[Server] Inside The Box [Puzzles]

sofar
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Re: [Server] Inside The Box [Puzzles]

by sofar » Post

runs wrote:Image

Congratulations!

Your server was awarded as the second best server of 2018 on the Sam Awards!
I was watching this thread, I really appreciate the support that the players expressed in the thread, and votes :)

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Re: [Server] Inside The Box [Puzzles]

by sofar » Post

A Quick announcement: I intend to migrate the server to 5.0 as soon as it is released (i.e. within a week or so).

This means that anyone with a 0.4 client will need to upgrade their clients. Nothing will change on the server as an effect - the maps, boxes and everyone's scores and progress will be maintained.

I've recently done some testing and everything on the server is working correctly with 5.0 development builds.

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Re: [Server] Inside The Box [Puzzles]

by Lone_Wolf » Post

sofar wrote:A Quick announcement: I intend to migrate the server to 5.0 as soon as it is released (i.e. within a week or so).

This means that anyone with a 0.4 client will need to upgrade their clients. Nothing will change on the server as an effect - the maps, boxes and everyone's scores and progress will be maintained.

I've recently done some testing and everything on the server is working correctly with 5.0 development builds.
:thumbsup:
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Re: [Server] Inside The Box [Puzzles]

by sofar » Post

I just had a mind blowing idea for a new box... Excuse me while I build for a bunch of evenings....!

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Re: [Server] Inside The Box [Puzzles]

by v-rob » Post

sofar wrote:I just had a mind blowing idea for a new box... Excuse me while I build for a bunch of evenings....!
Here we go! Sofar has come up with one of his amazing ideas that will prove to be a wonderful box. I can't wait :-)
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Re: [Server] Inside The Box [Puzzles]

by sofar » Post

[9:54:31 pm] <insidethebox> <###########> SCREW IT
[9:54:33 pm] <insidethebox> *** ############# left the game
This ... this is why I keep making more levels. :)

(If you're wondering, this is the sort of language I really don't have an issue with. It's not meant to attack a person, this person clearly hit their limit. By now, 10 minutes later or so, they're probably laughed it off already. And let's be honest, the levels can be brutal, we all strive to make things just a little bit more difficult every time we make a new box).

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Re: [Server] Inside The Box [Puzzles]

by texmex » Post

Tbh I became more frustrated with the MT client on macOS than anything else but by all means, build moar levels! =)

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Re: [Server] Inside The Box [Puzzles]

by Linuxdirk » Post

sofar wrote:By now, 10 minutes later or so, they're probably laughed it off already.
Been there, done that :)

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Re: [Server] Inside The Box [Puzzles]

by v-rob » Post

So, I was playing Memory, and I found two ways to get stuck in the level:

First, if you dig the red blocks closest to the entrance, you can't get the ones further off and therefore must restart the level.

Second, in the room with the waterfalls, there are sponges in the ground. You can't jump when on a sponge, and if you fall into the hole, there is no way out. I found this extremely aggravating because I spent quite a while in that box only to get stuck.

I hope these get fixed.

Edit: BTW, in the library in the create section in the terminal with the description for tools, glass is misspelled as "flass".
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sofar
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Re: [Server] Inside The Box [Puzzles]

by sofar » Post

v-rob wrote:So, I was playing Memory, and I found two ways to get stuck in the level:

First, if you dig the red blocks closest to the entrance, you can't get the ones further off and therefore must restart the level.
That was easily fixed. Thanks for reporting, that is definitely something that I didn't foresee.
v-rob wrote:Second, in the room with the waterfalls, there are sponges in the ground. You can't jump when on a sponge, and if you fall into the hole, there is no way out. I found this extremely aggravating because I spent quite a while in that box only to get stuck.
A little more tricky, I don't think the builder actually thought of that either :). Kudos on finding some great frustration points and letting me know.
v-rob wrote:Edit: BTW, in the library in the create section in the terminal with the description for tools, glass is misspelled as "flass".
It's a good thing this is all fixable in-game easily :)

Edit: all fixed of course.

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Re: [Server] Inside The Box [Puzzles]

by sofar » Post

I made some improvements to the "reveal" tool that should greatly help builders check their mech connections. The tool now shows a chain of particles between the linked nodes that slowly travel in the direction of their connection and stay visual for 3 seconds. Should be much easier to work with.

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Re: [Server] Inside The Box [Puzzles]

by orwell » Post

Regarding "mech" structures: There are 2 things that I am missing while building my space station.
1. Would it be possible to add an XOR gate as a single block? I found out that building one with adders and inverters is quite buggy.
2. It would be good to have some sort of feedback for the current count of an Adder (not the desired count, but the actual number of triggers received so far) and a way to reset that value.
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Re: [Server] Inside The Box [Puzzles]

by bewlay » Post

orwell wrote:Regarding "mech" structures: There are 2 things that I am missing while building my space station.
1. Would it be possible to add an XOR gate as a single block? I found out that building one with adders and inverters is quite buggy.
2. It would be good to have some sort of feedback for the current count of an Adder (not the desired count, but the actual number of triggers received so far) and a way to reset that value.
I second both proposals. For the XOR block, I'd specifically propose a block that sends out alternating ON and OFF signals, whenever a signal of any type is received. My simulation of similar functionality wasn't buggy, but required 2 blocks for every Input, and therefore was quite prone to building mistakes (especially as you can't check the Adder status). Growing frustrated with that was actually the reason I paused building one of my boxes for some months.

An easy way to implement half of the second proposal would be to print out the current status along with the desired count when punching it. Resetting that value is already possible, while not quick, with switches/buttons and filters, so that wouldn't be a priority for me.

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Re: [Server] Inside The Box [Puzzles]

by sofar » Post

What I'm currently thinking of doing is to make the reveal tool disclose the stored information:
- list linked nodes (both ways)
- list settings like distance, stored nodes for creators, detectors
- list adder setting and current count values

This will be callback based so each node can print out node-specific information.

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Re: [Server] Inside The Box [Puzzles]

by micheal65536 » Post

Feature request:

Add a "spectator" mode. This would allow one player to invite another player to watch them solving a box. Then the spectator player would be teleported inside the same box (same instance of the box) as the active player, but wouldn't be able to interact with the box in any way (no digging or pressing buttons, for example). Also the spectator would be limited to disallow flying, otherwise a single person could join using two accounts and use this to cheat (view areas of the box that are otherwise difficult or impossible to reach). The spectator player(s) should be visible to the active player to provide a feeling of sharing the box space with each other.

This would increase the "social" aspect of the game significantly, as players could team up to solve a box (spectators can still explore even if they can't interact) or someone who's already solved a box might find it interesting to watch how someone else approaches it. In particular there are two occasions on which I would have liked to use this feature myself.

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Re: [Server] Inside The Box [Puzzles]

by Sokomine » Post

That spectator mode sounds like a very good idea. Might be intresting for those who created a box and want to learn more about how players attempt to solve their boxes. If necessary, visiting could be limited to boxes the visiting player has already solved.
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Re: [Server] Inside The Box [Puzzles]

by micheal65536 » Post

Sokomine wrote:If necessary, visiting could be limited to boxes the visiting player has already solved.
Not really sure what that would achieve. This server has always had quite an open policy towards helping other players to solve boxes, and if someone is giving someone else step-by-step instructions to solve a box they can do that even without a spectator mode (in chat, through an independent chat platform, etc.). But this would reduce/remove the opportunity for players to solve a box together or for someone who has no interest in solving a box themselves to to hang out while their friends are playing.

Needless to say, and I did forget to mention this in my original post, players will have to accept the invitation before they are teleported into the box. This would work similarly to the teleport request system that some servers use, so one player will say "/invite <someone>" and the other player has to say (for example) "/accept" or "/reject". So there is of course no way to force a player into a box. And if the spectator is currently playing another box, they will obviously be required to (or automatically forced to) leave that box.

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Re: [Server] Inside The Box [Puzzles]

by sofar » Post

I'm very hesitant to add anything like this at the moment. While I understand the attractiveness, it makes things a lot more complicated and opens up a possibility for abuse. We get the occasional group of "kids" come and play and they seem to be doing fine solving puzzles in parallel.

Having a second player walk around in the box with you would be untenable: they would obstruct the view, block or hide important details, make footstep sounds and set off pressure plates. Also, they'd likely die in fire/lava as well, then get teleported to the start and now they have to run through the entire parkours circuit again before getting back to the actual box player, which is probably a waste of time. Having a player watching you from 3rd person view also isn't easy, as there are already mods that do that but they generally drown/burn the watching person due to the needed offset to make it work.

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Re: [Server] Inside The Box [Puzzles]

by micheal65536 » Post

sofar wrote:they would obstruct the view, block or hide important details
It's invitation-only. If you don't want someone blocking your view then don't invite them in. Or ask them in chat to move out of the way.
sofar wrote:make footstep sounds
Great, now you can feel like you're hanging out together. Honestly don't see what the issue with this is.
sofar wrote:and set off pressure plates
Hence why I specified "cannot interact with the box". That includes pressure plates.
sofar wrote:Also, they'd likely die in fire/lava as well, then get teleported to the start and now they have to run through the entire parkours circuit again before getting back to the actual box player, which is probably a waste of time.
Could be an issue, making the spectator invincible doesn't really resolve it because they could still get trapped and this also opens up a possibility for cheating (exploring hazardous areas without dying). Honestly though I think this is covered by the "invitation only" aspect - don't want to have to wait for someone to get back to wherever you are, don't invite them into your box. Or add a command to teleport the spectator next to the active player.

Perhaps adding a "kick player out again after they've been invited" option would resolve some of these issues (troublesome spectator that's blocking the view can be kicked out again). Abuse potential could be minimised by requiring spectators to have already solved the box beforehand as suggested by Sokomine, although personally I would prefer it without this but I can see why this may be felt to be necessary. I agree about the complication though, I did glance at the source code earlier and honestly I wouldn't know how to begin implementing something like this (but then, I'm not familiar with the codebase).

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Re: [Server] Inside The Box [Puzzles]

by Wuzzy » Post

Some bugs:
- If you walk or swim in lava, you hear water sounds
- If you dig a block on which a torch is attached, the torch is destroyed and lost forever

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Re: [Server] Inside The Box [Puzzles]

by sofar » Post

The server has been tested on, and is now migrated to 5.0.0. Please come and help test everything one more time, and try that one box that had you beat - maybe with the new release, you can finally do it :D

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Re: [Server] Inside The Box [Puzzles]

by Tau0 » Post

I can't go trough the opened trapdoors in the tutorial 3 in Minetest 5.0.0

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Re: [Server] Inside The Box [Puzzles]

by sofar » Post

Tau0 wrote:I can't go trough the opened trapdoors in the tutorial 3 in Minetest 5.0.0
Check the tutorial videos and see if that helps you. They are at the advertised website.

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Re: [Server] Inside The Box [Puzzles]

by Tau0 » Post

sofar wrote:
Tau0 wrote:I can't go trough the opened trapdoors in the tutorial 3 in Minetest 5.0.0
Check the tutorial videos and see if that helps you. They are at the advertised website.
I saw them but I can't do what you done in the trapdoors (When they are opened)

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Re: [Server] Inside The Box [Puzzles]

by Emerald » Post

Tutorial part 3 has been fixed so that it works in 5.0. Come give it another try. :)

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