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Rockfall glitches

This is part of a set of pages about Rockfall.

Deflecting falling objects

If there's a falling object above you, and there's exactly one space between you and the object, you can briefly "deflect" it by moving down (or left, or right) at the very last moment before it would otherwise hit you. The object will remain where it was for an extra game cycle. If you have good timing, you can do this repeatedly so that the object falls at half the normal speed.

Deflecting a falling bomb does not make it explode, but deflecting a rolling bomb does. (This is the only way to get "under the stairs" at the start of level 22.) If you deflect the bottom object in a falling or rolling stack, anything higher up will strike the deflected one, which can explode bombs if they have nowhere to roll to.

Probably related are the "out-and-in bug", where you can move immediately back under an object you were just supporting and get killed, and the fact that a bomb will explode rather than roll into space if you were blocking that space one move previously. These "delayed reactions" are probably a consequence of permitting the player to move down without being immediately hit by a falling object he was supporting.

Recording: Deflecting rolling and falling bombs on level 22, then being killed by the out-and-in bug.

Catching and pushing falling objects

Falling jewels can kill you, but you can also catch them if you're careful. The usual way (e.g. level 21, and level 5 in Rockfall II) is to stand on one side and move towards the jewel when it is diagonally above you. The two of you end up occupying the same space, and you get the jewel.

The same manoeuvre can be used to push falling rocks and bombs.

You can also collect a falling jewel by moving up from beneath it. As with deflection, you must do this at the last moment when there is exactly one space between you and the jewel, or it will land on you and kill you. If you're sneaky, you can collect the falling jewel at the start of level 20 this way and then deflect the rocks that follow.

Recording: Catching falling jewels and pushing falling rocks on level 21.

Deflecting and dodging aliens

Purple and cyan aliens start off heading upwards and turn right whenever they hit anything. Red aliens can only move horizontally. All three types pause for one cycle when changing direction.

You can deflect aliens by moving away at the last moment. They will behave as though they had hit a solid object. If you're stuck in a tunnel with an alien approaching, this will send it back the way it came.

An alien kills you if it occupies a space adjacent to yours, which usually means you can't pass an alien at close quarters. However, if an alien on a neighbouring row or column is approaching you, and you move towards it immediately before it enters the space that would kill you, then you pass each other harmlessly because the only contact you ever have is diagonal. The start of level 15 in Rockfall II involves dodging and then immediately deflecting an alien.

Recording: Deflecting and dodging a cyan alien on level 8.

Two curious forms of rolling

A vertical stack of objects in mid-air behaves quite strangely. Except for the lowest object, which falls straight down, every object rolls off the one below it. The stack gradually gets shorter, losing its lowest item each time, but the remaining objects move, as a stack, to the left (or right; they will wobble back and forth if constrained to two columns). A wall of approaching bombs might be a fun start to a level.

"Transporting by rolling" is also possible. This is where you intervene at the last moment as one object lands on another, pushing the lower object along so that the upper one keeps rolling off it — and back onto it, because you've pushed it underneath again. The upper object is thus transported as far as the lower one, even though you cannot normally push two stacked items as a unit.

Recording: Watching moving stacks and transporting by rolling in a custom-made level.