Zane Kuecks

Zane Kuecks, also known as IceyLava108 and more recently Inzane, is a chipster, optimizer, and level designer. He first played Chip's Challenge sometime in the mid 2000s, but was unaware of the larger community at the time. In late 2011, he re-acquired a copy of Microsoft's Chip's Challenge and an editor and begin making his own levels, soon finding out about CC Zone and the Chip's Challenge community at large after leaving a comment on a YouTube video. Since then, Zane has released several custom level sets for both Chip's Challenge 1 and 2.

Zane has been known to overhaul his CC1 level sets in favor of better design quality. In 2016 and 2017, he updated his first three CC1 level sets with major changes to both gameplay and design. In January 2024, he began a major project to transform and condense his existing level stock into three major level sets which is currently underway. Once complete, Zane plans to retire from CC1 level design in favor of CC2.

CC1 level sets

Zane began work on his first level set, survival.dat, in December 2011. Originally conceived of as a story-based level set, its full version was never realized. Its design style ranges from very basic to largely nonsensical, with many levels involving heavy numbers of monsters, excessively long sliding paths, and no discernible wall patterns, akin to many levels designed prior to CCLP2. A demo of this level set, the only version to be released online, contains 33 levels and is still available on CC Zone. Some concepts included in survival.dat provided a foundation for levels seen in later level sets. As his experience was limited to MSCC during this time, this level set was not intended for Lynx play.

ZK1 and ZK2

Pivoting to Lynx-compatible design ahead of the release of CCLP1, Zane released ZaneK1 (later ZK1) in August 2012. It contains 149 levels and, unlike its predecessor, was designed loosely with Lynx play in mind, although in practice many issues began to arise in both rulesets due to lack of thorough playtesting. Compared to survival.dat, Zane's design style was heavily refined; although notably messier than many of its contemporaries, it was a sizable improvement. Despite this, many levels included in ZaneK1 remain bland, uninspired, or rely too heavily on borrowed concepts and designs. Thirty-one of the levels designed during development of ZaneK1 were submitted for CCLP1; one, Launch, was included in the final set.

Zane released a standalone Halloween level, titled Halloween Special, on 31 October 2012 to promote his upcoming level set ZK2.

Zane released ZK2 (originally titled ZaneK2) in January 2013 with eighty levels, rebranding its predecessor as ZK1 sometime during development. ZK2 sees more focused designs than ZK1, pursuing smaller, often thematic styles as opposed to predominantly chip-collecting or single-concept levels that were commonplace in ZK1. Zane considers the design style seen in the original version of ZK2 to be the primitive foundation for his modern level building preferences.

ZK3

In 2013, Zane began work on a two-part sequel to ZK2; informally referred to and later condensed into simply ZK3, Zane released two level sets titled ZK3: Damnation and ZK3: Abandoned. These subtitles, as well as some hints within levels, suggest a mini-storyline of some sort akin to what Zane had attempted previously with survival.dat; similarly, though, this idea was very minimally implemented. Inspired by Tyler Sontag's forty-level packs, each level set contains forty levels, considerably more difficult than either ZK1 or ZK2. Though still considered somewhat subpar by his own modern standards, ZK3 bore a major design evolution from that of ZK2, with a focus on highly challenging but thoroughly engaging levels as opposed to the more simplistic but colorful puzzles seen before.

Zane compiled a CCLP4 submissions set, titled ZaneSubmissions, for CCLP4 consideration. It encapsulated what Zane felt was the best of his available levels at the time from ZK1 through ZK4 with over two hundred entries. Three of its levels, all from ZK3, made the cut: It Suits the Purpose, Split Path, and Lockdown.

ZK4 and ZK5

Work on ZK4 began in 2014 and was completed the following year. It contains 75 levels, marking a departure from prioritizing difficult campaign levels in favor of exploring easier but thoughtful puzzles. Unlike his previous entries, ZK4 was and still is mostly ordered by design date, lacking a recognizable difficulty curve. Whereas ZK3 prioritized pure difficulty, ZK4 placed a novel preference for aesthetic and appearance over all other design qualities.

Zane released his final CC1 level set, ZK5, in August 2017, containing fifty levels. Initially slated for thirty levels, it was expanded to fifty before being uploaded to CC Zone. Every tenth level contains a thorough remake of a single level from each one of his previous level packs. Aside from a modest difficulty curve that spikes near the end of the pack, most levels are relatively small in scope, centered around exploring one or several game mechanic(s) or tile(s).

Modernization

In 2016 and 2017, Zane began to heavily modify his first three level sets, elevating their design quality to what he felt was his standard at the time. ZK1 received the most changes; its total level count was reduced from 149 to 100 (plus 10 additional levels intended to be considered a separate "bonus" section) and many of its levels were either significantly modified or completely rebuilt from scratch. Many levels present in the original ZK1, since dubbed ZK1_old, were not included in the remade level set. ZK2 and ZK3 also received significant changes, but many fewer levels were outright rebuilt.

CC2 level sets

Thus far, Zane has released three small level sets for Chip's Challenge 2. Bronze was quickly released in June 2015 following the release of CC2; because of the impracticality of the built-in editor, his first CC2 levels were relatively small in size and rather experimental with newly introduced game elements. This was followed up by Silver in May 2017 and Gold in March 2019, which focused on larger, more in-depth concepts thanks to the release of third-party editors. As of 2024, Zane has released sixty-six levels across his three main CC2 sets. Two of his CC2 levels appeared in CC2LP1: A Little Help and Primed.

Other level sets

In addition to his mainline CC1 releases, Zane has also constructed several other level packs for Chip's Challenge 1. He released ZKpgchip in October 2012, a short pack dedicated to concepts utilizing the ice block patch. In April 2014, he created ZK-Ideas, a side project initially developed to serve as a rejects set but later expanded into a mostly experimental pack akin to TCCLPRejects. In 2020, Zane released a best-of level set titled ZK0 which includes 100 hand-picked levels from ZK1 through ZK5.

Zane crafted a massive level set titled ZK-Adventure in 2017. It was made for Josh Lee who created a Let's Play of the level set following its completion. It contains 350 levels, a homage to Josh's username Flareon350, consisting largely of Zane's then newly updated levels from ZK1 through ZK4 in addition to select unreleased ZK5 levels. While the levels functionally remain the same, many hints and level titles were changed to reference numerous inside jokes between Zane and Josh (as well as Tyler).

For CC2, Zane released an experimental set parallel to ZK-Ideas named Ruby in January 2019, though it only contains a single level.

Current and future projects

In January 2024, Zane began a second major overhaul of his existing level sets, seeking to re-release ZK1, ZK2, and ZK3, each with 100 levels, to fit his current design style. Some levels will receive little to no change while others will be completely replaced. Zane also plans to scrap current versions of ZK4 and ZK5, instead incorporating their level concepts into this new condensed format. Depending on future interest, he may redevelop ZK4 and ZK5 into similar level packs with 200 all-new levels. However, Zane's CC2 level design is likely to take priority. This project is currently underway and is expected to complete sometime during 2024. Both current and older versions of these level packs will be appropriately renamed upon the release of these renovated packs.

Zane also plans to replace ZK0 with a traditional 149-level set once development of ZK1, ZK2, and ZK3 are complete, with select levels from each pack.

For CC2, Zane plans to modernize select levels from Bronze, Silver, and Gold in favor of a similar 100-level pack titled Inzane1, retiring the element-based names. Future CC2 level sets will follow a similar format.

Design style

Zane's level design style has changed slowly over time, visible in rough transitions throughout his level sets. He almost universally prioritized gameplay elements over appearance during the development of ZK1 and ZK2, only gradually latching on to personal design tropes thereafter. By the release of ZK4 and especially ZK5, Zane had reversed this position and instead cemented his interest in aesthetic beauty as his main priority when designing levels, even at the expense of functionality if necessary. His newest levels pronounce symmetry and attention to detail as much as possible without significantly compromising gameplay, though Zane prefers to redraw concepts should looks suffer too much as a result.

Today, many of his tougher levels involve some amount of force floor precision required to dodge dangerous obstacles, frequent use of monster manipulation to progress, and regular use of advanced concepts such as partial posting and the use of blocks and monsters together to perform nails. Zane's modern style also places a greater emphasis on what he believes to be underutilized game elements, such as normalized tighter time limits and a larger focus on window shopping to solve puzzles stretching multiple rooms. Solutions to his puzzles often involve deciphering patterns hidden either within levels themselves or more abstractly within level names or hints. He seldom uses hints to relay direct information to the player as is the norm with most designers; rather, his hints typically serve as additional layers to existing game puzzles or provide advantages only through cryptic riddles. His modern levels use a limited number of thin walls and almost never use north or west-facing thin walls.

To contrast many of his more difficult levels, Zane's level sets also feature a number of small, short levels.

Many of his levels revolve around a specific type of obstacle tile and how other game elements interact with it; for example, fire-themed levels involving both bugs and fireballs.

Zane cites custom sets TS0 and TS2, JBLP1, ArchieP1, and Chip56 as some of his greatest influences in shaping his current design ethic, with Josh Lee's versatility and use of color throughout his many level packs also having a significant impact.

Scores

Though he prefers level design, Zane is a proficient optimizer in MS, particularly in CC1 and CCLP1. As of March 2024, he is currently 17th place on the CC1 MS leaderboard with a score of 5,976,940, including 133 bolds. However, because he optimizes so infrequently, he has only scored a handful of new records, all of which are currently in CCLP1 MS.

Official Levels

CCLP1

#	Name
82	Launch

CCLP4

#	Name
52	It Suits the Purpose
54	Split Path
97	Lockdown

CCLP5

#	Name
93	Shuffling

CC2LP1

#	Name
3	A Little Help
197	Primed

Trivia

• Zane's favorite level set is CC1.
• Many of his level titles reference song titles, album titles, or fictional locations in video games or other media.
• Zane once uploaded his own solution for every CC1 and CCLP2 level to his former YouTube channel; it has since been inadvertently shut down.
• One of Zane's favorite level design concepts is the use of force floor precision, as satirically referenced in this level.