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m3psi

39
Posts
A member registered Apr 18, 2020

Recent community posts

oh yes I did see that trivial alternative for 3-1, I meant nontrivial multiple solutions, but you got that :). Thank you for confirming! 

Out of curiosity, do you have a backend system for verifying solvability and solutions? If so, is it brute force, or something more elegant, even heuristics that cut down on the size of the possible solution space?  

I did find that solution for 4-2 when going as far back as possible to get to 6-3, but after trying to use that solution just for 5-1, I thought, "wow, this is useless, let me go back and use the normal solution." But it is actually possible to solve everything in 5 and 6 with that??

I was happy to just get the straightforward solution for 6-3, without having to keep all the contingent paths in my head… but I guess that's what makes the challenge! 

Can you confirm, what the first stage with multiple solutions is? Does everything before 4-2 only have one solution? (4-2 is the first stage where I found more than one)

Wohoo! Finally got it. Fantastic game! 

Note: 6-3 is the last level, there's nothing after it. Spoilers, hint and solution, below. 







SPOILERS:



HINT: The key is 5-2. You want to get two "passthrough" paths in a right angle to each other, each that goes from one end to the opposite end, with the third path being at an "inner" right angle to the cross made by those two other paths. This, together with the straightforward "corners" solution to 5-1, will give you a lot of flexibility in making paths on the level 6 stages, but also making paths that are easy to keep track of. 5-3 has at least two solutions I found; but, if 5-2 is done appropriately, then neither of those 5-3 solutions are needed for 6-3. 













SOLUTION:


Awesome!! Nothing you said contained the idea, as far as I could tell, but however it happened you got me thinking about possible mechanics I was missing, and the one possibility that dawned on me was the way to solve it. Thank you! 

So I think I know the mechanic in question, since I did solve level 8, and that was my thought as well but I couldn't figure out how to apply it to level 7. Specifically, I couldn't find a way that taking a "turn"  could hit the trapped bed on the left side. But with that hint, I'll try and take another look! 

I definitely got the RPS cyclic joke, and appreciated it :). 

My only complaint is that the milk was deeply misleading when trying to get to the cheese. 

Any plans for levels that feature currently unused objects? pillow, submarine, yacht… I got some others too but before I was keeping track. 

Great game! 

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I can beat levels 8 and 9, but not 7…

SPOILERS











I don't think I was consistent with the function names… feel free to clean up

Combine(straw, stick) = torch

Improve(straw) = stick

Improve(stick) = brick

Combine(straw, brick) = oven

Improve(oven) = microwave

Combine(stick, brick) = sledgehammer

Improve(sledgehammer) = jackhammer

Combine(brick, brick) = wall

Transmute(straw) = steel

Transmute(microwave) = fridge

Transmute(rubber band) = stick

Transmute(stick) = rubber band

Transmute(sledgehammer) = paintbrush

Combine(rubber band, rubber band) = ball

Combine(stick, stick) = raft

Transmute(raft) = anchor

Improve(raft) = yacht

Improve(anchor) = submarine

Transmute(wall) = window

Transmute(window) = wall

Combine(wall, wall) = house

Improve(torch) = flashlight

Transmute(flashlight) = solar panel

Split(house) = (wall, wall)

Split(wall) = (brick, brick)

Degrade(brick) = stick

Degrade(stick) = straw

Degrade(rock) = scissors

Degrade(scissors) = paper

Degrade(paper) = rock

Combine(paper, paper) = book

Detransmute(brick) = feather

Degrade(cooked meat) = raw meat

Combine(raw meat, feather) = chicken

Detransmute(chicken) = egg

Transmute(bull) = cow

Transmute(cow) = bull

Split(bull) = (raw meat, raw meat)

Split(cow) = (raw meat, milk)

Improve(raw meat) = cooked meat

Combine(bread, cooked meat) = hamburger

Improve(burger) = cheeseburger

Split(cheeseburger) = (cheese, burger)

Split(burger) = (cooked meat, bread)

Improve(bread) = breadboard

Split(breadboard) = (bread, board)

Transmute(breadboard) = chalkboard

Split(chalkboard) = (chalk, board)

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Awesome game! Thanks to those building the wiki as well. 

Feature requests/suggestions. I am betting many/most of these are too complicated to implement, and obv you have no obligation to do anything more with the game that is pretty simple and already fantastic, but just putting them out there as ideas. 
1. Manual zoom. I am zooming via the trackpad, and Ctrl+Scroll doesn't give very good control. I also have no horizontal scroll which is super annoying if I want be zoomed in. 
2. Related to the above: a minimap. For telling me how much of the map I am not currently showing, as I struggle with zoom. Being able to drag around on a minimap would also fix the problem of (trackpads not giving) horizontal zoom. 
3. Being able to save maps. Sometimes I want to experiment, and this would help. I like the previously made suggestion of a sandbox; but having saved maps might be easier to implement than would a sandbox, since the best map (and the null map) is already saved and available to restore and this would just be the same but with additional slots. But, restoring the best map, and clearing, are super useful to have, thank you for those!! 
4. Being able to store "motifs" and use them like stamps. E.g., save some 3x3 or 5x5 square set of tiles, and then being able to use that like a "stamp" to make repeated copies of it. This would probably be pretty hard, but super useful. 
5. Plots. I would love to have some visualizations over dimensions of {map cost, income, # of reduce tile cost upgrades, number of tiles used}. Having plots over time is a common thing I see in resource-management games, but I don't think that is super useful in a game where the map can be easily cleared. Or, maybe raw data downloads so we can do our own summaries and make our own plots :). 

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SPOILERS FOR THE LAST TILES. And how to get Atlantis and a way to get Powerhouse. I have everything (17/18 tiles) except the top one in the disconnected leftmost column that shows up near the end. Help for that, please! Also, help for how to get Atomic, Scorched Earth, and Factory. 







Disconnected, leftmost column tiles, from bottom to top:

1. Steam = Fire + Water

2. Causeway = Lava + Water

3. Ash = Forest + Fire + Fire

4. ??


Tiles past the fifth column: 

Wheat = Ash + Ash + Plains

Village = Water + Wheat + Plains



Some achievements:

Atlantis: Village surrounded by 6 water

Powerhouse: Wheat surrounded by 4+ villages works

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@Dorkfishie: spoiler:














Always leave the Bonemaster with a multiple of 4 bones. 
25, 21, 17, 13, 9, 5, 1: take 1
23, 19, 15, 11, 7, 3: take 3
22, 18, 14, 10, 6, 2: take 2

You need to win 5 times, until he has only one bone left. 

(1 edit)

I tried combining the formless objects (well, formless object #1) with every other object, and tried using it on everything across all the rooms, all to no avail. Any other clue about what I need to do to make use of the objects, or what I should be expecting? Thank you! 

One recommendation/request: since there's no save feature, I am doing repeated playthroughs, and the only really annoying point is the bones game. I know the way to always win, but it still takes a while to play through the multiple times. How about speeding it up? E.g., maybe make cut out one round (maybe start with 8 bones, for 3 rounds, and not 25 for 5 rounds? And/or round up from half of 3 to get 2 of the 3 bones, rather than 1 of the three and having another round)

Nope, that was the only unused item in my inventory. I thought I had tried out all pairwise combinations, but I guess not, as I found the one that got me to the ending! Thank you! 

But that didn't make use of the formless objects. I assume there's another ending, so, I'll try to find it…

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Stuck at the very end. Got to and bribed the janitor/guard, I have all the formless objects, and I've used all objects except the rug piece, and no idea what to do next. Help? 

Also, minor bug report; showing Rufus' owner the collar gives a biscuit each time. Which leads to being able to get the cheese multiple times, and the bronze orb multiple times. Only the first time should give a biscuit. 

The gold orb requires a ladder. The ladder needs not only a hammer and nails, but multiple piles of wood. 

One shake doesn't do anything; multiple shakes will loosen something. 

The password requires one additional set of information, which you can find on the bookshelf. "Don't forget to remove the blue's middle" didn't really make sense, but I just made the word I got from the clues up to then into the closest proper English word and that was the password. (The note does say, "is that even right?")

Thank you for fixing! Came back and successfully played through completely---interesting rebalancing of the slugs and drones, I think I preferred the stronger slugs and weaker drones but not too much difference (but I did miss the slugfest in the one room that is now gone). Thanks also for arrow control options! I used those this time around. 

Great so far, but in the dual room with the electric beams, I think I defeated the boss but am stuck there (the door doesn't open and nothing seems to make it open). 

WHOA I did not see that possibility! Until stumbling across it accidentally. But I got it. Fantastic game! 

So close! Stuck on the last bonus level… any hint beyond the hint?

I needed the hint for C2 (thank you @iceninexp)! but other than that, I was able to finish with 8/8 monitors! Great game! The only thing more I would have wanted to more annotation on the map, to know where I needed to backtrack to after getting a new ability. 

Amazing, perfect game! Great mechanics and level design: keeping track of and navigating around where I am currently, alongside where I would teleport to (especially with moving teleport orbs) and how I would need to navigate after the teleport, chained up to three times in rapid succession, was just at the edge of being satisfying to nail without crossing over into being impossible to do. It is short but I think it was the perfect length for a Sunday afternoon, and the polish really shines. 

I found 8 berries plus one on the bonus stage for a total of 9; is that all of them, or did I miss any? 

I have 14/15 scientists… can't find the last one!! 

Power of the post. I think I figured it out! (While trying to figure out how to get to that other yellow one!) Clever trick!  

I only have two yellow balls left! (and 16 red; but after trying and failing at some of the more acrobatic ones, I don't think I'll attempt it). I am really stuck on the yellow one at (1,1) (if, on the map, we mark the lower right room as (0,0)). I'm at the door up top, but I can't figure out any way to navigate through the gap. Any hints?

Power of the post. Got it! 

I suspected 34 can be done in fewer steps, but haven't yet figured out how… thanks! 

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My record so far: 157 total! Here are the levels for which I beat the "par", and by how much: 

8: -1
23: -1
32: -1
34: -1
35: -1
37: -3
40: -1
42: -1
44: -2
48: -1
49: -6
50: -3

I struggled a lot to meet the par of 37… and then found a way to smash it. And I didn't figure out how to beat the par in 34 until I was encouraged by @CoaLine's spoiler. 

…and just like that, I got it. Power of the post I guess

Totally stuck on 18!! Is there some new mechanic that is needed to solve this? 

Really nice mechanic, and great level design! And great gradual building up of how to use the mechanic as well in the first four levels, nicely balanced. 

AMAZING! The last two major puzzles (the 2x2 "raft" puzzle, and the two pink blocks) had just the right amount of difficulty, and were really satisfying to get after slowly understanding their logic. Really nice execution of a single stage broken up into multiple puzzles, with a tiny bit of backtracking to make it feel connected but not so much as to add another layer of difficulty. In general, really great design, great balance, a good playthrough time, and nice extra mechanic at the end! This was a delight to play. Thank you!! 

I'm stuck in the same place. Could it be a bug, and the second platform is supposed to get enough energy to start?  

9: you are handicapped the whole level because you need to get back to that 1x1 in the upper left, and so you need to leave your initial portal open the whole time. You can only push the white blocks and not use portals. You need to get two white blocks into a configuration:

Block-Block-Water

Water-Block-Block

(or maybe it's flipped) by only pushing them. Use the yellow Ls to help push around the white blocks. 

10: This is actually far simpler than it seems. It seems like there are a whole bunch of things you need to do, but if you just get to reconfiguring the long yellow blocks to be horizontal, then push them into the water, you can get around the map pretty easily to solve it. You don't need to be too conservative with the white 1x1s, but where you push them ends up being straightforward and pretty simple (there's a bit of portaling but it's not too complex). I think in the end I might not have even used one of them. 

11: It's been a while and I'll need to reconstruct what I did :). I think you need to use the white block and the long L to push around the short L to get it into place, and as you may have guessed the white block needs to have a portal through which the long L block will protrude upwards into the 2x1 slot but that is the really tricky bit. I remember I spent a long time playing around with portaling at the two white slots at the top, as well as trying to get the player character above the midway river to manipulate things directly; I think that the solution ended up involving neither, but I don't remember for sure. 

Wohoo! Finally got them all. Fantastic mechanic and level design! 

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Such a lovely concept, and really well executed! This was a pleasure to play, thank you! 

Two suggestions for balancing: 

First, death is a bit too unforgiving given the length of the game. How about savepoints, or "undo" move (maybe available only for moves that kill you, so if you back yourself into an un-winnable situation you'll still lose, but don't have to lose from blunders alone?). I also frequently died from a key repeat in some direction, and didn't see some piece in time, so maybe a "check!" that interrupts key repeats? Or, like other roguelikes, interrupt key repeats when an enemy is spotted? 

Second, the final room was super exciting and appropriate when I first saw it, but then it was anticlimactically over in two moves (although the ending screen was great, and taught me two new words)… I would suggest it more challenging by putting the pieces out of range of a single rook power move. (Or maybe you tried that, and then the room proved too hard?) An undo or a savepoint would have also been fun at the end; I also didn't realize the game would end as soon as the final queen was taken, I kind of wanted to also try first annihilating all the other pieces in the final room, which might be more challenging strategically.

But, having two moves between when a piece spots you and when it moves is, I think, an appropriate mechanism. 

And, it's lovely the way it is with, I assume, randomly generated maps. But I can also imagine lots of possibilities for really devious room/level designs, effectively chess puzzles for this new variant of power moves+pawn summons, that could make this have DROD-level depth and complexity. 

I got stuck in the same place  and, while messing around with the keypad code entry and seeing what pictures I could make with the shapes, figured out the next step by accident. So my hint is: play around with that keypad, see what shapes you can make, and if there's anything in the room that looks like those shapes. 

THANK YOU!!! That was the hint I needed to finish! (I would add… it has a second function, besides distraction). 

AHA the problem was that I didn't see the levers. The coloration did look a bit odd to me, and I was pressing E all along that wall, but I didn't see any change or realize they were levers to push/pull in a pattern. It would be much better if, e.g. there was red at the tips of the handles. But thank you, that worked! 

I'm on the level with the equation hint. I found the wood, and found how to reach the forge with the wood, but I can't find any ore to make a pickaxe. I've tried everything and looked everywhere. I assume the big room is a trap, since none of the holes there work. Any hints, please?