User Adventure: PushPushJump

[Blizgerg]

Edit:
see http://www.moonpod.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=3185
and the in game adventure download thing
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I decided to go ahead and post this after this topic.

It is most definitely not 'done'. Everything and anything may change at my slightest whim.
You will know when you get to the end of what I have already done when you get to an empty room with only one door.

I named it PushPushJump because that is about all you do. Some of the puzzles are very much like ones you might find in a game like Sokoban. And in my opinion some of the puzzles are quiet hard. Yes, they are all solvable and it is possible to get 100% explored too.

I would very much like some feedback. How hard the rooms are, any bugs, ideas to make things better, etc.

Get it here:
PushPushJump V 0.4 Added about 4 puzzle rooms and other side stuff, tweeked a bunch of other things.
Older versions:
PushPushJump V 0.3 Added two more puzzles.
PushPushJump V 0.2 Made the last jump in z1jump a little easier and added some corridors and stuff.
PushPushJump V 0.1

To install extract the rar file into my documents/mrrobot/data/user/ folder.

[Weeble]

Something went wrong.

Assert failed!
Expression: CRoom::m_pWorld->m_rooms.HowManyItems() > 0
File: .\Source\frontend.cpp
Line: 3205
Function: CGameData::getStartId
...

That's immediately on clicking "START" after selecting "NEW" and picking PushPushJump 0.1.

[Blizgerg]

Ooops!

Fixed and uploaded.

I had changed the line roomgroups ? to roomgroups 1 to see what it did and forgot to test it... apparently it crashes the game!

[Weeble]

Looks good but difficult so far. I spent quite a while thinking about the first room. I'm currently stuck on Z1JUMP trying to make the last jump from the moving platforms onto the raised section at the end of the room. It looks slightly too far to jump, but I can't see any tricks so I'm assuming it's *just* possible...

[Weeble]

Yeah, I got it eventually. I'd advise making the jump slightly easier or having just two sideways platforms rather than three. It gets a bit tedious to keep trying after a while.

PushMePullYou is great.

I'm at your horrid switch puzzle now. I think I'm going to have to write it down on paper. It's killing me.

[Blizgerg]

Yea, Z1JUMP is really hard and I think the current version is something like the 5th incarnation. Every time I changed it, I made it easier. The original had kill player floors scattered at random under the moving platforms and at the base of the wall. There was only a single platform on each jump. It would take me like 20-30 tries to do it. Now it only takes about 5. I agree I think I should make that last jump a little bit easier.

Hehehe, z1melody? Yea, you pretty much HAVE to write that one down and then go through it. There are a whole lot of ways to solve it but the optimal solution is 5 switch presses.
I almost never do it in 5 presses because I always forget what the sequence is. If you know about what the sequence is you can press them in relative order and eventually get it.

I was thinking that I might want to give some kind of hint on how to solve z1melody as well.
My original idea was to make each switch play a sound effect so that pressing the switches in the correct order played the first 5 cords of Cannon in D. But, I couldn't figure out how to get loadSFX and playSFX to work on .wav files that where not in the game executable directory. I wanted to have the .wav files in my adventure directory.

[Weeble]

In PushMeOver I like the clever arrangement of floor and duct tiles to make obstacles that you can see past a bit. Quite a few times I've been constructing rooms and been frustrated because I wanted a solid wall the height of a crate but I didn't want it to completely obscure the view.

[Blizgerg]

[Weeble]

Am I supposed to be able to solve Z1WATER without putting the water back?

I've opened three doors in Z1HUB. The north one in the west wall, the west one in the south wall, and the east one in the north wall. They've been cool secrets. Not obvious, but with little hints that they're there.

[Blizgerg]

My solution to z1water was to turn the water off, move the blocks around, then turn it back on and jump up to the exit. I tried to make it so that you couldn't solve it without turning the water back on.

The way I created several of the rooms was to create something, then go figure out if I can solve it. If not, then figure out what I could do to it to make it solvable.

I'm not surprised you haven't found the west one in the north wall, I had the idea for how to hide that one from your adventure Weeble.
I am surprised that you haven't found the south one in the west wall though. I thought it was obvious... why else would a platform of blocks be there?

Having the secrets was really nice for me because I could use it to jump to a specific spot for testing. (OFC I have to unlock the doors... I really should come up with a way to automate that)

[Weeble]

Heh. I found the west one in the north wall. ;)

Still haven't found the south one in the west wall, though. I'll need to go back for a closer look.

My solution to the water room didn't involve turning the water back on:
Spoiler (highlight to read):

I pushed the top three blocks from each tower onto the low pipes. I made sure the towers were evenly spaced. I could then jump from each to the next to get from the entrance to the exit.

I'm at Z2WELL now. I fell in the coolant and died by accident. The room is quite clever but sadly very fiddly.

[Blizgerg]

I hadn't thought of that! But, I think that is a good solution too, so I may leave it.
Spoiler (highlight to read):

The original solution I come up with was to move one of the towers over to the wall near the low pipes; drop one of the towers onto a half block and put it over by the wall and then split the other tower in half and space it between the others so I could hit the switch and then quickly jump onto the first 2 tower before it rises and then jump across.

I dont think my solution is that much harder.

Yea, I can see how z2well could be rather fiddly... any suggestions?

Edit:
I decided to go ahead an put up what changes I made so far as version 0.2. I added a few minor rooms (corridors etc.) and made that last jump in z1jump a little bit easer.

[Weeble]

Woohoo, I finished it. Some really nice and clever rooms in there. And there's a lot of it! Despite its simplicity, I think Z1PUSH4 (might have that slightly wrong, not sure) was my favourite room. It had six pushable crates, six switches in a line, not much space and some raised spiky floors. It was elegant and fun to solve. The very Sokoban-ish rooms with a lot of yellow walls and crates to go on switches were excellent too. I'll maybe have a look at 0.2 tomorrow, and see if I can find the remaining secret.

[Blizgerg]

Glad you like it Weeble!

I uploaded version 0.3 in which I added two more puzzles and other small side rooms to go with them.

I played through this version as a test and timed my self and I think it took me about 30 to 40 minutes to go through everything.

[Weeble]

I played 0.3. Looks good. I think I've been to every secret room, including the new ones, except the one you say is obvious. I will probably kick myself, but I just can't find it.

The rolling ball puzzles are quite nice, but are hard to reason through because the balls are frustratingly too small and don't settle into the centre of grid squares when they bump into something. Not that you can do much about that.

There's something weird about the door back into the starting room. You can enter through it from the other side and it will be closed and locked behind you.