If you can beat level 1, please tell me how kthx

April 21, 2015 8:23 PM

A Good Tunnel Is Hard To Dig. Difficult, yet satisfying! By Alan Hazelden.
posted by rorgy (19 comments total)

I thought I had it figured out until it wanted me to get back to the entrance, too! Argh!

Though playing on my phone makes it extra difficult.
posted by jferg at 8:29 PM on April 21, 2015

(It might help to know you can jump up two squares.)
posted by eruonna at 8:32 PM on April 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

OK, got past level 1 but I'm too tired for this shit.
posted by jferg at 8:46 PM on April 21, 2015

Got all the way to level three before realizing it was an hour past when I meant to go to bed. Whoops.
posted by sciatrix at 9:02 PM on April 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'm on to four, after a long time stuck on 2. I think the trick is to start with the escape in mind - don't go anywhere that you can't come back from (remember you can jump up two blocks) and think carefully about what collapses will be useful and which will not.
posted by twirlypen at 10:21 PM on April 21, 2015

Level 1 solution. Key is realizing that dirt only falls when it's unconnected with other dirt; undiggable stone will not support it.
posted by JHarris at 11:27 PM on April 21, 2015 [3 favorites]

Also, crushed gems can still be collected.
posted by JHarris at 11:29 PM on April 21, 2015

And level three has falling rocks that are disguised as the immobile type, beware. (I'm not marking this spoiler because it's kind of an unfair trick for this kind of game.)
posted by JHarris at 11:32 PM on April 21, 2015

There are five levels in all. I have solution pics for 3, 4 and 5. They're in my Dropbox along with the one I linked above -- if you're desperate to see a solution, you can get them by loading that image then changing the number "1" in the URL to 3, 4 or 5.

I'm not linking them directly to try to nudge people towards not giving up so quickly. I had fun solving these and don't want to spoil the solutions too readily.
posted by JHarris at 12:00 AM on April 22, 2015

(And my guilty admission before I move on from this thread is that with her color scheme, I imagine that your character here is Zero Suit Samus.)
posted by JHarris at 12:03 AM on April 22, 2015 [1 favorite]

And level three has falling rocks that are disguised as the immobile type, beware. (I'm not marking this spoiler because it's kind of an unfair trick for this kind of game.)

I don't think the intention was for it to be a trick - they're a (slightly) different color of grey and also unsupported by any surrounding stone.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 1:25 AM on April 22, 2015

I thought this was about the Hallandsås Tunnel, one of those nice "how hard can it be?" tunnel construction projects that ran into problems after 59 feet, and that they're still working on 20 years later.
posted by effbot at 3:19 AM on April 22, 2015 [1 favorite]

It's so difficult I can't even get to level 1. How the heck do you start the game? I'm stuck on "insert cartridge". Plshalpkthxbai.
posted by brokkr at 3:45 AM on April 22, 2015

How did such a simple game fill me with so much complex anger?
posted by One Hand Slowclapping at 5:23 AM on April 22, 2015 [1 favorite]

Wow fun, gets much easier after level 1's brutal lessons.
posted by nom de poop at 5:37 AM on April 22, 2015 [1 favorite]

brokkr: "It's so difficult I can't even get to level 1. How the heck do you start the game? I'm stuck on "insert cartridge". Plshalpkthxbai."

Duh. I had blocked github.
posted by brokkr at 6:36 AM on April 22, 2015 [1 favorite]

I found it unplayably finicky in accepting the up-left and up-right commands, wanting both keys to be hit at exactly the same time. Am I missing something?
posted by finka at 4:51 PM on April 22, 2015

Yes. Just stand beneath the ledge you want to climb up (up to two blocks up), face the direction of the ledge (you can tap left or right arrow to change facing direction without moving), and press up.
posted by JHarris at 5:13 PM on April 22, 2015 [1 favorite]

Okay, it's been long enough, here are direct links to my solutions (really, end screens, for one level at least it may not be obvious how I got there) to levels 3, 4 and 5.
posted by JHarris at 12:56 AM on April 23, 2015