by Coming soon to Actilud. Once the programming instructions are entered, you must generate the formal propositions, that is, the statements that make up the puzzle. These statements are “formal” because they are written symbolically, using signs, which you will need to translate into everyday language.
The generation of formal proposals depends, of course, first and foremost on the programming instructions. But it also depends on how these instructions are organized, which is configured in the Advisor at the time of generation.
Difficulty level
Checking one of the two boxes, standard or expert, modifies the following fields in the window:
- square
- invariance, implication
- assessment
These fields are reset to their default values, according to the chosen mode. You can then modify them manually.
Maximum number of attempts before resuming
The designer operates recursively. It can sometimes get stuck in a calculation that leads nowhere. The number shown here is the maximum number of evaluations that are tolerated for a configuration before the designer restarts the program – it makes another attempt and indicates “too many calculations”.
If you set the value too low, the designer won’t be able to perform all the necessary evaluations to find a viable puzzle.
So, if you see the number of attempts increasing too quickly, it means the number of evaluations allocated is too low. Stop the process and increase the value.
Conversely, if the value is too high, the designer may get lost in their calculations. Decrease the value.
It all depends on the program, of course.
The maximum number of attempts allows the designer to be adjusted :
- The value is decreased if the calculations are too long;
- The value is increased if the number of attempts explodes!
Generated statements order
Random order: the statements are out of order.
By descending score: each statement is tested on an empty grid and assigned a score. This score is calculated from the Evaluation fields. The statements are then ranked by descending score. Statements that provide the most information on an empty grid are ranked first. Statements with the same score are ranked randomly.
Follow the order of the instructions: the statements are displayed in the order in which they are produced.
Square
The square is a less common but very interesting puzzle-solving technique. It is always offered in standard or expert mode. However, if you want to create particularly easy puzzles, you can choose “no”.
- No: the puzzle can be solved without using the square technique. Note that a square can still be formed! But it is not required for the solution.
- Possible: a square doesn’t necessarily form. But if it does, it’s part of the solution and the player must discover it. Note that the square’s appearance depends on the order in which the player processes the information.
Invariance, implication
These two techniques are linked; implication always takes precedence over invariance.
- No: the puzzle can be solved without implication or invariance.
- Possible: implication or invariance may be present, but is not required. If it is present, the player must usually discover it.
- Required: either implication or invariance must be part of the puzzle. If a generated puzzle contains neither of these techniques, it is rejected and the message “puzzle too easy” appears. The puzzle designer then continues its search until it finds a suitable puzzle.
Assessment
Each instruction generates several “moves” which are ranked by score. Each move is evaluated based on the changes it makes to the grid at the time it is created. The grid may be partially filled at the time a move is created.
The score is calculated based on the changes: only the boxes that the statement has changed are taken into account.
You can adjust the value of each change, depending on whether it is a “false” box, a ‘true’ box, or a “booéen.”
There are a number of subtleties that must be mastered before attempting to modify the score.
By default, in standard mode, a true sign has a value of 1, just like a false sign , even though one might expect it to be scored higher. However, if a move produces a true sign, the rows and columns connected to that true sign are filled with false signs , which are therefore also counted. If there are already cells filled with false signs, the move will have a lower value. A move with a score that is too low will not be recorded. This prevents trivial or overly simple moves from being recorded.
In expert mode , booleans are favored over true signs, which are assigned a negative value to delay their appearance. This makes the puzzles more difficult because the lifespan of booleans is maintained as long as possible.