Loadstar 212/212.d81/t.blocks

Text File | 2022-08-26 | 3KB | 119 lines

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    S L I D I N G    B L O C K S
        Program by Brian Boese
        Text by Fender Tucker


    This month I had two puzzles on
hand that are very similar but were
programmed in different states. Both
Brian and Dave Johannsen (the
programmer of SHOVE IT also in
Brainware) did excellent jobs and I
thought you might like to see how
different minds work on the same
problem. And at the same time you can
have fun trying to solve these %&$#!&%
puzzles!

    Sliding Block puzzles are as old
as the hills, but I doubt if you ever
saw one of these, except on a
computer. They are perfect examples
of puzzles that are impossible to do
on paper, and unwieldy using solid
objects. You have a set of squares
and rectangles in a bigger square,
and your job is to slide them around
and get them in the pattern that the
Puzzlemaster wants. However, there
is only a limited amount of empty
area inside the large square, so you
have to be cagey when moving the
pieces.

    In Brian's version, he gives you
five separate puzzles. The first
one, Dad's Puzzler, is the easiest
and I recommend you give it a try
first. Using the CRSR keys or a
joystick in Port #2, you move an
arrow from shape to shape. Either
press RETURN or the joystick button
to "grab" a piece. You'll hear a
bell to let you know you've got it.
The piece also changes color. Then
you press a CRSR key or move the
joystick in the direction you want
the piece to move. If it has room to
move, it will.

    On the right side of the screen
is the position you're trying to
achieve.  On some of the puzzles you
are trying to get all of the pieces
in the order shown. In other puzzles
you just need to get the biggest
piece in place. Brian has figured
out a solution for all of them and
has put his number of moves on the
screen for you to try to beat. Can
you do it?

    There's no Hall of Fame for these
puzzles since we figured that you
should be happy enough just to solve
them, even if you don't do it in
fewer moves than Brian.

    From the main menu you can press
<S> to see a solution for each puzzle.
The pieces will move miraculously
around the square. This is another
aspect of the puzzle that would be
hard to do on any medium other than a
computer.

    At almost any point in the game
you can press Q and get back to the
main menu, where you can quit to
LOADSTAR with another press of the Q
key.

    I'm very much impressed with the
logic of this program, especially the
solutions. Notice how Brian chose to
have the arrow point to a piece for
grabbing, then move the piece in the
direction of movement. To me, this
is quite intuitive. Programs from
the early days of computering
probably would have had you enter
coordinates of a grid. For a
different system, check out Dave
Johannsen's SHOVE IT.

WARNING!!! These puzzles are pretty
tough. Even after looking at the
solutions many times (as I have) they
are still difficult. Maybe Brian
(who authored BIORHYTHM MACHINE on
LOADSTAR #76) was having a triple
critical day when he thought these
up?

 FT

 [DAVE'S LAST WORD:] When I was a kid,
the Leach Glue Company of Hutchinson,
KS ("Sticks like a LEACH!") had little
wooden puzzles like these they used
for promotion. I never did get the
solution to those darned LEACH
puzzles, until I saw this program.

 Thank Goodness for LOADSTAR!

 DMM