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[AcAnchoa]

I'm looking at my solution to the 2A27 device for the Poseidon corporation and I can't believe it works, a screenshot of this thing could easily be the greatest attraction of any museum of modern art. It totals 1.6k instructions and I had to play Tetris to fit a MC4000 just to reset the output signal of the final MC6000. I'll come back to it some other day, I'd like to improve it.

 

[kami_sama]

I'm looking at my solution to the 2A27 device for the Poseidon corporation and I can't believe it works, a screenshot of this thing could easily be the greatest attraction of any museum of modern art. It totals 1.6k instructions and I had to play Tetris to fit a MC4000 just to reset the output signal of the final MC6000. I'll come back to it some other day, I'd like to improve it.

I assure you it's a lot more simple that that lol
I haven't been able to optimize it much, but there's no reset signal or anything lol

 

[HungOverOnATues]

Never played nearly enough TIS-100 but nevertheless I was super excited to play this when I found out about it. If anyone wants to feel better about their scores in either game, feel free to add me.

 

[Exuro]

Just beat the three token puzzle. These games always make feel feel so dumb after seeing where I land on the histograms.

 

[FLD]

Hey, for once my initial solution doesn't make me feel dumb! I don't expect it'll stay that way very long but it still feels pretty good for a first attempt.

 

[pronk420]

Anyone on a Mac with a retina display? Have you been able to change resolutions?

 

[AcAnchoa]

I assure you it's a lot more simple that that lol
I haven't been able to optimize it much, but there's no reset signal or anything lol

A simpler solution is indeed incredibly simple. I came back to the puzzle an hour ago and using a different approach solved it with only two devices and 725 instructions. The change is almost astonishing:
Before:

Spoiler

http://i.imgur.com/ET3N0ys.jpg

After:

Spoiler

http://i.imgur.com/IP5sEXC.jpg

 

[Spoit]

A simpler solution is indeed incredibly simple. I came back to the puzzle an hour ago and using a different approach solved it with only two devices and 725 instructions. The change is almost astonishing:
Before:

Spoiler

http://i.imgur.com/ET3N0ys.jpg

After:

Spoiler

http://i.imgur.com/IP5sEXC.jpg

Spoiler

...how did I miss that the y-zone stuff was just adding 50 to the base values. facepalm

 

[itxaka]

Bougth.

Much more nicer than TIS-100.

Is there a way to see other people's designs from the game?

Also, who I could add from gaf to my friends list! I want to have a big list to compare my solutions against

 

[Gotchaye]

The later puzzles here get very complicated in the same way that the later TIS-100 ones did. I'm having more fun optimizing early solutions.

 

[I speel my dreenk]

I've attempted - and become stumped on - three different solutions for the sandwich maker. Good lord.

 

[INTERNET]

I've attempted - and become stumped on - three different solutions for the sandwich maker. Good lord.

Same here, I wonder if they are they same three . Easily the clunkiest puzzle I've seen so far, I stuck something together that works but it's kind of gross.

 

[HungOverOnATues]

Starting to get a better handle on how things work

Been having fun going back and reworking some old solutions with new hardware and tricks I've picked up, but I should probably keep progressing the main missions and unlock the rest of the gear before spending too much time trying to optimize things. I want to get some logic gates to play around with.
edit:

I've attempted - and become stumped on - three different solutions for the sandwich maker. Good lord.

Just completed this one. Definitely trickier than it looks due to the number of outputs and limited space. Kept ending up either a line short or just barely unable to tetris the pieces to get everything synced up, but I eventually got it done after trying a couple of different approaches and a lot of tweaking.

 

[Makai]

Just started. I figured all the mods would be playing since you like TIS. Pretty easy, maybe because I printed out the manual this time.

http://steamcommunity.com/id/makaimariano

 

[HungOverOnATues]

Can you not read from the xbus side of the DX300 unless the simple IO side is written to? Spoilers for the smart grid control router. Writing to it sets the pin correctly and if I draw out some wires on the other side you can even see them light up, but trying to read back the value via xbus just returns 0. Is this intentional to keep you from using it as a cheap storage device?

 

[Makai]

Animated sign level is really cool!

 

[INTERNET]

Can you not read from the xbus side of the DX300 unless the simple IO side is written to? Spoilers for the smart grid control router. Writing to it sets the pin correctly and if I draw out some wires on the other side you can even see them light up, but trying to read back the value via xbus just returns 0. Is this intentional to keep you from using it as a cheap storage device?

Gaaah I just read on SA (and then, of course, in the manual) that this is even possible. I think I had the idea somewhere in my head that those arrow looking things were diodes meant to signify a one way street.

 

[pigeon]

I've attempted - and become stumped on - three different solutions for the sandwich maker. Good lord.

I just finished this one (11, 142) and found it very finicky to get right. The obvious solution of using the

Spoiler

input splitter

works but you're so tight on lines of code that you have to be pretty hacky to get things to fit.

 

[Makai]

Thank god for this thread or I'd be looking at the loneliest bar graphs. No way anybody I know irl plays this game.

 

[Spoit]

Are there any guides on the best practices for doing nested loops? the whole +/- system being for all the commands down the line (rather than just the most recent) keeps messing me up.

 

[I speel my dreenk]

I just finished this one (11, 142) and found it very finicky to get right. The obvious solution of using the

Spoiler

input splitter

works but you're so tight on lines of code that you have to be pretty hacky to get things to fit.

Yeah, that's what I eventually ended up doing - even had a lot of space left over. Blew through the next few pretty quickly, though, which felt good I look forward to going back later to optimize it, but kinda don't want to look at it for a while right now.

 

[KDR_11k]

On the topic of the drinking game level, something else that differentiates this from TIS-100 is that the inputs and output very often have lots of structure or follow patterns, in ways that aren't apparent from the level requirements. You can often get a more optimized solution by doing what in TIS-100 would look kind of like cheating - you can make a solution that would fail for many inputs that would seem to be possible judging only by the level requirements. The closest TIS-100 typically came to this was not telling you what the highest numbers you'd have to handle would be.

Maybe inform Zach about that, I know Manufactoria (different dev) runs a bunch of randomized values as well as silent tests to make sure you aren't cheating.

 

[HungOverOnATues]

Uploaded a steam controller config. Haven't really been able to playtest it as I've been dealing with some arm pain for a few weeks. Not crazy about the placement of the touch menus, but I'm not sure what to do with them. Wanted them out of the way so they don't cover up any code that you're trying to look at/write, but it might be better not to have to keep diverting your eyes to the corner of the screen.

 

[Makai]

oh my goodness at undo

Spoiler

cumented instructions

 

[Royal Rainbow]

Everything was going great until Device 2A27...

These games always make me want to write everything as efficiently as possible even though I know I don't have to. It's a bit frustrating but it feels bad when your power and cost are way above average.

 

[Renekton]

Is this game harder than TIS / Infinifactory? (my RL job is programmer)

Thinking of dumping WoW and switching to this.

 

[Wok]

Is this game harder than TIS / Infinifactory? (my RL job is programmer)

Thinking of dumping WoW and switching to this.

It adds a kind of backpack problem to TIS, so it could be harder in theory in that regard.

I would not call it harder though since this additional complexity also adds more freedom to solve the puzzles: you are not constrained by TIS's preset wiring of "programming boxes".

 

[Makai]

Where'd the histograms go?

I guess it resets after each update

Ooooohhh New third thing - lines of code

And one of my old solutions actually failed this time.

 

[Kalor]

Where'd the histograms go?

I guess it resets after each update

Ooooohhh New third thing - lines of code

And one of my old solutions actually failed this time.

Normally they don't reset after updates but since they changed something regarding the logic they reset them.

 

[Tremis]

Just got the email

Spoiler

about the hidden commands!

I'm even more in love with this game. Not a programmer, but I'm digging it heartily.

 

[Crazymoogle]

Just popping in to say I still love this game. Only up to the VR beeper but it's the perfect "work that is not work" struggle game.

 

[BrokenFiction]

https://twitter.com/zachtronics/status/797200732554264576

Updated with brand new campaign!

 

[BrokenFiction]

Soundtrack released on Bandcamp:

https://zachtronics.bandcamp.com/album/shenzhen-i-o-ost

 

[Makai]

Out of early access!

 

[Ucchedavāda]

Started playing this now that it is out of Early Access and it is so good!

I've added a few people in this thread that were looking for competitors, and feel free to add me if you play this or any of the other Zachtronic games (I've put the most time into TIS-100 so far):
https://steamcommunity.com/id/ucchedavada/

 

[BrokenFiction]

If you're down with Zachtronics T-shirts, and who isn't, Zach has put some up on Amazon on-demand:

https://www.amazon.com/s/?srs=8214325011&sort=date-desc-rank

 

[Ucchedavāda]

If you're down with Zachtronics T-shirts, and who isn't, Zach has put some up on Amazon on-demand:

https://www.amazon.com/s/?srs=8214325011&sort=date-desc-rank

I'm sorely tempted by the SpaceChem one, but shipping, toll fees, and VAT would be murder.

 

[jvm]

If you're down with Zachtronics T-shirts, and who isn't, Zach has put some up on Amazon on-demand:

https://www.amazon.com/s/?srs=8214325011&sort=date-desc-rank

Wishlisted. Thank heavens for Xmas.

 

[ShaunBRS]

Don't drink and SHENZHEN.

Spoiler

Came home after a few whiskeys and thought I'd knock this one out – two hours later I ended up with this monstrosity, fucking hell.

 

[Ucchedavāda]

Shenzhen I/O just got an update that adds support for creating puzzles and sharing them on the workshop:

UPDATE: Design your own puzzles in conceptSPEC!

Today's update adds a new in-game "application" called conceptSPEC that allows you to create your own puzzles and upload them to the Steam Workshop. You'll need to learn a little Lua to design your own puzzles, but fortunately you're all experts at deciphering esoteric programming languages!

Also, we fixed a bug where traces would sometimes light up as if they were connected to a pin when they really weren't. If you were seeing weird behavior in your logic-heavy circuits, this might have been part of the problem.

http://steamcommunity.com/games/504210/announcements/detail/612883076693693028

 

[Durante]

I started playing this -- I probably shouldn't have, it's far too good. Anyway.

Spoiler

I HATE YOU

I only gave up on competing with some scores without that knowledge after an hour or three.

 

[Makai]

I love that part. I've speculated that there is a specific instruction based on some of the scores but I don't know the name.

 

[Ucchedavāda]

I started playing this -- I probably shouldn't have, it's far too good. Anyway.

Spoiler

I HATE YOU

I only gave up on competing with some scores without that knowledge after an hour or three.

Wait, what the fuck?
I had somehow completely missed that message in the inbox. That explains so much.

 

[Arulan]

Okay, I'm ready.

 

[Durante]

I think Zhang Jie is my favourite character in gaming in 2016.

Yes, Jie. Yes I do.

 

[Arulan]

I just put in ~10 hours today. This game is amazing.

I could use some leaderboard friends. Feel free to add me.

 

[Durante]

I'm a bit disappointed by the low turnout of friends I have listed in-game. I had tons of people in my TIS-100 lists after adding some for that, and I'd have expected at least half or so of those to also play this game. But beyond the introductory levels I usually only find 0-2 friends on the list. So, please add me if you play the game, my Steam account name is in my profile.

Anyway, I built a low-power meat-based printer and now I'm hungry:

 

[KKRT00]

I'm a bit disappointed by the low turnout of friends I have listed in-game. I had tons of people in my TIS-100 lists after adding some for that, and I'd have expected at least half or so of those to also play this game. But beyond the introductory levels I usually only find 0-2 friends on the list. So, please add me if you play the game, my Steam account name is in my profile.

Anyway, I built a low-power meat-based printer and now I'm hungry:

I think a lot of people were distracted by other titles after this game was released, i know i was.
I hope to get back to it in future

 

[Spoit]

I think a lot of people were distracted by other titles after this game was released, i know i was.
I hope to get back to it on future

Also, the scores from previous patches need to be re-verified. Which I know a lot of people on my list haven't bothered with.

 

[Makai]

I had some trouble getting into this game as I never quite cottoned on to how power actually worked, as opposed to the cycles in TIS-100 where it was really obvious.

Want to get back into it once I'm done with current writing-related obligations. Hopefully in a few weeks.

I'm the opposite - loved this game but I can't wrap my head around the synchronous multithreading in TIS 100. Only beat like 4 puzzles.