I'm at 80 solved and 70 of them purple ringed. Played the bonus levels too, all 9. On the leaderboard I have 336 points now. The bonus was a nice variation (no spoilers here). I played through them quite fast (not meant as complaint, just fact). Until 60 I have all of them purple (except 19 of course) and after that I start losing it. Really gets more complicated for me How is the scoring calculated? Solved = ?, Purple = ?, Bonus level = ?
Wow, saosijs, way to go! You rule!! As for the bonus puzzles, of course the king of the leaderboard will find them pretty easy. =) They have really stumped some of the beta-testers, so I'm really curious what others think about them. A solved puzzle gets you 2 points, and mastering it ("purple ringing" it, as you have nicely put it), gets you 2 more points. The six puzzles in the ultra-hard pack are worth 10 (+10) points each and the bonus puzzles 4 points each. Again, congrats on your score so far!
Thanks Roundabyte! Somebody else made a similar comment earlier, with these kind of puzzles, it depends a lot on your mood, if you're tired, if it just "clicks" or not on any moment in time that defines if a certain level is difficult or not. Other than that, I'm curios too about the opinion of other players on the bonus levels. I felt that they were easier because Spoiler you have more restrictions on placement, because of the requirement to create solid, compact objects. No tentacles allowed here. Anyway, that was my approach One small request to an already sublimely polished game: when I replay a level that I just finished but not in the minimum steps, the level number is not shown on the board anymore, but instead the "next" button. So when taking screen shots, I don't have a reference anymore. There are workarounds, like going back to menu, but still it would be nice to not have to do that. And another request, while I'm at it: an option to save a solution in a "save slot", that could be played back later on. One per level is enough imo, to keep it as elegant as possible, from user-interface point of view. For the record, Mastakilla46 must be a hacker. He came out of nowhere and went straight to 330. He is not as prolific as e.g. amphion, and because of that generates doubt if he really is a hacker.
Roundabyte, Thanks for the confirmation about 86. I am indeed one of those gamers who do not use GC. To follow-up on ALL levels that use the additional "alternating" dot mechanic (such as Level 73), are ALL such levels always solvable using this "alternating" rule RIGHT UP TO THE END OF THE MOVE CHAINS? I like to know because if this is the case, I plan to rework the few levels I solved that did not obey this. I am continually impressed by the elegance of the some of the levels' design. A general trend I am seeing is that while many levels are "symmetrical" with respect to the initial dot configurations, the "solved" end configurations rarely obey symmetry. This means that along the way there is an asymmetric move being made that is critical to the solution. This is clever because "symmetry" is often a trick I use to deduce a level's solution. Symmetry necessarily limits the moves that are possible and therefore reduces the potential of the solution space that I need to investigate. My new "fav" level has now to be 97. 4 moves. So clever a solution. PS: Would it be funny if the game has levels that are unsolvable, intermixed with solvable ones? That would be a terrible joke...
First of all: what a treat. This 'little puzzler' is a great puzzler to me. I concur with all nice things said in this thread. Like saosijs I would like to be able to recall my previous solution. About the bonus levels: I raced through the first 4, but i'm really having trouble from B5 onward. There's one minor thing that should be fixed: if you solve the last unlocked puzzle the next-button will give access to the next puzzle even if you haven't solved enough puzzles to unlock it.
Thanks for the suggestions, saosijs! Will definitely keep them in mind for a future update (not sure if I'll manage to squeeze them in the coming update, though, hope that's ok). There could be an explanation for that behaviour. I'm not saying (s)he isn't a hacker, but you could start solving puzzles, get that far and only then sign into Game Center. But will keep an eye on the leaderboard. I have just went through all the "alternating" puzzles and I can confirm that all of them can be solved without breaking the rule right up to the end. It might not always be the optimal solution, but it can be done. Thanks for the compliment! Indeed, that would be a terrible joke. =) I did ponder the idea to add one puzzle where the displayed optimal number is one increment above the real optimal number (eg. optimal says "7" but it can be done in 6 moves too) and not specify which one it is, but let the players find it. I didn't do it in the end because I was afraid it would mislead players, and it was probably the right thing to do, seeing the effects of the unintentional one (although in reverse) that slipped through... @Pantsjo I have already solved that issue, so it will be there in the coming update. Please see my comment above about the new feature. Thanks a lot for the kind words!
Oh... This is interesting. Can you please list out the exact levels in which the optimal solution cannot coexist with this alternating rule? Use spoiler tag if needed, but I think this is an important constraint that should be listed outright. It is too bad that you no longer have a record of which levels' solutions were of your original "human" solutions and which levels' solutions were algorithm derived. I don't like the game being "man vs. machine", as the machine algorithm will always win (akin to playing Connect 4 against the AI, since that game itself is "considered" solved (strongly solved) with perfect play strategies possible).
No spoiler tag needed. I went through all of them again to see if I can find a solution. So: All "alternating" puzzles can be solved with the optimal amount of moves without breaking the rule at all.
Having trouble with bonus level 7, but I am on it. Liking the bonus levels it's different enough to set it apart from the normal levels.
ROGER-NL, you seem to be far ahead than most of us. How far are you along in the game? Were you able to "purple circle" or "star" all of the levels you completed so far?
I have finished 82 levels and 71 I purpeled so to speak Ha Ha. Gonna play all sunday tomorrow, after watching Breaking Bad.
Nicely done, Roger-NL. I am at about the same stage as you. Finished 87 levels with 85 levels purple'd (including Level 19 that cannot be purple'd because of a bug). Read from an earlier post that the bonus puzzles are a completely different kettle of fish, so I've decided to leave them alone for now. Game surprisingly difficult; difficult enough that I have been jumping around puzzles instead of doing them in order (good thing that Roundabyte made this possible!) Is there an online repository for the solutions? This game is perfect for a community effort since there is no built-in hints, though I prefer such a system so that you can pace the game yourself. *** Roundabyte, Found possibly a big glitch. In the bonus levels (B4 is just one example), the undo button does not always work. If you move some dots, and move between different panels, and then return to a previous panel to undo a previous move, the undo will lock up the said panel and will not allow you to undo any move. The only way is to exit the level to reset the puzzle. Can you check? Here is a screenshot of the second panel in B4 showing a moved configuration even though the game says there is nothing to undo.
I'm not as far along as you guys yet but already I can tell that it's going to be hard. I don't like the alternating levels much to be honest, only the small ones of these are okay with me. Mastakilla is a well known hacker. Search through a couple of other threads and you'll see his name crop up many times as a suspected hacker.
@saosijs @Pantsjo @ROGER-NL @y2kmp3 Congrats for getting that far! You rock! @y2kmp3 Would you care to calculate your score using the details I posted earlier, so we know how you stand against the top 3 on the leaderboard? @TheGreatEscaper Thanks for the heads up! I have removed the 330 score for now, but haven't blocked the player. We'll see if it pops up again. @y2kmp3 Thanks for the screenshot! I have run some tests and I managed to reproduce this behaviour, but only once. I'm not sure when it happens, but I suspect it has something to do with hitting the undo button right before or after you switch to a different panel. If you happen to figure out when it occurs, please let me know. @Testopi Glad you are liking the game. Here's a hint on how to get No. 58 done in 9 moves. Maybe you have already figured that out, or maybe you don't want to read it, but here it is anyway: Spoiler Only green requires 3 moves, the other colors need 2 moves.
Can't do level 68 anymore, I only did it once in 7 moves, but now I can't get it, I can't do it even in 8 or 9 moves Ha Ha, it's driving me nuts. How hard can it be really, there are only a few moves possible I think, but I don't see it.
Hey Roger, I believe that puzzle has only one solution (without taking into account the symmetrical ones), so no 8 or 9 moves here. Want a hint? =)
Ok, below are two hints for No. 68: The first one is a bit more vague, in case you want to try to solve it by using only that. The others show the first three moves. There you go: Spoiler One of the final shapes will be five dots in a row. First move: Spoiler Topmost blue above the multi-dot on the right Second move: Spoiler Leftmost green above the rightmost green Third move: Spoiler Two green above the left multi-dot
