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[Member Intro] Hello and Help!

Nmile7300

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While I like the timer feature, I think we need to be able to start the timer ourselves instead of it automatically starting when you press "New Game". When we time our Rubik's cube solves, we get a short amount of time to inspect the cube (usually under 15 seconds) before we start. This allows us to plan our first few moves. Adding the ability to start the timer when you want to is a necessary feature in my opinion.
 

Pawel

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Rotosphere? Is this a good name?

While I like the timer feature, I think we need to be able to start the timer ourselves instead of it automatically starting when you press "New Game". When we time our Rubik's cube solves, we get a short amount of time to inspect the cube (usually under 15 seconds) before we start. This allows us to plan our first few moves. Adding the ability to start the timer when you want to is a necessary feature in my opinion.

We definitely can have the option that the times start with the first click on any of the rotators... I will try to change this today. The timer function with the stop button is only a temporary fix -- the game is still "dumb" and it doesn't know when it is solved. Once I get this part programmed, the timer will stop automatically when everything is in place. Once I have two ways to rotate the pieces, the number of moves will also be reduced. Nmile and everyone else on this forum that responded to my cry for help -- I really appreciate your insights. I am so glad I found this forum!
 
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Pawel

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Ok. Level 2 now has a timer that starts when you click on any of the rotors for the first time... (Timer on level 1 still starts on loading the level)

FTS - Face Turning Sphere

Rotosphere sounds cool though :)
thanks. Too bad rotosphere.com website domain was already taken, but I was able to register rotosphere.org.

Rotosphere it is! FTS also sounds cool... maybe it can be a nickname for Rotosphere
to make things easier to remember -- I copied the webGL player to the new domain:

link

If you want to do that, it would look something like this
this is a very complicated one... I suppose making this work is a puzzle within a puzzle :)
 

Pawel

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Progress report with RotoSphere game development:

1) It should work on at least some mobiles -- My Samsung Note 5 works. (My old iPad does not)... But since it is not an app but sill a generic WebGL it may be a bit jerky.

2) Now the rotations work in both directions. There seems to be a bug on one of the rotors which I found just now -- it goes in the wrong direction when clicking the arrows. -- I should be able to find and fix it quickly...

3) Now you can see the movement of the rotations

4) The colors are not as saturated as before

The timer still is not set up to turn off automatically, as there is still no indication that the Rotosphere is solved. This will be the next to program...


The website is rotosphere.org.

Link to WebGL game
 
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Pawel

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4.58 on Level 1, got an 8 move solve that I 1-looked (3 move Green Face, 4 pieces of Pink already in


Edit:

Current WBs

Level 1: 4.58 - @ProStar
Level 2: 10.50 - @ProStar

I am a newbie in this type of geometric solving and my numbers are considerably higher... I am curious what would be the times of other speed solvers. Since I am new on this forum, and I am sure that like with any active forum there are traditions... Would a separate tread for Rotosphere contests on the regular forum be in order? I don't want to start anything that would be perceived as advertising (especially for something that may not become real device, but a mobile game).

Also, I've just conceptualized another version that may be interesting... with different geometry and patterns. It will take me a few days to add it to the game. I do want to finish the automatic timer first.
 

I'm A Cuber

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I am a newbie in this type of geometric solving and my numbers are considerably higher... I am curious what would be the times of other speed solvers. Since I am new on this forum, and I am sure that like with any active forum there are traditions... Would a separate tread for Rotosphere contests on the regular forum be in order? I don't want to start anything that would be perceived as advertising (especially for something that may not become real device, but a mobile game).
A separate thread for contests probably wouldn’t happen, simply because (as far as I can tell) there would be no easy way to have everyone solving the same scrambles. If this problem was fixed by having a easy to use scrambling notation, then I think there could be a race thread
 

Pawel

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You are right. I did not think about it... There needs to be a way to have the same scambles -- Even a temporary solution before full programming and integration with the reporting system.
 

Pawel

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UPDATE uploaded

http://www.rotosphere.org/

Here what has been added:

1) -- There is a way to select the same game (from 0 to 599), so people could compete using the same scrambles. -- Rather than relying on unfiltered random selection for tiles, I created a set of 600 games so they can be modified if there are some bad ones. Of course, I did not have the time to go through most of them, so there is a chance that some games are too simple. It would be great if you would let me know when you run into those-- I would put them on the list for changes.

2) Games are "smart" now. The program knows when the game is over and the clock stops. (So the button to stop the timer is gone).

3) Each game number on level 1 and level 2 share the red and green tile settings at the start.

There is no automated reporting system yet...

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

If you decide to create competitions, I would appreciate it if let me know. I could also make the WebGL game available for this site if the forum owners are interested.
 

Spacey10

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2 Edit: Meant 3 quick suggestions:
1. Don't make it say GAME OVER once you are done. It makes it seem like you lost.
2. Once you beat the level, make sure that you can't turn the ball anynore,. You can spin it around, but can't turn the sides.
3. Have a pop-up show on the screen 3 seconds after you solved it saying Do you want to go to level 2? And the options should be Yes, or No, not right now.
Thanks!
 
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Owen Morrison

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2 quick suggestions:
1. Don't make it say GAME OVER once you are done. It makes it seem like you lost.
2. Once you beat the level, make sure that you can't turn the ball anynore,. You can spin it around, but can't turn the sides.
3. Have a pop-up show on the screen 3 seconds after you solved it saying Do you want to go to level 2? And the options should be Yes, or No, not right now.
Thanks!
That is 3 suggestions.
 

Sub1Hour

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I have another suggestion, instead of arrows that determine if the turn is going clockwise or counterclockwise, making it so a right-click makes it go counterclockwise and a left click makes it go clockwise. I find it kind of weird to chase the arrow around if I'm doing a double turn and sometimes I accidentally click the clockwise arrow then the counterclockwise arrow.
 

Pawel

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I have another suggestion, instead of arrows that determine if the turn is going clockwise or counterclockwise, making it so a right-click makes it go counterclockwise and a left click makes it go clockwise. I find it kind of weird to chase the arrow around if I'm doing a double turn and sometimes I accidentally click the clockwise arrow then the counterclockwise arrow.


I have run into this as well... I will check and see what happens when the rotos stay in place while the tiles are rotating around them... If this improves the experience.
 

Pawel

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Jun 17, 2020
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Update: I made the changes to the game end, and I stopped the rotors from following the tiles -- Sub1Hour please take a look and see if this fixes your problem... For me, it is much easier to avoid mistakes now. (I would prefer not to go to left/right clicks because of the way I structured the geometry and click/touch-sensitive areas.


Also, there seems to be a bug in the Unity input field that I am struggling with -- when I try to input a two-digit scramble number, most of the time only one number shows up. I am not sure if this is because I use a drawing tablet instead of a mouse as input or this is something that happens always. I have no problem with 1 digit or 3 digit input... For now, a simple solution is to put "0" before the two digits... (for example "087" instead of "87") This will still load the game you ask for... I will see if there is a fix for this bug.

And again, thank you everyone for great help. Because of your suggestions, this will definitely be a better game and hopefully, people will find it and play :)
 

Pawel

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Lol I liked the old title better

This one will be a different experience for sure.

Too bad I don't have the time to work on it today. I am really curious about how hard or confusing it will be to try to solve it for the first few times... What if it is impossible to solve it?
 
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