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homercles
Feb 14, 2010

Ok, I didn't realise that. I used it and went with ymgve's approach, then went crazy with it and used every single node and maxed out instructions for a couple of them. :stare: 2115/9/103 :stare: and I'm totally free of this game.

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shimmy
Apr 20, 2011
I solved sequence sorter earlier today. I didn't make any progress until I realized (hint:) how to output the solution (more explicit:) without doing exactly what the instructions suggest. Totally explicit: I do not sort the sequence, just move it between stacks while remembering the smallest value, then outputting it, moving the sequence (now one value shorter) back to the first stack, keep doing that until there's no more, then doing the next sequence.
Had a 4 node solution going but then that 00 last sequence made it lock up. I needed ONE more line in the center node to fix that. Couldn't get it, had to use a fifth node and a ton of extra instructions.


2321/5/65

No one on my list has this solved, even though I don't have nearly the best scores in any other advanced puzzle.
The TIS steam group is invite only, but I'm in the Spacechem and Infinifactory ones if anyone wants to add me.

SupSuper
Apr 8, 2009

At the Heart of the city is an Alien horror, so vile and so powerful that not even death can claim it.
:siren: NEW ZACHTRONICS GAME ANNOUNCED :siren:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5TbHcK_qvE

It's like TIS-100 and Kohctpyktop had a baby.

elf help book
Aug 5, 2004

Though the battle might be endless, I will never give up
I'm dreading/excited about this.

homeless snail
Mar 14, 2007

Cool, there's a little Ruckingenur in there also, its like the Zachtronics megamix.

GuavaMoment
Aug 13, 2006

YouTube dude
When TIS-100 came out, I called it horrifying. I was wrong. This is horrifying. This is 4th year EE signal processing somehow in video game form. Just. No. Why? And why do I want to preorder it?

Color Printer
May 9, 2011

You get used to it. I don't
even see the code. All I see
is Ipecac, Scapular, Polyphemus...


I'm starting to think Zachtronics has it in for me, my backlog, and the remaining grey matter in my skull.

Jeffrey of YOSPOS
Dec 22, 2005

GET LOSE, YOU CAN'T COMPARE WITH MY POWERS
Hmm, will I spend $40 preordering a game about programming DSPs so I can get a printed manual? Let me ponder a bit to not seem so eager. Yes, yes I suppose I will.

Alkydere
Jun 7, 2010
Capitol: A building or complex of buildings in which any legislature meets.
Capital: A city designated as a legislative seat by the government or some other authority, often the city in which the government is located; otherwise the most important city within a country or a subdivision of it.



Oh god, they made Micro-controllers 101 into a game. :stare:

Why am I mildly excited for this?

Fuzzy Mammal
Aug 15, 2001

Lipstick Apathy
I preordered the one with the manual :3:

Ratzap
Jun 9, 2012

Let no pie go wasted
Soiled Meat

Aw yiss, thank you for posting this and glad I saw it in time. I snagged one of those nice manuals too.

zedprime
Jun 9, 2007

yospos
It looks like the maximization metrics for leaderboards are in universe, power used and production cost. I can't wait to get shamed by what actual experts can put together with simple ICs and paperclips while I am hacking solutions together from over complicated microcontroller schemes.

Discendo Vox
Mar 21, 2013

We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.
SHENZHEN I/O by Zachtronics. Just. No. Why? And why do I want to preorder it?

ErIog
Jul 11, 2001

:nsacloud:
I have the strangest boner.

edit: pre-ordered, excited to play this at work like I did TIS-100.

ErIog fucked around with this message at 02:26 on Sep 13, 2016

Jabor
Jul 16, 2010

#1 Loser at SpaceChem
This is seriously my jam. Why is it not October yet.

Dr. Arbitrary
Mar 15, 2006

Bleak Gremlin
Can someone explain what that circuit is doing, because I'm kind of at a loss.

ErIog
Jul 11, 2001

:nsacloud:

Dr. Arbitrary posted:

Can someone explain what that circuit is doing, because I'm kind of at a loss.

It looks like it's supposed to be animating the stuff on that display, but without having played the game it's a little hard to tell.

Dr. Arbitrary
Mar 15, 2006

Bleak Gremlin
I'm looking at the part at the bottom and it seems to be outputting numbers based on some inscrutable pattern.

ErIog
Jul 11, 2001

:nsacloud:

Dr. Arbitrary posted:

I'm looking at the part at the bottom and it seems to be outputting numbers based on some inscrutable pattern.

I assume that's the target sample output. If it's anything like KOHCTPYKTOP or TIS-100 then you're taking those 4 inputs and need to program IC's in order to massage it into the target output.

If you follow what code is executing you'll see that it coincides with the numbers on that timeline. The -15/+15 alternating at the end when the text is blinking is the most noticeable thing.

The numbers appear to be indices for each individual text element that appears on the screen.

ErIog fucked around with this message at 06:04 on Sep 13, 2016

Arcsech
Aug 5, 2008
Can I preorder the soundtrack? I love all the soundtracks for Zachtronics games (well, maybe not the steampunk one? never really got into that one), they're great for coding to.

Also, as an electrical engineer turned software developer, this looks amazing.

ymgve
Jan 2, 2004


:dukedog:
Offensive Clock
Huh, so according to Linkedin he's not at Valve anymore? I guess their philosophy of not releasing games became too much for him.

TheKnife
Jan 24, 2009
I impulse pre-ordered the physical manual edition before even watching the video, are you supposed to get an e-mail from zachtronics or humble store after that? Because I only got a paypal receipt
I figure they will want my address eventually

Jabor
Jul 16, 2010

#1 Loser at SpaceChem

TheKnife posted:

I impulse pre-ordered the physical manual edition before even watching the video, are you supposed to get an e-mail from zachtronics or humble store after that? Because I only got a paypal receipt
I figure they will want my address eventually

Yeah, you get a humble link, and it has a link to a form where they want your address.

Shipping the physical stuff is apparently starting on ~26th.

Evil Trout
Nov 16, 2004

The evilest trout of them all

TheKnife posted:

I impulse pre-ordered the physical manual edition before even watching the video, are you supposed to get an e-mail from zachtronics or humble store after that? Because I only got a paypal receipt
I figure they will want my address eventually

I wondered the same. I hope they're not assuming the billing address via Stripe is the shipping address.

edit: My email just said thanks for buying, but when I went to my humble bundle account it said I had an unredeemed thing which led to a form where I could input my address.

Evil Trout fucked around with this message at 16:04 on Sep 13, 2016

Phssthpok
Nov 7, 2004

fingers like strings of walnuts

Dr. Arbitrary posted:

Can someone explain what that circuit is doing, because I'm kind of at a loss.

The puzzle specification looks like an analog version of KOHCTPYKTOP. The 4 inputs on the bottom of the screen receive a number from 0-100 each tick, and you have to emit the correct output (1, 2, -1, etc) at the correct time.

The nodes look a lot like TIS-100 nodes, but more practical. You can choose how they connect together. (It's not clear whether you can place VIAs, so there may be some topology puzzles like Big Pharma.) There are no second-class "bak" registers, you can work directly with the "dat" register if you can afford a node that has one. There is random-access memory. Very powerful stuff. Line count is still very constrained.

The language looks pretty cool. Each "teq" instruction compares two things, then executes all following "+" instructions if they are equal, or all following "-" instructions if they are not equal. "slp" appears to reduce power consumption, so that may be a performance metric, as opposed to a mere bottleneck indicator like TIS-100. I'm not sure what "dgt" does.

Phssthpok fucked around with this message at 08:54 on Sep 14, 2016

ymgve
Jan 2, 2004


:dukedog:
Offensive Clock
"slp" sounds like "sleep", whatever that means

Jeffrey of YOSPOS
Dec 22, 2005

GET LOSE, YOU CAN'T COMPARE WITH MY POWERS

ymgve posted:

"slp" sounds like "sleep", whatever that means
Yeah it's probably waiting for some external trigger and has lower power use until that trigger comes in. That happens all over the place in real hardware.

zedprime
Jun 9, 2007

yospos
slp seems to wake on input change? So basically, if input changes, continue through the code. So most useful comboed with teq based infinite loops to save power, which seems to be an aggregate instruction count since the signals are continuous.

e. The closer I look the more confused I get because that first processor is pretty clearly a continuous to discrete signal converter, and if slp wakes on input change, you could do continuous to discrete with just slp 1 | mov p0 x1 instead of checking for change with the teq

zedprime fucked around with this message at 17:32 on Sep 14, 2016

Jeffrey of YOSPOS
Dec 22, 2005

GET LOSE, YOU CAN'T COMPARE WITH MY POWERS
Oh I see, slp takes an argument. It is just waiting a certain amount of time I'm guessing. That's how they create the clock signal in the steam screenshots, it's just mov acc p1, not, slp 1.

Ignoranus
Jun 3, 2006

HAPPY MORNING
This new game idea frightens and intimidates me. I'm excited.


Since this thread has been necromancied, though - can you guys point me toward any interesting 'programming-oriented' style puzzle games online? I've plowed through most of Jahooma's Logic Box by now and somehow the Codex of Alchemical Engineering doesn't really do it for me. I'm at work but I work on the phone and have some downtime, so I'm looking for online games (though I really enjoyed Human Resource Machine, SpaceChem and TIS-100). I find what often happens with the stranger games (i.e. TIS-100 or SpaceChem) is that I'll play for a while and get stuck, then see a solution or an idea from what someone else posted that gets me over the hump and then I can continue for a ways.

kinnas
Jan 28, 2008
The Case of Martin Heidegger, Philosopher and Nazi Part 2: The Cover-up
I remember someone posted a roguelikeish cave generator a bit back, are there any other cool stuff out there that people have made in the TIS-100 sandbox out there?

Dancer
May 23, 2011
It's likely you already know of it, but Manufactoria owns:
http://pleasingfungus.com/Manufactoria/

double riveting
Jul 5, 2013

look at them go

Discendo Vox posted:

SHENZHEN I/O by Zachtronics. Just. No. Why? And why do I want to preorder it?

Gonna be glorioushorrible. Ordered the loving manual immediately.

Ratzap
Jun 9, 2012

Let no pie go wasted
Soiled Meat

double riveting posted:

Gonna be glorioushorrible. Ordered the loving manual immediately.

I got a confirmation email yesterday saying they had my address and it was 'on track to start shipping next week'.

Fuzzy Mammal
Aug 15, 2001

Lipstick Apathy
Oh man...



Fuzzy Mammal
Aug 15, 2001

Lipstick Apathy
I won't spoil it but the amount of effort put in to this thing is unreal.

Kreeblah
May 17, 2004

INSERT QUACK TO CONTINUE


Taco Defender
Yeah, I got mine today, too, and I'm really looking forward to playing with some of these microcontrollers.

I am, however, disappointed that the building at the address on that business card only has 24 floors. I was going to go head over to see what was there.

devtesla
Jan 2, 2012


Grimey Drawer

I really want to open that

Popete
Oct 6, 2009

This will make sure you don't suggest to the KDz
That he should grow greens instead of crushing on MCs

Grimey Drawer

Fuzzy Mammal posted:

I won't spoil it but the amount of effort put in to this thing is unreal.

He's my favourite indie dev by far. It's pretty amazing he has the time to make these games considering he works a full time software job. I work in embedded systems myself and have always thought a game like Shenzhen I/O would be awesome but I am not creative enough to actually make fun and realistic games like him.

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NickPancakes
Oct 27, 2004

Damnit, somebody get me a tissue.

The business card attached to the recruiter letters in the Limited Edition manual lists an address in the Bellevue Skyline Tower in Bellevue, WA. I'll be in Seattle next week, so I tweeted Zach to see if I should maybe drop by that address.

Edit: drat, guess not.
https://twitter.com/zachtronics/status/783411056001495040

NickPancakes fucked around with this message at 22:00 on Oct 4, 2016

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