Boulder Dash Forum

Do you know any caves having a nice puzzle concept, but turn out to be way easier than intended? I'll start with some *oops* examples from my own series:

- AD 8 cave 9 and Exploding Dash 2 cave 16: You can enclose the amoeba, instead of releasing the butterflies.
- AD 9 cave 4: The intension was that the player walks through the complete circuit twice, however, this is not necessary when you let the amoeba grow a bit more.
- AD 14 cave 7: Idea was to create a hard level, but I forgot to place some diamonds in the outer firefly tunnel.
- Exploding Dash cave 8: It is in fact easy to enclose the amoeba without doing anything with the fireflies...

I have a few like that from my series; I don't know if they are all technically "puzzle" caves, but they all are easier than planned.

RTAD2 - B: You really don't even have to worry about the fireflies.
RTAD5 - M: It is possible to obtain many bonus diamonds by dropping just some of the diamonds into the right side of the magic wall in such a manner that the boulders pile up and allow you to push one to the right.
RTAD6 - N: You don't have to bother dropping the 6 boulders into the gap to fill it - it is easy enough just to drop one of the left ones down to where you need it.
RTAD7 - O: The lower-left corner is much easier than the other 3.

Nice cases! Here are a few from the original BDs:

- BD2 cave G: as already mentioned in other topics, you can blast the left wall in level 1 and 5. (But: is this always easier than blasting the other four walls? )
- BD3 cave G: if you're quick and lucky enough, you can simply walk to the other side of the amoeba, instead of using the fireflies. I wonder if this is really an *oops*, or an intended shortcut. It just seems too obvious...!

RTADash wrote:RTAD6 - N: You don't have to bother dropping the 6 boulders into the gap to fill it - it is easy enough just to drop one of the left ones down to where you need it.

Obviously enough. I don't think that someone actually would consider filling that gap.

Arno wrote:- BD2 cave G: as already mentioned in other topics, you can blast the left wall in level 1 and 5. (But: is this always easier than blasting the other four walls? )

Indeed, not exactly novice skill, and due to the push probability, not that fast either, unless you are really lucky.

- BD3 cave G: if you're quick and lucky enough, you can simply walk to the other side of the amoeba, instead of using the fireflies. I wonder if this is really an *oops*, or an intended shortcut. It just seems too obvious...!

In this game, you really can't consider anything intended. At least the manual explains to free the flies. I think, it's about an 80% chance, just to walk to the other side quickly, before the amoeba blocks the way.

Talking about original BD, there is this cave accompanying the construction kit: rescue
Unfortunately, there are no descriptions for those caves. So we will never know what the actual idea for that cave was.

BD3 Cave D: It is really easy to suffocate the amoeba to more the 100 diamonds. Excessive scoring.

LogicDeLuxe wrote:

RTADash wrote:RTAD6 - N: You don't have to bother dropping the 6 boulders into the gap to fill it - it is easy enough just to drop one of the left ones down to where you need it.

Obviously enough. I don't think that someone actually would consider filling that gap.

Well, since it was a remake of this one I figured someone might be obligated to do it the same way, but you're right, it would be a waste of effort. I'll change that in the 5-level version.

@RTA Dash: You make a five level version of your games???

Here's another RTA Dash cave: 6L- Hidden Barriers. According to the hint sheet, you should find and free the growing walls at the left side, but it's not necessary at all- it's pretty easy to enclose the amoeba with the boulders and diamonds!

Oh, and Boulder Dash 2, caves E/2 and E/5. A boulder /diamond falls onto the inbox before RF comes out, and there are a lot of diamonds falling down next to the start. So just stay under the boulder/diamond and snap them all with the fire button! In E/2, I can get enough diamonds that way, then I wait for the rain to stop and walk into the exit without any danger. In E/5 I can collect at least 5 of the 10 needed diamonds that way.
Just discovered it a few days ago- now I would definitely not vote for E/5 as hardest original level in my poll again!

Well, of course these caves aren't really puzzles, but yet easier to solve than probably intended.

Just noticed on one of my really early caves. Remix De Luxe 1 Cave 11, I forgot to remove the dirt between the magic walls.

Dustin wrote:@RTA Dash: You make a five level version of your games???

I'm working on it.
Only RTAD1 is done right now in BDCFF format (meant be played in Cirix's SDash) - I'll release it after I finish playing through levels 4-5. (Just to make sure there are no "American Actionisms" - or "Don Pedroisms" for that matter .)

I just noticed this, surprised nobody else did!

SDI, Cave 13:-



Here it's possible to simply smash the butterflies with rocks without taking the complicated completion route. Looks like I'll have to try reducing the number of boulders without disturbing the puzzle. If that fails I may have to scrap it.

Another thing, I forgot to put dirt between the upper closing walls, a small detail, but it irritates me.

Sendy wrote:Another thing, I forgot to put dirt between the upper closing walls, a small detail, but it irritates me.

I didn't even know that that was a mistake. - thought it was intentionally left like that for the whole random-generated feel.

RTADash wrote:

Sendy wrote:Another thing, I forgot to put dirt between the upper closing walls, a small detail, but it irritates me.

I didn't even know that that was a mistake. - thought it was intentionally left like that for the whole random-generated feel.

Lol, I could have lived with that excuse if I weren't such a control-freak perfectionist.

Just discovered: Arno Dash 11, cave 3: If you walk one step down and then right, the fireflies will be trapped and you can safely collect the diamonds. While you still have to release them in the end to get to the outbox, it makes life a lot easier!

Yep, well spotted!

And funnily, the same goes for cave 11 of Arno Dash 17