User:Porthos/ThoughtTestKhepri

Thought Test: Test of Khepri's Puzzle

To Impress Egyptians with the cleverness of your Khepri's puzzle in order to gain a test pass.

Object of the Puzzle

The object of the puzzle is to assist the dung beetle by providing a safe course for it to push the golden orb from the east (left) side of the screen to the west (right) side exit.

Puzzle Screen

The board screen is a 2d fixed surface with gravity pulling toward the bottom, which can be set into a table like a hexaglyph table in game.

Puzzle Set-up Elements

The puzzle designer first set-ups the obstacle course with ramps, walls, metal, wood or stone platforms, water moats, water current directions, wind current directions, bottomless pits, pitfall traps, falling block traps, pool of oil fire traps, spikes embedded in wall or ceiling, and sets the entry point location on the left side of the screen.

The puzzle designer designs the Rube-Goldberg contraption to allow for a safe course across the dangers.

The puzzle designer places the variable lengths of ropes (attaches to surface by pitons), pulleys, balloons, candles, fans, boats, see-saw lever, lead weights, pressure plate, fuses, frogs on the course and also decides the # of each of these items to allot to a player (min # alloted as designed).

For example, if a pressure plate is hit (maybe mounted on the floor, or ceiling) it triggers the connecting timed fuses (length) for example to turn fans on or off, or to light a candle that burns thru a rope (that may hold up lead weights suspended by a pulley that drop the weight on the lever catapulting the beetle onwards in a parabolic trajectory), or light a candle under a metal platform the frog is on causing it to hop in the direction it is facing and so on and so forth.

The candle will burn down any wooden wall or platform it is next to, or heat up metal, or light the oil pool on fire, and will be extinguished by a fan, fuse trigger or water.

Test Running the Puzzle

To open the puzzle a test run must be done. The designer (player) places the allotted contraption items on the course in any location, and releases the beetle pushing the orb.

The beetle’s logic is simple, it pushes starting right, if it hits a vertical wall it reverses direction, the beetle also golden orb pushes up ramps and ropes.

If the beetle reaches a balloon it boards and the balloon will start to rise, which will be directed by fans, or the wind currents, and the beetle&orb will tumble out of the balloon once it pops and continue it the direction is was going when boarded.

For ferry boats it will board and the ferry direction by fans or water currents, and may go down waterfalls if any, with the beetle getting out at the next dock point.

Once the beetle reaches the right side of the playing board the game is won, and the puzzle may be opened. (or rated if by a player).

Failing the Puzzle

If the beetle pushes the orb into the water or a bottomless pit, flames, spikes, or into the frog which eats the beetle, or is crushed by a falling weight or stone, or if the balloon floats up out of the screen (if no ceiling blocking) the puzzle is lost and must be restarted.

Puzzle Design Thoughts

A challenging puzzle may involve a complex circuitous route or a novel combination of contraptions to get the beetle to the goal, an elegantly simple design, or a challenging placement of the limited items.

Many puzzles may be designed to have multiple solutions, or may have unintended solutions that may make the puzzle trivial.

Puzzle Play Costs

The game will cost 1 beetle each play, if the beetle runs the gauntlet unharmed, the player gets the beetle back.

Puzzle Voting

If the player solves the puzzle, the voting is done following the standard thought test vote system. The 2 puzzles with highest rating each week will pass their designer