Game tester ubisoft

A few months ago, BRW Games published the first novel based on Adventures Dark and Deep, called Swords of the Damned, by Richard Tongue. Unfortunately, as some readers pointed out, it was somewhat lacking in proof-reading, and contained numerous errors.

Im pleased to say that a second printing is now available, which hopefully rectifies this situation. Its been gone-through by our own Mollie Carson-Vollath, she who edited the ADD rulebooks, and I think youll find that the new edition is of a much higher quality.

For the next few days, the new edition will be available for only $6.95, which is more than 20% off the regular price.

Over the past few months Ive been paying attention to PC gaming again, after years away, and have written a little bit about the apparent convergence afoot.  More PC games are featuring native support for the XBox 360 controller for Windows, for example, which means that the mouse-and-keyboard standard is starting to give way, at least for games that work better with a gamepad.  The availability of a standardized controller solution, along with ease of porting thanks to similar hardware, means more games are appearing on both platforms, pulling the historically separate XBox 360 console and Windows computer platforms together.

Something broader and potentially more significant is also happening, with several practical implementations of the "cloud computing" concept in the world of video/computer games.  I was surprised when I recently purchased and downloaded Batman: Arkham Asylum via Steam (thanks to an attractive sale price), because at startup the game requested I sign in with my Games for Windows LIVE ID.  I would not even have such an ID, if not for the fact that Microsoft merged the Games for Windows infrastructure with Xbox LIVE a few years ago, for reasons that were not at the time completely clear.

Now this technical decisions practical upshot is apparent -- my gamerscore on the XBox 360 is being augmented by achievements Im earning on the PC, which is nice, because as much as Ive been enjoying playing some fine/cheap games on the PC, I feel like my XBox history is being neglected.  The merged LIVE game list is now platform-agnostic, so it doesnt matter whether I unlock achievement points on the XBox 360 or the PC, or on a Windows 7 phone, or, presumably, on any future Microsoft gaming platform.  So my gamertag is no longer just a persistent gamer profile on one platform -- now it is portable, it resides in the "cloud," and any changes to it will be reflected by all compatible clients.

Beyond the gamer profile, Microsoft also announced at E3 that XBox 360 profiles and game saves will be moving to the "cloud," allowing much greater portability and removing the need to re-acquire a users profile when moving from one machine to another.  We wont see game save integration across platforms, I dont imagine, but its still a big step in abstracting the important content from the individual, physical machine, which is really just a delivery device.

This is all very cool, but heres the rub: On consoles, a single, official achievement/save/distribution system generally exists.  By comparison, PC gamers have an unlimited choice of channels for obtaining, downloading and launching game content, but as these Internet-integrated features mature, theres greater potential for competing solutions to become inconvenient and confusing.

See, Steam has a similar Web-based solution for profiles and achievements, and now has the Steam Cloud (a serendipitous coincidence of nomenclature) for portability of game saves -- but, of course, its a completely separate system from Microsofts.  Steams services and development tools are great for small teams, and Mac publishers, who want to support an achievement system without having to build it from scratch, like, say, Ubisofts Uplay.  Uplay is yet another online system, with more limited scope but an interesting points-based reward system that allows players to earn items of actual value, like downloadable content and themes.

Electronic Arts is also jumping into the fray -- they announced plans a few months back, and recently implemented a big change.  EAs own online store will now be known as Origin (no relation to Richard Garriotts old Origin Systems brand), and EA will not be distributing its expected next big hit Battlefield 3 via Steam after all, but only through Origin.  EA will have its own Origin client software, and the company has also talked about supporting cloud saves and achievements down the road, building on its own online profile system thats been used for matchmaking, tournaments and leaderboards for a few years now.

From the gamers perspective, any new system of this sort is inconsistent and therefore inconvenient and of less value than a more established system, and developers arent immune to these headaches either.  Competition and diversity are usually good in the long term -- the best solution will eventually win out, or more likely developers will figure out how to integrate multiple popular save/achievement systems and everyone will move on to other concerns.

But for the player, were dealing with convergence, divergence, offline, online, game saves and patches and achievements and profiles... Maybe (well, definitely) Im just getting old, but sometimes I just want to sit down in front of the TV, grab a one-button joystick and plug in a cartridge.

This week, we're tackling a fairly obscure BASIC adventure for the TRS-80 Color Computer -- Killer Mansion, author uncredited, published by T&D Software in 1982.


Past the nondescript title screen, some hyperbolic introductory text explains that we're not dealing with a homicidal building; instead:

YOU ARE A DETECTIVE IN A LARGE CITY! A [sic] INSANE MAN HAS RECENTLY ROBBED A BANK, KILLING THREE PEOPLE AND RUNNING OFF WITH ONE MILLION DOLLARS!  YOU SUSPECT THAT THE CRIMINAL IS HIDING OUT IN A  [sic] OLD ABANDONED MANSION! YOUR MISSION IS TO FIND THE TREASURE AND THE MONEY BUT BEWARE, THE CRIMINAL IS WAITING FOR YOU!!

The interface is all text, but provides a compass rose in the corner of the screen indicating the available exits.  The standard screen layout displays the current location, visible objects, and a command line; if we use the INV command, the screen switches to an inventory display -- then it's impossible to get back to the room display without doing something, like moving to another room or interacting with an object.  Only three characters are significant to the parser, and the BASIC engine is rather slow to respond, so if you're playing via emulation you may want to crank up the simulated clock speed.

I do encourage interested readers to venture into the Killer Mansion before proceeding here.  It's a brief and straightforward adventure aside from one major parser obstacle, and in the interest of history I will be documenting all of the gory details in the following commentary.  In other words, beware that there lie...

***** SPOILERS AHEAD! *****


The story begins in a hallway with a broken light fixture, some cobwebs, and a cracked mirror. LOOK doesn't work with the parser, but EXAMINE does.  EXAMINE MIRROR yields, YOU SEE A WIERD [sic] OBJECT IN THE MIRROR! (pause) YUK! ITS YOU!!  So this game isn't inclined to ingratiate itself with the player.  GETtable objects have to be picked up before they can be EXAMined.  And some things that should logically be portable are not; this can generally be taken to mean that an object is window dressing and irrelevant to play.

A newspaper in the living room features the headline, CRIMINAL ESCAPES KNIFES COP; RUNS OFF WITH LOOT!!  Just to remind us about the plot, and it make it clear that punctuation is really unimportant as far as this game is concerned.

OPEN STOVE in the kitchen results in THE DOOR BREAKS SETTING OFF A BOMB THAT BLOWS YOU OUT OF THE MANSION!! TRY ANOTHER BODY AND ANOTHER MANSION!!  So we will have some unforeseeable deaths to deal with, and in fact this happens if we try to OPEN just about anything in the game.

A MANEATING WATCHDOG in the sitting room presents an issue - THE DOG WILL TEAR YOU TO SHREDS UNLESS YOU DROP SOMETHING RIGHT NOW!! WHAT WILL YOU DROP?  If we try to drop something we actually don't have, the game replies with its usual questionable grammar:  YOU DONT HAVE THAT!! YOUR DEAD!! THE CRIMINAL IS PLANNING ON ATTENDING YOUR FUNERAL!!   Really?  That doesn't seem wise on his part.

Trying something else to appease the dog, like the newspaper, produces THAT IS THE WRONG THING! THE DOG JUMPS ON YOU AND KILLS YOU!  Okay, now this is getting annoying; we can't even leave once we've encountered the maneating dog, so we'll just avoid the sitting room for now.

The kitchen has a counter, a sink, and a scampering rat (who will appear in several other locations and is just window dressing.)  The den has an antique desk and a row of shelves.  OPEN DESK sets off a fatal bomb, of course.  This criminal seems almost suicidally thorough -- one can easily imagine him making an absent-minded late night trip to the refrigerator and succumbing to his own trap.

The layout of the house is a bit strange -- the dining room has a stove in it, we encounter a PANTRY *and* a FOOD STORAGE room, and two DENs.  The trap door in food storage is another bomb trap, of course, and a closet contains a flattened out hat (fixed resolutely in place) and an old chicken bone.  Another storage closet contains a broom and a locked dresser.  A bucket in the laundry room reads (well, EXAMines -- there's no READ verb) MADE IN HONG KONG.


There's quite a bit of reused text, which generally means those items and descriptions aren't really relevant; for instance, every one of the rugs LOOKS LIKE IT HAS BEEN WALKED ON RECENTLY.

The bathroom contains a towel, a rusty faucet and a plunger; the strangely-named FRUIT ROOM has a dirty glass jar and cobwebs.  Trying to enter the COAL STORAGE ROOM south of the COAL ROOM establishes that YOU WERE HIT FROM BEHIND AND KILLED BY THE DANGEROUS CRIMINAL! BEFORE YOU CAN ENTER THAT ROOM HE MUST BE DEAD!   The game's feedback and design often seem to be post-hoc in nature -- it's too bad we had no way of discovering this earlier, and that the game provides no SAVE feature.

A small room contains a half-eaten and unlicensed WHOPPER, as well as more STRANGERS FOOTPRINTS (how do we know they don't belong to someone we know???) and a blood stain.

If we enter the HIDING ROOM -- another odd name -- we find a small key, but are then jumped by the bad guy. A text display indicates a fight (THUD!) and then we RUN! until suddenly, YOUR ONLY CHANCE IS TO USE SOMETHING! WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO USE?  I tried GUN, assuming that as a police detective I might be carrying one, but only learned that, according to the game's inscrutable logic, it's no good:  YOU DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT WEAPON TO DEFEND YOURSELF! YOU DIE!!!

At this point, we've explored most of the mansion, and it seems this game's plot is all about killing the bad guy and solving whatever puzzles remain.

Dropping the chicken bone from the closet gets us past the  maneating watchdog, whose affections are easy to buy -- he is now a FRIENDLY WATCHDOG.  To the east is a SECRET ROOM with a CONTROL PANEL bearing red, blue and yellow levers.  This is probably the game's biggest challenge, due to a maddeningly obtuse and inflexible design -- USE LEVER yields CANNOT FIND THAT.  PULL LEVER produces only I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE VERB!  PUSH RED -- I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE VERB.  MOVE BLUE almost looks like progress, as the game replies, MOVED IT BUT NOTHING HAPPENED, but moving the other levers doesn't do anything interesting either.  USE RED is similarly misleading:  OK.. NOTHING HAPPENS!  We actually have to MOVE PANEL -- and then we can choose which lever we want to move.  Ack!

Past this sticking point, we learn that using the RED lever causes us to fall out of the window with skull-crushing force.  BLUE dumps us into the guest room on a bed, but we lose all of our inventory items and might as well quit and start over.  YELLOW tosses us around and ultimately sends us to a dungeon, apparently in a new part of the mansion.

The dungeon's Torture room has an old skeleton, but we can't GET it or EXAMINE it (because we would have had to GET it first.)  We can MOVE SKELETON, though, to find a KNIFE, which we can hope will be more useful than the gun.  The JAIL room contains an ice pick and a locked door, and we can USE PICK to escape this remarkably insecure dungeon and return to one of the dens.  This amazing ice pick cannot be used to open the locked dresser or an intriguing chest, though.

We can't open the desk in the guest room either, it's also booby trapped despite the watchdog guarding the area.  The attic contains a locked chest and another newspaper, with the same headline as the other one.  This criminal likes to collect his own clippings it seems.  And if we try to OPEN CHEST, it also blows up.  Sigh.

The game's poor grammar extends to the inventory limit system -- we can only carry four items, after which we are told YOU CANNOT CARRY NO MORE.  Sigh again.

With the knife, at last, we can kill the criminal -- THE CRIMINAL FALLS BACK, HIS LAST WORDS ARE, 'THEY WILL NEVER FIND IT, IT IS TOO DEEP!'  It sounds like it's buried somewhere, whatever "it" is.


Since the criminal is dead, we can now get the small key and visit the Coal Storage Room, which has a suspicious dirt floor.  A piece of crumpled paper reads, "'X' MARKS THE SPOT."  While there's no such marking visible here, we can use a handy shovel to dig until we find a chest.  We USE KEY -- since we didn't try to OPEN the chest directly, we can safely do this -- and we are done!


So we've found the money and killed the bad guy -- there's no sign of any additional TREASURE as mentioned in the introductory text, but at least it's all over and we can return to the land of decent grammar and proper punctuation.  Killer Mansion isn't difficult, but the design is haphazard and sloppy -- play is very trial-and-error, despite the limited vocabulary.  We just have to try to pick up, use and move everything until something gives, and after we've winnowed play down to the essentials there isn't really much to do; my walkthrough (below the fold, and available at the CASA Solution Archive) wraps the whole thing up in under 40 moves.



**** WALKTHROUGH ****


Read more »

King Arthur Journal Entry 1: "Gawaine, Launcelot and Galahad have not returned from their quests for the Grail! I can no longer call on my people to do my bidding. I have prepared to leave Camelot to find out what has happened to them, and in doing so will push on in search of the Grail myself. Its not as though my presence here brings any joy to this cursed kingdom, with the people starving and my dearest Gwenhyver loving another man. The answer to our woes must be held within the Grail, and so must I possess it for the good of all!"


I’ve had my first go at Conquests of Camelot, and I’m not really sure what to think just yet. It’s interesting for sure, but it also seems a little clunky at times, particularly after the polish of Loom. Before I walk through my experience so far, I need to spend a bit of time describing what occurred in the game’s lengthy introduction. It starts with a view of King Arthur’s castle in Camelot (Arthur is the game’s protagonist in case you hadn’t guessed). The narrator, Merlin the wizard, described the vast kingdom that Arthur has earned through “strength, spirit, skill of sword and quickness of mind”. Not only has he defeated numerous armies on the battlefield, but he also has the beautiful Gwenhyver as his Queen. However, not all is well in Camelot, as Gwenhyver has fallen in love with another man… Sir Launcelot! Launcelot holds a place at the Round Table, along with the likes of Kai, Ector, Gareth, Percival, Gawaine and Galahad. He is such a “chivalrous, brave and true friend”, that King Arthur chooses not to bring harm against him. Merlin informed Arthur that this choice not to put a stop to the love shared by the Queen and Sir Launcelot has brought a curse upon the kingdom, with rotting fruit, diseased grain and foul wells the result. Yet just as all appeared lost, a vision of the Holy Grail covered in a white cloth appeared in the centre of the Round Table. Thus did the search for the Grail begin!


Three knights ventured forth to seek the Grail, being Sir Gawaine, Sir Launcelot and Sir Galahad, yet none have returned. It is now up to Arthur (aka me), to begin his own search. For anyone to find the Grail, they must surpass tests of physical, moral and spiritual strength.  The introduction finished with Merlin informing Arthur that he would be with him throughout his journey, if only in spirit (ie. he’s not coming). With all that done, I was given control of Arthur, but found myself with a strange view of proceedings. I could see the layout of Camelot from above, and could move around from room to room using either the arrow keys or the mouse. On entering a room, I was given a brief description of what it was, but what I didn’t realise at first was that clicking on it again would cause me to enter it. I therefore wandered from room to room, finding out what each of the white shapes represented, but not actually seeing anything within it, until I accidentally entered one. It was the Queen’s Bower, and within it I found Gwenhyver seated in front of a dried up fountain. It felt strange to use a parser again, but I quickly discovered I could also get a description of anything onscreen by right clicking on it. Right clicking on the red rose in the foreground revealed that “There is only one rose left in her garden, but I have no doubt she would be glad for you to have it”. I typed “get rose”, and added my first item to my inventory.


As I picked up the rose, Gwenhyver spoke: “Wear it next to your heart. In time of need, it will guide you through danger if you recite the Message of the Rose.” I then typed “look at gwenhyver”, and was told that “If there is any news of Launcelot, Gwenhyver is bound to know it.” That seemed a hint that I should ask her about him, so I did. “Ah… uhmmm… we are just good friends. However, it is true that I was the last person to talk to him before he went seeking the Grail. He said he would seek information from the Lady of the Lake. The watery tart.” This seemed important, so I noted down that Launcelot went to see the Lady of the Lake. Since I now had something in it, I decided to see how the game’s inventory worked. It was basically a list, and selecting an item on it merely showed me a small image of it. To get a detailed description, I would have to type “look at rose”. I couldn’t find anything else to do in the Bower, so I left and made my way to the next room of interest. It was the Treasury, where my coins and other valuables are kept, yet the room’s description made a point of telling me that the “bundles on the right are new, though”.


I was more interested in the chests on the left, which were surely filled with treasure. When I tried to open them though, the buff looking treasurer told me to leave them alone. “Nay, leave it be. Your mission must be kept humble, for safety as well as your soul’s sake.” I got over that disappointment quickly, and wandered over to the bundles to the right of screen. When I tried to open those, the treasurer interjected once again! “It was sealed by Sir Gawaine when he left it here, and he charged me to see that the seal is not broken except by his own hand… unless he is dead.” Hey, isn’t this my kingdom!!!??? *sigh* Well, surely I would be able to wander over to the treasurer and take handfuls of those coins he’s guarding! I tried, but found I was a little bit stuck behind the bundles. I’d walked around the pillar in case there happened to be two different bundles that needed investigation, but didn’t appear to be able to get back out. I tried everything I could, but I was stuck!!!! To make matters worse, I hadn’t saved my game at all, so was forced to restart. This was not a massive deal, as I hadn’t got very far, but it was an annoying sign that Merlin might have been correct when he told me things were going to get rocky in Camelot! I hoped this would be the only bug that I’ll come across.


I started again, and still not realising that I could enter the room that I started on, made my way counter clockwise around Camelot. The first location I found was the Chapel of the Two Gods, which held two thrones side by side. Interestingly, these thrones reflected the “power struggle between an old and new religion”, with the one on the left holding the symbol of Mithras while the one on the right the symbol of Christ. I didn’t know much about Mithras, but further investigation revealed that “The symbol of Mithras has emblazoned many a warrior’s shield, for he has been primarily a soldier’s god.” There were two pads to kneel upon in front of the thrones, along with offering bowls, so I thought I’d try praying at one. I kneeled in front of the symbol of Mithras and typed “pray”. “I suspect that an earthly gift may help your prayers to reach the heavens.” The same thing happened when I tried praying at the symbol of Christ, but since I didn’t have anything in my possession since restarting, I could think of nothing to do. I left the Chapel and continued my way from room to room. The vast majority of them held nothing of interest right now, so I wasn’t able to “enter” them. Eventually I ended up back in the Treasury, and this time I avoided the pillars altogether. I decided to focus on the large man that was defending my treasure, and in doing so discovered that the three barrels in front of him contained (from left to right) copper, silver and gold coins.


When I spoke to the Treasurer, he had the following to say: “My king, if you seek my advice, I say this – take with you coins of all three value: copper, silver and gold. Each has its use.” This seemed like good advice, so I tried to get some copper. “Aye, gladly, if you will but provide me with the purse to fill.” I of course didn’t have a purse, and hadn’t seen one anywhere in Camelot. Perhaps I would find one in the small tower room in the north east section?! Inside I found Merlin, standing amongst a whole variety of beakers, flasks, herbs and other items associated with magic and alchemy. I starting right clicking on everything I could see, not certain which ones might turn out to be useful. Merlin told me that the herbs hanging on the wall were for both medicinal and culinary purposes, and that I should ask him about them if I wanted to know more. The map on the wall was of the Summer Lands (my kingdom), and Merlin suggested I study it in great detail before searching for the Grail. The chest to the right of screen belonged to Merlin, but he seemed happy for me to look inside. There I discovered a lodestone, which he described as “a magical stone that will always show you where true north lies”. He told me to take it, so I did!


I’ve realised while writing this post that I never tried to interact with the dragon skull or the crystal sitting on the shelf behind Merlin. I’ll restore a game and try to do so at the beginning of my next session, although they both appear too large for me to carry. As he’d suggested I should, I asked Merlin about the herbs on the wall. He described the medicinal and culinary uses for each of them, being mint, basil, marjoram, sage and bay. As an example of the level of detail, this is what Merlin had to say about bay. “To the Greeks and Romans it was the laurel and they would crown their victors with laurel wreaths. Young girls have been known to burn leaves to make lovers return to them. Prophets, diviners and the priests of Apollo considered it to have magical properties. The dry leaves make an excellent flavouring in stews.” Whether or not I need this information at some point in the game, I don’t yet know. The fact that Merlin wouldn’t let me take any of the herbs suggests perhaps not. Having checked out all the items in the room, I decided it was time to study the map. Doing so brought up a full screen view of Britannia Australis, with a bunch of green dots representing places of interest. Clicking on each of them gave me a heap of information about its history and what I might find there. There are way too many, with far too much information, for me to describe upfront here, so I’ll insert images that describe each location as I visit them.


At this point I visited Gwenhyver to get the rose (as I hadn’t since restarting), and the only extra thing I managed to do on this occasion was kiss her (which didn’t appear to achieve anything). It was also at this point that I noticed the game has a unique scoring system. I was going through the menu when I discovered an option to Show Score. My score was split into three distinct headings, being Skill Points, Wisdom Points and Soul Points. I’m not clear on what actions might be allocated to each set of points, but so far I’d only gained 4 out of 368 Skill Points, 3 out of 293 Wisdom Points and 0 out of 358 Soul Points. After leaving the Queen’s Bower, I finally figured out that the starting square was actually my own room, and that I could enter it! *facepalm* It turned out to be incredibly important too, as inside I found my mail tunic, my sword and shield, and my purse! My quest for the Grail would likely end pretty quickly without this stuff, so I went about picking it all up. At first I wasn’t able to get the armour: “You cannot wear armour over your court clothes. Your travelling clothes are in the south corner of your room.” I had to stand out of site down the bottom left corner of the screen and type “get clothes” to change into my travelling clothes, and only then would Arthur put the tunic on.


As you would expect (if you know anything about the King Arthur story), the sword was Excalibur, given by the Lady in the Lake. The shield was described as the Red Dragon, “in token of your surname, Pendragon, which comes from the Welsh words meaning supreme war chief”. I was particularly excited about having the purse, as now I would be able to get the coins from the Treasurer. I quickly made my way to the Treasury, gave the purse to the man, and then asked for copper, silver and gold coins. The man obliged, and once he’d filled the purse, I made my way to the chapel to see if I could donate a couple of coins for blessings. I forgot to get the purse back off the Treasurer before going to the chapel the first time, which was a bit stupid! Once I did have my coins on me, I found I could choose which type of coin and how many I would like to put in the bowl. Trial and error led to me figuring out that the correct choice for both shrines was a single silver coin. When I placed a silver beneath both symbols, a message stated that “The sacred flame is lit. You and your mission have been blessed.” I felt like I was ready to depart Camelot at this stage, but there were a couple of things I wanted to try beforehand. Firstly, I refilled my purse with coins, negating the two silvers I’d just given away. Secondly, Merlin had told me to see him once I’d finished my preparations.


I made my way back to the magician, and he had the following message for me: “The search for the Grail will be long and difficult. Though I will not physically travel with you, my spirit will be with you to guide and advise as I am able. Choose carefully where your search will take you, for once you leave Camelot, you may not return.” This speech wasn’t as inspiring as I’d hoped, and didn’t give me any clue as to where I might travel to first. I knew from Gwenhyver that Sir Launcelot had gone to visit the Lady of the Lake, but I didn’t know where Galahad and Gawaine had gone. I asked Merlin about Galahad, and he responded with: “He is very popular among your guards and they would be first to hear rumour of him.” That was good to know, but I hadn’t actually come across any of my guards just yet. Perhaps I would later. I asked him about Gawaine, and was told the following: “I believe the Treasurer is a good friend of Sir Gawaine and would have the latest news, if any.” Of course! Gawaine had left a bundle with the Treasurer, but I’d not asked him any questions. I raced over to the Treasury and asked. “I was the last to see Sir Gawaine. He made sure to take copper coins along with silver and gold. He told me he planned to search for the Grail in the ruins of Glastonbury Tor. That is the last that I, or any man, had heard of him.”


Well at least now I knew where two of the three knights had gone. With nothing else to do, it was time to exit Camelot into the outer courtyard. On arrival, I found a mule and a horse awaiting me, alongside four guardsmen. I immediately wondered whether these guards could tell me where Galahad had gone! I approached the first one and typed “ask about galahad”: “I have no news of him, m’lord.” Well that was disappointing! The second and third guards gave me the exact same response, which didn’t give me much confidence that the fourth and final one would have the answer. “His horse was sent back to our care by the Harbourmaster of Southampton, along with a message from the Harbourmaster that Sir Galahad took ship to the Far East.” There it was! I had all the items and information I needed to head off in search of the Holy Grail! I hopped on my horse, and trotted out through the gate, with my mule slowly following behind. As I’d assumed I would, I was shortly afterwards confronted with a map of the surrounding landscape, able to click on my first destination. Alas, since this has already been a very lengthy post, I shall cease typing for now. I think I’m actually more excited to get back to the game after writing this post than I was prior. The aforementioned bug got me off on the wrong foot, and I needed to get accustomed to the big drop in visuals after just completing Loom, but there’s no doubt a lot of effort was put into building the world I’ll be spending the next days / weeks adventuring in. My search for the Grail begins now…

It took me about 2 weeks to complete the Rubpix puzzles of the dimension 3x3 and 4x4 (the first 100 level), with the best move solutions. However, I immediately realize that it would probably take months to complete the rest - 6x6 and even 8x8. Why?

At first sight, this Rubpix game is indeed deceptively simple, with simply Up, Down, Left and Right movements. For the first few puzzles, you may find them solve-able, as long as you make some additional movements. However, after considering the possible sample sizes more seriously, you will immediately realize that the complexity of these kinds of puzzles has the potential to grow exponentially!
 
To start with a simpler picture, lets consider the simplest form of the Rubpix game - 3x3. Here, assume that there are 9 unique colors in the puzzle (worst case scenario), with some high school maths, you will come out with an answer that it has basically a total of "9 factorial" permutations - aka 362880 patterns! Yep. You are seeing it right - MORE THAN 300 thousands! In a worst case scenario, the solution of the puzzle could be only obtained after a total of 300 thousands moves! (with a naive move)

Of course, the developer of the Rubpix game isnt that brutal. Most of the time (from observation), the unique colors of the puzzle are usually lesser than 6. Hence, with some humans non-naive filtering, the answer can still be found after not more than 50 moves (Alright, if you take more than that, something is really wrong).


Now, back to the harder question. What if it is a puzzle of 6x6 (not to mention, the horrible 8x8 as well). Taking the example of the Rubpix puzzle Level 101, it has 36 blocks with six unique colors. So... can you guess how many unique permutations are there? There are MILLIONS! Playing this kind of game naively would claim your life!

Anyway, I will only play the rest of the Rubpix puzzles when I am free. If you have solved all of them, you have my respect!