Message #2224

From: Brandon Wong <brandonc.wong55@ymail.com>
Subject: Re: [MC4D] When are puzzles solved? Opinions?
Date: Fri, 01 Jun 2012 08:29:02 -0700

Sounds good.  I don’t think people will be concerned about using colors to help with solutions.

Brandon

________________________________
From: Roice Nelson <roice3@gmail.com>
To: 4D_Cubing@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, June 1, 2012 9:07 AM
Subject: [MC4D] When are puzzles solved? Opinions?

 
Hi all,
 
I’m thinking about making a subtle change to the MagicTile code that checks when puzzles are solved, and am looking for opinions.  This question could apply to any of our puzzle programs.
 
Here’s how MT checks if a puzzle is solved right now.  For each face, it makes sure all the color indexes of each sticker are the same.  What I’m thinking would be better is to have it check if all the color values of each sticker are the same.  An example to help clarify:  Say color4 is set to red and color8 is also set to red.  Right now, puzzles could look pristine but not be considered solved, because MT considers stickers with color4 to be different from stickers with color8.  Instead, I’m thinking to make MT compare "color red" to "color red".  Puzzles that look pristine would be considered solved.  This would allow users to configure new, interesting puzzles (even trivial ones, since if a user set all colors to be the same, the puzzle would always be solved).
 
My main worry is that I know people use colors to help with solutions.  Would this cause issues for those techniques?  Any other feedback? 
 
Let me know if you have opinions either way.  I’m thinking to make the change this weekend.
 
Thanks,
Roice