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[Istas]

The "Generals" test (in the Dropbox version) gave a blank robot as an input robot.

Also, no problems on the Malevolence engine. Most I've seen it pause is about a second so far (though I've got a fairly fast computer too). It's a bit of a start when it freezes the graphical cursor in the game while it's doing that, but I guess that's not avoidable. (the mouse itself still moves, the computer isn't frozen, just the in-game cursor)

[PleasingFungus]

Gave it a very brief run-through, and it did what it was supposed to do.
Running it from a crappy laptop (slow enough that it occasionally makes twitch-based flash games easier by playing them at a reduced rate) and it still calculated its malevolence in just a moment's wait, at least on the few levels I tried.

Excellent! I'm curious about how it does on some of the later ones, but that's good to hear.

Although... ?lvl=2&code=p12:6f7;c13:6f3;c13:7f3;c13:8f3;c13:9f0;p11:6f4;p11:7f7;p10:7f4;p10:8f7;p11:9f7;c11:8f3;

Slip in a circuitous route by which a case that should be rejected might be accepted, and it didn't catch it.

Edit: Or, on the same level, a not so circuitous route to accept a bad case. ?lvl=2&code=p12:6f7;c13:6f3;c13:7f3;c13:8f3;c13:9f0;p11:6f6;c11:7f3;c11:8f3;c11:9f2;

Haha! I'd actually turned off the Malevolence Engine for a few levels (Robotoast, Robocoffee, RC Cars and Robocars) to avoid confusing new players - it's always going to test the empty string first, and I thought that'd perplex new players unnecessarily.

But perhaps it's inevitable! I've uploaded a new version with the Engine enabled for all levels.

The "Generals" test (in the Dropbox version) gave a blank robot as an input robot.

Agh, that was stupid on my part. Fixed!

Also, no problems on the Malevolence engine. Most I've seen it pause is about a second so far (though I've got a fairly fast computer too). It's a bit of a start when it freezes the graphical cursor in the game while it's doing that, but I guess that's not avoidable. (the mouse itself still moves, the computer isn't frozen, just the in-game cursor)

Yeah, that bothered me too. I've hid the cursor for future; now at least it won't be so jarring!

[Istas]

I just realized how dry and robotic my previous post sounded.
This game is very awesome. It is three layer awesome, topped with awesome icing.
I can't get my mind off it for more than half a day, so I must complete it. Must!

[PleasingFungus]

I just realized how dry and robotic my previous post sounded.

It's okay - that's appropriate to the setting!

(Glad you're enjoying the game!)

[man-man]

My (woefully inefficient) solution to judiciary made the engine give up; it said it was brooding for a couple of seconds, then said it was "out of patience".

Probably a good idea to have a timeout if it's taking too long to look for flaws, but the threshold could be higher. Even on this craptacular laptop it was only 'thinking' for a short time.

Hell, I was thinking of suggesting an artificial delay of a second or so, just so there's time to read the odd screen that flashes by in an eyeblink (on most levels) when you click play. Maybe drop in a fake progress bar or a spinner while it calculates. I didn't even realise it was saying that it found no flaws until I tried it on a more complex level to slow the thing down.

[PleasingFungus]

My (woefully inefficient) solution to judiciary made the engine give up; it said it was brooding for a couple of seconds, then said it was "out of patience".

Yeah, I was testing a little too aggressively with Judiciary, I think. I've modified it.

Hell, I was thinking of suggesting an artificial delay of a second or so, just so there's time to read the odd screen that flashes by in an eyeblink (on most levels) when you click play. Maybe drop in a fake progress bar or a spinner while it calculates. I didn't even realise it was saying that it found no flaws until I tried it on a more complex level to slow the thing down.

I've made the success/failure message roughly twice as slow, with the option to hit 'escape' to skip it. Will have to think about a progress thing for the actual calculation... it's certainly doable, probably desirable, but I need to work out the details.

Thanks for the testing-feedback! It's appreciated.

[man-man]

I was just thinking have a little animation of a loading bar that takes x seconds to "load" from end to end, where x is a time greater than the calculation generally takes.

But an honest loading bar is cool too I guess 

[Katsew]

Along with everyone else, I think adding a bit of a delay would be good so that you can always see what it says when it "thinks".

I've also discovered that several of my solutions have flaws :O So looks like this game will be eating even more of my time

[PleasingFungus]

I've also discovered that several of my solutions have flaws :O So looks like this game will be eating even more of my time

THE MALEVOLENCE ENGINE SEES ALL

YOU CANNOT ESCAPE ITS SEARING GAZE

(I'll definitely have to put some more thought into the (fake?) loading-bar thing! Expect a new beta-version... sometime tonight. (Pacific time.))

[Istas]

Just a question; Should non-zero binary strings in output robots start with a zero? Also, should binary strings with a value of zero, consist of more than one red dot? I've seen both of these in input robots, and while I think it's a judgement call as to what's acceptable and what's not, I just wanted to make sure it wasn't unintentional.

[PleasingFungus]

Just a question; Should non-zero binary strings in output robots start with a zero? Also, should binary strings with a value of zero, consist of more than one red dot? I've seen both of these in input robots, and while I think it's a judgement call as to what's acceptable and what's not, I just wanted to make sure it wasn't unintentional.

It doesn't matter at all! They're leading zeroes, which means they're meaningless - 011 is the same as 11, or as 0011 or 00011, for that matter!

(Oh, and the NEW VERSION / FINAL UPDATE is up.)

[Patashu]

Copy-pasting this solution to robo-children from an older version:

Code:

http://pleasingfungus.com/#?lvl=18&code=c12:4f3;c12:5f3;c12:6f3;g12:3f3;c12:7f3;c12:8f3;i11:8f4;i13:8f0;c14:8f0;c10:8f2;p11:9f1;p12:9f7;p13:9f1;r10:9f1;b14:9f1;q12:10f6;p12:11f7;g11:10f1;g13:10f1;c11:11f1;c13:11f1;

The malevolence engine finds no flaw, but then prints this on the Success screen:

THE MALEVOLENCE ENGINE IS EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED IN YOU.

CHEATER.

What's his beef with my solution, exactly? I tried clearing it and recreating it from scratch except to shift some writers and it still says the same thing.

[man-man]

Copy-pasting this solution to robo-children from an older version:

Code:

http://pleasingfungus.com/#?lvl=18&code=c12:4f3;c12:5f3;c12:6f3;g12:3f3;c12:7f3;c12:8f3;i11:8f4;i13:8f0;c14:8f0;c10:8f2;p11:9f1;p12:9f7;p13:9f1;r10:9f1;b14:9f1;q12:10f6;p12:11f7;g11:10f1;g13:10f1;c11:11f1;c13:11f1;

The malevolence engine finds no flaw, but then prints this on the Success screen:

THE MALEVOLENCE ENGINE IS EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED IN YOU.

CHEATER.

What's his beef with my solution, exactly? I tried clearing it and recreating it from scratch except to shift some writers and it still says the same thing.

At a guess I'd say it's picking up on having R/B branches stacked next to each other, and mistakenly reaches the conclusion that you're using the "endless row of R/B branches" method of solving that level.

Edit: Except I just tried that and it didn't call me a cheater.

[PleasingFungus]

Copy-pasting this solution to robo-children from an older version:

Code:

http://pleasingfungus.com/#?lvl=18&code=c12:4f3;c12:5f3;c12:6f3;g12:3f3;c12:7f3;c12:8f3;i11:8f4;i13:8f0;c14:8f0;c10:8f2;p11:9f1;p12:9f7;p13:9f1;r10:9f1;b14:9f1;q12:10f6;p12:11f7;g11:10f1;g13:10f1;c11:11f1;c13:11f1;

The malevolence engine finds no flaw, but then prints this on the Success screen:

THE MALEVOLENCE ENGINE IS EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED IN YOU.

CHEATER.

What's his beef with my solution, exactly? I tried clearing it and recreating it from scratch except to shift some writers and it still says the same thing.

Ah! It's being a bit overzealous. I've fixed it for the next release. Sorry about that!

(That's a beautiful solution, by the way. Elegant. Very nice.)

At a guess I'd say it's picking up on having R/B branches stacked next to each other, and mistakenly reaches the conclusion that you're using the "endless row of R/B branches" method of solving that level.

Nope! Well, yes, the 'endless row of R/B branches" is what it was hunting for, but the problem had nothing to do with his solution.

Should be fixed now, anyway. (Hopefully.)

[Journeyman]

I had an Androids machine that was working before, but is not working after the update...I was on the assumption that the machine must select by acceptance on that puzzle (there is not output requirement listed). Now, it tells me my output is rejected!  Was there to be an output for that one?

Edit: Aand, nevermind! Your malevolence engine is actually deliciously helpful. I realized that I had a slight misunderstanding of the acceptance requirements, and as such, missed one type of condition that the prior version simply never tested. Your engine, though, hopped right to that case!