Hints requested - Lix Quirky level 37 Exit Stage Right

[Wibble]

Enjoying this game and working through the levels but an stuck on this one. Chances are I'll see the solution just after posting this.

I have tried 2 methods, neither seems to quite work.

Method 1

Spoiler

1st lix platforms to the right.
2nd lix jumps the gap, then bashes into the yellow block before digging down.
Lixes 3 and 4 get parachutes.
Lix 2 is imploded most of the way down to ensure all other lix are walking in the correct direction.
Problem is that a few too many lix either splat or turn around before lix 2 has dug down far enough.

Method 2

Spoiler

1st lix jumps the gap.
2nd lix is a blocker.
1st lix turns around and is given a parachute, then builds a platform below the buzzsaw to the right.
The hindmost lix in the train digs through the red triangle, then is imploded just before reaching the bottom so that some of the green block is dug into.
The first lix in the train can then bash through the green block.
Problem is that too many other lix in the train turn around and die.

Can anyone provide a hint to help me - I'm sure I can find a full walkthrough video but that would spoil it too much!

Thanks in advance!

[Wibble]

And, true to form, I've now worked it out!

[Simon]

Thanks! Happy to hear you're enjoying Lix.

Exit Stage Right feels really hard while solving. Still, it solves in a reasonable time and even looks easy in hindsight. It's probably still okay at its position, but if you ever feel that levels are sorted weirdly for their difficulty, we'll appreciate feedback.

For hints, it's best to ask on the forums, exactly. We have solution replays for every level, but they're complete spoilers, not good hints. I use those replays to ensure that I ship only solvable levels.

-- Simon

[Wibble]

So far most levels look like they are about at the right place from my limited experience. Different people may naturally find different levels easier or harder of course.

For me, One Way Road, and Minimalism took the longest out of the Lovely levels, both of which were largely through trying other methods that just didn't work before seeing a solution.

From quirky I found Prelude stuck out as a lot easier than the most of the rest. (btw I hope there are remakes of that level called Toccata and Finale?). Exit Stage Right and Path to Mahiman also took a while, though when I solved the latter I felt I should have saw it much sooner. And I agree, Exit Stage Right now seems relatively easy now I have found the solution!

I have done the first 4 levels of cunning, found Once You Pop You Can't Stop much easier than the other 3.

On Lix Cannon and not seeing how to do it yet, though I've only looked at it for 5 minutes or so.

[Proxima]

From quirky I found Prelude stuck out as a lot easier than the most of the rest. (btw I hope there are remakes of that level called Toccata and Finale?).

Ooh! Are you a Repton fan? (I know that all three names are musical terms, but that you zeroed in on those particular names makes me suspect that you spotted the Repton connection....)

There are later levels in the pack called Toccata and Finale, and all three are based on levels I originally made in Cheapo, an earlier engine that was less fussy about using copyrighted graphics, so I made tilesets for it using Repton graphics. (You can still see traces of this in the Lix remakes of the levels, of course. Another of my levels, The Crimson Room, is based on Repton in a different way.)

[Wibble]

Yep, spent many an hour playing Repton.

[Proxima]

You should join the discord so we can chat about Repton some time Or if you're on the Lix IRC, that might get me to visit there more often, which I know Simon would be happy about

Have you played the PC remakes of the Repton games? I've made quite a lot of levels for those.

[Wibble]

I have played the PC ones yes. Haven't solved all without losing a life yet but have got a fair way through - that said I am playing other games currently.

Main achievement there was finally figuring out how to connect that cage in Oceans 5 without waiting for fungus to grow all the way to the time bomb (which was how I thought it had to be done when I played it on a BBC as a 7ish year old!). Turns out it is merely a difficult level as opposed to virtually impossible.

[Forestidia86]

I have done the first 4 levels of cunning, found Once You Pop You Can't Stop much easier than the other 3.

I agree with this assessment. In this level you can wiggle your way through, which makes it easier to solve.

If you want to you can post replays of your solutions. I'm sure there are people interested in them (esp. for the harder lvls) in the search for backroutes and alternative solutions.

[Wibble]

How do you post replays? I can see how to load them but not do anything else?

[Simon]

Each replay is a file on disk. You can attach files to forum posts.

On Windows:
In your Lix folder, go to subfolders replays -> solved -> lemforum -> Quirky.
Replays are automatically named LevelFilename-PlayerName-TimeOfCreation.txt.

On Linux, if you installed Lix via package manager, the replays will be in ~/.local/share/lix/replays/. If you built Lix from source, they'll be in the normal Lix directory, subdirectory replays/, like in Windows.



Especially after solving very hard levels or newly released levels, it's common to attach replays:

• To give the level author a chance to fix a backroute, if you've unknowingly been the first player to find that backroute.
• To show the level author sections that you found overly precise, and give the author a chance to reduce unnecessary precision, or make failing attempts fail more clearly/sooner.
• To share particularly cool solutions.
• Sometimes, to boast about having beaten an extremely hard level.

-- Simon