Introduction

Mary Raleigh (Dr. Roly Poly), a whimsical professor of robotics engineering, has developed a game to teach her students concepts in automation. The aim of the game is to guide a marble through a maze using only a small set of context-based rules. You can try to solve the various challenges she’s devised or make your own!

Control Terminology

Term................controller / keyboard / mouse

Navigation..........d-pad / arrow keys / mouse
Primary button......O button / Z or C key / left mouse button
Secondary button....X button / X or V key / right mouse button
Menu button.........options button / enter key / middle mouse button

Quick Guide

The main game is a series of challenges available from the main menu. Open challenges will appear with a name and illuminated preview. Simply press the primary button to play it. Completing unfinished levels will unlock new ones.

While inside a challenge, the game board is divided into a grid. After each turn, the grid will shift.

The grid cell that contains the marble is the marble’s context. This context is used for the table on the right. During a turn, the marble context on the left will result in the configuration on the right.
➡️ ➡️

Please note that each entry in the table has rotational symmetry. That means, that each entry covers four possible scenarios.

Each entry has an icon to the left that determines something about the entry:
This entry is set by the game, but can be changed by the player
This entry needs to be set by the player before it can be used
This entry is set by the game and cannot be changed by the player
If the marble is in the context of this entry, the challenge is failed

Solving a challenge requires figuring out how these entries need to be set to get the marble to the goal.

There is almost no guidance within the game so it’s highly encouraged to discover the mechanics for yourself through experimentation. However, a full description is provided in the manual below.

Manual

Main Menu

From the main menu you can play or edit any of the levels as well as add new levels. Levels created or added by the player can also be deleted from here.

Controls

• Navigation controls to move to a selection (mouse uses the scroll wheel)
• Primary button to play the selected level
• Secondary button to edit the selected level
• Menu button to open the console menu

Playing Levels

Completing the provided levels will progressively unlock new ones. Two levels past the highest completed level will be available so you may skip one if you are having difficulty completing it. Player-made levels are always available, but they must contain a start to be playable and a goal to be completable.

To start the marble rolling, press the play button on the right side. At each turn, the simulation will decide where to move the marble using the rules listed to the right of the map. A rule pairs a pattern of open and blocked tiles with an action for the marble to take. The marble can either move to one of the open tiles in the pattern or change its color. ?Each color follows a different set of rules.

Defining Rules

Rules associate an input (left of the arrow) with an output (right of the arrow). Using the primary button on the output will change where the marble goes. Using the secondary button will change what color the marble will be. Rules can only be changed while the simulation is paused. If the simulation comes across an empty rule while running, it will automatically pause, and it won’t continue until that rule has been defined. There are four kinds of rules indicated by an icon to the left of the rule. These change how the rule behaves.

• Empty circle rules can be edited and start undefined
• Filled circle rules can be edited and start already defined
• Locked rules cannot be edited and will always take the same action
• “X” rules cannot be edited and will cause a game over if they are used by the simulation

To the left of the rules is a tab with a colored number. Using the primary or secondary buttons on this tab will change which ruleset is being viewed. There is one ruleset per color. Below the tab is a circular arrow. Using the primary or secondary buttons on this arrow will rotate the orientation that the rules are viewed in but not change how they behave.

Statuses

Below the list of rules is a box with stats about the current simulation run. These include the number of unique rules used (marked with a rule symbol) and the number of turns taken (marked with a footsteps symbol). A rule is counted on the first use after it has been defined or re-defined. A turn is counted each time one is completed even if the marble has not moved.

Play Menu

To the right of the stats box is a menu with the following options:

• Play/Pause simulation: primary button to toggle, secondary button to do a single step
• Simulation speed: primary button to increase, secondary button to decrease
• Restart – Primary button to reset the map, secondary button to reset the whole level
• Build mode – Primary button to enter build mode
• Exit - Primary button to return to the main menu

Building Levels

Any level can be edited using build mode, but only the three slots included for player-made levels can be permanently saved. Any other changes will be reverted when the game is closed. Furthermore, completion of edited levels does not count towards progression, but clearing the changes from the console menu will allow the level to count towards completion. If the level was already completed before editing it, making changes will not invalidate the completion status.

Initial Map Layout

On the left is the canvas for drawing the initial state of the level map. The primary and secondary buttons can be used to place their respective tiles. In the lower right corner is a palette of the different tiles that can be used. The primary and secondary buttons can be used to select their respective tiles.
The palette contains two pages that can be swapped using the tab to the right. The second page contains alternate versions of the tiles present on the first page with a few exceptions.

Page One

• Floor and Wall: basic tiles that allow or prevent passage
• Timed Gate: alternates between passable and impassable on an interval defined in the settings
• Gate 1: alternates between passable and impassable when either a button or raised toggle is pressed
• Locked Gate 1: alternates between passable and impassable when all key buttons are pressed
• Toggle Button 1: alternates each time a button 1 or raised toggle 1 is pressed
• Button 1: activates gates 1 and toggles 1 each time its pressed
• Key Button 1: activates locked gates 1 when all are pressed
• Skull: causes a game over when touched
• Goal: completes the level when touched
• Portal 1: instantly transports the marble when touched. Limited to two per level
• Start: initial location of the marble

Page Two

• Trap gate: alternates between passable and impassable when the marble leaves it
• Elevator: raises or lowers the marble when touched. Impassible if the marble is on the other elevation
• Reset: returns the marble to its last checkpoint
• Checkpoint: changes marble’s spawn point when touched
• Release: toggles all trap gates

The following are the same as their page one counterparts but react independent to them.

• Gate 2
• Locked Gate 2
• Toggle Button 2
• Button 2
• Key Button 2
• Portal 2

Initial Rules

Above the palette are the initial rules for the level. The left column is the type of each rule which can be changed with the primary button. The meaning of the four rule type symbols can be found in the play section of this manual. The right column is the output of the rule. The marble location is changed with the primary button and the marble color is changed with the secondary button. The tab to the right changes which ruleset is being viewed (one per color). The circular arrow below the tab changes the orientation that the rules are being viewed in.

Level Settings

Cycling the rules tab to the end reveals the level settings. There are six settings that affect the gameplay of a level.

• Timer interval (0-7): determines how many turns are skipped before the timed gates are toggled
• Time interval offset (0-timer interval): determines how many turns are skipped before the first timer-triggered toggle
• States (1-4): how many marble colors (and thus how many rulesets) are allowed in the level
• Initial grid position (1-4): aside from the starting position of the grid, this setting also determines which of the two positions the grid alternates between
• Max rule count (0-127): maximum number of rules used before a game over, a value of 0 means there is no limit
• Max turn count (0-127): maximum number of turns before a game over, a value of 0 means there is no limit

Edit Menu

On the right side of the screen is a menu with the following options:

• Level code: primary button to view/copy the code for the current level (only includes saved changes), secondary button to import a level from a code (only available for the 3 player-editable levels)
• Save level: primary button to save a temporary copy of the level, secondary button to save permanent changes to the level (only available for the 3 player-editable levels)
• Play: primary button to exit build mode and play the level (UNSAVED CHANGES WILL BE LOST)
• Exit: primary button to return to the main menu (UNSAVED CHANGES WILL BE LOST)

The ability to import from a code expands the number of levels you can save from just the three built-in slots to as many levels as you want. You can either store the codes in a text file or write them down, and when you wish to edit them: import the code, make the desired changes, save the level, and copy the new code. When importing from a code, whatever was already in the level will be lost so if it is something important remember to copy its code as well.

Adding Levels

Aside from the levels provided with the game, players can also share levels they’ve created using codes. How to get a level’s code will be discussed in the section on building levels. To add levels using these codes, select the “Load Level” option from the main menu. A screen will appear where you can either manually enter the code or paste it into the game (if your system allows it). Multiple levels can be pasted into this screen at once so long as they are on separate lines. However, only the first level of the group will appear in the code window. New levels will be added to the end of the list on the main menu. The name of the level cannot be changed from this screen; a text editor is required to change the name of a custom level.

Controls

• Navigation controls to move the cursor
• Primary button to increment values in the code
• Secondary button to decrement values in the code
• Primary button on the “O” icon to confirm code
• Secondary button on the “X” icon to return to the main menu
• Use your system’s “paste” command to paste a code from the clipboard to the game

Deleting Levels

The temporary changes made to a level can be reverted from the main menu by selecting the “Revert Changes” option on the console menu. This option will say “No Changes” if the level hasn’t been modified.
If one of the provided levels has been edited, and thus does not count towards completion, reverting the changes in this way will once again allow it to count when next completed.
For player-made levels, pressing right on the d-pad or the right arrow key while on this option will change it to a permanent deletion option. It can be changed back by pressing left on the d-pad or the left arrow key. For the three built-in player levels, this option will clear the whole level. For levels added by the player, this option will remove it from the main menu.

Prior Versions

wip puzzle automata