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[doomsdayred]

Failed ARG startup - unsolved puzzle challenge

[doomsdayred]

I'm around if anyone as questions etc...

Please bear in mind that as it is unsolved, it's untested. That being said I confident it works correctly but maybe I'm too close to see any problems.

[Tha Duckman]

Used http://www.sudokuwiki.org/sudoku.htm to solve it because I am lazy, and fiddled with contrast and stuff to get symbols.

[redrising]

Doomsdayred here...I've tried to change my email address and lost access to the forums with my usual log in.

The Duckman. Sudoku solve is perfect (phew!) but that is only step 1.

The symbols you've found are awesome. Even I didn't know about them, so I think it must be the result of poor image formatting. They have nothing to do with the puzzle.

[Tha Duckman]

I'm still a newbie at ARGs, the only one I took part in proper was the Dark City one a while back. Hopefully this'll be a better learning experience !!

I don't recognise the symbols, and there don't look to be any repeating ones, but there's a couple that look similar. Dunno what the colours mean. I tried putting the puzzle in as morse code (Solved numbers as dashes and then dots, that sort of thing). ROT'd it, still got nothing, so I dunno.

[redrising]

I've found that a good rule of thumb in puzzle solving is to use what you have before you go looking for extra clues.

Take stock and go from there.

[Tha Duckman]

OK, took what you said on board and started fiddling around with the image a bit more. It looks like there's more symbols hidden in the image, in the other colours. Trying to pick them out, now.

[redrising]

The symbols really are a dead end, I promise you.

[Tha Duckman]

Ah, yeah, just re-read what you said there, I misunderstood at first. Maybe they're just artefacts or whatever.

At any rate, I am already stuck .

[redrising]

Crap perhaps it doesn't work then...

maybe this will get you to the end...maybe not.

How many minor squares on the sudoku?

How many squares around the edge?

[degravedi]

My first thought was to input the colors in a clockwise spiral toward the center from the top left box, but I don't really know that it helps anything.

[Tha Duckman]

I ended up having almost the same idea, only instead of clockwise around the puzzle, I went left to right on each line in the order of the colours.

[redrising]

Degravedi. You have the right idea but dont skip step one.

The Duckman. Yup you're on the right track now but would it help to tell you that no 3 in the top left is the wrong color. 1 and 2 are fine though.

[degravedi]

Well I'm stumped. I can gather that the colors are somehow supposed to be shifted with the corresponding numbers in the solved puzzle but I wouldn't know where to start without further instruction. Since this is tagged as sort of lone, "see if they can solve it" puzzle, I'd just say that in general, a puzzle should be challenging but shouldn't need quite so much instruction from the PMs to solve. If that makes sense? Not criticizing! Just trying to give some feedback from a player standpoint.

[redrising]

No, that's completely fair and I appreciate you taking the time to have a go.