the next stormy sea is ahead, but no problem - Κ has learned all his stuff in "just one! 8"! just crush the Ζ and push the Β into the storm to grab some of the falling ΑΑΑ!

alright, let's go!

ngh... nghhhhh... nnnngggggggghhhhhhhhhh...

what's that? hasn't Κ eaten enough froot loops this morning?! or why does the rock feel so heavy today?!

that's unfortunate.

unless humanity quickly - like, in the next 150 seconds - discovers a way to influence weather and absorb hailstones, Κ will be stranded forever on his small island, and even worse, he'll have to watch the treasures falling from the sky without ever being able to grab any of them...

advanced hint (like, it's only helpful if Κ has already made some progress): no hidden exits!

Interesting cave! don't remember many caves where you really have to utilize this specific method to blast through the walls

that one demands an unconventional ΔΔΔ-blasting method, with 3-fold repetition to see if Κ really gets it!

i like the shape :d looks like a rocket where the fuel fills up automatically... :d

several ways to solve this one, but i prefer the timed throw after watching carefully!

this one's got an interesting mechanism and a bd4-k-like finish!

perfectly executed!

i'm not surprised, darkstoorm :d

I like the shorter solution :D

i need a new keyboard. and younger reflexes.

neat design, and two different solutions! :d

another typical profi boulder style mini puzzle :d

darkstoorm, hmm, it's a bit hard to figure if you are on the right track or not. as dustin suggested, let's wait for his other variants of this cave before i reveal my solution. he might have something similar in mind..

nesdori: vertically, hehe

darkstoorm, if you by line-up mean a result of some specifically timed push then no, it's not a matter of a good line up :)

I think we know what the solution is, it's just a matter of a good line up, at least that's what I assume :D

nesdori: hee hee, i got an idea what you might've done, and it'd be great if you kept your run hidden until the solutions of "just one! 8a" are revealed... ;)

whoa!

i hope i didn't spoil any future ideas with my solution. i already didn't obey dustin's bonus clue ;)

ha ha, have fun guys! :d

but beware - i've got new ideas for three more versions of this :d

here's a nice little bit of cleverness. the solution is a little unorthodox, but who said this was easy?

solutions are free, but the next stormy sea is already ahead...

that means i got a few more ideas in the meantime, so Κ better be prepared for "just one! 8a", "8b" and "8c"... :d

not this time, but i just posted cave 237 if anyone wants to flex their bonus diamond scores!

heywood, Did you get a bonus? :)

kicking myself: confirmed

heywood, try to push boulder into the storm (of diamonds) :)

i am still stumped even with the clues.

As far as I can tell the only options are that either the boulder or the firefly has to go in first, and it can be solved in 12 seconds. but at no point am i able to generate a static diamond that is reachable... hmmm!

I still don't enough think boulderdash.
without dustin's tips i wasn't able to solve

crazy thing

okay i *was* in the same boat :)

i'm in the same boat as darkwood, i cannot see a solution after many, many attempts! I'm sure i'll be kicking myself when the demos are revealed.

darkwood. first of all, thanks 4 playing :)
| indeed, destroying Ι, ΙΙ or ΙΙΙ doesn't help here (that's a troll) ;d
| destroying the Ζ as you described is a good idea!
| also, it's true that you wanna push the Β into the storm.
| bonus clue: you don't want to collect the Α on the left island!

(hee hee)

I have no idea how to resolve this cave, trying to destroy 1-2-3 pieces of slime but pattern is not reliable to passage, trying to release firefly and pushing boulder to diamond room, but this not working.

didn't wanna make it too obvious. and, after all, this is a troll series! :d :p

If only there was more score for bonus ΑΑΑ :D :D :D

uh... another stormy sea...

fortunately, Κ has learned in "slime math 1" that destroying slimes changes patterns, so of course he'll easily find a way to get across this sea as well!

there're so many alternatives: destroying 1, 2 or 3 slimes, and he can also choose which one(s)! something will surely work!

...

...

it has to, because there's absolutely no alternative plan!

*cough cough*

---------------------------------------------------------------------

(heywood, darkwood: the solution of this cave is the unintended solution of the original version of the slime math cave!)

this one is a classic, to show how regular slime patterns can also occur in bd2-e-ish caves!

in this one, the slime formula...

f * s = 949 - d

... works as follows:
| total slime count s = 2*43 = 86
| frame distance f = 11
| slime distance d = 3

so the pattern is "3 right, 11 frames (about 2 seconds)".

i think the pattern becomes obvious as soon as Κ starts the cave! :d

required ΑΑΑ: 120 of 186

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

by the way, the best and clearest implementation for a normal-sized cave is to have 5 layers of slime. then we have:
| s = 5*38=190
| f=5
| D=-1
giving a "one left, 5 up" pattern.
this can be seen in altermaven's old cave "peridot-b"!

that was a fun trilogy :d

excellent idea to revive that topic Arno :d

i just re-read it and also read your new comments on the caves - very good and to the point imo!

there's surely gonna be more stuff to discuss there soon ;)

great work and very fascinating! :-D

now that this series of caves has started, I have also refreshed the forum thread mentioned below with an overview of previous "slime pattern" caves, each with a description how they work.
(Hope I haven't forgotten any.)
see:
https://www.boulder-dash.nl/forum/viewtopic.php?t=661

mind blown

alright guys, so here's the explanation how this works :d

darkwood:
Α yes, your solutions are intended!
Α the unintended solution went completely different, the new voodoos prevent that one.
Α indeed, the explanations you read in the forum are similar but not quite the same :d this cave is not about impermeability, but it's another effect, although the math behind it is similar!

heywood: i think it's a good opportunity to make another episode of "just one!" series, so i don't wanna spoil it yet :d

explanation: the slime formula
------------------------------
the slime formula goes as follows:

f * s = 949 - d

f = frame difference
s = total slime count in the cave
949 = periodic length of the rng of the bd engine
d = distance between two slimes (not geometrically, it only counts how many other slimes are in-between.)

the formula works as follows:
"whenever a specific piece of Ι is (in)active in a specific frame, then the d-th next Ι will also be (in)active in the f-th next frame."

why does this formula work:
--------------------------
Β the rng has a period of 949, so after 949 scans, the rng repeats the same input sequence.

Β whenever a slime is scanned, the rng generates a new input, deciding if the slime is active in this frame or not.

Β this happens regardless whether the slime actually has something to swallow! (if it hasn't, the input is irrelevant, but it's still generated!)

| so every 949th slime in the scanner - frame by frame - gets the same input.

| example s=315, f=3, d=4: we have 315 slimes in a cave. in frame 1, slime 1 gets input 1, slime 2 gets input 2, and so on..., slime 315 gets input 315. in frame 2, slime 1 gets input 316, slime 2 gets input 317... in frame 3, slime 1 gets input 631... in frame 4, slime 1 gets input 946, slime 4 gets input 949, and then slime 5 gets input 1 again.
so we have frame 1, slime 1 = same input as frame 4, slime 5! (3 frames later, the 4th next slime)

how does the formula work in this cave:
--------------------------------------

| at the beginning, there are 478 slimes in the cave, so s=478.
| the formula works with f=2, d=-7.
| that means the falling ΒΒΒ have a "7 left, 2 up" pattern at the beginning (which is not so clearly visible and also not helpful for Κ to make it through the hails).

| in the solution, 3 slimes are destroyed at the right side. this changes s to s=475.
| now the formula works with f=2 and d=-1.
| that gives a ΒΒΒ pattern of "1 left, 2 up", which is clearly visible and which Κ can pass through to get to the left side!

| on the left island, Κ destroys exactly one more Ι, so now s=474.
| the formula now works with f=2, d=+1.
| so the pattern changes to "1 right, 2 up", allowing Κ to return to the starting area! :d

why don't such clear patterns occur in normal, classic slime caves:
------------------------------------------------------------------

| of course, the formula always works for a given slime count s with some values for f and d, so slime patterns do, technically, occur in every slime cave!

| however, for the patterns to be that evident as in this cave, f and d need to be relatively small numbers.

| that means the formula can only work if s is unnaturally high, higher than in any normal cave.

example: boulder dash 2 cave e
------------------------------

| total slime count: s=4*19=76

| the smallest possible values for f and d to make the formula work are: f=12, d=37.

| these values are much too high to produce any visible pattern!

special case: impermeability (n o t in this cave, but in general):
-----------------------------------------------------------------

| the whole "slime impermeability" thing is also included in the formula, namely for d=0, so f*s=949.

| the formula now says: "whenever a specific slime is (in)active in a specific frame, the same slime will also be (in)active f frames later."

| in other words, the pattern of each specific slime repeats after f frames.

| as the prima factorisation of 949 is 13*73, there are only a few possibilities to make the formula work:

| case 1: f=949, s=1 (boring case)
if there's only one Ι in the cave, its pattern will repeat after 949 frames. with normal cave speed, this is more than ten minutes, so it'll never be noticed!

| case 2: f=73, S=13 (impermeability with 13 slimes)
Α with 13 slimes in the cave, there have to be 73 "inactive" rng inputs in a row to make a slime impermeable. this is relatively unlikely to happen, so impermeability with 13 slimes only occurs with permeability 4 or higher.

| case 3: F=13, S=73
with 73 slimes in the cave, there are only 13 independant rng inputs for each slime, so impermeability becomes more likely. consequently, impermeability with 73 slimes occurs already with permeability 3 or higher.

| case 4: f=1, s=949
the ultimate extreme case - with 949 slimes in a cave, every slime gets always the same input from the rng, so each slime is either impermeable or 100 percent permeable! :d

heywood, yeah, I accidentally released a firefly and it destroyed part of the m-wall, but there are still too many boulders to get through.

did the unintended solution involve using the fireflies to destroy the wall and then running through the gap for the return journey? i tried that a few times but never managed it!

dustin, seems to be solvable even after the fix
I hope my solution was intended

reading explanation,
https://boulderdash.nl/forum/viewtopic.php?t=661
but every time the conversation about slime permeability comes up, it's always not as clear as the first time :)

Hahaha, I destroyed one slime (and two later) in the right box and after a while, like 60 seconds, I noticed boulder shapes that made big "3":s, then "2":s :D

Sometimes there are funny patterns like diamond shapes in a grid, ovals or straight lines of boulders :D

heywood, darkwood: i'm very sorry for updating this cave and thereby deleting your solutions! but, i found a completely unintended solution which is now fixed. and this is one of the caves where i don't want unintended solutions!

assuming your solutions were as intended, they shouldn't be too hard to reproduce!

thank you 4 playing :)

hee hee, explanations will follow :d

wow, i have no idea how or why that works. :D

Κ must cross the stormy sea to get from his home island to the one with the treasure - but how is he supposed to make it through the hail? if only he could influence the wind's direction, he might just be able to slip underneath the falling stones...

Hehe, in 4 years history will repeat itself :D

thanx Arno, me too how it will play out :d

Very nice plans for the new year, i,m curious! :-D

whoops, i thought i had calculated that 2026 was the only possible score! but it looks like your Κ is so fast that he time-traveled four years ahead :d

as my resolutions for 2025 went quite well, here are my new ones for this year!

| boulder dash infinity: caves i-p
----------------------------------
high time to continue and finish this series of super hard versions of the bd1 caves! cave i took me several months to create because i was so ambitious to check all random seeds from 0-255 to find the most challenging one! but now it's done and the series will continue already in january! so Κ will better be prepared...! :d

| the cso series
----------------
stays at a rate of one cave per month, as long as i still have caves in reserve! also, i'm thinking about a reboot of this series and/or a series about cso tricks in actual fancaves (other than my own). so there will definitely be more material on the tricky cso (cave scanning order) topic in the following year(s)! :D

| profi boulder caves
---------------------
it's one of - if not t h e - biggest fangame series that has ever been made (119 games!), and my "best of" upload has just begun! so there will surely be a lot more challenging little puzzles and inventive designs to come here at this site!

| fancy fancaves
----------------
that's my series for single fancaves which i found nice, and there will also be more of them - it's another fancave series which has just started! :d

| no one's boulder series
-------------------------
speaking of fancaves - there have long been no new no one's boulder uploads by me, and there's a reason why - after recreating 1-35 already, i started to feel that the games become less and less creative and more and more "mass production"-ish, so i lost motivation to play and recreate no one's caves. 36 is half finished, and i'm going to finish and upload it, but probably not 37-46. there are more interesting and inventive fancaves to upload - see the previous two topics! :d
(of course, this is not supposed to blame no1 for anything - they've done so much for bd and also it's just my personal taste!)

| dustin's boulder dash 26, maybe 27
------------------------------------
26 is quite progressed already - it's going to be an expert remix (like 15) with harder versions of previous dbd caves. 27 is then going to have completely new caves again, and at the moment, i've got just a few caves for this one, so not sure if it's going to be released this year as well!

| slime math caves (new!)
-------------------------
slime permeability shows very interesting regular patterns, above all if the total slime count is very high. and that's not only about impermeability, but there's also a "pattern formula" which can be used for very unusual slime caves. curious? good! :d

| ...and many, many more! :d

the fireworks have already been sponsored by Arno this year - now comes the little challenge! :d

The horse is designated as one who is a diligent worker when it is homed and tamed; otherwise, it has a rather wild and distinct temper, noted by its large, strong stature and powerful legs. there are several mythos regarding the unicorn, in which the horse at one point had a horn. There are other mythologies that involved horses with wings -- the aforementioned pegasus. It symbolizes faithfulness and companionship, and the ability to carry burdens. the domain of the horse is earth.

ah, very nice detail! :d

Happy new year!

And thanks for including the "hidden fireworks". By the way, this was also the reason why the previous cave has the exit at the top left, so the firework constructions would not be visible during the start of the intermission, where the game scrolls from the exit position to the next inbox position. :-)

Happy New Year to ALL! :)

Happy new year everyone!

Buon Anno a tutti!

21 years later, Κ still likes to celebrate the new year in the same way! :d

my run free! :-D

Thanx, and indeed not too much hardcore this time... ;-)

once again a cool idea! this time, there's no super-accuracy required (only "good accuracy"), so it went without paperwork and still in the publishing year :d

my second-last cave for 2025 shows Κ fiercely chased on his way to the new year's eve party :d

so many \s, so little time!

Early fireworks for tomorrow!

Grazie

From tomorrow we live on income! Thank you.

diamond flows

this one is all about "operations in true order"!

...and here we have another little "fun with explosions" challenge ;)

yes, i like these kind of caves too :)

Good one :) Exactly to my taste, not too complex and yet challenging enough to make me think and plan ahead

another cso trick in the profi boulder series :d

that's actually identic to my little escape challenge in dustin's bd21 cave m, so credits to the profi boulder author(s)! :d

version: i reduced the ΛΛΛ timer to add another little "efficiency challenge" to the cave :D

haha, this is really a funny chain of coincidences! :d

also, your solution proves that the ? room (with the Π) is actually solvable! so all 55Α would be possible!

that's enough new results for a re-upload, i guess :d

Haha, oh wow, I was actually very sure that that missing light boulder was intended! :-D

Also, in my run with 1 bonus\, a few things where quite remarkable:

- In the "?" room, the ffly is bridged for the second time almost automatically, after just removing all remaining diamonds.

- When transporting the ffly from the "?" room to the "!" room, the shortest path just worked to bridge it in the "!" room. No need to tweak its path to finetune the timing.

- By sacrificing 2 diamonds, I could get 3 more, so 1 bonus\ effectively.

All these things turn out so nicely that I just thought they were by design, and I was quite convinced that this was the intended bonus\ method! :-D

hahaha, i seriously just realized while watching Arno's run that i forgot to place the light Π in the room :d and i was wondering all the time how a blast through the ΙΙΙ could be useful, because the Π was there in my head all the time :d

my solutio free! :d

general explanation:
-------------------

like Arno's cave, this is about giving the right Ζ in each room the right delay so it will interact with the left Ζ in a way that the Κ doll won't be harmed.

two different timings are possible to achieve this, which differ by 2:
Α the Ζ can either slide above the other one, or
Α there can be a more complicated interaction where the ΖΖ actually switch roles.

as all ΖΖ have circle length 12, every delay can be seen modulo 12 (so 0=12, 1=13 and so on).

room 1
------
possible delays: 0 or -2=10.
both can actually be achieved:
Α delay o by simply doing nothing with the ΑΑΑΑΑΑΑΑ in the middle.
Α delay 10 by pre-collecting them all.

room 2
------
possible delays: 4 or 2
delay 2 is impossible to achieve, but delay 4 can be achieved by removing the top ΑΑ from the bowl in the middle.

room 3
------
possible delays: 7 or 5
delay 5 is "almost impossible" (see below!), but 7 can be achieved by removing 3Α from the bowl.

room ?
------
possible delays: 3 or 1
both delays are impossible to achieve, so this is supposed to be a troll room! :d

room !
------
possible delays: 5 or 3
delay 3 cannot be achieved, and normally, delay is also impossible. but! with the trick shown in my run, removing ΑΑΑ from the bowl while the Ζ is already inside, it is possible! so this is the intended real bonus room!
however, Κ isn't in time to crush the Ζ immediately, so the Ζ must be given another delay to make a second round. this time, the delay must be 1 (impossible) or -1=11 (achieved by leaving only one Α in the bowl).

this is about my intended solution, anyway. now i'm curious what Arno does in his 5285 run :d

it's funny - i was so focused on the mechanism to make an impossible delay possible that i overlooked the possibility to blast through the ΙΙΙ! :d

got it! i overlooked something that gives 3 bonus\\\ indeed! :-D

my previous run handles the "?" and "!" rooms quite differently, where I sacrificed 2 \\ for 3 extra, so effectively 1 bonus\ as you suspected!

what's still funny, however, is that run contains at least 2 curiosities which are not applied in the 3 bonus\\\ solution. i will explain them later when we share the demos, but for this reason i was quite convinced that my first run was the intended bonus\ solution! ;-D

actually, your score puzzles me, Arno! it looks like you've got exactly one bonus Α, and i'm not sure how you did that without at least two more ΑΑ being free to take :d

now i have some faint ideas how this might work, but it's definitely nothing intended :d

hehe :d

very clever one! ;-D

inspired by Arno 1539 "a quiet stroll ii"!

note that only rooms 1-3 have to be solved. together with the trivial ΑΑΑ from rooms ? and !, it's enough to open the Ξ!

golden stripes

nice and fun! just played a few levels, i definitely had to be focused! :d

The one I played was this https://c64.krissz.hu/needle-in-the-haystack/play-online/

Immediately reminded me of this game :D

Cool, thanks a lot for the link, krissz! Will definitely play it! ^_^

This cave reminds me my game Pattern Finder:

https://csdb.dk/release/?id=210238

Try it! :)

Yep, makes sense, and it does look like a fun idea for a variety of caves :)

Rob Gilbert: at least i haven't seen a similar cave before, the idea just popped up in my mind and i thought it was a nice one ;)

Pretty unusual! :) Are there more caves like that? Sounds like a fun idea to explore, but in a more diverse cave which would involve a more diverse set of elements, maybe with patrolling flies etc ?

Nice! That reminds me of a certain game where the inspiration probably came from :D :D :D

Haha, nice variant! ^ APPROVES!

:d :d

krisszmas, fantastic!

merry christmas

easily fixed :)

I was a little disappointed at the end of my run because I expected magic walls instead of brick walls for xmass. :)

Merry xmas to you all!

And indeed... i most probably figured this out by trial and error, since back then i had no clue about cavescanning at all... ;-)

merry christmas everybody.

Merry X-MAS!

An interesting effect indeed! Looks intentionally designed, too!

also for you and all!

...to all bd fans in the world! :)

btw the ΗΘ - constructions are designed in a way that the Θ cannot grow out of the explosion range in the first frame because no Θ is ever scanned! i wonder if...

| ...this is just by chance, or

| ...Arno knew how to arrange the ΗΗΗ and ΘΘΘ so that the cso works, or

| ...if Arno figured it out by testing the cave many times!

my guess is the latter - after all, back then there were no cso caves or forum threads yet, and it looks too methodical to be pure chance ;)

^ realises that since he was dreaming all of this, why not realise that he could have a bit of fun with one final cascade to cement his cleverness? it won't be easy given that 255\ is no easy ask..

VERY FUN CAVE! :) MERRY XMAS, EVERYONE!

Błogosławieństwa Bożego i Wesołych Swiąt

The heavy snow makes the Christmas cleaning harder! Gotta get rid of those flies somehow.

Merry Christmas everyone!

christmas is not necessarily a silent night - at least not in the bd universe, when the christmas tree is decorated with ΖΖΖ, ΗΗΗ and ΘΘΘ...! :d

christmas is coming closer and closer, and Κ still needs a few presents - lucy that he can have quite a few extra ΑΑΑ here if he searches all the different areas!

And now it's just a weird dream. The fog is covering the exit, as it does. ^ will have to be careful to create a path if the amoeba overgrows, but it can be trapped with clever design...

A final challenge this lair seems to give, one where everything needs to be set in motion before the trigger occurs. ^ is confident, but there is no denizen to be found. Perhaps it is in distance, waiting? Regardless, one single slip, or a premature detonation, and ^ is shut out from procession!

Κ works his way up once more, but this time, the slippery nature of the ΙΙΙ adds a little bit chaos to the whole thing!

A really interesting idea! Loved the puzzle aspect of it, and loved the fact that it's not super tough to figure out at the same time.

^ has stumbled upon a rather nasty room. The escape seems rather difficult, and on top of that, there's no way to trap the fog! ...or is there? The entity behind this mess is rather cold in their schemes.

The echoing of magic walls fills ^ with a sense of wonder. And yet, with all those cascading gems and boulders, he knows the reward that awaits him isn't free...

ducking into another cave, ^ enters yet another corridor. At least the cold is no longer biting and the fog seems to have stopped playing tricks. But the toll for procession is more than what is littered..

the bells jingle, and all Κ needs to do is collect them!

Wow, really cool! :D I liked the diverse "LANES" here

on his way to the top floor, Κ faces various challenges, he can get many bonus ΑΑΑ, and - he even has to rely on his random pushing skill! (the success rate is 90% with optimal play, though.)

okay let's call it three. "I seriously managed to pull off the CSO exit?" :)

heywood: probably even a double "seriously?" moment - first "what is that Η doing there?", then "of c o u r s e the ΘΘΘ converts when it's only inches away from killing the Η!" :d

fortunately, Κ knows his cso stuff so he can still get past the Η :d

agreed, really enjoying this series. I had a "Seriously?" moment when i went for the exit on this one.

A very fun dynamic cave! :) Definitely in the spirit of christmas mood, too!

the ΗΗΗ relax inside their snowy houses, but Κ "invites" them out for a new year's party. and after 40 years, they're still not smart enough to decline such an offer ;)

It's getting dark, and the fog is still up to no good. If it overgrows, ^ will surely be trapped.. or will he? carefully manipulating the fog, he can snare a lot of \s, and the magic walls can crystallise the fog if he can't contain it. But if it becomes |||, all is lost, so ^ must think quick!

everyone is buzzing around here - maybe they're looking for christmas presents? anyway, the atmosphere is quite hectic here, and Κ has barely enough time to collect his own presents!

the fog is playing tricks! Knowing ^ can turn the overgrowth into \, it has generated nasty fireflies under the magic wall! with a bit of clever snapping, he can free a good chunk of these fireflies and clear up spacE! But it won't be easy...

some more fireworks, preparing for the new year!

Is it.. a fog machine? Regardless, ^ is trapped until the overgrowth, but it seems last year's lesson is starting to sink in. ^ can make his own \! And it's convenient that a magic wall exists..

I'm not getting my present this year! ^

thank you well, Arno ;d

Wow, this is literally a stonegood cave! :-D

melmac. I'm alf. i crashed into the tanner's garage in the earth-year 1986. they even made a tv series about my life, but they stopped it when it got interesting - i was caught by the usaf, but of course i escaped and got myself a human form. well, now i'm making boulder dash caves. it's fun. btw, have you played melmac dash? i didn't create it, but i feel honored by the games being named after my home planet ;)

p.s.: don't tell anyone!

This mastery of the movement of the boulders is incredible. But you, exactly, what planet do you come from?

solution free! :d

that's one of the cso caves where i'm slightly surprised how difficult it turned out to be. i expected this one to be less difficult than other cso caves which had been solved :d

there are two main tricks Κ has to use:

| when moving up from the start, snap the last Α then hide under the two ΑΑ.

| the whole final - moving along the bottom, snapping the leftmost Α, waiting shortly, then moving up - has to be done quickly before all the ΒΒΒ have fallen into place. otherwise Κ won't get a chance to escape after collecting the final Α!

didn't know that song - just listening to it :d

Moody Blues - I'll Go Crazy (1965)

for this year's christmas, Κ had a funny idea.

who says that the valuable presents have to be wrapped in useless paper?

he makes it exactly the other way round: he takes a lot of ΒΒΒ - gilded, but worthless - and wraps them in ΑΑΑ-adorned wrapping paper!

that's gotta be a surprise!

there's just a tiny problem.

he accidently wrapped himself along with the ΒΒΒ.

and there are a lot more ΒΒΒ outside the wrapping.

you could call this... unfortunate.

or - you make the december cso escape challenge out of it! :d

Indeed, I don't think I've seen that particular effect before (the conversion happening right at the moment Rockford exits :D )

haha, it looks like Κ has waited for the ΘΘΘ to convert to exit :d

Absolutely awesome! Love them chaos caves XD

no Arno game without a chaos cave :d

The amoeba really didn't like being covered. So it has a nasty trick. Though the entity behind this cold isn't real slick. ^ has to be careful with the butterfly dance - he can't chance sealing the amoeba, or even snuffing it out, or there'll be trouble.

Wow, this was pretty intense! :D

the strange amoeba-fog is really getting bothersome. This time a whole field of normal and ice boulders permits ^ to ensnare it and get those shiny \s -- but he better act quick, because he doesn't have much time to plan before it grows wild!

After so many years I never tire of admiring how much passion for play, how much creative ability, how much skill in play spring from this wonderful community, without neglecting the precious and tireless work of krissz.

And so I wish everyone to accompany Rockford towards new emotions for the year to come, and so on.

Κ is working his way up a snowy hill which has a remarkable inner world!

A reprieve from the cold, but not from the pressure: ^ has amoeba to encase, but it won't be easy to get that big reward. He also has to deal with the annoying t-strike that could prevent him from even starting! AT least it's easily dealt with.. for now.

Without the help of darkwood,s opening I honestly would have overlooked the quarry, but then it became irresistible.

Also a really fun design, hehe :) might replay later to see how I can exploit those flies in the middle box

Κ's big present is already wrapped, but he might consider unwrapping and re-wrapping it on his own terms... ;)

you got me intrigued :)

just wait for cave 9 :d

Yeah, who knows :) But it feels appropriate, intended or not :D

ah, you think it could be an intended feature because of new year's eve? interesting, i haven't thought about that! :D

Haha, interesting - this cave actually features some fireworks, too, from time to time :D

After warmth, ^ goes to clear more ice. But ice butterflies are everywhere, and those stubborn ice boulders are again in his way. Time to do what he does best: make more \!

^ is warming up from all the digging, but now the chimney is all dusty and full of butterflies. More \, I suppose!

more stubborn ice boulders. the last box seems difficult, but not impossible. the cold is biting, ^ is hurrying..

heywood: actually, breath of the wild isn't my favorite zelda game, it was just a reference that came to my mind quickly :d

my fav is still "a link to the past", my childhood rpg for super nes :) still have it, both an snes and the game :d

botw is nice, but a bit too much open world exploration for my taste. i prefer the classical dungeons!

your second favourite zelda game?

having escaped the big yet narrow maze, Κ hears a distant, familiar noise. following the noise, he finds another note lying on the ground before him.

'welcome to my greenhouse! your task here is to make it past all the growing mass! for this, i have a horde of blast-ended skrewts prepared for you, but make sure to hide somewhere safe during the action! in the end, however, you will also have to use your brain to solve the final challenge! and, yes, the bonus is a bit random this time, literally, because it can be trivial or impossible depending on chance! that's how you deal with wild plants, don't expect to predict them completely, that's the breath of the wild! now get to work, don't just stand there! greetings, professor shout. p.s. beware of the starting gun!'

no sooner has Κ looked up from the note than a deafening explosion happens directly before him. he's dazed at first, but then he spots a faint glitter behind the smoke. needless to say there was no holding back anymore - curtains up for a new adventure! :d

remark: the bottom half is highly inspired by Arno dash 9 cave 4!

remark 2: bd1 i/infinity is finally finished, so the series will soon continue! i considered uploading it today, but then i thought that we already have a new expert cave from Arno to crack, so i uploaded this comparatively moderate cave first ;)

it's looks like that previous version was easier

changed layout (more rows)

Great addition to the analyis, dustin!
And go ahead with your cave, i'm curious! I have myself a few more ideas around this theme, but your idea sounds really cool as well! ;-D

that sounds very convincing Arno! :d

the formula i was starting to work for is to calculate the delay of a given formation as easily as possible. i already had two special cases:

1. isoscales right triangle shape on the edge, the "stairs" forming the hypothenuse:
delay = 3n+1, where N is the max depth.

2. isoscales right triangle in the middle, the hypothenuse lying on top, the "stairs" down and up forming the catheti:
delay = 4n

however, i couldn't create all the necessary delays in this cave using only these two special cases, so i was trying to make a more general formula for all possible cases, but then i lost patience and just trial-and-errored my way through... ;)

i have an idea for a "which delays are possible?" cave. is it ok if i create and eventually upload such a cave, or do you want to keep the "copyrights"? :d

well, about the possible delays, i found the following:

\ 1 to 3 frames delay are not possible.

\ 4 is possible by just snapping 1 item: if the ffly encounters a single hole, he will stay there for 3 frames, and needs 1 frame to get out and resume its path. delay 4 also occurs by snapping multiple items connected horizontally, or even removing the complete top layer from the pool.

\ 5 is not possible.

\ 7 is possible by snapping 3 items at a corner. or, for example, by removing the top layer, plus 1 extra item at a corner.

\ an extra delay of 2 can be added to any configuration, by just removing a full layer. For example: removing 2 full layers in total gives 4+2 = 6 delay. so any even number >= 4 is possible. likewise, any odd number >= 7 is possible. just note that the number of available layers in the pool gives restrictions.

in short, all delays other than 1, 2, 3 and 5 are, in theory, possible without restrictions. which ones exactly depends on the size (depth) of the pool. :-)

very nice! now it doesn't look that difficult to go for all ΑΑΑ, but the fact that Κ has to collect all ΑΑΑ falling through the ΙΙΙ definitely adds a big extra challenge!

my run free too, it's more minimalistic:d

it could be an interesting theme for another cave to figure out which small delays are possible to create and which aren't. or from which number on every delay is possible!

i started working on a formula. it shouldn't be too difficult, but i got stuck and haven't had the motivation so far to continue trying :d

my run free! :-D

Thanx and well done!

Indeed, during design i discovered, from modulo 8 on, that actually 2 frames "worked". So i placed voodoos above to enforce one of them.

Also interesting, how to create the correct delay, in particular at the beginning, since some of the very short delays are not possible to create, and there are too little diamonds/boulders in the pool to add modulo x to it.

The bonus challenge to get all diamonds adds even more restrictions...

Last note, my run is probably far from optimal, so for the highscore hunters, there are, at least in theory, various ways to outscore my run... ;-D

ah, and of course, the cso-ish "handovers" among the ΖΖΖ are a very nice bonus :d

ha! still "in time"! :d

95 percent of the solution was paperwork, defining a specific frame close to the end of the Ζ's journey (or, more precisely, the ΖΖΖ's relay race) as frame 0 and then working backwards, all modulo 64. all to figure out the exact delays between the Ζ "handovers". then another big part was to figure out how to actually set these exact delays in the ΒΒΒ-ΑΑΑ-boxes. i worked out some formulas but sometimes they weren't sufficient so i combined them with trial-and-erroring. in one word, it was a lot of fun! :d

the pure gameplay was actually a lot easier than in episode 1 because Κ isn't in a hurry as he doesn't have to walk through the ΖΖΖ area himself :d

i haven't tried for all ΑΑΑ, though, this would be a completely new thing, less math-y, more gameplay technique-y :d

hi Helena and thx :) guess i wanna do some fun math before even attempting to play this cave :d

Happy BD!

Thank you dustin, greetings to you too! This cave I have enjoyed watching the making of, looking forward to all your solutions (and I got a sneak peek of Arno's)?

Happy birthday, Arno! thanks so much for the inspiring caves! :)

thx so much dustin! :-D

i'd like to finish this cave then say "happy birthday" and comment on the cave in one go. but... i guess i will probably not be able to finish the cave while your birthday is still actual! so let's make seperate comments :d

happy 44!

or, as my father would put it, happy 45th birthday! (he likes to count one's actual day of birth as 1st.) i mention this because with this counting, your birthday number is the square root of the year :d

and thank you so much for your bd website! if i hadn't discovered it during my studying time, i would probably only have some faint memories left about my childhood game. as it is, it's... a little different :d

hope you have a good day, and greetings to Helena!

the successor of my previous cave, now with timing modulo 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64. plus, another way of preparing the delays, where the timing is the main goal, and leaving no diamond behind a bonus challenge! :-)

this is my birthday treat for ya all, enjoy! :-D

four Κs compete for the glittery ΑΑΑ to buy christmas presents - but three of them got stuck in the snow! luck for the fourth, but will the others let him escape with the treasures...?

^ is doing digging but encounters stubborn ice that just seems immovable! but those stubborn ice | can be turned into shiny ice \! He just needs to be mindful of what walls to use to get the best quota..

out of santa's magic factory, snow has fallen everywhere, so Κ might want to solve this standard cave with gloves, beanie, scarf and slip-resistant shoes!

These caves have great design, hehe :) very diverse and saturated!

santa's magic factory :-)

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow... but not onto Κ's head! better the ΗΗΗ's :d

reduced quota to 65\ and increased time

Another great cave! :) Nice planning with all the falls through the magic wall :D

Arno: fun to watch you search for your own Ξ in the end :d

this one is already way more challenging - the bells must jingle, but there are some grouches trying to ruin the atmosphere!