Comment by stevage
2 years ago
Currently stuck on level 10.
Btw it's a bit odd that there are no instructions anywhere on the site? I keep wondering if there's a rule I'm missing or something.
You have these rules in the blog post, but I find the language quite messy and imprecise:
> You are playing White, there is no opponent. You must capture all pieces to win.
> You become the "echo" of any piece you capture. Captured a bishop? Become that bishop.
> You can’t pass through red obstacles. Find the best move order to clear the board.
For starters, "you" is used to describe both the player and the piece. And the last rule contains two different statements, the second of which is redundant from the first rule. It also doesn't mention that there can be more than one white piece, or that white pieces can capture other white pieces.
Maybe something like:
1. The goal is to capture all the black pieces, which never move.
2. Move one white piece each turn, using the basic rules of chess piece movement. You can't move through red obstacles. Pawns don't promote.
3. When you capture a black piece, your white piece turns into the type of piece you just captured.
> I'm playing solo I tend to prefer Turn-Based Strategy games like HOMM, King's Bounty, Civ, Eador, AOW, etc. a little more than RTS games like SC2, Warcraft, AOE, BfME, DOTA, League, and so on. In multiplayer, RTS can be a lot of fun
For some reason, I'm the opposite - I hate RTS against humans.
Nice. That's a good way to rephrase the rules. Only thing to note is this part:
> When you capture a black piece, your white piece turns into the type of piece you just captured.
The echoing mechanism actually applies to any captured piece. You'll see this mechanic in action starting 12+. By "you'll see", I mean the game progression and level design will purposefully force you into following a path which illustrates the new mechanic that needs to be learned. The lack of explicit text instructions, tutorials or handholding in is a feature of echo chess, not a bug. See the 'difficulty curves' section of the post.
> Currently stuck on level 10.
Yes, this is one of those levels that feel incredibly frustrating until it just 'clicks'. In my playtesting experiments, users either smile/laugh audibly when they finally get the solution to level 10, or they let out a big sigh of relief. Let us know how it goes :)
>he lack of explicit text instructions...is a feature of echo chess, not a bug.
Personally, I don't care for it. To me the essence of a puzzle is a clear goal, and a clear set of constraints, within which you try to find a solution. If there are unspecified means available, it's something different, like a "a puzzle with a trick to it". Like one of those lateral thinking problems where it turns out you're meant to fold the paper or something, because they never said you couldn't.
It's easier to enjoy and get deeply into a puzzle when you know for sure it's solvable with the information you have.
>Yes, this is one of those levels that feel incredibly frustrating until it just 'clicks'. In my playtesting experiments, users either smile/laugh audibly when they finally get the solution to level 10, or they let out a big sigh of relief. Let us know how it goes :)
I got it just after posting. I had just missed one of the possible pathways for a knight to get to a certain square. Was going through the process of proving that the puzzle was impossible - often a good way to solve. :)
> I got it just after posting. I had just missed one of the possible pathways for a knight to get to a certain square. Was going through the process of proving that the puzzle was impossible
Nice :) That's the way to do it. I think you'll really like 11+.
2 replies →