Author Topic: The 2012 Maps Of The Month Thumbnail Puzzle!  (Read 28458 times)

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Offline JonLeung

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The 2012 Maps Of The Month Thumbnail Puzzle!
« on: November 30, 2012, 10:20:33 pm »
Here's something you guys might find interesting, which took a year (well, technically eleven months) to come up with.  It's a puzzle, of sorts.

The thumbnails for the 2012 Maps Of The Month are related to each other in interesting ways.  This was something I discovered by accident partway through the year, and from then on I wanted to keep it going.  Before you get all up in arms, I never let the urge to find links between thumbnails influence my picks for the Maps Of The Month, though it often did influence the thumbnails I eventually chose.  Very very interestingly is that the few times when I almost gave up trying to force a pattern, I then noticed accidental links (better than what I could consciously come up with!) that actually allowed this to keep going.  It almost became a game for me, and now it's a game for you to figure out the connections.

So, without further ado, the puzzle.  There's no prize for solving these, but let's see how many you can get (ideally without reading posts previous to yours).

To easily see all twelve thumbnails, you can look here.

January & February
-central figure.

February & March
-common element.

March & April
-obvious link.
-but there's something else here in common...think placement.  (This was one of the accidental ones I really like, I didn't even have to change the composition of the shot!)

April & May
-fairly obvious.

May & June
-okay, this one is pretty lame...I guess just think of how one thing is expected with the other.

June & July
-a bit more obscure, you'd have to be aware of the stories of both the series of the games represented as to why the areas in the thumbnails are significant.  Note that I said "series", not "game", implying more than one.  (This was another accidental one that I think is really cool, I hope someone knows what I'm referring to!)
-another obscure one, you'd have to be familiar with one of the two games.  Look at all the text on the thumbnails.  (Yet another awesome accidental one!  Also see the August & September clue.)

June & August
-similar sort of area (note that I said June & August, not July).

August & September
-see the second June & July clue, the same thing happened here.  (I swear this too was accidental and I love how it worked out!)

September & October
-in hand.

October & November
-number, alliteration (weak, I know).
-think about how the figure(s) are placed based on their surroundings.

November & December
-different perspective.

(Now I'm probably not going to consciously continue this little game, though if you read the description for the December 2012 Maps Of The Month, you may now understand a controversial choice I made back in September, so no doubt January 2013's MotM will be connected as well.)
« Last Edit: November 30, 2012, 10:51:07 pm by JonLeung »

Offline JonLeung

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Re: The 2012 Maps Of The Month Thumbnail Puzzle!
« Reply #1 on: December 03, 2012, 08:20:35 pm »
Hmmm, is it too obtuse of a puzzle, or does no one want to share their answers until they have all of them?

Some of them are blatantly obvious, but I would like to see if anyone noticed the not-so-obvious ones that were accidental, yet brilliant if they were deliberate.

Offline TerraEsperZ

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Re: The 2012 Maps Of The Month Thumbnail Puzzle!
« Reply #2 on: December 03, 2012, 09:53:26 pm »
I'm horrible with puzzles like these where the answer is supposed to be obvious but it never is (to me). I'd basically have to guess for half of them, and I'd rather not expose just how stupid I am.
Current project:
Mega Man: Powered Up (PSP)

Offline snesmaster

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Re: The 2012 Maps Of The Month Thumbnail Puzzle!
« Reply #3 on: December 04, 2012, 12:20:59 pm »
January & February - Both red enemies placed in the center of the screen
February & March - Both have lava / fire
March & April - Both have the big object in the upper left corner of the screen
April & May - both have the moon
May & June - Throne goes in the castle
June & July - I have never played Wonder Boy Games so I have no clue on this
June & August - Both mountainous areas
August & September - More mountains in the background
September & October - Spear
October & November - is the number 4?
November & December - both 3/4 view

Offline JonLeung

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Re: The 2012 Maps Of The Month Thumbnail Puzzle!
« Reply #4 on: December 05, 2012, 08:14:12 am »
Thanks for playing!

Now that's a good start, but June to September aren't what I was thinking of.  I'm not sure where you found the number 4 in October & November...

Here's a hint for June & August...you're partway there with your answer, in the sense that you're thinking of geological features, but if you find the maps those shots are taken from, you'd find that what they have in common is actually not the sort of geological feature you'd expect to find in real life.
« Last Edit: December 05, 2012, 08:16:14 am by JonLeung »

Offline JonLeung

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Re: The 2012 Maps Of The Month Thumbnail Puzzle!
« Reply #5 on: December 07, 2012, 10:27:35 am »
This might really give away the June & July and August & September "obscure" ones...but...  Think names.

Offline snesmaster

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Re: The 2012 Maps Of The Month Thumbnail Puzzle!
« Reply #6 on: December 07, 2012, 12:32:32 pm »
You're right, that did totally give it away :)

June & July - Maxim in the main Character in Lufia who submitted July

August & September - FlyingArmor who submitted August and the guy in September is wearing Armor

Talk about outside the box, I would not have gotten that one without your obvious clue!

Offline JonLeung

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Re: The 2012 Maps Of The Month Thumbnail Puzzle!
« Reply #7 on: December 07, 2012, 03:28:13 pm »
Well, you got June & July right...  I guess the August & September answer you posted isn't wrong, but it's still not what I was thinking...  I did say those answers are similar, didn't I?

Like I said, those two were when I gave up forcing a connection - then realized there was one afterward...sometimes coincidences are pretty crazy!

Offline snesmaster

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Re: The 2012 Maps Of The Month Thumbnail Puzzle!
« Reply #8 on: December 07, 2012, 03:51:36 pm »
Terra and FFVI :)

I still think of her as Tina from the Japanese game :)  Don't know why they changed the names for multiple characters in that game.

Offline JonLeung

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Re: The 2012 Maps Of The Month Thumbnail Puzzle!
« Reply #9 on: December 11, 2012, 11:41:36 am »
I guess I shouldn't say anything more, and I'll just reveal all the answers at the end of the month/year.

Offline Grizzly

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Re: The 2012 Maps Of The Month Thumbnail Puzzle!
« Reply #10 on: December 30, 2012, 01:54:07 pm »
June/July, August/September: Little Samson has a dragon, Wonder Boy III's subtitle is about a dragon. And dragons are, in comparison to armored horses, flying armor.

June/August: Both have giant staircases compared to the rest of the world.

Offline JonLeung

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Re: The 2012 Maps Of The Month Thumbnail Puzzle!
« Reply #11 on: December 31, 2012, 09:04:57 am »
Okay, kids, here are the answers:

January & February
-central figure.
There's a red creature in the center of the image.

February & March
-common element.
There's lava in both thumbnails.

March & April
-obvious link.
They are both Mario games.
-but there's something else here in common...think placement.  (This was one of the accidental ones I really like, I didn't even have to change the composition of the shot!)
If you superimpose the thumbnails together, Bowser and the moon in the same position, are the same size and approximately round shape!

April & May
-fairly obvious.
They both feature the moon.

May & June
-okay, this one is pretty lame...I guess just think of how one thing is expected with the other.
A throne is expected to be found in a castle.

June & July
-a bit more obscure, you'd have to be aware of the stories of both the series of the games represented as to why the areas in the thumbnails are significant.  Note that I said "series", not "game", implying more than one.  (This was another accidental one that I think is really cool, I hope someone knows what I'm referring to!)
The event that takes place in The Fortress of Doom is found in the prologue of Lufia & The Fortress Of Doom and the end of Lufia II: Rise Of The Sinistrals.
The event that takes place in MEKA Dragon Castle is found at the end of Wonder Boy In Monster Land and the prologue Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap.

-another obscure one, you'd have to be familiar with one of the two games.  Look at all the text on the thumbnails.  (Yet another awesome accidental one!  Also see the August & September clue.)
Maxim, the name of a hero in the Lufia games, is also the name of the mapper who mapped Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap.

June & August
-similar sort of area (note that I said June & August, not July).
Both areas featured are from floating continents.

August & September
-see the second June & July clue, the same thing happened here.  (I swear this too was accidental and I love how it worked out!)
Terra, the heroine of Final Fantasy VI, which also features Espers, inspired TerraEsperZ's name, who mapped Little Samson.

September & October
-in hand.
There's a spear held in both thumbnails.

October & November
-number, alliteration (weak, I know).
They both have the Roman numeral "II" and have alliteration: Demon Darkness and Shining Soul.  And now that I look at it, they also seem to be opposites!  Kind of.  Demon >< Soul, Darkness >< Shining.  Again, the best connections are the ones I didn't intentionally plan!
-think about how the figure(s) are placed based on their surroundings.
I was thinking about how in each, there's someone pressed up against a wall...I know, weak.

November & December
-different perspective.
Yes, they are both isometric...but what makes it neat is that the games are not primarily isometric, and these areas stand out because they are.

Also, if you exclude December 2012's Chrono Trigger, the year would come full circle with November 2012's Shining Soul II looping back to January 2012's Shining Force: The Legacy Of Great Intention - both are "Shining", and both are mapped by xyzbilliu.  But why would you exclude December 2012's Chrono Trigger...because, as I said, though I don't intend to purposefully continue this, Chrono Trigger connects to the game featured in January 2013's Maps Of The Month, which is also a critically-acclaimed time-travelling epic...but I guess you'll find out what that is tomorrow, if you couldn't already guess.  :P