[Server] Inside The Box [Puzzles]

[sofar]

Hey folks, thanks for keeping the thread going!

I've been doing a few minor updates behind the scenes in the past few months and the server has migrated to an updated hosting location, and a few minor fixes were done, which are live.

However, I'm planning to do a major overhaul and have made a very large list of things I'd love to do over the past few years, and, it is my intent to get to all of them.

So first off, there will be a small GUI overhaul. This part is partially already done. Theming of the formspecs will be much more immersive going forward. We'll use a new font as well, adding to the low tech vibe that was already in place. (This isn't released to the live server yet, though).

The next few things that will come are a major overhaul of the review system. My intent is to build on the community to review, and even accept new boxes. This is perhaps a larger experiment than I can build just by myself, but, I think we'll figure out a good balance that will promote good boxes and help builders make something they can look back on with pride. For those that have built a lot of the boxes on the server - this means you will be eligible to review other players' boxes. For the few builders who are very senior, you will be able to accept or reject boxes that have been reviewed. Together we can make this task light. I'm sure Papang will be overjoyed with this, too ;).

There's a ton more I'd like to change, but, for now let's stick to this. If you're interested to chat about this, feel free to ping me one way or another.

--sofar

[Papang]

Thank you for your trust and your perseverance! This is going to lighten my workload!

[sofar]

Here's a quick update on up-and-coming changes:

- UI system: complete overhaul mostly done. Extensively tested for the implemented parts. There's a few more formspecs that may also change to the new style, but that has a lower priority for now.

- Review/moderation system: completely rewritten. Players will automatically be able to gain review and moderator privileges and help review of boxes. The goal of the system is to lighten the load of the moderators. From the day of the release, at least 20 people are going to be immediately promoted (if they accept) to reviewer. Reviewing is a team effort - you won't be doing this alone. Moderators will have the final say, but, with a team of reviewers helping and providing feedback, this should dramatically lower the time needed for each individual. Reviewers could just mostly play test newly submitted boxes, and provide a few notes here and there.

- Hint system: in progress. There will be an auto-hint system that will help players who are really stuck to progress. No penalty for using it. The system builds on how players are playing the box that have completed it. It doesn't need any special interaction or effort other than people playing boxes.

- Builder focused changes: Major changes in how builders can get feedback on their boxes. There is now an auto-assessment system, and better box validation checks. Feedback to the builder is readily available. Review feedback is easy to access - edit your box and type /feedback. There are a few new builder tools - A node variation tool, a tree growing tool, and an erode tool. Editing and playtesting your box is easier and faster - you can quickly test your box and when done testing, it drops you back in your editing box where you left off!

I'm not yet sure when I will be releasing all this. There is a lot to test first. This is also a great time to reiterate some requests that people have made in the past that I might not have remembered. All feedback is welcome, as usual.

[sofar]

Added:

- Recommendation system: per-player tailored boxes. Suggests boxes that match the players' progress and play "style".

- New automatically generated series, based on ranking and rating data. 7+ new series are automatically updated, including a fully automatic "new" series for players rejoining wanting to keep up with the latest boxes quickly.

[sofar]

All of these new changes are now LIVE. And more.

Please come help test. There's bound to be some issues but with play testers we can hopefully knock them out swiftly.

[sofar]

New Terminal Interface
The entire UI has been rebuilt with a retro CRT-style terminal. All menus (boxes, series, reviews, telex mail, rules, and inventory) now use the new look. You can pick your terminal color theme: amber, green, white, cyan, or magenta.

Ranking & Report Cards
Use /rank to see your personal report card: combined score, completion percentage, speed, damage, and survival stats displayed with progress bars. Builders get a separate view showing their box rankings. Monthly and yearly windows available.

Hint System
Stuck on a box? Use /hint to get an auto-generated hint based on what other players did to complete it.

Auto Series
New automatically generated series: Easy, Deadly, Punishing, Long, Top Rated, Most Played, and an everything series containing all accepted boxes. These update regularly.

Matchmaker Teleporter
A new teleporter that matches you with a box based on your skill level.

Builder Tools
Two new creative tools for builders: a procedural tree placement tool and an erode tool for natural terrain
weathering.

Telex Mail Improvements
Easier mail interface!

Review & Moderation System
New structured review system with reviewer and moderator roles, earned through play. Dedicated TUI views for reviewing and moderating submitted boxes. Builders get automatic feedback on their boxes.

Box Validation
Boxes are now validated at save time with warnings for missing pedestals, nexus count mismatches, and other common issues.

And more!

Come check it out, and help us test the new code.

--sofar

[sofar]

I've added the new "Toggle" mech node. It acts as a way to "toggle" the outgoing trigger based on an incoming trigger.

On first trigger, it sends out the trigger. On the second trigger, it sends out an untrigger. And repeat.

So, in the image, if you hook up a button, to a filter node, to a toggle, and then a door, then the door will open, and stay open, when the button is pressed. When the button is later pressed again, the door is closed.

[sofar]

A second feature I've added: Screenshot submissions.

- Enter the box you want to submit a screenshot for
- Take a screenshot, post it to postimages.org or imgur or... any image service as PNG (important)
- Grab the URL to the PNG. The URL should end with ".PNG".
- Use the in-game submission form in the play tab, while in the box.

The server will record that the screenshot should go with the box number you are in, and subsequently feature the screenshot on the website for that specific box. There's an approval needed by me on the server, but you can submit multiple screenshots per box.

[sofar]

I've added a "Blueprint" tool for builders to use. It can store a bunch of nodes, and then place them - repeatedly, while taking into account rotation.

I've considered a copy+paste sort of tool but copy/paste seems awfully limited. The problem is clear if you want to have more than 1 clipboard. The blueprint tool makes that obsolete - you can just fill a second blueprint tool. Or more.

The first node you punch is the origin node. When you place the blueprint, the origin node is placed at your pointed_at thing. Every next punch with the blueprint tool adds more nodes to the blueprint. When you're done adding things to your blueprint tool, you can lock it for safety. You can have as many blueprint tools as you need, so it's easy to swap back and forward placing different ones.

[sofar]

New today: Fire, Lava, Water - the player can now play with all of these.

The existing "Flint and steel" tool is now operational. When given to the player, it allows the player to spawn a "Fire" node in a location with a fire placeholder (made with the flint and steel tool by the builder).

In the same fashion, builders can now place "diggable" water and lava. These can be picked up by the player with an empty bucket. And then placed at any location with a placeholder that allows them to place it there.

Buckets, and Flint and Steel, can also be inserted in Item Frames. The normal way for the player to obtain these tools is from a "Chest with xxx" node, which are also now available.

Node detectors can now detect liquids like the Lava and Water nodes, so that placement can be detected to initiate Mech events.

Happy building!

[sofar]

On 3/17/26, the hoster experienced a catastrophical storage failure on the server where Inside the Box is hosted. Due to this, the server has been offline. I have no ETA yet when the server will be back online, or even if the data can all be recovered. While the hoster did state that the storage controller died, and not the drives themselves, we might still need to roll back to an earlier world map, unfortunately. I will post again once I get any more information.

[iisu]

The existing "Flint and steel" tool is now operational. When given to the player, it allows the player to spawn a "Fire" node in a location with a fire placeholder (made with the flint and steel tool by the builder).

This is great news! I remember coming up with a grand finale for my box that involved setting stuff on fire only to learn that the flint and steel is not operational. That killed my motivation to continue building my box. I'll try to go back to it when I have time.

[Wuzzy]

On 3/17/26, the hoster experienced a catastrophical storage failure on the server where Inside the Box is hosted. Due to this, the server has been offline. I have no ETA yet when the server will be back online, or even if the data can all be recovered. While the hoster did state that the storage controller died, and not the drives themselves, we might still need to roll back to an earlier world map, unfortunately. I will post again once I get any more information.

This is terrifying. I am scared the boxes community work of 8 years has been nuked. PLEASE tell us that your backups work.

[sofar]

This is terrifying. I am scared the boxes community work of 8 years has been nuked. PLEASE tell us that your backups work.

I have full backups of the entire server from 2 weeks back, offline. So in the worst case, we'd lose just the work that was done on the boxes in the last 2 weeks, only. The server itself has backups as well, but obviously those might be affected (worst case).

I did receive an update earlier this morning that they are in the progress of bringing instances back online that were recovered. I'll have to wait for them to inform me what my instance status is, though. I'll post more once I know myself.

[sofar]

All data was recovered and the Inside the Box server is back up again!

(and yes, I made another backup right away ;))

[crisdan]

All data was recovered and the Inside the Box server is back up again!

(and yes, I made another backup right away ;))

Great, it just started on the server, I'll be able to play again

[Pudding]

Unsolvable Boxes!
Trouble with Mechs

Good luck solving 703 and similar boxes that have the following:
Terminal -> mech -> output
This type of connection worked in the editor. However, I found it doesn't work in older boxes. Subsequently making some boxes unsolvable.

[sofar]

Unsolvable Boxes!
Trouble with Mechs

Good luck solving 703 and similar boxes that have the following:
Terminal -> mech -> output
This type of connection worked in the editor. However, I found it doesn't work in older boxes. Subsequently making some boxes unsolvable.

Yeah! I actually broke this. I'll get a fix in ASAP - this isn't too complicated fortunately. The auto-read function I added makes it skip sending the trigger, so, this will be an easy fix.

[sofar]

Yeah! I actually broke this. I'll get a fix in ASAP - this isn't too complicated fortunately. The auto-read function I added makes it skip sending the trigger, so, this will be an easy fix.

Tested my fix and this is working again. If you spot any other issue, feel free to ping me by name on the server!

[Wuzzy]

I’m happy to report this server appears to be much more stable and I don’t experience any random timeouts anymore.

I was recently able to finally complete one of the hardest (and longest) boxes in the game (The Town). This was very hard to complete before because the server would just timeout whenever I made meaningful progress … XD

And yes, I’m VERY glad that no data was lost at all. Good backup strategy btw.

[sofar]

image.jpg (215.25 KiB) Viewed 642 times

New series available:

[*]Some Parkour
[*]Mostly Parkour
[*]Totally Parkour

Each of these three series contains boxes with some parkour, mostly parkour, and pretty much nothing but parkour!

While these new series have been added, I'm relaxing the parkour related rules that were in place for a long time. We clearly attract builders and players that like these sort of elements, and so I'm going to allow more difficult jumps in puzzles from now on.

If you do create boxes with very difficult jumps, expect that they will only be added to these three new series, though. They are likely going to remain a separate category for a long time.

Happy jumping?!

PS I'm retroactively going over older boxes to put them into these 3 new series. It will take me a long time to get through all these boxes. If you want to help classify boxes with me, that'd be helpful.

[Wuzzy]

Thanks. I’ve been waiting years for this.

Parcours categorizations from 336 to 1500:

Spoiler

336 puzzle
339 mostly parcours
351 puzzle
353 puzzle
362 puzzle
370 puzzle
376 some parcours
424 puzzle
431 puzzle
432 puzzle
470 puzzle
475 some parcours
486 some parcours
490 puzzle
493 puzzle
502 puzzle
508 puzzle
509 some parcours
513 puzzle
514 puzzle
527 puzzle
532 puzzle
534 puzzle
560 puzzle
586 puzzle
593 some parcours
626 puzzle
640 some
650 puzzle
661 puzzle
671 totally
676 puzzle
678 puzzle
679 puzzle
680 puzzle
681 mostly
682 puzzle
683 puzzle
684 puzzle
688 some
689 puzzle
690 puzzle
691 puzzle
692 puzzle
697 puzzle
698 puzzle
700 puzzle
701 puzzle
702 puzzle
703 puzzle
716 puzzle
716 puzzle
734 puzzle
739 puzzle
744 some
746 puzzle
761 puzzle
767 puzzle
768 puzzle
769 puzzle
771 puzzle
772 puzzle
774 puzzle
777 puzzle
786 puzzle
790 puzzle
791 puzzle
796 puzzle
798 puzzle
799 puzzle
802 puzzle
811 puzzle
819 puzzle
824 puzzle
827 puzzle
811 puzzle
819 puzzle
824 puzzle
827 puzzle
831 puzzle
833 puzzle
837 puzzle
838 puzzle
841 puzzle
847 puzzle
848 puzzle
851 some
861 some
866 puzzle
875 some
877 puzzle
884 puzzle
885 puzzle
888 puzzle
898 puzzle
901 puzzle
913 puzzle
980 puzzle
1081 puzzle
1097 puzzle
1102 puzzle
1115 puzzle
1127 puzzle
1137 mostly
1165 puzzle
1178 puzzle
1182 puzzle
1188 puzzle
1192 puzzle
1193 puzzle
1200 puzzle
1204 puzzle
1205 puzzle
1219 puzzle
1221 puzzle
1247 puzzle
1260 puzzle
1288 mostly
1301 some
1311 puzzle
1403 puzzle
1408 puzzle
1409 puzzle
1410 puzzle
1421 puzzle
1427 puzzle
1436 puzzle
1455 puzzle
1469 mostly
1470 puzzle
1471 puzzle
1472 puzzle
1476 puzzle
1485 some
1486 totally
1488 puzzle
1490 puzzle

BONUS! The following box categorizations from 1500 upwards are incomplete:

1595 mostly (because it includes a piston riddle; otherwise it would be totally parcours)
1679 mostly (has puzzle element to it)
1780 mostly
2194 totally
2232 totally

Interpretations:

Spoiler

I find the distinction between "puzzle" and "some parcours" to be extremely hard to determine. Maybe "some parcours" should be dropped entirely in favor of the puzzle category due to the ambiguity. I would also like to have "official" definitions of the 3 categories to resolve disagreements between our categorizations.

For maximum clarity:

My interpretation of "some parcours" is: "puzzle box but there are some very light special movements you have to do, but it's more than just trivial.
My interpretation of "mostly parcours" is: "the box is clearly built like a parcours and it is a more or less obvious and important part of the box while there are still be puzzle elements"
My interpretation of "fully parcours" is: "you have only parcouring, no puzzles".

My interpretation of "puzzle" is: Clear puzzle box with zero or very minimal movement skill (not enough to cross the line to "some parcours"). Even the possibility to die, take damage or fall down a hole does not cross the line to "some parcours" if those traps are obvious or avoidable and act more like decoration; especially if there is an alternative "safe path" that requires no parcours skills. The Waterfall (508) box is a great example that you can absolutely take damage in but still falls under Puzzle IMHO because of the "safe" staircase.

Mini series (boxes with multiple parts):

Spoiler

* Memory: 339, 888
* Treasure Hunt: 734, 870
* The Nexus Chronicals [sic!]: 703, 684, 702
* Jail Break: 105, 824
* Timing: 432, 431

I may do more later, continuing from 601. If you also are working on categorizations, I suggest to start at 1000 (or so) so that our work does not overlap.

BTW:

The new parcours series are surprisingly well hidden. No sign. No update in the terminal. Located at a place that makes no sense (neither on Play island nor the new "Series underground"). I only found them after looking at the screenshot again. Also, when I go to the final part after the trampoline, I cannot bounce back. I either have to play or fall into my certain doom … I think the usability of this may need a redesign.

While these new series have been added, I'm relaxing the parkour related rules that were in place for a long time. We clearly attract builders and players that like these sort of elements, and so I'm going to allow more difficult jumps in puzzles from now on.

Please don’t. I have been noticing a decline of box quality in recent submissions. I see more and more low-quality boxes manage to pass review. For years I have given consistent 5-star ratings for most boxes because the quality was consistently very high. The strict enforcement of quality was always what made this server so special and awesome.

However, I am worried this server is about to make a huge mistake by throwing this away with the principle "quantity over quality". Many of the latest boxes keep making rookie mistakes or are a far-cry quality-wise from older submissions yet still pass review somehow. Even boxes that are mostly empty get accepted now; this would have been unthinkable in the past.

Please enforce strict quality quidelines again (no matter if parcours or not). It won’t matter if ITB reaches 400, 500, 1000 boxes if like 50% suck. Don’t get me wrong, I think ITB still has a very high quality rate. I guess 90% of boxes (or more) are good or very good. Please don’t lower that percentage just to get “more boxes”.


EDIT: Added boxes from 601 to 1000. Added suggested mini series (boxes with multiple parts).
EDIT 2: Added boxes from 1001 to 1500 plus 5 bonus boxes.

[sofar]

The new parcours series are surprisingly well hidden. No sign. No update in the terminal. Located at a place that makes no sense (neither on Play island nor the new "Series underground"). I only found them after looking at the screenshot again. Also, when I go to the final part after the trampoline, I cannot bounce back. I either have to play or fall into my certain doom … I think the usability of this may need a redesign.

The whole thing feels bolted on ... and that's because it is. I haven't had a good vision yet of how I want to marry the original vision of the lobby (with the 3 "wings" as it always has had: play/create/scores&credits). We simply didn't leave any space for new series.

For now, I think I will just organically expand as needed and adjust things where I can and look at the feedback from players, but it's going to take time. Maybe the lower level in the center is something people really like, or maybe it's time to rip out the original "play" quarter from the entire lobby and extensively redesign it to provide a clear visual organization for players so they get a sense of direction.

So, thanks for the feedback, and the list. I'll wait a few days so you can update it (edit your post) if you work through more of them - it'll be the weekend before I go through the items in it.

[Wuzzy]

Ah, I already suspected I caught you in the middle of the "level access redesign" and this is not the Final Say(TM) yet. This explains so much.

Some ideas:

1) Move all levels and series to a central place instead of scattering them all over the map where ALL teleporters can be clearly seen and accessed (no awkward searching) (Tutorial is valid exception)
2) Remove the category teleporters; the MatchMaker made those pretty much obsolete (who uses AND understands them, anyway?)
3) Make Everything series MUCH more prominent. This is the most important series in the entire server! But Easy/Medium/Hard would also benefit from more prominent spots IMHO, as those groups are highly relevant for gameplay reasons
4) "Demote" Master Series to a less visible spot. It has run its course and is pretty outdated at this point. It’s still a good series, just no longer deserving the top spot IMHO
5) Rebrand the confusingly named "MatchMaker" series (red teleporter) to "Quick Start" (because this is what it basically is) and move the teleporters to a spot where they can be accessed faster. Ideal for impatient players who are like "Just let me PLAY already, I don’t want to bother with details". :D. Should always pick an UNSOLVED box for obvious reasons, (unless all boxes are solved ofc) (idk if it already does that; the terminal suggests it doesn't because it always picks box 2 for you??? o_O)
6) Add a Puzzle series. This is Everything minus all Parcours series (maybe this series could be auto-generated?)
7) Maybe add a Random Level and/or Random Unsolved Level teleporter? (not important; too redundant with Quick Start?)

EDIT: This box post updated: viewtopic.php?p=450652#p450652

[sofar]

5) Rebrand the confusingly named "MatchMaker" series (red teleporter) to "Quick Start" (because this is what it basically is) and move the teleporters to a spot where they can be accessed faster. Ideal for impatient players who are like "Just let me PLAY already, I don’t want to bother with details". :D. Should always pick an UNSOLVED box for obvious reasons, (unless all boxes are solved ofc) (idk if it already does that; the terminal suggests it doesn't because it always picks box 2 for you??? o_O)

I'll ponder over the extensive other feedback items you gave at a later point, but, I just chuckled at the "always picks box 2" reference.

As I'm the server owner/admin, my scores for any of the boxes are never recorded - after all, I can cheat through every box on the server if I wanted to. So early on, I coded up the exception that none of my box solving attempts are part of the ranking/rating system. The easiest way to do this was just to not ever record that I had completed a box. Hence "it always suggests box #2" to me is a reference that technically I haven't completed any boxes, and it keeps recommending the incredibly bad first ever box I made, which is box #2.

Boxes #0 and #1 are the actual entrance and exit lobbies we made at first. They're not the ones used on the server right now, I think we just made 2 new ones at a much later point and those are the entrance/exit lobbies that have been in use ever since. So box #2 was the "well now we need an actual sort of playable box" test box I made to test the actual playability. It was made without any thought and widely should be regarded as the worst ever box made. ;)

The MatchMaker does absolutely pick unsolved boxes. It might need some further tuning for people who have completed nearly everything at some point, but it's a good start for most players nonetheless.