[Aleks]

Hey guys,

I'd like to announce the release of my new episode, The Conundrum. Grab it under the link below:

The Conundrum download from ModDB


This episode is solely based on solving puzzles, which are based on more or less known Build engine quirks - no new code is used for the puzzles. There are 6 levels (and an intro level) and while the visual style/design is similar in every level, each one has puzzles focused on something different. The levels are short, but the puzzles are quite challenging, so may take some time to figure out. Depending on the difficulty setting chosen, you will either be able to view the complete walkthroughs ("Hold My Hand" difficulty), hints ("Give Me a Clue" difficulty) or just the locations you are supposed to aim for within the level ("Too Much Free Time" difficulty). If you are stuck and want to check other levels, all of the maps besides the final one are also available right from the main menu, but the option to try them out disables the progression, so you would just play them as standalone maps.

The episode comes with EDuke32 version r-9597, which is recommended to play it. A lot of the puzzles are very sensitive on the changes.

Here's some more screenshots:





Thanks to my beta-testers who helped me a lot with balancing the puzzles in each of the levels!

Enjoy it! Comments and feedback is welcome as always!

[Gambini]

Looks Nice!

[Merlijn]

Congrats on the release! I was one of the beta testers and IMO this is a very cohesive package with some really original and challenging puzzles that requires some out of the box thinking.
Well recommended! I'll play the final version soon

[DNSKILL5]

I haven't completed each level yet, but I enjoy this very much. I like the use of puzzles and the use of DN2 music is quite fitting. I think anyone looking for something quite different from the usual should check this out! Great work, Aleks!

[ck3D]

Congrats on release and happy belated!

Radar's video, always on point when it comes to mouse control. I'll show myself out...

[Aleks]

Thanks, guys!

And thanks for sending me that video from Radar, ck3D, watched it yesterday and it's quite interesting. He didn't seem to struggle more than I would expect with any puzzles, it's also funny how his way of playing makes some of the puzzles quite more complicated (the shrinker puzzle in 1st map for example), while he breaks one of the other puzzles in a way I wouldn't think is possible (but not something I'd intend to fix, if anything I kind of appreciate him finding another way of passing this one). Also he tackles the boss fight very well, I especially like how he's dodging the Overlord missiles right at the last moment.

[Mister Sinister]

Played the episode. Picked "Too Much Free Time" difficulty, took me around 50 minutes. Enjoyed it quite a lot, but don't worry, I did find something to bitch about.
Let's talk build porn first, because from the technical point of view this is absolutely brilliant. Visually the episode is very stylish, the subdued beige/grey palette combined with minimalistic yet very diverse and well-tuned texturing works wonders for the map. Architecture is great (as expected), trimming is top of the line and the doors, man, the doors are great! Kinda reminds me of Lezing's "Last Pissed Time", this one had some crazy ass doors too IIRC. Really nothing to complain about here, this is basically premium design. Well done, dude.

Some of the puzzles legit made my head spin a bit, and some of the mechanics you've managed to find are legit new (mainly talking about the freezer puzzles).
Most of the puzzles here are some of the finest build porn one way or another, use of gate logic is beautiful. Also all of it works almost without a hiccup (more on that in a bit), which must've been a bitch to set up with all those complex mechanics at play. Great work here too.

From the gameplay perspective the episode is designed really well. I appreciate how short and to the point the puzzles are, the solutions were clear (I didn't get stuck once, at least not because I didn't know what to do), and I like the idea from VR Duke with those "restart" high voltage areas in case you royally fuck up. The addition of dymamic difficulty settings is also really awesome, I wish more people would use this feature. Layouts and architecture are also very well accommodated to the puzzles, nothing gets in the way, nothing distracts from the puzzles. The hints (which I checked out after beating the episode) were cool and easily readable.
Just really good design overall.

Now, about the actual puzzles. There were some I loved, some were of a "great, but" variation, and some I didn't enjoy. Spoilers from here on:
GREAT:

Spoiler

The freezer stealth puzzles are so fucking cool I wish you did more of them. This is such an ingenious find on your side, I couldn't even think this is something that's coded in the game. Although the last puzzle with the crane didn't work correctly, I thinks. The crane picks you up and then drops you in the lava. I couldn't make it work properly, though I knew this was the way to continue. I saw the same thing happen in Radars video. Am I doing something wrong?
I also broke the train puzzle. At first I thought I had to freeze enemies while on the train, but that didn't work, so I froze the lizard troopers and killed them.

The rocket puzzle was really cool. Loved it, though it did take like 10 minutes for me to get it right. Probably seeing the insides of the labyrinth better would help a bunch, but still the puzzle was really cool.

The first rotating sector puzzle was sweet. Also, most of the babes puzzles were also pretty cool (I really like the rocket one and the slimer one). Short and simple, yes, but cool nonetheless, except..

The trooper switch puzzles is absolutely genius. How did you even came up with this? And yet..

GREAT, BUT:

Spoiler

The first map was good, but a little clunky in the execution. I'm not sure about relying heavily on the cranes since you can drop from the crane only once, but the restart button, I think, was a good choice. Clunky is something I would apply to the entire first level in general, because the cranes are clunky, platforming is a little awkward and dodging mines underwater is weird (you have to hit the top of the ceilling to do that, felt kinda off).

Middle section of the babe level felt off. Firstly because I screwed myself over and blew up a few rockets in my face in the first room which left me with 4 HP. Considering I had to take falling damage I just restarted the level, but the overall crampedness of that particular section also didn't work for me, but it flies by so fast it didn't matter. I'm also not sure about the last room since I couldn't tell if shrinking the enemies was the way or not.

The rotating platform puzzle was cool, though the sheer velocity of trains forced me to approach the switches very carefully. I slipped once or twice there.

The pillar puzzle was just a time waster. I kinda solved that randomly, though moving platforms are always cool.

The infighting boss battle was cool, though a little tedious for my taste. Though this is the first time I saw something like that, kudos on that!

DIDN'T ENJOY:

Spoiler

All of the puzzles I didn't enjoy solving are the ones where applying the solution requiers relying on inconsistent factors. That factor is enemy AI.

The trooper switch puzzle was really, really genius, but was a total bitch to play on 3rd skill because of the lacks of walls between targets and how uncontrollable the troopers are there. They start shooting all the targets and once they hit a couple of them (which happens basically immediately) it's almost impossible to restore order no matter what I tried, and you can't sneak past them.
The only way I could get past it is I had to shrink all but one Liztrooper and make him shoot the targets I need. The mastery of BUILD behind this puzzle is untouchable, it blows my mind, but yeah, didn't like it, at least on "Too Much Free Time"

The mouse puzzle. That fucking mouse. It simply didn't go where I needed her to go. I think there's at leat some kind of behaviour programmed, as it sometimes approaches the player and sometimes it moves away from the player, but you have no control over that. Which made this puzzle kinda annoying, I spent like 5 minutes trying to make the fucking mouse to move through the goddman door.

The battlelord puzzle also got me stumped a bit. I actually like the idea (as with the mouse), but Battlelord attacks are inconsistent. I thought of using a similar idea for my map, but I had to reject it on the grounds of the motherfucker being unreliable. He just didn't feel like shooting grenades. He just spent like 2 minutes standing there in the doorwat either doing nothing or trying to riddle me with bullets.

All of these are of course brilliant on a conceptual level. It's just that applying solution is inconsistent.

That concludes my experience. As always, great work, keep it up! There's still room for improvement in terms of gameplay, but the episode overall is just excellent on many levels.

Lack of responses here is absolutely criminal. What the hell? Get over Randy, DNF or whatever. Play the maps. Support the game.

[Aleks]

Thanks for the comments, man, I really appreciate the review you wrote here Must admit I was especially curious about how you would find the experience here (now also looking forward to High Treason playing it).

Just a few more specific responses, which I will keep in the spoiler tags altogether:

Spoiler

1st map: the idea was to immerse the player into the world with a lot going on at first, also I admit I didn't know the cranes can be kicked only once until designing pretty much the whole area there (I think I even asked you on Discord about it back then), the original idea was more like a tabletop game here. As for the tripmines underwater, well, this just had to be some extra length padding, the underwater part had to be long enough for Duke not to be able to pass it just holding his breath

2nd map: glad you enjoyed the freezer stealth stuff, however the idea came from Glitches in the System or some other map by these guys. I didn't play it or even watch the video, but MRCK once told me about they using this technique. However, as it is now, the freezing doesn't work with conveyor belt, so has to be either 2-way train or crane to move the player. As for the troopers in the tunnel there, I've noticed Radar kind broke this by freezing them, was something I didn't think about myself, but seems like a legit alternative solution for the puzzle. It's probably still easier to just bounce the freezer projectile of the wall and ride the train frozen. And about the crane, it drops Duke to the lava if he is still frozen upon releasing it seems, the idea is to time the crane and freezing so that Duke manages to thaw before being dropped. Also there's a weird bug, after riding the crane frozen (and surviving), each next time Duke freezes, he will instantly shatter - so the crane had to be at the very end of the map.

3rd map: My best solution for the moving platforms was by stepping on 6 of them, Radar managed to do with just 4, which is pretty cool. The trooper puzzles are much easier on the lower skills, Radar just glided through that without any problems. I still really wanted to keep the original idea without the walls between troopers on the most difficult skills, despite the testers hating it Glad you do appreciate this puzzle though, it was one of the 1st I've made for the mod and are still one of the most satisfying in my opinion. Personally, I usually keep shrinking the troopers all the time and giving them just a slight moment to shoot the target in front of them when needed.

4th map: I'm also not too happy about the middle part of it with the commanders, it's also the one I find the most random myself and it's because of their erratic AI indeed. The testers somehow didn't complain much about it, I still kept polishing it with health items and such. And yeah, you are supposed to just shrink and stomp the commanders at the end

5th map: The flying cars have 1/2 speed on lower skills, on the 3rd skill this gets much more difficult indeed. The idea was to have a bit of a breather right before the boss, but then had to add some extra challenge on 3rd skill. Also it seems with faster cars, it's more difficult to dodge the missiles.

6th map: Glad you enjoyed the rocket maze puzzle - you are probably the first person who liked it so far hahaha (although I find this part of Radar's video also particularly interesting seeing how he figured this one out). I spent a lot of time to make "aiming" the rocket as easy as possible, since the rocket aims at Duke, it will sometimes stray from the path - but it's still not perfect, despite trying lots of stuff to make it smoother. The battlelord sometimes gets stuck charging at the door for some reason, but his chaingun/mortar patterns seem quite consistent when he's not stuck, also it depends on player's distance from him. The idea here came from ToiletDuck64's screen of "Duke Bingo" with a weird overcomplex puzzle like that made as one of the jokes. With mouse, the code is just few lines and its behaviour is apparently completely random. However, after testing the puzzle myself 97259120 times over, it seems the key is patience really - sometimes the mouse will respond to pushing and can be helped, other times it will just get more "stubborn" when you push it and keep heading in the wrong direction. But yeah I don't expect people to try that out themselves On the easiest skill, you really just need to access the control room, after hitting the switch there, if you don't get mouse to blow the tripmines in 5 minutes, a trooper will appear and just fix the puzzle for you. Also, seems Maarten was the only person who actually enjoyed this puzzle, even in its first, more difficult iteration About the bosses, well, had to come up with something new after what Merlijn served us with Shaky Grounds finale... The overlord's hitpoints was dropped to 2/3 to make it a bit less tedious here. I really dig how Radar handled that, super risky approach, but faster than I ever did I think.

[quakis]

My experience for the most part mirror's Mister Sinister's thoughts above.

Spoiler

I do enjoy a good puzzle experience and this being a welcome addition. Levels like Health, Naked Dash and Last Pissed Time are always nice detours from your typical Duke3D romp. Conundrum does presents some great ideas, but I also prefer some degree of consistency from every element during a puzzle. Duke's enemy ai doesn't offer that and did sour the enjoyment, which has been touched on already but might as well re-iterate. Both Length Padding and Nobody Kills Our Chicks were cool ideas marred by this inconsistent enemy behaviour. It felt more trial and error than needed for me sadly. As already mentioned, that Trooper switch puzzle is a great concept but was honestly a misery to execute...

Played on Too Much Free Time. Figuring out what each puzzle expected from me during most levels wasn't too difficult, there's enough environment hints along side a little trial-and-error. Executing those solutions is where things got tricky but I think I broke a few chambers though.

Ladders and Snakes: Figuring out the route was actually fun (despite the cranes acting up at times) and loved the timed aspect. Getting hold of a pistol and knowing what I had to shoot before being carted off again added a nice sense of panic. But a pistol? You're too cruel. I think half my shots went wide. Worth noting it's possible to skip a huge portion of the next shrink-ray platforming segment with a few strafe jumps.

Freeze is my favourite level hands down, the concept and execution were great. Enemies rarely became an issue. I too killed the troopers at the tram section before realising the ai quirk with freezing oneself was a possible solution. When I saw that timer ticking down while at the battlelord door and an earlier preview what might be lurking behind it, my thought process leaned on "no way, is that actually possible?" and yes, it was. Good stuff.

Honestly though, I don't think you need to "fix" the tram puzzle. Having two solutions is fine since the next chamber already forces you to understand the gimmick. That and creeping close enough to kick the frozen enemy without tripping the mines is a risk/reward in itself. I vote keep this chamber intact if you plan any future updates.

[ck3D]

Mister Sinister, on 28 January 2022 - 04:51 PM, said:

GREAT:

The mouse puzzle. That lovely mouse - quite literally so because really, what great social commentary using nothing but Duke 3D's stock assets - like most relationships, it simply didn't go where I needed it to go. I think there's at least some kind of behavior programmed, as it sometimes approaches the player and sometimes moves away from the player, but you have no control over that. I spent like 5 weeks trying to convince the fucking mouse to come over for Netflix and chill.

Lack of responses here is absolutely criminal. What the hell? Get over Randy, DNF or whatever. Play the maps. Support the game.

💯

[Aleks]

Thanks for the comments, Quakis! Yeah, I don't think I will release any updated version of this one, it was mostly a "quick" project and I actually really enjoy how different are people's reactions. I also don't mind that some puzzles can be solved differently, since it's nothing that breaks them and the alternate solution seems not to really be easier than the "intended" one.

Spoiler

I knew about the possible skips with the shrinker platforming in the first map, but in my experience it's still easier to just ran through it at a consistent pace than jumping and risking being shrunk. Same with freezing the troopers, although I didn't know it's possible before the release, it doesn't seem to be easier than just taking a ride. I was initially also going to leave a shortcut in "Nobody Kills Our Chicks" where the octabrain is, but it was too inconsistent and based more on the random AI element.

BTW, Quakis, would love to see more reviews from you on Abandoned Workshop!

@MRCK: LMAO Did the mouse agree though?

[ck3D]

The joke was on the mouse as I don't do Netflix, nor do I do chill. It was all whirlwind, heat and flash. In a week we resorted to DNKROZ, DNCLIP and hit the road.

[Aleks]

Mikko's review is up - got 9/10, which is very nice!
https://msdn.duke4.n...evconundrum.php

[Merlijn]

Congrats, that's a nice score! And well deserved, seeing how creative and well put together this is. I'll try to find some time to play the final version this month

The comments on the mouse puzzle are hilarious to me, as I screamed 'THAT DAMN MOUSE' many times in my first beta report.
Believe when I say that puzzle used to be much much harder. So if you find it frustrating now, try to imagine what the beta testers had to go through!

[Aleks]

Merlijn, on 07 February 2022 - 08:28 AM, said:

Believe when I say that puzzle used to be much much harder. So if you find it frustrating now, try to imagine what the beta testers had to go through!

Spoiler

Still doesn't beat poor JAC/jkas789 grinding the red key puzzle during his Submachine beta-testing for like 4-5 hours to get it flawlessly done without save-scumming, only to realise the next day I've already decided to make it much easier

[Ninety-Six]

Merlijn, on 07 February 2022 - 08:28 AM, said:

So if you find it frustrating now, try to imagine what the beta testers had to go through!

It still gives me nightmares.

Aleks, on 07 February 2022 - 01:03 PM, said:

Spoiler

Still doesn't beat poor JAC/jkas789 grinding the red key puzzle during his Submachine beta-testing for like 4-5 hours to get it flawlessly done without save-scumming, only to realise the next day I've already decided to make it much easier

Spoiler

Ouch. I've been there, jkas. I feel your pain.

[Sangman]

Got around to playing it (as you know, you watched me do it!)

Great stuff and the only criticism I have is what was already mentioned, that some puzzle solutions rely on random AI actions. I learned about some Duke quirks as well that I didn't know were a thing, like the freezer stuff.

Out of the bunch I liked the first level the least as it's not entirely obvious (except in hindsight) when you're softlocked and need to reload/kill yourself.
Favourite level was probably Freeze though I also got the bug (?) where that one crane would just drop me in the lava. Don't know how I survived. Plot Twist was great as well cause there was no reliance on random elements in that one. Friend or Foe is a close second favourite if not for the Battlelord refusing to fire a mortar for the longest time

Wouldn't mind more of this

[Aleks]

Sangman, on 13 February 2022 - 04:20 PM, said:

Got around to playing it (as you know, you watched me do it!)

Great stuff and the only criticism I have is what was already mentioned, that some puzzle solutions rely on random AI actions. I learned about some Duke quirks as well that I didn't know were a thing, like the freezer stuff.

Out of the bunch I liked the first level the least as it's not entirely obvious (except in hindsight) when you're softlocked and need to reload/kill yourself.
Favourite level was probably Freeze though I also got the bug (?) where that one crane would just drop me in the lava. Don't know how I survived. Plot Twist was great as well cause there was no reliance on random elements in that one. Friend or Foe is a close second favourite if not for the Battlelord refusing to fire a mortar for the longest time

Wouldn't mind more of this

Yeah was cool to watch it, thanks for the stream, although I have to admit I kinda feared you would get too annoyed and rage-quit after like 25 minutes with the cranes It might have been too soon to throw that at the player as a first thing, but I wanted to start with something that will already set the mood for the whole thing and probably worked, because then you didn't have much problems with other puzzles.

Spoiler

Also you kinda started it on the wrong foot thinking that you shouldn't kick the cranes for a while, or kicking them at the wrong parts and seeing it doesn't do anything. It isn't helping that besides being quirky in itself, you also have to aim at a very specific part of the crane with your kicks.

Freeze! seems to be a fan favourite so far. Getting shattered at the crane part wasn't a bug, it just needs really tight timing. Also you seemed to fare really well with all the most "AI random" puzzles like the mouse or troopers shooting targets (much better than I'd expect of someone trying these for the first time at least). With Battlelord it was my error that the elevator wasn't more clearly marked I think, but it never occurred to me before seeing you play this.

You can try Length Padding and Plot Twist on the 3rd difficulty setting, as they have the most significant changes (no panels between the troopers and the hovering platforms moving at twice the speed, respectively). I'm personally kinda full of making puzzle maps for a bit, but I do have some ideas on implementing different puzzles in further maps, just not so "engaging". Wouldn't mind someone making a The Conundrum user level tho, maybe you can suggest that to your AMC Squad minions The feedback and reactions from people watching yesterday were also very nice.