The Choice
Games
programming puzzle game
SHOW HN2013
95points
111comments
#237of 1,739 in 2013
Top 14%of 2013 by points
How HN took it
MixedNo clear lean
15 positive, 27 neutral or asking, 11 mixed, 16 critical, out of 69 comments about the project. Thread score -0.04.
Idea: 9 for, 1 againstExecution: 2 for, 7 againstDesign: 0 for, 4 againstDocs: 0 for, 2 againstPerformance: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Entertaining, fun story and humor
From 3 comments
Pretty good execution, I was entertained. I didn't mind the puzzle difficulty, though the answers felt arbitrary. It was confusing going back from @left and @right to @door,…
arh68 on HNVery entertaining! Is it aiming to be an intro tool for programming? I think it would work well as one. Maybe literals (specifically strings) could be introduced a little more…
chrisfarms on HNit was easy for me, but really fun, I want more of this for sure..
rycs on HN
Feels like the Portal games for programming
From 1 comment
This is like the programming version of the Portal games.
jtokoph on HN
Objections
Riddles are obscure and frustrating
From 3 comments
I'll be honest, I don't understand the logic I need to get through the truth-teller/liar test since it isn't quite clear what I'm allowed to do. If you just want me to do a ton…
Zimahl on HNI got stuck on the crime question, and cheated. They're pretty difficult riddles! It wasn't immediately clear a hint would appear (after my first 6 answers). Now I'm stuck in the…
coryl on HNTook a few tries but I managed to finish it. I'd suggest removing the riddle parts since they can be pretty frustrating and aren't directly programming related. Or maybe give…
grannyg00se on HN
Lost progress on back navigation with no saved state
From 3 comments
I accidentally hit Alt-Bkspc instead of Ctrl-Enter and lost all my state. Gah. Had I been a little farther along I probably wouldn't have been willing to start over to get back…
breadbox on HNOops, I just lost my progress by pressing Backspace… you might want to save the progress in local or session storage. I like the humor of the machine but I arrived at the tests…
Timothee on HNI really like it a lot. Somehow I got unfocused from the text box and tried to backspace to clear out my answer, which took me back in my browser and lost my progress :( maybe…
xauronx on HN
Voice cannot be turned off and pauses are annoying
From 2 comments
I'd love a way to turn off the voice. As neat as it is, there's a noticeable pause on each new instruction, relative to the length of the instruction, where I assume it's busy…
eridius on HNI could use a checkbox to shut off the voice. It gets a little annoying after a while. Very nice. Somewhat fun and interesting. Xzoor isn't a very good guard if he's telling you…
Zimahl on HN
Syntax and instructions unclear for beginners
From 2 comments
Nice idea, the start was a little bumpy though because it wasn't really clear what I was supposed to do (answer with the word answer xxx, answer 'xxx' or just xxx). For a…
grey-area on HNFor the one were you are supposed to ask the guard (xzoor) for the key I keep getting the error Property 'door' of object # is not a function - Try again. Otherwhise looks cool,…
natsas on HN
Requests
Save progress in local storage or cookies
From 2 comments
Oops, I just lost my progress by pressing Backspace… you might want to save the progress in local or session storage. I like the humor of the machine but I arrived at the tests…
Timothee on HNMaybe store the game state in cookies so it can be resumed implicitly, but have the game restarted explicitly, by clearing them?
quasque on HN
Option to turn off voice
From 2 comments
I'd love a way to turn off the voice. As neat as it is, there's a noticeable pause on each new instruction, relative to the length of the instruction, where I assume it's busy…
eridius on HNI could use a checkbox to shut off the voice. It gets a little annoying after a while. Very nice. Somewhat fun and interesting. Xzoor isn't a very good guard if he's telling you…
Zimahl on HN
Backlog of previous responses
From 1 comment
The @xzoor and @door similarity is a fair point - although @xzoor has a kind of emotional sensibility to me, I don't know if could change it. @portal would work for the door,…
nddrylliog on HN
Questions
What are the answers to the riddles
From 2 comments
What are the answers? I can't even get past test one.
killahpriest on HNI'm stuck on the very first problem. ``` EEM: Here is your first assignment. It is more useless than you. What is it? ``` I have no idea what it is and the hints aren't helping.…
shurcooL on HN
How is the voice synthesized
From 1 comment
Very cool. What are you using for the voice synthesizer? Also, I'm stuck on a bug: When I hit command-enter after typing "open @left", it spawns a new window with…
lukifer on HN
Alternatives named
Codecademy
From 2 comments
I got stuck on the crime question, and cheated. They're pretty difficult riddles! It wasn't immediately clear a hint would appear (after my first 6 answers). Now I'm stuck in the…
coryl on HNExactly. And if you've been paying attention since the start of the game, instead of treating it like a codeacademy or similar programming challenge type, you've already picked…
nddrylliog on HN
Portal games
From 1 comment
This is like the programming version of the Portal games.
jtokoph on HN