Gameplay mechanics

Introduction

This page lists all gameplay mechanics that can appear in Lasers-Enigma puzzles.

⚠️ Spoiler warning — This page reveals every mechanic a puzzle can contain, including advanced and hidden ones. If you want to discover them on your own through gameplay, stop reading here.

Most mechanic are tied to a specific component and describes a distinct interaction that a player may encounter and learn while solving puzzles.

This list is or will be used internally to:

• classify puzzle difficulty and order puzzles in a progression.
• track player progression
• avoid sending a player to a puzzle that uses too much mechanics he have never encountered before.

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Mechanics

Component	Game mechanic	Learning difficulty (/100)	Complexity weight (/100)
Laser Sender	fixed rotation	5	3
Laser Sender	horizontal rotation	10	5
Laser Sender	vertical rotation	15	8
Laser Sender	horizontal & vertical rotation	40	35
Laser Sender	scheduled action	45	20
Laser Sender	primary color	5	3
Laser Sender	secondary color	15	8
Laser Sender	white	10	5
Laser Sender	conditional	55	30
Laser Receiver	fixed rotation	5	5
Laser Receiver	horizontal rotation	10	8
Laser Receiver	vertical rotation	20	10
Laser Receiver	horizontal & vertical rotation	40	25
Laser Receiver	scheduled action	45	25
Laser Receiver	same incoming color	5	8
Laser Receiver	combine 2 primary colors (→ secondary)	25	20
Laser Receiver	combine 3 primary colors (→ white)	40	30
Laser Receiver	combine 1 primary + 1 secondary (→ white)	65	35
Laser Receiver	let-through (laser passes through)	35	20
Laser Receiver	must remain deactivated	50	30
Burnable Block	same incoming color	20	15
Burnable Block	combine 2 primary colors (→ secondary)	40	25
Burnable Block	combine 3 primary colors (→ white)	55	30
Burnable Block	combine 1 primary + 1 secondary (→ white)	70	35
Burnable Block	scheduled action	50	20
Concentrator	fixed rotation	15	10
Concentrator	horizontal rotation	20	15
Concentrator	vertical rotation	20	15
Concentrator	horizontal & vertical rotation	50	35
Concentrator	no color combination	15	10
Concentrator	scheduled action	50	25
Concentrator	combine 2 primary colors (→ secondary)	40	25
Concentrator	combine 3 primary colors (→ white)	60	30
Concentrator	combine 1 primary + 1 secondary (→ white)	70	35
Concentrator	involved in a laser loop	90	40
Prism	primary color input (passes through unchanged)	15	10
Prism	secondary color input (decomposed into 2 primaries)	45	20
Prism	white input (decomposed into all 6 colors)	65	35
Prism	multiple laser inputs	60	30
Filtering Sphere	scheduled action	50	25
Filtering Sphere	white mirror (identity, all passes through)	20	10
Filtering Sphere	same laser color (color unchanged)	20	10
Filtering Sphere	white laser, primary or secondary mirror (extracts mirror color)	45	25
Filtering Sphere	primary laser, secondary mirror (extracts the common primary)	65	30
Filtering Sphere	secondary laser, primary mirror (extracts primary)	60	30
Filtering Sphere	secondary laser, different secondary mirror (intersection extracted)	95	55
Filtering Sphere	intentionally blocking a laser	35	20
Filtering Sphere	multiple laser inputs	55	30
Filtering Sphere	mirror placement or retrieval	15	10
Reflecting Sphere	scheduled action	50	25
Reflecting Sphere	white mirror (reflects all, color unchanged)	15	10
Reflecting Sphere	same laser color (full reflection)	15	10
Reflecting Sphere	white laser, primary or secondary mirror (reflects mirror color)	40	25
Reflecting Sphere	primary laser, secondary mirror (reflects common primary)	60	30
Reflecting Sphere	secondary laser, primary mirror (reflects primary)	55	30
Reflecting Sphere	secondary laser, different secondary mirror (reflects intersection)	95	55
Reflecting Sphere	intentionally blocking a laser	30	20
Reflecting Sphere	multiple laser inputs	50	30
Reflecting Sphere	mirror placement or retrieval	15	10
Glass and Glass Panes	white (identity, all passes through)	5	3
Glass and Glass Panes	same laser color (passes through)	5	3
Glass and Glass Panes	white laser, primary or secondary glass (extracts glass color)	25	12
Glass and Glass Panes	primary laser, secondary glass (extracts common primary)	50	20
Glass and Glass Panes	secondary laser, primary glass (extracts primary)	45	20
Glass and Glass Panes	secondary laser, different secondary glass (intersection extracted)	92	50
Glass and Glass Panes	intentionally blocking a laser	15	8
Glass and Glass Panes	multiple laser inputs	40	18
Mirror Block	white (full reflection, color unchanged)	5	3
Mirror Block	same laser color (full reflection)	5	3
Mirror Block	white laser, primary or secondary mirror (reflects mirror color)	25	12
Mirror Block	primary laser, secondary mirror (reflects common primary)	50	20
Mirror Block	secondary laser, primary mirror (reflects primary)	45	20
Mirror Block	secondary laser, different secondary mirror (reflects intersection)	95	60
Mirror Block	intentionally blocking a laser	15	8
Mirror Block	multiple laser inputs	35	18
Mirror Block	involved in a laser loop	80	35
Mirror Support	white mirror, face (full reflection, color unchanged)	5	5
Mirror Support	white mirror, face, multiple laser inputs	15	10
Mirror Support	white mirror, face, involved in a laser loop	70	30
Mirror Support	white mirror, edge (color unchanged)	35	15
Mirror Support	black mirror, face (laser both reflected and transmitted)	55	25
Mirror Support	black mirror, face, multiple laser inputs	60	30
Mirror Support	black mirror, face, laser loop source (black facing mirror/concentrator/mirror block)	85	35
Mirror Support	black mirror, edge (color unchanged)	40	18
Mirror Support	colored mirror, face, same primary/secondary laser color (full reflection, nothing passes)	25	15
Mirror Support	colored mirror, face, no color intersection (laser passes, nothing reflected)	50	20
Mirror Support	colored mirror, face, white laser, primary mirror (mirror color reflected, complement passes)	60	75
Mirror Support	colored mirror, face, white laser, secondary mirror (mirror color reflected, complement passes)	70	75
Mirror Support	colored mirror, face, secondary laser, primary mirror (common primary reflected, remainder passes)	75	75
Mirror Support	colored mirror, face, secondary laser, different secondary mirror (intersection reflected, rest passes)	95	85
Mirror Support	colored mirror, face, multiple laser inputs	75	40
Mirror Support	colored mirror, face, involved in a laser loop	95	45
Mirror Support	colored mirror, edge, same laser color (color unchanged)	30	15
Mirror Support	colored mirror, edge, white laser (mirror color passes)	45	20
Mirror Support	colored mirror, edge, primary laser, secondary mirror (common primary passes)	65	30
Mirror Support	colored mirror, edge, secondary laser, primary mirror (primary passes)	60	28
Mirror Support	colored mirror, edge, secondary laser, different secondary mirror (intersection passes)	95	60
Mirror Support	colored mirror, edge, intentionally blocking a laser	40	18
Mirror Support	horizontal rotation	10	8
Mirror Support	vertical rotation	20	12
Mirror Support	horizontal & vertical rotation	50	40
Mirror Support	mirror placement or retrieval	10	8
Mirror Support	scheduled action	50	25
Mirror Chest	get mirrors	10	5
Mirror Chest	get portal gun	15	8
Portal Gun	place portals on walls (vertical)	20	10
Portal Gun	place portals on floor/ceiling (horizontal)	30	15
Portal Gun	player teleportation (wall to wall)	25	15
Portal Gun	player teleportation (wall to floor/ceiling, momentum redirection)	50	30
Portal Gun	infinite loop (floor ↔ ceiling, momentum accumulation)	65	40
Portal Gun	laser teleportation through portals	55	35
Portal Gun	laser loop between facing portals (light storage)	80	45
Portal Gun	multi-player portals (distinct color pairs)	35	20
Portal Surface	portal surface placement (enables portal placement)	10	3
Lock and Key Chest	single key required	10	8
Lock and Key Chest	multiple keys required	25	15
Lock and Key Chest	optional keys	20	10
Elevator	elevator	10	5
Call Button	call button	15	8
Redstone Sensor	redstone sensor	30	15
Gravitational Sphere	repulsion, fixed configuration	30	20
Gravitational Sphere	repulsion, player-modifiable radius	60	45
Gravitational Sphere	attraction, fixed configuration	45	25
Gravitational Sphere	attraction, player-modifiable radius	75	50
Gravitational Sphere	scheduled action	50	25
Bonus	at least one bonus collected during a winning run	30	80

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Scoring method

These values and formulas are inherently arbitrary and subjective. They are not meant to provide an objective or exhaustive measure of a puzzle's actual complexity — real difficulty depends on many factors that cannot be fully captured by a static formula (puzzle layout, player experience, interactions between mechanics, etc.). This scoring system is a best-effort approximation intended to guide puzzle ordering and player progression, not a ground truth.

The difficulty score of a puzzle is computed from two complementary sources: static scores derived from the mechanics present in the puzzle, and empirical scores derived from actual player data once enough runs have been recorded.

Static score (mechanics-based)

Each mechanic contributes to the overall difficulty score of a puzzle through two independent values:

• Learning difficulty (/100): the cognitive cost of encountering this mechanic for the first time. It reflects how counter-intuitive the behavior is and how much prior knowledge of the color system is required to understand it. This value is fixed per mechanic and does not change based on the puzzle.

• Complexity weight (/100): the additional complexity that each extra occurrence of this mechanic adds to a puzzle, beyond the first one. A low weight means repetition is mostly spatial (e.g. a second fixed sender barely adds difficulty). A high weight means each new instance creates a new independent sub-problem to solve (e.g. a second differently-colored mirror requires fresh reasoning).

Static difficulty score = Σ learning_difficulty (first occurrence of each mechanic) + Σ complexity_weight × (number of occurrences − 1)

This formula avoids inflating difficulty through simple repetition while still accounting for the genuine added complexity of multiple interacting instances of the same mechanic.

Empirical score (player data-based)

Once a puzzle has been completed by at least 20 distinct players, two additional empirical parameters are computed from the first winning run of each player:

• Trimmed mean time: the average time elapsed to complete the first successful run, after discarding the top 20% and bottom 20% of values. Discarding outliers on both ends removes the impact of players who gave up and came back much later (inflating time) as well as players who already knew the solution (deflating time).

• Trimmed mean actions: the average number of actions performed during the first successful run, after discarding the top 20% and bottom 20% of values. This reflects the typical amount of trial-and-error the puzzle requires, independently of time.

Both trimming operations are applied independently: a player discarded from the time calculation is not necessarily discarded from the action calculation.

Below the 20-player threshold, these empirical parameters are not available and the difficulty score relies solely on the static score.

Combined score (when empirical data is available)

Once empirical data is available, the three components (static score, trimmed mean time, trimmed mean actions) are combined into a single total difficulty score between 0 and 100.

Normalization

The static score and the two empirical parameters do not share the same unit or scale. Before combining them, each must be normalized independently into a 0–100 range using the distribution of all puzzles on the server that have reached the 20-player threshold.

For each parameter, normalization is done using percentile rank: a puzzle ranked at the Nth percentile among all eligible puzzles gets a normalized score of N.

• Static score → percentile rank among all static scores → S (0–100)
• Trimmed mean time → percentile rank among all trimmed mean times → T (0–100)
• Trimmed mean actions → percentile rank among all trimmed mean action counts → A (0–100)

Percentile-based normalization is preferred over min-max normalization because it is robust to extreme outliers (e.g. an exceptionally long or short puzzle would not compress all other values into a narrow range).

Weighting

The three normalized components are combined with the following weights:

Component	Weight	Rationale
Static score S	40%	Captures structural complexity before any player data is available; remains a useful signal even with data.
Trimmed mean time T	35%	Strong indicator of actual difficulty; reflects the total cognitive and exploration effort.
Trimmed mean actions A	25%	Reflects trial-and-error but is noisier than time (play style varies more across players in terms of actions).

Total difficulty score = 0.40 × S + 0.35 × T + 0.25 × A

The result is a value between 0 and 100.

Transition between static-only and combined score

When a puzzle crosses the 20-player threshold, switching abruptly from the static score to the combined score could cause sudden rank changes. To smooth this transition, a linear blend is applied between 20 and 30 players:

• At exactly 20 players: combined score weight = 0% (static score only)
• At exactly 30 players: combined score weight = 100% (combined score only)
• Between 20 and 30: total = static_score × (1 − α) + combined_score × α, where α = (n − 20) / 10 and n is the number of qualifying players

Above 30 players, the combined score is used exclusively.