Armadillo Run forum

Greetings all!

Contest #8 is going to start a bit early due to its more complicated (and hopefully fun) nature. This contest differs from the previous ones such that the final score is not the one displayed in the bottom of the AR screen.

A brief description of this level follows:

In this level you are armed with 3 'Dillos. You will need to get all 3 of these to the area marked "goal". Getting the 3 'Dillos to this spot will allow the big 'Dillo to fall into the only working exit portal. The big dillo is sitting on a balance and the combined weight of the 3 'Dillos you start with are enough to tip the scale to force the big one into the portal. You are not allowed to just add weight to the scale and tip the big 'Dillo into the exit portal. This would completely trivialize the level. I don't have the means to keep this from being a possibility in the editor so it just has to be a rule Also, you are not allowed to break the cloth barriers, as long as they don't break you are not violating any rules.

So, you start with 3 'Dillos and you have a goal to get them to. Now the other special part of this level is the fact that you can pass these 3 'Dillos through 1 of 6 chutes. Each chutes has a different "bonus" score applied to it. Passing all 3 'Dillos through chute marked #1 will net you $125 per 'Dillo added to your score. That would be $375.00 added to whatever your final score shows in AR. Each step up from 1 to 6 adds an additional $25.00 to your score per 'Dillo that passes through it. #6 adds a healthy $250 per 'Dillo. Obviously you are rewarded for the extra effort here. However, getting to chute #6 will be considerably harder than getting to #1. This is where you have to decide if it's cost effective to go for the next chute or not.

To get the 'Dillos into the final goal there is a little bit of structure in place to help you. You do not have to use this existing structure to get into the goal "bucket", but it should be easier if you do. If you decide to not use the structure to dump your 'Dillos into the bucket just keep in mind that you have to get all 3 into that bucket before tipping the scale will count. Dropping 1 or 2 'Dillos into the goal bucket with a lot of speed/force can over come the balance, but this will not be an accepted solution.

So, in short the rules:

All normal AR forum rules apply
Can not "break" the hanging cloth barriers. The small ones in the chutes are breakable and are meant to be broken and used as a brake.
Must get all 3 'Dillos into the goal bucket
Can not weight the goal bucket or anything that will cause the big 'Dillo to go into the goal without all 3 'Dillos being in the goal bucket.

NOTE: Due to how the 3 'Dillos tend to be quite destructive, as long as all 3 reach the end goal the solution is valid. Destruction of the goal bucket is acceptable as long as it's due to all 3 'Dillos hitting it. This is a bug I missed during testing, sorry about that. My play style didn't have all 3 'Dillos piled up onto each other and so I missed that.

I hope you all enjoy this level... it should prove to be very diverse solutions wise and score wise. Get your game faces on!!

Level "Skee-Dillo": https://my.usf.edu/bbcswebdav/users/rbt ... -Dillo.lvl

Good luck to everyone and I want to give special thanks/credit to:

Peter T and tmcsweeny for making this type of level possible. I have used one of Peter T's levels as a base for this so I had access to multiple 'Dillos.

Also a very special thanks to Skyring for beta testing and suggestions on this level. He willingly gave up his ability to compete in this level to help iron out the bugs and test it for us. Thanks Skyring!

Contest runs until July 30, 2006 @ 21:00 CET (1 week from today)
Send solutions to: onebfc@gmail.com

Enjoy!!

-BFC

Are you the devil?

I have my first legal solution at $270 on the normal score. The question for all of you is which chutes am I using?

Ogre wrote:Are you the devil?

I have my first legal solution at $270 on the normal score. The question for all of you is which chutes am I using?

Ah yes, that's exactly what I thought would happen This is the extra thing that will make posting your scores a much more cryptic piece of info.

Hopefully it's not TOO aggravating and will spur some creative and new approaches.

Wild guess: "The Force" solutions will vastly out score "white" solutions this time around.

-BFC

The physics get really messy when more than one dillo is colliding with the same piece of material

Very mystefistical - this reminds me of the old coin-aim-shoot-automates from the 80's

The physics appear to get messy because you now have 3x the mass hitting an object if you have all 3 'Dillos in the same space. Sadly, no collision for each 'Dillo "yet". I think the physics just accounts for the 3x mass, structures have be able to cope with that. After all, Momentum= mass * velocity

EDIT: I think I see the "weirdness" in the physics engine now. It's a lot like the force bug. Just something we'll have to deal with in the structures until that gets fixed. I will keep it in mind for future level designs. It didn't show up in testing for whatever reason.

The inspiration for the name comes from the familiar (at least here in the USA) "Skee ball" machines where you roll balls down an alley toward a small ramp at the end where the balls leap into the air and try to land in one of several openings, each with a different score. Sounds like what you were describing perhaps OF.

-BFC

OK, I'm having a bit of trouble figuring out how I can get the armadillos through any chute without violating this rule:

Can not "break" cloth barriers

I'm guessing you're allowed to break the cloth at the end of each chute?

Also I've got a 1578 including chute bonus, using no force (except for multiple armadillos!)

Ah yes, I'll need to amend that description. Sorry about that. The cloth barriers at the bottom of the chute are not included. They are just like a brake to help slow your fall some.

I have also amended the rules section to be more clear on the destruction of the goal bucket.

Thanks for pointing that out

-BFC

Big props for the creator of this, but personally I think its too complicated level, sorry.

BFC wrote:Also a very special thanks to Skyring for beta testing and suggestions on this level. He willingly gave up his ability to compete in this level to help iron out the bugs and test it for us. Thanks Skyring!

I still want to see Skyring's solutions!!!! Always fun to watch

Also, thanks BFC, I thought I was going to have to push the armadillos through the cloth somehow!

Hmmm I did get one ball in #1 with force, just now - Ill work on that later - but then I had som rocketfun and got all 3 balls in #6. Expensive but not overbudget

~ be proud ~ be brave ~ become my slave... etc

hm, this is a toughy, trying not to use force ?nd get them all in the last is not that easy..

Moving all the way to #6 may not be the best over all attainable score either. Just won't know until the results are posted

-BFC

I forgot to save the one with all three balls in #6, but the score was not so good anyway. I made a new one who I is better. Total of 1852.

I can't be bothered with this one!