It seems that you're using an outdated browser. Some things may not work as they should (or don't work at all).
We suggest you upgrade newer and better browser like: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer or Opera

×
avatar
Austrobogulator: I'm sure it could be (although, I think longer names get truncated?). I hate my handle now :( It was derived from this, but with 'Aus' instead of 'os'. It seemed like a good idea at the time >_>
avatar
Spinorial: Thank you, I'll be sure to use that one when the occasion presents itself.

And rest assured momo, I'm still trying to solve yours. I was actually taking a break from it when I started looking at the Pi-day one more closely. Though you really should PM me the name of the game - I really don't want to accidentally activate something I'd rather leave for others. Unless you think it's a dead giveaway (hehe) for the riddle, but even then... I dunno.

Btw, forgot to mention that in solving this, I had Lifthrasil's recent Witcher giveaway in mind and salvaged and modified drennan's Python script (very inelegantly, I might add) to find the right digits of Pi.

Oh, crud! Also forgot to elaborate on the significance of the X/X+1 pairs. Basically, I figure that when enciphering the N-th letter of the alphabet, Austrobogulator went searching where N occurs in the expansion of Pi. So, to encode U, he wouldn't search for a 2 and a 1 separately, buy 21 as a whole and then encode them as aX/X+1, where X is the position of the 2 and X+1 the following 1.

I'll edit this into the main post later. Got to keep everything tidy and complete :-)
Check PM...guess you've earned the right to the name even though I did give you HUGE clues as to the name! ;-p
Just an update - Spinorial is still working on the screen resolution puzzle and I sent him some slightly less oblique clues and also emailed uchristensen as well.

If anyone else is still banging their heads against this wall in utter frustration, just PM me and I will send you the same set of clues!

Happy puzzling...
avatar
Momo1991: Just an update - Spinorial is still working on the screen resolution puzzle and I sent him some slightly less oblique clues and also emailed uchristensen as well.

If anyone else is still banging their heads against this wall in utter frustration, just PM me and I will send you the same set of clues!

Happy puzzling...
Have you announced what the prize for this puzzle is?
I did find some things, but not enough to get the answer. No need to PM me any clues though, I haven't worked on it for awhile.

EDIT: Never mind, I see from two posts up, you have not announced the name. :)

EDIT 2: Sigh, I guess that was about a different contest. Too many going on now. ha
Post edited March 17, 2013 by adambiser
avatar
Momo1991: Just an update - Spinorial is still working on the screen resolution puzzle and I sent him some slightly less oblique clues and also emailed uchristensen as well.

If anyone else is still banging their heads against this wall in utter frustration, just PM me and I will send you the same set of clues!

Happy puzzling...
avatar
adambiser: Have you announced what the prize for this puzzle is?
I did find some things, but not enough to get the answer. No need to PM me any clues though, I haven't worked on it for awhile.

EDIT: Never mind, I see from two posts up, you have not announced the name. :)

EDIT 2: Sigh, I guess that was about a different contest. Too many going on now. ha
It is a recent Indie Gala game...
avatar
Momo1991:
Solved and thus claimed. It would appear that the only thing I lacked doing was adding 10 and selecting a decoding sequence A-Z0-9. My method had therefore been correct all along, but assumed incorrect due to the code's composition. One thing I didn't expect was a valid Steam key containing so few digits (it had one).

The solution for the uninitiated is to use the screen / video / graphics display resolution given on the right side of tilde as a product (height times width), divide by 10, subtract the number on the left side of tilde and finally add 10.
A reference for graphics display resolutions can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_display_resolution

Set 1:
1280 x 768 / 10 - 98300 + 10 = 14
640 x 480 / 10 - 30700 + 10 = 30
1280 x 1024 / 10 - 131071 + 10 = 11
800 x 600 / 10 - 48000 + 10 = 10
1360 x 768 / 10 - 104434 = 24

This one is simply inputting the numbers.

Set 2:
1024 x 600 / 10 - 61445 + 10 = 5
1280 x 720 / 10 - 92166 + 10 = 4
1600 x 1200 / 10 - 192005 + 10 = 5
1920 x 1080 / 10 - 207356 + 10 = 14
2560 x 1440 / 10 - 368633 + 10 = 17

For this, each named resolution is looked up at the link above, and in cases where there were multiple possibilities the one yielding the lowest difference from the left hand side number times 10 is chosen.

Set 3:
(WUXGA) -------> 1920 x 1200 / 10 - 230408 + 10 = 2
(WQSXGA) -----> 2560 x 1600 / 10 - 409606 + 10 = 4
(WXGA) ---------> 1280 x 800 / 10 - 102385 + 10 = 25
(WSXGA+) -----> 1680 x 1050 / 10 - 176403 + 10 = 7
(WXGA+) -------> 1440 x 900 / 10 - 129604 + 10 = 6

For each of the same approach as above is used, however instead of a direct lookup, the possibilities need to be assessed. In the tables in the link above a number of large resolution with aspect ratio 16:10 needs to be computed and compared. The most likely candidates are chosen.

Thus the sequence of numbers is: 14, 30, 11, 10, 24, 5, 4, 5, 14, 17, 2, 4, 25, 7, 6.
The substitution is performed by considering 1-26 letters A to Z and 27-36 numbers 0-9.
I had figured that the other way around be more likely, but no.

The prize finally revealed to the public: Vegas - Make It Big.

Thanks for the puzzle (and the game), Momo. ;-)
Post edited March 17, 2013 by uchristensen
avatar
uchristensen: The substitution is performed by considering 1-26 letters A to Z and 27-36 numbers 0-9.
Ah, so I was off by only one. I had the numbers as ##-26 (which gave me 30-26 = 4), but I should have used ##-27 to get 3.

Good job! And congratulations!

And thanks for the puzzle, Momo1991!
Post edited March 17, 2013 by adambiser
avatar
adambiser: Ah, so I was off by only one. I had the numbers as ##-26 (which gave me 30-26 = 4), but I should have used ##-27 to get 3.
I was off by 1 too, until I remembered I had forgotten 0. Changing 4 to 3 yielded the famous steam pause.
avatar
adambiser: Ah, so I was off by only one. I had the numbers as ##-26 (which gave me 30-26 = 4), but I should have used ##-27 to get 3.
avatar
uchristensen: I was off by 1 too, until I remembered I had forgotten 0. Changing 4 to 3 yielded the famous steam pause.
Well, enjoy the game. It was well earned, I think. :)
Glad you guys had fun! Congrats uchristensen!
avatar
Momo1991:
avatar
uchristensen: Solved and thus claimed. It would appear that the only thing I lacked doing was adding 10 and selecting a decoding sequence A-Z0-9. My method had therefore been correct all along, but assumed incorrect due to the code's composition. One thing I didn't expect was a valid Steam key containing so few digits (it had one).
...
The prize finally revealed to the public: Vegas - Make It Big.

Thanks for the puzzle (and the game), Momo. ;-)
Grats, mate, well deserved! And thanks for the headaches, momo ;) Now, does this mean we're out of puzzles to solve?
Post edited March 17, 2013 by Spinorial
avatar
uchristensen: Solved and thus claimed. It would appear that the only thing I lacked doing was adding 10 and selecting a decoding sequence A-Z0-9. My method had therefore been correct all along, but assumed incorrect due to the code's composition. One thing I didn't expect was a valid Steam key containing so few digits (it had one).
...
The prize finally revealed to the public: Vegas - Make It Big.

Thanks for the puzzle (and the game), Momo. ;-)
avatar
Spinorial: Grats, mate, well deserved! And thanks for the headaches, momo ;) Now, does this mean we're out of puzzles to solve?
I need a few days to work out another one... I'm thinking of offering the four Commandos games. Any interest or should I just do a regular GA?

Guess there is no real interest in Commandos...okaley. Something else then!
Post edited March 18, 2013 by Momo1991
avatar
Spinorial: Now, does this mean we're out of puzzles to solve?
Well, Septerra Core is still around :P

I definitely hope to do some more puzzle giveaways in the future though...
avatar
Austrobogulator: Well, Septerra Core is still around :P

I definitely hope to do some more puzzle giveaways in the future though...
True, but I already solved it. I also solved my own Magicka: Vietnam - wasn't too hard ;)
avatar
Austrobogulator: Well, Septerra Core is still around :P

I definitely hope to do some more puzzle giveaways in the future though...
avatar
Spinorial: True, but I already solved it. I also solved my own Magicka: Vietnam - wasn't too hard ;)
~laughs~
http://www.gog.com/forum/general/ow_my_ears_giveaway/page1