Does a contract have a chance to get featured if there is only one way to get SA? I get the feeling that IOI frowns apon this, and will only feature contracts that can be completed SA in multiple ways?
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Theyâve admitted in the past that they donât even play all the contracts they end up picking. Some were picked based off the picture for the contract, the user-created story, the contract name, etc.
There"s no standard for how or why they"re picked.
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Out of pure luck I think many kinds of contracts can become featured if Clemens has not the time to check all contracts.
But I hope he decides against contracts that seem to be solvable only in one way. If he can even guess the solution. I also hope people generally donât try to get such contracts featured. One-trick contracts can end up being super obscure and force less experienced players to use a guide.
Better make puzzles that have multiple solutions. And loopholes for slow players.
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As Urben said, they may not even play the contract before featuring it. You will get ire from the community though if the puzzle is so hard that thereâs only one way to complete it.
I donât personally care if Silent Assassin is even possible, but excessive complications, exploiting glitches, arcane tricks, or puzzles that require walkthroughs to solve are hard âNoâsâ for me.
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Thanx for the advice, Urben. I will have to get more creative, I currently find it tricky to make a contract with multiple solutions. I usually focus on the fun factor, like blowing up 3 targets at once, or getting a sniper double kill, but there is usually only one solution to these contracts. Seems like I need to change my way of thinking.
What helped me the best is focusing on problems, not on solutions. I donât ask myself anymore how I can make a player to do X. More like I try to make up a problem where all easy solutions fail.
Then I think about how I would tackle this problem. And if I still can think of only one solution the contract might not work out.
See my submission for this monthâs batch:
The problem I set up is: You have only one detonator for two explosives of the same kind. Add a different disguise restriction for both targets and there you go. You canât do what people always did with explosive device contracts: Press the trigger at the exit. At least one of the two kills have to be done way before that.
When I thought about the solutions, I found a good few of them. It already doubles the amount of them because of the symmetry. Whatever the player might come up with target A might be viable for B too.
Both explosives are on the map. I donât even need to limit the loadout.
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Ok, I see what you are getting at. This will help a lot, thanx man!
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Is my last contract normal?Just as if you can start from another point and quickly take a sniper rifle from a hiding place.
Says the guy that made a contract with a flying something through the Sapienza hole thing to kill the target or something like that. lol
I couldnât be more vague on what Iâm saying but you know exactly what Iâm talking about. 
To be fair that was like 5 years ago and I did not even submit it to be featured. 
But yeah I only talk about submission contracts, otherwise go wild.
Maybe you see contracts like this as puzzle contracts⌠Like where you have to be in certain disguises to kill whichever targets in a âRock, Paper, Scissorsâ type of way. You have to be disguised as a chef to kill the guard, be disguised as a guard to kill the gardener, be disguised as a gardener to kill the tech crew guy, be disguised as tech crew to kill the chef⌠Itâs all one big circle of disguise changes.
Or there are contracts where youâll need items obtained from the mission like a scissors, screw driver, propane tank⌠and kill the appropriate targets with said methods/instruments.
As for my opinion on them?.. They could be a headache sometimes, but there can usually be a neat/efficient way to get the targets with the appropriate disguises. Maybe with remote explosives, or long range shots from across the map. For this - one should usually leave the kill methods to âAny Methodâ.
Some target kills may not allow for much freedom. I kinda donât like when kill methods are something specific. Youâre essentially telling other players to copy your method, or âHere. Now do it the way I did it.â And Iâm guilty of that myself⌠Not that that makes a bad contract, but when you allow for more freedom⌠
Youâll pry my exploits-disguised-as-puzzles from my cold dead hands