Fantastic Contraption - Fun Online Game & Shareable Creations

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The discussion revolves around the online game "Fantastic Contraption," where players create devices to move objects to designated goal areas. Users share their experiences, strategies, and designs, often linking to their contraptions for others to view. The game features increasing difficulty levels, encouraging creativity and problem-solving. Participants discuss various solutions, including simple and complex designs, and explore the physics behind their contraptions. There are mentions of similar games and suggestions for age-appropriate alternatives for younger players. The community shares a sense of enjoyment and competition, with players challenging each other to find the most efficient or innovative designs. Overall, the thread highlights the game's engaging nature and its ability to spark creativity among players.
Janus
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I found a fun little internet game called "Fantastic Contraption".

The goal is to get one or more objects from one area of the playing area to another by a contraption that you make from selected components.

A simple example:

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=535704
(hit Play, then continue and then start.

The object here is to get both of the small objects in the goal area at the same time.

You are limited to building you contraption in the gray construction area.

The challenges get harder as you go up the levels.

If you register, you can save your contraption and will get a link that you can share with others.

Here's a couple of examples of contraptions I've created:

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=542147

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=550685

Have some fun, and share your creations.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
There's similar one on miniclip.

I loved both!
 
Andre said:
My first attempt (without checking others)

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=602920
Wow! That's an incredibly complicated solution. Isn't it easier to just build a long cart that will span the gap.

Has anyone played: The Incredible Machine?
 
Here's one another similar game

http://www.miniclip.com/games/magic-pen/en/

I stumbled upon it but realizing that I am wasting tons of time on Stumble and this, I deleted it from bookmarks :(
 
  • #10
Well, there's two hours of sleeptime I'll never get back...
 
  • #11
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  • #13
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  • #14
  • #19
But dynamic equilibrium is more fun than static equilibrium!
 
  • #20
Agreed, I'll try and work on a dynamic equilibrium with the erratic triangular ball kicker.
 
  • #21
I made this guy, who climbs stairs OK, but really has a hard time against rolling on balls. I like how it's almost there, then close to die, then gets back up, and falls again, and finally makes it. This is a whole story :smile:

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=667894
 
  • #22
He didn't make it when I just played it. He fell off into the eternal abyss.

Edit: But he makes it if you remove wheels #2 and #5.
 
  • #24
Gokul43201 said:
He didn't make it when I just played it. He fell off into the eternal abyss.
Now that's really strange ! That means, each player might have his/her own initial random seed !?
Edit: But he makes it if you remove wheels #2 and #5.
I have lost quite some time trying to make silly design work by tuning them. Usually, I try a bunch of different designs, some of them work quite easily, other don't, but I really like to try to fix those who don't. For a physicist, it seems that fine tuned structure is really ugly. I love the "story aspect".

One can prevent the fall into abyss by adding some other structure, like in
http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=667894

Example of design which I lost quite some time on :
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=670942
Obviously, this is the wrong approach. But I just like it :redface:
 
  • #27
NeoDevin said:
I chose to race the big ball in that one.
That's also the first solution I managed to make work.
 
  • #29
Wow, I just accidently clicked on the "other players designs" link. I thought you had to pay for that option. Some of these solutions are so elegant. Completely different than anything I could have ever come up with.
 
  • #31
Janus said:
This is how I did it:

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=545306

I have to remember that I don't have to connect everything together. It's almost always more elegant looking in my opinion when you do it in stages and "drop" the parts once they have been used.
 
  • #32
There's some weird physics going on in this. In "up the stairs" I was experimenting with some stuff... I put a yellow and a blue wheel on the ground, connected them at all four outer points (top to top, right to right, etc), put the red wheel behind, and connected that to the center of the yellow wheel.

After some time, the physics starts to go crazy, and the contraption somehow launches itself at high velocity into space!

Aha, here's the link: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=676058

Some of the previous ones, I've pretty much just brute forced the wheels through, and dragged the red one along behind. :-p Though I admit I enjoyed making a catapult in that one level...



Aha, finally past the stairs. My contraption just wouldn't make it all the way up... so I built another contraption to give it an extra push from behind. :biggrin: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=676511
 
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  • #35
Hurkyl said:
There's some weird physics going on in this. In "up the stairs" I was experimenting with some stuff... I put a yellow and a blue wheel on the ground, connected them at all four outer points (top to top, right to right, etc), put the red wheel behind, and connected that to the center of the yellow wheel.

After some time, the physics starts to go crazy, and the contraption somehow launches itself at high velocity into space!

Aha, here's the link: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=676058

Some of the previous ones, I've pretty much just brute forced the wheels through, and dragged the red one along behind. :-p Though I admit I enjoyed making a catapult in that one level...


You could have added a wooded rod to connect the "axles", used two drive wheels, and had the red wheel ride on top:

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=679165

or two wheels work fine with just a little traction:

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=679786
Aha, finally past the stairs. My contraption just wouldn't make it all the way up... so I built another contraption to give it an extra push from behind. :biggrin: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=676511

You could have added a wooden rod to connect the "axles", used two drive wheels, and had the red wheel ride on top:

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=679165

or two wheels work fine with just a little traction:

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=679786

or... Just bypass the stairs all together:

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=681790
 
  • #36
  • #37
Ingenious!
 
  • #41
Janus said:
Solving level 20.

Oddly this takes advantage of what seems to be a glitch in the game in order to keep it in the zone.

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=675940
What's the glitch? The game level extends (far) beyond the initial viewpoint: you can even zoom in/out and drag it around.
 
  • #43
Hurkyl said:
What's the glitch? The game level extends (far) beyond the initial viewpoint: you can even zoom in/out and drag it around.

If you hit "back" after the victory notice to let the level continue, the "chain" drops down into part of the area it shouldn't. This seems to happen if the "links" are too short. They can also break when they are too short also.
 
  • #44
Thank you so much for the link Janus, this is great, plus your designs are amazing.

Lately I have been working on a concept of catapuseless. It is big, complicated, badly designed, and patched.

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=688281
 
  • #45
looks like the physics gets wonky when driven simple harmonic motion shows up. I remember playing with some approximations for that a while back, and a numerical solution will usually diverge and have your pendulum swinging away at light speed in no time.
 
  • #46
What's the simplest solution (fewest parts used) to keeping the ball in the goal box, in Around the Bend?
 
  • #47
Gokul43201 said:
What's the simplest solution (fewest parts used) to keeping the ball in the goal box, in Around the Bend?

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=714311

2 rods
1 Wheel

let's see who would beat me :)

oops, this doesn't keep the ball there :(
 
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  • #48
Got to keep the ball there.

PS: I can do better.
 
  • #49
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