ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2794
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

The contest has concluded. So if you just started scribbling away on the puzzle, pencils down, my friend!

What's left to do is verify entries. And you can imagine that could be a fair amount of work. So I am asking for people to double-check their solutions, and withdraw if the solution has a typo or other flaw that prevents it from working. This way I will only have to spend time checking the solutions that people believe to be correct. To withdraw, just post a reply to the topic saying as much. When checking your entry, please only evaluate the solution you gave in notation form. (Some people also provided a picture along with their notation form answers.)

By the way, I know that at least one person made a minor mistake which resulted in an invalid solution. It's sad, but to apply rules consistently and be fair to everyone, I can't allow the flawed solution to stand. Some people invested an extra five or ten minutes to double-check their solutions before posting, and those people shouldn't be put at a disadvantage.

-Erik

____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)

Chaco
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 3659
Registered: 10-06-2005
IP: Logged

I included an image in my post, so even if I messed up the coordinate writing-down, the image contains my solution.

____________________________
Quick links to my stuff (in case you forgot where it was):

agaricus5
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1838
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

ErikH2000 wrote:
The contest has concluded. So if you just started scribbling away on the puzzle, pencils down, my friend!

What's left to do is verify entries. And you can imagine that could be a fair amount of work. So I am asking for people to double-check their solutions, and withdraw if the solution has a typo or other flaw that prevents it from working. This way I will only have to spend time checking the solutions that people believe to be correct. To withdraw, just post a reply to the topic saying as much. When checking your entry, please only evaluate the solution you gave in notation form. (Some people also provided a picture along with their notation form answers.)

By the way, I know that at least one person made a minor mistake which resulted in an invalid solution. It's sad, but to apply rules consistently and be fair to everyone, I can't allow the flawed solution to stand. Some people invested an extra five or ten minutes to double-check their solutions before posting, and those people shouldn't be put at a disadvantage.

Unfortunately, one of those people was me.

I entered a wrong number by accident, and the irony is that I actually checked my final answer too. I think I misread a variable number as the column number. Grr.

Oh, well, I guess as I'm here, I'll also attach my automatic raytracer that I made in Microsoft Excel. Using it is probably not any faster than drawing on the picture, since it takes a bit of time to set up (and it wouldn't have worked for this 24*22 puzzle), since it's only of size 20*20, but I think it's quite satisfying to have the ray destinations done automatically for you.

Edit: Raytracer updated for greater ease of use nd the 24*22 grid. New instructions below:

Edit2: It's broken again. Microsoft Excel has messed it up quite a bit when I tried to insert new rows and columns. I'll fix it and reattach.

1. Give each type of monster and object on the Deflectomundo grid a unique number. For example, you might call a red door "1", a blue door "2", a serpent head "3", and so on up to number 46 (there are 46 pairs of objects altogether).
2. Type these numbers into the blue boxes with black borders on the Spreadsheet in the same places that they are in on the picture. For example, if a wubba you called "17" was on the top of the grid, in column 6, put "17" in the blue filled square at the top of the spreadsheet grid that is in Column 17.
3. The spreadsheet will automatically create rays (on the next sheet) from each of your numbers. The places where a ray from a square hits the edge of the grid will be shown in the yellow squares with red borders. So, if a ray from a number "25" hits the edge on the right side of the board in row F, then "25" will appear in the yellow box in row F on the right side of the grid.
4. Add deflectors by typing "\\" or "/" into the boxes on the grid. Your goal is to make the destination squares of the rays (yellow) match up with the required squares (blue). If the number is the same in both, you've connected a pair correctly using your deflectors, and a tick (square root sign ) will appear in the white squares with green borders. If a ray hits the wrong number, then a cross will appear instead.
5. You have finished when there are no crosses left on the board.

If you have a smaller board than the grid, (not applicable in the Deflectomundo Puzzles, though), then simply fill in the blue squares with what you have, lining up the columns and rows correctly, and fill the rest of them with "0".

Is this more user-friendly?

The algorithm sets are on the second sheet, and are a bit repetitive, but hopefully it should be easy to understand how they work. Each square on the grid has associated with it 9 variables - the deflector, and the entering and leaving rays in all directions (see the diagram in the top left for details of the arrangement). These variables are dependent on what is leaving and entering each square in all the directions around it, and what basically happens is that the entering ray squares will first check if any rays are entering the current square in the required direction. The leaving squares will then check the deflector, and then if there is any entering ray that after deflection (or not) would leave the square in the required direction. Squares containing rays then get assigned a number based on the value of the "emitter square" that the ray originated from.

If you have any comments, then feedback is very welcome.

____________________________
Resident Medic/Mycologist

---

[Last edited by agaricus5 at 02-21-2006 11:24 PM]

ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2794
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

Chaco wrote:
I included an image in my post, so even if I messed up the coordinate writing-down, the image contains my solution.

Chaco, I'm sorry, but I only look at the notation. If I went by your image, that would create an advantage for you over other players. I'm not saying that you were necessarily careless in writing down your answer, but in theory, two players could submit answers like this:

Player 1
1. Write answer in notation form. (5 minutes)
2. Post answer on forum. (30 seconds)
3. Post screenshot from his work. (30 seconds)

Player 2
1. Write answer in notation form in notepad. (5 minutes)
2. Doublecheck the solution. (3 minutes)
3. Post answer on forum. (30 seconds)

In the rules, I was strict about accepting a single type of notation for a reason. We must compare apples to apples to be fair to contestants.

I'm sorry that the data entry aspect of this contest played an important factor. Ideally, we would have had some little java applet to submit the solutions with. Sorry!

-Erik

____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)

Chaco
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 3659
Registered: 10-06-2005
IP: Logged

Fair enough. If I messed something up, I take full responsibility.

____________________________
Quick links to my stuff (in case you forgot where it was):

TripleM
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1377
Registered: 02-05-2003
IP: Logged

File: Deflect.exe (442.6 KB)
Downloaded 74 times.
License: Public Domain

In case Erik (or anybody else) is interested, this program *should* hopefully take a solution and check if it works.

Theres probably a bug in this, of course, but it seems to work for the initial 8x8 puzzle. Just enter the solution eg A1/ B2\\ after running it.

Edit - all puzzles should now be in there.

---

[Last edited by TripleM at 02-21-2006 05:38 AM]

Mattcrampy
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2388
Registered: 05-29-2003
IP: Logged

It appears not to work for puzzle 3, at least: it's telling me that the beam from top, number 2, incorrectly ends at the left, number 2. Now, I'm sure hoping that those two arrows are supposed to go together, otherwise I fear I'll feel super-duped.

____________________________
What do you call an elephant at the North Pole?

techant
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 854
Registered: 06-08-2004
IP: Logged

Wow I wasn't logged in when I got home today from a work weekend and I thought puzzle 4 had just started and I was only about 20 minutes behind. I worked away not wanting to waste any time. And it wasn't until I went to post my entry that I realized I wasn't logged in. I posted then look here and saw that the contest had already ended. My time was all off cuz of the login.

I messed up on the time thing ( I originally thought 4 would be 12pm tonight) but I did do a valient effort. Can I at least get contest entry credit.

Begging.... please say yes

____________________________
DROD RPG Released!! You must try it out it is Great!!

TripleM
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1377
Registered: 02-05-2003
IP: Logged

Mattcrampy wrote:
It appears not to work for puzzle 3, at least: it's telling me that the beam from top, number 2, incorrectly ends at the left, number 2. Now, I'm sure hoping that those two arrows are supposed to go together, otherwise I fear I'll feel super-duped.

Hah. So everything works fine for the 8x8 thing, and I forgot to tell it that the actual size isn't 8x8 anymore. Sigh. OK, tell me if this one works now. Edited above.

By the way, did anyone do puzzle 4? Because the pictures at bottom of column 1 and left of row T don't actually match up. I'm sure someone probably mentioned this in the invisible-post threads, but still..

---

[Last edited by TripleM at 02-21-2006 04:59 AM]

eytanz
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2708
Registered: 02-05-2003
IP: Logged

I did puzzle 4; I noticed the mismatch but I figured that it's a mistake. It's not like there was anything else that could have been confused with.

____________________________
I got my avatar back! Yay!

ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2794
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

techant wrote:
I messed up on the time thing ( I originally thought 4 would be 12pm tonight) but I did do a valient effort. Can I at least get contest entry credit.

No problem. I don't want to break your wonderful streak, and bending the rules for participation credit doesn't affect the contest standings. (I have to say that, because I've been a real hard case on some other people.)

-Erik

____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)

eytanz
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2708
Registered: 02-05-2003
IP: Logged

The program doesn't work correctly for me - I have a \\ in T1 and a / in T12 (and nothing else in either column 1 or 12), and yet the program says that the beam that starts in 1 ends in T, which is impossible.

____________________________
I got my avatar back! Yay!

---

[Last edited by eytanz at 02-21-2006 05:19 AM]

TripleM
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1377
Registered: 02-05-2003
IP: Logged

OK, I'm sure it works this time. Reasonably sure, anyway.

eytanz
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2708
Registered: 02-05-2003
IP: Logged

It still doesn't work. I have a \\ in G4, a / in L4, and nothing in G1, G2, G3, H4, I4, J4, K4, L3, L2 or L1, yet it won't connect G and L on the left side.

If you want, I'll PM you my solution so you can test the responses to it yourself.

____________________________
I got my avatar back! Yay!

NiroZ
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1302
Registered: 02-12-2006
IP: Logged

ARRRG. damn it, i typo'ed hea[s.

just so i dont' feel like a total idiot, who else, other than agaricus5 and me, who else screwd up their submission?

---

[Last edited by NiroZ at 05-30-2007 01:15 AM]

michthro
Level: Smitemaestro
Rank Points: 679
Registered: 05-01-2005
IP: Logged

NiroZ wrote:
just so i dont' feel like a total idiot, who else, other than agaricus5 and me, who else screwd up their submission?

I did. How about this: The solution I had on paper is valid. After posting it, I saw I had left out a mirror About half an hour's misery later I realised it doesn't matter, because (without going into proof) you can always remove a mirror that affects only one laser and still have a solution (in this case one pair lands up being connected via 60 reflections). Then, when I checked again this morning, I discovered another typo.

ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2794
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

Wow. There was a lot of drama going on in those secret topics. Well, more like a series of pratfalls. I feel bad that some people lost due to small errors. I'm handing out some consolation prizes.

The first person to submit a solution (but not the fastest relative to start time) was RabidChild on puzzle #1, with a time of 18 minutes. Unfortunately, he edited his answer. He definitely wasn't trying to cheat--there was just one place where his finger had slipped up above the intended "O" key and hit the left parentheses instead. 15 consolation rank points to Rabidchild. Sorry, man.

Other honorable mentions include Rabscuttle (puzzle #3, 20 minutes, 5 seconds) and Michthro (puzzle #4, 20 minutes, 26 seconds) who both made small errors that cost them a place. 15 consolation rank points to those two.

I was happy to see quite a few contest rookies, who will each get 10 rank points in addition to whatever other points they earn. The rookies were:

Al W
Blondbeard
Bombadil
Cytrin
Michthro
Myarbro
NiroZ
RabidChild
Sergent

In third place, was the irrepressible Mattcrampy (puzzle #3, 22 minutes, 16 seconds). Contest veteran Doom, no stranger to placing, grabbed second (puzzle #4, 20 minutes, 19 seconds). Those guys are getting 50 and 25 rank points for second and third place.

Coppro edited his entry, but after some sleuthing I concluded that his original answer was itself untouched. He had only edited his entry to add an irrelevant message like "Look at me--I'm funky fresh!" or something like that. I thought about the rules for a while and concluded there was no way this edit could have produced an unfair situation for the other contestants. So Coppro earned his first place win of 16 minutes on puzzle #4.

I didn't check everybody's puzzle for correctness. It would have taken several hours and wasn't practical. I'll be awarding 10 rank points to anyone who submitted an answer and didn't win rank points from placing or consolation. I'm also giving this bonus to the honest people who admitted to an incorrect puzzle.

Here are the final standings:

0:16    Coppro, Puzzle #4
0:18    RabidChild, Puzzle #1 (consolation)
0:20:05 Rabscuttle, Puzzle #3 (consolation)
0:20:19 Doom, Puzzle #4
0:20:26 Michthro, Puzzle #4 (consolation)
0:22:16 Mattcrampy, Puzzle #3
0:22:42 Stefan, Puzzle #1
0:32    Chaco, Puzzle #1
0:35    Vylycyn, Puzzle #1
0:35    Dali, Puzzle #4
0:40    Sergenth, Puzzle #1
0:40    NiroZ, Puzzle #2
0:44    The_Red_Hawk, Puzzle #1
0:44    Bombadil, Puzzle #4
0:45    Tim, Puzzle #1
0:46    Maurog, Puzzle #1
0:53    Agaricus5, Puzzle #1
1:03    Blondbeard, Puzzle #4
1:11    Robin, Puzzle #3
1:26    Cytrin, Puzzle #1
1:27    Al W, Puzzle #3
1:59    Svante, Puzzle #4
2:30    Trick, Puzzle #1
2:31    Eytanz, Puzzle #4
2:37    Myarbro, Puzzle #4
-:--    Techant, Puzzle #4 (started very late)

Note that seconds were calculated with some extra trouble for people who were near the top 3 and had close times. Stefan was less than half a minute behind Crampy--he probably shouldn't have stopped to scratch his nose.

I'll give this all some time to settle and then award rank points. Coppro you can e-mail me anytime to claim your prize.

-Erik

____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)

eytanz
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2708
Registered: 02-05-2003
IP: Logged

My solution was incorrect - a typo copying from my original solution (L9\\ L10\\ became L10\\ L11\\).

I couldn't check it last night at home (my diagram was in my office), and I think I misread TripleM's program as referring to the wrong line (I thought it said it couldn't connect L, rather than K).

____________________________
I got my avatar back! Yay!

robin
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 845
Registered: 09-01-2004
IP: Logged

I used a little bit a different notation.
I wrote something like this:
/: A1 B5 C3 ...
\\: B21 D7 F12 ...
I gues it took me about the same time to write it down and double check, like the other notation.
what do you think?


Maybe we can start a new topic, where everybody post it's answer, so we can also look for flaws

____________________________

---

[Last edited by robin at 02-21-2006 01:08 PM]

Chaco
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 3659
Registered: 10-06-2005
IP: Logged

Darn, and I thought I was pretty fast. Oh well, fifth place isn't so bad

____________________________
Quick links to my stuff (in case you forgot where it was):

---

[Last edited by Chaco at 02-21-2006 01:39 PM]

Tim
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1979
Registered: 08-07-2004
IP: Logged

Is there any way to release all submitted posts? In that case, we can all look at other people's entries.

Chaco
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 3659
Registered: 10-06-2005
IP: Logged

I think Schik was working on it, but it hasn't been implemented yet.

____________________________
Quick links to my stuff (in case you forgot where it was):

Yellow_Mage
Level: Master Delver
Rank Points: 267
Registered: 05-19-2004
IP: Logged

I forgot!!!! AGAINN!!!!!!!! GAH!!!!

It was a serious whoopsie of only remembering yesterday, which I rolled on the floor for about half an hour...

I know I was doing something in the meantime, that's why...

*Sigh*

The next battle will be mine... etc, etc.

____________________________
"Sit and daydream, and watch the changing color of the waves that break upon the idle seashore of the mind." - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Chaco
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 3659
Registered: 10-06-2005
IP: Logged

I think what this contest tought me is that no matter how much of a 1337z0r 14z0r h4x0r you think you are, there are several other people who you've never met who are a whole lot better than you.

____________________________
Quick links to my stuff (in case you forgot where it was):

Tim
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1979
Registered: 08-07-2004
IP: Logged

Chaco wrote:
I think what this contest tought me is that no matter how much of a 1337z0r 14z0r h4x0r you think you are, there are several other people who you've never met who are a whole lot better than you.

In that case, I don't want to be a better "1337z0r 14z0r h4x0r" than you are

____________________________
The best way to lose customers is to let little kids running loose on a forum with too many mod points.

Chaco
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 3659
Registered: 10-06-2005
IP: Logged

Err, yes. I know leetspeek.

____________________________
Quick links to my stuff (in case you forgot where it was):

Svante
Level: Master Delver

Rank Points: 169
Registered: 04-23-2005
IP: Logged

It took me nearly two hours. Still, I'd like to believe that is pretty good if you completely forgot to practice, and hates to guess in puzzles, and is 14 years old, and isn't named Svante for real, and...
I'm pretty happy anyway, I did solve it.

-Svante

Stefan
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2119
Registered: 05-25-2004
IP: Logged

ErikH2000 wrote:
Stefan was less than half a minute behind Crampy--he probably shouldn't have stopped to scratch his nose.

Heh, that could have been wise, yes. Or maybe I should have chosen a different time to participate. It seemed like a good time to play (even though it was at 2 AM local time), but I was actualy present on the forum during all the three first puzles (I was awake up until the second puzzle, and slept between the second and the thidr; I was out of the country during the fourth puzzle (I just got back), so that was out of the question). It could also have been wise to practice or work on some general srtategies other than solving the example puzzle once.

Ah, well, I'm very happy with my result and it was a fun contest - it really got your adrenaline pumping through your veins. I'll get my prize anyway if I just participate in one more contest, so it wasn't such a big loss (and I don't care much about rank points).

On the other hand, this might just be the booze talking...


____________________________
0.099³

trick
Level: Legendary Smitemaster
Rank Points: 2580
Registered: 04-12-2003
IP: Logged

Heh. So there I was, in the middle of the night, working on the puzzle (since I couldn't sleep anyway). Got it done and submitted in about 25 minutes total, thought that wasn't too bad. Then I looked at the puzzle release time.

Wops.

Was fun anyway, though

- Gerry

techant
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 854
Registered: 06-08-2004
IP: Logged

ErikH2000 wrote:

techant wrote:
I messed up on the time thing ( I originally thought 4 would be 12pm tonight) but I did do a valient effort. Can I at least get contest entry credit.

No problem. I don't want to break your wonderful streak, and bending the rules for participation credit doesn't affect the contest standings. (I have to say that, because I've been a real hard case on some other people.)

-Erik

Thank you so much.............
I felt better when I saw that I was not the only one. It sure was fun. And my contest entry streak is still in tack.

____________________________
DROD RPG Released!! You must try it out it is Great!!

---

[Last edited by techant at 02-21-2006 06:58 PM : remove text]