ARF Contest B #1 Results

[PeterT]

This level was solvable in lots of ways, some of which I anticipated, and some which surprised even me. Another thing that surprised me was the number of participants: 10 people submitted a solution, and one of them (Grale) did so for the first time!

The most popular approaches were:

- Let the armadillo run up to the halfway point, then drag it
This seems like the most intuitive way, considering that the Armadillo starts spinning to the left.

- Drag the armadillo to the halfway point, then let it run
A few people - and, notably, the winner - used this method, which has a significant advantage over the above: letting the armadillo run on top means that you don't have to use lots of metal plates, and the metal bars to drag it up from the bottom are comparatively cheap.

- Drag the armadillo all the way
Another popular method, this was mostly accomplished by just affixing a cloth piece to the cloth surrounding the 'dillo. The most highly tweaked solution using this method reached nearly 7k, but was still hampered by the cost of the long pieces of cloth necessary.

- Roll the armadillo all the way
Many, including me, speculated that it was possible, but just one man did it. It was none other than the infamous ?rjan Flatseth - but his genius in developing the cloth-rubber-turn method only got him to second place!


To make a long story short, BFC won with a highly optimised solution reaching 7502. I almost expected him to win the first B contest tough...
Orjan was the only other player in the 7000+ field, though kingofthespill was hot on their heels. Bob and n.fav built the only force-using solutions that I could spot, both are worth a look! As are all other attempts of course

The .zip with all the solutions is attached to this message, as are a few selected screenshots. But do yourself a favor and download them!

Thanks and congratulations to everyone who made a solution, you mastered the first ever B type challenge! Let's look forward to the ineffable horrors BFC will unleash upon us now

[kingofthespill]

Congratulations BFC, well done!

(It's... not.. possible... long metal rod chains just break... )

[BioDroid]

Nice! Good work everyone!

I love n.fav's "Strange machine"

[n.fav]

excellent solutions everyone and congrats to BFC of course!

Malco : How did you manage to put cloth out of the level limits

BioDroid : Thanks!

[BFC]

Well I had in my mind that I wanted to do this with less than 500 total spent. So, I put myself to that challenge and just worked at it until it happened.

Lots of time spent on this I assure you

The solutions were all very very good as always! I want to give a special nod to both Orjan for his spin reversal device (this WILL be handy in the future...). And also a mention for Malco on his mechanical latch he used to replace a timer. I felt both of those were very ingenious and well done.

Now....let's see what I can dig up from the depth of my evil level locker.





-BFC

[schizo18]

bah, had finally gotten a solution too, then had to leave without submitting, and when I get back, all solutions postes.....ah well, had only just barely made it into the 6k range.....good job guys (and gals if any)

[?rjan Flatseth]

I must say that I am very impressed that anybody made this without the spinning reverse device! I used a lot of time trying to figure out some clever ways to do that but I never came anywhere. Then I started experimating with different materials and their differnt friction. I soon found out that the combination cloth-rubber could actually both accelerate or slow down the dillo. I am really impressed by BFC and his clever stuff. There was a lot of nice stuff here I will study it closer later. good nighet - or is it morning?

[Grale]

Wow great solutions!

unfortunately i didn't quiet reach 7000+ as petert said, i was just behind kingofthespill with 6700
still i have learnt alot from you guys

of now to tweak my contest A#3 entry

[PeterT]

unfortunately i didn't quiet reach 7000+ as petert said, i was just behind kingofthespill with 6700

Ups sorry, I guess my enthusiasm caused some mild dyslexia

Fixed it now.

[BioDroid]

Malco : How did you manage to put cloth out of the level limits
D

hold shift , select a point and rotate it out of the boundaries.

[n.fav]

Ah yes, I got it, thank you Biodroid. Rotation was the trick

[?rjan Flatseth]

I really liked n.fav's beautiful and strange "art noveu" style constructions and odd macinery !

[Malco]

I'll second ?rjans comment those structures are a work of art Im very impressed n.fav.
Thank you Peter for including my original version I had deleted it so had forgotten how far my soloution had come from such humble beginnings.
Can I ask now what the magical pink unicorns were, was that supposed to be the stopping device in ?rjans soloution?
And finally well done to BFC I look forward to playing the next B level, I really enjoy the challenge of a level you can get your teeth into.

[PeterT]

Can I ask now what the magical pink unicorns were, was that supposed to be the stopping device in ?rjans soloution?

Yes, it was about methods for turning the 'dillo around.

[n.fav]

Thank you for the comments guys!
I had great fun making my soluces!

I suspected too that the 'dillo could reverse his spin and even tried a device a bit like Orjan's one, but only with rubber, and it didn't work.
I like the way the ball gets crunched a bit in yours, Orjan, that's fun!