Super Mario Odyssey: Hint Hunt (Thanks for playing!)

[Ice Cream Man]

Hint Hunt

Hi there, hunters. If you've played Super Mario Odyssey, you're probably aware of the 21 Hint Art pieces scattered around the various Kingdoms. These puzzles provide you with some sort of clue towards the location of a Power Moon, buried in the floor for you to ground pound 'em straight into your Moon collection.

Now, surely you want more of these peculiar pictures. "21? Is that it?" you say, fondly looking back at memories of the artful artworks. "I need to experience more of these disorienting dot-pngs! And trickier ones, too!"

What are the rules?
*On July 10th, I will send out 6 puzzles to the people who signed up. They would vary in complexity, from clues akin to normal Hint Arts, to puzzles with multiple steps. This ensures that players can choose how much they want to challenge themselves, while still offering simpler clues for those who want to go for easier points.
*The players will have two weeks to interpret the clues/puzzles, find the location, and take a snapshot of it to send to me as their answer. So, they'll have until July 24th to send everything in.
*Once the deadline hits, I will mark the answers and award correct answers with points after this deadline, with bonus points going to the people who solved the hints first.
*The players will have an intermission of sorts to work on any Awards Presentations and to watch the Awards Ceremony. I will distribute the other 6 puzzles on August 20th, and the players will have another week to solve them. Same rules as last time, and the deadline is August 27th. Again, I'll mark the answers shortly after that and award correct answers with points.
*Players will be ranked by how many points they scored, and tokens will be given out accordingly.

(A quick note- I've stated that there will be 6 puzzles per batch, with a total of 12 puzzles for the entire event. This may be subject to change; if I can make more than 12, I will, but this is a minimal estimation of what I can do within the time I have.)

What makes this trickier than the regular Hint Art?
There's going to be a bit more sleuthing this time round, perhaps even outside of the game. Most images wouldn't be simple abstract maps or cropped screenshots of the location. Some of them might not even be traditional images! For example, one puzzle could have you piece together a URL to a video containing the location, or another might require a search across this forum for a hidden message.

How will players be ranked, and how many tokens can I get?
I'll award 2 points for a correct answer and 1 point as a bonus for the first person to solve each puzzle. Once all the points have been given out, I'll distribute the tokens according to the point totals.

Spoiler: For example: (click to show/hide)

Please note that if people team up on a clue, their collective answer will only be rewarded with 2 points total to be divided between the players. For example, if two people team up they get 1 point each for a correct answer.

Sign ups? Got suggestions? Questions? Post 'em here.

Sign Ups
*Shy Guy on Wheels
*Luigi64DD
*Fawfulthegreat64
*Lakituthequick
*Nabber
*Roller
*Epic Nitwit
*Koops
*Toadgamer
*Hooded Pitohui
*Lord Bowser
*Super-Yoshi
*YoshiFlutterJump
*GBAToad
*Turboo
*Meta Knight
*Fantanoice

[Forde]

That sounds nice...

Looking forward to this.

[Leo Luster]

This actually sounds quite interesting, especially the part about the clues being things other than images. If you do end up doing it, I'd probably give it a go.

[PowerKamek]

Yes I would probably participate in this!

[Lakituthequick]

I'd give it a go.

[Anton]

Edo, 22, and I are currently building an Odyssey photo scavenger hunt.  Would this be something too similar to that?  Or are these puzzles more than a hunt?

Like, this does seem a bit more complex.  Ours is more traditional, with a clue or phrase given and then people go and retrieve a photo of what they think will fulfill it.

[Ice Cream Man]

Edo, 22, and I are currently building an Odyssey photo scavenger hunt.  Would this be something too similar to that?  Or are these puzzles more than a hunt?

I'd like to create a variation of puzzles. Some would require deciphering on the player's end, like solving an actual puzzle (like a wordsearch) for a clue, others would be tricky, abstract depictions of the location that the player would have to just look for in the game or try and recognise what the image is showing. Like the actual hint art, but perhaps more challenging.

Like, this does seem a bit more complex.  Ours is more traditional, with a clue or phrase given and then people go and retrieve a photo of what they think will fulfill it.

I'll try and simplify what the basis of the hunt is;

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

*In early to mid July, I will send out a batch of puzzles to the people who signed up. They would vary in complexity, from clues akin to normal Hint Arts, to puzzles with multiple steps. This ensures that players can choose how much they want to challenge themselves, while still offering simpler clues for those who want.
*The players will have a week to interpret the clues/puzzles, find the location, and take a snapshot of it to send to me as their answer.
*Once the deadline hits, I will mark the answers and award correct answers with points after the deadline, with bonus points going to the people who solved the hints first.
*Shortly after the Awards Ceremony (so mid-August) I will distribute the second batch of puzzles, and the players will have another week to solve them. Same rules as last time.
*Players will be ranked by how many points they scored, and tokens will be given out accordingly.

Would your scavenger hunt be more about finding specific locations or finding items or enemies? If yours is location based, then we're basically trying to run the same event here. I'll assume you three have been working on it for longer than I have, so if it turns out that our plans are too similar I'll cancel this one. Thanks for letting me know.

[Anton]

4:35 PM] The Pyro Guy: hey that sounds good
[4:36 PM] The Pyro Guy: i'd say that my hunt would be different enough to that
[4:36 PM] The Pyro Guy: enough for the two events to co-exist
[4:36 PM] Anton: :clap: :thumbsup: :fireworks: :sparkler: :heavy_check_mark: :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: :money_with_wings:

[Ice Cream Man]

Yep, after some very serious discussion with the man himself, we've decided that our events are distinct enough to co-exist. Nice! And if all goes to plan our events won't even overlap. Great!
Here's another thing: An example clue (and a walkthrough on how you would go about solving it). Excellent!

This is an example of a clue, and that's all you're going to need (and get) to sleuth out the location. If you want to try and solve it, go ahead; there's also a walkthrough in the spoiler box if you're more interested in that.

Spoiler: Super secret answer (!!) (click to show/hide)

The first clue in the image is the location. Even without knowledge of Shovel Knight, you may be able to tell that this image has a volcano theme.

Secondly, it looks pretty 2D and pixely, which is enough of a hint to direct you to only look in specific segments of the Kingdoms.

Combine these two clues together and you're able to narrow the location down to one of the 2D segments of Mount Volbono, in the Luncheon Kingdom.

All you've got to do then is look for a 2D segment in the Luncheon Kingdom that matches the layout of the hint image. Which leads you to...



Here. Any screenshot or snapshot of this specific area would count as a correct answer.

As I said before, not all puzzles will be like this. They'll vary in difficulty, some require multiple steps of thinking, others may not even be images. Again, if this is the sort of thing you'd be interested in, let me know!

[Marie]

I'm interested.

[Builder Mario]

Sounds like a fun idea.

[Nabber]

this would probably end up frustrating me, but im still curious enough to do it

[Ice Cream Man]

It looks like people are interested, and I've ironed out the details and dates, so sign ups are open! Feel free to post your wackiest, zaniest bolded sign-up post here.

Please check back over the OP to see if anything new I've added may affect you.

[Leo Luster]

The most wackiest, zaniest bolded sign-up is right here!

[Marie]

I'm ready to rack the corners of my brain to figure your hints out!

[Builder Mario]

Add me to your list, so that I may lose myself in the darkest corners of the wide world searching for the solution to life's biggest mysteries, maybe even solve one.

[Lakituthequick]

Oh, it's time for fishin', ♪
'Cause it's fishin' time!

[Nabber]

sign up

[Madeline]

mundane_signup.txt

[John Doe]

me