Tyler Sontag: Difference between revisions

Tyler was on the [[Chip's Challenge Level Pack 1|CCLP1]] staff and [[Chip's Challenge Level Pack 4|CCLP4]] staff, and is the leader of the [[Chip's Challenge 2 community pack|CC2LP1]] staff.

== Levels in official packs ==

=== CCLP1 ===

* [[Key Pyramid]]

* [[Block Party]]

* [[When Insects Attack]]

* [[Colors for Extreme]]

* [[Tunnel Clearance]]

* [[Badlands]]

* [[The Sewers]]

* [[Metal Harbor]]

* [[Thief, You've Taken All That Was Me]]

=== CCLP3 ===

* [[Entrance Examination]]

* [[Jumble]]

* [[All About Blocks]]

* [[Coal Mine]]

* [[Civilization of Creatures]]

* [[Pushy]]

* [[Everybody Get Dangerous]]

=== CCLP4 ===

* [[Exclusive Or]]

* [[Protect Your Fortress]]

* [[Flippant]]

* [[Technopathic]]

* [[Spring]]

* [[Forsythia]]

* [[Cyprus]]

* [[Empty Rooms]]

* [[Repugnant Nonsense]]

* [[Death and Destruction]]

* [[Mindless Self-Indulgence]]

* [[Bam Thwok]]

* [[Monorail]]

* [[Propaganda]]

* [[Gimmick Isle]]

Work on his first set, [[TCCLP]], began in May of 2004, and was completed in mid-2007. It contains 350 levels, making it the second-largest set at the time, behind [[Jacques.dat]]. Albeit heavily flawed with many of the levels being unsolvable, this set is still available nearly ten years after its creation and is one of the most well-known custom sets.

Tyler has released several more sets since TCCLP. He began TCCLP2 in early 2009, but ditched it in late 2009 due to constraints from being hosted on [[pieguy]]'s site. TCCLPRejects began around the same time. The early levels were levels that he felt were too poor to be placed in TCCLP or TCCLP2, but the set soon became a place for Tyler to experiment with various glitches and unorthodox concepts, similar to [[EvanD1]]. It is now the only CC1 set he provides updates to, and is quite sizable at 180 levels. TCCLPpgchip started in late 2008, which was a short set meant to be played with the [[ice block]] patch.

When submissions for [[Chip's Challenge Level Pack 3|CCLP3]] were being accepted, Tyler submitted TylerSubmissions, which consisted of his 35 favorite levels from TCCLP and TCCLP2, all made Lynx compatible. Seven of these levels appeared in CCLP3, [[Entrance Examination]], [[Jumble]], [[All About Blocks]], [[Coal Mine]], [[Civilization of Creatures]], [[Pushy]], and [[Everybody Get Dangerous]]. After CCLP3's release, he added eight more levels and removed three, rebranding the set as TS1.

When [[Chip's Challenge Level Pack 1|CCLP1]] was announced, Tyler began work on [[TS0]]. The levels were intended to have difficulties appropriate for CCLP1, but he felt this was too restrictive and went on to design levels such as [[Lounge Act]]. It was completed in late 2012 and contains 40 levels, the same number as TS1. CCLP1 contains six of its levels [[Colors for Extreme]], [[Tunnel Clearance]], [[Badlands]], [[The Sewers]], [[Metal Harbor]], and [[Thief, You've Taken All That Was Me]]. For CCLP1, he additionally assembled DanielB-Lynx, which is a collection of level from DanielB1 and DanielB2 modified to be Lynx compatible. He received permission from [[Daniel Bouwmeester]] to submit the set for CCLP1 consideration.

He began TS2 during CCLP1's development to prepare for the next community pack [[Chip's Challenge Level Pack 4|CCLP4]]. He ceased progress at the end of 2014 with only 22 levels finished and decided to focus on CC2 level designing when it was released the following year.

Tyler quickly released a small level set after [[Chip's Challenge 2|CC2]] was released in May 2015 named TSAlpha. He built it slowly over the next three years before finalizing it in mid-2018 with 40 levels. The set is notable for its use of unsupported tiles that he co-discovered with [[random 8]] such as the zero [[directional block]], blank [[no sign]]s, and [[voodoo tile]]s. To complement TSAlpha's release, Tyler released TSNull, a smaller set containing reject and experimental levels. In March 2018, Tyler released an initial version of his next CC2 level set, TSBeta.

Tyler's design style in his TCCLP days were eclectic, but he eventually found a distinct style in the late stages of TS1 and TS0. All the levels in his TSx series are Lynx-compatible, and tries to conform to pedantic Lynx rules as often as possible. The TSx levels are usually medium to hard difficulty, and often contain a large number of [[recessed wall]]s and [[Partial posting|partial posts]]. He has become infamous for including adapted [[Sokoban level|Sokoban sections]] in his levels, usually involving three blocks. His TCCLPRejects levels exploit many glitches, such as [[data resetting]], the [[Multiple Tank Glitch|multiple tank glitch]], and various other oddities. In his CC2 sets, he frequently uses [[bowling ball]]s, [[logic gate]]s, and [[railroad track]], the last of which he considers the most versatile addition to CC2.

While designing TS2 and his subsequent CC2 level sets, Tyler made fewer and fewer levels that require [[computer chip]]s. In TSAlpha, 22 of its 40 levels contain no chips, and all TSBeta levels currently require no chips. This has led to an inside joke that Tyler wants chips officially banned from appearing in levels.

In MS, Tyler is ranked 31st in CC1 with a score of 5,975,580, 6th in CCLP1 with a score of 6,003,500, 21st in CCLP2 with a score of 6,038,430, 10th in CCLP3 with a score of 6,058,970, and 5th in CCLP4 with a score of 6,085,510. His first bold confirm was in CCLP3 on [[Marooned]], often considered the easiest bold to achieve in CCLP3. However, after the release of CCLP1, he became more serious about optimization and achieved a modest number of new records and confirms, placing him near the top of the CCLP1 scoreboard. He performed similarly with CCLP4.

When CC2 was released, he picked up some new records and confirmed, mostly focusing on the time bolds, but has not optimized often since.

In the fall of 2015, [[James Anderson]] recruited Tyler to help him update the code for the [https://jamesa7171.net/ Chip's Challenge high score site]. James wanted scores to be managed in a more automated manner, rather than using spreadsheets and manually-written HTML as had been the case since scorekeeping began. Tyler completed this within a few months, but revisited the site's codebase in spring of 2017 to update the UI and in fall of 2018 to restructure the database. James transferred the site's ownership to Tyler in December 2018, though the URL remained the same and James still has the ability to update site scores.

In January 2019, Tyler offered to host a new version of the Chip's Challenge Wiki after the former wiki hosted by Wikia was falling out of the community's favor.