So we’ve moved beyond the ‘hundredesytten’ of v3.4 and into the 121 available solves of v3.5 and the 3rd birthday update. The first puzzle to fall was order and this was described on our Discord as having been solved in an ‘attosecond’ which was, to some extent, expected – but it’s still a fun puzzle.
And it’s always reassuring when new puzzles are solved. Firstly, it confirms that the puzzle actually works – which is good. Secondly, there’s a kind of confirmation that both player and creator are, more or less, in alignment as to the theory behind it. The only notable exceptions I can think of are two particular spiral/ascension puzzles whereby players have classified the datasets according to some unthought-of rule, and that just happens to order the dataset in the same way as the original intent. It’s quite interesting really, but I probably can’t say more without verging into spoiler territory!
I think it’s fitting that v3.5 also includes a new player puzzle too. >10% of our puzzles are player puzzles, and any player on the public leaderboard can propose up to two puzzles. We will probably need to add a new attractor in future though as luminescence is getting pretty full now and jamming an attractor with 30 puzzle nodes probably wouldn’t look too good :)
Now, to speak on ghost tree. This puzzle involves a new mechanic, whereby finding the hidden pages will allow players to gradually ‘memorise’ fragments of an image until a final composite is revealed. We’re hoping it will be quite satisfying to make progress in this way. How difficult it is remains to be seen. It’s definitely hard, but is it 1% hard? Time will tell.
Finally then, a sincere thank you to all players past and present. Your ingenuity, perseverance, and good humour have been impressive, and we hope that you've found the experience worthwhile and thought provoking in some way too.
If you'd like to support us you can do so on socials, at https://enigmatics.org/puzzles/wyfio or https://buymeacoffee.com/wyfio