Feel Bad Friday(s)!

An upcoming game about Electricity, Magnetism, and Cephalopods
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testtubegames
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Re: Feel Bad Friday(s)!

Post by testtubegames »

NealCruco wrote:Then let's get on it!
Postponing until tomorrow -- spent the past couple days home with a sick Max and sick wife (as far as excuses for FBF go, taking your baby to the ER ranks up there... all is well, he has his meds, etc, etc)

Have it all loaded up in TES, ready to film when I get in to the office tomorrow.
NealCruco
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Re: Feel Bad Friday(s)!

Post by NealCruco »

testtubegames wrote:
NealCruco wrote:Then let's get on it!
Postponing until tomorrow -- spent the past couple days home with a sick Max and sick wife (as far as excuses for FBF go, taking your baby to the ER ranks up there... all is well, he has his meds, etc, etc)

Have it all loaded up in TES, ready to film when I get in to the office tomorrow.
You had to take Max to the ER?!? That's alarming, even though you said things turned out fine, and it's definitely higher priority than this. What happened?
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testtubegames
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Re: Feel Bad Friday(s)!

Post by testtubegames »

NealCruco wrote:You had to take Max to the ER?!? That's alarming, even though you said things turned out fine, and it's definitely higher priority than this. What happened?
He's had a fever for a couple days, and they wanted to run some tests on him. Sounds like he might have an infection - but some antibiotics should clear it right up. He's acting like his happy self again, though, thanks to a bit of Tylenol. So yeah, it's been an exciting few days.

-BUT-

I did get a chance to make and post the latest Feel Bad Friday video! And I'm going to try to be better about making room in my schedule from here on out - since it's a whole lot of fun.

This week I took on NealCruco's level B4C5... the one that thoroughly defeated me last time - and the one I've been idle-ly playing ever since. Can I do it...?

Give it a watch

You can see NealCruco's latest post about the level here, or just grab the code to give it a try yourself:

Code: Select all

[The Electric Shocktopus-"B4C5"-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]
NealCruco
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Re: Feel Bad Friday(s)!

Post by NealCruco »

SPOILER
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24 deaths...I'm impressed, even in spite of the changes I made. You have clearly been practicing. I hope there's an FBF next week!
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Re: Feel Bad Friday(s)!

Post by testtubegames »

SPOILER
SPOILER_SHOW
Ha - indeed I have been practicing. Your changes also really helped, I think a missing spike or two made the bottom right-hand corner a lot smoother (in a very, very good way).

And of course I specifically made changes to the game engine based on this level :) Like: it was really hard to maneuver in tight spaces (to start and stop within a single tile)... as I discovered in the upper-left corner. I used that to make a fix, and improve shocktopus-control.

The mighty, mighty benefits of FBF. I've got it in my schedule for next week :D
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testtubegames
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Re: Feel Bad Friday(s)!

Post by testtubegames »

Right on schedule? What?

Back this week with an oldie but goodie for Feel Bad Friday -- You only get one Jump-rope, by A Random Player. The inspiration for the later Juggling level, so I figure, how hard can it be?

See exactly how hard it can be.

You can find the original post here, or just grab the code below:

Code: Select all

[The Electric Shocktopus-"You Only Get One Jump-rope"-eNrtV8GSgyAM/RfPOWykhN1v2el1f6C9OfvvBWExEaSyM53paJ5UFF9CfKQZnMDDwibMGHtJQX+YHa1iClhOIobGr9k/PW/Rlta+/mWKcxC7jcM53CS7aO8j73GCiWqTAgj5otQo8dh8dSWJy714dX+nKtFY6YsxBa8ILBM5LSxgfCZmnO0NLu+8ciTJTBxsc7mMNWR6m8i8tohi8m3izhhbr92iJaIxgriOLeJixP/5wgQpkxLZSvOjHBFP08U0DfcBvq++TcPPMHc33432E8j6YVAo3hp4zVnrCDVrD7CiaM8uAb0miYOyPb+D5VVt//Vsp9tJUHSX71i7zYfT2q04U40Hp+muOE2hz6Xeon5cKnq3/G9G0fRVnGFf7oiAwudoaL8P4jlMpg==]
Many thanks to Random!
A Random Player
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Re: Feel Bad Friday(s)!

Post by A Random Player »

testtubegames wrote:Right on schedule? What?

Back this week with an oldie but goodie for Feel Bad Friday -- You only get one Jump-rope, by A Random Player. The inspiration for the later Juggling level, so I figure, how hard can it be?

See exactly how hard it can be.

You can find the original post here, or just grab the code below:

Code: Select all

[The Electric Shocktopus-"You Only Get One Jump-rope"-eNrtV8GSgyAM/RfPOWykhN1v2el1f6C9OfvvBWExEaSyM53paJ5UFF9CfKQZnMDDwibMGHtJQX+YHa1iClhOIobGr9k/PW/Rlta+/mWKcxC7jcM53CS7aO8j73GCiWqTAgj5otQo8dh8dSWJy714dX+nKtFY6YsxBa8ILBM5LSxgfCZmnO0NLu+8ciTJTBxsc7mMNWR6m8i8tohi8m3izhhbr92iJaIxgriOLeJixP/5wgQpkxLZSvOjHBFP08U0DfcBvq++TcPPMHc33432E8j6YVAo3hp4zVnrCDVrD7CiaM8uAb0miYOyPb+D5VVt//Vsp9tJUHSX71i7zYfT2q04U40Hp+muOE2hz6Xeon5cKnq3/G9G0fRVnGFf7oiAwudoaL8P4jlMpg==]
Many thanks to Random!
Well, you broke the level. Feel better, Neal? :P

Seems like I didn't test the level carefully enough - might have still been one of my earlier levels? (Can't really use that excuse though, since I made Binary, Winter Wind, and Juggling around the same time :P (Oh, and Traffic Light, even earlier?)) The "intended" solution was:
SPOILER
SPOILER_SHOW
  • At the beginning of the level, run up the stairs quickly, without waiting for the missile/jump-rope. The missile should be just below the left-most sand block on the top level of stairs when you start going towards the top-left. You will meet up with the missile right as you reach the tunnel to the top-left region.
  • Get near the exploding-block column, and juggle the missile however, waiting for the wall to disappear.
  • Explode the block that's blocking the switch, and hit it.
  • Go to the right of the red switch, and wait for the missiles to clear the path.
  • Run and hit the red switch, avoiding the missiles/jump-ropes. If you managed to skip the sand tiles 1 tile above the ground at the beginning, you can use them to block some missiles (but as shown in the video, you can stop them where they are created as well).
  • Immediately after, charge-jump at the positive charge, land on the sand block after getting stopped by the red-switch-controlled tile, jump onto that tile, jump on the sand tiles, and hit the green switch.
  • Escape, charge-jump and hit the blue switch.
  • Hit the electric field button by:
    • Running to and hiding at the red switch (of course, I didn't remember when creating the level that you could just unflip it)
    • Running to the field button
    • Escaping, perhaps hiding at the red switch again
  • From there it is easy to get back to the blue switch area, and use the electric field to get all the stars and exit.
Of course, you found several tricks which bypassed a lot of this.

Another exploit I just found was
SPOILER
SPOILER_SHOW
From the uppermost sand block, you can jump to the green switch (and save one to reach the top star). I don't think this is particularly useful though - you can get all 3 stars without using a single jump-rope, but have no way to unlock the exit. Unless you combine this approach with the FBF "unlock the red switch with only one jump-rope" approach...
$1 = 100¢ = (10¢)^2 = ($0.10)^2 = $0.01 = 1¢ [1]
Always check your units or you will have no money!
NealCruco
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Re: Feel Bad Friday(s)!

Post by NealCruco »

Finally one of Random's levels is cracked. Yes, I do feel better now. And I know exactly how you get so focused on the way the level should be solved that you are blind to all sequence-breaking. It's frustrating when your level isn't played as designed.

But that trick where you can flip the wall of missiles off at any time? That should never have happened. I developed the chain-locking switch (CLS) for precisely that scenario. And I'm pretty sure you developed it too, just like calculus...but I'm away from my computer and can't check. Either way, it's hardly a new mechanism. If your level design dictates that a switch should only be toggled once, then don't let it be toggled twice. (But hey, we all screw up.)
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testtubegames
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Re: Feel Bad Friday(s)!

Post by testtubegames »

A Random Player wrote:Well, you broke the level. Feel better, Neal? :P
Haha - I love finding those little exploits. In these cases, at least, it makes the levels seem a bit richer and deeper to me -- as if I've found something secret hidden in the level just for me.
NealCruco wrote:It's frustrating when your level isn't played as designed.
And with that lead-in... :twisted:

This week for Feel Bad Friday, I took on one of your latest levels, NealCruco: A377.

You can watch what happened here.

Or see the original post, or grab the code like so:

Code: Select all

[The Electric Shocktopus-"A377"-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]
SPOILER
SPOILER_SHOW
Aaah, a level that mentions shortcuts. I must *find* the shortcut!!
NealCruco
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Re: Feel Bad Friday(s)!

Post by NealCruco »

Big spoiler for those that haven't played A377:
SPOILER
SPOILER_SHOW
Here's the story on that sign. When you broke B4C5, I said:
NealCruco wrote:Andy, you...broke this level too. Here's your lesson: if you find a big shortcut in one of my levels, it's probably unintentional.
So when I made A377, I put in those shortcuts, and added that sign with a hint that maybe you weren't breaking the level by taking those shortcuts. Maybe they were known before the level was published. Maybe this level was impossible to actually break! And you found the shortcuts, just as I expected you to.
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