Something new? (Boomerang Challenge)

[stever321]

Here's one for Unpossible. It is not pretty, and it takes a while to get all the way back, but it gets the job done:
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=169046

Didn't work for me. Didn't even reach the goal area (it was extremely close, but didn't register)

[sccook]

Awash - No winch
Slow but steady

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=179137

I've ran in twice....once it stopped in the construction zone and once it stopped only half in. I will try and tweak it some more.

[Digrae]

Awash - No winch
Slow but steady

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=179137

I've ran in twice....once it stopped in the construction zone and once it stopped only half in. I will try and tweak it some more.

Stopped half out for me both times I ran it. Regardless, it's better than my "random ending" one, in that at least it hits the goal and comes back every time. Putting this one in the list as the completion until someone tweaks one to stay in the goal.

[sccook]

Tweaked Awash Solution. It takes about 10 minutes to run.

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=179822

I've ran it 3 times and its worked every time....with the ball stopping in the same position each time.

[Digrae]

Sweet... only one left!

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=180693 Is my closest attempt to date. Designing rope breaks sucks, but it's been my most productive method so far. I just need a car that can make it back up the ramp now, and a way to stop it!

[sccook]

Here are a few mods to your design. I played around with the links and it takes longer to break.
I tweaked your bridge, but a two-wheel car still won't make it back across... even with tracks.

I did have a thought for a brake...if we can flip the car off after getting back to the construction area.

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=181763

[Digrae]

I like that brake, but I was pretty unsuccessful getting a car to even come back up the ramp so far.

Here's my new train of thought...


http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=186309

Problem is there's no good spot for the wood chain and it gets in the way as it unspools. If I could keep it from hitting the car, this contraption might almost work. Winching the car back might be the way to go though.

[sccook]

The small construction zone and the short amount of flat ground really limit what you can do with Over and Back. With more room to work, this one wouldn't be much harder than Over the Hump. Speaking of which, I improved my no-winch version of Over the Hump....you no longer fall asleep waiting for the return trip.

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=189264

[sccook]

I'm not convinced that there's enough room for a winch...but we need something to get back up the bridge. This is similar to one posted last night with a designed chain break. Even though the chain breaks close to the CCW wheels....two CCWs are not enough to get back up the ramp to the construction zone.

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=192059

We either need more CCW wheels or a powered winch to get back up the ramp.

PS: The elevated shelf was intended as the base for a brake, but we won't need that until we can get back to the construction zone.

[Digrae]

Getting close.. almost got it back up the ramp. Think we might need to adjust the angle of that.

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=195194

Still no brake implemented, but closer on the return.

[sccook]

More tweaks, changed ramp, added brake.

Gets to the top of the ramp, then runs out of juice.

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=196782

Have you ever noticed how things you don't tweak still have to be changed? For instance, I had to lift the back CW wheel to keep it from sliding under the others, after adding a little ski jump at the front of the ramp.

[sccook]

Getting really close. Ball won't stop in construction zone.

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=197565

[Digrae]

Heh, I got the car to come back but not the ball. I like the track you're on better though, so I'm going to play with that a bit. Here's where I was at with it.


http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=197634

[Digrae]

Omg solved!

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=197786

That was fun.

[sccook]

Yes!!!!! It worked twice in a row. Just keep quiet and let me die happy if it doesn't work for you.

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=197921

(Give dual credit on the front page.)

EDIT:

You beat me by just a little bit.

[Digrae]

Haha, did anyway. Two different solutions even! I'll put them both up. That was a fun collaboration.


Once again though, I like yours better. That was a really clever way to remove the ball from the car. Nice.

[sccook]

Basic problem-solving techniques never change. Teamwork nearly always solves problems faster than any one person working alone.

For example, catapults, winches, and designed chain breaks never occurred to me as I worked through the first 20 levels. Once you lock on a solution, you tend to tweak that basic concept for the next challenge. Once I finished the canned problems, I looked through a number of posted solutions and saw alot of neat techniques that I hadn't thought of...and alot of blatent copying as well.

When the "physics" gets updated to remove chain breaks, I don't think that I will be working on Back and Forth...and Back again. I don't think that there is enough room to work in to get the other options (like a winch) to work.

[Digrae]

Yeah, I was thinking about that. I sort of don't want them to fix chain breaks. I rarely design around it, but on occasion it can provide a really inventive solution to a problem. At the least, it adds another design element.

I'm about to spend my 10 bucks though anyway. I think I have the free levels memorized by now. I may never work on back and forth again at all... I keep fiddling with that damned ramp in my dreams!

[sccook]

This was a fun challenge. I had thought about trying to make them stay in the goal, so when I first went on the forums here I wasn't surprised when I say that listed as a challenge. But I never would have thought about trying to get back to the construction zone. You do realize that you are evil, don't you? (Now I am going to have set up a Paypal account just to get this silly game!)

The one thing about this challenge is that some of the solutions aren't really fixed in the construction zone....it's more of a temporary thing. For instance, if you let the Big Ball solution run for a little while (less than one game of solitare) the catapult gets pushed over the side and then the big ball and the target follow.

I would guess that the game designers never considered the possibility of catapolts when they were making the game. Once you get one of those working, a good number of the levels are really not much of a challenge. I started looking at coming up with something else to "replace" the catapolt solutions and started with the Big Ball. Everything crashed over the left edge while I was working on my version. I replayed the catapolt solution and had it running next to a game of solitare and watched it crash. In any event, here is my mobile car solution to the Big Ball:

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=207790

[sccook]

As I went thru this challenge, I had several really goofy endings that met the Boomerang requirements...but they are not exactly elegant. In fact, they are the complete opposite of elegant:

On a Roll
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=193085

Up the Stairs
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=194399