It's A(door)able
ncase.meAdding the time limit and actually making the clock go faster when a player is (purposefully) going off the rails is a sinister trick to ensure that players get the expected ending message. Clever that the programmer throught of these cases.
Hmmm. I tried about a dozen times before giving up. I thought the game was broken before reading your comment.
Nothing in the game visually indicates that going back is worse than going forwards. As the level is symmetrical, the distance is literally the same. A one-way door, or crumbling floor, would have been easy solutions I think.
Theres momentum, turning around is much slower than moving forward like most games
IMO, the game design mistake here was having too little momentum. There should be an excessive amount of momentum, so the player immediately understands that the levels will be impossible if they turn around.
But that's not what this game is doing though. I fumbled and reversed direction picking up the key and still got to the door in time.
well you gain speed just picking the key underway instead of stopping and going backward
There's just barely enough time on the middle and last levels to double back even with the faster clock movement for going the wrong direction. Fun little challenge
I don't know enough about web stuff, but I wonder how much this depends on the system
I got past the second one, and oddly was able to 'sit still' in the middle while rearranging my fingers for a remarkably 'long' time (couple seconds or so, hard to guage)
For anyone smarter than me: I'm on Linux with Wayland and a 144Hz display, output should be synchronized if this plays a part
On the middle one they only check if you go backwards from the position of the key (I got it to work clockwise). If you continue on the intended path and then go back the clock won't go faster. You have to be fast though.
I didn't notice that. Good one!! Thanks for sharing.
Although there's just about time to make the middle of the message "fox".
I now have Braid theme music stuck in my head.
I tried to go wrong way and i was not able to do. Thanks for telling us
"A good programmer is someone who always looks both ways before crossing a one-way street." -- Doug Linder
"Three programmers come to a one-way street. The academic looks to the right, doesn't see any oncoming cars, and crosses. The corporate programmer looks to the left, then looks to the right, and then crosses. The distributed systems engineer looks to the left, then looks to the right, then looks up to make sure there aren't any planes falling out of the sky…"
"... the hacker looks down to check for landmines and footguns, and then runs to catch up with the rest, grumbling something about computer scientists and off-by-one errors."
The distributed systems engineer definitely uses a mirror to watch both directions at the same time while crossing the street. They've been caught by Time of Check - Time of Use errors before.
Well, I do always look both ways when crossing the one-way street where I live.
But not because of programming experience, but because of late-night Taxi drivers who drive like Doc Brown (https://youtu.be/vHake6w4Su0?t=17) and believe that "reverse" is some kind of cheat code that flips the direction of the road.
Also, cyclists.
In tourist-filled parts of the world where they drive on the left side of the road (e.g. UK, Australia, Japan), you sometimes see signs reminding the tourists to look right before crossing the road.
London in particular has the signs ("Look left", "Look right") written in words on the road surface itself at obvious crossing points, especially near stations etc. So pedestrians look down at them as they go to cross the road.
One should really look both ways before stepping out onto the road though =)
The author has an interesting game about "trust": https://ncase.me/trust/
Echoing all the others that this Trust game is great, I noticed something else that struck me in some of the "play with the dials" stages.
The game showed us that when you decrease the reward for Cooperate/Cooperate from +2 to +1, the Always-Cheats take over. But I tried increasing the reward for above the default of +2 to +3 or +4 and an interesting thing happened: The naïve Always-Cooperates actually took over!
It made me think about how a lot of cynical people -- of both sides of the political divide -- play the 'game' as 'cutthroatly' as possible. I think if you asked these people how they see the world, they'd tell you that "the system is rigged anyway" such that there's barely any benefit to cooperating. "So why shouldn't I exploit everything I can to get mine?" And in a world where there's arguably not enough reward for cooperating, I can see how people arrive at a cynical conclusion and become Always-Cheaters. This is why people who work for minimum wage generally don't want to work hard and provide great customer service. And it's why companies who employ them don't want to pay them a living wage and benefits. Both sides would tell you that the rewards of doing that aren't worth the risks or the cost.
If we could somehow bring about greater rewards for good-faith participation (working hard → a very high likelihood of affording a moderately nice lifestyle), I think a lot of cynicism would be outcompeted by more cooperative attitudes. Obviously I'd already be President of the World if I knew how to just make that happen, though.
That’s why the US was higher trust when uneducated people could get well paying factory jobs
Makes me wonder how you could apply this to social media.
What if you had a social media site where you could only see the same set of people? (Say, 150 people - Dunbar's number)
This isn't perfect by any means, but how would you fix it from there? Would you make it mix the population every few months? Maybe just comments/reactions are restricted to your cohort but you can see all posts? Would you mix the population based on some kind of score? Could that score be multi-dimensional?
It probably wouldn't work, because social media is voluntary. People can just reduce participation, or just leave, and find alternative ways to get whatever value they were getting from the social media site. Users stay because it's fun, or because their friends are staying (network effect); your proposed interventions would both frustrate the users and weaken or destroy the "glue" that keeps them coming back.
In contrast, those natural social networks of yore - tribes, villages - were all-encompassing, and you were stuck with them. The modern social networks that are strong - school, university, work - also have this strong "like it or not, I'm stuck here with this people" component. Sure, it's easier to change a job than a tribe, but it's still costly.
Adding a comment so this stands out. It's the game of Nicky's I come back to the most. A very interesting look into the game theory of trust.
Also liked the Parable of the Polygons about the shape of society: https://ncase.me/polygons
Hell, they are all great!
She has a bunch of really though provoking web mini games.
I always remember "parable of the polygons"
Everything seems fresh, though this door one was 2015.
I also really like "We Are What We Behold"[0], Nicky's projects are always clever and thought-provoking.
I love this game and think it is one of the most important things on the internet, but I hate the consequence. The intended message is great: cooperate and forgive so that you can live in a great society. The corollary is absolutely awful... If you let defectors win, you are responsible for creating the defection.
Indeed! It's awful, but all-too-true. Those who enable the bullies can be as bad for the group as the bullies themselves. Cultivating, protecting, and maintaining a peaceful and trustful society is an active effort, not a passive one.
“First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me”
—Martin Niemöller
I think game theory is really cool and all, but I'm not sure it actually has much relevance for analyzing human behavior. It is always taught in that way, to simplify it for undergrads, but the mathematical concepts, I think, are significantly more important than the "ethical" questions.
This one reminded me that this is a well-studied problem. It turns out cooperation is nearly optimal [1]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Evolution_of_Cooperation
I liked playing this game! The art style, animations, and overall messages were a really good experience! I look forward to sharing this with my friends later.
Thanks so much for sharing this, deeply impactful.
All of the games made by them are really awesome I highly recommend
More about the prisoners dilemma it seems.
This was awesome, thank you for linking.
The message at the end was cute, but playing this was infuriating. :(
It took me like 20 tries just to get past the first panel, because it was buzz with failure every time I got to the door after picking up the key. It took forever to realize the buzz was from the timer, because it always buzzed once I was already at the door, like the door was the wrong goal.
Then once I realized it's time-based, another 20 tries to do the second panel in a short enough time. The third panel was easy, though.
So something seems to be miscalibrated. (Macbook Air M1 on Chrome, and it's not like I've got a slow key repeat configured or anything.) I get that it's trying to force you to take the shortest distance, but playing this made me incredibly angry because it felt like it was unwinnable. And when I finally did succeed on the first and second panels, it felt random -- maybe it gave me extra time or something? It's not like I got any "better" at it.
Huh, I didn't have sound enabled (or didn't get any buzzing) and all doors were readily unlocked on my first attempt.
Have you tried upgrading your M1 processor to an AMD Ryzen? /s (sarcastic, but with love)
The first panel where you literally only have to go backward then forward?
There was a ton of time for me. Either something odd with your computer, or developer's timing algorithm doesn't work the same on all machines.
I'm going to guess the timing algorithm has something wonky. Because no, not enough time to go backwards then forwards.
I assume you meant to reply to the same person I replied to.
I struggled with the second one, but I assumed it was just because I have low DEX
Best thing I clicked today! Love it! I somehow expected "adding your personal message" to generate a level that would trace out my custom message though.
I assumed the same. It was fun though!
Just when you are thoroughly resigned to the fact that humanity is just terrible, and that a large asteroid would be just the thing the planet needs, someone comes along and puts something out into the world that is just nice and beautiful.
Well, shit.
And THANK YOU!
This is the link I am most happy I pressed today. Thank you for making this.
For some reason I assumed it was to do with https://ncases.com/ - it's unrelated!
Nicky Case has been doing these interactive experiences for quite a while, I love every single one of them
I was also wondering why an SFF PC case manufacturer was making minigames
Oh wow, I hadn't realized that the M1 EVO had an order form already. So tempting.
I guess there is no way to play on mobile?
Was finally able to play it on a desktop. Maybe having a finger moveable joystick widget would give you an equal experience on mobile.
This is real best of the web stuff.
I am showing this to kids at the game programming hobby group today. This is hilarious. I mean all of Nick's creations are dope, but this one caught me by surprise. :-)
Clicked for a new Mini-ITX case in the shape of a cute door(?), stayed for the kind message <3
I did it wrong! In the middle one, I didn't make a heart -- I went to and fro both on the left side, so it ended up looking more like a backwards question mark than a heart!
This was cute. It reminded me of The Looker, a parody of The Witness. It's available free on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1985690/The_Looker/
What are some other amazing sites with handcrafted experiences, similar to ncase.me and ciechanow.ski?
Check out https://neal.fun!
Okay, you got me.
ya, me too. Nice job.
I don't understand how to play, I seem to lose right after I get the key every time..
If it's the second frame of the three-panel strip, then, as another commenter hints, the trick is not to double back. You must complete a circuit around the map. I got frustrated and quit long before trying this until reading that comment, but it (arguably) pays off.
It's the first frame, I read the comments and still I don't understand. The game is too stressful for me, I give up haha
or before I get the key, or as I get the key...
I don't play video games at all so playing a game where I have to figure out the goal. Ugh.
love it. although I thought putting my own message in at the end was going to build a map that created that message. that would be next level!
I thought the same, I even tried accessing it in guest mode, ahaha. I wonder how complex it would be to extend to custom paths, maybe create predefined paths for some ASCII characters... maybe chatGPT helps me with that <laughs>
I have no clue what's going on here.
Why do people create these things and assume everyone will know what's happening.
If you're talking about the game itself - because keys and doors are pretty universally understood symbols.
If you're talking about the ending (no spoilers) - those symbols are also widely understood among the target audience of HN.
When I first went there, there was no key. I just went there now and saw the key. Don't know what happened before but now I get it.
Am I going crazy or were many of these exact comments posted the last time this was linked?
When was that?
It's shockingly not in the archives, so 'dang might have changed the date on an old submission, as he sometimes does for "second chance" (and that updated comment timestamps also, annoyingly).
https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
I feel like I've seen this happen on HN as well. I assumed I was going crazy but I'm glad to hear somebody else has seen this too.
Sometimes posts are merged, but dang usually posts when he does it, maybe he forgot?
The art style reminds me of some classic games/animations from Newgrounds. Forgot what they were called. Pretty violent and heavy on social commentary, so it's a bit of a shock to see that style used in such an opposite way!
It is very similar to the old newgrounds series :the game:, made by Nutcasenightmare. Because Nicky Case is Nutcasenightmare
That's the one!
I think you mean the Madness series? Nick Case here was part of the same Newgrounds zeitgeist that originated it, so good catch.
I AM TRYING TO WORK RIGHT NOW
I thought the custom message would generate a custom level that replayed those letters lol
Awesome! Loved it!
I want to send this to more people, but I know some of them don't have access to keyboards. It would be great if people could play it on phones and touch screen devices as well :D
I found out about this today; coincidentally, it was also my wife's birthday. Used it to wish her a surprise.
In the end, the expression on her face was totally worth it. Thank you for making amazing interactive games as always!
This reminds me of early days of internet when flash was starting to gain a foothold. We had so many neat things like this appearing everywhere. Surprises after surprises. Nowadays the internet is really tame compared to that.
circular based design, a mission to find a key (answer), with time constraints, and the ending message (subjective/objective)... this is a work of spiritual art!
Well done! You got me!
It appears I succeeded incorrectly, and "I C U".
That's one way to make me blush while at work haha
Love that!
Cute!
Mine said, "I 9 U!"
But I see what they were trying to get me to do, cute.
This is the best start of the morning!
This is awesome
Good stuff, spirit of the original web.
Lol, thanks Nicky Case, I needed that
It's a knotA(door)able for me.
clever! I was genuinely surprised!
oh gosh this was so great. thank you!!!! you are awesome for putting this together.
Beautiful little gem. Bravo.
Thank you
awww!
addiction level over 9000
That's so fun! :D
This made my day
This is amazing!!
Very cute :)
Aable?
wow. so simple but fun!
aw. ♥
It's very coercive, and therefore insincere.
You will let me love you!
Not if you think of it as revealing the sender's message, not writing your own.