Custom Map #8938: A small gust of wind. By: Hypnotic22

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This topic is for discussion of map #8938: A small gust of wind


Author: Hypnotic22
Size: 200x70

Desc:
This is a very simple map, everything should go as expected as long as you just rely on your instincts. No scripts were used in the creation of this map, only wind.

[cornucanis]

This map is meant to be a showcase of an interesting quirk Hypno and I discovered involving very strong wind. We're still not sure what exactly causes the observed behavior, but I'll try to explain how it seems to work to the best of my ability based on what we've seen:

Spoiler

The max strength you can apply to wind is the 32 bit signed integer limit, around 2,147,000,000. As you increase the wind strength and approach that limit, the creeper has a tendency to form into lines perpendicular to the wind direction rather than follow the wind. For example, if you had a max strength wind blowing to the west, the creeper would tend to form lines going north to south instead of being blown to the west. If you dial the wind strength back slightly (we used about 2,146,000,000 on this map,) the creeper can still form those lines under certain conditions: namely when there is very deep creeper present, or when the creeper is on void.

This is what causes the odd effects seen on this map. When the creeper reaches void, instead of being blown west as you would expect it will instead try to form a vertical line within the void. As long as the void forms a straight line it seems to contain the creeper quite reliably. Jagged or slanted terrain, on the other hand, will allow the creeper to spill out of the void. Thus we're able to create these void buffer zones which will soak up all the creeper flowing into them, and only release that creeper in the designated spots where we made the void slanted.

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Hope that clears up some confusion regarding what's going on with this map. As said, we're still not 100% sure what causes this effect, though it seems to obviously be related to using such extreme values for the wind strength. If you have any questions about how the mechanism works, feel free to ask and I'll try to clarify as best I can.

[TrickyPlayer]

I think it has something to do with the creeper limit. The game moves creeper to the tile next to it based on the amount of creeper of the tile itself and the wind/force field value if they are present. If these two combined become more than the creeper limit the game will refuse to move the creeper in that direction even if there isn't that much creeper. When on void the creeper will flow away from the tile more easily, meaning it will have the same effect.

I'm not sure if this is the cause, but it seems plausible to me.