another meaning for the "n" grade could be "nerdier than me" - that's a compliment! maybe that's my fav :d

nesdori:

for 755 points, you get the "n" grade. this can stand either for "nesdori only", "next level skill" or "no way this is possible!" ;d

well, actually i'm not super-super-surprised about your result (only super-surprised)! i had the cave ready for release since last year, and i wanted to time-optimize my solution further, but then i found i lacked motivation. i guess you might have saved most of your time in the top-left section, compared to my tests.

also, thank you for the flowers! my ambition to find the best random seed for the infinity series outpowered the fact that it was kinda monotonous at times, but then again, whenever i found a fitting seed, it was fun to explore it and see how many ΑΑΑ i could get. sometimes i got all the structurally possible ΑΑΑ rather quickly (and sorted that seed out), but sometimes i found new possibilities still during my 3rd and 4th session, and that made it interesting! :d overall, now i'm quite pleased that i invested the time. it feels truly optimized now, which is sort of the point behind this series :)

btw, i'm sure you noticed, but this seed is rather l1-ish (the left side of i/1 has moved to the right side here)! also the seeds are very close (100/99) :d

the other seed which was my second candidate - seed 17 - will probably come as a bonus after the series finishes. there it's structurally certain that 99Α are the max. these are also not trivial to get, but easier than here imo. i guess it will take you less than half an hour if you needed less than an hour for this one :d

in other caves like k and l, i also chose the most interesting seed out of all from 0-255. however, here i did the testing work already a decade ago, for my gdash game "bd expert levels". thst was also quite fun, especially for cave k, where every seed feels truly like a new cave to play because you never know which ΑΑΑ will be easy this time and which ones will tease Κ's brain :d

dustin, what's the grade for 755+ points? ;)

i put a lot more effort on this cave than usually. i kinda felt obliged - or rather, honored - to do so after realizing how much work dustin put on this cave. going through every seed and then checking the possible amounts of ΑΑΑ for every cave must have been quite a task. it's nowhere easy to determine that 100Α is possible here. it's a lot easier when you already know that 100Α is possible. your enthusiasm with this and all other series and caves is incredible. my hat is off.

i spent several hours on this. the actual puzzle to get 100Α was already challenging and but it was just a small fraction, less than an hour. i then spent time speed optimizing things and especially handling of the falls when they are activated. i spent over half of time just for that trying things on the cave editor. it's the most important optimization because a lot of time is potentially wasted there. this seed is also quite nasty to do the falls efficiently but i'm quite happy with the solution i eventually found. funnily, i practiced and optimized time usage in each mini puzzle and cave section separately before i made my first full run so i just had a rough idea how much the total run will take time. i was pretty confident that i'll solve this in under 100 seconds but the actual margin was a bit surprise :)

i got 100Α (with 26 seconds left) and i agree with dustin that this is the maximum number of ΑΑΑ possible. it's almost possible to structurally prove that and the only part on the structure which spoils the full proof is not really a weakness.

edit on my final remark below: well, the two tasks aren't completely independant. at some point, i had to change my solution strategy to be more time efficient!

aaaaaaand... the show goes on! halftime is over, now comes the second half of the super-hard versions of bd1 caves!

for this one, i checked all the possible seeds to find the most interesting one!

| random seed: 99
i checked the seeds in the following way:
Α first, i sorted out all seeds where i could (more or less) easily get 100+Α. this is because the bd1 engine has a 2-digit restriction for Α requirement, and easy bonus ΑΑΑ are definitely not the goal of this series!
Α that left only about 10 percent of all possible seeds to check. among these, i tried to get the as many ΑΑΑ as possible, then find out which one took me longest.
Α i ended up with two main candidates:
- this one (seed 99): one extra Α is possible, possibly more (but i think not), but it took me a lot of sessions to figure out how to get 99 or 100Α.
- the other main candidate was seed 17, where i'm totally certain that exactly 99Α is the max. however, the mini puzzles Κ has to solve to get the max aren't quite as interesting as seed 99 here.
so i ended up with this version, with one extra Α but interesting methods required to get even the required 99Α!

| requirement: 99/100Α
as mentioned above, i can't exclude the possibility that more than 100Α are possible, but i would be very surprised if it actually is! :d
anyway, the most tricky spots contain two neighbored ΑΑ anyway, so those have to be solved even for the required 99Α.

| time: 100
at first, i had 120 and i already found that hard enough, but then my ambition darkstoormed and i wanted to be more and more efficient. so 100 is my final statement, and it's possible with average pushing speed!

grades
------
a-grade: get 99Α (minimum)
s-grade: get 100Α
ss-grade: either get 101+Α (impossible imo) or get 100Α with 5 secs remaining (score 555)
maybe darkstoorm will find the ss-grade to easy this time, but 555 points is too nice of a limit ;)

remark: i recommend to freeze the time at first, because "getting enough ΑΑΑ at all" and "being time efficient" are two independant and difficult tasks to solve here!

dustin, indeed! :D

because bonus ΑΑΑ are worth 35 points, it's a bit hard to tell
how many ΑΑΑ WERE PICKED IN EACH solution. i got 67Α which IS 5Α short of the perfect 72Α (8*9). I THINK EVEN MORE IS POSSIBLE BUT THEN PARADISE IS slowly BECOMING A HELL :)

this one's a hiscore paradise :d

dustin: Surely no troll was expected :) the tip is right there!

darkstoorm: i guess your run will be a surprise even for the other solvers...?!? ;)

Κ is prepared. Κ is ready.

this time, he has eaten his breakfast. he feels strong enough to push every Β as fast as he wants.

so the next stormy ocean won't even faze him. he knows how to deal with it: let the Ζ out, blast a-

what the- where-

where have the ΖΖ gone?!?

how have they broken out of their dirty prisons?!?

and why has Κ never thought about just buying an umbrella?!?

he looks at his watch. the shops have already closed. looks like he won't get his umbrella anytime soon. and without one, there's absolutely no way to cross the sea!

so... what to do?!?

i love stylish designs like this :d

that's a very simple one. just crush the flies, take the ΑΑΑ and...

what?

why hasn't the Ξ opened yet?

hmmm... maybe it's not that simple, after all ;)

remember "novelty redirect"? there has been a slight change ;)

speedrun, baby! :d (although not a particularly tough one)

nesdori: that's funny :d i guess it might be intended to "troll greedy players, although i doubt that rockford (=author of the profi boulder caves) was aware of the counter-troll :d

heh, either the author of this cave tried to be clever not to allow too much bonus Α or there's very nice coincidense.

if Κ reaches and exlodes the left wall before amoeba is converted, it's possible to get more ΑΑΑ by allowing amoeba spread to the next room. The problem is: if Κ just sits on the top right corner of the next room blocking the amoeba. amoeba will grow to exactly 200 pieces and gets converted into ΒΒΒ. so a well-known cso-trick is needed to reduce the amoeba size by one! :)

or, rather, a come-back-later challenge ;)

nice escape challenge at the start, i needed a few tries! :d

Arno, this was both nice to watch and read! :d

it could be added that the 7Β (11 frame) delay is showcased in the second round of your ! room solution :)

also, removing all 8Β would be an alternate solution of room 1 (with the other ΖΖ interaction type).

My run is now visible! :-)

I made below overview how to solve for any delay:

By removing the following number of ||| you get delay (in frames):
0 |: 0 delay (as in room 1 in my run)
1 |: 4 delay
2 |: 4 delay (as in room 2 in my run)
3 |: 7 delay (as in room 3 in my run)
4 |: 6 delay
5 |: 9 delay
6 |: 8 delay
7 |: 11 delay
8 |: 10 delay (as in room ?, second round, in my run)

This implies that delay 1, 2, 3 and 5 are not possible with a prepared configuration.

However, there are some alternative approaches. If delay x is required:
A: Do delay x+12 instead, since 12 is the period of the both running fflies.
B: Do delay x-2 instead, since this will work as well, but with a slightly different ffly interaction.
C: Use the configuration for a lower delay but add 1 or more additional 1-frame stops for the ffly, by dropping some boulders well-timed while the ffly is already in the box. This implies you cannot reach the light boulder on time, so you will need to bridge the ffly for a second time.
D: Combine A, B and/or C in some way.

For 1: method B will work, for delay 1 - 2 = -1 = 11 (mod 12). (A and C is also possible, but more difficult.)
For 2: method B will work, for delay 2 - 2 = 0.
For 3: this is required in the ? room: in my run I combined A, B and C. I aimed for delay 13 (which is 3 - 2 mod 12) and did it by creating configuration 7 (= delay 11) plus 2 extra 1-frame stops for the ffly.
For 5: this is required in the ! room: in my run I applied C by creating configuration 2 (= delay 4) with 1 extra stop for the ffly.

all in all, i think this cave is quite complete, as it covers both the simplest and the most complicated methods! :-D

dustin, never mind my comment; i miscomprehended your comment while doing historical diggins without spoilers.. :)

dustin, if you had remembered to put Β on the top row in ?-room in the original puzzletopia 8, it would have been possible to get the bonus ΑΑΑ there. so you saved your troll by forgetting it :)

glad you like this one Arno :d

a little teaser to make you (even more) curious: puzzletopia 9 will be named "binary stroll"!

yess, this is the perfect and complete verion! :-D

that was really fun to solve, and i'm curious for the next! ;-)

this is an improved version of "puzzletopia 8". while the main solution (rooms 1-3) hasn't changed much, i found this version worth a new upload because:

| now there aren't any trivial ΑΑΑ, every Α has to be worked for;

| now each room works properly, and both bonus rooms are definitely solvable (in the original, i intended one bonus room to be an impossible troll, but 1. i forgot to place a Π there and 2. i overlooked a solution shown by Arno);

| now the bonus rooms have more ΑΑΑ than the normal rooms, which feels appropriate because they're so much harder.

all in all, this new version feels a lot more "whole" than the original.

all this is still based on Arno's recent cave "a quiet stroll"!

i'm currently building another cave with the same theme but significantly different from this one - stay tuned for puzzletopia 9! :d

snap @krissz :)

on my cave 245 i had a test run where the amoeba grew one cell before its mutual destruction with the butterflies. it could then be subsequently trapped for a big bonus score.

This makes me wonder if we ever had a cave where it was required to get more boulders than amoeba's growth limit :D

I only remember using it for bonus ΑΑΑ gonna make another cave about this :D

can Κ find the songle Α amidst tons and tons of ΒΒΒΒΒΒΒΒΒΒ?

Κ in a ghost house - scary but not hard :d

solution free! :d

the 4-growing wall freeing Κ's way instead of blocking it - a typical cso paradox! :d

congrat to all solvers - this one was not supposed to be easier than other caves of the series, and i was gladly surprised to see so many solvers in such quick time! :d

cheers! :d

okay, i didn't need a hint or demo for a cso cave, i'm opening a beer.

the hotel which you can never leave once you've entered... unless you're Κ and you know your cso stuff! :d

Great cave!

classic style, nice to play :)

yes totally miscounted! it's not the first time i've done this and it won't be the last... this is supposed to be another fairly challenging one.

hmm, i got 80Α and they all look intended but only 77Α required and no bonus. is that miscounted?

very good cave again, anyway! :d

nice darkstoorm! original had no bonus score, but i had a big feeling that this would disappoint our players :d

Two bonus ΑΑ, if only there was more time (and milling time) :D

this one is quite straightforward, but it inspired me for a new dustin's bd cave! :d it'll probably be in 27 :)

Ohh, interesting! Great design! :)

ahh aur = aurum = gold! :d

you are right about the almost-immediate conversion, the amoeba limit is one cell larger than the amoeba count at the start of the cave.

some hints:

- there is a boulder-activated switch somewhere that converts the amoeba in situ, or you can quickly move to trap it and hope it doesn't expand in the meantime.

- all diamonds are reachable, but you have to use one firefly to access two chambers (or at least that's the only solution i could find!)

and for the curious, the cave name means "gold mining" in the welsh language.

I mean, I understand how to release the amoeba, but it converts pretty much immediately, and not sure if you can release all the diamonds if you convert immediately ?.. Thus, I'll be waiting for the demos to see how this one works.

I admit I'm stumped as to how to beat this one :D

thanks, and thanks for playing and perservering!

and, of course, very appealing design!

it is, definitely! challenging level in general plus a mean trick :d

not sure if that's a good thing or not! :D

that was something :d

nesdori, interesting! and thanks for your prudence! but feel free to reveal your run there if you like! never mind if it does spoil something ;)

dustin, my solution to heywood's cave 237 (bonus Α variant of your first "just one") is different from this. i'm still not sure if i'm spoiling something if i'll make it visible before "just one" 8b and 8c :)

nesdori, luckily i remembered giving bonus points even though i absolutely didn't consider this solution :d

it was very amazing to watch, firstly how quickly Κ managed to absorb the falling ΒΒΒ, and secondly how i was puzzled at first why you were doing what you were doing until i slowly started to realize the plan :d

nesdori, great run and amazing bomberman skills! :-D

i'm curious for solutions! :d

:D

Arno, yes, what i have heard is that the pirates really didn't want to hit with the front deck cannons because the target might be scared and run away. they preferred to hit with some of the last cannons and the last cannon being the final option. hitting with the last cannon needs extra patience because the target will be hidden for a while and when the target arrives again, the pirates need to act quickly while the target is momentarily confused :)

oh :-o, i think i see where those \\\ were buried. The pirate ship of course has a flexible cannon for precise aiming! ;-D

luckily a pirate ship experienced the same ΒΑ storm hundreds of years ago and they grabbed some Α and hid them on the ground on the island. now that Κ has nothing else to do; he can dig deeper than usually and look for Α pirates left there. there actually seems to be a lot of them! :)

greetings from great a'tuin, rapunzel and the clouds! :d

it took a while but my ^ managed to escape the island! it was actually quite simple: using a rope made of his own body hair, ^ tied two sea turtles together to form a raft. next, he rode on their backs for just a few days and nights, until he reached civilization! :-D

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!

with 104Α requirement (out of 105Α) this cave would qualify as extreme expert series caVE as well as a tough cso-series cave. i think that it's not possible to get all Α as it's inevitable to lose one in the first column.

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...