A Comparison of Two Construction Sims: Bridge Constructor Portal and When Ski Lifts Go Wrong

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Bridge Constructor Portal – 14 Hours to Beat
When Ski Lifts Go Wrong – 3 Hours Played

This week's video game article features a comparison between two construction simulators: Bridge Constructor Portal (Bridge Constructor), and When Ski Lifts Go Wrong (Ski Lifts).

Bridge Constructor Portal is the better known of the two, because it is based on Valve's famous Portal series. The developer, ClockStone, and publisher, Headup Games, who had already produced four Bridge Constructor games together, licensed Valve's product to generate enthusiasm for their game. While Bridge Constructor Portal features portals, the companion cube, turrets, and GlaDOS, still voiced by Ellen McLain, the mechanics differ significantly from the original because they belong to different genres.

In the construction sim, When Ski Lifts Go Wrong, the player controls a large outdoor park. They build ski lifts, gondolas, and paths for skis, snowmobiles, bikes, motorcycles, and snowboards. The game was the first developed by Hugecalf Studios, and published by Curve Digital, who also had in a hand in Bomber Crew and The Flame in the Flood, among others.

Both Bridge Constructor and Ski Lifts require the player to solve puzzles using engineering skills. Each feature a number of 2D levels where the player builds a structure capable of supporting a ski-lift, gondola, vehicle, or person to the end of the level.
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Bridge Constructor includes two objectives; single and convoy. First the player builds a structure which can support a single cart to its destination. With this success the player can either; access the next level, or send a convoy across the one they just finished. A convoy is four to twelve carts, which inflicts additional stress on the construction. For many early levels, the convoy will successfully travel across the same structure as the solo cart. In later levels the elevated weight requires more support. When Ski Lifts Fail features one core objective and three bonuses. To complete the main objective the player transports a predetermined number of persons to their destination. Like Bridge Constructor, fulfilling this requirement unlocks the next level. But the player unlocks further material by building a structure which 1) doesn't break, 2) is under budget, and 3) has the riders bump into the medals placed across the level. Both games record the cost of the structure, but they also allow the player to build with an unlimited budget. Though Bridge Constructor measured the cost of each project, the game offered no reason, and therefore no pressure, to consider it as a factor.

The goal of each game is similar, but the process of building offers diverging experiences. When Ski Lifts Go Wrong includes a variety of materials. Cables, planks, logs, ramps, supports, foundations, chair lift chains, and wheels. Sometimes it limits the materials available, while other times the quantity is unlimited. Bridge Constructor Portal includes only two construction materials: cables and scaffold. Scaffold can be turned into ramps by a click of the mouse. Most levels can be beaten with the scaffold and ramps. This comparison of materials might make Bridge Constructor sound simpler than Ski Lifts, but this couldn't be further from the truth. The puzzles of Bridge Constructor are more sophisticated and innovative than those of Ski Lift.
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Both games encourage proper construction. Both include levels where the player starts with a partially built structure. Always demolish it and start from scratch. Both teach that triangles are the strongest shape to build with, and that a strong structure requires a proper foundation. One flaw Bridge Constructor and Ski Lift share is the inability to create ramps with smooth surfaces to prevent bumps.

There are three differences which makes Bridge Constructor Portal more structurally strong than When Ski Lifts Go Wrong. First, the puzzles in Bridge Constructor are simply better. They require more creativity to complete, though often its not difficult to determine the basic premise. Players can build around the developers plan and create their own unique solution. For example, on level 56 I built a solution that did not use any of the four portals provided. Looking on YouTube there are over five widely different solutions for the final level. Bridge Constructor includes many more moving parts and obstacles to overcome than Ski Lift. There's the eponymous portals, but also repulsion gel, propulsion gel, laser doors, two types of buttons, the companion cube, regular doors, turrets, hazardous goo, and a pellet launcher and catcher. Ski Lift pretends to offer seven types of maps, and a variety of construction materials, but includes only two styles, ski-lifts and driving vehicles, and only a few minimal hazards.
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The other difference is the reliability of the game-play. I already mentioned how making smooth curving paths was tricky in Bridge Constructor, but impossible in Ski Lift. The vehicles of Ski Lifts handle terrible, which makes those levels frustratingly difficult. The player doesn't directly control the carts in Portal but the drivers perform with phenomenal skill. Each cart includes three people, and in hazardous terrain only the driver will make it, but what a dedicated professional this androgynous character is. Only complete destruction of the cart will defeat him or her. The carts, lifts, and vehicles often fall from high cliffs or crash into hazards. When this happens in Ski Lift the player loses. But when it happens in Bridge Constructor the carts roll back onto their wheels and continue on their way, though they may be missing a rider or two.

The final distinction is the structures themselves, and the outcomes they generate. The structures in Ski Lift seem like they'd be more interesting because of the variety of materials, but the game uses fewer pieces and doesn't encourage innovative building. The structures of Bridge Constructor are fabricated out of many individual pieces in novel forms, and hold together more reliably. Unfortunately, even in Bridge Constructor a single change in a large structure can cause a butterfly effect, leading to dramatically different outcomes when a convoy of twelve carts drive over it in quick succession.

In Conclusion, Bridge Constructor Portal and When Ski Lifts Go Wrong both require the player to solve puzzles with engineering skills, the latter is one is finicky and frustrating, while the former offers a reasonably structured experience, though nothing as brilliant as the game it derives its name from.

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