Nodesort

February 25, 2018 11:32 AM

Treksit: A graph node sorting game with sounds and a "bonus" area.
posted by jjray (23 comments total)

Oddly reminiscent of untangling cords.
posted by Artw at 11:54 AM on February 25, 2018 [2 favorites]

I first met these in the new generation of adventure games on tablet. Gorgeous type, though!
posted by Deoridhe at 11:55 AM on February 25, 2018

the graphs are fun and remind me of something mystical, but I get the nagging feeling that I could probably write a program that would solve them, which reduces the enjoyment a bit
posted by idiopath at 12:02 PM on February 25, 2018

Software Development interviews ruin everything.
posted by Artw at 12:08 PM on February 25, 2018 [12 favorites]

I suspect I am being tricked into summoning Yog-Sothoth.

Nice try, cultists!
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:09 PM on February 25, 2018 [6 favorites]

On the website click on the + in the diamond on the right and visit my new favorite site. Soothing background noize for my life! I want to plug it directly into my brain.
posted by OldAndTired at 12:12 PM on February 25, 2018

the graphs are fun and remind me of something mystical, but I get the nagging feeling that I could probably write a program that would solve them, which reduces the enjoyment a bit

Well, any solveable puzzle can be programmed. So now you have a new puzzle -- how do you accomplish this quickly? Elvisier will happily charge you for the answer key.
posted by pwnguin at 12:56 PM on February 25, 2018 [3 favorites]

I'm actually kind of amused that there is a linear time algorithm.
I liked these puzzles, and many (most?) likable puzzles are NP complete (e.g. slitherlink and numberlink). There's a (non paywalled) pdf with a survey of such puzzles: e.g. here.
posted by nat at 1:36 PM on February 25, 2018 [4 favorites]

I'm not sure what I was expecting to find in the bonus area, but I'm pretty sure that wouldn't have ever been my guess.
posted by mystyk at 1:58 PM on February 25, 2018 [6 favorites]

The bonus area is... special.
posted by egypturnash at 2:01 PM on February 25, 2018 [2 favorites]

Ok, I just found out that if you hold any of the, umm..., robots(?) off the top of the screen for about 10 seconds, it will fall along with a new one that's bigger than the first. This can be repeated with the bigger one.

Anyone else find any odd hidden features?
posted by mystyk at 2:12 PM on February 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

This is simultaneously the most relaxing and aggravating experience.
posted by duffell at 2:31 PM on February 25, 2018

Thanks nat, that's a bit more of what I was feeling; not just that it was solvable but it felt like something trivially solvable - more of a tic-tac-toe than a chess kind of thing.
posted by idiopath at 2:35 PM on February 25, 2018

I could swear that I've seen this game done elsewhere, without the swirly red/green background serving as a distraction...

Yes! Planarity!
posted by XtinaS at 3:56 PM on February 25, 2018 [2 favorites]

There was another similar iPhone game I remember playing obsessively a few years ago. I can’t remember the name but this game concept is fun!
posted by bendy at 4:07 PM on February 25, 2018

For randomly-generated versions of the same puzzle without the pretty background, check out Untangle from Simon Tatham's Puzzle Collection. (Previously)
posted by Urtylug at 4:42 PM on February 25, 2018 [3 favorites]

I'm fairly certain this is designed to make me feel dumb.
posted by glonous keming at 6:00 PM on February 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

wow, the 25 point mode on Urtylung's link is much more satisfying
posted by idiopath at 6:04 PM on February 25, 2018

(OldAndTired: Also try Ambient Mixer. :) )
posted by XtinaS at 6:36 PM on February 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

Ok, see, I can do the Untangle and Planarity puzzles linked above and they are perfectly obvious how to solve them but I can't get past level 3 of the FPP. It seems topologically impossible to me. I am clearly missing something (like perhaps a cortical structure).
posted by glonous keming at 6:51 PM on February 25, 2018

A tactic that works: move nodes around so they are closer to the nodes they have connections to, after a while of doing that you should see sub-puzzles that are easy to solve.

Every move can be undone, and there's an immediate and reliable measure of if you made a good move: did you reduce the number of crossings in the puzzle? If yes you are making progress, even if you temporarily screw up another region. A region that has been solved before is pretty easy to re-solve after moving things to solve another region.
posted by idiopath at 7:13 PM on February 25, 2018

Simon Tatham's Puzzle Collection has this and many many more puzzles in it, and is available for free for just about any platform you could name including mobile and web.
posted by JHarris at 2:50 PM on February 26, 2018

Pretty sure we all just helped someone mine the shit out of some bitcoin... at least, that is what I would do if I could spin up some cycles.on your computer - a lightweight game that keeps you occupied for a while.
posted by Nanukthedog at 6:11 PM on February 26, 2018