A little bit over a month ago, Ruckingenur II hit Hackaday. Since then, I’ve had over 6000 downloads. Many of you have called out for more levels, which take a great deal of time to make. Others have called for me to create a level editor, something that I wasn’t entirely comfortable with, as I prefer to create games, not tools. As semi-detailed in the previous post, I’ve toyed around with the idea of making more Ruckingenur, but kept on coming up short. A flash of insight today, however, changed my thinking. Introducing…

(That’s the last flashing LED GIF – I promise!)

So here’s the deal:

Phase One

• You design a puzzle for Ruckingenur.
• All puzzle designs must be in on or before October 15th, 2008. (That’s two weeks from today, for those of you who don’t know what day it is.)
• You do not code anything, nor do you create any game art. This is purely design of the puzzle.
• You may submit as many entries as you want.
• If I receive fifteen (15) or more complete submissions, I will make a special version of Ruckingenur capable of playing levels created with the included level editor.
• The author of the best submission will win a Ruckingenur prize pack, most likely filled with electronics related prizes!

• Submissions may be emailed to me at zachbarth@gmail.com

Design Requirements

• Your submissions should include the following:
  • A short description of the puzzle, including an objective.
  • A semi-detailed description of the internal state, i.e. how the device works. It’s a good idea to think of your device as a state machine.
  • A short description of a possible solution. More solutions make for a better puzzle.
  • A list of all test points, describing:
    • How their voltages are determined.
    • How pulsing them high and low effects the state of the device.
    • How they respond to serial data, and when they emit serial data.
  • What registers are available if the test point corresponds to a debug pin on a chip, and how their values are generated and affect the device state.
  • Some sort of quick drawing (mspaint is fine) detailing the layout of all components and interface items.
• A list of any special art or rendering your puzzle would need. Assume that the level editor will include common components like chips, LEDs, switches, and displays and tools to draw common things like circuit boards and tracks between components.
• I suggest you play through Ruckingenur II again, paying attention to these details in the puzzles.
• A good puzzle shouldn’t let a player get stuck in a loop of unsolvability, where they’ve done something preventing them from solving the puzzle, yet are unaware that they are stuck because of it.

• A good puzzle shouldn’t require a player to use trial and error to solve the puzzle.

Phase Two

• After I finish the level editor, I will release it to the public. There’s a good chance that people who submitted an entry in Phase One will receive it earlier than those who didn’t.
• You create a level. While you won’t have to create any artwork, you will have to program the implementation (most likely in Python Lua, something you should look into if you’re interested in this).
• If you intend to create a level, you should really submit the design in Phase One. This will help me judge what functionality is needed in the level editor and ensure that it can create puzzles with sufficient richness and depth.
• You send me your level. I will work with everyone who submits a level to make sure that all the levels fit together coherently and with a uniform implementation of the mechanics. While I worry that this may seem authoritarian to some people, that’s really not my intention – I just want to make sure that, because of the uniqueness of Ruckingenur puzzles, everyone’s puzzles fit together.
• After collecting all the finished levels, I will sort them by difficulty and release a special Community Edition of Ruckingenur. Everyone who created a level will be gratuitously credited.
• Everyone wins!

• The author of the best puzzle might win something extra!

Constructive commentators are encouraged to leave constructive comments. If you have a question, ask it in the comments so everyone can see – I’ll answer it there. Otherwise, start working on those levels!