How fantastic is your contraption?

http://fantasticcontraption.com/

This game is great but it's making me feel like a complete idiot. First level, Mind the Gap, and I was stuck for like 5mns because of that gap! But enjoyable game nonetheless

haha mind the gap is easy
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2279990

OK THAT IS FUCKING AMAZING AND AWESOME!!!!
How much time did you spend building that fantastic contraption btw (if it is yours)? I'm basically an adept of "MOER WHEELS". Didnt work with 4, put 6 and that'll show it

that one took a while! sometimes it's frustrating, there was one level (the tube) that i spent maybe 2 hours getting to a solution involving like about 18 wheels, when i finally finished and can see other people's answers they did it with 2 wheels and a stick! grr!

Oh you can see other people's answers once you clear a level? I didnt realise that. Do you have to sign in for that? Anyways, your contraption for mind the gap was surely greater than mine, but mine was clearly easier to build :)

yeah once you've cleared the level there will be an option for "see other's designs" in the menu for that level. some are genius.

you can actually do mind the gap with no wheels!!
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2363603

opening a second window gives the background music a wonderful philip glass feel

OK, I love this. But viewing other people's contraptions made me feel like a poor contraptionist. I mean, that football thing of yours rules.
And all sorts of simple but really cool ideas like this: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2356030

Ok that no wheel is genius yet so simple. I hate you though cause I'm not going to get any work done by your fault. Not only is it great to build fantastic contraptions, it's also a load of fun to see other people's contraptions. I love tanks and catapults as contraptions yet I cant seem to build a proper one. I am an idiot seems to be the conclusion but I keep on playing anyway!

Everyting I make it pyramids with wheels, sometimes with other pyramids on top etc.
Someone made a pyramid that uses smaller pyramids as, err, metawheels or something. Kicked ass. Looked like some monstrous tank thing.

Watching other people's contraptions gives good ideas. I build bridges now to clear gaps and life besomes so easy. But yeah, I'm awed by what some people manage to do.

Whenever I try to make something fancy, it becomes some gibbering Cronenberg monster. I'm scared. Man wasn't meant to play god like this!

Best thing about the 1 stick is that the stick disappears from view JUST as the wheel enters the goal.

thankfully, from the sounds of things, this is blocked on my works internet

link us some of your contraptions guys!

(xpost yeah ste i stayed up all night playing this when i first saw it.. work next day wasn't pleasant)

poppage http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2364209

horrendous! i prefer simplicity: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2364290

That "Around The Bend" level is piss-easy: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2364313

OMG POPPAGE

more 1 stick fun around the bend http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2364472

(liked yours though LJ! smart!)

haha i see someone managed with no sticks no nothing http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=2364313

OH MY FUCKING GOD I had a glance at "other peoples' designs" and SOMEONE HAS WON THE GAME: http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=2364472

you linked the wrong one i think!

Haha, then there are people like me who clearly don't know a thing about subtle design...
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2364656

I made some really great designs for that level, only problem was that, err... they never got that pink cube to the exit.

as did you, ken!

Here's the one I meant (you gotta use the "link to this" box): http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2359153

^^^genuinely ftw, i mean how do they think these things up

Holy mother of mechagod, what the hell! That's astounding.

holy shit!!

my friend made this one. http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=2016718

LOL what a shame it falls over at the end

omg that is incredible. so maybe i'm violating the spirit with my easy wins: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2365122

i kind of like that it carries on crawling!

seeing how that scenic route one started I half expected the ball to be thrown back the other way instead of rolling to the pink zone there. I did this one the exact opposite way ie not using a single object.

xpost i think simple ones are great actually!

(this was the one i meant to link http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2356856)

i modified my striker and now it does something beautiful (but um, wrong way)
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2284709

xpost thats exactly what I did!

get it to bounce off something thrown up from the left-hand side of the start area, and I'll be impressed xpost

and that way wrong is terribly stylish... and amazing if it werent for the fact that wel wrong way lol :D

Also, the bit of ground you start off upon in "mind the gap" is EXCEPTIONALLY phallic

I'm too old for this shit.

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2365291
I like the idea of having separate objects working together to get shit done. But y'know, that scenic route one can't be beaten.

added some more shit to get it to go to the goal (+ an extra 'goal')

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2365610

ken i love you

played a bit at lunchtime, seems ace. only got to Full Up.

genuine lols, ken.

craptank - takes three minutes to climb the stairs: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2366156

now that's a tank: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2364387

Indeed. How the fuck do they manage to make the wood bits so close to the wheels???

haha that's ace

plus - this is fucking excellent
minus - I've just wasted an hour and a half!

can't wait to spend my entire evening on this, makes up for just finding out that footy is not on ITV too.

This one is quite simple, but it took a while to calibrate: http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=2367567

i'm stuck on big ball.

nah i got it.

How? I'm stuck on the damn thing and kinda out of ideas (that I can actually build without fucking up)

my simple pusher: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2368055
a better one that uses pink wheels to roll the ball up: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2367060

other ones just used a catapult to fling it before the ball landed.

That second one is great. I tried a pusher like yours but I guess I was too impatient and stopped before it did the job. I want to see those catapult throws that reach the pink zone quicker than the ball does. Guess now I just need to make a proper pusher!

mine are so dull and textbook: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2368608

that's beautiful lj

Yeah it's great! I love it when there a number of simple parts and not one big contraption.

cheers! Again, I'm all about economy: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2368973

roger federer http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2369026

This game feels like school

ken, i am humbled once again, that's amazing

more roddick tbh

(xxpost) Not for me it doesn't. CDT lessons at the school I went to involved doing exercises out of a book, which we soon found had the answers printed in the back anyway. Oh, and very occasionally getting to saw a piece of wood. Two saws between a class of 30. Took me nearly a year to make half of a pair of bookends. And then I would kick a ball in the street...

Stuck on around the bend

Stuck on four balls myself. I really really suck at this game, but still, I really really enjoy it!

Two saws between a class of 30

LMAO did you got to my school? i always spent weeks designing stuff and could never actually building anything due to lack of tools.

This one is funny, its surrounded by the debris of previous ones but it took me so long i'm afraid to delete anything

lol tiarnan does your room look like that

lol yes!

you'd never tell

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2369945 v proud of this one though!

cuet!

getting the timing for this one was a bitch. one pixel either way on any of the joints and it screws up. http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2370195

lol the way it does the 3rd one is awesome

wow ledge!

Awesome ledge! My solution for this one is still not working, it's like a millimeter off but it's pissing me off!

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2370786 lol!

yeah, that see saw one is so cool and you obviously actually know what you're doing, I'm just randomly trying to make things go off!

lol you jammy sod T :-P

actually that's rly cool

Sheesh, it's not exactly elegant, but the damn thing works, and that makes me happy! (zoom out, obv)

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2370934

Haha nice one!

Why make slly catapults and all that bullshit when there is an easy answer :D

it's good that i can't play this at work, but shit that i can't see everyone's creations :(

i collected all 4 balls and did it in one go :)
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2371125

(did it in one go as in one push - i had many attempts)

You are annoyingly good at this!

i think you guys are scaring everyone off!

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2371559

omg the "handling" level!

^^^ that level is a bastard - theoretically simple, but getting the timing is hard.

Couldn't get traction, so I doubled the power and locked the front and rear: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2371628

WTF!?!?! that's about ten times more complex than mine!
meanwhile, I am stuck on that bastard vertical tube level - everything I build just falls out.

I'm just seeing how many of these I can do with jeeps...

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2371945
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2372327

i love the wheels. but i think they'll only get you so far...

http://fantasticcontraption.com/

duh

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2373059

here's an early one: battering ram

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2373182

Just pwned that Handling level

haha this one is so pathetic looking but i like it:

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2374087

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2374169
"a monumental case of Mr. Floppy"

haha i was still expecting that one to work somehow

Has anyone got an elegant solution to the Mission To Mars one yet?

I think mine's pretty elegant :-P

Taking simplicity is beauty to some sort of completely awesome conclusion: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2339683

http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=2339683

Holy jesus, how does anyone come up with something like this?!

Sorry, wrong link, I meant this one: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=23713908

does this count as an elegant solution to mission to mars? http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2325699

ken c's overhead kick, wooooooow. you guys's contraptions are all awesome, my single tactic is adding more wheels until i somehow end up in the right place.

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2376460

that's what happens when I try to get clever...

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2376548

long, but gets there in Awash

er, i played that again and it failed

my proudest achievement so far (er, spoiler for 'back and forth'): http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2376714

that's really neat!

Here's my Mars solution:
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2376889

lol planetary gears

sweet, like that it spins three times before getting it in.

Love the trapperpillar (awesome name btw)! Yours is great too snoball. I saw a great one for the four balls one, where the guy puts the balls in a bucket and drops them in the pink zone... but I cant find it anymore. Am also really disgusted by my failure to make my multiple windmills approach work on said Four Balls.

this is awesome!!

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2376499

how the fuck do you do Tube

Awesome thread title.

I'm so shit at this. My mind doens't work in the way it needs to to do it.

(xxpost) no idea - I'm having a hard time getting my contraption to even stay in the tube

(xxxpost) That "four balls" solution is awesome!

The Tube: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2379511

or the simple version: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2371609

mine's faster

This game is liberal arts major's despair

Whoever did this one deserves a medal: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2348472

I like some of the more passive contructions...

Damn, trying to construct a chain, bloody chain broke!
(possible spoiler for Back & Forth)
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2380055

It's surely the fault of ILTMI that I read this as "How fantastic is your contraception?".

I've started anew, since I'm home. Ennihoo, a bulldozerbike or something
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2380119

I accidentally just learned that you can MOVE the token that you're supposed to get into the goal. Wtf!

(xpost) Yes.
Finally beat "Back and Forth" (does Cameo dance)

http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=2380761

that's the closest I've got to walking. Something about it is very tragic (it doesn't ever make it, eventually it finds itself lying prone with some stray limbs flailing). I'm reminded of the end of The Fly.

I'll go for Burt's excuse too.

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2381218

gawd that one took me about twenty minutes. Seems that I should stick to the basics.

this kinda stops being fun when it gets too hard! ;)

"back and fourth making me angry!"

down under, anybody??

lol just got it

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2381780

trying to do "unpossible" made my browser crash :(

Another down under: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2382194
Hrm, not very different from Goole's. If only I had gravity-boot-balls

there must be a more elegant solution to "awash" than this :)

http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=2382524

i think it's been posted, but this:

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2381809

bah, THIS is how to do "Awash": http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2354313

http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=2382943

i'm beginning to get elegant! i thought i'd be able to do it super minimally with just the one spinny thing working its way up, but that was forever getting trapped at the last instant. (i apologise for boring you all with my crapness.)

No Weels

I think my brain works the wrong way for these.

This is fairly tidy though I'm sure one of you lot made a fucking boomerang or something :)
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2383380

I like Merdeyeux's "spinny" solution.

uh handling is O_O

http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=2382943

what's going on here?!?

solution to 'handling' (not mine)
SPOILER
http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=1837998

I've given up playing the game properly, and have begun to piss about...
flailing monster

better solution to "handling" (by now i'm just a spectator tbh): http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2370303

my handling solution, more by luck than judgement: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2371968

waht that's awesome! so elegant

wowo some of these are genuinely ingenious

Not mine but a cool walking imp thing (I too am reduced to admiring the work of others now)
http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=2357562

http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=2270561

rrr i hate when you have the right concept but can't get it to function right. i was TRYING to build an elevator for Tube but couldn't get the outward force right to keep the wheels on the walls.

serious.

flailer comedy

yeah me neither, the solutions look just like my designs. i think there's some luck to that one.

This was my handling

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2377010

Unicycle

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2386969

^ this one is mine - the only two piece solution I've managed so far.

flailer completes level 3]

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2388597

finally got it to work

Did another unicycle on a different level

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2388850

Finding some easier solutions to the lower levels

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2389015

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2389109

I like this one. Needs a wee tweek to get the jump right.

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2389892

Continuing the same theme: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2390060

another level another ramp. I should work on making the bike things look like bikes.

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2390332

Rubbish ramp jump to Mars.

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2392049

Slightly less rubbish

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2392192

This one is painful to watch!

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2392267

haha last step takes an age.

god, unpossible took me about three hours ;_;

I accidentally just learned that you can MOVE the token that you're supposed to get into the goal. Wtf!

Yes. Means you can do 'rolling away' without any pieces. Just move the token over a bit.

i've given up on unpossible for the night, missed my dinner and everything lol

Yeah, this game ruined my day, and I didn't get important things done that will REALLY ruin tomorrow. ugh

my Unpossible: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2393201

wow that's a good old heft. i went a bit crazy with the connecting rods: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2392829

what the shit... http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=2393201

Thought this idea might work for the stair climb but it's painfully slow. Tweeking the length of the wheel base is key, I think.

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2393625

xpost slingeroo is inch perfect. First I've seen (I think) that doesn't keep the token chained to the main dohookie.

yeah that was a nice touch.

you haven't seen the following astounding effort then onimo: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2382239

oh that's just nasty

sweet: http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=2393201

xp fuck! that is insane.

you haven't seen the following astounding effort then onimo: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2382239

winner

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2394400

This is an okay idea i thought

but like, I cheated obv

my Handling solution: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2395117

I didn't watch that spoiler upthread.

what a waste of an evening! i am very stuck on the tube, i have no idea why my wheels are just whirring away doing nothing. i should really give up...

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2394781 my handling solution too. first, luckily coming across something that got me somewhere close after twenty minutes of nothing. second, spending about twenty minutes trying pixel-perfect variations to get it just right. my precious time.

A slight rehash of someone else's but I like this 'four ball' solution I cobbled together.

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2395472

Merdeyeux, a variation on your Jeez - http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2395919

Been tweeking this 'handling' one for ages. Going to bed now. If I'm late for work tomorrow it's ken c's fault.

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2396975

triscuits and a slice of american or cheddar melted on top in the microwave, now that's a fantastic contraption!

xxp i tried to use the wood rods like that, but it didn't quite work out and i had to be a little more cumbersome. bah.

onimo, your refinements are turning this into a fine art.

quite please with this take on back and forth: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2398340 a little overcooked though it may be. i think i'll be leaving unpossible for another day, though.

pleased, even. u turn looked very easy in comparison to unpossible, but no! i'm done for tonight.

my U-turn: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2401843

can't stop http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2405304 won't stop

http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=2406504

back and forth was killing me. wanted to put it don't about an hour ago but knew i was close. i wouldn't have slept otherwise.

you people are way smarter than me

Well I don't know about that, Curtis. Your new screen name rules, so...you win as far as I'm concerned.

I just like how this one rights itself: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2408282

my down under: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2408764

just push them out of the way: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2410530

i love looking at other peoples creations, it all feels very Darwiny watching the final successful machines throbbing into life, knowing that they've probably spent hours on failures like myself.
So Curtis, don't feel that anyones actually cleverer than you.

Speaking of Darwinian...
Flailer completes level 5 (The Wall)

I just ended up having fun last night making reels winding in links of chains, but not really doing anything else. has anyone got the full thing with the design your own levels?

Finally, afer struggling, here is the most minimal Mission To Mars I could come up with.

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2411923

Is there a failures thread yet?

I see your four bits and raise you three, no motors: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2412170

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2382239
my first four balls solution.

I'm angry at myself for not being able to build what i wanted to ie two windmills throwing the little balls. The best i could do with two windmills was three balls in the end zone

mmh wrong link on the four balls solution
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2412161

Nice!

No motors, see that's the kind of zen shit I aspire to!

hmm i wonder if one could make a juggling device... (xp)

haha yes you can. in one of my failed attempts a ball went back and forth between the two mills like 5 times or something

(xpost) the "Handling" level is best for building large contraptions
lol ilx

my four balls: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2412516

nice, i really like the bucket solutions. however i always fuck up the chain making

ok how about a walker building contest? my first attempt: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2412758

Mission to Mars: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2413484

Almost stuck the landing.

thanks for wasting a ton of my time, the internet

(not that i was gonna do anything better)

i'm on the steps one now...

Man the four balls one has some of the most amazing ideas:
mine wagon http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=7004
crane http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=6548

found some bonus levels: http://fc.therisenrealm.com/wiki/Frequently_asked_questions#What_are_free_bonus_levels.3F

haha ledge i liked your walker and also it starts moonwalking as it hits the wall!

(xpost) oh no, more time wasted!

I'm quite pleased with my Unpossiblesolution...

oooh one of the bonus levels is a big arena!

http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=1845315

this is gonna be fun!

a sort-of walker - http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2414282

nice. that parallel linkage is definitely the way to go, i discovered after reading the wiki - http://fc.therisenrealm.com/wiki/Walker

oh god more levels :)))))

I made a dude riding a sweet bike and the app locked up...

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2415970

I love how he screams because of the effort involved in cycling :D

there's something really cute about the watching the ones that fail

Maybe it's cheating, but there are a number of glitches in the physics you can use:
http://fc.therisenrealm.com/wiki/Physics_glitches

big ball ;_;

big ball is ok, just make a fast vehicle and you're off!

I was getting bored, so I built this silly contraption. I really like windmill type things :D http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2417483

Unpossible: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2417648

really need to put this down and walk away

obviously had to have JUST ONE MORE Go but did U-Turn first time, so i am finally done with this. i turn my back on you, time-thief!

i don't like the slingshot ones, i can't make slingshots !!

Anyone done the bonus level with the really sharp incline?

This is the one I mean:
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2418588
...some of these have a real Evel Knieval atmos to them

was trying that at lunchtime, just couldn't get the friction on any of my 'wheel' contraptions. just not fantastic enough i guess.

I was getting bored, so I built this silly contraption. I really like windmill type things :D http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2417483

Haha, I like how it ends. The contraption looks around a bit and goes "To hell with this!" and LEAPS off the screen!

ha yeah I hadnt noticed!

and yay me, I finally got my double windmill dream right on Four Balls!
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2419891 for pointless windmills!

Got it...
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2421062
...note how the ball actually stays in the fecking goal...

^^^ when it worked, I actually shouted "Wooooh Yes!" and punched the air, Tom Cruise stylee. See how this game has taken over my life?

Jibe, that double windmill solution rocks!

i like the 'cushioned' arms in the bigger one, might put them to use in my juggling machine...

aw there seems to be a limit on the number of total pieces in a design. I was just getting carried away trying to work out how to build an amazing elevator structure!
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2421545

Haha I did a similar thing when my dbl windmill worked! Actually I tried something like that for so long yesterday and failed, today I just built it in like 2 mins => fail, erased one blue rod and put it back and it worked (I have no idea why). But hey, I'm damn happy about windmill.

Good work on yours too btw, but how do you get access to those extra levels?

that was to snoball btw

4balls solution that I wouldn't want to rely on in a real-world setting. The strain is tangible
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2421651

Also, I found a thread where people try to clear all the levels without using a wheel. Tube is awesome that way! http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=92866

Jibe, links to the bonus levels are here:
http://fc.therisenrealm.com/wiki/Frequently_asked_questions#What_are_free_bonus_levels.3F

this is my attempt at making a deliberate, fail-safe machine that ended up needing way more tweaking than anything else http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2373199

(xxpost) great stuff - this game has had me saying "awesome" out loud to myself more times that anything I can remember recently

ken, you have way more patience than I do. I always seem to end up with a brute force solution.
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2381961

i'm not sure why but on every new challenge I instinctly just fill it with wheels and link them together, just to see if that works first.

That sounds like my usual way of doing stuff Ste

I made a dude riding a sweet bike and the app locked up...

― Kerm, Thursday, October 2, 2008 7:52 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2415970

― Kerm, Thursday, October 2, 2008 8:11 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

OK, this was so totally http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/molliegreene/kermit.jpg

This game has had a weird effect on me. I'm looking at screens of plain text, and seeing them "wibble" as if they are water rods, half expecting the "unsupported" lines to fall under gravity.

OMG ME TOO

x3. weird, i didn't know what was doing that. i thought i was getting that thing from the last episode of House.

although mine was more; reading large bodies of text in the same slow plodding motion that most of these creations seem to be of

xp

I can't believe this avtually worked! http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2422867

i got up to the level where the "goal" is a horizontal box at the top of the screen. i got my contraption over the hills, but not in the goal area.

it would be cool to get machines to fight each other. i guess you could do this with 2 people sat at the same computer.

over the hills one http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=2417483

i was thinking that ste!

Visibly there is a way to make the machines fight since there's a thread on the forum that is entitled "Contraptions battle" or something like that.

You can make a contraption, save it, then send the link to a friend to make their contraption alongside it.

I'm going to end up missing the football tonight to join wee bits of stick onto wee wheels.

i haven't thought of a way to make an arm move back and forth until now!

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2423665

I can't even imagine how much time it took to perfect this one: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2412147

tuomas!

It's not mine, sorry if I worded that badly.

I love it when people overdo it : http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2303384

that is some sort of pinnacle

aaaaah just lost about two hours of work. serve me right for wasting so much time on this i guess.

^ lol "work"

(xxxpost) reminds me of:
http://www.library.wisc.edu/etext/WIReader/Images/Big/WER0312.jpeg

I love it when people overdo it : http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2303384

― Jibe, Thursday, October 2, 2008 11:15 AM (25 minutes ago)

beautiful

it's a little sad to think of all the crazy solutions on the 500th or 1000th page that nobody will ever see.

Those super-complex ones really need Raymond Scott's "Powerhouse" and some steam and clanking effects thrown in.

nooooo! http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2427161

lol didn't see that coming

I'm liking yr motorcycle, Tuomas. Lumbering monsters that appear on the verge of falling apart but somehow make it anyway are a specialty of mine. This rickety old bridge for four balls, for example: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2388847

whoa this like when i built a rocket in my middle school shop class,only to see it fail...along with the wooden car i made, and the bridge of staws...and my grades!

This has gotta be the easiest solution to Mission to Mars: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2424851

Actually, it isn't, I made an even simpler one based on the one above: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2428999

simple solution to one of the "secret levels"

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2429862

there is a one stick solution to mission to mars...

I want to see really rubbish ones, here is my pathetic example, I call it "Ennui"

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2430826

ken's "One armed bandit" on "four balls" is excellent. As is ledge's moonwalker.

Speaking of Darwinian...
Flailer completes level 5 (The Wall)

― snoball, Thursday, 2 October 2008 09:36

Are you sure that's the correct link? He fell off the left edge when I watched it.

Okay, I figured out the one stick solution to Mission to Mars: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2431644

(xpost) Works for me. It knocks down all the bricks, except for three in a pile. The top brick gets knocked underneath the flailer, and passed out behind it. All the other bricks are by now in the ditch. Then it clambers up over the bricks using it's "head" (the block that needs to be put in the goal) to rest on.

http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=2388912

On mine the top brick goes behind it then it goes mad and jumps back after it and keeps going until it's off the end. Weird.

Haha, here's a failure that solves the problem, but not my goal.

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2432021

I was REALLY trying to CATCH the globe within the goal-zone, but I've given up. (it's incidentally really easy to make those damn chains when you do shit like this. Waah)

i'm kinda tempted to try the 'champion' challenge - complete levels with the macguffin resting in the goal forever. i'm less tempted by the 'green' challenge - refrain from using motors. as for the 'green champion' challenge, forget it. however here's someone's champion solution for 'unpossible' without using motors or wheels - just wood and water: http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=1197150

my best failure yet!

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2432195

xp OMG

(xxxpost) Anybody else have this problem? I've not had any problems running anyone else's contraptions (they've all worked/not worked as advertised). There is quite a bit of crossing over of water rods and to be fair there have been a very small number of contraptions that haven't worked exactly the same twice in a row. The FC wiki mentions that there are glitches in the physics model, but they only give examples like the "explosive" motor.

fails for me too...

This is my U-turn solution (non-flailer) - I have this vague feeling that I've seen this "geometry of a U-turn" thing in a textbook somewhere? Anyway...
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2433143
Note the homage to a certain Michael Caine film at the end!

ha the ending of that one is a nice touch

lol. could you put the thingy at the other end? then - with another counterweight or two - you might be able to leave it in the goal.

The "thingy" needs to be at the front as a counterweight. Same with the extra CCW wheel - there's not enough traction to pull it across to the goal otherwise. I think that the "wibblyness" of the rods makes it a bit tricky. For the U-turn geometry trick to work properly they really need to be completely rigid.

Here's a better example of the "not quite twice the same" problem with the physics model:
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2428397
...the motor explosions don't happen exactly the same way each time, and consequently the thingy gets to it's target only about half the time.

^ this work works perfectly every time for me (about 8 times in a row identical).

Wow, this is fun! My machines are just random so far, like loads of wheels and sticks, bludgeon thru.

I was quite happy with my solution to on a roll:

http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=2435136

here's my champion solution to Mission to Mars: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2435837

here's mine to 'up the hump': http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2433313

brute force solution to Big Ball

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2441937

I went for speed on that one

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2394132

when you get on that works, can you not help just watching it over and over and over?

totally!

my trapperpillar now uses its own ramp for the bridge, and its a champion solution!
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2443512

catapult solution to "The Wall"
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2426660

those are both terrific!!

snoball yr catapult also gets a 'clean' badge, it tidies itself away from the playing area!

<3

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2441300

Now that is cool - points for filling the "garage" area, then cleaning up after itself

two awesome unpowered ones for back and forth:

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2423971

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2423937

"sandbox" windmill
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2445939

[i've been trying to make this work for ages so just tell me this is lovely because I'm not as good at this as all of you!

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2448637

an entertaining failure here:

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2448838

xp it's lovely ;)

nah but i do like the ones that go on for aaaages and you're just willing them to make it, clenching your fists and going "come on! come on!"

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2450176

Cool!

Huh, I just started reading Michael Collins' "Carrying the Fire", and the Apollo 11 route etc drawings at the beginning seemed all the more impressive after having spent too much damn time with this game lately, haha.
Not the same sketches, but I mean... come on!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/smailtronic/2219862760/sizes/o/
(HUEG btw. 6 megabyes or something like that)

Smaller version here, but not very legible: http://www.flickr.com/photos/smailtronic/2219862760/sizes/l/

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2453838

literally tears itself to pieces. I'm so proud of myself!

the surge is working

Tube variation - http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2466542

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2459098

:D

^^ that one isn't mine. there are a ton like it i guess...

this green, champion thing is hard!

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2467078

It's the plucky underdog who doesn't give up even when it looks hopeless.
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2467334

a secret level should be something like a medical driver trying to get a stool sample to some clinic, across town, asap....through crosstown traffic.

actually these are all pretty dope..passed a few myself. ) less talent of course on my part.

I get annoyed that the wee pop up comes up just as you get to the moment of triumph. A second delay or so would be better.

My 'down under' solution: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2395983

ooh green champion solution!

wait no just green

I think the people on the forum call those kind of solutions "brown", i.e. it doesn't use wheels at all, not even the powerless ones.

Is there a name for solutions that only use balls?
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2470942
(haha, move one ball a pixel one way or the other, and it probably won't work.)

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2395983

xp, yeah getting initial positioning is sometimes crucial to making stuff work. This seemed most evident on Tube.

that just sounds really obvious doesn't it. you know what i mean.

^ green champion (xp to myself)

This one isn't mine - impressive brown champion Mission to Mars: http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=932842

xp that's the same one you posted before!

Oops clipboard screw-up

green champion: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2470948

Another (easy) balls-only solution
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2471909

Another green champ. Took a stupid amount of tweaking for something so simple.

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2472100

yeah the way chain tangles up and unravels can really fuck things up sometimes.

i'm onto level 8 on brown champ challenge now! (everything seems to involve levers!)

"Bonus 12" with minimal parts:
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2473463

up the hump is impossiblre for green champions!

OH YEAH??!?!

well if impossible means beyond my patience or ability... then yeah.

kudos if you manage it!

"Bonus 12" with minimal parts:
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2473463

― snoball, Friday, 3 October 2008 13:38

Green champion version (not mine): http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=577051

goddamn i tried exactly that tactic for ages, couldn't get the length or position of the stick right.

Yeah, I couldn't get my stick to stand up without falling over unless it was very short (er...)

ok done it! http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2475765

this one uses so many sticks it causes a glitch so it'll only run every other time (start, stop and start again)

bootifully simple.

Using the spinning glitch to launch my token.

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2476266

glitch champions - that would be a challenge!

The best bonus level is blatantly the falling T-beam one, hours of chaotic fun can be derived from that

I wish there were more levels like that T-beam one.

(xpost) Another glitch:
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2426428

got as far as big ball with green championship.. it's getting a bit much now (dreading to think about 4 balls!!!!!!!)

http://fantasticcontraption.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&p=24489

"brown" solutions to the whole thing. some of them are aMaZiNg

(lots of catapults using a "fan" of brown sticks as weight)

some of them aren't brown champions! :( no cred.

but 4 balls kudos!

my brown champs so far, most of them aren't so inspired
rolling away http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2470456
reachup http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2470472
mind the gap http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2470673
junkyard http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2480288
the wall http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2470359
on a roll http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2472015
full up http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2472096
higher http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2472230
around the bend http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2472774
up the hump http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2475765
mission to mars http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2476750
up the stairs http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2477610

Damn, I'm totally stuck on 4 balls and I'm trying to avoid looking at anyone else but it's driving me mad.

i know after 48 hours with this u dudes are all into effete "brown" "champion" elegant structures and all that but let's have some more ridiculous overbuilt overkill solutions shall we?

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2492201

that is thorough, shame about the block that gets stuck on top

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2499173

green, champion, awesome

I wanted to make a pump, so... uh.
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2499954

I'm sure something similar could be made in a MUCH cleaner way, let alone less wobbly, but what the hell.

(It's actually much less wobbly if you simply remove the water-line diamond in the middle of the pump. I don't remember why I even put that in!

I didn't realize until level seven that you could move the box!

i tried to make a huge roller coaster on the sand box, but the physics just couldn't take it and things went awful.

ok this is some addictive shit.

I'm awful at this!

Brown champ 4 balls finally!
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2537825

back and forth fucking killed me!

I still prefer Crayon Physics

www.kloonigames.com/crayon/

durteey
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2583628

omg i can't believe how shamefully bad mine were in comparison to the ones posted here! i too the just keep adding another wheel/triangle until you eventually get there approach. I thought i was doing good!!!

hints plz for awash :-(

omg just seen this solution from upthread

http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=2354313

even more wah :-(

they get easier after awash! (or maybe my brain broke at that point) u-turn was a doddle

a brown champion (that sounds so dirty) for u-turn: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2609858

pretty much done with this game now but it was fun while it lasted, kept me off the streets for a few days.

I said "pretty much" done... just looking at some other folk's designs. The action on this one is gorgeous: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2608108

teh cuet! i spent quite a while warming-down looking at other user's solutions. there are some maddeningly simple ones (eg for back and forth). the over complex ones are charming too.

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2613234

yeah! one the works, and it has 2 parts!!

he he heh

http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=2613757

holy shit it took me two days to figure out how to do level "Awash"

awash = cut out the middle man http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2620531

OMG I have made a stylin' one I am pleased with!

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2644188

Still trying to make the 'scoop' approach work on "Four Balls" - this one breaks down, but apparently sends one ball into orbit. It should fall eventually, right?

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2661462

For me it goes up once, comes down, and then gets flipped up a second time. If you zoom all the way out, you can see that it disappears completely off the screen then, and I think that means it's lost permanently.

I like the design though - pity it glitches out and explodes.

yeah, it's the second launch I meant. I have some other slightly more successful versions of the same design. One worked when I saved it! Then didn't when I loaded it. ;_;

i'll prob never top my last one but i'm proud of all my children http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2663430

The "Success" Scoop

http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=2598579

Well hell, now it works again! Browser differences maybe. I have Chrome here, and IE at work where it blew it.

My unpossible: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2669485

ugly and it took me the entire day, but hey, it worked!

lol and U-Turn took me 20 minutes: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2669485

oops: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2670462

lol managed to get lots of people seriously addicted to this, including apparently the butler of a multi-millionaire crackpot

Perhaps the crackpot will try and build these machines in real life?

...which would be awesome if the crackpot turned out to be Dyson.

evidence for potential awesomeness...

huh?

I'm just saying that if you wanted to do this in real life, Dyson would be the person to go to.

anyone do this one like this? http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=4323194

prob everyone, pretty nifty tho

I am TERRIBLE at this. I've made it, somehow, to Mission to Mars, but completely uncreatively as I didn't realise you could connect sticks to sticks and water to water. I only just realised I can move the starting position of the pink ball.

For people who want more of the same(ish) there's "Phun"
http://www.phunland.com/wiki/Home
...a bit like a more complex version of FC but with no goals.

I need goals or I lose interest rather quickly.
I've moved on to http://projecteuler.net/

also manages to be nowhere near as intuitive as FC, and somehow not 'phun' at all.

xp, aye with no goal it's pretty pointless.

Project Euler looks like fun. what are you using to program in - assuming you're not working it all out on paper?

I'm kind of using PE to teach myself Python 3. I figured it'd be a nice way to get used to a new language. Also, the Python command line is really quite grand for this sort of thing. I mostly do Java and PHP all day at work, so I figured it would be nice to use something else for this.
Sort of wondering if I should try Haskell though. I did a little bit of Standard ML some years back and it was a LOT of fun. Plus, half my solutions so far have been recursive anyways.

Just done #1 (brute force, in my shaky and ill-remembered C), then looked at some of the other solutions. particularly like this one in K:

+/&|/~(!1000)!/:3 5

and Haskell appears to make it too easy:

sum [3,6..999] + sum [5,10..999] - sum [15,30..999]

Hah, yes, my solutions so far have been pretty inelegant. I'm not much of a math-whiz, so it's really cool to get access to the forum afterwards to see the sort of stuff some of those very clever people come up with. I dig it when people rewrite something into a really elegant mathematical formula that you could quickly solve by hand.

For better or worse, once you get past the first few problems, brute force becomes close to useless, since it'll take too long.

wtf@K. I'd never even heard of that language. Reminds me of those dreadful "Just another Perl hacker" signatures from the Usenet days.

Oh, I *love* project euler. I am gpallis on there, I haven't been on for ages though. Who are y'all?

I have never seen any solutions in which the J/K solution has been longer than 15 characters, it's kind of mind blowing.

I didn't even realise there was a new python? I read the doc but I can't work out what is new that I'll actually use, other than the fractions module and print being different.

I've not read up on the new Python stuff, since I'm basically a new user and figure I might as well go with the latest version, but I'm kinda amazed that it's not backwards-compatible, even if there's a tool that can upgrade your old code.

Huh, J is... curious. http://www.jsoftware.com/jwiki/Studio
I wonder how long it takes for someone to become "fluent" in it.

I'm oysteinh-o on PE.

J looks like catnip for the code golf ("show off your code-fu by trying to solve coding problems using the least number of keystrokes") types. I spent a while looking at a Perl golf site thinking it might be good for me and never came close to understanding any of the solutions.

Did some Haskell at university (some time ago, so my opinions on it may be outdated or just plain wrong) and still often find myself thinking "this would be a lot easier in Haskell" but am too lazy and undisciplined to think about types with sufficient rigour to go back to it. If you're happy with ML you'll probably be fairly comfortable, except I think ML lets you dip out of pure functional programming into procedural programming when convenient, which may be a shortcut you'll miss.

And I'm guessing the Haskell solutions may be conceptually neat but you can probably get yourself at least a cup of tea and possibly order and receive a pizza in the time they take to return any results.

I did the first 3 or so PE problems a while ago without signing up. Are there advantages to signing up? I'm not exactly going to produce anything elite enough to be posted on the forums.

The two main advantages are that you can check your answers, and that you get the chance to see other people's thoughts and solutions about the problems once you've solved them. I don't see myself posting anything there any time soon either.

Yeah - the forum threads are worth reading even code-fu aside, often people use some rly elegant maths to cut through stuff.

Some of the later ones, like with the circular mirrors, I look at and just have no idea how any human could begin to think about them.

that phun thing is basically poor man's version of little big planet?

Using Python almost feels like cheating on some of these early ones, as it seems to have no trouble handling large numbers. Finding the first 1000-digit number in the Fibonacci-series was no greater work than, y'know, calculating the whole damn series up to that point. Not very elegant, I admit.

how does that site work? where do you put in your program?

You just enter the output from your program, not the program itself.

oh right

i thought it was like a parser or something

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2499098

This didn't work before I saved it.

A quicker version

My version of Back and Forth:
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2646703

for a few days this was the most important thing in the world. Kind of scared to get into it again tbh.

deserves a revival, tho perhaps 5:30 in the morning isn't the time to do it. this one of mine: http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=2380761 still makes me kinda sad. such a hopeless creature.