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New! Escape 200704130
(13 Apr 2007 at 12:01) |
| I made a new version of my puzzle game Escape today which incorporates a lot of changes I've worked on over the last 5 months or so. The OS X version (coming in a few hours) is now a Universal Binary. There's one new tile: the "remote", which I believe will prove to be very powerful. Since the old feedback thread is monstrously long, this post will serve as the new one. |
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Thank you for the new version.
I downloaded the new Escape (on OSX), and it works. However the update of levels isn't working. Plus, the last level in the new one is 1417, and just the 21 tutorials.
The last time I update levels on the old version, levels were up to 1523, and of course the 21 tutorials.
When I update either the old or new version, it just says update is up to date. |
| Yeah, I haven't uploaded the OSX version yet... I have to get my hands on a friend's OSX laptop, since I don't have one myself. It'll definitely be out later today though. That'll fix all the problems you're having. |
Awesome - remotes are great!
Can't play the tutorial yet, though, cause it doesn't show up. Is it because there was already a tutorial 21 (bombs)? |
| No (although I did screw up the number), it was because I forgot to manually update the Official collection after moving the tutorial there. It's fixed now. |
| Ooh, very nice! |
I did the OSX release, but there's a bug in the old version that means the auto-upgrade won't work. Sorry. I don't think I'll be able to work around it, so the thing to do is:
download the new zip
"show package contents" on the old Escape app, and the new Escape app
copy yourplayer.esp from the old app to the same place in the new app (it's in the Contents/MacOS directory)
copy any other stuff (any levels you're working on in the mylevels folder) too
done! |
| there seems to be a problem with solution management. if you solve a level, then go back and solve it faster, it doesn't seem update your score unless you manually delete the slower solution. |
I just uploaded a level ('science museum') and though it seems to have uploaded onto the website (as the preview image and my comment is there) I was prompted at the end of upload with: "upload failed: error code 404".
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It took me about an hour and a half to upgrade and to find my mm.esp-files - but finally I got it. (OSX 10.4.8, no intel on this Mac). Now it works, I've only lost two levels (solutions), but that's not a big deal. Unfortunately I haven't had time to explore all that new stuff yet - but it just "looks" great and next week I'll probably be able to find out what's all new about it.
And I might check out my iBook (intel) next week, too, and I'll tell you how it works.
Great update, anyway! Congrats, Tom, and THANKS!
No more scrolling alllllllllllllll the way down... ;-)
|
pieguy: Yeah, you're probably right, it should make shorter (but not-downloaded) solutions earlier in the list of solutions, especially since it uses the "default" solution when displaying your current speedrun. (You can make a soluion the default by pressing ins, rather than deleting the others.) Thanks...
stephan: This happens, yeah, it's because it takes too long to rebuild the triage collection after uploading, which causes a timeout of your web connection. You don't need to worry about it since as you noticed it's actually successful... I'm going to look into improving the experience here.
kirima: Glad you got it working! For the levels you lost solutions on, do those now have bookmarks with non-working solutions? If so, then there's some bug because the rules in the new version are supposed to be the same as the old. |
| I can't answer - I have no idea, I just don't know, I don't understand the problem, I'm sorry. |
I got the same "problem" as pieguy: solutions management got stuck with my very first solution of a level - even though I did solve the level much quicker, the +better+ solutions just disappear and so I'm kind of "stuck" with my very first and kind of silly way to solve a level. But the "better" solution is there as a bookmark.
I did +upgrade+ the entire file - and ooops - all the old files had just ooops gone, had disappeared...?! So I did rename my player, did name it "Kirima" instead of "mm" - but ooops, all those old escape files did all of a sudden forget my "mm" name and ooops, turned all those +mm+ to "kirima" and that's why it took me so long to recover my original files.
Got it?
I can't explain it any better!
|
I'll fix the pieguy problem soon. It should be pretty easy.
Are you missing any solutions now, kirima? |
How can I access Tutorial 21? My Tuorial levels only go up to 20.
By the way the Remotes look like a great idea I just want to learn how they work. |
| Mary: You should get the new tutorials if you update the level collection from the internet (4 on the main menu). Make sure you're subscribed to 'official' and 'triage'. You also need to first upgrade the game by pressing '3' on the main menu if you haven't done that yet. (If on Mac OSX, then see above..) |
Great Game!
I'm playing on a mac G5 w/ OS 10.4
I can't seem to upgrade to the new version and find my player Id file.
I read the forum comments, no help. Any assistance would be appreciated.
thanks |
| Did you try the instructions on my comment above that begins "I did the OSX release..."? What goes wrong? |
| Aragorn, maybe your problem is getting inside the Escape "package". Try control-clicking on the Escape icon and then selecting "show package contents" from the menu that appears. Your player file should be in Contents-->MacOs. After you download the new version from the web site, drag your player file from the old package into the same location in the new package. |
| I'm telling you again Tom, your user data storage approach in Mac OS X is ridiculous. I know you wanna keep all your code the same across platforms as much as possible, but if there's one thing that should get some "special" treatment... |
| Well, I'm working on a multiuser version for linux where the data are stored elsewhere, but it removes a bunch of functionality (like the ability to self-upgrade)... I can't say I like it very much but if people will want to install it, I'll give 'em the option! |
| Why would that preclude self-upgrade? |
| Tom, I had only lost 2 solutions, no problem. |
| Sophia: well, upgrading means writing in the package. I guess on OSX you could still write the save file in the user's home directory and allow administrators to update from in-game (if I could do that administrator password prompt thing), although it's tricky because you also want the user to be able to update the collection of levels, and I think that's not something you want only administrators to do... which means reconciling that there are some set of levels that "come with" the single installation of the game, but the user can choose to supplement (or reduce?) those by updating from the server or creating his/her own, etc. Generally I think it works better if there's just one copy of the app per user that wants to use it, especially since I think multi-user systems are pretty rare. |
| Kirima: Did those 2 solutions become bookmarks? I'm interested because if solutions disappear, it might be because I introduced a bug in the game rules, which is something serious I'd like to look into. |
Tom, I'm sorry, I can't remember for sure... All I know is that I did had a problem with those bookmarks, it did bookmark and bookmark and bookmark again and again - whenever I tried to open a bookmark it did bookmark the actual situation instead of opening an existent bookmark. Or something like that! There had been a real bookmark-problem with those 2 levels - but I can't explain it any better and as I said, can't remember exactly what was going on.
I still have one backup old version of the game - I could try to upgrade that one and look what will happen. |
| Ok, I did it - and again lost those 2 solutions, but anything else works normally now, no bookmarking-problems. The solutions had gone without becaming bookmarks. |
| Okay, thanks a lot! |
| Okay I've got a problem.. I downloaded the game, updated it an' all, no problem. But when i enter tutorial nothing happens and i don't appear to be able to do anything. Sorry if i'm trying your patience but i've never played this game before and don't know what to do. (There's no instructions either!)?? |
What do you mean by "enter tutorial"? You can play the tutorial by pressing 'T' on the main menu. You can read the documentation here:
http://escape.spacebar.org/win32/escape.txt
Are you using windows, mac, or linux? |
| I have vista and it reports errors when i upload or download,however i find it still works just find otherwise.Thanks again Tom 7 for the Great diversion from the high graphic games that rely on skill and speed rather than pure gray matter.If your a thinking person then Escape is the perfect game.If I had just one computer game to play escape could very well be the one.It's a great way to almost waste time aside from using your mind. |
| Thanks! Can you tell me about the errors on vista? I don't have access to a vista yet but I'd like it to work there... |
| I just made a huge level that I'm really proud of, but I can't upload it. I get error (out of disk space) or bug (bad level) ... or something like that. It's 40X40 and has a LOT of stuff, but still.. I think there are far more complex levels. Help? |
| It's not your fault at all... I was just out of space on the server. (An unfortunately common occurrence.) It should work now if you try again! |
| Sometimes I don't seem to be able to upload new solutions as it says something about non validating. |
| I think that happens if you have a bookmark in the level, because it tries to upload the bookmark instead of your solution. It's on the list of bugs to be fixed for the next release; thanks for reporting! |
You can work around this by selecting the new solution as the "default", escaping to the main menu and going back.
By the way, this seems to happen (for me) when there are only solutions and no unfinished bookmarks, so I don't know if Tom's explanation is it. |
| Oh, really? Hmmm. I will look. |
| I've seen that too--solutions failing to upload even with no bookmarks. When it happens, the solution length in the bottom corner says 1, like it does (used to do?) when you import with Ctrl-0. Backspacing out of the folder and coming back in fixes it. |
| Ok again, this vista program reported upload failed : error code 404 back to me.However you did get my level.Vista has a few bugs that are still being tweaked and this is no doubt ,this is one of them.The error message must be an error as well.GIOG When you fix something thats no broken. |
| I don't seem to be able to upload new solutions especially when I have just beaten my previous speedrun. It doesn't seem to accept a second speedrun. By the way I'm not using Vista so it's not a vista problem. |
Gil: No, that's not a vista problem (someone above reported the same thing, take a look for the explanation). You can safely ignore the error.
mjn and Mary: Hmm, maybe there is something I don't understand going on here. Is this the automatic speedrun upload after you rate a level? Or when you use 'u' from the bookmarks menu? (Or from the solution manager?) |
| I forget exactly, but it was either the automatic upload or the solution manager; definitely not the bookmarks menu. I'm about 75% sure it was the solution manager. |
| Okay, thanks. I think the solution manager is pretty much deprecated now, since you can do everything there from the bookmarks menu. I should probably just disable it. Would you guys miss it? |
| The problem occurred with the automatic speedrun because although I had beaten the previous speedrun it didn't seem to recognize it, so then I thought I would try uploading from the solutions manager but that said something about a non-validating solution. It can't be anything to do with bookmarks because I've never tried using them. Perhaps I should have a look at bookmarks, especially if you say that you can do lots of things from there and you are thinking of removing the solutions manager. |
| Yes, I think you'll find the bookmarks menu useful... it's intended to replace the solutions manager and it's integrated with playing the game so that you can partially watch a solution and then make an improvement, plus use all of the features like zooming and scrolling while watching a solution, etc. |
| I have now managed to upload solutions using Eric's work around. |
Tom -
I just want to let you know that I love this game. Great work.
I do have one suggestion - allow users to overwrite levels that they've created. Maybe there's already a way to do this and I just don't know about it . . .
PS - I have a friend who will be a freshman at CMU next year - any advice?
PPS - Go Steelers! |
Hehe, yeah, go Steelers! =)
Is your friend going to be in the computer science department?
You can indeed overwrite a level that you've created. First, delete the old one by finding it in triage (it should have a key icon next to it) and then pressing 'del'. After that's done you can upload a new level with the same name. We never actually delete levels for good here because it would mean losing any comments, etc. for them. |
I don't think so . . . I think he's either EE or ME. Is CS its own department at CMU, or is it under Engineering?
You should check out www.steelernation.com/forums. =)
Thanks so much for the delete info - I actually think you may have told me that over a year ago, but I forgot after all that time away. I can stop bothering you now . . . =) |
No problem. It's my own fault that these things are not obvious in the game.
CS is actually its own whole School at CMU, including Robots, Machine Learning, Computer Science Department, Software Engineering, etc. My brother is a ME PhD student though. |
Wow - that's dedication to CS. I actually almost went to CMU myself . . . but that weather would have driven me nuts . . .
Man, you guys have got some brains in the family . . . what's your brother think of it? |
Yeah, CMU is pretty serious about it! It's definitely one of the biggest programs.
Mike likes MechE. He works hard but gets to do a lot of fun stuff and ends up in the popular press a lot. He didn't do his undergraduate degree here, though. |
super game;)
|
Hi Tom
These bookmark-things are really confusing. It just "bookmarks" whatever I'm doing! Any game I'm playing or trying becomes a bookmark... Even watching a downloaded original solution or speedrun becomes a new bookmark. So downloading existing solutions will "bookmark" them AND consider them as if I had solved the level that way. Watching a speedrun will bookmark it as my own solution, it appears as an "mm-solution". And so I'm deleting bookmarks again and again...
OMG, I can't explain it any better! All I know is: even without me "bookmarking" something, the game just " bookmarks" everything by itself.
Got it?
Watching a speedrun becomes: a NEW bookmark and speedrun made by ME! So I'm trying to just never ever push that button - but still, even without ever pushing the "b" - the game bookmarks WHATEVER!
Bookmarks are great - but now they seem to be "too" great!
|
| Yes, you're right. In a previous version there was a problem where it would sometimes throw out solutions (bookmarks) when it shouldn't... so now it just always saves everything. Fixing this is the highest priority! |
| a minor note, but i'm currently using the dvorak layout on a qwerty keyboard, and to navigate the menus i have to hit the qwerty keys, but in game i have to hit the dvorak keys. |
| Hmm, that difference is probably because of Wowei's patch to allow for international keyboards. I guess I should do that same thing throughout the game, so that it's always dvoark if you're using dvorak. Thanks! |
Just downloaded escape (200504250) for Mac OS X, my son loves it! However, as many above, we cannot upgrade. I can't do the trick with the old escape.app version, since I don't have that one.
Any suggestions? Thanks! |
| Well, you can follow the same instructions with any old version, since the application has always been arranged the same way. ("Escape.app" shows up as just "Escape" on your desktop or applications folder, etc.) That version is pretty old, though, so I'm not positive that the player files will be compatible with the newest version. I think it will work though. Anyway you should certainly download the new version, so that you'll be able to upgrade again and download new levels, etc. |
| Ahh, I didn't realize my version was that old :) Everything works fine now, thanks. |
| This is MY FAVORITE GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
| Good, thanks! =) |
Hi - Any way to view or download speedruns? Thanks.
(Or any other game level tips or walkthroughs?) |
| atariboy: Once you've solved a level you can see the speedruns by clicking on 'bookmarks' and then 'download from server'. But not until you've solved it! If you want hints you can try leaving a comment on the specific level you're having trouble with... |
| enjoy these games. have leukemia and the chemo makes you slow and not able to think or remember. these games sure help. |
| CTR, I'm glad! |
| I need a hint for Tutorial 21 - I can destroy the blue block and the top laser, but can't destroy the bottom laser or get to the switch. What am I missing? |
| Tutorial 21: You can't destroy the bottom laser. You need the bots to push the button to open up the blue floor, but they'll only start walking over when the panel is depressed. What could you use to press down that panel for a long time? |
FYI. Here's something odd I noticed, the level spiral? (1466) shows Jorty as author but in the solution manager the "original" shows Josh as author??
|
| You can set the author name to anything you want when you upload (though if it's a mod please give credit where due). Speedruns and comments use the name you registered with, though. So they might be different... |
FYI. Here's something odd I noticed, the level spiral? (1466) shows Jorty as author but in the solution manager the "original" shows Josh as author??
|
OK,Duh! Nevermind I figured it out. It was late and I was not thinking. But I did notice that the timestamp on my post was 12 hours off.
|
Per your request....As of today,my mozilla foxfire browser still reports.No site is configured at this address. Did you want to go to...
snoot.org?
tom7.org?
destroyfx.org?
spacebar.org?
When I try to visit your site, so I just use explorer instead.Thanks Tom VII for the cool game and the time you take out to keep it working.I'm sure collage keeps you real busy theses days.The other links dont work either.Peace out for now.......................... |
| Weird... I could see why it wouldn't show the site at all (timeout) but it should only show that page if your browser doesn't send a "Host:" line with the request, which firefox would certainly do. Maybe it has cached that page? You could try clearing your cache from the options menu or with ctrl-shift-del... |
| I use Firefox, latest version as of yesterday, on Windows XP at work. I am able to access the site (everyday!). |
| So weird... It is working for me on all my machines?? I'll look into it after the weekend. |
| The Solution worked but,where are the escape fans I hadn't seen any new levels in days.Maybe everyone is on vacation or something.Ken you may want to try Tom VII solution listed just above your post.Peace out ya'll.................... |
| I'm glad! I've been super busy this summer trying to finish my PhD and find a job. But I hope that once that's done I'll have more time work on Escape, including some new levels in the works... |
omg look at my neeeeeew leeeeveeel based on buuutt cheese its only 5gp so buy it today!!!!! leeeedle leeedle leedle leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee |
Hershals farm: I'd like for you to play with us but I'm forced to conclude that you're being intentionally disruptive. Please be friendly or I'll have to exclude you.
(Others: I'm deleting a lot of very long, repetitive comments here.) |
| oooooooooh me so sorry for killing you |
| All of my completed Triage levels are gone! I tried to upload the latest and nothing came up except the Tutorials and the bugged ones. This is for Escape 7/4/13 for OS 10.4.10 |
| All of my completed Triage levels are gone! I tried to upload the latest and nothing came up except the Tutorials and the bugged ones. This is for Escape 7/4/13 for OS 10.4.10 |
| All my triage levels have vanished too |
| I probably ran out of space and it wrote an empty triage collection. I'll look... |
| Yup, that's what it was. Thanks for reporting this, and it's fixed now. |
| Thanks ! |
| I made and sent some levels and I will make and send many more! |
Please Tom, do something against the eternally occuring disk-space problems of your server. It even didn't allow uploading a comment.
And I so badly wanted to congratulate Kirima for defending the computers. |
ummm, defeating the computers, i meant.
congrats, your highness! |
| Wowei, omg, I found this now, 2 month later, I'm so sorry! Thanx for trying "so badly" to congratulate, that's just sweet. And I feel honored! |
| wowei: I will have to move the server when I graduate soon and at that time I will upgrade to a big disk and we'll never need to worry about it again. But it hasn't been full recently, I think, so maybe you were experiencing a different problem? =/ |
| @ Tom7 and wowei: I'm stupid! We write day/month/year - not month/day/year... And I thought wowei did leave his comment on the 9th of July!!! Grrhgkh...... Sorry for being such a silly girl! )))-; |
| Hi Tom - I've got a computer problem - my computer doesn't work anymore... So I'm on another one right now - but I've lost like half of my solved files. Do you have my solutions saved somewhere? Help, what can I do??? Thanks MM |
| I only have a solution file that you sent me a long time ago as a bug report. I can send it if you want. Is your old computer accessible at all? Maybe you can recover your .esp file and copy it onto a disk or USB memory stick? |
| Hi Tom, ok, so that's no option... I thought you might have our files somewhere! So that was a big missunderstanding, unfortunately! My iMac is not accessible AT ALL, that's why I was asking! Thank's anyway. |
| No, I don't have copies of any solutions except for the ones that are uploaded to the server (like the current best speedrun for a level), and those are a bit difficult to extract. I guess the lesson is to make backups on another computer! =( |
I need help. I'm trying to upload a level and it says this: upload failed: fail (bug) bad lev (or out of disk space).
How do I fix it? |
| Nevermind. I got it after a few hours of waiting. |
| I was out of disk space, but now it's fixed. |
i was in level 106 quath the quantity of levels
|
I'm back.
I'm using someone elses computer and I can't register,upgrade,or get new levels.
WHY????
I'm in Poland.Does it have to do something with that?? |
| What does it do when you try? |
| Right now it says:Failed to get collections list,when I try to get new levels! |
I can't even rate!!
|
It's OK.
The internet is slow and stuff like that.
it works best in the evening.
I'll get my computer in about a month and a half.
GET READY FOR MORE LEVELS!! |
| KIM - Don't laugh - I'm an old, old lady in her 70's (no kidding either) who likes to play computer games as they keep my brain active and charged! Recently discovered Escape, but level 20 has me stumped. Was reading something about turning "spoilers" on/off, but please tell me where I get the "switches" to do that? Please help!!! |
To see comments for a level, you have to look at its web page (on escape.spacebar.org). Unfortunately it's a bit hard to navigate directly to a level's web page, but you could find it by searching for
escape tutorial 20
in google. |
Hi Tom, I just want to let you know that I've got my iMac back, AND all my solutions! I'm so glad! And I will do back-ups more often now, on CDs! Have a nice week!
Kirima |
| Super! I'm glad! |
| Does Chips Challenge have a copy write because,I have that game as well and may attempt to copy some levels to your game.If it does then disregard my post. |
| yeah, pretty much any game is copyrighted, so you shouldn't copy games to escape unless you can get permission from the author of the level... |
The computer is too slow.When I get my computer I WILL able to rate,download levels,comment,and download solutions.That will be in about 2 weeks.Darn it!I just have to wait impatiently.Sorry!:((
Sincerly, Kacper Leszczynski
P.S. Could be longer [ :(( ] or shorter [ :)) ] !!! |
Is it possible, or are there any plans to have a palm version in the future? Much of my freetime is spent away from my desktop and my palm is easier to carry than my laptop.
Excellent logic Game. |
| Adam has ported the code to Java for mobile devices. I'm not sure if it can run on the Palm, but I'll ask him. I'm planning to do an iphone port when the development kit becomes available, too. |
Only 1 week to go!!! :)
(Sorry about writing here.I can't send comments on this computer) |
| Hi Tom, where can I get the Java version? |
| Wowei, are you looking for source or a compiled Java app? I think the compiled version is pretty minimal, since you can't get new levels or save solutions. I'll ask adam when I see him. |
| Thanks Tom, applet would be fine. I am only curious and would like to play a bit on a handheld. |
| I can't upload my level.It says the "out of disk space" thing again. |
| It's ok. |
| Adam said he will update and recompile it and then I can put it on the download page. |
| Kacper your levels rock! |
| Oh and thanks for the newer version Tom7. (P.S. Nice tutorials!) |
| Hey Tom7, when will the new version come out? I wonder what the new tile will be. My brother says there's a 'beta 15' already. Is there one? |
| Hey Tom7, when will the new version come out? I wonder what the new tile will be. My brother says there's a 'beta 15' already. Is there one? |
| Kacper, did your computer come yet? I hope it did. |
| Um, I have a problem. Sometimes when two escapes are open but nothing else, it locks up after one night. What's wrong? P.S. Kacper, did you see my new level? |
Hey Kirma, I like the scroolllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnn
nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
nggggggggggggggggggg ddddddddddddddooooooooooooooooooo
owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwnnnnn
nnnnnnnnnnnn iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiddddddddddddddd
eeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaa. |
Tom, how many levels have you solved?
EJG |
| Oh sorry about the duplicate and all those posts in a row from me. |
| How about having an option to sort by bookmarks? |
ejg: It's hard to count, because I have a lot of solutions stored from deleted levels and stuff like that, but I currently have 1104/1296 for triage. I have not been keeping up well this semester, so most of the unsolved ones are new levels.
Anon: You mean by the number of bookmarks, or what? |
Hi Tom, for bookmarks, I was thinking that if you bookmark a level then it would put a "B" in front of it like the check mark when you've completed a level. And then having an option to sort by them. Hope that make sense.
Sometimes when I bookmark a level, I forget the name of it and then I have a hard time finding it. |
| Yeah, that makes sense. I'll probably do something like that. The next big project for escape (I am finishing up my dissertation this week and then hope to have some time for projects over the break) is to revamp the level selector to enable better sorting, etc. One of the things I was planning is to sort by recent activity, so that you can see the levels that you've been playing recently. This would probably help with finding the levels you've bookmarked, but it would also make sense to display a bookmark icon so that you know at a glance why they're "recent"... |
| Hi Tom, good luck!!! I'll cross my fingers! |
| Thanks Kirima! =) |
Theres a faster way of finding comments for a certain level!
First look up the levels number on the game.Then on the website look up comments for any level.Finnaly,on the website bar,there should be numbers around the end.Change these numbers to the level number and press enter.The comments will show up within a couple seconds.
Hope that saves time!!!
Kacper Leszczynski |
| You're right... Adam even has a Firefox shortcut that does that. Another thing that works is to search for the name of the level and site:escape.spacebar.org in the Goog. Again, I apologize for how hard it is to read comments... I meant to fix this years ago! |
| It was hard for me until about a week ago.I looked up the level number and went into the level browser and tried to find the closest level which was sometimes 200 levels away and it took me a long time to get there. Well, I'm going to say one more thing: MERRY CHRISTMAS! |
| Tom, on your web page try to make a database search for the levels;maybe someone wants to see all the comments for a certain level. Happy new year! |
Hey Tom,
I know every level has to have a solution to be uploaded, but sometimes I get sooooooo frustrated not knowing what I'm doing wrong...for example:
A Level With Bombs
Blocks and Bombs (later versions)
BOT BRAWL!!!! (This one is insane! I've got the dead bots in the corners, but when the guy follows you towards the end, it just doesn't seem possible to keep him off the final switch!!!)
Is there a way to download solutions - or is cheating totally unacceptable...?
|
Adrian: Some levels are hard, it's true! There are dozens that I haven't been able to solve despite spending many hours trying.
There's no way to download solutions until you've solved the level. This will probably always be the case; the few times I've been tempted to look at a solution I've regretted it. You could leaving a comment on the level asking for some hints, though! |
| How do I uninstall this game?? It didn't show up on my programs list |
| Just delete the folder that you installed it into. |
I'd also like to say that this game is unreal and you are rad for making it. I think the whole world can benefit from games like these - simple and good for the mind.
Cheers! |
Cool game! I discovered it just a couple of weeks ago, and am still playing level 1 difficulty (mostly). But what are the other ratings about? Like what is style? and rigidity (although I can sort of figure that out)?
|
Thanks!
Style is just how much the rater likes the level. This is the most subjective, I think.
Rigidity is whether the level has a lot of solutions (is "loose") or few (is "tight"). |
| There's not a debian package and no makefile -- how do I play? |
The statically-linked binaries should work on any distribution, but I've heard reports that some newer Linux versions don't, so your mileage may vary.
The source package has a makefile and the file HACKING describes how to compile. |
| Hi Tom7 - Thank you for making this "Escape" game - I had written to you about 4 years ago with some issues I had. Four years later, I have 599 puzzles solved (out of the 943) -- Is there any page I could be sent with some hints? Some of these boards have driven me bonkers over the years. Thank you again - Steve |
| Steve, the best way to get a hint is to leave a comment on the particular level you're interested in. You can also browse the comments for those levels to see if there has been a hint already, but I think most players like to suffer through it themselves. ;) |
Tom,
Got to your page when collecting information on TTF embedding (your embed DMCA page still has a rather high PageRank!).
Looks like a really interesting game. The Linux 'static binary' is not actually static, though? It simply has most of the required libs on the same directory (and missing some: libstdc++, gtk+ and glib -- all of them older versions that are not installed by default).
I'm probably going to add the game to Fedora (fedoraproject.org) -- how would you like the version number listed, and is the licensing GPLv2 only or GPLv2+ ("version 2 or later")? If you plan to bring out version 1 later, I'm thinking of numbering this 0.200704130, avoiding any versioning problem.
Thanks! |
| One more thing -- could the directory in which Escape puts player and history data be made configurable? For FHS compliance, I'm putting the data files in /usr/share/escape (and using a shell script to run the binary from that directory), but that means it's creating the player data and history there as well. |
| Michel, thanks... Unless I'm remembering the distribution wrong, Adam already made a Fedora package. I made a build option (something involving 'multiuser', I think) for the issue you describe. |
| yum install escape ! |
| Also, you're right about the "static" build and the issue of the missing libraries is a serious one that I haven't gotten around to fixing. |
| Just a little question, does anyone here play 'Toontown' (Disney's Toontown Online)? |
| How to minimize to see entire level; sometimes(I don't realize which combination of tasts I pressed) I minimized the level. Well, it means it is possible. |
| You can zoom out with the [ key, and zoom back in with the ]. |
sorry this is a very basic problem for me. I am stuck on a level and efter days of frustration decided to look at the spoilers but I can't see them. They don't seem to have a link to view them or it doesn't work. Thanks and by the way what a brilliant challenging game.
|
| There are only spoiler hints for a small number of levels, since the players tend to like to work things out for themselves and are quite protective of their solutions. (In fact it is common when finding a bug in someone else's level to make the bug into a puzzle so that someone has to find it, rather than just saying what it is!) That's my style, too, but if you want a hint on a specific level, you should ask. I think people are willing to answer. To ask, just press ctrl-c when a level is selected in the in-game level browser and leave a comment (the more specific your question is, the better), probably marking it as a spoiler. Then check the web page later to see if anyone has left a hint (and make sure spoilers are turned on there). Also, outside the tutorial you don't have to solve the levels in any particular order, so use the difficulty rating to find the ones that are right for you, as you get better! |
Thank you so much I've decided to just keep trying and work it out for myself much more satisfying that way!!
|
| I agree! =) |
| does anyone play toontown?!?!?!!!!! |
| I keep trying to like remotes, but it is a hard sell. Some levels find clever ways to use them, but most levels seen to just throw a whole bunch onto the level and the only way to solve the level is to keep banging on it until you find the right combination of moves. There is no logic involved. I am sure there are people who like levels like that (random guessing). I hope that more levels will come along that use remotes with some finesse. I plan to try to write one or two using them to see what is really possible. |
| I know what you mean. I think it's mostly because some of my favorite authors haven't been making levels for a while. I've been busy finishing my thesis and starting a new job. I do think that, like bots, people will evemtually figure out how to use them for fun and interesting things! |
Well, I had no internet for a while, and all I really had was escape. I didn't play it for a while, and now, I lost 72 levels! AHHH! They were brilliant!
|
| What do you mean you lost them? You updated and they're gone? They were probably moved to minor leagues. Just subscribe to that collection in the level updater and look for them there. I almost never delete levels permanently. |
| No, for about a year, my computer didn't have internet. I had Escape though, I downloaded it from another computer and brought it to this one. In about 5 months I created about 72 levels (Only about 15 good ones). I stopped playing Escape for a while. My computer was running out of space, so I deleted a lot of stuff. I came back and realize Escape was gone. I never had the chance to upload some of them. So, there's nothing I can do about it. I was just whining. |
| Oh, that's too bad! =( |
Time to start again! Also, the game is great! Best puzzle game I've played.
|
| Ah... I also got an "idea". Perhaps you should have like thin walls, walls that go inbetween tiles. |
I know what you mean. I've thought about it in the past, because a lot of games have that, but I think it turns out being a lot more trouble than it's worth. First, there are a lot of such tiles (2^4 = 16, though we already have the all-empty and all-walls ones). Second, they need to be treated specially because when you have a block on top of one of them it needs to remember that there's a wall there. That kind of behavior currently only happens with panels, and is a large fraction of the complexity of the game and its implementation. It also breaks some symmetries in the game that I think are desirable (and that are used in the implementation). But more importantly, I think all the functionality you'd want from them is already available in the game, either by making extra-sized walls out of rough tiles, or using tricks with panels, etc. So, there's not much need for them really.
BTW, the same goes for one-way tiles like in Adventures of Lolo and DROD and a bunch of other tile puzzle games. You can actually even see graphics for those that I drew in tiles.png, though I decided not to implement them. |
| Also, thanks for the compliment and suggestions are always welcome! =) |
| You know the timestamps here and on the Escape level comments are all messed up. |
| Yeah, I know... it's a 64 bit issue. I'm tackling the sites-not-uploaded and programs crashing problems first. =) |
| Good to see your sites working again....Welcome back Tom 7 we missed you. |
Tom,
Escape gives me a message that Escape failed to get collections list. I thought it was the way I moved files over since replacing my hard drive, and the download does not work either.
What gives? |
Strange. Level updating is working for me. If you download a fresh copy of the game from the site, is it able to update levels? Which kind of computer are you using?
Are you using "alt connect" maybe? I haven't enabled that yet. I should. |
| I had the same problem - and was using alternate connect. Deselected "alternate", everything is OK :) |
| I fixed alt connect, so it should work either way now. |
| You should make an embedded browser version so you can just see a level and play it immediately. |
| yeah, I agree; I've wanted to do that for a while (probably in Flash) but have never gotten around to even starting... |
| Iamanidiot: what is the solution for tutorial #21? |
| Iamanidiot: I am ok to the point of needing to go to the left and push the bomb beneath the exit over to the white cells on the left. Help! |
| Iamanidiot: Nevermind. Sheesh. |
I love this game! It is the best thing since the original Chips Challenge and I am completely addicted even though I am apparently a challenged user and seem only to be able to solve the easy puzzles.
I don't see where in the "spoilers" there are spoilers. I see no solutions, just comments and 'speedruns' (whatever they are) that seem to be people's postings of their best times.
Are there any actual spoilers or solutions because I have already found two levels that I absolutely know how to solve but cannot seem to solve. Any? |
True spoiler comments are rare. Speedruns are marked as spoilers because some levels can be spoiled by knowing how many moves it can be solved in.
If you want hints, you could leaving a comment on the level asking! |
| depending on how fast I am, bots make different moves (at the same move) |
| Bots will always do the same thing in the same situation. But some situations might look the same (like if two differently-numbered bots have swapped position); maybe that's what you're seeing? Try pressing 'u' to undo and then repeating the same move. |
| look, I've noticed this using undo command; it happens on small levels with non destructive bots. If I move quick I can take a cell, if i wait for the bot to make a move, bot takes that cell, same move from me, different moves from bot. |
| Unless there's a very serious bug, this should never happen. If you can find a repeatable situation where it occurs, please send a level and whatever information I'd need to reproduce it. I will fix this ASAP if it's really happening, but I think it's more likely that you're misunderstanding what's going on (which is totally understandable, since it's pretty complicated when there are bots involved). Once you make a move, you don't get an opportunity to move until all the bots have moved. If you press the button again, what actually happens is that it does not show the animation of the bots moving, but they still move, and then the next move is executed. Sometimes doing something like pushing against a bot can cause another bot to push him out of the way that might make it look like you "beat him" to the spot, but it's probably just the fact that you're skipping the animation by moving quickly that makes it look different. |
| ok, try to find it, it is really hard because are so many, and they are not systemized(another problem), I believe it is one of kakper levels with bots, when the bot is close to dalek. Who knows, maybe you are right, but if it happened once it will aways happen in any circumstances bots are involved. |
| Iamanidiot? Did you solve tutorial #21? I can help you if you want. |
| gaby: which Kacper level is it? I might be able to help because I solved most of them. ;) |
| Tom: I have now solved 1265 levels!!!!! Yay!!!!! |
| Hey, Tom, when will the new automatic solutions optimizer come out? |
Nicely done!
I don't have any estimate for a new optimizer. I haven't even worked on it at all, except for developing some ideas... it's just a fun weekend project for a future weekend where I've got a hankerin'. |
| I don't know which one was, I don't like levels with many bots because I have the feeling I cannot control the game, especially when the bots are next to me. Maybe it wasn't a bug, maybe Tom was right, I don't know.If randomly I meet the same problem, be sure this time I'll be able to tell you which level is. |
| i just cant get past tutorial #20 i need help... |
| did you get to the part when you have to get the heart? |
| gaby: I know how you feel. I get soooooo frustrated with some levels that have too many bots (no offence Kacper). |
Guys: I am incredably sorry for incorrectly spelled words and multiple posts in a row. I am just a 9 and 1/2 year old boy bursting with excitment. And I'm pretty board even though it's summer break.
Tom: I love escape and when I grow up I want to make another game! Escape 2: The Ruins of Escapetown! Plentiful compliments to you Tom7! And of course, I'll give credit to the original Escape game maker: Tom7! |
| hehe. I'm glad to have you with us, ejg! I don't think it's too early for you to start learning how to make games! |
| I don't know. But I'll try soon only because I got straight A's whole year though for every subject. But I don't know how. That's the problem. |
| I already started learning C++. It's fun but a bit difficult. My current goal is to make a basic calculator (only +, -, * and /) and make some more levels in Escape.... |
| jesus somebody please help me with tutorial 20 I feel like an idiot |
ejg - is not frustrating, just the feeling they act randomly and y loss the tbs feeling, you know, chess like or homm like
|
I've just discovered Escape, and naturally I'm hooked. Finished the tutorials, not looking for speedruns yet, and am looking into creating a level of my own.
To that end I have made a primitive HTML page with pngs of all the possible items and the text from escape.txt. Now I'm contemplating where to put the tgz containing all the pngs and the page.
Can you email me, so I can email it to you, Tom, or is your email box so swamped you'd much prefer a different option?
My email address has already been harvested often enough to put it here: mazur@casema.nl |
I've just discovered Escape, and naturally I'm hooked. Finished the tutorials, not looking for speedruns yet, and am looking into creating a level of my own.
To that end I have made a primitive HTML page with pngs of all the possible items and the text from escape.txt. Now I'm contemplating where to put the tgz containing all the pngs and the page.
Can you email me, so I can email it to you, Tom, or is your email box so swamped you'd much prefer a different option?
My email address has already been harvested often enough to put it here: mazur@casema.nl |
So, my second attempt is finished and uploaded, not too difficult yet, I'm just learning, still, but I've also made that HTML page and put it in the website of my PC, so when that is running, it'll be online at:
Host 53569b7e.cable.casema.nl Webpage: escape/escape.html
My first attempt is still under construction, as it's partly a dumping ground of all the silly ideas I get just as I was going to sleep. When it finishes (if ever), you'll know.
You, with the level 20 trouble, you just need to sit down and think what you need to happen in that level, and then look at how you can achieve it. But if you need specific help with a particular snag, you'd need to specify what item in the level is stopping you from going on. Nothing more than that. That would enable us to to give you a hint, perhaps, with the minimum amount of spoiler information so as not to spoil it for anyone else. |
Mazur, you should make an Escape fansite!
Looking at the tile descriptions reminds me that I need to update those to integrate the discussion of bots and bombs. Some of that text is literally 10 years old! |
Whoa, lets not get ahead of ourselves here, I just flung a few lines of text and HTML together, you did all the real work, Tom.
And I scraped together one little level, that can hardly be reckoned rocket science.
Thinking of the game, I thought of some new elements, things I miss:
a White Block, that's basically a gold block, except it triggers buttons and switches if it fetches up against them.
A different on/off set, that can switch electric tiles back on.
A new type of coloured tile, with a corresponding panel, that flips over, whether the colour is in the regular world or in the bizarro world. This would make it possible to control a field of something from a single panel, without using a million hidden bots or being restricted to rough/blocked surface.
Square panels, that control two tiles instead of one.
All of those keep creeping into my design ideas, robbing me of sleep in order to make the idea work without them. |
Liked that "One False Move...", Gil? Did you succeed at it?
Got a few great notions again, so the third one will not be long in coming, I think. A tough one. >;-)
On another note, is it possible to see whether a level has been solved by anyone before trying it yourself? Because I get the strong impression, that quite a few of the levels downloaded by the game itself (with option 4) can't be solved at all.
I understand those few levels like "Transponder test" and "Animation test" by Tom, he uses them in game development. No worries.
But why are all those 2x1 levels with a starting point and an exit still in there? Why so many of them? And those levels where you are fried before you make a single move? I can see the joke of one such level, but what is it: 5 of them? 10? What's the use? |
I found four escalator tile images but no matching elements in the editor. There are also enough blank tiles for 30 elements.
What about a second bizarro world? Just ask which bizarro world to swap with. |
| theplatypus: I can help you! |
theplatypus: I can help you!
P.S. sorry guys this keeps saying 'Anonymous'. |
| I don't know. But I'll try soon only because I got straight A's whole year though for every subject. But I don't know how. That's the problem. |
Tom: You should try out ROBLOX because it is somewhat like Escape.
Everybody: The link is WWW.roblox.com
I haven't played it in a while so it might be: WWW.roblox.org |
Since noone seems to feel inclined to answer any or all of my questions, I shall answer a couple of them myself.
1. Yes, there are "levels", that cannot be solved, mainly for testing purposes for Tom 7 and installed by him bypassing the test regular users' levels get (to wit: that they have solved that level the normal way).
2. The levels, where you come in in line of a laser beam: One _can_ play those, just make the first step out of the beam.
3. All those two square levels, where the player simply has to move one step to "solve" it: new players of the game like to find out how things like designing a level and uploading it work, and that particular simple level is apparently all they could come up with. Since there is no way to tell in advance whether a level is worth it or not, they are all passed along, so they can be judged by the players at large. There is no censorship or weeding process, beyond certain restrictions on the titles. |
Sorry Mazur. I was without internet for a week at home and could only post from my phone, which is slow.
1. Every level outside of the Quarantine collection is solvable. The solutions are stored on the server and I can re-verify them whenever I change something about the game. The only reason levels end up in Quarantine is that they're uploaded with a working solution, but then I fix a bug and the level no longer is necessarily solvable. (But, sometimes they are still solvable for some other reason.) Don't give up!
2. Right, this is a result of the Escape laws of physics: That you can only die or win on the end of your turn. So, if you start on an exit or in the path of a laser, that doesn't matter. The effect went through a period of whimsical popularity but I think people are pretty much over that now.
3. I dunno. Max was first to upload such a level as a joke, and then there were some follow-on jokes. Various people enjoy this game in different ways, which is okay with me, and also the reason for the minor leagues collection. You're right that I want the levels to be vetted and organized by the players, and not by some automatic process or iron-fist editorial oversight, but this hasn't really been realized yet. |
Ah. Thank you for the explanation.
Re:1.
"Animation test" is solvable?
"Atari ST"?
"b=g xor b, g=g & b, b=g | b, g = ~g"?
I've looked at those in the editor and they don't even have an exit.
"Get off my back" and "Panel World" I can't see how they _can_ be done, but I'll take your word for that for now.
All these are frmo your "mylevels" directory. |
| Oh, no. Are you playing from CVS or source, I guess? Lots of the levels in my mylevels directory are just ideas (and please don't spoil 'em, because some of those I intend to turn into real levels). I'm only talking about the levels that are uploaded to the server and available in collections. All of those have solutions. |
I was playing from the binary Linux distribution. I've since downloaded the source and compiled it, so I could take a look at some of the workings.
But the levels I listed above I got when running the binary distribution and selecting the download from internet. After that, I selected Load a level and noticed the mylevels directory with the aforementioned levels. So that directory is either in your binary distribution, or in the server. |
| Ah. I must have made a mistake and included some stuff that I shouldn't have in that distribution. Thanks for letting me know! |
I've been catching up on triage after a long Escape hiatus (only 154 levels left!) and suddenly thought of an idea last night. Would it be feasible to create a "scoreboard" of sorts where competitive Escape players can see how many levels they've completed in triage, how many speedruns they currently hold, etc.? The level completion numbers would most likely have to come from a manual submission within the game, and if it's possible, the speedrun numbers would be pulled from the data on the site. I know Chip's Challenge has a scoreboard which is manually maintained by a scorekeeper - and while CC is different in that rankings on the scoreboardare determined by the number of points one has in the game (in other words, how fast one completes the levels), rankings on an "Escape scoreboard" can be determined by how many levels each player has solved (seeing as how no one has beaten every level yet, and many of us have varying amounts of levels left to complete).
At any rate, it would be neat if we could all see how we're progressing in the game...at least we wouldn't need to take up space discussing it like we did on pieguy's "revenge 2" page! |
Iamanidiot: ejg, yes I did solve tutorial 21. There are LOTS of levels I have not solved and a couple that are making me want to turn in my IQ at the desk.......
Thank you, ejg, for asking! |
| Kacper: You must play BZFlag. Your callsign is LOFFO. My callsign is help me ahhhhh |
| What about sound effect tiles? 16 selectable built-in sounds would be nice! |
Did you know that the layer viewing key "Y" works during gameplay.
Did you know that the destination viewing key "D" works during gameplay.
Did you know that undo works when you die. |
| Yes, yes, and yes. |
hehh.
landon: I don't think there will ever be user-defined sounds, but I do have sound effects already implemented (!) and awaiting release after a bit more coverage and tuning. What would you do with sound-effect tiles? You mean tiles that trigger sounds when you step on them?
Of course Y and D and undo when you're dead are intentional, especially undo. There's also N, which shows bot numbers. |
| Just wanted to say helloo |
| i havent played escape in a year... is there anything new besides levels? |
This post was the most recent major update to the game. I've added a few little things, but none big enough to do another release (and now I've lost access to all three of the machines I was doing releases from, which is not to say I couldn't do it again, but I'd need to install some stuff, and will). There are lots of new levels, though. I mean, that's sort of the point of the game!
Soon I will be working on a mobile version, after I finish up a blocking project and also catch up on some sleep. |
| Cool! so finally, it wont be beta? |
Uh, well, I think the game is already more polished than most "1.0" games, especially free games. I have some specific things I'd like to do for a 1.0 release, personally, though who knows if they'll ever happen? (Sound, new level browser, browsing comments and documentation in-game, and most importantly a collection of "official" levels presented in some game-appropriate way for players that are just beginning.)
Anyway, does it really matter if the game is marked "beta" or not? =) I actually think it's kind of funny to be perpetually in beta. |
| Next Time Make One That Is Not Blocked In The School County District. |
| Question: If you press the 'i' key during play, you get a request for an md5. What is an md5? |
MD5 is the hashing algorithm used to produce the unique identifiers for each level.The MD5 hashes are 32-character hexadecimal strings like 8640032d0030e7dd5fe7a44997716126. You can find out the MD5 hash for a level by looking at the URL of its image on the level's page on the website. It also shows up in a few other places.
The 'i' key isn't really meant to be used by anyone except me, so it should probably not be so easy to press accidentally. You can feel free to use it, though; nothing will go wrong if you do. |
Tom 7: Thank you...
I think.
The, er, ummm, hashing algorithm eh? Heck, I should have known! |
| That's why I said it shouldn't be so easy to find. ;) |
| Make the underground world as in heroes of a might and magic |
| Tom 7, I think about 18-20% of the levels are in minor leagues, and it is a very great game! |
Some ideas for new tiles if there are any plans to add them:
-"Paint buckets". The way these are concepted is subject to change, but I would depict them as colored footprints on the ground. They would function like ROUGH, but if the player walks over them, the _player_ would become red, green, blue, or uncolored for the purposes of colored panels (the paintbucket square itself should turn to either rough or floor, depending on which you think makes more sense; and how to represent player color is up for consideration but outline and shoe coloring are two main possibilities).
-Diagonal lasers. Graphically and functionally, this should be obvious, apart from a specific mechanical interaction. In a 2x2 grid numbered as follows:
1 2
3 4
with a DLASER on 4, and any sort of obstructions on 2 and 3, should the laser be able to "see" 1? I would say yes just for simplicity.
-If there's no pressing spacial limits on the tileset, a set of 36 tiles as UP/DOWN/LEFT/RIGHT but for the alphanumeric characters would make it easier for levels to have self-contained instructions. |
| Tom 7, see levels 2148 and 2150. I think miles had just stolen ideas from Aprial and John Lewis. Is it possible to take ideas from someone without asking permission? |
| Gary: Typically ideas cannot be copyrighted (only patented). I don't think there are any patented escape ideas. Uploading a level to the escape server indicates permission for others to distribute and modify your levels (it says this in the upload dialog box). This is intentional because the Escape level editing culture encourages people to make modifications of other player's levels (and because the game is distributed under an open source license and I want the levels to be able to come with it). It doesn't encourage reusing ideas without improving on them, or without credit. There's no official rule book though. If you want to rate these levels low on style because you think they're repeats and/or not properly credited, I think that would be well justified. |
Radiant: Diagonal lasers I've of course contemplated before, but I think it is sort of contrary to a pervasive orthogonality in the game's nature. Everything moves only NSEW, never diagonally. (Compare DROD where the player can move diagonally and there are analogs of diagonal lasers there and they are natural.) The alphanumeric tiles too (actually I started implementing a system where the author could include pop-up messages upon certain conditions)... it is very tempting, but two things made me decide against it: The fact that I'd like the game to be as multilingual as possible (even though the menus are not internationalized, I'd like to do that, and it wouldn't be much work. If the levels had user-written text in them, though, we'd be in trouble--especially if it took up a fixed amount of space on account of being made out of letter tiles!). But the bigger thing is that I actually really love that the levels are non-verbal and have to convey information that way. With a simple way to express natural language it would take away one of my favorite bits of author cleverness--being that non-verbal communication--by making it unnecessary.
I like the idea of the paint. There is a missing corner here, you're right, since the player can press down panels but never colored panels. Colored bots might make sense too, but I'm very wary of increasing the number or complexity of bots. The obstacle to implementing this would be that the player is currently stateless (other than his position) and this would require remembering the current color of the player. But I've been thinking about adding some player state to implement some other pickups (to simulate some other Lolo objects like the ladder bridge), and this would fit well with that. I'll add it to the (long) list... |
| Thanks, Tom 7. |
Any news on the iPhone version you talked about last year?
|
Any news on the iPhone version you talked about last year?
|
| I've been working on getting up to speed with iPhone development. Unfortunately I spent my most enthusiastic months just waiting for a development key. It's still the main mobile app I want to make after I get a few jokey apps out of the way. |
Speaking of new tiles, the recent level Bob10 made me think about multi-tile pushables (ideally any size and shape, just moves as one)
If you've played Fish Fillets, you should have some idea of what kind of stuff you can do with this. Of course, it's a bit different with gravity.
As for the implementation, true FF style would be cool but harder to implement properly in this context (flipping a central piece twice should probably break a large block in two individual objects, and then join them again). A more simplistic version would be regular single-tile blocks that stick to each other, but can be freed with bombs or panels.
Anyway, just throwing ideas around :-) |
Yeah, we already have some multi-block action with steel, but nothing you could do tetris with. I don't think it's inherently incompatible with the way Escape is set up, but the interactions with panels would probably lead to some oddities. But probably no more odd than steel. I think the right way for it to work would be like mud and tar work in DROD, which is that adjacent stuff always sticks together (in fact the sticking would just be presentational; the point is when you try to push it the entire connected piece needs to be able to move, period). You could have a couple different colors of stuff that did not stick with each other. But tetris is going to be out anyway because I'm quite confident that rotations would be a total nightmare.
I only played the demo of Fish Fillets but it was superb. It's on my list. |
| nobody noticed the two frame animation in my second level |
| also escape draws 100% cpu @ 1800 MHZ and cooks my leg-use laptop :( |
teleporting non-player/dalek tiles?
have all night 11:31 pm post time |
| numbered blocks/panels for fifteen puzzle-will upload soon-takes time to copy file from other computer- currently on desktop, file on laptop |
| splitting wires? |
somebody download,buy,and register a copy of game maker and make 3d escape!!!
also we need a destination tile: floor with destination that redirects all remotes/teleports/panels destinations |
| also Tom I am working on handheld escape: complete with editor,uploading/downloading,updating,4GB level storage drive,LCD/RCA output,and nice rechargeable battery |
| also need to add to last comment: stereo sound(because base chip supports it-4ch sound!) need to fit escape to 64 KB of memory space |
| sound effect tiles would act like lights |
| we need tile numbering in 1 - 15 tiles seleced like bombs but with duplicates allowed |
| unable to update minor leagues refuses to complete!! |
| currently completing revised fifteen puzzle for uploading |
| I finally found this game again after 8 years. Such nostalgic feeling to play it again. Thanks for the superb game guys. |
| landon: I don't think split-prong wires will do because they introduce the possibility of an infinite loop of wires feeding into each other. If you put some remotes on that, so they get activated an infinite number of times, how can you define what's supposed to happen? |
| radiant: I think split-wires always have one way directions. |
| If I solve a game in less moves(I establish a personal record) the statistic shows the old record. |
| Gaby: That's a known bug. If you want to upload a speed record manually, start playing the level and click on bookmarks (or press b), then use the arrow keys to select that solution and press 'u'. |
| Robert: I can't read because it has other symbols like +, % and numbers. |
| Gary: Copy it to URL bar and search for it because your search engine decodes that format |
| Tom: Add URL data detection. |
| Don't fret guys, it's just ill-formatted web spam. I deleted it as usual. |
| Thank you, Tom. |
| Tom: Why do you delete the comments that Escape is a good game? |
| Why not add an overwrite window? I made a good level in my computer as mylevels\13, and I forgot the level filename, I made another level as mylevels\13, and it deletes the good level and replaced with a new one. In that case there is a "confirm overwrite" window when replacing the level file with a new one. |
Gary: Only the automated spam comments. They show up all the time on this post and others. Real comments I keep and treasure. :)
For the overwrite: I agree, it should prompt you before overwriting data, and even then move the old data to the attic. I added a to-do for this, and sorry for the loss. |
Tom, I think there are a total of 132 levels were automatically moved to minor leagues in 2008, and in 2007, 131 levels were automatically moved, 3 of my levels are automatically moved, and 4 levels were moved to minorleague. That is a total of 138 levels moved to minor leagues in 2007.
A total of 270 levels moved in 2007 and 2008. |
| on split wires: DIODES!! |
what about chain-reaction corners that rotate 90 degrees clockwise and pass a signal out both connctions when recieving a signal?
why not stop the signal from looping back through the splitter |
| look at science musem |
| dos version source code? |
| digital logic gates? |
DOS source is here:
tom7misc.cvs.sourceforge.net/viewvc/tom7misc/escape/
But jeesh, that is some embarrassingly old junk. |
| thanks |
| that "junk" will form the core of a hand-held escape game!!! |
| I still think you should use the newer C++ source... that DOS QBasic stuff won't get you very far and the code is sooo bad. (I also fixed a bunch of bugs in the rules when I rewrote it.) |
writing final code in BASIC!!!!!
did you know you are on filext.com? |
| and one of your "DEAD" files is NOT dead |
| played nes version today |
| which dead file? |
| introduction |
| landon: Chain reaction corners can turn 90 degrees clockwise and counter-clockwise and 180 turns when signal is received. That would be a good idea. |
Gary: have you played?
www.widgetbox.com/widget/reaction-game |
also:
www.widgetbox.com/widget/chain-reaction |
| landon: Yes, I have played this and it is fun. |
| it has a slight glitch |
| Happy New year TOM,I hope last year was a good one and this one to come is as good or better.Ever heard of rocks and diamonds? Its in the Source Forge project page.Maybe when you have downtime you could take a look at it.Escape is Still my favorite puzzle though people have slacked up uploading new games and my levels just lack enough play to stick and avoid would be Escape Masters ridicule! Still love the game. |
Thanks Gil! Happy new year to you too. I haven't played rocks & diamonds before but it looks a lot like Boulderdash, which was one of my favorite Commodore 64 games growing up. It had some influence on the design of Escape for sure...
I have some escape levels in the works but probably won't find time to finish them until 2009! |
Happy 2009 to all of you! And Tom, thanks again and once more for your wonderful game! :-)
MM |
| Thanks mm! =) Happy new year! |
tom: I was reading about blocks that move together and:
www.clickmazes.com/osk34d/ixosk34d.htm |
tom: ANY changes in code should be released immediately!!
that is the idea of BETA!! |
also this is an amazing puzzle site:
clickmazes.com |
| skins could load(the user selects the skin) before the main menu appears. CHANGE USER FROM OPTIONS!! |
I am interested in:
www.clickmazes.com/bbox/ixbbox.htm
seems to be possible. |
landon, you're right but I am swamped with projects to keep up on, and I need to do some boring work to be able to release updates again, since I got a new computer. On the other hand, it has been more than a year since a new version, so that might be worth it.
It is pretty easy to support skins, but I decided against it a while ago because drawing and programming the animations turned out to be much much more work than I naively anticipated. So the idea of doing it all again is not appealing!
(You can of course download the source code and make any changes you want, which is the point of free software!) |
skins would be a tiles.##.jpg/animation.##.jpg pair with ## being a number.
have all open sources.
also what about a bitmap display controlled with a light/remote combination with display sized same as playing field? |
at least 75% of code required for image skins is in source code!!
|
Is this legal? A player uploaded a level and then he rated his own level level by himself. By the way, the author should not rate his own levels.
(I saw the comments and spoilers on the level "game over or no" by thiago, he uploaded it and then he added a cook.) |
| Gary: Rating your own level is okay in my opinion, as long as you're being honest. I rate my own sometimes (especially the ones that are 10 years old and not very good). Players that rate dishonestly (or upload nonsense ratings, which is more common) are a problem, but I plan to deal with that separately. In the meantime it seems that the number of conscientious raters outweigh the poor ones, and that most of the overall level ratings are pretty accurate. |
| When you're zoomed out to any extent, the bot numbers from N disappear. Any chance this could be fixed, and/or create keys (HJKL are all available) to look around the field without moving the player? |
| You can already use ctrl+arrows to scroll, but it won't let you scroll the player off the screen. (That was intentional, but maybe not the best behavior.) It wouldn't be hard to fix that or the bot numbers, no, just gotta get around to it... |
Hi everyone.
Haven't been playing Escape for three years (go figure), but I'm back!
Try my new level Suspense III if you haven't yet.
Peace out.
-Aprial / Narwhal90 |
I've just built escape-200704130 using GCC 4.3.3 on Linux, and spotted that it's missing a few #includes (for things like memcmp); GCC 4.3 is a lot more picky about this than previous releases. Here's a patch:
offog.org/stuff/escape-gcc43.diff
Thanks!
|
| Thanks for the patch! It'll be in CVS soon and in the next release. |
Between "Black and White (v2)" and "Black and White in Color"...
I can't believe it! Gil has made a modification of Tom's level and the style rating became lower! |
An idea for an interface improvement: when show destinations (D) is active, can we get the target of a square that's moused-over to be highlighted in yellow (like it is in the editor)? This would make it easier to discern that from complex levels that are full of overlapping destination lines.
Better yet, if the destination is off screen, have an arrow pointing down the right row or column, or if it's off screen in both dimensions then put a diagonal arrow in the corner. |
| The destination lines are much confusing that the player does not know which panel or transport to the destination, for example, transport A's destination leads on Transport B, Transport B's destination leads to Transport A. But when Transport C's destination leads to Transport B, it confuses the player; he does not know if Transport B's destination leads to Transport A or C. |
| Bug: When I was optimizing (control-m) Max's original solution in Single File (pre-Broken version) (Yes I did solve it smoothly), it says: BUG: optimizer: solution is not valid! |
| Gary: Thanks. I knew this was possible but it is useful to have an example. The optimizer needs a rewrite, anyway. There are some very obvious optimizations that it doesn't do. |
What about a DigiComp I?
|
| I think Dr. Nim would be good. |
| level update not working!!! AGAIN |
| What happens when you try to update? |
well . . .
it could be my computer because EVERYTHING IS GOING HAYWIRE
currently:
setfile(lev844.esx, 97 . . . )
unable to download(in red)
lev844.esx(<< in red ) 97 . . . (<< in grey) (error!)(<< in red)
message:
X Unable to complete update of triage.
ENTER: Next
Then a message:
Level update complete.
ENTER: OK
I also see room for improvement in the messages.
ALSO the My Levels folder is NOT VISIBLE(finished Dr. Nim but unable to solve/upload!!) |
random glitch?
everything but deleted levels disappears! |
escape did not even save dr.nim!!!
clicked save twice when saving!! |
the reason why my computer could have went haywire:
simple:
I hibernate Windows XP at each shutdown because I made a BIG mistake during reinstallation by rebooting during file deletion. Now I have to manually reload video drivers EVERY boot fom scratch!! And SDRAM data s l o w l y decays. |
| revertingto backup installation for further debugging |
| rebooting will be back in 15 minutes |
| remade/optimized Dr. Nim |
| radiant: look at bizzaro world in each version of Dr. Nim |
| Hmm yikes. I'm glad you were able to rescue your level. Is it possible that you're out of disk space? Escape gets a bit confused if there's no room to make files. |
| if it's disk space then I'll move escape to my 250GB maxtor one touch 4 |
| not rescued made from scratch |
| idea: show collection sizes |
Oh :(
You shouldn't edit levels inside the triage directory. Instead save them in mylevels. Escape will never delete or move stuff from there unless you do it manually. Note that escape almost never deletes something, instead, it moves it to the "attic" directory. Your level might still be in there somewhere.
I have no idea if it's disk space (you should check that you have room still), but I do know that things get wacky if it runs out. |
searched for file it is non existent.
tom: YOU MUST play Caveman Games(NES) |
got to go.
may be back wednesday.
|
| got dial-up |
PERFECT idea:
wires(NS EW) that act like colored floors
|
| How do I upload any better solution ? |
| Just go to the bookmarks menu, select the solution, and press 'u'. |
| Thank you. I got it. Sorry, but, where do I find levels sent to "minor leagues" ? |
| Forget it. I got them. Something was wrong in past updates. |
Upload failed: fail bad solution: no such level
I have uploaded two levels before without any problem.
I don't know what is happening. |
| python/pygame port? |
Be my guest...!
We used pygame for our OLPC game jam project. I don't care much for Python, I must say. C++ isn't much better, but at least the programs run fast. |
www.pygame.org/project/498/?release_id=1810
I compare this game to Jumps(all variations(still cannot solve)). |
And truly, I'm just a guy that asks the questions that others wouldn't dare to.
What OS do you use? |
| pygame is only good when it is precompiled. |
| ESCAPE IS A GAME I WANT TO PLAY AS THE WORLD IS BURNING UP..I LIKE IT THAT MUCH...TOM VII. |
| Thanks! :) |
| Is there any way to restore the default (chronological) sort without closing and reopening Escape? |
| Yep, the default sort is ctrl-n. |
| I was watching "around the world for free" on WGN 9 Chicago and noticed a Logo for "Fring" that looks like it is one of yours.It'd be cool if it is because it was in South Africa. |
| Gil: It sure does look like something I'd draw, but I don't think it's mine (unless I don't remember doing it). Actually on the antennae it's pretty clearly the Flash drawing tool, which I never used for fonts. :) |
Ever heard of Conway's Game of Life(and all 1000+ related rule sets)?
|
| Of course! And spent many hours programming up that stuff... |
two
My ^ summer project: life on LEGO NXT.
Life tile with rule table per-level?
code.google.com/p/ruletablerepository/
|
|