This is my eleventh (or possibly twelfth) puzzle of 2016 after:
10th Mommy, Where do I come from (geography meets wordplay) (http://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/gtofM/mikalyes-10th-2016-puzzle-mommy-where-do-i-come-from-ends-12-march#4it1VhF)
9th Let me make myself perfectly clear (code hidden in trivia questions) (http://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/0Dla6/mikalyes-9th-2016-puzzle-let-me-make-myself-perfectly-clear)
8th Simple addition (not so hidden code) (http://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/ysWey/mikalyes-8th-2016-puzzle-simple-addition-ended-solution-posted)
7th A list of words (hidden code) (http://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/3SdHu/mikalyes-7th-2016-puzzle-a-list-of-words)
6th As Easy as ABC (logic) (http://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/NaTeF/mikalyes-6th-2016-puzzle-as-easy-as-abc-ends-17-feb)
5th Movie Stargazing (Movies and Topology) (http://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/bku0l/mikalyes-5th-2016-puzzle-movie-stargazing-ends-7-feb)
4th Queens Play (Mathematics) (http://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/tBtXy/mikalyes-4th-puzzle-anno-2070-full-pack-ga-queens-play-ends-1-feb)
3rd Keep Your Distance (logic) (http://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/V8Ggp/michaels-third-puzzle-of-2016-keep-your-distance-ended)
2nd Hunting Lie and Hoe (Wordplay) (http://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/Jo54c/mikalyes-second-giveaway-puzzle-of-2016-now-closed)
1st Mixed Bag - Not linked as I will alter one of these soon
0th History of Computer Role-Playing Games (http://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/8ayLm/my-first-puzzle-and-a-bit-of-history-at-the-same-time)
Comment has been collapsed.
Q3: Can't figure out a single word in this section.
Q5: Deciphered all words but answer not accepted.
Time for a break!
Comment has been collapsed.
The answers to Q3 are all proper names.
Q5 I've just checked and the answer seems to work and I have the spelling correct. Contact me on Steam, I am very curious as to where that problem may be going wrong. The answer syntax has them separated by commas and spaces, so ANS1, ANS2, ANS3, ANS4, ANS5
Comment has been collapsed.
I got them all except Q16. I'm guessing it's proper names again?
Comment has been collapsed.
I just had a Eureka! moment and figured out the theme for Q16 - bump for solved!
Comment has been collapsed.
Okay, I have done that now. It is here: http://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/ZYBWU/mikalyes-magic-guide-to-solving-and-writing-puzzles
Using the tools referenced there, anyone should be able to blitz through these.
Comment has been collapsed.
I somehow stuck in Q3 with no clue to the name.. -.-a
Looking forward for the answer since it's already over.. :P
Comment has been collapsed.
It got dropped by all the jigsaw spam quite fast so wasn't as visible as it should have been.
I liked the idea and solved the first Q, but realized it'd take too long to solve every single one, and if I had made a mistake in any I had to read through several to find the error, instead of having it seperated into more question. So since I had no interest in the game and it was more a puzzle of a tedious nature of grinding through over time, I decided to spend that time on working on my own puzzles.
Comment has been collapsed.
Largely depends on the prize too.. 17 questions, of obscure nature. to spend a considerable amount of time on, you'd expect something satisfying at the end and no matter what people usually say, I'll be blunt and honest: They expect (most of the time) a worthy prize..
I solved all (expect 3) up to 13-17 -they seemed interesting at the time- and then decided I should be doing something more productive..
Comment has been collapsed.
Yes, of course. Tedious puzzles requires better rewards to get more solvers. This puzzle is great for a few words, and a really good idea, but when it's 5*17 times you have to do it you grow tired of it. It really didn't need to have several words per question to make it a fun experience. It lacks the "aha"-factor that Mikalye's talking about in his puzzle creating guide. :)
Comment has been collapsed.
I will have to disagree with the puzzle being tedious. http://www.phonespell.org/ this is from Mikalye's guide. It took one hour of my time with this site, even though I made a severe mistake with one of the questions. "Aha" factor was slightly in, at least for me, when I discovered the theme behind Q3, 4, 7 and especially 16.
Comment has been collapsed.
But that's what I mean, it's more about doing a chore than actually figuring something out. Just tedious in the sense that it's the same repetetive task 85 times over. And I'm not trying to bash on Mikalye here, I like the idea, it's just that I didn't find the task interesting enough when I had already done it for the first set. As you say, even with an "automatic solver", it took a full hour to go through them all. I think this could have been better by making it part of a bigger challenge, like one step of the way, but only having to solve a smaller amount of words, such as a few sentences.
Comment has been collapsed.
I agree that actually solving the numbers is tedious, but Mikalye has added his guide as a hint.
Using the tool mentioned in the guide, the decrypting process could be trivialized.
(Not sure if this applies to all questions though; I haven't tried it yet).
What made this puzzle great, like mrt39 said, were the hints.
Being able to relate them to the topic of a word group is "aha" enough for me.
Comment has been collapsed.
30 Comments - Last post 32 minutes ago by Fluffster
282 Comments - Last post 2 hours ago by eeev
837 Comments - Last post 5 hours ago by PicoMan
552 Comments - Last post 6 hours ago by Bum8ara5h
166 Comments - Last post 6 hours ago by Fitz10024
2 Comments - Last post 6 hours ago by Vincer
23 Comments - Last post 7 hours ago by Spazfrag
323 Comments - Last post 4 seconds ago by schmetti
265 Comments - Last post 2 minutes ago by Lifedreamer
6 Comments - Last post 3 minutes ago by okamiking
59 Comments - Last post 12 minutes ago by PicoMan
29 Comments - Last post 29 minutes ago by Formidolosus
138 Comments - Last post 31 minutes ago by 8urnout
3 Comments - Last post 38 minutes ago by okamiking
Well I continue with my weekly 2016 puzzles, This one will finish on Thursday 17 March at 11pm GMT. I am also planning a fairly special puzzle sequence over Easter.
The prize this week is:
Yet Another Zombie Defense
The puzzle this week is called "Phoney Numbers" and it can be found here: http://www.itstoohard.com/puzzle/BZfbXgrv
Comment has been collapsed.