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File: Zen.hold (12.4 KB)
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License: Other
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This is a TCB hold inspired by Zen Puzzle Garden, an excellent game by Lexaloffle. It's not normal DROD, though you'll see plenty of TCB elements making an appearance, and the puzzles can be every bit as fiendish as TCB puzzles can.

This hold has been in the works for almost two years (including a fifteen-month gap), and now it's finally published. Enjoy!

CuriousShyRabbit
Level: Smitemaster
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Registered: 10-14-2006
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Here's a lovely new (old) project from hartleyhair. Indeed, raking sand around DROD elements does make for some quite interesting puzzles.

I wasn't much interested in the Spring rooms, as I solved them pretty much haphazardly. This may be because I hadn't played the original Zen game that inspired this hold, and wasn't aware of an additional restriction in the original game: described in the Architecture thread here. The Spring level as well as some later puzzles definitely would have been more puzzly if I tried to follow the original rules.

In the later levels where some really neat DROD-Zen hybrid puzzles start to show up. My favorite rooms are: Summer 1N, Autumn 1N1W, and Winter 1W. I wouldn't mind seeing some more Zen levels in the future.

larrymurk
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Registered: 12-09-2004
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Thanks for putting this hold together hartleyhair!

This is a fun, relatively easy hold. Raking sand can be fun

mxvladi
Level: Smitemaster
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Registered: 02-11-2008
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Done. Most of rooms were easy, but there was some tough stuff here(particulary Winter 1W, which was probably the toughest room in the hold). Very enjoyable hold overall.

4 for brains, 9 for fun

Syntax
Level: Smitemaster
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Registered: 05-12-2005
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I remember playing the original Zen Garden game a while ago and not really enjoying the style so was worried there wasn't going to be a twist in this hold.

And how glad I am I carried on playing beyond Spring

Once the Drod elements get involved it's a real pleasure.

Thanks for a great hold!

noma
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1594
Registered: 11-22-2006
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This was a pleasure to play and a nice break from the usual. Each level seemed progressively more difficult, but no room is off the charts hard. I hope to see a sequel someday. The only bone I have to pick is with mxvladi; almost every time I got a #1, he was right there to scoop it away from me. *shakes fist*

Difficulty: 4
Fun: 9

jbluestein
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1670
Registered: 12-23-2005
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Another example of pushing the DROD engine to do new and interesting things.

I am not familiar with the original game (Zen Garden), and I don't feel compelled to hunt it down and play it now, but I did enjoy this as a little diversion from the standard DROD.

Summer was pretty low-key and not challenging, but the puzzles did get progressively more challenging as they progressed.

Overall, I give this about 4 brains of difficulty and 7 fun.

Nice effort, hartleyhair!

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"Rings and knots of joy and grief, all interlaced and locking." --William Buck

PMIT
Level: Master Delver

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Registered: 02-08-2010
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If you're interested in a relaxing hold that's slightly different from the usual DROD style, this one is a fine choice! I wasn't familiar with the game this hold is based off of, but the rules were pretty simple and the difficulty curve is pretty gradual, so I never felt lost. There's also a basic tutorial room that lets you learn the ropes before you dive in.

As others have said, once the various DROD elements are introduced, things can get pretty interesting! In particular, I really liked the ways cracked orbs, platforms, and tarstuff interacted with the Zen Puzzle Garden rules. Though it's probably unlikely to happen at this point, I wouldn't mind playing through a sequel; I think constructs could potentially be used for some pretty interesting puzzles under this ruleset!

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aka VioletPumpkin