Hi, all. I've gotten a lot of enjoyment out of forum levels over the last several months. I've noticed that many people say that their level requires the autopilot trick, but it seems to me that that name can encompass a wide range of behaviors. I remember reading one forum member's lament, "Every trick is autopilot!" (Not really, but you get the idea.) So I am listing names I use for some commonly-used types. In general, autopilot simply refers to how B moves: when you tap on a location that B can get to, the game plots a valid path to that location and then moves B on that path. (Not necessarily the best path for avoiding zappers, though!) Autopilot as a trick refers to when something changes after you tap that forces B to figure out how to maintain the computed path. Here are some distinct variations of this & what I call them (many of these are described in @D.S.Masters 's detailed "Autopilot Demo" and Autopilot 2 threads and used in @Sun In Heart 's positively delightful "Quirky Trip to.." level): Autopilot Climbing - tap on a spot, then something moves onto that spot (or the spot moves up!) so that B climbs on it. (Typically B can only climb up one level.) This is your first move in the aforementioned "Quirky Trip to.." level. Autopilot Vaulting - tap on a spot, then something moves in B's path before that spot so that B vaults over it. Used in @Star Penguin 's "Dungeon Master" level and, beautifully, in @Black1226 's Old Dog level to dive into a pool! Autopilot Falling - tap on a spot, then something on B's path moves so that B falls. The most common version of this is moving a draggable out of the way, but it could also be a motorized block moving or a ball rolling away. Hercules Push - this is already a generally recognized name and is based on a classic Richard Fu level - tap on a spot, then something moves B to another path of similar length where metal blocks (one of which is a motor) are in the way so B will push the movable blocks until the path is complete. This most commonly involves B starting on a draggable, tapping somewhere, and quickly moving the draggable elsewhere. This is put to hilarious use in @cpw's two Conquer levels. Autopilot Incomplete Path - tap on a spot when something moving completes a path; if the moving thing (usually a ball) moves away, B can still traverse the path. A central feature of @cpw 's Track Shifter level. Autopilot Impossible Path - tap on a spot, then something moves B to another location that B would normally not be able to travel, causing B to go over things it normally wouldn't be able to go over, like wedge blocks or fences, often to hilarious effect, in order to do a path of similar length. This shows up in Richard Fu's Ramp Climbing level and many @cpw levels, including Nice Logic Level, which is basically one big setup for the final crazy autopilot. This most commonly involves B starting on a draggable, tapping somewhere, and quickly moving the draggable elsewhere. Often paired with claustrophobia / low ceiling effect to lengthen the path beyond where you tap, as with @cpw 's first Conquer level. This doesn't cover everything in @EL797 's Video demos of tricks thread b/c some of those I haven't seen much. This demo level of mine walks through all of these. Spoiler: Autopilot Medley https://imgur.com/a/LWShA1W Note that there is a slider on the bottom that can alter the "Impossible Path" part -- try experimenting with different positions! Spoiler: Video Solution I suppose technically 1-5 are all variants of #6, and #6 could simply be called "autopilot trick", but I find these names helpful. And finally, in my humble opinion, logic > tricks. But tricks can be fun when used well.
Thanks for this very detailed information on autopilot trick. Just one single trick and it has so many variants. I'm astonished. I wonder how many will be if look into the other tricks - Low ceiling aka Claustrophobia, SpringBoard Stairs and et cetera. Not sure if they had variants though. And thanks for the link to the tutorial thread as well. I hope many other new members can take a look at this useful thread and learn some cool mekorama tricks. Thank you @Buurmas !
Thank you! I see that your Autopilot Xtreme & Auto Pilot X v2 are unusually large demonstrations of "Autopilot Impossible Path". I like how you've turned it into a puzzle & a proper level, requiring players to Spoiler build the possible path and then get B on the impossible path. It ends up being a good test for players' understanding of how this trick works.
@Buurmas - Thanks! You should also check out this level by @Meak for a really interesting impossible path: - https://mekoramaforum.com/media/semiconductor2.23814/
It's true, Autopilot has many variations, and I think it's very good to be specific, but it should also be noted that the terms we call may not be understood by others, so an explanation would be good, especially for new players, for an expert, already understand a lot of tricks, it doesn't really matter.
I made a demo in the old version, but the part of the lifting platform and the last step is no longer possible in the new version. https://mekoramaforum.com/media/autopilot-demo.19564/ I personally like the first one in the demo, which I call "autoautopilot": there is no need to operate in the process, B automatically enters another path. It is used in the following two levels. https://mekoramaforum.com/media/come-back-home.23726/ https://mekoramaforum.com/media/ancient-device.19303/
I have wondered how auto-autopilot works ever since I first played the levels you mentioned, especially Come Back Home. It's such an interesting technique.
@935 - Thank you! When I was trying to guess how it was made I came up an ideathat uses a specific stair configuration to have a similar effect, but I think your method is probably more stable. Here's the technique I'm referring to:
Your structure is similar to most of my levels. The demo above is an optimization from @XSHY. It is troublesome to use metal stairs in the old version, so we only discovered these structures in the new version (and the old version will change the direction of placing the metal on the R‘s head).
