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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > The ZACHTRONICS Thread: Infinite variations on a cool crab
 
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Stickman
Feb 1, 2004

 The one I'm most proud of isn't top percentile (I miss one beat out of every six), but I'm just amazed it worked at all:

Unstable Compound:


I should really go back and optimize more of the later levels, but now I'm sucked into Shenzhen :ohdear:

https://steamcommunity.com/id/stickasylum/

* # ¿ Jul 25, 2020 09:28
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# ¿ May 16, 2024 21:19
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Stickman
Feb 1, 2004

GotLag posted:

What's your steam profile background from?

Daedalus1134 posted:

That's FTL

Backgrounds are the one reason I wish Zach would add steam cards to his more recent games. I'd love an Opus Magnum or Exapunks background.

* # ¿ Jul 26, 2020 07:28
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Stickman
Feb 1, 2004

Jabor posted:

There are a whole bunch of deductions that you can make, but most of them boil down to "if it was any other way it would make either a 2x2 open space, or a dead-end with no monster". And most of the rest become "if it did this then stuff wouldn't be connected".

For example, if you have a 5x2 rectangle with only two walls in it, one of those walls must in column 2, and the other one must be in column 4.
Another example, if one column is a six (meaning there are two gaps in it), and there are two different regions on the left side of it that aren't connected to each other, then one of those regions can't have both of the gaps.

Are these super-specific deductions? Yeah, they are. I've used both of them in solves, along with a bunch of other super-specific steps. Good problem solving isn't about memorizing a million possible deduction steps, it's about looking at the problem as a whole and then inventing deduction steps that will let you make forward progress.

The 7x2 w/3 walls version of this was exactly what I needed to finish The Oblivion Hoard without guessing. Thanks!

E: Now I just need to find something for The Engine of the Golemancer...

Stickman fucked around with this message at 08:34 on Sep 25, 2022

* # ¿ Sep 25, 2022 08:31
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Stickman
Feb 1, 2004

 Thanks, good to know that I'm on the right track :) I assume none of the D&D puzzles require bifurcation? (in the sense of necessary inference rules being more specialized than humans could reasonable handle)

* # ¿ Sep 25, 2022 10:34
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Stickman
Feb 1, 2004

 Unless you’re deliberately adding with boring loops, I’m honestly more amazed by a solution that fits within the puzzle constraints, takes that many cycles, and still finishes than I am with yet another boring unrolled loop!

E: Which level is that?

* # ¿ May 19, 2023 21:32
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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > The ZACHTRONICS Thread: Infinite variations on a cool crab