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Topics - Karl Voskuil

#1
News / Gargoyles 1.0.1 released
February 11, 2024, 11:48:31 AM
Gargoyles version 1.0.1 has been released.  You can get it on the App Store here.

I started work on it in February 2015, so it's been nine years!
#2
News / Registration Problems
July 29, 2016, 09:20:01 AM
Sorry, there seems to be a problem with the database preventing new registration.  I'm working on it, and I'll let you know when it's fixed.
#3
Gameplay / NOT: 5 gates 1 join
March 02, 2015, 08:44:51 PM
Beat that!

#4
Gameplay / Should I add a Full Adder level?
February 24, 2015, 09:12:35 AM
So Wild man half adder got me thinking.

When you did the half adder, did you build a track from scratch?  Or did you just put down an AND and an XOR from the gates submenu, and then hook them up?

Because if you built it from scratch, like in "Wild man half adder", then maybe there really is one more less to be learned: the lesson of how to compose gates together in a scalable way.  And a full adder might really bring that point home, because otherwise the number of path permutations would be annoyingly large.

Right now, a complete full adder gate unlocks in Sandbox mode once you've completed the half adder level.  So feel free to look at it there to see what I mean.
#5
Gameplay / Wait, what? I don't get it. *MINOR SPOILERS*
February 13, 2015, 10:45:16 AM
The game doesn't offer a very good introduction to what's going on, or what you are trying to do.

Here I'll show a complete solution to the first level, and annotate each part of it.



1) The green platform here is the official starting point of the track.

2) Upon pulling out of the station, Flippy immediately encounters a forked track segment. The switch is turned to the curved side, so Flippy curves to the right.

3) The switch is linked to the input labeled "A". When two switches are linked, their switches flip together.  It's a little hard to see, but behind the big A the input switch is switched the same direction as the forked track segment.  Let's call that switch position 0, by convention.  Straight is 1, because 1s are straight lines. Curved or angled is 0, because 0s are curved.

4) So now we get to the point. The goal of the level is to build a track so that if A starts out 0 then Flippy will set X to 1, and if A starts out 1 then Flippy will set X to 0.  Currently A is 0, and Flippy went off to the right.

5) When Flippy arrives at (5), it will be coming straight into the track join.  Coming in like that flips the switch to be straight: value 1. Well, great!  That's what we wanted. A was 0, and that made Flippy flip X to 1.

6) But will it work the other way, too? If A is 1, Flippy will go straight, taking the path at (6). In that case, it enters the track join at (5) from the curved direction, which will set the switch accordingly: value 0.

7) When you think your track handles all possible inputs, tap the goals button. The position of Flippy and the value of the inputs don't matter at this point, because the game will simulate all the possible inputs. For each input, it will start Flippy at the starting platform, and see if the outputs are set correctly once Flippy gets to the end of the track.

8) By the way, the links are visible because linking mode is on.  When linking mode is off, the links are still there, but they are hidden.

I'm not totally sure this explanation will help everyone.  If you figure something out that helps you, please mention it below!  Your insights will probably help others better than mine can.
#6
News / Flippy the Train 1.0 released
February 11, 2015, 10:24:51 PM
Flippy the Train version 1.0 has been released.

You can get the app on the App Store here.

You can view the source code here.

Thanks to the beta testers!