explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

explain xkcd:Explanation Completion Project

2016-11-15T01:21:28Z

108.162.238.85:

There are '''{{PAGESINCAT:Incomplete explanations|R}}''' incomplete comic explanations on this wiki. We want to have a complete repository of explanations for every comic. Most new comics receive high-quality pages, due to our high standards and the attention that new comics usually attract. Old incomplete pages, and newer large or complicated pages tend to be fixed at a much lower rate though, as they don't attract enough attention. This project aims to solve that. Upon completion of an Incomplete Explanation of the Day article, a new page will be featured in our site header until we clear out our entire backlog of unfinished articles. For the full list of our incomplete articles, visit [[:Category:Incomplete explanations]].

The current incomplete explanation is [[141: Parody Week: Achewood]].

Remember; every little bit counts. Even if all you can do is add a sentence or fix a typo, that's still another step taken towards finishing the article.
If you have to spend this much time explaining it, it's not very fucking funny, now is it?
==Goals==
# Finish every incomplete explanation.
# Fully document the [[:Category:Large drawings|large comics]].
# Do a final proofread pass through every article. Copy list of all comics here and make it into a checklist.

==Things we can do after this is finished==
# [[explain xkcd:Translation|Translation]].
# Removing the incomplete pages counter on the main page.
# Binge-read our explanations and not run into any stubs.

1749: Mushrooms

2016-10-23T02:26:48Z

108.162.238.85: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1749
| date = October 21, 2016
| title = Mushrooms
| image = mushrooms.png
| titletext = Evolutionarily speaking, mushrooms are technically a type of ghost.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Other interpretations of the growling mushroom and the ghost in the title text, or more on the existing may be relevant...}}

[[Cueball]] is looking at a {{w|mushroom}} contemplating how weird they are when [[Megan]] adds another layer to their weirdness by supplying the trivia that {{w|evolutionary|evolutionarily}}, mushrooms are closer to the {{w|animal|animal kingdom}} than to {{w|plants}} on the {{w|Tree of life (biology)|tree of life}}.

Both animals and {{w|fungi}} are part of the {{w|opisthokont}} group, while plants are in {{w|archaeplastida}} group with the {{w|algae}}. This surprises Cueball, as he like many other people is likely to think of mushrooms as plants as they are "grown" just like other crops. But what people with this misconception often fail to remember are facts like the fact that the edible mushrooms like {{w|Agaricus bisporus}} (or white mushroom) are [http://www.gardenguides.com/129125-growing-mushrooms-cave.html farmed] in [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmhKqaobi3Q caves] without any sunlight, which is a prerequisite for almost any plant life, as almost all plants need to be able to use {{w|photosynthesis}} to grow, and thus needs sunlight. (There are a few exceptions, such as {{w|Monotropa uniflora}}, which are parasitic upon the mycorrhizal fugi wich are symbiotic with other nearby photosynthetic plants.)

Megan then walks away, and Cueball, after pondering the mushroom a while further, gets up and walks away too. But as soon as Cueball has his back turned the mushroom growls after him. Cueball spins around to look back at the now again silent mushroom. This is a bit of absurdist humor; while mushrooms are ''technically'' more animal-like than plant-like (they are {{w|eukaryotic}} organisms that do not use photosynthesis) fungi are still so far removed from animals they wouldn't have any of the body parts needed to growl. For that matter, most animals lack the parts needed to growl. Cueball's shock and astonishment is quite justified, and maybe it was just his imagination running wild after Megan's trivia.

The title text takes this further, by stating that mushrooms are technically a type of {{w|ghost}}. Arguably, since they arise from decaying remains. The title text may refer to [[1240: Quantum Mechanics]] or [[1475: Technically]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is squatting in front of a group of four mushrooms (two tiny, one small and one large), touching the top of the nearest and largest mushroom with a finger. This mushroom has several small dots, which becomes more visible in later panels. The other three mushrooms do not appear to have these dots. Megan is standing behind him looking on.]
:Cueball: Mushrooms are ''so weird.''
:Megan: You know, evolutionarily, they're closer to being animals than to plants.

:[Megan starts walking away as Cueball now leans on the ground with the hand he touched the mushroom with. Only the large mushroom is visible in this and the rest of the panels.]
:Cueball: ...Really?
:Megan: Yup!

:[In a frame-less panel Cueball still squats in front of the mushroom, now resting his hand on his knees.]

:[Cueball stands up looking down at the mushroom.]

:[Cueball is walking away as the mushroom makes a sound indicated with several small lines emanating from the top of the mushroom along with a regular speech line.]
:Mushroom: ''Grrrr''

:[Cueball snaps around to look at the mushroom again, standing in a prepared state arms slightly out and legs spread out as well.]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Animals]] <--Mentioning that mushrooms are closer to animals than plants-->

1608: Hoverboard

2016-01-09T05:46:49Z

108.162.238.85: /* Secret passages and hidden places */ General clean-up, mostly grammar. NOTE: The last paragraph probably should be relocated to the Coins section; unfortunately, I'm out of time for now

{{comic
| number = 1608
| date = November 24, 2015
| title = Hoverboard
| image = hoverboard.png

}}
{{TOC}}
*To experience the interactivity of this game, visit the {{xkcd|1608|original comic}}.
==Explanation==
{{incomplete|All images and an explanation and of all items of interest like in [[1110]] is missing in a table below. More details about the coins (why 169?) and the dimensions (what are the actual size in km, and how fast does the hoverboard then move).}}
The "comic" is actually a {{w|browser game}} made to celebrate the release of [[Randall|Randall's]] new book, ''[[Thing Explainer]]'', which was released on the same day as this comic: ''Tuesday'' November 24th 2015. The comic thus appeared on a Tuesday, replacing that week's normal Wednesday release to coincide with the release day.

The title refers to a {{w|hoverboard}} (which resembles a hovering skateboard without wheel) which has been most [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1ZdMOMUgXE prominently featured] in the movie {{w|Back to the Future Part II}}, which took place in the future, until a little more than a month before this comic was released. {{w|Marty McFly}} traveled to the future in this second installment, more precisely to [https://www.facebook.com/October212015BTTF 2015-10-21], and this comic were released just over one month later 2015-11-24. Hoverboards are just one of many things predicted in Back to the Future Part II, that has not come to pass before reaching the date from the movie. Randall is known to have had [[:Category:Electric skateboard|electric skateboards]], which may be the closest you could get to the hoverboard here.

With Randall's enjoyment with movies and time travels it is very likely that this game is also a tribute to the {{w|Back to the Future}} movies. But the release day of the game has been used to promote his new book (as is clear with the text in the start screen of the game), and this explains why it was not released on the Back to the Future date. Apart from the date of release and the text about the book, the game has no apparent relation to the book. Instead it references several movies and other stuff that has often been featured in xkcd.

===The game feature===
The game features [[Cueball]] riding on a {{w|hoverboard}}. The controls are the left, up, and right arrows as written on the start screen until you begin the game. But there are alternatives as explained in the [[#Controls|Controls]] section. The player can jump repeatedly mid-jump to reach increasing heights, and can move left and right both while jumping and descending (see more under controls).

The player begins in a line-drawing maze (called [[1608:_Hoverboard/Screen-shots#Entire_play_area|the play area]]) with 17 gold coins located throughout and a "deposit" terminal. The ostensible goal of the game is to collect as many coins as possible and return them to the deposit in the fastest possible time, which returns [[#Messages in the starting area|text messages]] describing the result. Players consumed with obtaining the best possible time result for collecting the coins may not realize there is anything more to the game.

The best way to enjoy this comic is to {{xkcd|1608|play the game!}} If you didn't do that already, '''reading any below''' will spoil you from truly enjoying the comic, and maybe make some interesting discoveries yourself! So here is a '''spoiler alert''' if you read on.

Beyond the maze on either side (just far enough that players who remain within the maze will not see) are tall walls seemingly designed to contain the player. However, the walls have a finite height and, combined with the ability to multi-jump, the player can leave the purported "play area" either to the sides or above the initial maze. This returns a flashing red [[#Messages in the starting area|error message]]: "'''[[1608:_Hoverboard/Screen-shots#Return_to_the_play_area|Return to play area]]'''".

But if the player overcomes the desire to comply and return to the play area, and disregard this message he can take hoverboard Cueball outside beyond the tall walls surrounding the initial play area. And here he will discover an entire world that can be explored left and right (and above), including numerous points of interest and {{w|Easter egg (media)|Easter eggs}} similar in style to comic [[1110: Click and Drag]]. There are also many more coins to collect, 169 coins all in all, so 152 more than those from the play area.

===The main themes===
There are many themes and references throughout the game, but the two main themes are '''{{w|Star Wars}}''' and '''{{w|The Lord of the Rings}}'''.

The largest part of the game is located on the '''right side''' of the play area and is mainly a world dominated by references to ''Star Wars''. Most noticeable is a recreation of [https://youtu.be/yHfLyMAHrQE?t=112 the opening scene] in the {{w|Star Wars (film)|first film}}, where {{w|Princess Leia|Princess Leia's}} space ship ''{{w|Tantive IV}}'' also known as ''The Rebel Blockade Runner'' is flying over the desert planet {{w|Tatooine}}. Here it is followed by the {{w|Star Destroyer}}, ''Devastator''. The desert ground with these two space ships above is the first you find to the right. Although in the game they are located inside the atmosphere, not as in the movie out in space, a fact that is commented on by [[Megan]] who looks out from an opening in the bottom of the Destroyers hull.
:Megan: Is this ship designed to fly in the atmosphere like this?

Both ships are high above the ground level, but there are wires from the ground that connect (and thus guide you) up to ''The Runner'' and from there 100+ torpedoes, which are fired down on the Runner from the Destroyer above, gives away the location of the Destroyer itself. The Destroyer is so high up in the air, that you would not be likely to find it by chance without these leads (or at least some of the several other hints from people on the ground looking up and commenting like [[White Hat]] looking up and asking "Uh, what the heck is ''that?!''.").

One of the main points (The Joke) of the entire game is the extreme size of such a Destroyer. It takes up more space than the rest of the game (and most of the coins is located there). Inside the Destroyer there are many many rooms, long corridors and deep shafts, even a huge cave with trees and animals. At the bridge we meet both {{w|Darth Vader}} and the Emperor himself, {{w|Palpatine}}. There are many other jokes related both to Star Wars and other movies and xkcd comics inside the Destroyer. For instance Darth Vader begins to discuss Stevens mom from {{w|Steven Universe}} and Steven himself with family can be found in a different part of the Destroyer.
:Darth Vader: But Steven's ''mother'' is a crystal gem...
There are also interesting things and references along the ground beneath the space ships, some of these Star Wars related.

To the '''left side''' is an entirely different world, although much smaller (shorter) than the one to the right. Here the main theme is ''The Lord of the Rings'' mainly with the presence of a volcano where [[Megan]] tries to throw in {{w|One Ring|''rings'' of power}}, as in [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXpF3SUFaDw the scene] from the {{w|The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King|last LOTR film}} where {{w|Frodo Baggins|Frodo}} fails and {{w|Gollum}} attacks inside the volcano {{w|Mount Doom}}, thus making it clear that the volcano in the game represents this volcano. Both Frodo, {{w|Sauron}} and {{w|Gandalf}} are mentioned in the game. The first two by name in the text ({{w|Eagle (Middle-earth)great eagles}} talking about Frodo and {{w|J. R. R. Tolkien|Tolkien}}, and Sauron's name is read up by Megan from a book), and Gandalf is drawn as a wizard figure in the crater and also his name is used in the [[#Messages in the starting area|message]] you receive if you collect [[1608:_Hoverboard/Screen-shots#All_169_coins|all possible coins]].

The two worlds do conflict though, as an {{w|X-wing fighter}} is parked at a gas station to the left in LOTR world, and Gandalf's famous quote ''You shall not pass!'' from his fight against the {{w|Balrog}} is delivered by [[Cueball]] trying to block your path to a coin inside a room the Destroyer. This conflict could very well be a reference to the fact that {{w|Andy Serkis}} who played {{w|Gollum}} in LOTR, now plays the {{w|Supreme Leader Snoke}} in the new Star Wars movie, and [http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/villains/images/6/64/Supremeleader.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/270?cb=20151223201852 his appearance] as Snoke is not that much different from Gollums. Snoke also delivers a line in the movie (about "bringing someone to me") that reminds allot of Gollum when he talks about "the ring coming to me". Of course Randall would not have know this last part at the time this comic were released. But he would likely be aware of Andy Serkis involvement.

Other themes are related to other movies, like a [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/star-wars-the-force-awakens/star-trek-fans-rivalry-george-lucas-roddenberry/ naughty reference] to {{w|Star Trek}} from inside the bridge of the Rebel Blockade Runner where a Long haired girl (maybe [[Danish]] since she obviously does this to annoy Star Wars fans) delivers the following line taken from the Star Trek universe: ''Captain's log, stardate November 24th, 2015...''

And there are many references to other {{xkcd}} comics, like the room at the front end of the Destroyer with ball pit filled with [[:Category:Playpen balls|playpen balls]], and two children (or adults) playing in it, like in [[150: Grownups]]. And also the well in the left part of the world with a coin at the bottom is likely a reference to [[:Category:Well|Well]] series.

There have been many comics with electric skateboards as mentioned, which do not appear in this comic, but there is one example of a normal skateboard. This is used by Megan in a room in the Destroyer, while she is inside a {{w|hamster ball}}, and there is also another hamster ball, used in a more than human sized ten pin bowling game to the left. Another items that has been [[:Category:Hamster Ball|prominently featured]] in xkcd.

Also references to video games are seen, best shown with the maze towards the back end of the Destroyer which are an almost complete depiction of ''[http://cdn.wikimg.net/strategywiki/images/a/a2/Princeofpersia_dos_level1.png Level 1]'' of the computer game ''{{w|Prince of Persia}}''.

The comic/game and book were released only 3 weeks before the 7th Star Wars movie ''{{w|Star Wars: The Force Awakens}}'' were released on December 14 2015. And this movie had already been referenced by Randall 7½ weeks earlier in [[1585: Similarities]], when another movie ({{w|The Martian (film)|The Martian}}) were released. It was a reference in the title text to the new robot ''BB-8'' that are featured in the Force Awakens. That the Star Wars section is thus so much larger than the LOTR section may thus also be a hint to the fact that it is now 12 years ago that the last of those films were released, and although {{w|the Hobbit}} has been released as {{w|The Hobbit (film series)|three films}} over the previous three Christmases it is Star Wars that dominates this Christmas.

In the weeks before, and especially the weeks after there were also other comics that had a subject which could reefer back to Hoverboard in some ways. Maybe these comics were either influenced by the game, or the other way around so that relevant items were added to the game because of these other comics:
*[[1600: MarketWatch]] - the {{w|Washington Monument}} (an obelisk) is part of the skyline depicted, and this monument is the first that is encountered in the picture when going left from the play area, plus a comment from Cueball:
::Honestly, it doesn't even look that muck like Washington.
*[[1610: Fire Ants]] - in this game there is a giant ant queen inside the Destroyer talking with Cueball about laying eggs:
::Cueball: What's up?
::Ant queen: The usual. Poopin' out ants.
::Cueball: Eww.
*[[1611: Baking Soda and Vinegar]] - this is about super volcanoes, vs. Mount Doom in the game.
*[[1614: Kites]] - Megan is seen with a kite in both comics (in this game to the left towards Mount Doom.)
*[[1620: Christmas Settings]] - another Star Wars reference to {{w|lightsaber}} noises in the title text. Lightsabers are featured twice in this comic, once with Ponytail practicing ion the Blockade Runner, and once with a kid about to hit a Piñata in the Destroyer.
*[[1623: 2016 Conversation Guide]] - a direct hoverboard reference, and complaint that they are not real yet (only in this game).

===Characters===
Almost all main [[:Category:Characters|characters]] in the xkcd gallery are used several times, like Cueball, Megan, [[Ponytail]], [[Beret Guy]], [[Hairy]], [[White Hat]] and [[Hair Bun Girl]].

And possibly even some of the minor characters are used like Danish at the bridge in the Blockade Runner and [[Miss Lenhart]] discovering a bug before the volcano. But neither of these can be confirmed, they just looks like them and has some similarities, like “Danish” teasing the Star Wars fan and Lenhart in some kind of teacher mode.

The sole exception is the main villain [[Black Hat]] who is not present anywhere in the comic. The only hint that he is not forgotten is that his hat can be seen [http://xkcd.com/1608/1074:-1074+s.png on a stick] under the Destroyer after the three large T-like structures. And this is not the kind of stick characters Randall usually draws. But at least we now know where Danish has hidden it from him this time (see [[405: Journal 3]]). Given that his hat is stuck there, he could be any of the Cueballs in the game. There is a Cueball close by whistling. Maybe it is Black Hat trying to call out for his hat… But this comic can not be listed as a Black Hat comic.

There are also many fictive people from different movies, books and TV-shows (for instance Darth Vader, Gandalf and Steven as mentioned above) and at least one real person: {{w|Elon Musk|Elon Musk's}} who has a [[#Secret passages and hidden places|hidden lair]] under the Volcano.

Furthermore there are many animals, some even rather big, and also a couple of small Star Wars robots, one in a corridor in each space ship.

===Extra Hoverboard pages===
*Since this comic is so big and complicated extra pages have been created to include much more information than is wished for on this main page (which is already of considerable size).
*These pages are listed here for convenience, but they are also listen in the relevant sections below:
**[[1608: Hoverboard/Transcript]] - The full transcript of the entire comic, as if you played the game can be found here. It is linked from the [[#Transcript|Transcript]] section.
**[[1608: Hoverboard/The whole image]] - A collection of different compilations of the whole Image. It is linked from the [[#Whole Image|Whole Image]] section.
**[[1608: Hoverboard/Images of secret passages]] - Images with an overview of the secret passages in the game. It is linked from the [[#Secret passages and hidden places|Secret passages and hidden places]] section.
**[[1608: Hoverboard/All image links]] It is linked from the [[#All images|All images]] section.
**[[1608: Hoverboard/Images coins]] It is linked from the [[#Coins|Coins]] section.
**[[1608: Hoverboard/Screen-shots]] It can be linked from several sections, but amongst other allot from the [[#Messages in the starting area|Messages in the starting area]] section.

==Transcript==
:[This transcript only covers the starting page as shown on xkcd: {{xkcd|1608}}. There is also an [https://xkcd.com/1608/info.0.json official transcript] on xkcd. But on Explain xkcd these{{xkcd}} transcripts are not used. This transcript covers what is on the first image you see when opening the comic on xkcd. A full transcript of the entire comic will be listed on a [[1608: Hoverboard/Transcript|separate page]].]

:[Cueball is shown on a hoverboard in the center of the comic. Around him is a simple maze with 12 yellow coins. Another Cueball without hoverboard is shown standing on one of the platforms to the right. The bottom half of the window is black. Right of where Cueball stands is a ramp. Behind the ramp is a terminal. There is lots of space left of the maze, outside the maze. Text is only written in white below in the black area. The first part of the text is written below Cueball on hoverboard. Then there is an arrow pointing to the terminal and a label. Finally there is a line of text at the bottom of the black area.]

:[Under Cueball:]
:My new book,
:''Thing Explainer,''
:comes out today!
:To celebrate, here's
:a small game.

:[Under the arrow below the terminal.]
:Deposit coins here

:[At the bottom:]
:Use the arrow keys to move

:['''For the full transcript of the entire comic see [[1608: Hoverboard/Transcript]].''']

==Trivia==
*There is as usual [[:Category:No title text|no title text]] for these interactive comics. But there is actually one listed in the [http://xkcd.com/1608/info.0.json info page] on xkcd. But this text: "Return to the play area", is never shown as a normal title text. But it will erroneously be shown in the unofficial mobile versions of the site.
**This is actually the text that is shown blinking red at the bottom of the screen when leaving the starting area.

==Viewers==
*{{xkcd|1608|1608: Hoverboard}} (native game, use arrows)

'''''Warning:''' apart from using one of the a full maps below there are also other [[#Cheats and Exploits|cheating possibilities]] where people (or the game) have implemented ways to explore the game world more easily!. The best way to enjoy this comic, however, is to play the game, explore the comic's world the way you're supposed to, get lost in the caves or in the sky, be startled by unexpected things or happy when finding some people or a coin after lengthy exploration through a repetitive landscape. If you didn't do that already, '''reading any below will spoil you from truly enjoying the comic.''''' So go back to the link above and try that out first.

*Though you can download the full view, the easiest way to browse it is through a {{w|Zooming user interface}}:
**[http://1101b.com/xkcd1608/ Fully zoomable map w/ toggleable coins and passages]. '''[Recommended]''' - includes all of the game, zoom-able and with toggle-able passages and coins. Courtesy of [https://www.reddit.com/user/lanzaa lanzaa] on this [https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/3u4sy1/xkcd_1608_hoverboard/cxbyn86 reddit thread]
**[http://codepen.io/KyleDavidE/full/605dc87b614ff6b2bd716f4c6f640203/ Quickly hacked overview]. Missing the rock island in the sky. Courtesy of [https://www.reddit.com/user/kyledavide kyledavide] on the same [https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/3u4sy1/xkcd_1608_hoverboard/cxbyn86 reddit thread].
*Below are several examples of full pictures:
**[http://paste.click/DsPuSL Full-size-png-map]. '''Do not open this directly in the browser!''' It might take a few minutes to download. Full resolution picture of the entire game (also without coins) - courtesy of [https://www.reddit.com/user/0x90-0x90 0x90-0x90] on the same reddit [https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/3u4sy1/xkcd_1608_hoverboard/cxbyn86 thread].
**[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/9/92/thumb_1608.jpg Incomplete compilation] of the entire game area (note the missing pinnacle of the Washington Monument. It also missed the floating island above the monument).
**[https://i.imgur.com/uYryxss.png Full png-map]. Simple picture of the entire game without coins - courtesy of [https://www.reddit.com/user/luke_in_the_sky luke_in_the_sky] on the same reddit [https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/3u4sy1/xkcd_1608_hoverboard/cxbyn86 thread].
**[https://i.imgur.com/rNU9ZgN.png Full png-map green for non existing tiles]. Here's the transparent spaces in green - also courtesy of [https://www.reddit.com/user/luke_in_the_sky luke_in_the_sky] on the another [https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/3u4sy1/xkcd_1608_hoverboard/cxc1245 reddit thread].
**[https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/content_link/6wIRprxQ7rh3EQGEPer7zCdiaCDeXFM3m2tW9aDd3ECJu9Kgz4s5LPLjjHnJN6SR/file Black areas that you can walk through in red]. This includes the walls and ceilings or other surfaces that you can stand on or hit into. So not only the secret passages are in red.
*See also under the [[#Whole Image|Whole Image]].
**And see also the collection of different versions of [[1608: Hoverboard/The whole image|the whole image]]!

===Standalone application===
*Standalone cross-platform open source remake of hoverboard is available, with some extra features:
** Off-line play
** Arbitrary game window size
** Persistent games state on exit
** Ability to save up to 10 locations and teleport to them at will
** Explorable world map
* Links:
** [https://github.com/AMDmi3/hoverboard-sdl Project on GitHub]
** [https://github.com/AMDmi3/hoverboard-sdl/releases Downloads] (Windows binaries available)

==Messages in the starting area==
*Different amounts of coins collected in the play area, will give different messages in yellow on the black part at the bottom of the screen when delivered to the coin collector.
*Below is a table with examples of what may be written depending on the number of coins. The time (and the amount when there is a range with similar rating) is just chosen at random (although in a realistic range). To get above 17 you of course have to leave the play area and come back again...
**In chrome and firefox there is not message for those above 9 coins, except 17, 42 and 169. But in Internet Explorer there is still a message for those cases: "Undefined".
**See [[1608: Hoverboard/Screen-shots#Coin collecting messages|screen-shots]] or click on the links from the number of coins in the table below:

:{| class="wikitable"
!# coins
!Text when depositing this number of coins
"X" is the number of coins collected
|-
|[[1608:_Hoverboard/Screen-shots#0_coins|0 coins]]
|style="background-color:black;"| '''You got 0 coins in 1 second''' You successfully avoided all the coins.
|-
|[[1608:_Hoverboard/Screen-shots#1_coin|1 coin]]
|style="background-color:black;"| '''You got a single coin in 1 second''' It's a start.
|-
|[[1608:_Hoverboard/Screen-shots#2-4_coins|2-4 coins]]
|style="background-color:black;"| '''You got X coins in 3 seconds''' Not bad!
|-
|[[1608:_Hoverboard/Screen-shots#5-9_coins|5-9 coins]]
|style="background-color:black;"| '''You got X coins in 12 seconds''' Terrific!
|-
|[[1608:_Hoverboard/Screen-shots#10-16_coins|10-16 coins]]
|style="background-color:black;"| '''You got X coins in 10 seconds'''
|-
|[[1608:_Hoverboard/Screen-shots#17 coins|17 coins]]
|style="background-color:black;"| '''You got 17 coins in 15 seconds''' You found all the coins! Great job!
|-
|[[1608:_Hoverboard/Screen-shots#18 coins|18-41 coins]]
|style="background-color:black;"| '''You got X coins in 430 seconds'''
|-
|[[1608:_Hoverboard/Screen-shots#42 coins|42 coins]]
|style="background-color:black;"| '''You got 42 coins in 460 seconds''' No answers here.
|-
|[[1608:_Hoverboard/Screen-shots#More_than_42_coins|43-168 coins]]
|style="background-color:black;"| '''You got X coins in 460 seconds'''
|-
|[[1608:_Hoverboard/Screen-shots#All_169_coins|All 169 coins]]
|style="background-color:black;"| '''You got 169 coins in 1457 seconds''' Are you Gandalf?
|}

*Once you leave the area you get a [[1608:_Hoverboard/Screen-shots#Return_to_the_play_area|flashing warning message]] in red letters at the bottom of the screen:
:{| class="wikitable"
|style="background-color:black;"| '''Return to the play area'''
|}
*This message flashes three times over 1.2 seconds (the message only disappears for about 150 ms each time)
*Then there is a pause for about 1.3 seconds and then this repeats for a total of 5 repetitions, a total of 15 flashes in just about 11.3 second seconds.
*The message will stop immediately if you re-enter the play area during this period.
*If you re-enter later it will flash once you leave again.
*For the program the play area is anything within and below the walls just outside the maze you start in.
**More precisely you first leave the play area if you pass over the middle part at the top of the walls
**Or if you make one jump from standing on top of the walls.

==Whole Image==
[[File:1608 full tiny.png|none|frame|Whole Image zoomed very much out, without coins. The part visible at the beginning is marked red.]]
*See also a collection of different versions of [[1608: Hoverboard/The whole image|the whole image]]!

==Secret passages and hidden places==
There are many places where you can disappear behind black areas, as not all of these are solid. Some of these places even hide secret passages or hidden rooms.

One notable hidden area is {{w|Elon Musk|Elon Musk's}} volcano lair, which is located beneath the lava in the crater of Mount Doom. It can be difficult to find your way in here even if you know it is there. (For more details, see [[1608: Hoverboard/Images of secret passages|secret passages]].)

Another hidden place is the floating rock island that floats high above the {{w|Washington Monument}}, which is located just outside the left edge of the play area. This island is almost impossible to find by chance, as it takes around 30 seconds of repeatedly pressing the Up Arrow key to reach it from the top of the Monument. (The [[#Viewers|maps]] can help you if you're having trouble finding it.)

As there are two coins on the floating rock island and four coins in the lair below the lava, it is very hard to find all the coins. There are even several coins that are hard to find because they just float in the air nowhere near any drawn things, or at least no things you can see before seeing the coin. They may hang in the air a few jumps above the ground, or in one case more than a seconds drop below the Destroyer. So getting all coins without help from a map would truly make you a [[1608:_Hoverboard/Screen-shots#All_169_coins|Gandalf-like wizard]]. (See more regarding [[#Coins|coins]] below.)

==Boundaries==
The larger game world is physically bounded in the left, right, and down directions, with invisible walls to each side and the ground binding you from going any further down than the deepest depression or hidden caves... In the upward direction, there is in principle also an invisible wall, but while jumping up Cueball on his hoverboard will appear to continue upwards as long as you press to jump, in addition, the longer the up arrow is pressed repeatedly, the longer it will take for [[Cueball]] to fall down again once the button is released. So although there are no new things above, you can keep jumping as high as you like and will then fall proportionally longer to get back to where you started out. Until maps were created it could be possible that there could be some hidden unexplored parts, but the [[#Viewers|maps]] created already within the first few days covers the entire game.

To the far right is a platform at the top of a high pole. This platform turns out to be a nest (like a stork nest). Above the three eggs are ten coins (the most collected in one place outside the play area, and these are closer together).

To the far left is blond haired girl with a hair bun looking right. In front of her are four coins on a row. She tells about the Destroyer (should you have gone this way without finding it yet).
:Girl: In the sky, beyond the mountain, I saw a starship.

Regarding the highest part you find the highest straight rise up in the air to something other than white, under the Rock Island just left of and very high above the Washington monument. Standing on the large rock on top of this floating rock island you are standing almost as high up as possible. There is a coin here one step down from the top of this large rock. This is the highest located coin in the game. Going over the edge also represents the largest possible drop in the game. However this is not the highest point where you can stand, as the very top of the bridge on the Destroyer is just a tat higher. But there is no coin there. Also this is not close enough to the end of the Destroyer that you can jump down to the ground, so the drop from the rock is by far the longest possible.

The deepest part of the lair should have been the lowest point, but as this lair's entrance is up in the volcano crater, it does not reach down to become the lowest part of the image. There is also a deep well (half way left to the Volcano) with a girl at the bottom, that goes just as deep. But the deepest part where you can stand is in the ocean below the Destroyer where a rouge wave is talking to Cueball:
:Wave: I know rogue waves seem implausible, but we're a straightforward consequence of the equations of fluid dynamics.
:Cueball: ...But you can talk?
:Wave: The equations are really complicated.
When standing under this wave you cannot get any lower. There are coins in all three locations, but as the coin is above the top of the high wave, it may be that it is the coin in the well that is the deepest. The coin under the lava is not at the bottom of the room so that is not so low.

Taking a route that takes the hoverboard through all the extremes mentioned above, that is the lowest, highest, left and rightmost coins and solid positions within the game can be done in about 9 minutes and 30 seconds. See a picture here of the coin delivery after such a trip that [[1608:_Hoverboard/Screen-shots#Reaching_all_the_boundaries|reached all the boundaries]].

==All images==
*Coordinates for the images are given in (X, Y) coordinates with the starting point at [http://xkcd.com/1608/1000:-1074+s.png (1000, 1074)].
*In total there are 3440 images on xkcd that can be accessed via links of this format: http://xkcd.com/1608/1000:-1074+s.png [This link is for for the (1000, 1074) starting point image).
**Here is a page with a table of all the links to images (still a work in progress): [[1608: Hoverboard/All image links|All image links]].
**'''Note:''' This is a large page which may take some time to load.
*The individual images are so small, and cut of at "random" so they do often go straight down through a person, and you can rarely see both a person and the (full) text belonging to them in the same image.
**See for instance this [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/a/a6/1037x1073y_Wedding.png wedding scene] to the right under the Destroyer, which only makes sense when these four images are put together (as there are in the link):
***[http://xkcd.com/1608/1037:-1073+s.png (1037, 1073)]
***[http://xkcd.com/1608/1037:-1074+s.png (1037, 1074)]
***[http://xkcd.com/1608/1038:-1073+s.png (1038, 1073)]
***[http://xkcd.com/1608/1038:-1074+s.png (1038, 1074)]
**It will thus not make sense to make a transcript of all individual images, but instead, only of a complete setting (or maybe a part of a setting.)
*Maximum possible number of images in the x-direction is 180.
**Going left will decrease X down to 928 (so 82 pictures left of the starting point in X-direction)
**Going right will increase X up to 1107 (so 107 pictures left of the starting point in X-direction)
*Total number of (possible) images in the y-direction is 44.
**Going down will decrease Y down to 1069 (so 5 pictures down from the starting point in Y-direction)
**Going up will increase Y up to 1112 (so 38 pictures up from the starting point in Y-direction)
***The "(possible)" is included because the number of possible active Y-images depends on the X-coordinate, as there are several non-existing images that are not just totally white (i.e. blank images), but which does not even have a number/or active link on xkcd.
***But the top active image over the floating island and over the top of the bridge section of the Destroyer all have Y coordinate 1112. There are only 20 active images at this Y-coordinate.
* All possible images are thus spread over a 180 x 44 grid, with a possible 7920 images. But 4480 of these images are none existing on xkcd, but you can travel through them in the game, as they are just shown as completely blank in the game.
**If you try to load one of the completely blank images like [http://xkcd.com/1608/1000:-1077+s.png (1000, 1077)], three images above the starting point, you will get an error message. There are only 76 (vs 180) images at this Y-coordinate.
***Note there are several completely empty/white images that are active, but those can be loaded on xkcd like the one below the missing picture mentioned above: [http://xkcd.com/1608/1000:-1076+s.png (1000, 1076)].
**There are no blank images in completely black areas, like inside structures or under ground. And below Y = 1077 all 180 possible Y-images exist for all X-coordinates, from Y = 1069 to 1076.
***For instance the image below the starting point is completely black [http://xkcd.com/1608/1000:-1073+s.png (1000, 1073)], and so are the next three below.
***The bottom images at Y = 1069 has a white border at the bottom: [http://xkcd.com/1608/1000:-1069+s.png (1000, 1069)].
***All the images at Y = 1069 are the same except the one at the very right edge because at this edge there is also a white border to the right [http://xkcd.com/1608/1107:-1069+s.png (1107, 1069)] (this is not the case to the far left at [http://xkcd.com/1608/928:-1069+s.png (928, 1069)]).
***You will never see the images at Y = 1069 in the game. Actually you will neither see anything of the images with Y = 1070 or 1071. And there is nothing that is not completely black for Y = 1069 to 1072. First from Y = 1073 are there active images which includes white.
***This picture with the wave at [http://xkcd.com/1608/1022:-1073+s.png (1022, 1073)] gives the lowest point where the hoverboard Cueball can actually stand.
***Since you will sink into the water here, you are almost standing on the top of the Y = 1072 image: [http://xkcd.com/1608/1022:-1072+s.png (1022, 1072)], which is of course completely black.
***In places where you can stand in a low position on Y = 1073 images you will actually see some part of the images with Y = 1072, not that it makes any difference since they are all black.
*Here is a list of the places where there are most images at a given X coordinate:
**At X = 1078, right under the highest point of the Destroyers bridge [http://xkcd.com/1608/1078:-1112+s.png (1078, 1112)] there are 36 active images. Thus even here 8 images are missing between the bottom active image below the Destroyer and the first active near the ground level at Y=1076. (Y = 1077 to 1084 are missing).
**These missing Y coordinates are active in other places, for instance under the torpedo rain at X = 1020 where all Y images are active up until 1100 - 32 images. But since the last 12 images above this are missing it is still 4 less than under the bridge.
**Under the floating island, where there are active images at the top Y = 1112, like [http://xkcd.com/1608/990:-1112+s.png (990, 1112)], there is also the Washington monument below which goes high up, but still there are only 20 active Y images, as there are no active images between 1084 and 1109 (24 missing in between).
**Over the volcano's edges the highest images directly connecting to solid ground is found at Y = 1087. One image above this is also active making the hight here going up to 1088, thus also making it 20 active Y images. The only '''not''' completely white image over the volcano at Y = 1088 is the one with the eagles [http://xkcd.com/1608/956:-1088+s.png (956, 1088)].

==Dimensions==
{{incomplete|Here should be an overview of how large the picture is (physical distances and time to traverse it. Speed of hoverboard etc.) Could be based on know monuments sizes.}}

==List of details and references (with transcript)==
{{incomplete|Help needed migrating the info into a table with pictures like in [[1110:_Click_and_Drag#List_of_details_and_references_.28with_transcript.29|here in 1110]]...}}

*Begining to change to the coordinates of the images used to make up these structures
{| class="wikitable"
! Top left image
! Bottom right
! Images
! Description
|-
| [http://xkcd.com/1608/944:-1075+s.png (944, 1075)] || [http://xkcd.com/1608/946:-1074+s.png (946, 1074)] || [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/0/0b/Elon_Musks_Volcanic_Lair.png Overview] || {{w|Elon Musk|Elon Musk's}} Volcanic Lair
|-
| x: 483735 || y: -551990 || || "What news of the world above? Please tell me - what's hot and viral? What's trending on twitter?"
|-
| x: 509587 || y: -554621 || || Washington Monument
|-
| x: 509587 || y: -554621 || ||Captain's log
|-
| x: 552309 || y: -560208 || || A man addressing a giant, supposedly pregnant, ant. Cueball: "What's up?" Ant: "The usual. Pooping out ants." Cueball: "Eww."
This is probably a reference to a part of Orson Scott Card's "Xenocide" in his Ender series. In it, the main character, Ender, visits a hive queen "bugger" he saved on his travels and became friends with, at a time after the queen has settled in on a new planet. At one point, Ender brings other humans to meet the queen at a time when she was giving birth to some of her drones. This is most likely meant to represent a parody of that conversation or else represent a comedic idea of his first conversation with her when she had been birthing, where Ender is alone and is speaking to the Hive Queen. In this version, when he finds out that she is in the process of birthing more ants, rather than being compassionate and understanding with the Queen(as he is in the book), Ender is weirded out like the other humans he brings along with him later.
|}

===Areas===
*To begin with different areas was listed using coordinates, that could be found using software. But as these are of no use to the ordinary user, and no one has continued supplying these the list has been moved here as a trivia. This should thus be incorporated into the above tables, and then this subsection should be deleted
'''Click to expand:'''
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
 
Starting area - (x: 512187, y: -549668)

====West / Left====
*{{w|Washington Monument}} - (x: 509864, y: -549746)
**Invisible entrance through the Monument, indicated by arrow sign
**Secret entrance into the inside of the Monument, right side, about halfway up - (x: 509815, y: -552614)
***From there you can fall down to the fault line shown in about the middle of the monument. You cannot see Cueball while he is in the monument in either entrance.
*Girl in a hamster ball heading for a bunch of bowling pins - (x: 505790, y: -549905)
*Straight up, a giant floating rock island in the sky (x: 507163, y: -567537)
*Yet [[1504|another dig]] at the Lion King and the lands touched by shadow - (x: 504998, y: -550676)
*An {{w|X-Wing}} at a gas station, with coin accessible from the left - (x: 503253, y: -551129)
**Go straight up from the cockpit for a coin, carried by african swallows (non-migratory)
*A well with a girl at the bottom of it (and one of the yellow game coins), claiming to not be a ghost. A possible reference to {{w|Sadako Yamamura|Sadako}}/{{w|Sadako Yamamura#Samara Morgan|Samara}} from Ring ({{w|Ring (Suzuki novel)|novel}},{{w|Ring (film)|film}},{{w|The Ring (2002 film)|remake}}) - (x: 501998, y: -551030)
*Landing re-entry capsule with parachutes. Bird on top: "I don't remember laying these but ''wow'' they're already flying. Gonna be awesome when they hatch." In capsule: "Yes! My phone has a signal!" "How many new likes did we get during reentry?" "I'm checking!" - (x: 500040, y: -552369)
*Local Mom discovering This One Weird Bug - (x: 497994, y: -551334)
*Someone flying a kite, with a coin beside the kite.
*"The earth is [http://www.vapersoul.com/what-is-vaping/ vaping]"
*Climbing the right hand side of the volcano
** "'The time has come', the walrus said, and put on Sauron's ring" (Lord of the rings/Lewis Carroll reference)
** "This is currently a V2 but it becomes a V7 if the volcano erupts" ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grade_(bouldering) grades] of bouldering difficulty, V7 being fairly difficult."
** "If I don't make it back...tell my wife...where I am...and why you left me there" (reference to lyrics from [http://genius.com/1451499/David-bowie-space-oddity/Tell-my-wife-i-love-her-very-much Space Oddity] "Tell my wife I love her very much")
**Ponytail riding a cycle (a reference to [http://canvasrider.com/ canvas rider]?)? (x: 490610 y: -554364)
**LOTR Eagles - (x: 489661 y: -556811)
* Right-hand rim of the volcano
**A periscope peeking out of a shallow lava pool near two people playing "the lava is a floor". Reference to a common child's imagine game where the floor is lava (see [[735: Floor]]) - (x: 488573 y: -556337)
** "One of these is probably a ring of power or whatever" - throwing some things, possibly rings, off the edge of the volcano, in anti-climactic reference to climax of Lord of the Rings series.
*Lava in the centre of the volcano
**A dark grey ocean that isn't noticeable until you fall in
** "Remember: there's no such thing as good volcano footage taken by a quadcopter that survived", quadcopters inverting the typical safety warning for camera operators - (x: 486640, y: -554838)
**{{w|Elon Musk}}'s Volcano Lair - (x: 484167, y: -549462)
***entrance hidden under volcano lava, before reaching Artex - (x: 483791, y: -551292)
*** "What news of the world above? Please, tell me - what's hot and viral? What's trending on Twitter?!!" - a person in cave being very non-hermit like.
*** "I always assumed Elon Musk's volcano lair would be, like ... tropical. And ... well, pleasant." - "Back to your desks, swine". Strange dystopian scene in cave.
*** "So this is where it is", an electronics "ground" symbol, that presumably all grounded electronics are connected to - (x: 485125, y: -549062)
** "Artex!", a horse stuck in the lava (a reference to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Neverending_Story_characters Artax], the horse in Neverending Story) - (x: 483715, y: -554354)
** A wizard, Gandalf?
*Climbing out of volcano
** A cave, with a crouched figure, saying "Goooooold! Goold!" with money bags around. (reference to the 1982 video game {{w|The_Hobbit_(1982_video_game)}})
y: -554877)
*Descending far side of volcano
**Basketball hoop, with coin. One player says "Ok, as soon as it erupts, go for the dunk. Our sweet moves will be preserved for all eternity", possibly a reference to preserved lavafied bodies in Pompeii - (x: 479523,
* *"In the sky, beyond the mountain, I saw a starship" - referring to the huge Imperial Star Destroyer on the right/east of the play area, and Legolas.
*?Hat underground
*?A hole which traps(?) the player unless noclip mode is used

====East / Right====
*People holding anchor lines to the Tantive IV (Star Wars: A New Hope), being attacked by an Imperial Star Destroyer - (the people: x: 518954, y: -549056)
*Desert with dunes - (x: 520000, y: -549114)
*Ocean Yelper (giving only 2.5/5 stars) - x: 522015, y: -549015
*Talking Rogue Wave - (x: 523460, y: -549013)
*Wedding - (x: 531558, y: -549386)
*Graveyard - (x: 534140, y: -549546)
*Remains of {{w|Ozymandias}}' Statue - (x: 535927, y: -549666)
*Huge pyramid - (x: 538167, y: -550906)
*Blackhat's hat on a stick - (x: 549997, y: -549777)
*Whitehat's head in the grass? - (x: 559826, y: -549847)
*Giant bird nest - (x: 567123, y; -550417)
*Beret Guy riding a torpedo ([http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RidingTheBomb Dr. Strangelove]) - (x: 522754, y: -554342)
*Medusa? - (x: 557434, y: -549743)

====Rebel Blockade Runner====
Up in the air is the CR90 Corvette, Tantive IV aka Rebel Blockade Runner with Princess Leia from the start of the original Star Wars movie.

*Coordinates:
**??
*Cueball is standing at a ledge with a fishing rod with something on the hook somewhere below the spaceship. Two birds are circling the line.

====Imperial Star Destroyer====
High up in the air there's a huge spaceship.

*Coordinates:
**top left at (513072, -560660)
**bottom left at (513080, -559470)
**top at (552154, -569022)
**top right at (556557, -567711)
**bottom right at (558244, -556542)
*Entrances (from bottom left clockwise):
**Tunnel at (513080, -559680)
**Tunnel at (513166, -560434)
**Shaft at (516560, -560912)
**Shaft at (519200, -561108)
**Shaft at (525255, -561527)
**Shaft at (527990, -561844)
**Shaft at (533087, -562298)
**Shaft at (539637, -563233)
**Tunnel at (540958, -563721)
**Shaft at (543789, -564670)
**Stairwell down at (547438, -565058)
**Tunnel at (552319, -566184)
**Tunnel to an isolated small room at (557774, -562042)
**Shaft at (556350, -556720)
**Glitchfloor at (547890, -556779)
**Shaft at (543850, -557500)
**Main ramp at (537260, -557969)
**Tunnel at (531840, -558547)
**Parachutists' ramp at (526624, -558664)
**Ramp at (525300, -558747)
**Shaft at (520440, -559100)
**Shaft at (516825, -559300)
*Interesting objects and places inside:
**Steven Universe and the Crystal Gems - (x: 551664, y: -567383)
**A nearly complete depiction of Level 1 of {{w|Prince of Persia (1989 video game)|Prince of Persia}} - (x: 551532, y: -563512)
**Emperor Palpatine Park and Gazebo - (x: 546819, y: -559584)
**Dancers (possibly [[162|spinning counter-clockwise]]) dancing to piano music - (x: 547536, y: -563301)
**Octopus guarding two coins - (x: 531646, y: -559663)
**A sign saying "Caution GlitchFloor" (falling straight down through it nets you a coin someway down) - (x: 547898, y: -556784)
**A huge light bulb - (x: 555405, y: -557769)
**The Emperor [[1596|birdwatching]] - (x: 554777, y: -567346)
**Ponytail recreating ''{{w|Joust (video game)|Joust}}'' on an ostrich - (x: 552048, y: -568045)
**A party on the ceiling (negative gravity?) - (x: 550350, y: -564354)
**A huge ant - (x: 552309, y: -560208)
**Tube slide - (x: 541813, y: -563721)
**A reservoir (?) with hidden passages - (x: 541300, y: -560330)
**A huge spark gap (?) - (x: 541900, y: -558110)
**Torpedo launcher room - (x: 529627, y: -558481)
**A {{w|Tetris}} block falling - (x: 529414, y: -529220)
**Lightsaber Piñata party - (x: 515353, y: -560329)
**Swimming pool - (x: 517346, y: -559831)
**Children's swimming pool (ball pit?) - (x: 514500, y: -560436)
**A crocodile - (x: 553623, -568091)
**Spiral tunnel - (x: 543320, y: -558314)
**A car - (x: 537750, y: -557937)
</div>
 

==References by Category==
*Here should be a table like: [[1110:_Click_and_Drag#References_by_Category]].

==Coins==
*There are 169 coins.
**Here should be more details about the coins and where they are located and how many.
*For more details see here for [[1608: Hoverboard/Images coins|coins location]].

==Technical aspects==
As previously noted, the comic bears considerable resemblance to [[1110: Click and Drag]]. The comic is made in much the same way, with 'drawn' images "glued" together to form a large "map", with the illusion of infinite bounds made possible through space saving techniques where blank tiles are not stored and are instead painted white. The boundary between blank squares and 'drawn' squares is made clear as any white space in the normal images has a very slight grey tint. Thus, seams between images and blank spaces can be discerned.

The tiles for the map are stored as simple PNG files in the naming scheme: X:Y+s.png. An example can be seen here: http://xkcd.com/1608/1013:-1096+s.png Each file is 513x513 pixels in size, one pixel is reserved as overlap to ensure seamless joining of images. So far, through experimentation, tiles in the range 928 to 1108 X and -1112 to -928 Y have been discovered, internally, the position of the player is divided by 512 and rounded down to give the position of the tile.

The collision map is encoded in the darkness of the black. Using an image manipulation program, one can easily find the secret pathways even in the zoomed out maps provided below by enhancing the contrast of the dark areas.

The game was made by [http://chromakode.com Max Goodman] who has previously worked on [[1416: Pixels]]. The source code for the game can be found [https://xkcd.com/1608/tigl.js here].

===Functionality===
By observing page code while playing, the game grabs and displays images based on location, and subsequently clears all non-visible images. The game uses what seems to be a position syntax to retrieve the intended images live, and returns an error if such an image does not exist, such as a blank area. This technically means things could be added to the world and updated live. If the player is moving sufficiently fast or if the internet connection is slow, this means that the player can get stuck in a black area that does not load in time.

This also means that the game does not have coded top or bottom limits, so any attempt to find the ''ceiling'' of the game will be futile unless the game is tweaked. The game does however have side limits.

Opening the console will display the text: what? hoverboard not enough for you!? in the log. Activating goggles mode will cause the text 'B-)' to appear in the log.

===Bugs and errors===
*On a slow connection, it's possible to move into an 'open' area and then the black image loads in and (probably permanently, without tricks) traps you immobile.
*Sometimes the timing of the game is completely off. This can make the Cueball move extremely slowly. Or on the other extreme make him go faster so the images jumps and makes the graphic look horrible.
**This error was actually used to discover something about how you move when pressing the arrows - see under [[#Controls|Controls]].
*If the focus switches from the game to the page, the Cueball can freeze in midair. The same thing can happen if the window border overlaps the play area.

===Controls===
The keyboard controls are as follows:

*'''Go Left''' - Left arrow key, a or h
*'''Go Right''' - Right arrow key, d or l
*'''Go Up (jump or hover)''' - Up arrow key, w, or k
*'''Go Down (if gravity disabled)''' - Down arrow key, s, or j

This control scheme covers the three commonly used directional key sets: WASD a set of keys commonly used by modern games; HJKL a set of movement keys used by vi and applications which attempt to mimic vi key controls (vim); and the arrow keys, the most generic set of keys which is usually accepted by most applications which take movement as input, these were commonly used in older games.

On devices which have a touch screen and tilt sensor (portable devices like mobile phones and tablets) the controls are as follows:
*'''Go Left''' - Roll the device anticlockwise
*'''Go Right''' - Roll the device clockwise
*'''Go Up (jump or hover)''' - Tap the screen

After inspecting the source code, there appears to be no way to move down on a portable device, this is only relevant if gravity is disabled (see [[#Cheats and Exploits|Cheats and Exploits]]).

*If you keep down the left/right control you will keep moving along in that direction as long as no object blocks you.
*A jump will only take you a certain height.
**Then you drop down.
**The jump is fast to begin with, then gravity stops you and revert the direction.
**When descending again you accelerate to begin with but quickly reach a terminal velocity.
*If you jump repeatedly while keeping a left/right control down you will jump in that direction.
**But if you only jump one time, while keeping down the direction control, then you will stop moving forward after about 2.8s, from then on you will just keep falling straight down, or stop where you reached if on the ground.
**This makes quite a difference when you jump into an opening from a high structure. If the background is completely white, you cannot see that you do not continue to move forward, and will thus not be aware that you are now falling straight down, instead of going left/right.
**It can actually be quite difficult to notice as you will leave any structures that can indicate this issue very quickly.
***Of course if you notice that you land much too close to some high structure from where you base jumped, you will begin to understand. For instance falling off the floating rock, and not moving away from under neath it during that long fall.
***The timing was discovered because of one of the [[#Bugs and errors|bugs]] in the program that sometimes makes Cueball move extremely slow, so one jump takes more than 3s.
**The solution if you wish to keep moving to either side while descending, is that after the jump, you release and repress the left/right control. Then you will continue moving in that direction as long as you do not jump again.
**As long as you continue to jump you will also keep moving laterally if you keep one of those buttons down. The is quite counter intuitive.
***This also means that when you jump up over a long distance (or continue to jump hover over the landscape), you will not have this issue, since every jump reactivates the lateral movement.
***But if you jump over a small obstacle and then just keep another arrow down, you will soon stop, which could fool you into believing that it was an obstacle on the ground that held you back.

===Cheats and Exploits===
Aside from the obvious ability to move out of bounds in the game, there are some more obscure hidden features which can't be enabled through normal gameplay, the ones found so far are as follows:

'''Modes''' are activated by opening the Javascript Console (F12 [Or Command-Alt-I in most browsers under Mac OS X] to open Developer Tools, then Console tab) and writing corresponding commands. 
'''Click to expand:'''

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
 
*'''Gandalf Mode:''' ''i.am.gandalf = true'' - jumps and runs further. displays a white gandalf hat that works well in places where the avatar can't be seen.
*'''Speedhack:''' ''explorer.opts.speed= *Value*'' - Speed hacking, with 1 = normal speed
*'''Jump Hack:''' '' explorer.opts.jumpForce= -*Value*'' - Jump hacking, with -1 = normal jump (positive values cause the hoverboard guy to move down when jumping)
*'''Mewtwo mode:''' ''mewtwo = true'' - disables gravity
*'''Noclip mode:''' ''noclip = true'' - player is able to move around the map without collision. Combine with Gandalf and Mewtwo modes for free easy map traversal.
*'''Goggles mode:''' ''ze.goggles()'' - displays a small window showing area around the player in a pixelated manner. The goggles indicate collision boundaries (where the player touches the world) in cyan lines. Black pixels that are passable (such as other characters or text) will be highlighted red (allowing secret passages to be discovered).
*'''Position Tracking:''' ''explorer.pos'' - Returns the player location to the console. Can be used to track position and test to ensure you are still moving. Must be re-entered to compare positioning.
*'''Position Setting:''' ''explorer.pos.x = *Value* or explorer.pos.y = *Value*'' - Can be used to manually set a position within the world. The start is at x: 512106, y: -549612. The left terrain bound is at x: 475210, y: -553711. The right terrain bound is at x: 567281, y: -549712. Mewtwo and Noclip modes are a must for exploring in this way.
* '''All the above:''' ''explorer.opts'' - Contains all the game's parameters. You can directly mess with ''gravity'', collision (''disableCollision''), jump force (''jumpForce'') and speed (''maxSpeed''), among others. Run ''Object.keys(explorer.opts)'' to list all available parameters you can tweak.
* '''List all coins:''' ''explorer.objects'' - Array containing the position of the 169 coins of the game.
* '''Disable tilt input:''' ''getEventListeners(window)['deviceorientation'][0].remove()'' - on Macs with motion sensor, disables tilt input which causes problems controlling the avatar

'''Getting All Coins: ''' To instantly get all coins, input the below into the console window. Does not use standard formatting of [i] to avoid conflicts with i.am.gandalf

for (var T = 0; T < explorer.objects.length; T++) {
explorer.objects[T].got = true;
}

To teleport to the next coin every time you press the left or right arrow:

var T = 0;
document.onkeydown = function(event){
if (event.keyCode == 37) { T = T-1 }
else if (event.keyCode == 39) { T = T+1 }
else { return }
T = T % explorer.objects.length;
var coin = explorer.objects[T];
explorer.pos.x = coin.x1; explorer.pos.y = coin.y1;
}

For a quick tour of all the coins:

var delayInMilliseconds = 1000; // 1 second delay between each teleport. feel free to change this.
var index = 0;
explorer.objects.forEach(function(x){
setTimeout(function(){
explorer.pos.x = x.x1;
explorer.pos.y = x.y1;
x.got = true;
explorer.frame(); // forces a redraw
},
(index + 1) * delayInMilliseconds);
index++;
});

To see a list of coin coordinates you have not yet collected:

var L = 0;
for (var S = 0; S < explorer.objects.length; S++) {
var I = explorer.objects[S];
if (I.got) {
L++;
} else {
console.log(I.x1.toString() + ", " + I.y1.toString());
}
}
console.log("You've found " + L.toString() + " of 169 coins");

To display the distance and direction to the closest coin (with inverted colors once you have all the coins):

function distance(x1, y1, x2, y2) {
var dx = x2 - x1;
var dy = y2 - y1;
return Math.sqrt(dx * dx + dy * dy);
}

function angle(x1, y1, x2, y2) {
var dx = x2 - x1;
var dy = y2 - y1;
return Math.atan2(dy, dx) * 180 / Math.PI;
}

function renderRadar() {
var mindist = 10000000000;
var closest = {
x1:512278.0, y1:-549613.0
};
var linecolor = "red";
for (var S = 0; S < explorer.objects.length; S++) {
var I = explorer.objects[S];
if (!I.got) {
var dist = distance(explorer.pos.x, explorer.pos.y, I.x1, I.y1);
if (dist < mindist) {
mindist = dist;
closest = I;
}
}
}
if (mindist == 10000000000) {
mindist = distance(explorer.pos.x, explorer.pos.y, closest.x1, closest.y1);
if (document.getElementById("radar").style.backgroundColor != "red") {
document.getElementById("radar").style.backgroundColor = "red";
}
linecolor = "green";
} else {
if (document.getElementById("radar").style.backgroundColor != "green") {
document.getElementById("radar").style.backgroundColor = "green";
}
}
var ang = angle(explorer.pos.x, explorer.pos.y, closest.x1, closest.y1);
var indicator = "";
if (ang > 112.5 || ang < -112.5) {
indicator += "left";
}
if (ang < 67.5 && ang > -67.5) {
indicator += "right";
}
if (ang > -157.5 && ang < -22.5) {
indicator += " up";
}
if (ang > 22.5 && ang < 157.5) {
indicator += " down";
}
document.getElementById("radar").innerHTML = "Distance: " + mindist.toFixed(1).toString() + " ";
document.getElementById("radar").innerHTML += indicator + " (" + -ang.toFixed(1).toString() + "°)";
document.getElementById("radar").innerHTML += "<div id='circle' style='border: 1px solid black; border-radius: 50px; width: 100px; height: 100px; position:absolute; top:50px; left:25px'/>";
document.getElementById("radar").innerHTML += "<div id='line' style='width: 50px; height: 1px; background-color: " + linecolor + "; position:absolute; top:100px; left:75px; transform:rotate(" + ang + "deg); transform-origin:0% 0%'/>";
}

var d = document.createElement("div");
d.id = "radar";
d.style.position = "fixed";
d.style.left = "0px";
d.style.top = "0px";
d.style.width = "150px";
d.style.height = "160px";
d.style.border = "1px solid red";
d.style.zIndex = "2";
d.style.backgroundColor = "green";
d.style.color = "#8f8";
document.body.appendChild(d);

setInterval(renderRadar, 100);

To display your current coordinates:

function renderRadar2() {
document.getElementById("radar2").innerHTML = "x: " + explorer.pos.x.toFixed(1).toString() + " y: " + explorer.pos.y.toFixed(1).toString()
}

var d = document.createElement("div")
d.id = "radar2"
d.style.position = "fixed"
d.style.left = "150px"
d.style.top = "0px"
d.style.width = "150px"
d.style.height = "35px"
d.style.border = "1px solid red"
d.style.zIndex = "2"
d.style.backgroundColor = "green"
d.style.color = "#8f8"
document.body.appendChild(d)

setInterval(renderRadar2, 1000)
</div>

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:No title text]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Large drawings]]
[[Category:Comics with animation]]
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hair Bun Girl]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Elon Musk]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]
[[Category:LOTR]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Hamster Ball]]
[[Category:Playpen balls]]
[[Category:Kites]]
[[Category:Basketball]]
[[Category:Sport]]
[[Category:Robots]]

Talk:1382: Rocket Packs

2015-11-03T00:12:32Z

108.162.238.85:

I think long fall boots (from Portal) would probably help with this.
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.65|173.245.56.65]] 04:34, 16 June 2014 (UTC)
:-Not so much, they're designed for a completely different purpose. That's like expecting a kevlar vest to protect you against a sword. (They would, however, help if you ran out of fuel in midair.) [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.83|173.245.55.83]] 12:53, 16 June 2014 (UTC)
::A kevlar vest would protect you from a sword, if you're stabbed or hit in the chest.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.198|173.245.52.198]] 19:37, 16 June 2014 (UTC)
:::Kevlar vests do not protect against even relatively small knives. If wearers of Kevlar body armor expect to come in close contact with hostile people, they add metal or ceramic strike plates to their armor specifically designed to upgrade it to be able protect against being stabbed with a knife or sword. {{unsigned ip|199.27.133.11}}
I was thinking a chair design with the legs pulled out in front might help out. {{unsigned ip|199.27.133.174}}

Wear the jet pack on your chest, avoid calf-burn. But don't mention the genitals. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.61|141.101.104.61]] 05:13, 16 June 2014 (UTC)

Is it really so hard to invent calf shields? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.30|108.162.221.30]] 07:53, 16 June 2014 (UTC)

Where is the problem? just reverse front and rear :=)
http://www.thefind.com/apparel/info-batwing-chaps
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.199|108.162.254.199]] 10:10, 16 June 2014 (UTC)

The logic and humor of this comic could be extended to the notion of "free" medical care, in a world where people are inclined to try things like rocket packs. {{unsigned ip|173.245.50.73}}

Most practical rockets have the thrust in line with the center of gravity. A jetpack like the one depicted will tend to nose over unless the user sticks his lower legs up into the exhaust to deflect it. Not a great way to travel. Real jetpacks have the nozzles either side to get around this problem. They still have the difficulty of being unable to glide if the engine cuts. If this happens too low to use a parachute, that will spoil the user's day. [[User:Jim E|Jim E]] ([[User talk:Jim E|talk]]) 16:03, 16 June 2014 (UTC)

Why do people keep talking about running out of fuel in midair? When was the last time you ran out of fuel in your car, in between gas stations? Sure, the consequences aren't quite as catastrophic, but my point is that usually people refill their tanks before they run out...[[User:Diszy|Diszy]] ([[User talk:Diszy|talk]]) 21:30, 16 June 2014 (UTC)
:Running out of fuel isn't the only reason your car might stall or stop in the middle of nowhere. Sometimes the engine overheats and stops or the accelerator just stops working for no (apparent) reason. If something similar happens to your jetpack when you are 30m in the air, you can expect a few medical bills, if not a visit to your neighborhood mortician. Any good jetpack should come equipped with emergency boosters, but how effective they may be at low heights is still an issue. {{unsigned ip|103.22.201.239}}
:I've run out of fuel in a car twice, due to faults. The first was a loan car - it smelt of petrol, but the owner said it was OK. Turned out it had a hole in the fuel tank, which meant that the petrol leaked out and left me stranded. The other time was my car - fuel tank had rusted (I was unaware of this), and when I went over a rough bit of road, it disintegrated, shedding fuel. Not all "out of fuel" errors are caused by driving until you run out. [[User:Farnz|Farnz]] ([[User talk:Farnz|talk]]) 13:55, 18 June 2014 (UTC)

Real life rocket packs have flight times as short as 30 seconds in some cases, so running out if fuel and falling to the ground is a very real concern. [[User:Jim E|Jim E]] ([[User talk:Jim E|talk]]) 22:54, 16 June 2014 (UTC)

I think the title text may also refer to how free health care sometimes sounds just as far-fetched in the US as practical jetpacks becoming commonplace. It was something that always almost came up when people were comparing countries on the Internet these last few years. Especially when Canadians compared their country to the States... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.162|141.101.98.162]] 12:58, 17 June 2014 (UTC)
:There's no such thing as "free health care". TANSTAAFL, and TANSTAFH. Wherever you are, you and your country's economy pay for it one way or another (barring some novel method of enslaving providers of healthcare and medical supplies). Canadians pay about as much per capita for healthcare as most other industrialized nations, and incur intangible costs such as increased wait times, rationed care, and so on. I wish people would start using a less misleading term than "free healthcare", which falsely implies that magic fairies are making the costs and trade-offs disappear. If "free health care" seems "far-fetched" in the US, it's because most of us haven't lost sight of the fact that it isn't free, and (thanks to government intrusion, restrictions, and mandates) in a lot of ways it's much less free in the other sense of the word [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.71|173.245.50.71]] 07:43, 24 June 2014 (UTC)
::The point was not that Canada pays very little for healthcare, it is that the US pays so much. You are 100% right that Canada pays about as much as most other industrialized nations, but the US pays FAR more than most other industrialized nations. You completely ignore that the US pays per capita 90% MORE than Canada. Exact numbers are US: $8,508 Canada: $4,522.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.173|108.162.237.173]] 22:29, 25 June 2014 (UTC)
Why are comparisons being made with the USA. In the comic the character in potential need of medical care lives in a country with common sense about socialism. I am not saying anything about any country's politics, neither is the author of the comic.[[User:Weatherlawyer|Weatherlawyer]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 07:13, 9 January 2015 (UTC)

The comment about the "free medical care" was probably not politically charged. It merely points out (and makes fun of) the fact that personal jetpacks would have serious liability and well-being concerns. As Randall and probably the comic's character reside in the USA they doesn't have* free health care, and the joke alludes to the idea that most jetpack users would probably sustain horrendous injuries. *He might depending on which state he lives in -- or at least I think that's how it works in the USA, I don't remember.
Also, the "X is easy, the hard part is Y" could be a possible text substitution meme or oft misused expression? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.85|108.162.238.85]] 00:06, 3 November 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1382: Rocket Packs

2015-11-03T00:06:48Z

108.162.238.85: Added a comment. There're a lot of irrelevant comments on this particular explkcd. Maybe should remove a lot of them.

I think long fall boots (from Portal) would probably help with this.
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.65|173.245.56.65]] 04:34, 16 June 2014 (UTC)
:-Not so much, they're designed for a completely different purpose. That's like expecting a kevlar vest to protect you against a sword. (They would, however, help if you ran out of fuel in midair.) [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.83|173.245.55.83]] 12:53, 16 June 2014 (UTC)
::A kevlar vest would protect you from a sword, if you're stabbed or hit in the chest.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.198|173.245.52.198]] 19:37, 16 June 2014 (UTC)
:::Kevlar vests do not protect against even relatively small knives. If wearers of Kevlar body armor expect to come in close contact with hostile people, they add metal or ceramic strike plates to their armor specifically designed to upgrade it to be able protect against being stabbed with a knife or sword. {{unsigned ip|199.27.133.11}}
I was thinking a chair design with the legs pulled out in front might help out. {{unsigned ip|199.27.133.174}}

Wear the jet pack on your chest, avoid calf-burn. But don't mention the genitals. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.61|141.101.104.61]] 05:13, 16 June 2014 (UTC)

Is it really so hard to invent calf shields? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.30|108.162.221.30]] 07:53, 16 June 2014 (UTC)

Where is the problem? just reverse front and rear :=)
http://www.thefind.com/apparel/info-batwing-chaps
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.199|108.162.254.199]] 10:10, 16 June 2014 (UTC)

The logic and humor of this comic could be extended to the notion of "free" medical care, in a world where people are inclined to try things like rocket packs. {{unsigned ip|173.245.50.73}}

Most practical rockets have the thrust in line with the center of gravity. A jetpack like the one depicted will tend to nose over unless the user sticks his lower legs up into the exhaust to deflect it. Not a great way to travel. Real jetpacks have the nozzles either side to get around this problem. They still have the difficulty of being unable to glide if the engine cuts. If this happens too low to use a parachute, that will spoil the user's day. [[User:Jim E|Jim E]] ([[User talk:Jim E|talk]]) 16:03, 16 June 2014 (UTC)

Why do people keep talking about running out of fuel in midair? When was the last time you ran out of fuel in your car, in between gas stations? Sure, the consequences aren't quite as catastrophic, but my point is that usually people refill their tanks before they run out...[[User:Diszy|Diszy]] ([[User talk:Diszy|talk]]) 21:30, 16 June 2014 (UTC)
:Running out of fuel isn't the only reason your car might stall or stop in the middle of nowhere. Sometimes the engine overheats and stops or the accelerator just stops working for no (apparent) reason. If something similar happens to your jetpack when you are 30m in the air, you can expect a few medical bills, if not a visit to your neighborhood mortician. Any good jetpack should come equipped with emergency boosters, but how effective they may be at low heights is still an issue. {{unsigned ip|103.22.201.239}}
:I've run out of fuel in a car twice, due to faults. The first was a loan car - it smelt of petrol, but the owner said it was OK. Turned out it had a hole in the fuel tank, which meant that the petrol leaked out and left me stranded. The other time was my car - fuel tank had rusted (I was unaware of this), and when I went over a rough bit of road, it disintegrated, shedding fuel. Not all "out of fuel" errors are caused by driving until you run out. [[User:Farnz|Farnz]] ([[User talk:Farnz|talk]]) 13:55, 18 June 2014 (UTC)

Real life rocket packs have flight times as short as 30 seconds in some cases, so running out if fuel and falling to the ground is a very real concern. [[User:Jim E|Jim E]] ([[User talk:Jim E|talk]]) 22:54, 16 June 2014 (UTC)

I think the title text may also refer to how free health care sometimes sounds just as far-fetched in the US as practical jetpacks becoming commonplace. It was something that always almost came up when people were comparing countries on the Internet these last few years. Especially when Canadians compared their country to the States... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.162|141.101.98.162]] 12:58, 17 June 2014 (UTC)
:There's no such thing as "free health care". TANSTAAFL, and TANSTAFH. Wherever you are, you and your country's economy pay for it one way or another (barring some novel method of enslaving providers of healthcare and medical supplies). Canadians pay about as much per capita for healthcare as most other industrialized nations, and incur intangible costs such as increased wait times, rationed care, and so on. I wish people would start using a less misleading term than "free healthcare", which falsely implies that magic fairies are making the costs and trade-offs disappear. If "free health care" seems "far-fetched" in the US, it's because most of us haven't lost sight of the fact that it isn't free, and (thanks to government intrusion, restrictions, and mandates) in a lot of ways it's much less free in the other sense of the word [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.71|173.245.50.71]] 07:43, 24 June 2014 (UTC)
::The point was not that Canada pays very little for healthcare, it is that the US pays so much. You are 100% right that Canada pays about as much as most other industrialized nations, but the US pays FAR more than most other industrialized nations. You completely ignore that the US pays per capita 90% MORE than Canada. Exact numbers are US: $8,508 Canada: $4,522.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.173|108.162.237.173]] 22:29, 25 June 2014 (UTC)
Why are comparisons being made with the USA. In the comic the character in potential need of medical care lives in a country with common sense about socialism. I am not saying anything about any country's politics, neither is the author of the comic.[[User:Weatherlawyer|Weatherlawyer]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 07:13, 9 January 2015 (UTC)

The comment about the "free medical care" was probably not politically charged. It merely points out (and makes fun of) the fact that personal jetpacks would have serious liability and well-being concerns. As Randall and probably the comic's character reside in the USA they doesn't have* free health care, and the joke alludes to the idea that most jetpack users would probably sustain horrendous injuries. *He might depending on which state he lives in -- or at least I think that's how it works in the USA, I don't remember. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.85|108.162.238.85]] 00:06, 3 November 2015 (UTC)