A difficult mixture of side view and top down sokoban mechanics ready to be solved: Metamor[ρ]hosis, the latest puzzlescript puzzler by Lucas Le Slo. (Z key to undo a move, R key to restart a level)
Hi! I'm Bart Bonte, a Belgian independent game designer and bontegames.com is where I blog about new interesting browser and mobile games. My own games are all in the left column (or at the bottom of this page on mobile). More info about me and my games on bartbonte.com.
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79 comments:
this is so hard
Brain hurts now.
Level 1 was awfully tough, but I managed to get through. There are 21 levels total I see. That's kind of a bad sign I'm afraid. It's a very interesting idea, but maybe a gentler difficulty curve might be good.
Agreed!
I'm stuck on level 3.
I can't see how to move the "solid-maker" off the second column so I can get the top base on that second column.
Any help appreciated!
Nevermind, have figured it out...
Well... that started off hard and gets harder... I need something for a dumb person.
Also stuck on level 3. I can move the solid-maker, but only upwards, and then I can't see how to get the block away from it in a useful direction. I need the thing that turns you into a fish!
Blogger unknown - I realised that on level 3 you didn't need to move the solid-maker at all, but could do everything by pushing up...
... have got to the "second shelf" (levels 6 - 10), but it is exhausting!
So, i looked at the game's link and thought "'rainwater-honey-oil'? That wasn't the game's name but ok, not complaining~",
Then i understand why after 4 minutes into the game.
I am so frustrated with level 3.
The easy way to do it won't register fast enough.
Every other way I think of has an item bump into a wall.
Is there a new dynamic like pulling?
How do you get into the "top down view?
as mentioned above, on level 3 everything is about pushing up ;-) !
of course before you need to bring them all down
Wow. I don't know what I am doing.
Hangs head in shame & walks away.
Aha, I got level 3! You need the one on the right for something else before putting it in place. Now stuck on level 4, and I suspect I'm never going to complete this unless someone creates a walk-through. Maybe when my flaky internet's been fixed I'll be able to concentrate ...
(Anonymous at 13:23, I think the top-down part refers to how you're sometimes subject to gravity and sometimes not)
This game keeps you busy during lockdown :)
Made it up to 4 so far.
Some Hints on 3:
1: one block should be pushed from air to the water goal.
second block is above the ground goal, and pushed from the water.
2: To get in the left water the water-marker needs to go above the left water.
3: To get the water-marker up, you have to move it over the ground part to position it so it can be pushed with 2 blocks to the air part
4: Ground marker can be pushed to the right corner safely.
5: You will see all corners of the level, it really isn't a one trick level
For #3 take both blocks down & you will figure it out.
Currently stuck on level 8. I sort of know what I need to do, haven't figured out a feasible way to accomplish it.
i'm guessing the p is set off in brackets because it's actually a greek rho, which is the letter commonly used for density in physics?
On to the fourth shelf...
May be finished before lockdown ends...
One of the best games of the year so far... stuck for 4 days now on level 11...
for level 11...
maybe you can put 2 blue blocks on top of the little green block ?
Wow, these are awesome.. Currently stuck on 5 and feel like it's impossible and I wanna give up but I was in the same place with 1, 2, and 4 (I got 3 super-quick once I'd read the hints) so guess I'll keep on keeping on.. REALLY can't see how you get a block to the bottom left goal though..
Been stuck on 10 for a while, anyone have any advice for it?
I can't get beyond the initial screen .. press X to continue .. i press X and then what? a jar on a shelf, arrow keys don't work, wasd keys don't work. tried it in chrome and firefox, updated flash to latest version... ummm any ideas?
Oh well, i found a way to play it by clicking on something that took me to
https://v6p9d9t4.ssl.hwcdn.net/html/2079593/index.html
... and it loaded fine on that site.
hint for level 10 :
from top to bottom : blue square, red square,blue square, red cross... push that up, and then it's easy :-)
we need walktroughs
seriously
never felt so stupid
i just want to know
I am now stuck on 18 thru 21 but have bested the rest. These puzzles are really well-designed.
Very good, and very difficult game !
So far, I've reached level 19, but I couldn't solve 12 and 16.
Any hints for those levels Frobisher ?
OK, got 5 eventually.. then 6 but now stuck on 7.. how the hell do you push the left block so far down.. can't use something else to push it, can't move a 'metamorphosiser' to push you down a la 5.. WTF? Hints please :)
Never mind.. got it! a variation of the finish of 5 ;) It's so satisfying when you get one after struggling for days and also excruciating when you discover how simple the solution was and that there were prompts and clues staring you in the face the whole time..
@Marie
It seems like LeSlo redesigned to level 16 to account for a bug/unintended solution, so you might want to refresh the browser and revisit that one. One of the changes makes the solution a bit more obvious than in the original by explicitly ruling out an approach you might have been tempted to use in the old version of the level.
Level 12 is a small odyssey!
Hint number one is to ask yourself if you're using every aspect of the level layout, paying particular attention to the NE (required briefly) and SW (part of the end-state) areas
Hint number two is an image that will show you where one of the state-change tiles needs to end up without spoiling anything else: https://imgur.com/a/yOpNiqg
Thank you for your hints on level 12 Frobisher !
Still don't know how to solve 16, but maybe I haven't spent enough time on it ?
@Marie
Imagine what the end-state for 16 would have to look like and try to work backwards from there.
Hint 1: You will do the bottom bit before the top bit (though both top and bottom require preparation)
Hint 2: The solution revolves around pushing blocks through state-change tiles. One observation you may have made already is that a state-change tile can occupy a block destination square.
Hint 3: This is a larger spoiler, but the pre-end-state for the top portion of the puzzle is this: https://imgur.com/a/EQ7kRQ3
Thank you !
I spent more time on it, and solved it while you were posting :-)
And then, I got a headache, cause of 19... and 20
Finally did 18 :-)
Now I just need to wrap my head around what the last three levels want me to do:
19 - can see what but not how
20 - the how seems so complex I'm doubting the what
21 - head explodes!
Voilà.
Same here.
Is there anyone else with a hint around here ?
Don't ask me, I gave up at level 4.
FWIW I think I've ruled out one approach to 19, where you'd try to reach the rainwater state-change tile and then navigate the middle layer to get the block on to its destination. I'm now 95% sure that the two-grid-square indentations are just there to stop unintended solutions:
https://i.imgur.com/PSqdbnV.png
Which means that the solution presumably involves getting a []+[] or []o[] chain together so you can nudge a box on to the destination tile. That would mean it's largely a puzzle about how to recover boxes, as you can't really afford to get any stuck..
HMMMMM
Great game, thanks Bart!
Any hints for level 15?
Level 15:
Hint 1: The level design of the central layer is very deliberate. One of the three 'islands' has a particular use.
Hint 2: 90% of the solution is set-up so you can produce a specific block combination underneath the bottle-opening
Hint 3: (larger spoiler) This is the configuration of blocks to which Hint 2 is referring https://i.imgur.com/6ZqpvoY.png
Thanks much Frobisher!
21 is not that difficult, and for the one after that, I don't know yet... but 19 and 20 ???!!!
Like Lost vampire, I need a walkthrough !
ahhh — I'd gotten hung up on the idea I needed a +::o sequence in the top left corner, but it wasn't as complicated as that. Phew!
Now I'm wondering what green squares are for?
I think a green square might be a purple block with something inside it? This isn't counting as solved:
https://i.imgur.com/LhHQ6Ur.png
Okay new theory: the green destination point in the (next) final level is where you have to trap your self in a loop, which should turn you into a green block. The mechanics of doing this and getting a block on to the purple destination point seem dizzying.
there is a part of walkthrough on youtube(level1-10). level20 is like..just put items vertically in order just like big one-block-small one-big one-small one from up to down, then go down between two blocks below. the rest is easy enough. PLS any hints for 18and 19
Ah! Nice one, the 20 solution seems so obvious in retrospect, but I'd spent ages trying to come up with some sort of elaborate system of one-off ferry rides, rather than just building an all-purpose ferry route.
Hints for 18:
1. You're looking to create a vertical column you can push upwards
2. You don't need to set foot in the top area after dropping down at the very beginning
3. Practically, for most of the level, you're only relying on two of the three blocks for positioning things, with the third one pushed out of reach towards its final destination.
3. The trick is to find a way to invert the positions of the :: and the o
4. Bigger spoiler: this is configuration of blocks lets you use the pushing-blocks-through-things mechanic to pull off the trick in hint 3:
https://i.imgur.com/LTmqFDf.png
Another swell set of puzzles from Le Slo with unfortunately a few annoying flaws. First is puzzle fatigue. When every puzzle is a brain crusher weariness sets in. Hope is a big part of puzzle solving. Second, I solved jar 16 only to have the author tell me my solution wasn't the right one, then Le Slo altered the puzzle layout so my solution no longer worked. Thanks. Third, I finally solve all 21 puzzles and there's an unlisted bonus puzzle. Okay. But if you close your browser or hit Next you have to solve Jar 21 again to rereach it. Finally, this bonus level has a different goal than the others. Or, at least, putting a stable crate on the blue target doesn't solve it. So the game rules have mysteriously changed. Great puzzles, not so great game design.
Anonymous, thank you for 20 !!
flobisher, thx a lot for18. I spent all day long for this game.
Stage Name, could you pleeeaaaaaase give me hope, or hints, for level 19 ?
@Stage Name
I'd agree that this is definitely at the death-march difficulty end of the spectrum, and a side effect of that in a game of this small size is that sometimes the negative space of a potential solution (is there a mechanic/something I've missed?) can start to outweigh the trust that you do actually have all the information you need to solve the puzzle. In a larger game - Baba is You, The Witness, Stephen's Sausage Roll (sort of), etc - I think a lot of these puzzles would be either optional or more spaced out between less conceptually challenging puzzles, but here it's like a greatest hits album of very. difficult. levels.
Even so, I think this is one of the nice things about Puzzlescript. It lets designers design and explore mechanics pretty rapidly, which tends to create a virtuous cycle where the focus is on level design over all the other things that get in the way. The cost of that simplicity is that it's historically been built around linear progression, where one level leads to the next, and you pick up where you left off. In the past, I think that tended to encourage a softer difficulty curve, because fiendishly difficult levels would lead to players stopping all together. However, now that there are a couple of (external) level select options devs can graft into their Puzzlescript games, there's more latitude for games like this one, where a difficult puzzle can at least be parked by the player while they try out other levels. There's some downside there, as this game definitely has a cumulative series of lessons to teach you, but it does feel like this is made by someone who could probably stretch their wings into longer form, more non-linear games.
Speaking of which, one of the things that LeSlo's games often engage with is non-verbal communication and discoverable mechanics, where you're encouraged and trusted to learn by doing. In really-good-puzzlers this is often a way to design in player-perceived-rules that can later be subverted when the player is required to question their assumptions. But I get the sense that LeSlo is drawn to something in the darkness of that space that seems genuinely new, particularly from the earlier game 'Illiteracy'. Again, I think the relative concision & difficulty of this game makes that sort of final-level-new-mechanic a high-wire act, but I love the instinct to introduce a target of a different colour and encourage you to question why a solution didn't work, even though confirming that intuition requires a really elaborate manoeuvre.
I suppose what I'm really saying is that I take the glass-half-full view of the game, which is to hope that LeSlo continues honing the craft and making more ambitious games :-)
PS
I understand the frustration of solving something difficult and having it not work, which is a legit bug, but I think the reason 16 was changed was because it was unintended solution that could have sent future players out of that level without having been exposed to a particular manoeuvre. Personally, I think discovering an unintended solution is something of a badge of honor, that you found something the designer and countless testers had missed - and sometimes those sorts of patched-out solutions even become the basis for future levels, as they often reflect an ingenious insight that can be puzzleized.
First, Marie, re Jar 19:
You have to find a way to reach the red square (water guy) without shooting up into or falling down into a pit. Bigger hint, if needed: You need a way to become oil guy (red cross) without rising so you can move left horizontally past the pit. Good luck.
Second, Frobisher:
Thanks for that well thought out comment. No one loves and longs for tough puzzles more than me, but any game is an orchestration of challenge and reward. Too much reward and it's boring; too much challenge and it's disheartening. Variation and pacing are important. And especially in a tough puzzle a player needs absolute confidence in the game engine or else you wonder is this a challenge or a glitch? I too hope Le Slo continues to make more challenging games.
Just finished the game, including the bonus jar. Quite the two-week experience. Overall, a terrific game. No doubt the key is to go (Le) Slower, instead of trying to rush through. But, that's human nature. One oddball sidenote. Sometimes the avatar character freezes above the neck of the jar at the start. If you hit the left or right arrow, you can take a small trip along the shelf outside the jar.
Ohlala, Stage Name, that's exactly what I've been trying to do for days... I know what to do, but I don't find how... :-(
Anyway, Congratulations for finishing the game !
For me Jar 19 was a question of whether to move a conga line of boxes left or fill in the hole. It was neither. You have to move a red cross from the honey up to the oil, across and down. Then move it left over the pit and put a crate above so you don't rise. Et voila.
So, 8 has had me stumped for 4 days.. Couldn't find any walkthru on youtube.. Hint please..
Wow, it's been two weeks. Seems ages ago. I completely forgot Jar 8, and most of the other first 11, 12 driving all from one's thoughts for a week. Fiddled with it again and got it -- then, plunk zoom you're on to Jar 9. However, begin by dropping all three crates down in a row so you can move the red square (water guy) over to far right above the water line. Then maneuver two crates down into the honey to push one red cross hard right against that green projection. (Keep the other red cross uncovered and reachable under the upper green island.) This gives you the space to move a crate onto the bottom target. Finally, a little Sokoban maneuvering to push the two upper crates home. Good luck.
AHA! Thank you fella! Didn't get it straight away but that was enough to get me on the right track.. Ya, I'd figured out the closing moves and had got the honey target covered but how to link them eluded me - didn't see the water and oil guys to the right moves at all. Took me a bit to figure out how to get the honey crate back left too! Now on to torturing myself with 9! :)
Ok, Stage Name, that's exactly what I've been doing for days : moving the red cross up, across and down, etc.
But, thank you for your comment, which made me sure I was on the right way and gave me hope...
And now, Tadam ! I solved 19 at last !!!
:-)
But I don't understand the rules for the rho level, what should I do with that rho target ???
Marie: Always best to get it on your own. Congrats.
You're ahead of where I was on the Rho Shelf. I saw it as a P not a target. However, there's only one green thing in the game besides the walls. That thing the game has been telling you not to do for 21 previous levels. I first noticed that the "Oops Loops" screen didn't pop up in a certain place. Of course, I thought it was a glitch. It's not. Here are two other hints, if you need them after [SPOILER SPACE . . . ] One, the crates must be separated in the stack; two, building the six-item high stack is only the first part of the solution.
Thank you Marie for the hint for 11.. took me a while to figure out the second iteration of the move but plain sailing from there :)
Yesssss ! Finished !
Thank you Bart for sharing, Thank you Lucas LeSlo for making the game, thank you Stage Name and Frobisher for your help !
Now, I can go back to my lockdown real life ;-)
Even with the hint from Marie I am stlll stuck on 11. I can't figure out how to move the big red block to get it in position to push the 3 blocks down between the two green pipes
@Anonymous,
maybe you can use the same trick again, on top of one of the green pilars ?
Jar 11 . . . Took me a while to remember how to do it, even though I knew what I needed to do. Anyway, hint 1: You need to separate the red circle from the blue crates. Do that by putting two of the crates under the red circle to support you over the single green island. Hint 2: Next, shift the red crate over the right green chimney wall and put a single crate under you. You now have the red circle in place to let you drop all three crates down the pipe. Good luck.
thank you, thank you, thank you :-D the 2 hints helped, seemed so simple after all, but once you got stuck in a tunnel vision sometimes you don't see the solution anymore. What a great game :-)
Any more hints for 12?.. or should I just accept that I've reached the limit of my intellect and give up?! :D
I'd figured out that the + had to move over to the middle/lower left somewhere and had managed to feed it up to the oil then through the water but then got stuck and not guessed that it needed to be where the imgur image posted shows it. Have wracked my brains trying to figure out what has to happen, and how, to the O to allow passage of a block (or two?!) to the goal but got nowhere..
72 mins later.. You know that thing where the answer just leaps out at you like it was totally obvious all along?.. Ya that thing.. I'm making this WAY more complicated than it is.. on to 13..
Is anyone still checking in here?! :o) 17.. WTF? How do you even get to the water state-changer?
Jar 17: You need to push the red square right so you can then reach it by moving left along that green horiz wall.
Thanks Mr Stage name.. Thanks, that made me realise how I could reach the square and I eventually figured out how to push that right (seemed impossible but then so obvious when I got it :D ) and eventually how to get the two + into position to get me to push square right and me into the middle - but then I'm in Waterworld only able to push the block left, where it gets trapped against the edge, and not right to the goal.. what am I missing?
Jar 17 . . . The key is to get one red cross all the way left (on the top layer of honey), the other red cross five steps to the right (to reach green horiz wall) and the red circle all the way to the right so you can push the blue crates down. Good luck. Next, Jars 18 & 19! Two of the gnarliest.
Yup, got that one of the + has to be top left in the honey and got it there, the other + is 5 columns right on the bottom of the honey.. I had realised that the latter needs to be on the top of the honey on that side to be able to get back out of the water once in.. hadn't figured out the O needs to be right though.. ok, one last try.. if 19 & 20 are worse then this is prob as far as I go.. happy with that :)
Any hints on the rho level stack? I think this will be the last puzzle game I ever play :) Has been nice, and a challenge.
Never mind I did it!!! Wow, and that will be the last one!!!!!
Stage name comments at 12 April 2020 at 23:05 help, without giving too much away.
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