Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Atari emulator -> Zenji

Damn!  My new addiction.  I gotta go; movie time.  This is basically every Soleau Software game ever made, but fun.... okay, now I'm sick of it.

Atari emulator -> Mountain King

As this game proves once and for all, being king of a mountain is no easy feat.  Especially for this guy.  Following roughly in Pac-Man's footsteps, your goal is to grab as many of the shiny jewels / gold pieces as possible, for ten points a pop.  Beyond that, I couldn't tell ya.  The fire is lethal, so watch out.  At some point you're forced to use your flashlight to look for dark hidden goodies.  I like an enigmatic game as much as the next fellow, but for some reason I don't have the patience to run out the clock on this one.  Someday, someday, when this is all I do for a living

8/14/'16 - Ooh!  Just beat Level 1!  I finally broke down and read the instructions... here's the link to them.  Sorry, but I didn't have time to dink around with the invisible treasure chests or anything.  I'm a lousy gamer.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Sokoban - Levels 41-50

It's been quite a ride............

Level 41: I say this every time, but this one sure LOOKS easy..........  Finally!  GEEBUS!!

Level 42: The Oval.  I was dreading this one... good challenges!  Navigating the arrangement of boxes, and figuring out where to place the boxes first in the black spaces

Level 43: The melted 3x3 grid!

Level 44: This one better be easy, although I seem to remember slaving over it for a really long time.... whew!  I only feel like a partial dumbass now.

Level 45: Whew!  Did that one fast.

Level 46: The Trough.

Level 47: The... The Pill?  I gotta go... Well, at least I know now which one to place last.

Level 48: The Checkerboard. LOOKS easy...... whew!  Nailed it.

Level 49: The... Gamma?  The Spaceship?  Looks vaguely like a Greek letter.  Thank God there's not that many boxes... still took me three tries.

Level 50: And finally... the last level.  I remember that this one's tricky because of the black spaces.  You have to load the boxes very VERY carefully.

Phew!  Phinally phinished.  But I'm not going to tell you how I did it... CURSES!!!

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Sokoban - Levels 31-40

Damn!  I gotta get this done tonight... or I'll try my damnedest to do so.

Level 31: The Gnarly Goal.  Too many paths to the black space, too many ways to screw it up.  I love it.

Level 32: Simple enough.  It's the placing of the boxes in the black space that's tricky.

Level 33: Got it on one try!... maybe two

Level 34: Damn near circular shape!

Level 35: Don't forget to use the reservoir tip to fill in the space!

Level 36: Looks simple enough... is the path long enough for the boxes?  I hope so!
Man!  Finally figured out that middle-left room.  Just keep thinking: valves.

Level 37: Looks too familiar.  But there's probably some unique wrinkle to it I'm forgetting... nope.  Well, I guess the one box at the top was kinda unique, but otherwise it's a pretty easy level.

Level 38: Puh-leeeeze... okay, I take that back.  Even the easiest-looking Sokoban level takes time.  622 moves, 173 pushes!  If there's a shorter solution... it's probably on YouTube.

Level 39: Son of the Four Rooms.  Only it's bigger, meaner, with more boxes, and ventilation shafts in between the rooms.  I'll have to do it later.  Movie time!

Wow!  Did it in one take.  I was extra careful this time.

Level 40: No discernible pattern, except for the diagonal of boxes.  Maybe they call this one "Canned Corn" like in Championship Lode Runner.

Whew!  As Flanders would say, this one's a head-diddly-scratcher!  Finally figured it out, though... damned if I can describe it.

Friday, May 25, 2012

Sokoban - Levels 21-30

Oh, these are like Lay's potato chips somehow.

Level 21: More valves, and the kind that require immediacy and much repetition.

Level 22: Grandiose!  Expansive!!  ...but I'm going to do it later.  I wanna see if I can sneak in a nap here.  Probably not.  My boss is watching.

Level 23: Hmmmm..... looks a lot like Level 20.  Should be easy then!
1305 moves, 494 pushes.  A lot less!

Level 24: The inverted crucifix!  Lord help us all.

Level 25: Has there been one yet where two black space groups are the same size?  If not, it's coming.  I can feel it.

Level 26: (spoiler alert) I should've known.  You do the one lone square fourth to last!  Also, I like the upper-left hand room because you have to make a row of blocks, then shift everything up one... that's how I roll, anyhow.

Level 27: This looks very familiar...

Level 28: This one looks nasty!  The trick is in how the boxes are loaded into the black space.  A little tricky... at least for the likes of me

Level 29: Another nasty one!  But I think I remember how to load the boxes in.... no, I didn't.  I forgot the cardinal rule again: always use all available space, even if it doesn't seem like available space at first...

Level 30: Ah HAH!  A box on non-black space surrounded by black space.  Man, this game's too complicated... I remember this one from a long time ago, when it once took me forever.  Let's see if the ol' synapses remember anything.
Whew!  That took longer than it should of. (sic)  I was a little distracted because I'm simultaneously having the best night of my life in Zynga Poker in a long time.  Gotta keep that streak going.  Once again, I forgot the cardinal rule of using ALL AVAILABLE SPACE.  Also, the cubes go in reverse order out of the "valves".  Tricky!  Whoever put these levels together were artists.

Sokoban - Levels 11-20

Level 11: I can tell already... I'm going to need that empty chamber of 3x2 spaces.  This is a good one for electronics students.  Always gotta keep the circuit open so the boxes can flow.  The black space is a little more challenging this time, but I've dealt with plenty of these in my time and I think I remember how to put them in in the right ordeur.....

Level 12: Regularity.  But once again, the problem of which box to push first.... oh, it couldn't be that easy, could it?  Left,down,left,down... then out?  Alas, it's just the beginning.  The black space requires a bit more planning than I first did..............

Level 13: Another bastid!  Unlucky at that.  But I think I remember how to do it.  Push the box above you up and to the left, make the letter "i"....
(1:19am) - Boy, is this a tough one!!!
(1:28am) - Phew!  Finally did it.  Just don't ask me how.

Level 14: Sorry, I can't do this right now.  Gotta hit the hay.
Let me just say this about Level 14: they're VERY serious about portions of the maze as valves!  1215 moves, 287 pushes!  Highest ratio ever!
...ah hah..  A little extra fun for me.  I didn't save level 15 and had to do 14 over again... just thought you'd like to know.  This is a blog after all, isn't it?

Level 15: The new wrinkle: boxes pre-loaded onto the black spaces!  Damn, they're good.

Level 16: Nothing particularly innovative here, but still tough as hell.  As usual, make good use of your lack of space.

Level 17: Ah, simplicity itself for a change.  Machine language programmers like this one, as it reminds them of loading stuff into the accumulator.  At least getting the boxes into the black space is easy!

Level 18: Again, two separate black space groups to fill.  I'm guessing I probably have to pick their order very carefully.......................... Trickier than I thought!  I misjudged the path the boxes have to follow...

Level 19: Brilliant!!!  I have to do the whole level over again just because of the LAST BOX AT THE TOP BEING AGAINST THE WALL,.......

Level 20: Sequel to unlucky Level 13.  I can already tell this one's going to require a lot of moves.  You're going to have to use BOTH rooms to move the boxes into, of course.  Call this one "Chambers of the heart."
Yup!  2085 moves, 574 pushes.  At least putting the boxes into place in the black space is easy.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Sokoban - Levels 1-10

Phooey.  Scanned documents are done.  Time to start up another batch.  Which is good, because I want to leave the room while it's going.  As quiet as this scanner is, it still gets loud after a while.
Anyway, a game is probably beloved if there is a YouTube video of it.  Chances are.  Pushy Pig, not so much.

Level 1: Introductory level.  Six boxes.   Did it in 243 moves and 97 pushes.  If there's a more optimal way, I don't wanna know about it.  All I know is I wasn't able to program a good algorithm that could find it!!!!

Level 2: There's still plenty of space around the black spaces where the boxes go, but as you find with most of these levels, the boxes move in spurts, from chamber to chamber like a caterpillar crawling.  The key is to find that path that the boxes MUST travel, and you have to dance around like a bumblebee.

Level 3: Congestion.  Which box to push first?  I can't remember.... got it!  365 moves, 140 pushes.  I always like to push the boxes to the black spaces on the side so the last ones I can push straight in.  Save the easy part for last.  Right, Daniel Goleman?

Level 4: The Four Rooms.  The trick is to utilize the space you already have... I know, I gave away too much.

Level 5: Congestion.  Which box to push first?  It won't be the last, believe me.  You learn rather quickly that if you've got four boxes pushed together in a square shape, in a grid 2 by 2... you're buggered.

Level 6:: Which to push first?  Too many choices... damn, too easy.  The key is to line up the boxes next to each other in rows in the room on the right.

Level 7: Finally!  Two entrances into the black space.  The key here, of course, is knowing in what order to place the boxes so that all the spaces are accessible.

Level 8: Not particularly special.   Getting the boxes into the black spaces seems easy enough... but is it?  Probably not.  As usual, the tough part comes first, picking the right box to move, then the tedious part, moving the rest along the perimeter... I mean, the right path to the black spaces

Level 9: I'm reminded of the second level of Tutankhamun for some reason... don't forget now!  There's the one blue space in amongst the black spaces!  kewl...

LEvel 10: Who cares?  I'm leaving that E the way it is.  Finally!  Two separate black spaces.  Plus, the epic hugeness of it all.  I mean, for a Sokoban level, of course.  It's not Quake we're talking about, after all.

Okay, on to the next ten...

Monday, May 7, 2012

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Atari emulator -> River Raid

Keep going? Okay.........

Atari emulator -> Stars

No, you're not dreaming.  You're just seeing Stars... see Mushca Disk 118.  Sure, it's simplistic, and sure, it's maybe even a little dumb... but there's something to it, I'm telling you.  If it just had a few more features... for example, I'd program a version where you score points based on how long you stand still.  Apparently these six balls are all player missiles.  I forgot: you can do that with missiles.  You could have four missiles and two as regular players.  Genius!  I even kinda like the sound... still, this is probably as far as I'll go with this particular game... do you get another extra man at 6:00?  Crap.  That's how it happens.