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Hi! I'm Bart Bonte, a Belgian independent game designer and bontegames.com is where I blog about new interesting browser and mobile games. My own games are all in the left column (or at the bottom of this page on mobile). More info about me and my games on bartbonte.com.
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August 05, 2020

mac and chi [browser]

The latest puzzlescipt puzzler by Jack Lance is here: Mac and CHI. (Z key to undo a move, R key to restart a level)

38 comments:

Frobisher said...

There are some gold-standard puzzles in this one, not in terms of out and out difficulty, but just the way they build concepts on top of concepts and put you in impossible-feeling situations while trusting you'll have an a-ha moment if you think carefully.

Keeper said...

Can I have a hint on level 21 please? Thank you.

benji said...

surprisingly easy compared to other jack lance games, yes

@Keeper
i'm sure you've figured that if the left one gets to the intersection it's game over, yes? then to finish, you'll need to use the one on the right to push you onto the goal when depowering. from there i was able to figure it out just by thinking of all the places where the left one could stop. we actually only need to press the switch twice to solve the level.

Anonymous said...

@benji:

i only see 2 places to block the left one:
- at it initial position
- at the intersection by blocking the right one.

On both, I can't move without allowing it to move. :(

Frobisher said...

Hint #1
You need to block the left one twice. Once to get control of the crate and once to enable the solution

Hint #2
Where can you block the left one along its path to stop it turning the corner?

Hint #3 (this is where I had been tripped up)
Assuming it takes two things to create a successful blockade, does the order of those things change the outcome?

Solution:
This configuration will produce the outcome you need.
https://i.imgur.com/AmckHu9.png

benji said...

@anonymous there is another :) it might just be temporary blindness, but also if you came across something and discounted it, you should undiscount it

Allison said...

Geeze, I feel dumb. I'm stuck on level 6. I feel like I'm missing something obvious here.

Urban Garlic said...

Thanks all for the discussion on level 21, don't know how others are doing but I got it! Here's an extra hint: In my solution, the second block is not trivial, some things need to be pushed during the switch-over...

Frobisher said...

@Allison
Don't feel dumb, from twitter it looks like that one caught out renowned puzzle-designer Stephen Lavelle as well ;)

Hint #1
What can pushers do that you can't?

Hint #2
Ignoring the pusher, how many blocks can you freely move in this level?

Hint #3
Are you the only object that can trigger a pusher switch?

Anonymous said...

i'm stuck on level 18
i managed to free the right character and the left block, but one character is always stuck in the middle, between the switches
any hints, please?

Anonymous said...

Hint for level 18 : block the right one to free the stuck character.

benji said...

level 18: what are you doing with the left block?

Anonymous said...

@Anonymous

I finally got level 18 with that hint, thanks!

@benji

First let's say BLOCKS are the ones moving automatically, and BOXES are the ones you push.
Before freeing the right character you have to use his switch to free the LEFT BOX with the LEFT BLOCK.

When the right character is out, you can block the RIGHT BLOCK's way somehow, as the previous hint suggested

Anonymous said...

Stuck on level 13! Any hints?

Frobisher said...

For 13:

Hint #1
How can you trap the pusher and still leave the path to the exit clear?

Hint #2
There are a lot of floor switches, how can you combine these with crates to your advantage?

Hint #3
You can ignore one of the crates altogether


Solution (if you get really stuck):
https://streamable.com/r1w4iz

Anonymous said...

I'm stuck on 19 - would appreciate some help as it's driving me mad!!

Frobisher said...

For 19:

Challenge #1
Before you move the robot on to the switch, where can you stand as the human to make sure a crate gets pushed up?

Challenge #2
Is there a way to use the pusher to get that crate up one more square? If so, how can you position the human to make sure it doesn't get trapped? When you figure that out, stow the crate near the second switch

Challenge #3
How can you get the second crate up another square? What's more important at this stage, having another crate you can move around the level, or opening up the path way down into the pusher area?

Challenge #4
There should be one create remaining in its original starting position. How can you use this to block the pusher?

Hint for #4
Do you want to block it coming back or going out? If the latter, how can you position the human while the pusher is out the way to allow you to do this?

Anonymous said...

Thanks Frobisher. I'd already figured out challenges 1 and 2, and what I needed to do for challenge 4. It was #3 that I was missing!!

Anonymous said...

I haven't got a clue where to start with level 20 - any help appreciated.

Anonymous said...

hint#1 level 20 : you will need the 4 crates, don't let one go !

Keeper said...

For 20, if you work backwards you can see how many crates do you need (and where to place them) to keep the way clear. Here is a little extra hint: apart from a crate, what else can you push?

Anonymous said...

Still struggling with 20 - I can't work out what the final position should look like. I thought I had it but it all went horribly wrong. Please help....

Anonymous said...

The power of posting - level 20 solved!! Now onto 21.....

Frobisher said...

Hint #1
This move is critical to arriving at the solution:
https://imgur.com/a/nO1eGrq

Hint #2
It works for barrels as well as players

Hint #3
What happens if you were to gum up that mechanism? How could this help you escape the leftside? (see @Keeper's hint here in particular)

Endstate spoiler
https://imgur.com/a/8QogCK1

Andrew said...

I'm stuck on 11. I know I have to move the stone on the left or I won't be able to move the stone on the right to cover the switch.

Frobisher said...

@Andrew You're really close! I'm sure you've noticed that you can use the switch to reset the position of the left barrel if you pushed it up, which makes for your first exit from the bottom area. Before you do anything to reset its position though, there's a series of moves you can do to execute the strategy you've identified.

Hint #1
How might moving a barrel down help you to move it left?

Hint #2
There are two 1x1 cut outs in the perimeter of the level — could you stow anything in these to give you more room to move?

Anonymous said...

@Frobisher - for 20 this may be a stupid question, but how do you extract a block from the central square without pushing another one to the side or bottom - in other words, how do you get to the situation depicted in your first image?

Anonymous said...

level 20 : both characters need to work together to avoid letting a block being pushed on the bottom.

Hint : what can be pushed apart from blocks ?

Frobisher said...

^^^^
This anonymous knows what's up

I think there's only one starting position that makes sense to avoid sacrificing a block to the wall, and the first phase of the solution is a sort of dance around that position using the strategy above, until you can make sure the vertical pusher doesn't mess with your blocks.

Allison said...

Okay. Hint for 14? I know I need both boxes off the switches, but I can't see how I can do that AND be on the correct side of all the switches. (I hope that makes sense.)

Anonymous said...

Hint for 14 :
a lot of going back and forth between the two sides.
don't forget to use the pusher to push the crate !

benji said...

ha, i got a different setup for 20, shown here...

https://imgur.com/XDVWX43

Frobisher said...

Ooh! Yours is more elegant, I think. It looks a lot easier to set-up, with a bit more of a complication once you've permanently activated the pushers and are trying to reach the exit.

Mine involves a lot of faffing around in the left side of the level, working in very tight spaces, but once you've done it, it's pretty much a straight walk to the exit.

Allison said...

Sometimes these games make me feel really dumb. lol I know what I have to do, but can't figure out how to do it. (And I don't mean I know I have to get to the exit. Ha! More that "I know this needs to go there and that needs to go over there" and it's the process that I just can't quite figure out.

Maybe I should just ask for hints on all the rest of the levels now. Ha!

Currently stuck on 17. Expect me back in a day or two for level 19. The rest are already on here. XD

Lighty said...

Allison, for 17, you only have a limited number of times you can flick the switch before it blocks Mac's exit therefore once you know the sequence, you need to plan ahead which might take a few tries to get it right.

To begin with, both crates need to be stacked vertically at the top of the screen, but you don't need to push the bottom one up yourself, let the machine do the work.

Hopefully that's not too cryptic, and not too obvious either.

Bekah said...

I'm stuck on 11. I'm looking at the hints but I just can't figure it out!

Frobisher said...

@Bekah

In order to escape, you need to get a crate on to the switch. It can't be the leftmost crate because there's no way to move it right of its starting position, and it can't be the rightmost crate because that one can't move left. That means you need to figure out a way to get the middle crate on to the switch. From that, it also must be true that the middle crate can never move higher than its starting position, or else you won't be able to push it down on to the switch.

In order to accmomplish that, you want to get the other two out of the way. The rightmost one is pretty simple to tuck away, but doing the same for the leftmost one will mean thinking about where to put the middle one temporarily so you don't get stuck.

If you're super-stuck, this is what the penultimate move looks like:
https://imgur.com/a/I2E8nOD

a12r13 said...

A walkthrough here : www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6Pv7e37CBo

 

If you are you looking for a solution or a walkthrough for one of the game links, please have a look in the comments.
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