Ruckingenur II

Now available: Ruckingenur II, the latest game in my Games for Engineers series!

In the style of the first Ruckingenur, Ruckingenur II is a game of β€œrock and roll” reverse engineering of electrical circuits. Unlike the first Ruckingenur, Ruckingenur II is a full game, complete with multiple levels, a soundtrack, and live-action video sequences. Help can be found inside the game. Download link below!

Download Ruckingenur II (38 MB)

It’s worth mentioning that this requires Windows (or something compatible) to play, along with the .NET 2.0 Framework. You should also have the sound on!

166 Comments to Ruckingenur II

  1. Jay's Gravatar Jay
    August 25, 2008 at 12:25 pm | Permalink

    /!\Spoiler/!\ Awesome game,i’ve passed first 3 levels in like..10 min and now im out of time to finish understanding that damn bomb…nice game,in line with the greatest just like uplink,we love game out of the common,congrats!

  2. james's Gravatar james
    August 25, 2008 at 12:36 pm | Permalink

    well ive blown myself up 20 times so far lol

  3. Joshua's Gravatar Joshua
    August 25, 2008 at 1:12 pm | Permalink

    It took me about 7 tries to beat the bomb at the end, not counting accidentally pulsing the detonator because my mouse jumped and grabbed the wrong point. So… Yeah, amazing game. I can’t wait for more.

  4. Zach's Gravatar Zach
    August 25, 2008 at 1:27 pm | Permalink

    Thanks for the comments! If you liked Ruckingenur II, I’d suggest giving Manufactoid a try – it’s about factory automation, and is my second favorite of the "Games for Engineers" games.

  5. Chris's Gravatar Chris
    August 25, 2008 at 1:51 pm | Permalink

    I need more. I’m already finished.

  6. JUSTSOMEGUY's Gravatar JUSTSOMEGUY
    August 25, 2008 at 1:51 pm | Permalink

    Congrats You have finished episode 1….. ohhhh where is 2

  7. Sean's Gravatar Sean
    August 25, 2008 at 2:12 pm | Permalink

    (Ruckingenur II): This is a brilliant game! Well done! If there was some sort of mission-builder, I’d already be making challenges for my friends.

  8. Max's Gravatar Max
    August 25, 2008 at 2:25 pm | Permalink

    Great game! Id wish in real life everything had such a debug pin…

  9. DrV's Gravatar DrV
    August 25, 2008 at 2:31 pm | Permalink

    I get a crash in the first mission if I put the debug interface on the terminal between the left chip and the buzzer and click on the debug interface area…

  10. Zach's Gravatar Zach
    August 25, 2008 at 2:39 pm | Permalink

    plaes: I’ve never fooled around with Mono, but it should be feasible (I’m using SDL). I’ll check it out when I get home. DrV: Don’t do that then! =P

  11. Zach's Gravatar Zach
    August 25, 2008 at 2:43 pm | Permalink

    vector1: I tried running it on a Server 2008 install and hit the same problem. To the best of my knowledge, it’s a problem with SDL.NET, but I wasn’t able to find much. I’ll look into it further. I’m not sure if it also happens on 32 bit operating systems. Thanks for the heads up!

  12. PRJ's Gravatar PRJ
    August 25, 2008 at 2:45 pm | Permalink

    Cool game! That bomb totally stressed me out but I managed to figure it out after a while. I ran the game through Wine. Just installed mono for windows and then it ran just fine.

  13. Chupame's Gravatar Chupame
    August 25, 2008 at 2:50 pm | Permalink

    Great game! Just beat it twice. Can’t wait for the next episode.

  14. Conker's Gravatar Conker
    August 25, 2008 at 3:41 pm | Permalink

    MUAHAHA Relly cool game, thank you (the riddles were nice, but nothin’ too difficult :-D)

  15. August 25, 2008 at 3:49 pm | Permalink

    AWESOME Game ! Zach: I’m not a big game player, but that’s the BEST game I’ve ever played ! Really. Very original, a bit stressful with the bomb πŸ™‚ It reminds me a bit that game called “Life & Death” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_&_Death) which was a medical computer game. Now Zach, we are definitely waiting for the next episodes πŸ™‚ Thanks ! — Fabien

  16. Jonas's Gravatar Jonas
    August 25, 2008 at 3:50 pm | Permalink

    thats awesome! (ran it with vmware because windows xp x64 didn’t let me play) how can i donate xD

  17. Reco's Gravatar Reco
    August 25, 2008 at 4:43 pm | Permalink

    Lol im stuck on mission 3 there a guide?

  18. Faust's Gravatar Faust
    August 25, 2008 at 4:51 pm | Permalink

    error. failed to initialize. any help

  19. Brendan's Gravatar Brendan
    August 25, 2008 at 4:51 pm | Permalink

    Downloaded and installed fine, but when I tried to execute the Start Menu shortcut, I immediately get an error: RuckingenurTwo.exe – Unable To Locate Component This application has failed to start because mscoree.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem. Already tried to install again – same issue. Will try reboot next. Any suggestions?

  20. Zach's Gravatar Zach
    August 25, 2008 at 5:18 pm | Permalink

    Brendan and Faust: Try installing / reinstalling the .NET 2.0 framework – there’s a link to it above, after the download link for the game. The game has also been known to crash on 64 bit operating systems.

  21. Sparr's Gravatar Sparr
    August 25, 2008 at 5:36 pm | Permalink

    .Net 2.0, really? I’ll try getting this to run in wine, but my hopes are not high.

  22. Danny's Gravatar Danny
    August 25, 2008 at 5:47 pm | Permalink

    hey zach maybe you can help me out with ruckingenur part 1. the window size is too small and i cant all of the screen. i tried maximizing but no luck, any help would be great…

  23. Zach's Gravatar Zach
    August 25, 2008 at 5:51 pm | Permalink

    Sparr: If you scroll up to PRJ’s comment, he claims that it ran fine in wine. Good luck? Danny: Try increasing your desktop resolution? Not quite sure what you mean.

  24. Danny's Gravatar Danny
    August 25, 2008 at 6:56 pm | Permalink

    posted screens on part 1..

  25. Bjonnh's Gravatar Bjonnh
    August 25, 2008 at 7:34 pm | Permalink

    I’m craving for a linux version …

  26. Bjonnh's Gravatar Bjonnh
    August 25, 2008 at 8:52 pm | Permalink

    Got it to run with Wine and Mono. Really nice ! But a little bit short :p

  27. Rey's Gravatar Rey
    August 25, 2008 at 10:03 pm | Permalink

    Great game. Cann’t wait for the next one.

  28. aspartame's Gravatar aspartame
    August 25, 2008 at 10:04 pm | Permalink

    just finished it. best SE/EE game ever! great style & play! we need Ruckingenur III πŸ˜›

  29. Frank's Gravatar Frank
    August 25, 2008 at 10:12 pm | Permalink

    This is the best game, ever! What a fun challenge! I’d pay money for computer games like this. What kind of schedule do you have for new episodes? I hope it’s as often as possible, because I’m absolutely hooked! Excellent work.

  30. Hazrd's Gravatar Hazrd
    August 25, 2008 at 10:43 pm | Permalink

    I almost jumped out of my chair the first time I disarmed the bomb. I was ecstatic. I humbly await the "RuckII: Ep. 2" arrival.

  31. jeremy's Gravatar jeremy
    August 26, 2008 at 3:20 am | Permalink

    This game is awesome. I would absolutely have paid for it. I am eagerly waiting the next installment; perhaps a level editor is in order (please!) πŸ™‚

  32. mahatma's Gravatar mahatma
    August 26, 2008 at 5:38 am | Permalink

    Good idea, but far too less challenge (really obvious solutions), beat the whole game in like 10 minutes (got blown up a few times though).

  33. Nietz's Gravatar Nietz
    August 26, 2008 at 5:43 am | Permalink

    Great Game… i want to play the next episode!!!

  34. cyn's Gravatar cyn
    August 26, 2008 at 7:49 am | Permalink

    great game – looking forward to III

  35. Bonk's Gravatar Bonk
    August 26, 2008 at 8:34 am | Permalink

    Very good. Was a lot of fun, for 15minutes.

  36. Pat's Gravatar Pat
    August 26, 2008 at 2:39 pm | Permalink

    Very good game! I’m an economist and I could find out the challenges within 10 minutes each. Only bug: no local keyboard support. I’m typing AZERTY and the output in the game is always QUERTY

  37. patrick's Gravatar patrick
    August 26, 2008 at 3:31 pm | Permalink

    I enjoyed the game alot, I just wish there were more levels.

  38. fred's Gravatar fred
    August 26, 2008 at 3:34 pm | Permalink

    You might consider putting in some sort of disclaimer or warning so people don’t try to “override voltages” in the real world.

  39. lucas's Gravatar lucas
    August 26, 2008 at 4:45 pm | Permalink

    the BEST game ever

  40. jeff's Gravatar jeff
    August 26, 2008 at 4:56 pm | Permalink

    Nice game, pity it was so short though. The last level with the bomb actually took a small amount of thinking (the rest were kind of obvious, but still fun) Can’t wait for v 3 (or a level editor so people can make there own)

  41. Tiago's Gravatar Tiago
    August 26, 2008 at 6:08 pm | Permalink

    Thanks for these great games. I really enjoy it πŸ™‚ Greats from Portugal

  42. draeath's Gravatar draeath
    August 26, 2008 at 9:22 pm | Permalink

    This is awesome. My only annoyance: Numpad entry does not work. I have a blank keyboard and I NEVER use the numbers above the letter portion of the keyboard, but I can 10-key (with letters with my left hand) very quickly. I just can’t type fast enough to win! Enable numpad entry and I’ll beat a record ;D

  43. 0x5f5E0FF's Gravatar 0x5f5E0FF
    August 26, 2008 at 10:30 pm | Permalink

    Guess my name πŸ˜‰

  44. FyberOptic's Gravatar FyberOptic
    August 27, 2008 at 3:53 am | Permalink

    Hey, I just wanted to say that this was a really fun game. I’ve never played anything like it. Just a shame it’s so short! I hope you do more missions soon.

  45. Pastus's Gravatar Pastus
    August 27, 2008 at 6:29 am | Permalink

    What can I say… VERI NICE GAME!!!! I will wait for the next

  46. b00n's Gravatar b00n
    August 27, 2008 at 6:43 am | Permalink

    hey.. great game. I like it. i need ~60min to complete all 4 levels. Hope next episode coming soon. ah.. and for me that game running fine under Debian Linux and wine with mono installed. good job zach

  47. is0lated's Gravatar is0lated
    August 27, 2008 at 7:54 am | Permalink

    This game is amazing. The only thing that would make it better would be more levels. Oh well, I can’t wait for the next episode.

  48. novajeeper's Gravatar novajeeper
    August 27, 2008 at 8:40 am | Permalink

    great game! cant wait for the next episode!!

  49. Cryogenix's Gravatar Cryogenix
    August 27, 2008 at 8:42 am | Permalink

    Excellent game, thanks!

  50. dan's Gravatar dan
    August 27, 2008 at 10:58 am | Permalink

    Awesom game, I love it!!!!!!! Please keep going man,I’m waiting for another episode with a lot of new levels πŸ˜‰ Thanks for all the work you put in these games.

  51. konrads's Gravatar konrads
    August 27, 2008 at 12:30 pm | Permalink

    Awesome! A bit short and easy for me though. Eagerly waiting for new episode!

  52. R4NDOM's Gravatar R4NDOM
    August 27, 2008 at 2:55 pm | Permalink

    I am on level 2. Can someone let me know if the red cross on the handle of the rifle (just above and to the right of the trigger) means anything? I can’t get anything to work, but seems odd that it’s there. Thanks.

  53. b00n's Gravatar b00n
    August 27, 2008 at 3:22 pm | Permalink

    @R4NDOM no the red cross is not important to complete this level. more important is the finger print reader

  54. jistanidiot's Gravatar jistanidiot
    August 27, 2008 at 6:59 pm | Permalink

    I can confirm this crashes on 64-bit vista. Wine is not an option for me. I’ve installed .net 3.5 (2.0 claims it won’t work on Vista). What else can I try?

  55. Spork's Gravatar Spork
    August 27, 2008 at 7:34 pm | Permalink

    Awesome game! Needs more levels, but still very very fun.

  56. David's Gravatar David
    August 28, 2008 at 5:27 am | Permalink

    I actually finished this first then went to episode one. Both are great games and I’m eagerly awaiting episode 3. I did encounter one small bug in this one (R II) in the last mission. If I end up blowing myself up and then relaunch the mission, sometimes I am unable to move the probes and I need to relaunch the mission to reactivate them. The time to deactivate the bomb is a little bit tight if you are using a laptop joystick (wee button in centre of keyboard) as it is hard to move and select but it can be done with a normal external mouse ok. Sorry if that’s a little vague but I don’t want to give the game away and I hope those who have done it know what I mean. Thoroughly enjoyable game though. Many thanks for publishing it for us.

  57. Nathan's Gravatar Nathan
    August 28, 2008 at 7:26 am | Permalink

    I LOVE the game, just the kind of game i needed to exercise my mind after playing too much cod4. Completed it no probs, know exactly what you mean David, but without spoiling it for people, i found another way to defuse the bomb where you don’t need to rush as much πŸ™‚ Can’t wait for more. YOUR A LEGEND!!! Im now in the process of playing manufactoid πŸ™‚

  58. Steve's Gravatar Steve
    August 28, 2008 at 11:36 am | Permalink

    Fantastic game!!! The actor playing in the cutscene is ready for the Oscars… lol

  59. August 28, 2008 at 8:56 pm | Permalink

    Very nice. But very short. Only the last mission took several trys. I wasn’t fast enough πŸ˜‰ I installed it on an Vista 32Bit version. It ran, but sometimes the programm crashes. Don’t know why. Give us more missions!!!!!

  60. majklcze's Gravatar majklcze
    August 29, 2008 at 4:46 am | Permalink

    Game doesnt start and crashes at Windows XP PRO 64bit how to fix it?

  61. Filipe YaBa Polido's Gravatar Filipe YaBa Polido
    August 29, 2008 at 7:08 am | Permalink

    WONDERFULL!!!! loved it πŸ™‚ Please continue, or publish the source so that we can make new levels πŸ™‚ 4 is just NOT ENOUGH πŸ˜› πŸ˜› (And make some option to remove the nag movies) Greetz from Portugal Keep up the good work

  62. Agent D00nut's Gravatar Agent D00nut
    August 29, 2008 at 12:56 pm | Permalink

    This game was awesome, i can’t wait for more levels. I thought it would be kind of cool if you could some how incorporate soldering wires or other stuff like that, and a level editor would be awesome. I loved the videos before each mission, although a way to skip them would be nice *had to watch the bomb one a few times* This is a n00b question but i can’t help but ask, is there really something like the “hypermeter” though, where you can see the values of the registers on chips? Anyways, the games on this site are awesome, playing silicon foundry right now =p

  63. Zach's Gravatar Zach
    August 29, 2008 at 2:42 pm | Permalink

    There’s a protocol called JTAG that’s used for testing, debugging, and programming IC chips. That, along with protocols like I2C that allow you to read and write control registers, served as the inspiration for the debug interface.

  64. August 29, 2008 at 5:07 pm | Permalink

    AWESOME GAME – first three levels were fun, the last one took me forever, but so rewarding once i got it!!

  65. Mark's Gravatar Mark
    August 30, 2008 at 3:25 pm | Permalink

    Absolutely fantastic game. Perfectly captures the spirit of reverse engineering. keep up the good work!

  66. ApacheChef's Gravatar ApacheChef
    August 30, 2008 at 6:59 pm | Permalink

    I had more fun playing this game than anything I’ve played in a long while! Thanks a ton! I’m going to try the first installment of the game and Manufatoid. Makes me want to buckle down and get more proficient with C#.

  67. Zed's Gravatar Zed
    August 30, 2008 at 11:55 pm | Permalink

    Really, this game was a blast. Out of curiosity, what inspired you to make this? How long did it take? Anything specifically difficult in making it?

  68. Zach's Gravatar Zach
    August 31, 2008 at 1:19 am | Permalink

    Zed: Inspiration? I’m not sure. One of what I consider to be the core mechanics of Ruckingenur, the debug register system, is something that I came up with a long time ago, probably from learning about something similar with electronics or computers. I vaguely remember coding up a game prototype in Visual Basic years ago that involved hacking an electronic sign and a microwave by writing to registers. Between another game prototype and Ruckingenur I, I was able to refine the mechanics a bit, resulting in Ruckingenur II. When I finally got down to working on Ruckingenur II, it took me about two months. I created a bit more content than you can see in R2E1, and meandered a little bit during the whole creation process. The hardest part of making R2 was figuring out how to end the game. As I’ve stated elsewhere, I planned for and designed more levels than are featured, but failed to make the last three what I wanted. After struggling with them for at least two weeks, I figured out the solution to my problem – release what I had finished up to that point as Episode One, see how it went over, and then if deemed a success (holy crap yes!) make more. I’m also not very good at art or acting, but those were slightly mitigated by using super-pixelated art and putting captions on the videos instead of talking.

  69. ZeXr0's Gravatar ZeXr0
    September 1, 2008 at 5:22 pm | Permalink

    Level one keep craching when pressing on the screen to edit the register. But I manage to finish the game πŸ˜› Pretty Neat

  70. September 1, 2008 at 8:55 pm | Permalink

    I’m not sure if this is a good thing, but I just finished it in under half an hour… with no knowledge of circuitry or really how any of the chips work xD Now, admittedly the town was blown up 4-7 times, but hey! They should have gotten a professional! The main reason I found it easy in the end was that I realized how to reset the timer on the bomb – that felt like a glitch. Like ZeXr0 I had it crash on level one when I clicked on the screen to edit the registers. I’m on 32 bit Vista Home Premium, .Net 3.0 I believe.

  71. NyQuist's Gravatar NyQuist
    September 3, 2008 at 3:24 pm | Permalink

    The Best GAME EVER… Make me want to learn about how circuitry and chips work Can’t wait for more mission lol

  72. Zed's Gravatar Zed
    September 6, 2008 at 11:46 am | Permalink

    Thanks for the info. I look forward to the next game. Would be cool to see some recording of statistics so you can compare with friends. (Time until completion, failed attempts, etc.)

  73. Tomas's Gravatar Tomas
    September 10, 2008 at 7:18 am | Permalink

    Game is brilliant! Thanks from Spain.

  74. MrX_TLO's Gravatar MrX_TLO
    September 13, 2008 at 5:26 am | Permalink

    BUG – can’t use probes on respawn after the bomb goes off SYSTEM – XP service pack 3, all updates, Logitech TrackMan Wheel (trackball) FIX – hit ESCAPE back to mission select & reenter bomb level and it works Great game, reminds me of the old C64/Amiga days! πŸ™‚

  75. tynet1's Gravatar tynet1
    September 17, 2008 at 4:05 am | Permalink

    can someone give me a hint and mission 4 i know it has something to do with the pulseator thing but confused on the rest

  76. Bob's Gravatar Bob
    September 22, 2008 at 7:07 pm | Permalink

    How do you beat the decoder? The third mission

  77. Gerg's Gravatar Gerg
    September 23, 2008 at 8:10 am | Permalink

    What package should I apt-get to open a .exe file?

  78. Jon's Gravatar Jon
    September 23, 2008 at 3:58 pm | Permalink

    Awesome game! I’m stuck on mission 2, though. I can get read the code for a thumbprint that would be accepted, but I can’t figure out how to change one, since the registers are all read-only.

  79. dick's Gravatar dick
    September 23, 2008 at 9:30 pm | Permalink

    I think if you run a pulse through one of the contacts it changes the value to RW so you can write the needed value. To answer the above questions about Mission 2. Now if someone could help me with mission 3 πŸ™

  80. Jon's Gravatar Jon
    September 24, 2008 at 6:26 am | Permalink

    I actually managed to work through mission 2 and 3 on my own without looking back here again. πŸ™‚ 3 ends up being fairly simple. From the paper copy of the encrypted message, you can see it came on a certain date. You can also see the encryption chip on the receiver has a certain date set on it…

  81. Nate's Gravatar Nate
    September 24, 2008 at 8:40 am | Permalink

    Great work. i lost at least 16 hours of work this week due to your various games. I think this one has a great feel, including the pixelated movies and such.

  82. Jon's Gravatar Jon
    September 24, 2008 at 9:04 am | Permalink

    OK, I desperately need a hint on mission 4… I can get the timer to reset itself, and I can see where I need to go to enter the keycodes, but the challenge code is set to all 0s! How do I get it to accept responses?

  83. tynet1's Gravatar tynet1
    September 24, 2008 at 9:03 pm | Permalink

    for mission 3 you have to change the number to the number on the paper then you type whats on the paper

  84. tynet1's Gravatar tynet1
    September 24, 2008 at 9:05 pm | Permalink

    for mission 4 you have to change the number under the reset to 0000000000 and the challenge code appears then typein the coorisponding code uuse the pulsator to reset the timer on rmdc1

  85. acidflash's Gravatar acidflash
    September 30, 2008 at 8:11 am | Permalink

    level editor / creator PLEASE! You could have a whole section of approved plug in levels πŸ™‚ I know my wallet is ready to open. This game is soo much fun.. Donations?

  86. Black_Angel's Gravatar Black_Angel
    October 2, 2008 at 12:38 am | Permalink

    Great game. I spent the better part of a chemistry lecture beating it. I think it really represents what electronics and reverse engineering is about. I need Episode 2! NOW! (just kidding, not really)

  87. chowdaz's Gravatar chowdaz
    October 2, 2008 at 9:48 am | Permalink

    For those having problems with the game crashing. For me the issue was that there was no sound device. I run XP 64bit and Vista Home 32bit in virtual machines and hadn’t installed a sound device yet. Once I installed one it worked on Vista 32bit (still crashed on XP 64bit). Hope this helps a little.

  88. Kostantinos's Gravatar Kostantinos
    October 2, 2008 at 3:27 pm | Permalink

    Get me Macgyver on the phone NOW!!! πŸ™‚ Awesome game … Well done!!

  89. denkbert's Gravatar denkbert
    October 2, 2008 at 5:23 pm | Permalink

    Thank you very much for this very cool game πŸ™‚ You should really think about putting a Paypal donations button on your webpage. I wouldn’t mind spending some bucks on this and I’m pretty sure some of the others are thinking the same way πŸ™‚

  90. Andrew's Gravatar Andrew
    October 3, 2008 at 2:12 am | Permalink

    Geez! I Loved it! I will admit it took my about 2 1/2 hours to do – mostly because of #3. I kept entering in 2009 by mistake! Duh!

  91. mark's Gravatar mark
    October 3, 2008 at 1:54 pm | Permalink

    I am on level 3 and I’ve decrypted the messafe, numerous times, but it doesn’t end the level. Is there more to te message than the nuetron bomb thing???

  92. Ivan Koretsky's Gravatar Ivan Koretsky
    October 3, 2008 at 5:41 pm | Permalink

    Thanks for the game just got pasted the bomb. Although I blew up about 30 times. Totally fun game. I can’t wait for the next episode!!!!!!!!! Is there a mailing list I can get on to notify when/if it comes out. Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!

  93. Zach's Gravatar Zach
    October 3, 2008 at 7:58 pm | Permalink

    Ivan: There’s a section under the tag-map with a button that says something about subscribing to a newsletter. Click that!

  94. Kickem's Gravatar Kickem
    October 4, 2008 at 5:50 am | Permalink

    Great little game, the bomb was really stressfull πŸ˜€

  95. TNTC's Gravatar TNTC
    October 4, 2008 at 3:01 pm | Permalink

    Holy cow! This game is awesome. I got last level on the fourth or fifth try. Excellent work on this game, absolutely excellent. I’m going to send it out to my family. MORE LEVELS PLEASE!

  96. Myself's Gravatar Myself
    October 4, 2008 at 8:12 pm | Permalink

    Somebody set up us the bomb. This brings back good memories from the days of Commodore 64 gaming. That’s a good thing.

  97. October 14, 2008 at 5:41 pm | Permalink

    Great idea, oldschool feeling – that 8bit videos πŸ˜€ However, there is still no challenge… like 30 minutes of fun, if you bother to replay the missions just to see how fast you can do it πŸ™‚ Anyway I’m waiting for more episodes πŸ™‚

  98. November 6, 2008 at 11:16 am | Permalink

    Best game ever, seriously.
    I had init problems with .Net 2.0 linked above, with .Net 3.5 works fine

  99. aliendrone's Gravatar aliendrone
    December 31, 2008 at 5:44 pm | Permalink

    Great game, can’t seem to do the bomb. Maybe I’m just not fast enough. Oh well, I still think it’s a great game. Can’t wait to see the next. Just one thing. Please, no time limit style challenges. They make for a good game, but can be Incredibly Infuriating. But still, can’t wait. Keep up the good work.

  100. TedStudley's Gravatar TedStudley
    January 6, 2009 at 2:28 pm | Permalink

    This is PURE GENIUS! I can’t wait for more!

  101. aliendrone's Gravatar aliendrone
    January 8, 2009 at 3:40 pm | Permalink

    If you liked this, check out the level editor. You can build your own levels. It requires some simple scripting, but that’s paltry to the satisfaction one gets from stumping your friends with your own levels. And even better then that, Zach plans on coming out with a community edition, with user built levels. Can’t wait.

  102. Sharpo's Gravatar Sharpo
    January 11, 2009 at 3:07 am | Permalink

    The game crashes always I try to load mission 2 =(

  103. January 15, 2009 at 11:15 am | Permalink

    Love this game. Even if i do not know anything about electrics and this stuff i managed to beat the first level XD The only problem i got was that the game windows was to big for my 1024×768 notebook display. Didn’t found a option or anything similiar to make it little bit smaller.

  104. asdf's Gravatar asdf
    January 19, 2009 at 2:53 pm | Permalink

    Great game….. Stuck at the bomb though…. =ΓΎ

  105. asdf's Gravatar asdf
    January 19, 2009 at 2:57 pm | Permalink

    OK, figured it out! XD
    again, awesome game!!! GREAT WORK… Can’t wait for episode 2!
    Thank you

  106. Mike's Gravatar Mike
    January 20, 2009 at 9:15 am | Permalink

    any way to get it to work on vista ultimate 64? just insto crash πŸ™

  107. Mitchell Robinson's Gravatar Mitchell Robinson
    January 27, 2009 at 1:15 am | Permalink

    This needs WAY WAY !WAY! better instructions. I dont understand anything, but i got level 1 to work, yeah, ONE!

  108. me's Gravatar me
    January 29, 2009 at 7:05 am | Permalink

    AWESOME!!!!
    got it in half an hour all by my own and want more episodes!!!!

  109. b/tard's Gravatar b/tard
    February 1, 2009 at 11:17 pm | Permalink

    we need moar~

  110. February 11, 2009 at 12:58 pm | Permalink

    I’ve already finished!
    I need more!

  111. payjack's Gravatar payjack
    February 28, 2009 at 10:42 pm | Permalink

    I still wonder why most Americans won’t support the Numpad Keys?

  112. wilks1787s's Gravatar wilks1787s
    March 17, 2009 at 3:32 am | Permalink

    lol i feel worthless…i figured out missions 1-3 really easily…i couldnt figure the bomb out for anything…i know how to do it now but i didnt do it on my own =( lol this sucks! loved the game though

  113. Karasu's Gravatar Karasu
    March 27, 2009 at 8:12 am | Permalink

    Umm.. How do I connect the debug pin? I’ve tried putting it everywhere (yes, the red dot) and/or clicking the screen but nothing comes up or the game crashes.

  114. Karasu's Gravatar Karasu
    March 27, 2009 at 8:31 am | Permalink

    Nevermind – all levels were almost trivial to solve once i knew you had to place the pins on the pads. Very nice game!

  115. Johnw9661's Gravatar Johnw9661
    March 31, 2009 at 3:01 pm | Permalink

    Yeah, I’m getting the crash on 64-bit Vista. Damn, the first episode was fun, too.

  116. Ev3r_H4cK_M4rC0's Gravatar Ev3r_H4cK_M4rC0
    April 13, 2009 at 4:29 pm | Permalink

    someone could send me the solution of mission 3 for e-mail. because it’s the only one that can do No, the first and second I did in less than 10 minutes but the third is a day that I try but I can’t

  117. compsciguy's Gravatar compsciguy
    April 14, 2009 at 12:21 am | Permalink

    The messages are encrypted with a daily key. In other words, if I type in the same thing on two different days, they will come out totally different. The intercepted message wasn’t sent on the current day, so figure out how to make the thing _think_ it’s the day it was sent.

  118. Ev3r_H4cK_M4rC0's Gravatar Ev3r_H4cK_M4rC0
    April 14, 2009 at 6:37 am | Permalink

    the date is dd/mm/yyyy or mm/dd/yyyy? πŸ™‚

  119. compsciguy's Gravatar compsciguy
    April 14, 2009 at 6:26 pm | Permalink

    Why would that make a difference? All you have to do is put it in, in the same format as the current date.

  120. Blueation's Gravatar Blueation
    April 18, 2009 at 8:46 am | Permalink

    I just finished the game. at first I didn’t get how the game works, but after I found out I rushed trough level 1 and 2. level 3 was a little bit harder because the machine changed the putten in date back to the normal date the whole time. And the bomb… that one was really hard. I blew my self up 7 times before finding out how to get the challenge code and after that I blew myself up 8 times, because of my slow computer. and the 16th time I was quick enough to save myself, luckilly.

  121. Arcania's Gravatar Arcania
    April 29, 2009 at 9:45 pm | Permalink

    I’m downloading the installer, minding my own buisness, and them when I go to launch- BLAM! Right in my face, I get an error report claiming the installer is corrupt or incomplete.
    HeeEEeeEELLP!

  122. Zach's Gravatar Zach
    April 29, 2009 at 11:15 pm | Permalink

    Arcania: The source file is not corrupted, so try downloading again.

  123. Arcania's Gravatar Arcania
    May 3, 2009 at 1:47 pm | Permalink

    Nvm. The download shorted out, and for whatever reason it told me it was done.
    (God, this sounds retarded) Having trouble with level 2. please keep in mind that I am NOT an engineer. I know the ‘password’ fingerprints’ codes, and I know my fingerprint’s code. yet, I am unable to program it into anything, as all the values for the rifle controller are read-only. What am I doing wrong?

  124. zany's Gravatar zany
    May 21, 2009 at 2:40 am | Permalink

    i need a help with a mission 3 i dont known how to set diferent date. please help thank you

  125. compsciguy's Gravatar compsciguy
    May 21, 2009 at 1:22 pm | Permalink

    Arcania: You need to pulse one of the contacts. I won’t say which one.
    zany: There is a chip that has only one register, which conatins the current date. Use the serial tap on your board to access it and change the date.

  126. Blueation's Gravatar Blueation
    June 7, 2009 at 4:03 pm | Permalink

    is episode 2 on the way? I haven’t heart about it a long time…

  127. witnit's Gravatar witnit
    June 10, 2009 at 8:33 pm | Permalink

    What’s the name of the victory song? It’s awfully catchy.

  128. FinDude's Gravatar FinDude
    June 11, 2009 at 9:14 am | Permalink

    Holy crap.
    No any idea what I were doing yet still beat it.
    Only that bomb was proving hard, mainly because at first you only had limited time to fck around.
    Then I figured out resetting it, which greatly aids in trying different stuff.

  129. Fiach Antaw's Gravatar Fiach Antaw
    August 9, 2009 at 4:38 am | Permalink

    If you’re having trouble getting the game to run on 64-bit windows, try running the CorFlags utility on it with the /32BIT+ option. It seems that .NET is using the 64-bit CLR by default on the executable and throwing a BadImageFormatException when it runs into the 32-bit SdlDotNet library, probably because it uses P/Invoke and such.

  130. August 17, 2009 at 11:11 am | Permalink

    This game is AWESOME

  131. Naelwyn's Gravatar Naelwyn
    September 3, 2009 at 6:37 pm | Permalink

    Looked over at the comments after finishing. This was fun, but it didn’t last very long. I thought I was going to have a lot of trouble on the bomb level, but I got that after two tries. I’m having way more trouble on KOHCTPYKTOP since I have NO electrical / hardware knowledge. I should go comment over there as well. Nonetheless. The window size caused a few minor problems but was fixable. A LOT easier to pick up then some of the other games. Nonetheless, well done. I’ll try and rate and/or constructively criticise as I complete each game, though I’ll probably get some hangups on those that require background knowledge, since I’m trying to avoid looking at the comments, as they spoil a LOT.

  132. Miloss's Gravatar Miloss
    September 29, 2009 at 3:30 pm | Permalink

    Runs nice on Linux (wine + mono24 cca 500MB of wasted HDD space πŸ™ )
    There are some glitches, thought…
    a) canceling the 4th level with ESC, waΓ­ting >10 seconds and then clicking “exit” “wins” the round
    b) restarting 4th level sometimes fails (no probes and game is unresponsive to clicking, after final blow the game crashes)
    ps: having no keys on “numeric pad” sucks… I cannot type fast enough on those in line (and I’ve to hold SHIFT on czech keyboard layout)
    => i’ve installed package “xmacro” and wrote 1 macro (consists of “sleep 4” and “xmacroplay-keys”) per challenge and then simply executed it
    Can you please enable numpad AND/OR make linux version? Thanks…

  133. MMlosh's Gravatar MMlosh
    October 8, 2009 at 12:20 pm | Permalink

    It works nearly flawlessly with mono+libmono-winforms (no Wine required to play)
    BUT because of the unwise keystrokes handling I cannot use *ANY* numeric keys
    numpad – no response, top row of keys – no response (even if combined with modifiers like alt, ralt, shift, control or winkey)

  134. Leon Medvinsky's Gravatar Leon Medvinsky
    November 15, 2009 at 2:00 am | Permalink

    When I try to run it (I’m in Windows Vistax64), It tells me there’s something wrong and shuts down without an error message. To fix it, I tried installing the NET framework, but it was already on my machine. Then I tried downloading ruckingenur 2 again but it still didn’t work. I also tried compatability mode…but for some reason Ruckingenur CE works?! Please tell me what is wrong!

  135. Zach's Gravatar Zach
    November 16, 2009 at 11:40 pm | Permalink

    Leon: I’ve just uploaded a new installer that should work in x64 – the old one didn’t. You’ll need to run as Administrator if you don’t have write access to Program Files, as this game writes your save data to a file in the same directory as the game EXE.
    (I recently switched from 32-bit Windows XP to 64-bit Windows 7 and hit all the problems that everyone else hit. Whoops!)

  136. December 1, 2009 at 5:56 pm | Permalink

    Thanks a lot, loser.
    I accidentally installed your game to e:\Game, the root of my games directory. So I had to uninstall it. But your uninstaller DELETED EVERY FRIGGING THING IN THE DIRECTORY, except for some Steam files it apparently could not delete, as Steam was running. There goes my history of gaming. YOU REALLY CAN DO SOME PRETTY GOOD CODE, MAN! Now my games directory is practically empty. Thank your god I wasn’t just about to beat ADOM or I’d have ripped your guts out.
    Anyway, guess I won’t ever finish Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis now. Almost finished it once, ten years ago, then got stuck, and was about to play all the way back to the point where I got stuck, but then you showed up. You really do suck.

  137. brendangillespie's Gravatar brendangillespie
    December 1, 2009 at 8:02 pm | Permalink

    You really should stop bitching at the author. Who really installs all their games into one directory anyway? Asking for trouble.

  138. December 1, 2009 at 8:20 pm | Permalink

    Hey, no problem. Perhaps I don’t tell anyone about this, so they will lose their files too. Good idea! And yes, I know of experience that many people keep their games in one directory.
    The bitching was deserved, as Zach’s irresponsibility damaged others. Had this been an application instead of a game, serious damage would have been done. (“Whine whine, who really installs all their programs under C:\Program Files anyway?”) However, the threat of violence was not serious and should be disregarded.

  139. Zach's Gravatar Zach
    December 1, 2009 at 11:38 pm | Permalink

    Tuukka: I’m sorry that you had to be the first person to encounter this. I would suggest trying an undelete program to see if you can recover some of your save files. It looks like there’s a free one available at http://www.officerecovery.com/, although I’ve never used it before.
    Here’s the technical explanation of what happened:
    I use the NSIS installer engine to build my installers, using an installation script that I’ve had for a while (and found on the NSIS website). It turns out that the Uninstall selection is simply RMDir /r “$INSTDIR”, which would indeed cause the problem you’ve encountered.

  140. December 2, 2009 at 5:46 am | Permalink

    The files are too corrupted for the games to work anymore, but thanks for trying to help. Had I known that program exists, I might have been able to recover the games if I had used it instantly.

  141. James Cooper's Gravatar James Cooper
    March 4, 2010 at 12:34 pm | Permalink

    Thank you for making such an excellent game! The little movie clips were cool; they really helped to build the plot. The reverse-engineering itself feels a lot like the real thing (without nearly as much complexity) and really catches the spirit of how it works and what’s involved. I only wish the game was longer. If you ever do start making games again, I suggest a longer version of this game. I would pay for more levels. πŸ™‚

  142. Josh's Gravatar Josh
    May 8, 2010 at 9:02 am | Permalink

    A truly amazing game, after playing 2, I tried 1 and CE. I reccomend adding a bypass feature, and a continous pulse, in addition to the toggle.

  143. CondemnedGamer's Gravatar CondemnedGamer
    May 28, 2010 at 11:57 am | Permalink

    Running under Windows 7, crashes when I beat a level :/ I was looking forward to this too…

  144. compsciguy's Gravatar compsciguy
    May 28, 2010 at 2:31 pm | Permalink

    Did you try running in Compatibility Mode? It may help.

  145. hammy's Gravatar hammy
    June 15, 2010 at 2:10 am | Permalink

    Just got the bomb! Took me a while to figure out how to get the challenge code, almost didnt enter the response in time!

    Awesome game, really makes you think! I’m a mechanical student so I had to go off basic electronics knowledge, which was enough for this!

  146. Colin P's Gravatar Colin P
    July 16, 2010 at 6:28 pm | Permalink

    Brilliant game!, I can play this over and over, I’ve had it since it’s release and always go back to it and it’s always a challenge again.

    Any news on a new episode??

    Thanks πŸ˜€

  147. compsciguy's Gravatar compsciguy
    July 16, 2010 at 11:03 pm | Permalink

    Have you tried out Ruckingenur CE? It’s a compilation of 4 (6?) levels designed by people who loved Ruckingenur II THAT MUCH. Unfortunately, only one or two of the levels have music, since it’s essentially untouched (unfixed, unedited) versions of the submitted levels, all in one game.

  148. Wren's Gravatar Wren
    August 19, 2010 at 5:06 am | Permalink

    I’m on level 2. I’ve gotten the weapon to fire by sending it one of the keys listed on the debug interface, but the mission won’t complete. What do I need to do to win?

  149. Wren's Gravatar Wren
    August 19, 2010 at 5:10 am | Permalink

    Never mind I’ve got it now. Didn’t think to look there πŸ™‚

  150. denis's Gravatar denis
    September 23, 2010 at 8:09 am | Permalink

    Stuck on 3rd: I can modify the date, but how can I enter encrypted message?

  151. compsciguy's Gravatar compsciguy
    September 23, 2010 at 8:53 am | Permalink

    Try using your serial probe somewhere on the decoder.

  152. bud_engineer's Gravatar bud_engineer
    October 4, 2010 at 4:12 pm | Permalink

    I finished level 1 and the game crashed immediately. I use a dell laptop my operating system is Windows Vista. Is there something I can do to stop the crashing

  153. bud_engineer's Gravatar bud_engineer
    October 5, 2010 at 12:41 pm | Permalink

    Thanks Zach. Its working fine.

  154. Anonymous's Gravatar Anonymous
    October 14, 2010 at 12:31 pm | Permalink

    Help on mission 3 PLEASE!!!!!!!!

  155. compsciguy's Gravatar compsciguy
    October 14, 2010 at 11:03 pm | Permalink

    The device is currently decoding messages sent with the daily key for “today”. You need to figure out how to change the date to the date on the encoded message on the paper. Then you need to figure out how to input the letters written on the paper so that the decoded message comes out on the device’s screen.

  156. Anonymous's Gravatar Anonymous
    October 16, 2010 at 6:42 am | Permalink

    But HOW???! Please explain how it works!!!
    (Or send a video to slasala@nc.rr.com)

  157. Anonymous's Gravatar Anonymous
    October 16, 2010 at 6:44 am | Permalink

    To Zach:
    Game is awesome!!! But please make a Mac version.

  158. compsciguy's Gravatar compsciguy
    October 16, 2010 at 6:28 pm | Permalink

    Wow. You made it to level 3, and you haven’t learned how to use the serial pin?

  159. Anonymous's Gravatar Anonymous
    October 18, 2010 at 4:46 pm | Permalink

    No. I can’t figure out what the passage in the Help section about it means. Please explain.

    P.S. –
    Future posts from me will be named “KrahkaMaster”

  160. KrahkaMaster's Gravatar KrahkaMaster
    October 19, 2010 at 12:22 pm | Permalink

    Never mind. I figured it out.

  161. KrahkaMaster's Gravatar KrahkaMaster
    October 19, 2010 at 12:30 pm | Permalink

    Help on the Bomb please!

  162. KrahkaMaster's Gravatar KrahkaMaster
    October 20, 2010 at 6:01 am | Permalink

    I know to type in one of the codes, but I don’t know which one. Hackers don’t guess! So how do I figure out which one?

  163. compsciguy's Gravatar compsciguy
    October 20, 2010 at 1:15 pm | Permalink

    The code you enter is the “Response” to a “Challenge” given by a chip. Unfortunately, the Challenge isn’t issued until after you’ve activated the detonation sequence.

    Also, I can’t remember exactly how you get to the point where you can enter the code; you might try pulsing the detonator chip…?

  164. KrahkaMaster's Gravatar KrahkaMaster
    October 21, 2010 at 12:55 pm | Permalink

    Tried that, blew up with either pulse. For some reason when I clicked exit it said I had won (Im still going to try to disarm the bomb though).