There are some general rules to Magic Pen that will help you lower your shape count.
These "glitches", as they are called by the people who don't know how they work and who are angry because they can't use them themselves, were able to allow me to beat all but three of the levels in one shape (lvl 6 and 10 with 2, and lvl 8 with 3). Well, yah, here goes!
TIP 1: THE CATAPULT
There are many levels (especially near the beginning) that require you to jump a gap. They look something like this:
|> O |||||||||||| |||||||||||||| |||||||||||| |||||||||||||| ||||||||||||
The way to solve these is to draw a huge triangle, attached to the ball with a hinge, that can "fling" it over.
___ / | / / / / |> O |||||||||||| |||||||||||||| |||||||||||| |||||||||||||| |||||||||||| The catapult also works on some other levels (i.e. lvl 2 or lvl 9) which don't have gaps. Just make a big shape like this.
__ / \\ / \\ / / /_ _ _ / _O__________|>____
And, after it has tipped over and lifted the ball to the maximum height, delete the hinge and the ball will roll down. Delete the shape at the right time to shoot the ball into the flag and win!
TIP 2: THE MOST AMAZING AND USEFUL TACTIC IN THE WHOLE GAME!!! A.K.A. COLLISION FIELD TRANSLATION!!!
Okay, it might get confusing here (might) so I'll give a quick intro: In this game, you can complete a shape without fully drawing the whole thing out because, when you let go of the mouse, the end and the beginning join to form a giant shape. Needless to say, that means that it is possible to draw a shape so that an object in the environment is within the shape. Now, when that happens, the physics engine has a bit of a problem, because obviously you can't have a shape within another, it just doesn't work.
Well, the way the engine responds is that it draws a line through the shape and the object within, and finds the area of the shape that is most out...in other word,s it finds the spot that would be hardest to sqeeze through the object, the bulkiest, heaviest, thickest side. Then, the entire shape moves in the direction of that side...taking anything attached to the shape with it.
Do you see the uses yet? The best example I can see is level 11. It looks like this:
O ======
|>
Well, using COLLISION FIELD TRANSLATION (CFT) ,this level is a one-shape snap! Just put a hinge in the circle, and draw a huge blob around the circle and the platform, so that the bulk of the blob is below the platform, like this.
_____ / O \\ / ====== \\ |________| |> When you let go, the whole thing moves straight down, getting an easy win! Let's look at another example, like levels 18 and 20
Both of these levels look, more or less, like this:
__ | | __O_| |__<|__
Now, you probably know what to do already, but just in case you don't, you put a hinge in the circle and draw this;
________ | __ | | | | | __|O_| |_<||__
Voila! It goes through for another win!
This helps in almost every level! Use it well!
TIP 3: COLLISION FIELD TRANSLATION PART 2: CHOKEPOINT
Ok, take, for example, a level like level 25. there's a small chokepoint that you must fit the square through:
| | | | |_________ | |=|_ _|> |___________|
How to move it? Well, as mentioned before, the bulkiest side of a shape in an object will be pushed in that direction. So, draw this:
/| / | / | /______|
Only more squashed. to draw this, put a hinge on the square, then trace a line, start just to the lower-left of the square, then up, around the square, deep into the trench, across the trench, up, and up to the top-right of the screen. This should push it all the way through. (if it doesn't, you can still get it in 2 shapes...put a hinge on the square, then draw a line around it, up the right-hand side, and above the big block in the middle of the screen!)
Well, that's that! If you want a level-by-level walkthru, let me know!
