It's Critter Time!

Replicube is a game that just came out that's trying to have the puzzle solving style of a Zachtronics problem-solving game, but instead of a fantasy machine, you're using actual honest-to-goodness lua to make different shapes. The creator said it was inspired by their love of coding shaders for games, with a little bit of picross 3d (the best picross) thrown in.

I really love these kinds of games, and I while they won't make you a software engineer, I find tackling the problems helps me think more like a programmer, and I do think they helped me get to a space where I coded my first game.

These games also tend to have worldwide leaderboards that let you see how your solutions stack up in a variety of categories. Here in Replicube, you can compare yourself on code size (how much code did you need to get to the solution) and average cycles (on average, how many things did you have to do get a cube correct). These can often be set against each other. A fast solution can be really code intensive. A svelte, small solution might be really slow. It's cool to feel out your own style and optimize things your own way, and then see how it stacks up against others.

I've never been one to worry about global leaderboards, but I like comparing and contrasting with a smaller group of people, hence this LP.

The Setup

Apart from the tutorial in Episode 1, I want to use each video to tackle a few puzzles, depending on time. Then, I plan to play with them and optimize them and feel good about them. Then, I ideally want to turn it over to folks here, and see what they can do. My hope is that you all will annihilate me, and that I'll learn a lot. But maybe you all can learn too!

Episodes
Episode 1 (tutorial): https://youtu.be/uyrpWVHI_Og
Episode 2 (Ducks and Cake Slices): https://youtu.be/ueK1n6YbPS0
Episode 3 (Chairs and Stairs): https://youtu.be/hr11tjtR0Ds
Episode 4 (Strawberry): https://youtu.be/y-KEmS0LRIQ
Episode 5 (Large Rooms and Puzzle Cubes): https://youtu.be/_kxrGqyL9-M

I was 3 minutes into the video before I added this to my wishlist. I'm not a coder, but it looks like a fun way to learn how terrible one is at coding.

Enbyeon wrote: Mon Aug 04, 2025 10:06 am I was 3 minutes into the video before I added this to my wishlist. I'm not a coder, but it looks like a fun way to learn how terrible one is at coding.

No joke, that's one of my favorite things. Not seeing that I'm behind a ton of people, but seeing that I did one category or the other better and getting to see that as a kind of style.

If I was a better coder, this challenge might have been trivial. But this is going to make me stronger.

The real replicube starts here (we're past the intro that inspired me to play this here).

I have made a surprisingly competent strawberry.

Nearly forgot to post the latest episode. It's the one where I do a good job!