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I'm stuck at the repressed dreams where there are buttons on the wall and stones on the floor beneath them. I passed the first room, but have no clue about the order of button pushes in the second. Am I supposed to brute force it?

It appears I made that puzzle overly difficult. My apologies.

The first of the two spoilers below is a hint for solving the puzzle. The second is the complete solution to the puzzle.

Spoiler

Here is a hint: if you think of the buttons as being numbered 1 through 5 from left to right, then the first button to push is 4.

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Spoiler

Here is how to solve that puzzle. Think of the five buttons as being numbered 1 through 5 from left to right. The number of rocks in each group corresponds to the number of each button to press as you go through the rock groups from left to right. Thus, you should push the buttons in this order: 4, 1, 5, 2, 3.

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Dark beings seek to rob people of their imaginations. Solve puzzles and stop them.

Unfortunately, I couldn't upload any screenshots. However, you can find them, along with a more detailed description of the game, on the game's itch.io page.

https://imagifox.itch.io/essence-of-imagination

I am grateful to everyone who expressed interest in this project, whether through posting in this thread or contacting me via PM. All of you made me feel glad. Some of you also gave me advice, and it was smart advice indeed! My thanks to every one of you!

Unfortunately, I rushed into asking for help with this project. I was not nearly ready. I'm afraid I must indefinitely postpone getting help with the Essence of Imagination project, aside form any advice people want to give. I'm much too tired and stressed out for such an undertaking. I also don't know how to manage a group project like this. Moreover, I need to put together a better base game for people to work with.

It could be a long time before I'm ready to get help (other than advice) with this project from others, if I ever am. I might decide to try to finish it on my own. I'm sorry about this.

Kind Regards,
Stephen

[Project]

Project
Essence of Imagination

Details
A family friendly adventure game focused on a deep, detailed story and casual puzzle solving.

Positions Available
Just about everything. I have been working on this project alone for over two years with unimpressive results. I need character artists, animators, background artists, music composers, sound effects producers, people to help me expand the story, people to add new puzzles, and any other positions in adventure game designing.

I also need an assistant project manager, because I do not know how to manage a project like this.

Deadline
When we finish.

Game Information

                                                                                                                     About

Essence of Imagination is an old school adventure game focused on puzzles and story. This is a game with no cussing, no sexual references, and no visible blood.

Work on this game began in May 2015.


                                                                                                                 Game Story

More than twenty years ago, a young boy named Anthony Ziegler excelled on an I.Q. test. He also turned out to have an exceptional knack for science. His parents wanted the boy's life to be all about science, so they forbade him from pursuing something he enjoyed far more: imagination.

As Anthony lived an unhappy childhood, he focused on an upside to his constant scientific education. For years and years, he worked on blueprints for a machine that could form a world made of imagination. After growing up and getting multiple science degrees, he succeeded. He felt overwhelming elation knowing that he and others like him could escape to a world where anything that could be imagined had a chance of happening.

His heart sank when he learned of a terrible byproduct of his work: dark beings known as Tormentors who seek to reach into the normal world and rob people of their imaginations. The Tormentors want many humans (and even animals) to spend the rest of their lives without imaginations.

Some highly creative people get pulled into the world manufactured by Dr. Ziegler. One such person is an aspiring artist named Rose Daisy Orchid. She is the protagonist of the game. With help from a writer named Anne and a flute player named Nate, Rose must learn to use her paintbrush as a conduit for imagination-based attacks, harness the powers of items known as Essences of Imagination, and defeat the Tormentors so people can remain free to enjoy the worlds in their own minds.


                                                                                                               Game Features

-Poetry-themed puzzles. Early in the game, Rose discovers that poetry can inspire her to paint exceptionally well. To defeat Tormentors, the player sometimes has to unscramble a poem, match rhyming words in a memory puzzle, or solve a riddle that rhymes.

-Traditional item based puzzles like in other point-and-click adventure games.

-A detailed story told over the course of the game.

-Vivid descriptions of the imagination-based attacks Rose uses to defeat Tormentors.

-Imagiscapes. Sometimes, the Tormentors manage to steal an exceptionally strong imagination, which becomes a mini-world called an Imagiscape where Rose must solve puzzles based on what that person has imagined, or based on repairing broken dreams.

-Localized forms. In one Imagiscape, Rose becomes a five-tailed sky kitsune. In another, she becomes an otter to swim through a sea of broken dreams. The transformations occur by Rose changing into art, then being repainted into something else by her paintbrush.

-Conversations with NPCs where the player answers their questions, some of which are related to imagination.