Message #3635

From: Melinda Green <melinda@superliminal.com>
Subject: Re: [MC4D] Re: Physical 4D puzzle achieved
Date: Thu, 09 Feb 2017 15:37:37 -0800

Hello Liam,

Yes, a new perspective can sometimes change everything. In this case, I wouldn’t guess that this version will be easier to solve or understand than a virtual version, but there is undoubtedly something satisfying about puzzles you can hold in your hands. One way it may be helpful is in showing the difference between stickers and pieces. The physical pieces are now obvious, though the stickers are no longer cubes, so that is a little misleading. It may make for a gateway puzzle that gets some people to look more deeply into the virtual puzzles. I’ll be curious to see how people in the general puzzle community react when I show it around.

And yes, the magnet restrictions definitely seems like a kind of bandaging. Extending the Mathologer’s arrangement allows two main implementations that will support the basic moves. (Mathologer video for reference. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb8ENlS-5Go>) I chose the one that seems to allow for more unusual moves such as the restacking move, but the other version might allow for some other legal, breakthrough move. Maybe I’ll just need to prototype that one too.

Thanks!
-Melinda

On 2/9/2017 8:38 AM, liamjwright@btinternet.com [4D_Cubing] wrote:
> Congratulations!
>
> If there’s anything I’ve learned exploring different puzzles, it’s that a different perspective can totally change the difficulty of a puzzle. It would definitely be interesting to see if this version of a 2^4 makes it any easier or harder to solve/understand it.
>
> When you split the cube down the middle, whether it produces a legal permutation of the cube or not, I think it definitely has the potential to create a slightly odd new puzzle. The way the magnets limit rotation after the split could perhaps act in the same way that a bandage does on a regular 3D puzzle?
>
> -Liam