Link Dump Friday

I'm definitely thinking with portals.
Can anyone give me a hint where I need to open the door to get the energy ball to the catcher? That darn ball always clips me on the head.

Never mind, I figured it out.

anybody have a hint for level 9?

Grow Tribute has apparently been reviewed before.

Meanwhile, 5 Differences is very polished, and is not your ordinary Spot-The-Difference game. Sadly you can easily abuse it by clicking around randomly.

But right now, I'm glued to Portals.

Love the funeral home sign in five differences.

Portal rocks!

Can't figure out Level 9 of portals, either. Help!

Ok, I figured nine out.

Place one hole directly above you and one directly below you (so that you would theoretically pass through them infinitely without pushing any buttons). As you drop through the hole on the ceiling, shoot one to the right of your hole on the ground. This should cause you to bounce up high enough to reach the platform. The rest is easy.

5 Differences is a cool little game, atmospheric and challenging.

Alright, is it just me or is Level 22 bugged?

The energy ball is stuck at the release point.

You wouldn't believe it but I need help on 5 Differences. I'm at the level with the traffic light in the lake, and have found 4 differences. I have tried pasting one picture over another and shifting between them to find the last difference, but they seem exactly the same to me. Either I'm blind or there's a bug in the game.

For 5 differences, I'm stuck on the level with the guy hanging on a bridge. I've got 4 out of 5. Anyone?

It's very neat graphically but the lack of any sound is a big minus.

For Five Differences

level with traffic sign in lake:

bridge floorboard

stone

cattails below number

shadow under bridge

right button(?) on top of traffic sign

How the heck do i pick up the blocks with the gun?

I'm stuck on level 15 of Portals.

5 differences is neat, though I resorted to pasting it on MS Paint when I got stuck on the bricks level.

Now, any hints for The Visitor?

I got as far as having the fishing rod set up. I click on the meteorite and the fish moves towards the rod, then I click the rod and nothing happens. I'm probably timing it wrong, help?

Caveat for Five Differences spoilers: I played this yesterday, and I just realized that the different areas can change a little each time you play. So that previous spoiler may or may not work.

There's a trick for 5 Differences:

If you know how to do the Magic Eye puzzles, this should be easy. Cross your eyes and stare at the screen so that a third image (made up of what your left eye sees superimposed over what your right eye sees) appears in the center between the two original images. Any differences will stand out; they'll look like they're flickering or flashing. It's hard to describe, but once you're able to do it you'll see what I'm talking about.

Ernie,

That fish may, erm, be a bit of a red herring.

Matt:
Use the F key to pick up blocks and turrets in portal.

I second that, chelle. I was just going to write a quick walkthrough for "5 Differences" when I noticed that –apparently- the differences in each scene are randomly picked each time you (re-)start the game! On my second run I encountered an average one or two differences per scene that I did not encounter before, while others were absent. As for the lack of sound – I accidentally found out that the music loop of "Portal" fits the atmosphere of "5 Differences" rather perfectly. Just load it up in an extra window, start a level, minimize it and let the Portal music carry you through your difference hunting ;-)

chelle,

the fourth difference you mention in the spoiler (for the "traffic sign in the water" level) doesn't seem to work for me. I found the other four a long time ago, but that

shadow under bridge

Doesn't seem to differ in the two pics - and even klicking there doesn't help...

Jonathan,

the trick you offered for the 5-difference game really works! I restarted the game, so I could test it on the levels I already solved.

Thanx for the idea!

Wow!

It seems that the differences are not always the same on the same level if you play them again!

Oops, seems like it's already been mentioned :(

Sorry.

Holy cow!!!

Using Jonathan's trick I solved the next unknown level in like 10 seconds! That method kicks butt!!!

Just like HL...Im a dummy

for The Visitor, I am in the kitchen and I'm stuck.

I've put an orange in the blender about thirty times, let the orange bounce off a bunch and I still can't figure out how to actually get anything done in the kitchen. obviously the knife is a big deal, but I'm stuck.

In portals, on level 15 there seems to be a bug. I shot a portal right above me just right of the entrance. Whenever i open another portal, enter it and am supposed to fall off the first mentioned portal - i enter from the entrance door - just like the level was just beginning! Strange, even funny, but at least it doesn't kill me :)

For The Visitor:

Open blender, put in orange, turn on blender with the lid open (or just open the lid while it's on). This will cause the woman to go over to the blender. Then, open the drawer, click the knife on the knife block, and turn on the sink all at the same time. I hope that helps!

... and right now I'm standing in the air...

I guess it's only another bug...

oh, nevermind. figured it out.

fun little game - got a bit too fast at the end without much (or any) thought about the next step.

The Visitor was fun but, wow, gruesome! The ending was a little weak, I thought. Are there different endings? Maybe I just got a lame one...

I loved the Radiohead reference on 5 things. Anyone here buy In Rainbows? How much did you pay for it?

I was really enjoying Starfighter: Dispted Galaxy, but it seems to crash too frequently. That is especially disappointing when you are about to complete a mission during which you've destroyed multiple enemies. Instead of a big reward, you have to start the whole thing over again. There is supposed to be a downloadable version as well, but that server does not appear to be working right now. Could be a great game if it was more stable.

the third chapter of prawn to be wild is up, but it doesn't work properly.

I keep getting crushed by a block even when there's a block to prevent that from happening

Well, I think I finished "The Visitor" so here's the click-through as best as I can recall it:

scene 1: just landed

1. branch
2. branch (now floating in the water)
3. frog
4. hole in tree
5. stump
6. fishing rod
7. 'ball' floating in the water
8. alien
9. fishing rod (click 5 times)

scene 2: the cat, part 1

1. door knob
2. apple core
3. door knob
4. mouse hole
5. tree (top right edge of screen (it's pretty dark))

scene 3: steam valves

1. green
2. red
3. green

scene 4: the cat, part 2

1. cat
2. door knob

scene 5: the kitchen

! You have to be pretty quick with this one as it depends on a bit of timing !

1. blender
2. oranges (on top of fridge)
3. blender
4. blender lid
5. drawer
6. knife (under the thermostat)
7. sink faucet
8. alien
9. thermostat (click 3 times)
10. light bulb
11. vent above fridge

scene 6: the bedroom

1. vent
2. fishtank
3. bird
4. alien
5. pile of clothing
6. bird
7. pile of clothing
8. sleeping man on top bunk
9. alien
10. sleeping man on bottom bunk

scene 7: the bathroom

1. toilet paper roll

Gah, I posted too soon. There are alternate endings to The Visitor. Nothing spectacular, and you can keep replaying that last scene until you get it.

That game was very... strange, to say the least. Cartoony and gory, funny and gross all at the same time.

ok, i'm stuck again on Portals. Has anybody figured out how to beat level 32? I can do everthing but get through the exit - the little gun guy keeps killing me.

I'm stuck on level 6 of portal, I appear to be doing things wrong. Any hints?

The three endings for visitor

Click any thing you can atlast scene

last scene click the doorway to close door click close bath tub toilet paper toilet bowl open door the alien gos slips click the cabinet put hair dryer in to tub

Do every thing as last time but put hte hair drier in the sink,get the gun and keep clicking the gun

Nikki - for level 6

get up on the middle ledge, through the portals on the two circles, jump down to the first circle and your momentum will propel you high enough to land on the ending ledge

For those either intrigued or appalled by Prawn To Be Wild, a word of explanation....

The hero - Insanity Prawn Boy - is one of the characters in a longish-running Flash animated cartoon to be found on Weebl's Stuff - a site that has provided much LDF fun in the past.

If this tickles you, do check the main feature, Weebl and Bob. I can explain obscure British references where required. In return for mango.

Portals is a spectacular game. I can't wait to get my hands on the real thing (and the other four games of the orange box).

For level 32

Get to the ledge where the energy ball gate is. Shoot a portal on the wall just across from where the door is. Now shoot a portal on the ground below that and jump into it. You're speed caused by falling should launch you at the door.

Shoot a portal on the far left wall, at a height in between the roof and the ledge in the middle of the level. Shoot your other portal just to the right of the panel labeled "06." Jump into that portal, holding the right arrow. This will shoot you from the high portal, and you will fall against the edge of the large square figure. This causes you to fall into the floor portal again. When you shoot out of the high portal, keep holding the right arrow. You will shoot across the square ledge, so hit the up arrow and you will jump to the door. This technique will also be helpful in future levels.

Greetings Starfighter! You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the Frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan armada. Get ready! Prepare for blast-off.

Oh wait, wrong game.

Level 13 of portals has me totally beat. How do I get past those people-frying fields?

I'm still not getting level 32 of portal. Any help?

For level 13 of Portal

You want to shoot one portal on the left wall, just a little higher than the caution sign is, and shoot the other as far right as you can on the floor you are standing on. You need to time it right so you go through the field as soon as it is safe, but the method is similar to this. Jump into the portal on the floor, which will shoot you from the portal on the left wall. If you hold the right arrow, you will fall into the portal on the floor, which will shoot you even faster out the portal on the wall. If timed correctly, you will be able to make it through the field without dying. This technique proves to be very useful in the game.

I thought that Portal: The Flash Version was great fun. Of course, its difficulty is probably a bit less than Valve's Portal (I haven't played it yet, but I hope to), but it still served as quite a challenge.

It's physics are sometimes a bit wonky, and there are a few glitches, but most (if not all) of its forty levels were incredibly fun and exercised logic and puzzle-solving skills fairly well. (In addition, the motion blur looked quite nice if you had the image quality in the higher ranges.)

However, I thought that a few of the later levels' difficulty was diminished by...

the fact that you can jump up and launch portals through narrow passageways on to the floors when you are meant to launch them on the walls or ceilings after doing something more difficult.

It really was a simple, but quite fitting ending. If you listened to any previews of Portal (or played it), you might have heard about some of the obsessions about cake.

It would have been quite nice to have at least a limited level editor, but the game was incredible fun regardless and it functions as a wonderful compliment to the actual product. Thanks for sharing, Jay.

Man, Level 37 of Portal has me stumped. Any suggestions?

As good as the quality of the flash Portal game is in so many ways, after having played the real one it just doesn't stand up. It is probably the best (and funniest) puzzle game I've played in quite a while, and I strongly recommend anyone who doesn't mind dishing out the dollars for it to play it. If there is a level editor for the real Portal I'd say it is worth the 50 bucks for that alone (but I haven't looked for one yet).

Plus there may be cake!

One horribly annoying glitch in portal: the link in the top left of the playing field that seems to overlap the field. Consequently, clicking in the top left of the play area (something that seems common enough) sends you somewhere else and your progress on the level is erased. Luckely the gave saves your progress through the levels but this still forces you to start the level over. I feel like someone should have said something about this already, it seems glaringly wrong. Perhaps its a problem specific to me but I can't see how that would be.

Other than that though, portal is a great game.

I just went through 5 differences again... stuff changes.
the first few levels I thought I was just forgetting things, but the bridge picture had me so stuck before, and I guarantee things aren't the same.
so if you're having trouble on that one - don't just rely on the comments, because they're not always correct.

Woot, I finished Portal. I really do wonder who decided to make that game. I, for one, think that it's amazing that an internet joke/MSPaint game can be turned into a commercial product.

THE CAKE IS A LIE.

But anyway, I'm having a little trouble on level 40 of Portal. And JonMW, what are you talking about?

Whoo! Finished level 40! The cake is TRUTH!!

Yep the piece of cake tasted good :)

Something was blinking after I ate it, but nothing else happened...?

Woohoo. Finished Portals. Although I got through levels 37 and 38 through a glitch (I got transported in a non-portal way through the solid floor directly above the corridor leading to the exit) and the minor bug mentioned by Ramunas, respectively. But I swear, I did all of the other levels the right way. Uberfun! A level editor would be heaven.

Portal: TFV is awesome. The authors have proven that the concept works at least as well in 2D as it does in 3D. Kudos.

spot the difference is ace.

Made me clean my monitor!!

To explain then...
On a certain image board (which will remain unnamed) there was an internet joke made popular by this picture: http://wikichan.org/images/e/e4/1141621436225.jpg
(Earlier, it was done elsewhere in order to make images worksafe. This was only the picture that made it a meme.)

The phrase "It is delicious cake. You must eat it." began to appear. It usually accompanied pictures with cakes shopped into them.

The meme evolved further. People began posting puzzles, like this one: http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/images/0/0c/Cakechallenge.jpg
Or this one:
http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/images/c/cc/Cakedelicious.jpg
Or this one:
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/1127/originalnn5.png
Eventually, a popular solution arised: one should use portals to get to the cake directly. (The concept of portals came from a Half-Life 2 mod.) This was accompanied by the phrase "Now you're thinking with portals".

And now, the commercial game has been released. Notice the inclusion of cake and certain turns of phrase.

Ah, yes. I was unaware of Portals already having been made into a mod of HL2; my only experience with it was the game Narbacular Drop. Interesting stuff there, though.

P.S. ... Freakin' 'chans.

Managed to finish the 'spot the difference' with the 'magic eye' technique - only now i have a headache >_

Help with 15?

How do I kill the sentry under the platform in level 37 of Portal?

The Portals game claims that you can pick up a cube with your gun. I see no way to do this -- can anyone enlighten me?

For Portal (I'm considering just writing a full walkthrough of this but for now, just ask>

Sorry if I'm wordy and explain how to do something before I give you the objective. Just read through it quickly to find the mini objectives or where you need to get next.

Level 6

First shoot a portal on the left wall immediately above the entrance door. Also shoot a portal on the landing below. Jump through this portal and hold the right arrow. You should launch to a small landing on the other side of the glass. right here, shoot a portal right where you are standing. Make sure to use the Q and E keys to choose the color portal that you shot on the floor before. You want it so you will come out of the portal on the wall above the entrance. Now here, shoot a portal on the landing below just like you did the first time. Make sure you portal you shoot is the one that was on the wall above the entrance. Wait for the field to finish glowing, and jump in the portal as soon as you can. This will shoot you through the portal on the landing past the glass. Make your way through the field quickly and jump to the finish.

Order of killing of these does not matter at all. Just make sure to block sight of yourself using the boxes as described below.
For the sentry on the left, place one of the three boxes you start out with on the red switch using portals. This will allow you to stand with the box between you and the sentry without being shot. Now, very carefully aim to put a portal right over him. Simply drop one of the other two boxes that you began with. Do not use the two near the other sentry because it will begin to shoot at you.
The sentry on the right is much more simple. Since it can not see you because of the two boxes near it, simply jump on those boxes. From there, jump over the sentry and stand behind it. Now pick up the sentry, aim it up until it is finished firing its shots, and then drop it dead right there.

First, shoot a portal on the wall where you begin facing and shoot another portal under the three boxes. This will bring the boxes to the next landing. From there, separate one box from the other two. Shoot a portal above the red switch and shoot the other portal to make the box fall onto the red switch. Use portals to drop the other two boxes between the red switch and the other boxes. Jump down and kill the two sentries as described above. Note: leave a single box on the gray area where the leftmost sentry stood. This will help you because it will fall on or near the switch.
Now you must put the energy ball in its gate. Leave the two switches up there for later because it may take a few attempts to do the harder things. Setup is simply to have a box on the red switch (which you actually did in the first paragraph). You will need to be able to jump up on the landing rather quickly. So, shoot a portal up to the area where the energy ball is. shoot your other portal relatively close to the red switch in the very middle of the room because you need to jump up to the next landing soon. Watch the energy ball's timing so you don't die and go up to the area. You must not ever stay standing on the red switches here as an energy ball will hit you there. Watch the energy balls pattern and life length so you know exactly when it will die. As soon as you know it will die without hitting the left wall again, shoot a portal on that left wall and go through it. Speedily jump up to the next landing, and shoot a portal on that landing so it will go into the gate. Make sure the portal that you shoot is not the one in the energy ball area. If you did that right, you can now shoot into the area in the bottom left of the level.
Now is where it gets possibly more annoying. Shoot a portal through the hole onto the new usable area due to the energy ball. Use a portal to transport one box into that area; it does not matter where it is in the area. So now that you have a box in there and a portal on the left wall, get on the second landing (immediately below the energy gate)and shoot the other portal on the left of the red switch located in the middle of the room. Jump down from the landing into the portal so you have some speed and hold the right arrow. This will put you on the small ledge in the bottom left area.
On this small ledge, transport yourself below the red laser and place the box on the switch. Now shoot a portal into the area to the right of this with the field. Shoot the other portal on the left of the bottom left switch and run through it. Time this so you do not die. Standing on the switch, it should open the hatch above you, dropping down the box that you placed there before. Place the box on the switch and use portals, shooting where that sentry used to be) to get back up to the area in the middle with the switch and two boxes still to go. Use portals to place those two last boxes on those two switches and run to freedom. This was the hardest level for me.

Use the F key to pick up a box or even a sentry with your gun. Either hit F again or left click once to drop either object. Note: you can not shoot portals while holding an object.

Sorry to post again but I made a huge mistake.

The walkthrough I posted for level 6 is actually for level 15. I don't know how I messed it up but I apologize.

Well I found the link for 5 Differences about a week or so ago but never really thought about it... Personally I thought it was a joke as I always spotted 4 differences on the first level and presumed there was only 4.

But having looked even harder this time it was actually very challenging.

The 2nd level made no sense whatsoever. There were no differences on my screen but clicking random things would 'spot a difference'. Also the 4th level I believe is the creators tribute to 'Fitter Happier' by Radiohead as some of the lyrics are posted on the notice.

Also I have tried what you said Jonathan, I used to be able to do Magic Eye puzzles but this was no help to me. Even getting the case of Tool's 10,000 Days didn't provide me with any additional help. Oh well.

I realise the delicious irony, which is now clear in my first post. The exact reason that the ball was clipping me on the head was because I was not thinking with portals.

Portal: I was wondering if maybe there was a secret ending if you

Portal'd around the cake. Sadly, it says you ate it anyway.

Why isn't there a ?referrer=Jayisgames in the end of the kong link? I would like you to still be in the head of the leader board (so the ones from onemorelevel will stop saying in chat that onemorelevel is better)

Any one for a frozen Prawn paste sandwich? The ball ain't helping (sigh)

Can someone please offer thoughts on level 34? HOW do I get the block and myself out of that top part? I fear I am missing something obvious, but I'm stumped.
Thanks

I fear it was something simple. Forget the query on 34.

Now what about level 16? How do you get past that?

L-O-V-E the new LDF banner :)
So cute and banana-tastic

Level 16 is the introduction of the blue plasma walls. They can't hurt you, so just put portals on the normal walls behind them (you shoot straight through).

How on earth ddid I manage to get to level 38 of Portal without finding the 'F' key? I stumbeled upon it now... Would have been much easier to lift the blocks around when needen.. So to all of you having trouble: try the 'F' key

Portal! haha, that's awesome.

Is there any way to get one of the blocks out of a corner when you can't open a portal there? I keep getting them stuck and have to commit suicide to start over.

Nevermind, I need to finish reading the comments. Portal was great!

Now I'm in 5 differences... stuck on the level with the guy hanging off the bridge. I have been staring for 10 mins straight, have tried the cross-eyed trick, and still can't find the last 2 differences.

Level 28 has stumped me, any help?

Anybody got help for 36? And Sparky, for level 28,

step on leftmost pad, shoot up into boxroom, shoot another portal, jump into it, grab box, jump down, put on leftmost pad, stand on rightmost pad, shoot above blue wall shoot another on the ground and jump into it, press r, set one to the right of the electric fence thing,set one into the wall beside you, jump into it, wait for the fence to go off, run through it, jump over the red wall, shoot portal down to below second box, jump down the very left wall, put a portal on the ground BESIDE YOU, DO NOT JUMP INTO IT, box should be switching between portals, press f on it when it is beside you to grab it, press r, put it on second pad, and finally, jump into exit. Whew, that was a long sentece.

Help for level 36?
There's not much that I can give you. If you know where you need to go, there's not much beyond persistence until you're lucky enough to make a tricky jump.
For an explanation of my personal method:

Make your way to the top of the block over the chasm (which the moving platform slides under). This isn't the tricky part. I jump onto the moving platform, place a portal on the ceiling above the block, and jump back onto the starting floor before the platform moves away. Then, I cast the second portal onto the floor and drop onto the block. Remove the portals.

Next step:

Place a portal on the rightmost wall, the one under the thin tunnel to the button room. This is the tricky part.

Wait until the moving platform is almost at the right side of the screen. Then, fire the second portal under yourself. You will fall into it, onto the moving platform. Run to the left side of the platform, fire your SECOND portal onto the ceiling of the button room. Jump back into the portal next to you (that is the tricky jump that will make you grind your teeth). You will fall into the button room, and the rest of the level is a cakewalk.

Move to the right side of the floor that you start the level on. Jump upwards and fire diagonally to the left - you shoot through the small tunnel and place a portal on the wall of the room beyond. Cast your second portal onto the floor under you, and enter the room... the rest of the level is handed to you on a silver platter after this point.

Get onto the large squarish block over the pit, as before. Wait until the moving platform is travelling to the right, and just coming out from under the block. Ready for the hard part?

Jump onto the moving platform. Cast one portal onto the right side of the block that you just jumped off. Cast your second portal onto the ceiling just beyond the red plasma wall (not too close, or it won't open!). Wait as long as you safely can, then jump into the portal that you can reach. If you're lucky and skilful enough, you'll fall onto the moving platform, on the right side of the red plasma wall.

This is the payoff - successfully performing the above jump will give you a little extra time to place the portals in this part. Fire one portal into the button room, and the second one onto the right wall of the room you are in. Preferably, the bottom edge of the second portal should match with the moving platform, so you can walk in directly without jumping at all. Complete level.

The Visitor reminded me very much of the critters from Slither, which was a decent movie if you like sci-fi.

If you liked the vibe from 5 Differences, try Hoogerbrugge.com. It's darker, but still fun.

Man, on 32, the energy ball got stuck bouncing back and forth between the launcher and the blue energy wall, and no restarting, reloading, etc. will fix that, it always does it when I start the level now. Don't want to do everything all over again...

Awesome game, though.

level 15 for potal?any one?