THE MIDNIGHT POST * June 2006 Visit us at www.midnightsynergy.com -PAGE- 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 The Wonderland Game: Community Spotlight With thousands of user-made levels available for Return To Wonderland, you'd think that every possible puzzle combination has been explored many times already. Yet, players continuously find new ways to construct their levels, sometimes with surprising - and very unexpected - results. In this issue we have a look at just a few of the ingenious ways that Return To Wonderland players have tickled weird and wonderful effects out of the Wonderland game (more to come in future issues). Download the listed levels into your customlevel directory to see and play these levels yourself. Many thanks to the members of the community who contributed to this collection. No-Stick Surfaces This trick allows Stinky and friends to get out of some sticky situtations (pun fully intended). Two adjacent sticky cubes usually connect to form a permanent barrier, except when they are in motion. This little exception was discovered by user "Lucky-Luc" and is showcased in this level: have Stinky move one sticky cube and immediately switch to Loof to move the other sticky cube in the opposite direction to avoid getting walled in. Why does this happen? The program code only checks for adjacent sticky cubes when a cube has completed its motion, not during its movement. Hence two sticky cubes can pass each other like ships in the night. Objects in Objects Trampolines and sticky cubes combine for this unusual trick. The standard editor allows the placement of objects (such as coins or boulders) inside sticky cubes. But, as user "kiki" discovered, one can now launch a box onto that sticky cube using a trampoline. The sticky cube is destroyed, but the second box remains intact, and leaves the original item inside. In this level coins and boulders are hidden inside explosive barrels for a very unusual puzzle. Why does this happen? A logic glitch in the program code does not destroy the "trampolined" box if either the stationary or the trampolined box is a sticky cube. Shielded Stinky The "official" editor help files suggest that a box should not be placed onto ice at level start-up, as the results can be unexpected. Luckily, Wonderland players are not beyond ignoring instructions, as Box-on-Ice levels have given rise to a host of phenomena in custom levels. Most involve the ability to move multiple objects into the same location. An early variation of this trick was used in "malcdelsol"'s level Arise, Sir Stinky! By pushing a steel box just so, Stinky is able to appear inside the box, which serves as a metal armour against the UFO's fireballs. Why does this happen? The game code follows two rules for boxes. (1) if a box is moving on ice, it continues moving until it is off ice. (2) A box can be pushed into a motion by a heavier or equally heavy box. The combination of these two rules allows a box to push a second box on ice, yet continue moving itself (and hence end up in the same final location). .....More "Tricksy" Levels On the Next Page..... To subscribe to the Midnight Post, simply enter your e-mail: To read previous issues of the Midnight Post, click here.