Wow, cloudpuff! This is very impressive. Here are a few improvements you may want to try out: Spoiler world 1-16 in 17 moves -> can be completed in Spoiler 14 moves Spoiler world 4-12 done in 36 moves -> can be completed in Spoiler 16 moves Spoiler world 5-3 done in 9 moves -> can be completed in Spoiler 8 moves Spoiler world 5-6 done in 17 moves -> can be completed in Spoiler 14 moves Spoiler world 5-16 done in 22 moves -> can be completed in Spoiler 16 moves
Yes, my heart sinks when I see the lengthy ones, because it feels more like luck, last one in world 4 has over. 100 moves, so impossible to remember any moves I've made that I know are correct, I know I backtracked a lot, but due to the number if moves, I'd have no idea how to replay and trace my steps.
Shared your sentiment about the game. I was quite impressed by the game initially. The earlier puzzles all rely on "cleverness" to raise the level of difficulty. Now, the later puzzles frequently rely on figuring out long sequences of correct moves. Such emphasis destroy, rather than enhance, the elegance of the game's core idea.
I have reached a point in the game where all of the remaining levels require at least 40 moves. The game has lost its appeal on me. Further, I am not convinced that the game's developer has spent enough time testing the levels to fine tune the threshold move counts used to "star" the level. It seems more and more that the levels were created using some "pretty" but otherwise arbitrary patterns, and then the levels were just brute-forced via repeated trial and error to get some estimates of the number of moves needed to solve each level. For example, Level 4-11 can be solved with a -17 under-par score (that is, 17 moves below the target goal). It is clear that the solution I found is not the intended solution and that the developer has another solution in mind that is more elaborate but less efficient. From the perspective of a player, this is bad because the move count goal is supposed to be a guide to how complex the solution path is. For example, if I see the move count goal of only 10 moves, I indistinctly know when to abandon investigating a certain path because of its length. Losing this signal in the more complex levels means a loss of a key strategy used to solve this type of sokoban-like games. Having move count goals of 50 or more goes against the nature of the game as a puzzler. This is because it makes it near impossible for the player to backtrack to improve on a solution which the player might have stumbled upon during play. In the end, the player just retries the level over and over again without a systematic strategy until the level is solved "by chance". Once again, no undo function really annoys me. For example, for a level requiring 50 moves, am I expected to repeat the first 40 moves over and over again each time I want to test out a different path for the last 10 moves? It is just wasted time. Sigh...
Yeah, I see what you mean y2kmp3, its too bad, the first two worlds are just great and than the fun is a bit gone.
I found many of the target scores for levels with high move counts suspect. Without spoilers, there are some levels that can be completed with remarkably low underpar scores: Levels from World 4: 27 moves under par, 29 moves below par, 35 moves below par, 71 moves below par (seriously!). Not sure what is going on here. It is as if the developer has another solution in mind for these levels and then failed to thoroughly playtest the levels. Yet, at the same time, other levels have extremely tight tolerances. Though it is possible that I had just not yet found better solutions, other TA members who are also playing the game have not reported substantial underpar solutions for those levels. The game appears very uneven in its level of difficulty.
My last ditch effort... in trying to complete this game. Very difficult game near the end. I have starred all levels except 1 remaining level. Level 3-20 (par 24) -> Update: Completed in Spoiler 21 moves. Level 4-7 (par 37) Level 4-10 (par 30) -> Update: Completed in Spoiler 21 moves. Level 4-18 (par 44) -> Update: Completed in Spoiler 25 moves. Level 5-14 (par 50) -> Update: Completed in Spoiler 45 moves. If anyone has starred these levels, please post your feedback here.
Has anyone been able to solve Level 4-7 at par value (37)? I have a solution for 38 moves and looking to confirm that the par value for this level is not bugged.
Keep me posted on your progress on this level, cloudpuff. I suspect that both of us are using the same strategy for the level and are somehow missing a critical move.
Argghhh, I've not been able to get lower than 40 since playing it again, I can't remember the steps I took to give me 38... If you can remember yours I'll have a play around if it's driving you crazy. I have bits of paper with arrows on all over the house where I keep trying to remember the pattern in case I manage it
Yes, I have documented my solutions for both 38 and 39 moves but have yet to solve the level using only 37 moves. I can send you my solution for 38 moves if needed to see if you can improve on it. However, in my experience with this game, troubleshooting a previous solution to reduce only 1 move is unlikely to be successful. The troubleshooting trick only works if you are looking to reduce at least 2 moves, since you are more likely to find an unnecessary loop that is of 2 or more moves in length. A reduction of 1 move usually requires substantial modification or a completely different initial attack. Let me know what you need for me. PS: I am a bit disappointed the developer decided that they would no longer actively participate in this thread. Leaving players unnecessarily frustrated and keeping the game's mechanics unnecessarily obscured is not the proper ways to keep current players motivated and interested in the game and may even drive off other potential players thinking about giving this game a crack.
I've sent you a PM. Agree some confirmation that 4-7 isn't bugged and is actually possible would be good. If your reading Polka could you confirm that 4-7 is possible in 37? And it's not a typo? Thank you I once spent days trying to clear a level on a game that just wouldn't clear even though I was doing exactly what the dev and other players told me to, in that case it was an issue with the speed on a specific device and the dev informed as soon as he discovered the bug, not keen to spend hours and hours on something impossible again
Not a problem. See my PM reply to you about the .mov files showing my solutions. Yeah, I know what you mean. There were at least a couple of games (I shall not name the games themselves because it serves no purpose to embarrass these developers who are also TA forum members) in recent memories that I played in which some levels were impossible to complete in the number of moves allowed. After days of frustration, I conceded and contacted the developers, only to be told that they were "bugs" and the correct par values would be updated soon. Argh...
With cloudpuff's help to refine my partial solution for Level 4-7 to score par, I have now completed the entire game and can confirm that all of the levels in the game can be solved at par or under par (all 180 ghosts and all 100 stars). As well, of the 100 levels, I can confirm that, at a minimum, 45 levels can be solved under par.
Hello, Here are some codes for Pokaboo: http://codehookup.com/20f4d0b3 Game is in this GOTY list https://twitter.com/netsabes/status/679034691509477376 ^-^
I redeemed the last one in post #77. Thanks very much! They are all redeemed. (From that post only) Happy holidays!!
