Screenshot of the first level Chip's Challenge is a tile-based, puzzle video game for several systems, including the hand-held Atari Lynx, DOS, and Windows (included in Microsoft's Best of Windows Entertainment Pack). The design of the original game was done by Chuck Sommerville, who also made about a third of the levels. Chip's Challenge is considered by many the most challenging video game ever released.
The game consists of a series of 148 two_dimensional levels (149 in Microsoft's version) which feature the player character, Chip, and various game elements such as computer chips, buttons, locked doors and lethal monsters. Gameplay involves using arrow keys, directional pad or mouse to move Chip about each of the levels in turn, collecting enough chips to open the chip socket at the end of each level and move onto the next.
Levels can be skipped by entering an appropriate four-letter case-insensitive password. For the PC versions, game progress is automatically saved. On the Windows version of the game, the passwords can easily be cracked, thus making it a simple matter to skip levels without playing.
Progress is not just measured in terms of completed levels but also in terms of the player's score, which is a sum of the score obtained on each level. Some level scores can be improved by completion in less time than previously, or by using fewer attempts to complete a level.
Chip's Challenge 2
The success of Microsoft's version eventually led Chuck Sommerville to create a sequel, Chip's Challenge 2, usually abbreviated to "CC2". CC2 included many new kinds of elements and many new levels in addition to the original ones. However, the game has never been released to the public, as Chuck and the copyright holder of the game could not agree on terms. Chuck has since given up trying to release CC2.
Internet community An informal Internet community of players has developed around the game, producing text, map, and video walkthroughs, FAQs, level editors and screenshots of the game. Most members of the community reside on Usenet at news://news.annexcafe.com/annexcafe.chips.challenge. Chuck Sommerville also posts there. They have produced a second set of 149 levels for the Windows version of the game with the name "CCLP2" (an abbreviation of "Chip's Challenge Level Pack 2") featuring contributions by a large number of people. This version is considered the official sequel in place of CC2.
Other unofficial software produced by them include:
- a level editor known as ChipEdit
- ChipCap, a program to assist in recording Chip's Challenge AVI videos
- an open source emulator of Chip's Challenge known as "Tile World" which can be used with the Microsoft Windows, Linux and BeOS operating systems. The emulator supports both the original Lynx and the later Windows versions, as the ways in which the elements of the game work diverge in many cases.
- CCTools, a set of utilities for Chip's Challenge, including CCEdit, a level editor, CCLM, a "level manager", and CCHack, a program which can change the resources for CC.
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