Auditorium
Oh hey, look who's here! How's it going, cool cat? What's shakin', bacon? You look good, very well rested. And is that… wait a minute… waaait… is that a little bit of a tan? Did you go out and do that water-skiing class you were talking about? Righteous! You keep following that crazy rainbow, you crazy leprechaun. No, seriously, you look great. And you're not that short. Me? I'm good. Busy busy busy. Work, you know. Work. Work work work workity work. All I can do is try not to let the man get me AAAAAA I CAN'T HIDE IT ANY LONGER! THE FULL VERSION OF AUDITORIUM IS OUT AAAAAAAA HOLY MACARONI AAAAAAAAAA KERMIT ARMS AAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
Yep, it's true. For those of you who enjoyed the demo (read as: practically everyone), you can now purchase the complete version of Auditorium, which features over 70 levels, 15 musical compositions, and much, much more gameplay. You gotcher Black Hole, which sucks up all your pretty particles into its heartless maw. You gotcher Rabbit Control for speeding up the Flow, yer Deflect Control for bouncing it around, yer Portals for teleporting it from place to place. There are no major surprises, but if you just want five times as much Auditorium, you won't be disappointed. All the levels from the demo have even been redesigned, so if you've already played those 15 stages to pieces, you won't feel like you're repeating yourself.
If you never did play the Auditorium demo (How's your cave these days? Cool and shady?), here's a quick run-down of the gameplay. The Flow is a stream of particles drifting through a vast empty space. Your job is to direct the Flow through one or more fixed containers, each of which plays a different instrumental part of an overall symphony. You can steer the Flow by means of Controls: symbol-emblazoned circles that exert force on passing particles. Just click and drag with the mouse to move the controls anywhere on the screen, or to expand and contract their sphere of influence.
For instance, The Attract Control pulls nearby particles towards its center in a spiral. Direction Controls push the Flow in one of the four cardinal directions. The Repel Control boomerangs it back the way it came. By allowing you nearly complete freedom to manipulate the position and size of your controls, Auditorium lets you approach each puzzle from several different avenues.
When you finally fill all the containers, the screen shifts, like the universe just hiccuped, and you can relax and bask in the tuneful sound of your success. That's right, the single most common complaint from Auditorium's demo days has been addressed. When you complete a level, the game will stay with you, playing your painstakingly assembled song until you click the mouse to move on. This is one of the few Flash games you'll want to play with headphones, or at least a good speaker set-up.
Cipher Prime, the two-man development team composed of William Stallwood and Dain Saint, is asking $10.99 for Auditorium. It's still an online game—your purchase gives you a name and password for the site, which allows you to log into your account from any computer without losing your progress. The disadvantage is that you have to be connected to the internet to play. Of course the demo is still available, if you need to convince yourself.
Analysis: Auditorium was our overwhelming choice for the Best Browser-Based Puzzle Game of 2008, but it's worth noting that it doesn't dominate the field in any one aspect. It's not the most involved, complex puzzle game around; some are more interesting. The music is stunning, but I probably wouldn't buy the soundtrack. The visuals are lovely, but they're just little colored dots zipping around. It's not even the most accessible game in history; it was a lot easier to pick up and play Pac-Man, before hardly anyone knew what a video game was.
The combination of all these things, however—the ease of play, the graphics, the music, the puzzle designs, the very concept—is intoxicating. It's like when Star Wars came out, and everyone's imagination sparked at the idea that there was this unseen Force that could be slung around by extraordinary people to do amazing things. Well, Auditorium lets you control the Force, like you're an orchestra-wielding Jedi.
Auditorium's flaws mostly concern its structure. The levels are divided into Acts, and they unlock one Act at a time, which means if you get stuck on a particular puzzle, the only other levels you can skip to are even more difficult ones. I would have preferred to have the first level of several different Acts available, so I could skip to different compositions when I get frustrated. When you're stumbling around fruitlessly, waiting for a flash of inspiration, those gorgeous musical samples start to repeat way too often.
The simplicity of the interface has one major drawback. When you have several overlapping controls, it can be unreasonably difficult to move the one you want. It would be nice to be able to press a key to cycle between your options.
None of that ruins the experience, of course. Auditorium is addictive as sweet caffeine, and it says something positive about humanity that this game has garnered such wide appeal among dedicated gamers and Luddites alike. Solving a tricky puzzle and going to the next one is a powerful draw, of course, but the main reward here is just plain old beauty. No saving the universe, no destroying some ancient heart of evil, just a chance to listen to some good classical music and watch a light show. And it's one of the most popular Flash games ever. How great is that?
lol kermit arms XD
I was waiting for this,but I cant buy D:
My cave is fine, thank you. Nice and cozy, but it could use a bit more warmth.
Even if this is a game I couldn't care less for, the review is as always highly entertaining. XD I had to give you props for that, Psychotronic.
I'm not sure if there is a problem with the site or maybe with FF. I did buy it and did the register to play it, but when I click the play now button, the game window just goes to a blank grey after the click anywhere to begin screen. Although on the main screen it starts fine.
nm, I guess I just needed to give it time to load.
Awww, you have to play for it?
The demo was awesome! I loved it :)
sigh...
Though I enjoyed the demo to a certain extent, the constant frustration of positioning everything within mere pixels of where they should be will keep $11 in my wallet.
"Kermit arms" Hahahahahaha- Awesome!!
I loved the demo, and I'll probably buy the full game. Although, I also said that about Crayon Physics Deluxe, and still haven't had time to even think about it...
Fascinating game, but it keeps crashing on me. Vista Home Premium, IE 7, Flash 9. Not worth paying for if it crashes on you.
Yeah, it crashes on me too.
Mac OSX 10.5, Firefox 2, flash 9.
The sound jumps and stutters, and the game just continues, even when you clearly have the flow shining through all of the containers.
It is really beautiful, both to watch and listen to (when it works), and I'd have bought it if it worked...
Katherine, maybe try the latest version of FF?
I have Vista Home Preminum and FF 3 and I have no crashes. So, I don't think Vista has anything to do with it.
Also, maybe try updating to the latest flash? I'm using flash player 10.
Act 6, part 5 was pretty difficult to get, but I was able to figure it out. I'm a bit stuck on 8:3 and 8:5 atm.
Sometimes an apparent working solution won't trigger right away and sometimes even a partial working solution will work as long as the timing eventually clicks.
What would be neat though, is a level editor. I feel like this game could use one.
@dotcomlarry: Yea well, puzzle games like this aren't for everybody.
I can't view this game at all.
The script is there, but it doesn't display the game at all, just a blank white box which, when right clicked, displays the usual options for a web space, not a flash game.
Even going to the game's url itself (http://www.playauditorium.com/Auditorium.swf), I get the game box but it doesn't load.
I'm using XP with FF3, and I really feel I'm missing out on something here. Anybody know what's going on?
Yay! It's out. I'll be getting it next week. I would like to see a Wiiware version of it, though.
I'm not sure why, but even though I manage to complete the last level of the second act, it won't accept my solution. Hm...
I'm stuck on level 4!
Im using chrome with windows xp, NP here.
Im stuck at the last level of the 7th stage.
@Reece: Are you talking about the demo or the full version here? Also do you mean act 1 part 4 or do you mean act 4?
Act 1 is extremely easy, you only need to use one of the pieces provided.
The first two of Act 4 are very easy. I'll give you hints for the other two.
Act 4 part 3
There is more than one way to split the flow.
Act 4 part 4
Think how you are going to direct the flow.
@francisc6: Yea that one is tricky.
Did you use the deflector (the one with a bar across a circle, not a shield) in th purple color circle?
I'm stuck on the last level of act 9 myself, I can get all but two boxed filled. I think I've come close to getting them all filled, but one or two weren't getting hit fast enough to keep them full.
Some step-wise solutions.
7/6:
Obviously, you'll need to fill the red containers up first. Use the left control bumper to push the flow in the opposite direction, onto the two-color container. Once the flow is going the other way, everything else falls in place.
Now that your flow's going the other way, you can conveniently curve the flow anti-clockwise without the yellow field getting in the way. Use the spiral bumper to fill the other red container, turn the flow yellow, and fill the nearby yellow container.
Kick the now-yellow flow out of the spiral using the rabbit bumper (and possibly the left bumper), filling the second yellow container on the way to the purple field.
Nearly done. Place the repel bumper in the path of the flow, just behind the purple field. The now-purple flow will go back and finish your two-color container and purple container.
Act 8/3:
Make the left bumper large and place it approximately between the green field and purple container. This will move the flow into the portal, hitting the purple container when it comes back out. Then it will slightly bend the flow left such that it flows over the blue container and lands in the blue field.
Repel the now-blue flow. Watch in amazement as the flow winds back exactly to where you need it: back over the blue container, through the green field, turning around, into the purple field, and landing just above the two-tone container. You'll need your flow to be green and purple, so adjust your left bumper such the the flow only partially catches the purple field.
Home stretch. Use the right bumper to snake the flow into the two-tone container. You may not even need to do this--while I was recreating the steps, I accidentally dispersed the flow and sprayed the container with purple and green dots. A win's a win, I guess.
Act 8/5:
Use the down bumper to turn the flow into the other portal instead. Now the flow will hit the divider and fill the green container and half of the two-tone container. That's convenient!
This is a real "What?" step. Make the right bumper Very Large and put it a fair bit beneath the green container, sending both halves of your divided flow right. If done right, the right fork will bend and fill the bottom blue container. The left fork will sharply veer right, cross over into the purple field, and fill the purple container.
Set the repel bumper at the end of the right fork. The right flow will double back and hit every single blue container.
I'm working on Act 9:4 too. Wow.
And of course, right after I post, I manage to finish 9:4.
@smjjames: How are you doing it? The way I did it gave me a fairly solid flow from start to finish.
I was relying largely on the attractor for doing that level. Getting the three center boxes isn't too hard, but it's the white box I was having major problems with. If I tr6y to get to the right blue one, I can't get it back over. I have been able to get it painted white, but it either refuses to go where I need it or it pops through the wormhole and turns yellow.
You have to kind of contort the flow sometimes.
um, how in the world do you do 5:5?
for 5:5
I just ignored the white color circle and made the flow go right, used the attractor to get it to loop around and through the blue ones, then used the speed up to get it to the upper yellow box.
I'm still trying to figure out 9:4....
I've managed to get the white box lit up, but the blue one and the two color ones on the left are unlit.
Actually, just managed to get the yellow ones, but the two blue ones on the left are still not getting touched by the flow.
Completely stuck on act 6 scene 5, can anyone help?
That one had me for a while, you kind of have to contain the pink flow so it zig zags in an area. At least thats what I had to do.
FINALLY got 9:4, it requires an incredible amount of fine tuning.
6:5:
Use a large down bumper near the top of the screen to push the flow down , filling the aqua container and going through the purple container into the purple field on the left.
Naturally, use the repel to toss the flow back into the purple field. The flow will go through and hit your first down bumper, directing it into the red field. Adjust the down bumper (likely by shifting it left or right) such that the now-red flow hits the divider, filling both red containers.
Place the up bumper under the left fork of the flow. Now the flow will arch back up to your first down bumper and fall back down through the central purple field. That should fill the last purple container.
For good measure, here was the solution I eventually used for 9:4. It requires a crazy intuitive leap, or in my case, serendipity:
Set a large spiral under the two-tone container, with the intent to fill both the two-tone and the left blue container.
Set the right bumper near the two-tone and enlarge it enough to kick the flow into the right portal. If done right, the flow will exit through the left portal, go over the yellow and two-tone container, enter the blue field, and exit straight through the entire spiral bumper onto the blue container (!).
Catch the flow with the left bumper, deflecting it into the white field and back into the spiral bumper. Watch in amazement as the flow arcs back through your spiral and right bumper to the white container.
I would be surprised if there were any elegant solutions for Act 10. My go-to tactic was "spray dots everywhere at maximum velocity".
I'm totally stuck on 5:3 - I know how I want to do it but cant get it right. Very frustrating
This seems to be a really great game and I want to play it so badly x( But it just seems it doesn't want ME to play IT, not even the demo. I open it and nothing happens. There's just the "hajimemashite" monitor with "1:1" and those three things in the middle, jumping up and down. [Well, those three things (don't know what to call them) haven't been there when I tried the demo, so that seems to be a bit of an improvement.]
So if anyone has a clue - please please help me!
I'm using Windows XP and I have downloaded Adobe Flash Player 10. =)
I guess it would help more if I started signing in to make feedback easier.
5:3:
Use the down bumper instead of the rabbit bumper to accelerate the flow initially. If you use the rabbit first, flow adjustment for the next step gets all wonky.
Place a large spiral bumper to the right of the flow. The down bumper will gracefully trace a fat curve to the right. Minor adjustments of the spiral and down bumper will send the flow through the green field and container.
Kick the flow leftwards out of the spiral bumper using the rabbit bumper. Aim for your initial down bumper; the flow will turn downwards when it exits, striking the white field and container.
Has anyone gotten 13:4 yet? I'm stuck.
13:4:
Same trick as 9:4. Set a large spiral in the center to fill the white container and half of the two-tone. Avoid the green field for now.
Get ready to fill purple. Kick the flow leftwards out of the spiral using the rabbit bumper. Aim for the purple container. Knowing that the flow is still white, the next step is natural.
Time to put the purple repel to work! Set the repel just past the purple container and make it large enough to catch the entire flow. The repel will fill the purple up and the rabbit will provide enough momentum to lance the remaining containers.
13:5 is killing me.
...And I'm stuck on 10:5. Help please?
@josh:
10:5
This one makes heavy, heavy use of the shield. And for this solution, you can disregard the reverser altogether. I should note, this may be the sloppiest level yet in terms of how much your flow gets spread out.
The basic idea is to have the flow richochet off the inside of the shield around in a circle, hitting most of what you need. Position the shield so that its inside edges touch the white and blue circle, in addition to the four containers.
But how do you get the flow to go in a nice circle around the shield with good enough speed to catch all four containers?Start off with the right arrow and influence the flow from the start.
The flow should be hitting the the shield at approximately the upper left container, therefore filling up the teal half you need. Then position the down arrow so most of the flow flies into the teleporter. And wait for about five seconds.
@brilli:
13:5
Rethink. This one should be easy, although I spent an hour on it before I started hitting myself for not thinking of the solution.
Stop thinking of the shield as something that keeps things away from the black hole, but rather something to influence the direction of the flow, and you'll find this level a lot easier.
Start off with the shield. Place the center of it directly in the black hole, and expand its size so that each edge. It should be pretty self explanatory from here.
Place the rabbit directly after the white container and then up its size so it hits the teleporter. Place the world at the other end of the teleporter, and bam, level solved.
Wow, after spending so long using Large Spirals Everywhere to get things done, it literally did not occur to me that I could turn the flow around that way. Thanks!
I am also stuck on 10:5 as well, what a coicidence.
Anyways, I had also hit on the heavy use of the shield, but couldn't quite get them filled. Thanks for the tips on that one.
My 10:5 has 5 containers and I cannot make the sheild big enough to fill everything I need. I still can figure out how you did it.
i could use some help on 10.4 :x
nevermind 10.4, solved it right after posting :D
now its 11.4 and 11.5 :|
Guys,
I'm just letting you know there are quite a few elegant solutions for all levels including 10 and up. Good luck! I'll keep watching your convo and maybe send in a hint or two.
you can start giving hints right away, 12.2 and 12.4 please :D
I made it all the way to 15:2 and got incredibly bogged down when I tried it last night... and this morning... and this afternoon. So, any tips?
Thanks dave, that helped a lot! I hadn't thought of using the shield in that way before.
just did 13.3 using only 2 of 3 pieces :D
12.4 was insane, took loads of micro-adjusting
12:2
Use the twirl to direct part of the green flow into the white circle. The half white/green flow should fill up the two colour bar.
Then use the rabbit to let the white flow escape the twirl, and hit the white bar on the top left. Direct the blue flow into the blue bar with the down arrow
14.3 also possible with 2 pieces :D
now 14.4 on the other hand... no idea O_o
15:3?
anyone got a hint for 14.4? i've had some crazy stuff on my screen already, but nothing came close to solving it... there's so many possible interactions on this one, i'm going nuts here XD
whew, did 14.4, onto the last act
Can someone supply a step-by-step for the last level in Act 14, 14:4?
14.4
use the upwards bumper to direct the left-facing flow against the splitter, sending part of it upwards into the teleport and the other part curving slightly underneath the splitter into the leftmost container
for the start :)
@Mike, for 10:5:
Circle the shield around the four containers on the right and the right portal, leaving the teal container on the left outside. When you divert the flow into the left portal, it'll rebound all the way around the circle and back through the portal, hitting the final teal container on the left.
Here's a slight modification of Dave's solution, that uses the repel for a cleaner finish:
Encircle the right portal, every container but the left teal, and a bit of the white and blue fields with the shield. The smaller the better.
Divert the entire flow into the left portal using the down arrow. Now your flow will bounce around the inside of the shield and fill everything up.
Too slow to make the distance? Set the left arrow inside the shield, just after the right portal. Now you'll have enough kick to encircle the shield, fill every container, exit back through the portal, and fill the teal on the left. All that's left is to fill the teal half of the two-tone.
Set the repel below the left teal container. The flow will enter the portal again and begin a lap in the opposite direction, finishing the stage.
You have no idea how messy my solution was before Dave mentioned that the shield worked both ways.
Here's a strange solution for 14:4 that practically ignores the yellow flow:
Place a large up arrow a bit to the upper-left of the divider. Important: Don't place the arrow on the bottom edge of the screen--not only do you want to split the green flow into the left two-tone and the portal, you also want to catch the yellow flow, moving it into the right portal and subsequent white field. All told, this one move should fill every single green container and the middle two yellow containers.
Easy stuff from here. Use the down arrow to turn the now-white flow down into the three-tone.
Place the yellow repel over or just past the two-tone on the left, completing the final container.
@charlatan: Urgh... I got that part already. I cannot figure out how it is possible to get the white one.
Although I do not plan on buying it, I have played the demo twice, once after the first review and then just recently. I've found they have updated the demo a bit and I do enjoy all of the new aspects, but I can't say I'm much in favor of the shapes of the boxes pulsing and remaining in the flow after you have completed each level and are just listening to the music. It seems a little strange/awkward to have them there, disrupting...
Mike: 14.4
you have to place the upward director so it achieves the following:
split the left-facing flow in actually 3 parts, underneath splitter, a small part goes in direction of the left-upper-corner, and the rest towards the teleport. At the same time the right-facing flow has to go in the right teleport, exiting on top, towards the white field. once you get the placement right, you can then use the down director for the white one, and the the repel in the top left corner to fill the two-tones. it takes a lot of messing about to position the upward director exactly in the right spot.
the solution brilli posted works as well, its more or less the same way using a different spot for the upward thingy.
now, anyone got 15.3 and 4 already? :S
I'm trying to figure 15:4 out, but the music definetly gets distracting when it goes into cacophony mode so I muted it.
Edit: actually, thats 15:3 I'm working on, sorry.
15:3
Put the attractor just down and to the right of the triple sound jar and make it fairly large
put the right bump directly below the triple container, about level with the bottom of the two tone container, make this about half it's potential size
when you've adjusted so that the flow goes through the red container use the purple left bump to move it to the purple container
The last level is hard :(
Any tips?
still going nowhere with 15.4, cant even get close to a solution :/
how i could get the 4 yellow ones with only the down bumper providing the right color is beyond me :(
While you guys are moving right along I'm still stuck on 4-3. I appreciate your hint smjjames but it didn't help me. Could someone give me the solution to this one please? I've been at it for an hour. grrr. TIA
4.3
make the up bumper fairly large to guide the flow against the splitter. use the right bumper to fill the bottom right container.
the split flow should hit both the top right container and the top color field. then use the attractor in the top left corner, pretty large, to fill the left remaining containers.
I purchased the full version, but the game won't load :(
I have all the requisites. In fact, I played it up to 2:5 before the game crashed, and I've tried to clear my cache (Firefox, by the way)... didn't work. The levels just won't load, any of them! Not even the "Loading" symbol is there...
Any suggestions?
Hey, this is my first time commenting. A million thanks to Jay Is Games for introducing me to Auditorium! I just finished the game, and I found it entirely satisfying and totally worth the price of admission!
One of the interesting things is, now that I've finished the levels, I've gone back to read some of the spoilered solutions, only to discover they're usually entirely different from the way that I came up with to solve that level. I guess I'd recommend playing it out for yourself if you can possibly stand it, just for the satisfaction of doing it your own unique way.
awwwww the demo version is waaaaaay to short! x( don't want to pay for it... gaaaah!
i think that $11 is a very fair price considering how original and well made this game is. If you like the demo you really should consider buying it to support the guys who made this gem.
a link to the screen shot of my being stuck on level 4.3
http://s167.photobucket.com/albums/u138/Rena-x/?action=view¤t=helpon43.jpg
I have read the two spoiler suggestions for this level and still am stuck.
u got it pretty much right, you just have to adjust the sizes of the bumpers. both the up and the right should be smaller.
the right bumper should only affect part of the flow, just enough to get the bottom right container filled
Kaeljia, here's a screenshot of one solution:
http://www.thinkoholic.com/pic.php?s=539&img=6962
greg, had a look through some of your solutions. i'd say at least one third are completely different from mine, quite fascinating
@Dave and charlatan: I haven't solved 15-4 yet, but I think I've figured out how to get the green (dave, you say yellow, but for some reason it looks green to me?)
Put the rabbit near the start of the purple stream, then further along the stream put the down bumper and expand it slowly. At some point you should see the stream break apart into two or three separate ones. The top one I think needs to go into the portal, and the second feeds the one to the right. With the reflect bummper, some of the lower one can be pushed back towards the down bumper, which should feed the lower one. The trouble I'm having is getting a fast enough flow rate to feed all four steadily enough at the same time.
bluemonq, thats the same thing ive been trying around with for the last few days and i'm pretty sure thats the way it can be done somehow
btw i was the one who said they're yellow but they might as well be green cos i'm red/green colorblind XD
got it :)))
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v625/charlatan1981/auditorium-15-4.jpg
there is no outro btw, just credits rolling, it's a bit disappointing :(
key things you needed to find out were:
a) if you overlap the down and the spiral the color changes back again for some reason and b) the repel can be used to make a curve if placed correctly
now auditorium 2 please, i think that this concept still has loads of potential!
So stuck on 11.5
Can anybody help me? In total I've toyed with this level for ~2 hours.
Here's one possible solution to 11.5 which does not need the rabbit at all:
http://jayisgames/images/hs_pam_auditorium_11.5.jpg
Sometimes it won't register as solved even with all containers full (as happenes with other levels)... just moving an item very slightly usually does the trick.
Just thought I'd share my solution for level 15.4. It's a bit different from the one posted by charlatan, I only use the purple stream.
https://jayisgames.com/images/hs_pam_auditorium_15.4.jpg
15:2 is giving me a really hard time, help please!
I'm totally stuck on 6:4. My dots keep fizzling out before they get to where I want them to go. Any help? Thanks.
i'm stuck on 9:5, i can get all of it BUT the white one. any help? ;___;
Absolutely amazing. I'm almost speechless. This is not a good game. This is not a great game. This is an absolutely awe-inspiring one. The visuals, the soundtrack, the gameplay, the way you can get into it so easily- fabulous. If I ever, EVER run across ANY game better than this, I will explode with happiness. This. Is. Awesome.
Hajimemashite = nice to meet you
this game is absolutely amazing and beautiful but right now I'm kinda stuck on 6:4 any help please
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