Status: SOLVED - by Ruien after 16 days. See the forum for the solution video and a full list of player achievements.

Encode is a small and very difficult map. The intended solution might be hard to see, but should be quite do-able. It does involve several dynamic moves which are tough with a console controller, but definitely do-able. As with my previous map, the laser sensors are modified to include cool-down timers. This is clearly indicated with a timer beside the sensor. Warm-up behaviour is also possible in some cases! The lamps near the door demonstrate this behaviour but remember that a lamp is just a lamp. They provide light. Enjoy...

Click here to download Encode

Click here to download Encode

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I can't even get started on this one. What are the laser catchers for? Here's what I've tried so far:
- Set laser on green, then drop cube to light up red. Since green has a cooldown timer, and red a warmup, I figured this would activate both (red warms up before green cools off).- Do the reverse, hold on red, drop on green.- Yoyo between the two.I can't see anything happening.

Ok, here's a hint: the lights are there for a reason, but they don't do anything magic like open the door. all the active connections are marked with indicator lights.

grayarea wrote:
Ok, here's a hint: the lights are there for a reason, but they don't do anything magic like open the door. all the active connections are marked with indicator lights.

Sorry if I sound obtuse, but what do you mean by active connections? I don't exactly see what is marked by indicator lights or how it's marked. In fact, the only part where I see red or green light is on the floor near the receptors and the tinge in reflector cubes...

Sorry, I should have been more clear. Indicator lights are simply the blue/orange dots on the walls joining the sensors and buttons to the object which they control (fizzlers, door, tractor beam, etc). The red and green lights are the lamps near the door. As I said they are there for a purpose, but they do not do anything critical and you can ignore them at the beginning and maybe even ignore them entirely. One of the reasons (not the only reason) that the lamps are there is to make it very clear what I'm talking about with sensor "warm-up" and "cool-down" behaviour in the map description.

Ah yes... I also suspected they were there to introduce the warm-up/cool-down behavior, and nothing more...

Thanks for the clarification.

lasers, jummy!

guess i found an unintended solution....
even after i finished and saw the top i have absolutely no clue whats going on in there....
i recorded this on version 1.1 but its still possible in 1.3

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Rejected hypothesis 1: Carry cube up funnel, hitting targets along the way. Even if I could figure out how to do that, I'd be skipping the other rooms with the cube receptacles and second funnel.

Rejected hypothesis 2: Stack cubes to hit different targets on the way up. Managed to get one cube through, but the second fizzled behind it. Also, the setup for this method left me one cube short.

I found a glitch that destroys a cube. I tried to pin a cube behind the grill in the ceiling. When I moved the portal, it disappeared. I can repeat this glitch every time for one cube. Attempts to destroy a second cube this way cause it to pop out from behind the grill and fall into the fizzler.

I've spent several hours over three days not solving this. Hint, please?

marKiu: wow I did not see that coming! I've already fixed about a dozen similar solutions but I'll fix this one as well.

KennKong: Thanks for reporting that glitch, I'll do my best to fix it. The software is suprisingly buggy actually. The only hint I'll give you is that you don't seem too far away, so keep trying!

I'll have v1.4 in a few hours. I have to go to work first.

Thanks a lot for playing guys and keep it up.

marKiu beat me to it, but I found a slight variant of the same solution as him, right after noticing that the grill in front of some portal panels above is tilted...

Green indicator lamp - when sensor is hit by Laser - checkmark comes ON instantly and goes off with timer (cools off) when Laser is removed. Makes sense.

Red indicator lamp - when sensor is hit by Laser - checkmark comes on with timer (warms up) as expected. However when Laser is removed you expect INSTANT OFF but instead there is a cool-down timer.
So the Red has both a warmup and cool down timer. Makes no sense.

Since those two items are just to teach you something, I expected the others to have some type of indication light to clue you in to what their setting is, but they do not have any colored lights and they all act as Green (instant ON and then cool off). Yet there are no green or red lights to tell you that.

The hardest thing for me at the beginning is getting BOTH the funnel and the Laser to travel up through the Fizzlers. But I think I "might" have a way for 75% of this puzzle:
stack 4 cubes in the horizontal portion of the funnel to redirect the laser with the 4th cube and then stand on the button and somehow make the 5th cube travel up and defeat each fizzler. This part I CANNOT DO and so far I only know how to defeat the first one.
Then if I do get the cube to the top, redirect the funnel sideways and then redirect again to pin the cube against the tilted grating. Finally, one of the4 cubes in the bottom sideways funnel will send the laser through the bottom portal, out through the top, re-aimed downward by the pinned cube and into the final sensor to open the door..

And then go to the top area to complete. IS this sort of right ? There must be a lot more involved.

PCDoc, I think the problem is that you're associating green with cool-off and red with warm-up. This isn't the case. Each sensor can have different warm-up and cool-down times. They all have a single timer indicator to let you know when it's either warming up or cooling down.

As for your strategy: it sounds like you're making progress!

marKiu and KennKong, I've uploaded v1.4 which takes a rather heavy handed approach to fixing your exploits.

Here's a possible solution to versions 1.3 and 1.4 :

P0X8ko3jWeI

http://youtu.be/P0X8ko3jWeI

The video continues after arranging some cubes in a way that's not difficult, but a bit time-consuming.

Another point (more like a long suggestion) :

||There are 3 receptors for the 3 fizzlers from bottom to top. Stack two cubes below the fizzlers, the bottom one facing the direction of the middle and top receptors (both are in the same direction), and the top cube facing the lowest receptor. Make orange portal at the end of tractor beam and the blue one on topmost surface above the fizzlers.

If somehow the laser beam can be vertically redirected through the fizzlers such that it can pass through the two cubes as well, we can proceed as follows :

Stand on the button for the tractor beam, both cubes will go up. The upper one will activate the lowermost receptor, and both cubes will pass through. Place the blue portal on the surface directly below fizzlers, timing it such that the upper cube has touched the mid fizzler and disintegrated. The laser will be coming via the blue portal (vertically), but will be blocked until the upper cube has fizzled completely.

Suspend the remaining cube between the mid and bottom fizzlers by placing the blue portal on top and bottom surfaces in succession with proper timing, until the laser is reinstated. Then allow the cube to go slightly below the mid receptor and immediately make the blue portal on the top surface. It will now pass by the mid and top receptors and also redirect the laser into them, as it is facing them. From there the puzzle is as good as solved...

One big problem... I still haven't figured out HOW to redirect the laser vertically through the fizzlers, or whether it's actually possible||

ahhhhhh i tried that too but was not able to stack more that 3 ;(
thats stacking level asian...

nice find. it is the intended solution? i hope not :O

Xtreger, that (video) is not the intended solution, but it is some brilliant play. I'm going to at least fix the ending of your solution. The beginning is also different, I'm not sure yet if I'm going to modify that or not...
In any case, you are the master at breaking maps, in my opinion.

I've uploaded another fix specifically for Xtreger's attack. I really did like the way you got the door open but the cube stacking approach should be blocked now. Hopefully when people see the intended solution you'll agree with that.
The three-cubes through the door super-ninja shuffle was something I thought was impossible. Hopefully it is now, but what do I know?!
Keep up the good work. There's plenty of puzzle left to solve in this one.

The row of cubes in Xtreger's video is what I was talking about but I could not stack the cubes vertically and get on them and place one on the ledge. Also how that one cube activated both sensors is beyond me as they are slightly off as far as aiming at them from the center of the funnel.

I was able to do this (see image below), then move the funnel portal elsewhere, place the one cube on bottom target, stand on button, shoot portal in top target to get cube through 1 fizzler but then cube is destroyed in 2nd fizzler - oh well.

Screenshot-11.jpg

who completed this map the legal way? i dont understand. video video!

I think I know the intended solution, but it requires such precise timing and so much luck, that I know I would never be able to pull it off:

||Stack three cubes under the fizzlers. On the bottom place one facing the door's laser catcher. Next place one pointing towards the second fizzler's catcher. Next place the top one facing the lowest fizzler's catcher.

Place a cube on the button. Stand with a cube to the left of the funnel near the laser facing the wall where the portal will be placed. Place portals to move the cubes under the fizzlers up. Place the cube you have with you into the funnel before the laser and time it so that it drifts into the laser just as it is needed to activate the fizzler catcher. Pull out the cube and time another drift for the next two fizzlers. The top cube will get destroyed and a new one will fall down.

While the cubes are pinned to the ceiling, move the cube you used in the funnel and the new cube to the door. Stand next to the cube on the button. Move the portal on the ceiling to the wall on the left. At the right time move that portal to the wall in front of the door's laser catcher. This will trigger the door. Grab the cube off the button and move all cubes inside the door. Finish as in the earlier video. TA-DA!!!||