[Game] Rock, Paper, Scissors

[Ivan Koswara]

Who knew the popular game rock, paper, scissors can be this hard? http://www.puzzlescript.net/play.html?p=62070c89dc7604de2484

This is very much a work-in-progress...

• Main mechanics (of objects already implemented) should be complete, but isn't necessarily bug free; still testing.
  
• There may or may not be additional gameplay objects.
• Sprites might need a little work. (Who knew spriting the paper would be this hard? Thanks betaveros for feedback.)
• Levels are clearly lacking (only 9 so far), but I hope they are decent challenges at the moment.
• There may be secrets...

Comments, bug reports, and feedback in general are welcome!

[Ivan Koswara]

(Oops, Google glitched and my topic got posted twice.)

[willia...@gmail.com]

Wow, this is really clever! I really like how each item on itself can create difficult puzzles, and when combined can make some seriously clever challenges (level 8 was a delight to work out how to get the red gem). I don't quite see how level 9 is possible unless there is some interaction between the types that isn't explicitly stated... but I might just be missing something in this dim head of mine. :)

[Stephen Lavelle]

I love the scissors! Really like the imagery. The first scissors level was a real delight to me. not a fan of rock scissor crushing being directional, just in terms of how i visualise a rock crushing a pair of scissors.

SKIP LEVEL can't be cancelled? 

On Sat, Jul 11, 2015 at 7:33 AM, <willia...@gmail.com> wrote:

Wow, this is really clever! I really like how each item on itself can create difficult puzzles, and when combined can make some seriously clever challenges (level 8 was a delight to work out how to get the red gem). I don't quite see how level 9 is possible unless there is some interaction between the types that isn't explicitly stated... but I might just be missing something in this dim head of mine. :)

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[Stephen Lavelle]

(I can press esc and 'continue' to return to the same level, at least)

[Stephen Lavelle]

Stuck on the rock scissors level. HMM.

(good work!)

[Stephen Lavelle]

wait, nevermind. woo <3

[Stephen Lavelle]

Ok, gave up trying to get the red gem on level 8. Good work. Pop me a line when it's finished and I'll post it to the tumblr :)

[Ivan Koswara]

not a fan of rock scissor crushing being directional, just in terms of how i visualise a rock crushing a pair of scissors.

That's actually a reasonable thing. My visualization is more like "you try to cut a rock with scissors, the blade breaks; you try to bump onto a rock with any other side, nothing happens".

SKIP LEVEL can't be cancelled?

You can move to cancel skipping; should be so, at least.

[Ivan Koswara]

I don't quite see how level 9 is possible unless there is some interaction between the types that isn't explicitly stated...

I don't think there's any interaction that you missed, although I admit I underrepresented gems. If it helps you, gems can push paper/scissors (all three are "light"). I should add a level explaining this, then.

Ok, gave up trying to get the red gem on level 8.

You need to make a certain paper shape including the blocking paper that can move down (to remove the block) and move left (so you can use the remaining paper to the exit). To my knowledge there is only one possible shape given the materials you have.

Pop me a line when it's finished and I'll post it to the tumblr :)

Wooo, thanks!

[Stephen Lavelle]

>You can move to cancel skipping; should be so, at least.

What browser/OS are you using?

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[Ivan Koswara]

Firefox 39 on Windows 7.

[Stephen Lavelle]

I can't repro it on firefox 38 osx here. Anyway, that's not intended behaviour - definitely doesn't so you can't rely on it in future. In fact, I'm gonna log it as a bug in fact https://github.com/increpare/PuzzleScript/issues/297

My unsolicited advice is that I'd focus more on making all of the levels amazing and forget about skip options. And it's something I think it's within your ability to do :)

[Ivan Koswara]

Oh, no, not that; I meant after closing the message (with X), pressing action again will skip the level (so that's a total of 3 times pressing X), while moving will cancel skipping the level (so X twice, then move). I should rephrase the message.

[Ali]

Wow, a really great idea, also a really great game overall, keep working on that. I once skipped a level accidentally and then had to start over, this may be a problem if the number of levels increases.

[Ivan Koswara]

I once skipped a level accidentally and then had to start over, this may be a problem if the number of levels increases.

Well, that's the problem with PuzzleScript games in general; the levels are ordered in a linear fashion, and you can't return to a previous level. Not adding skipping might frustrate players (and might make testers to be too lazy to redo levels they have done before), while adding skipping might cause that problem of accidentally skipping.
 

[Ali Nikkhah]

Uh, I didn't know but like that it seems to be the only good way to make it a little more non-linear.

[Stephen Lavelle]

You could use checkpoints and the flickscreen keyword ( http://www.puzzlescript.net/Documentation/prelude.html ), like Anna's game - http://auntiepixelante.com/mansion/

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[Ivan Koswara]

That's also a possibility. That requires all levels to be of the same size, however, and padding unused space with walls seems inelegant.

[bluegun...@gmail.com]

I'm still stuck trying to figure out how to get the red gem from level 12; I've gotten as far as picking up the red gem, and I know what shape the paper needs to be to clear the rock to get it out and away, but geez...

This game is great. I love how instinctively there's a desire to push scissors towards paper, but in most of your scenarios the paper should be pushed towards the scissors.

How many levels are you planning? Skipping is nice, but isn't reaching the end without getting the red gem kinda skipping ahead anyway?

[Ivan Koswara]

Updated (now with 15 levels). New levels are in 11, 13, 14; if you have passed the old level 11, you might need to restart and skip ahead to reach the new level 11.

From your response, I guess the proper hint for the red gem is "you can get to the exit with less than five paper". If you already knew it, oops.

Perhaps the most likely reason why I have so many thing with paper pushed to scissors is because paper is such as interesting object with its stickiness. (Originally I didn't make the paper sticky.) On the other hand, this might be a bad thing too, since it gives too much weight on paper.

I'm planning for around 20 levels. Red gems are difficult, so I intend them to be skippable, for the second playthrough or something. Trying to cater to both more casual, beginning players and to the more experienced ones, something like that.

[Ivan Koswara]

Updated again, this time with 18 levels. (If you count reaching the goal, getting the red gem, and doing both as three separate objectives, then there are technically 52 levels, so I guess I can say "over 50 levels!" for advertising?)

This is pretty much a finished game. I still call it v0.9 internally, though, since I might tweak some boring/tiresome levels or their ordering, maybe add new levels, and so on. I guess I should put up some GIF if I want this posted in the Tumblr, huh.

[Ivan Koswara]

Oh, here's the GIF. Intentionally not a gameplay of some level, and intentionally (almost) loops. (I just knew that the initial frame appears twice so that there's a noticeable stop.)

[joel.d...@gmail.com]

Nice game. Getting both the red gem and reaching the exit on 18 was crazy hard and very satisfying :)

[Ivan Koswara]

Thank you! Indeed, Level 18 is the level I'm the most proud of. Unfortunately such elegant levels are very difficult to find, too.

[Alan Hazelden]

I don't think I would have got the level 18 red gem without that hint above, but I got there eventually. Tough puzzle!

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[David Kempe]

Mega congrats on this game; it's fantastic! I especially loved the large movable maze made of paper (level 13 when I played it).

[Matt Slaybaugh]

Holy cow, very well done game!

Any other hints for getting the red gem and the exit on level 18?

[Ivan Koswara]

I suppose it means both getting the red gem and going to the exit. Several hints, which may or may not help depending on your current progress:

• The puzzle is divided into three major parts: retrieving the rock, nudging the scissors to the right, and unlocking the exit. The first part is pretty easy. For the third part, you can practice it first by unlocking the exit with only 4 units of paper, so you know what shape to aim.
  
• You can use the gem so that you can push scissors with paper. (Like, pushing on paper, which in turn pushes the gem, which in turn pushes the scissors.)
• You can use the rock to move the gem (since you can't directly move it; you'd collect it instead).
• My solution involves making the following shape from the paper. (There might be other solutions, though.)
  

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