of all time which has introduced 100000s of players to the game and which has been referenced in hundreds of fanmade cave sets. On the other hand, it's just some random diamond and rock seeds plus two walls, hardly worth being named "cave design" by today's standards.

Maybe it's more interesting to look which caves have introduced which methods/ideas over time. But I guess it will sometimes be very difficult to really find the prototype caves, as there are sooo many cave sets around.

Concerning Brain Delicacy: "The Blocker" is also my personal favorite of the cave set! My second favorite would be "The Tower".

[Arno]

It will be difficult to rate old/classic caves vs the caves on Krissz site. E.g. how would you rate cave A1 of the first Boulder Dash? On the one hand, it is iconic, the most famous cave of all time which has introduced 100000s of players to the game and which has been referenced in hundreds of fanmade cave sets. On the other hand, it's just some random diamond and rock seeds plus two walls, hardly worth being named "cave design" by today's standards.

Exactly my thoughts too! Different caves are generally very hard to compare. My top 50 on youtube is also a very rough order how I would rank the custom caves based on a combination of originality, creativity and design.

[CWS]

I think the cave in the video in the first post is impossible to solve for regular players, even not professionals. Only the creator can do it. It is way too complex with a lot of steps to solve in the correct order.

[Arno]

I think the cave in the video in the first post is impossible to solve for regular players, even not professionals. Only the creator can do it. It is way too complex with a lot of steps to solve in the correct order.

Do you mean 'Ultra Magic Channel', the no. 1 in the top 50?
I've solved it, and I'm not the creator!
Yes, it is a very complex cave! It took me a few hours to study the map and another few hours to complete a full run. I love the puzzles in this cave and the idea to pass a diamond through magic walls all the way from top to bottom! The last part, where you run downwards in a zigzag pattern with boulders above your head, is a real killer where I wasted a few attempts too!

[CWS]

Then you are a REAL pro!

One mistake and you have to play the cave over and over and over again...

By the way: I once had an account at Krissz site but my login doesn't seem to work anymore. How to contact him?

[Arno]

By the way: I once had an account at Krissz site but my login doesn't seem to work anymore. How to contact him?

You have to go to the following site:
http://blog.krissz.hu/magamrol/ (hungarian)
At the bottom you find an email-link. This opens a popup in which you have to type in some antispam code, after which his email adres appears.

[CWS]

No reaction from him...

[Dr Guru]

I have to agree with CWS that the "expert levels" on Krissz site (to which many of this Top50 listing belong) have reached a level of difficulty that is beyond those of most BD players (including me). Especially, many caves require very sophisticated timing skills. I think there are some caves that only about 5 or 10 players in the world can play and solve. Actually, in many levels it is even hard to understand what's going on just by watching.

Nevertheless, I enjoy a lot watching the videos of these extreme caves and am amazed by the ideas that people come up with. To me, the fact that after more than 30 years cave designers can still design novel mechanisms, is a testament to the genius of the original Boulder Dash game design.

[Arno]

I fully agree! Those caves with sophisticated timing skills are too hard for me as well. Actually, I know only 3 players who can solve such caves: Trischi83, Nesdori and Adrian Fellner.
Today I've uploaded a video of a cave ('Arno 707') on youtube, where you don't need perfect timing, but use the logic how boulders and diamonds fall, in combination with magic walls.