And here's the map, but where are all the Xs?

You probably already know the rules, but we all need reminding from time to time and surely transparency must come first, so here you are:
Do not leak, post answers, suggest hints, or directly link to the prize/giveaway.
The prize is more of a trinket now, but it's the fun we're after; respect your fellow solvers and be sure to not spoil it for them!

The puzzle of course is supposed to be solvable by newcomers (well, being able to read left to right and use a search bar from time to time are still prerequisites), but it should be possible to learn something from the background, so here you are. Making your life easier, that's my motto in puzzle-making!

Well, ehehe, I guess you probably shouldn't trust me on that.

Three solvers, three entries!

Cymbaline, chour and Kappei managed to solve this one, and Cymbaline took the prize! Congratulations people!

For you of curious mind, the solution is posted here!

10 years ago*

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Oh, what a pity not solving it. This one seems the easiest puzzle of yours. I was aware the pastebin code was hidden in the transparency, I wasted my time in trying to recreate a similar image with Gimp, but I'm not good at all with image editing software. Thank you for the puzzle, alamarjan. I'll try again with the next one.

10 years ago
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You seem not to have solved mine either I thought you loved me ;_; Well maybe you missed it.

Well the easiest alamarjan's puzzle to me was S/N at least I have solved that one xD

10 years ago
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That S/N still haunts me. Off to solve it.

10 years ago
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Oh my... S/N still gives me nightmares. But I'm especially proud of this gif I made

10 years ago
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This is so beautiful.

10 years ago
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Oh Award, that is just part of a long series of failures. You are aware I can't miss a your puzzle. Old times aren't back for me yet. I'll solve your next one as well.

10 years ago
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Hello! :) I'm sorry, Bruto, but why would you need to recreate it?

10 years ago
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"X" never, ever marks the spot.

10 years ago
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Does too!

10 years ago
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Missed this puzzle, but reading the solution I don't understand how you get (56, 56, 48, 49) and (116, 98, 99, 105), I used paint to see the code but the color codes are totally different.

What are "hex offsets into the actual image file"?? Do you have to use a special program to find that? I totally have no idea what "Looking at bytes 0X000060A0, 0X000037B4, 0X000078A1, 0X000088B2 and 0X00002598" means

10 years ago
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I don't think paint can work with transparency at all. When you try to see the color in a PNG with an alpha channel I guess it would just show you an RGB value tweaked to correspond with the original image layered on top of white canvas or something.
About offsets, well, I'm afraid if you don't know what that means you had no chance at this one anyway. A certain level of savvy, or willingness to experiment, is expected. Better luck next time!

10 years ago
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Wait, so how do you get the ARGB code then? Is there another program similar to paint that you used originally to make the colours?
I missed the puzzle, so I'm not concerned (or "wasn't) about solving it but I just want to know how to get the text string from the 5 bytes as stated in the solution. (who knows, someone else may use a similar method in a future puzzle? :) I'm pretty sure you need some kind of editor like notepad to do that?

10 years ago
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Any good viewer would do, XnView for example. The image itself was created in Gimp.
Those five bytes are in fact the text string, a byte for a character in US-ASCII. To get them you might use loads of text editors with ability to show files in hexadecimal in Windows (like the default Lister of Total Commander, for example); they are much easier to get in Linux, say, with hd.

10 years ago
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Jarl, you need to expand your tools library... With just paint and notepad you're going to have a hard time at many puzzles.

A couple of suggestions:

  • Notepad++: powerful editor with built-in code highlitghtning (useful if you're a coder) and a lot of plugins.
  • Fraise: a somewhat less powerful alternative to Notepad++ for Mac
  • Gimp: free image editing tool, available for Win, Mac and Linux
  • Paint.NET: another image editor, Win only

This is just the minumum. You also have to become pretty confident with Google and a little coding experience won't be bad.

10 years ago
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Might want to tell zelghadis to update his post with a tools of trade section :)

10 years ago
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Great idea! I'll try to tell him about adding something

10 years ago
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Ha! Actually I was going to add software section to the guide in January, so any ideas are much appreciated :> For now I'm editing my Nonogram solving tool so it can solve multicolor nonograms, and dead-zone altered nonograms, as Nonograms became more popular last 1-2 months and are not a niche anymore ;p

10 years ago
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Like Kappei said - even if you don't own specific software, you can easily google it most of the times ;) I will be adding new Software section to the guide in January, cause for now I'm working for one nice tool of my own plus am still busy with my now ended puzzle and all the xmas events ;p

10 years ago
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Thank you, that's what I needed :)

10 years ago
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Closed 10 years ago by alamarjan.