The Witness Puzzle Help Thread (Spoilers)

Several things: First of all I don't understand the mechanic of the symbol that they try to teach you in the quarry. I've made it through quite a lot of puzzles already, but now I'm completely stuck at one and there's no sense in brute-forcing it. I'm attaching a screenshot. Any hints (preferrably subtle) as to how the symbol is supposed to work would be very much appreciated.

I could also use help in the greenhouse. I have already activated the elevator and am now on the fourth floor where the problem is that the wire is torn out and the elevator doesn't operate. I have the feeling that I'm supposed to just guess which colours the dots on the panel would have on the floor above, but am I right with that or is it much more simple? Again: Subtle hints, if possible.

I am enjoying this game a ton, but I've been stuck on these puzzles for far too long and a nudge in the right direction would help immensely.

@knurrunkulus: I don't remember what I did in the elevator so I can't help you there

But as for the first one: Look at the second one you solved. You have the right idea with separating the colours. The 3 point star has to interact with an object for a puzzle to be solved. So try and find out how the 3 point star interact with an object. What is it's function?

@mrblobby64:Look at the right one, how does the dots correspond to the tone height? Work out the solution by solving the right one and transfer the answer to the left one. There's only a couple of possible solutions

I'm in the swamp area. Why is this wrong?

Edit: In true nature I figure it out right after I post. ugh my brain!

I can't figure out how to get to the door in the treetop area to activate the laser. It's clear I can't open the door and then run to it. In a forum post I made I was told to look at previous puzzles I had done to figure it out but I can't figure it out!!

There is a puzzle in the town that is the bane of my existence right now. It's upstairs in the building with the sound puzzle involving stars and red, blue, and green lights. Will post an image later, on my phone right now.

@pompouspizza: Check the panels along the bridges you had expanded by solving puzzles. You'll notice some of them have more than one exit point.

@pompouspizza: I can maybe give the slightest hint: by the time you get things done the "right" way you will be able to walk through that door seconds after initiating the switch, even if you were walking.

@sgtsphynx: Vague hint: you need to look at all three color's patterns to solve this. I recommend having pen and paper handy. Less vague hint: keep track of what tiles appear with white/black patterns in the three different lights, they will be in groups that need to be treated like squares and stars in the two puzzles.

And here we go, another one I'm completely stuck on.

This is in the jungle area, one of the sound puzzles: I listened to the bird for ages and am pretty sure that I know the pattern, but it just won't work. My theory for the longer line (position 3) is that you need to find the middle ground for two chirps the bird makes (high + low = line through the middle). Am I right or completely wrong? One more thing that irritates me is that I can't draw the line till the very end, the line seems to stop just a milimetre short of the end of the puzzle. Is that just a little bug in the game or does it have any relevance to the puzzle? I'm attaching a screenshot for reference.

@rainbowweasel: I did, got it separated down to red, green, black, and white. Used graph paper. Unfortunately, I can't test any solutions since I am chauffeuring my brother around

@knurrunkulus: That one had me for a while. It's hard to not just give this one away, but for this one you need to pay attention to something the previous few of those puzzles were asking you to block out.

What ended up being the biggest hint for me was that if you look at the puzzle two to the left of that one, there are some similarities...

@ktargo: I noticed that and figured it was something to do with that but do I have to solve the puzzles with multiple exits the same way I did previously but I need to make sure I get to a different exit? That seems impossible. Or is it a much simpler solution?

Sorry for all the questions. Also I'm pretty sure I have only solved one puzzle that has multiple exits.

@pompouspizza:

You have to get to a different exit. The direction the exit faces corresponds to the direction the bridge will extend. Every direction is possible to use as an exit, you have to just figure out a different method of solving the same puzzle. There are a total of two bridges that you have to extend in a direction other than straight to reach both the switch and the door it opens quickly enough.

@knurrunkulus: You're focusing on the wrong aspect of the disagreement between number of discrete notes in the sound cue and the number of spaces on the panel to express them.

@ktargo: Thank you very much!

I have no idea how to do the bird noise puzzles. Without spoiling too much, any tips?

@klaptos:

@ktargo: Thank you! That helped visualize it, cracked 4 already!

Hey, ok, I need a hint or something. I'm currently in the flower house with all the colors. I completed the initial couple areas and was working my way up an elevator, but I reached a point on the elevator where the solution doesn't seem to be intuitive or maybe I'm just not seeing something the right way.

Yeah this one was cool. The problem is that for whatever reason (time? sabotage?), one step in that progression is broken. The game requires you to figure out how to skip past it, which means you'll have to properly understand what is happening for the first couple of floors, and also determine the right "condition" for the floor you're trying to get to.

Forest/Shadow - area

i can't figure out the last one which activates the lightbeam. i opened both doors but now im totally stuck.

im guessing that either the shadows are not aligned correctly or that there are some missing shadows because of perspective?

if anyone could point me to the panel which best explains the thought process i would greatly appreciate it.

or, you know, just give me a hint

@darkwingduck: hint: go back and look at the panels that you solved to open each side of the door

@quantris: I'm also completely stuck there and I don't understand the thought process needed to proceed. I've been looking carefully at which dots change on every floor, but I don't see a pattern. The next floor is covered in green light, so that probably means sth. But I honestly have no idea what that means for the colour changes, which makes this a very difficult task. :)

@knurrunkulus: I actually had a problem with this area and couldn't clearly see which dots were which color. I ended up having to turn the brightness on my monitor down a little bit in order to see the differences between dots. After that, it was apparent what needed to be done.

I bet some of these puzzles are impossible for people with color blindness unless they look up a guide.

also @93the_ace

For our purposes (and purposes of The Witness) we'll use the familiar "primary colors" model. This is technically just an approximation to reality and is partially based on how humans see -- there's nothing physically special about red, green, and blue.

An object will reflect only those primary colors that it has. For example, a purple object (purple = red + blue) will appear red in red light, blue in blue light, and black in green light.

For this puzzle, you need to understand that only the lighting is changing, not the dots themselves. So based on that you should be able to figure out how to draw a path to get to any floor, assuming you know what the lighting is on the previous floor.

@knurrunkulus: Ok, quick color school: colorless (or "white") light is made up of light from all different wavelengths, which means it contains all different colors. Lets say we shine white light on a red apple. Why does the apple look red? The reason is that the pigments in the apple absorb all wavelengths (i.e. all colors) of white light except for red wavelengths. Those bounce off and enter our eyes, and that's why we see the apple as red.

That means that if we shine only green light on the red apple, the apple will look black. Why? It's simple: since green light is "pure" light (in the sense that it isn't a mix of different colors, like white light is), there's no red light wavelengths in it. So the apple pigments absorb everything in there, and no light bounce off.

What you need to know is this (this is hugely simplified compared to the real world, but enough to solve the puzzles): there are three "pure" kinds of light: red, green and blue. These can be combined to form new colors: red light + green light makes yellow light, red light + blue light makes magenta light and green light + blue light makes cyan. All three together make white light. This image demonstrates the principle.

So, now, lets say we have a bit of paint that under white light looks like magenta. What happens when we shine cyan-colored light on it? Well, the spot of paint is magenta because both blue and red light bounce off of it, and green light is absorbed. So when we shine cyan light on it, the green in the cyan will be absorbed, and the blue will bounce off. Therefore, if you shine cyan light on magenta paint, the paint will look blue.

Using this kind of thinking, you can figure out how the board will look under different colored lights. It's how I did it, anyway.

I need a little help in the treehouse area:

I have no idea how to get to that room within the time limit :(

@gkhan: Wow this helped explain it really well thanks! I kinda just got the one solution by accident, I was thinking along those lines but wasn't sure about how the colours would appear on the grid, but that really helped me wrap my head around why the solution was what it was.

@beachthunder: Notice how some paths lead to nothing? You can change that

@beachthunder: I was stuck on the exact same part since yesterday. I finally managed to solve it because of this thread.

@gkhan:

Wow, that's really helpful. Sadly I just ended up looking at a guide for that part of the elevator, because I was trying to wrack my brain for any ideas about color theory that I knew and couldn't seem to make the right connections. This helps immensely.

@joemotycki: @apothaeos: @pompouspizza: Thanks, that was pretty sneaky...

I'm pretty terrible a puzzle games, but I honestly have no idea what this one is trying to tell me (Rocky Red-Treeish area)

@lilman1101: The answer is right in front of you. In that picture. They even lined it up for you and everything.

@joemotycki: I had no trouble with that set until the last one. I can't find any angle on the panel that makes anything line up. I've tried stepping back from the panel, standing at an angle, walking around the tree on the left side to see what the view looks like from behind - nothing works.

Thank you for making it clear that I am the dumbest man to have ever lived.

@goreyfantod: You're talking about the rock area between the pottery and the desert, right? If so: BEHIND YOU, A THREE-HEADED MONKEY!

@gkhan: @quantris: Wow, thanks a lot. I'll try this tomorrow. (it's in the middle of the night now in Europe, my brain has long shut down) :)

I cannot do the bird sounds puzzle. I'm stuck at the exact same one that @knurrunkulus was stuck on.

I simply don't get it. I cannot gauge from the sound where I need to draw. I understand the concept, but I basically had to force solve every previous one.

And then that one just doesn't make sense to me. There's more chirps than areas and the bird does not make a long noise. I thought about using the other bird noise, but I have no idea if it represents a high, a medium or a low sound. I really wished I could complete most of the game without using a guide but my audition seems to bad to solve that part.

I've solved four areas so far and this one is the only one that I find annoying and not fun to solve. It feels like I understand the problem (or not) but simply cannot execute because of my hearing.

:(

@lawgamer: I have yet to come back to that puzzle because of that particular fact, the level raises and lowers so slowly!!

Can someone help me out with this?

...Sorry this post is jacked up right now I don't think its a spoiler.

@doenut: Do you understand the symbols?

@beachthunder: Independently but not how they are coming together on this one.

Also how can I spoiler tag this picture on my phone

@doenut: If you understand the symbols, keep in mind everything you've learned about them. It's not a very important puzzle anyway.

@fear_the_booboo: I actually solved that one yesterday. You're on the right track, the sounds of the bird you had to listen to in the previous puzzles are just a red herring, what you really need to listen to is the rooster - it's a bit difficult to discern low, mid and high with that one, but there's a long sound in it and you will get the right answer eventually. The infuriating thing about all this is that the puzzle after that is one of those that resets the puzzle that came before when you get it wrong, and I just can't seem to get that one right. So if you finish the one you're stuck on now and the next one is a breezer for you ... let me know what I do wrong. :)

@knurrunkulus: Thanks a lot :). I eventually solved it but, even knowing the solution, I had a very hard time discerning the sounds. It still took me over 10 tries and I have as much problem with the next one. I'll keep you updated if I ever figure it out but frankly I'm just thinking about doing the others areas now. I don't think this one is for me.

@doenut: This one took me forever as well. I actually just found the solution from looking at your post. Just keep at it.

Can someone point me in the direction of the 4th honeycomb blueprint.

Yoooo, this last quarry puzzle is killing me! There's so many ways you *can't* go about it. I'm talking about the red and green squares one that starts at the middle. You obviously can't go down, because that stops you from getting the hexagons from one side. If you ever meet the middle intersections on either side of the center, you are obligated to down and around to get those damn hexagons, because the moment you get one, you need to get all the others, because otherwise, you'll block your own path. In the end, you always need to go in some sort of spiral, which always leaves the 4 red squares open to everything else...AAAARRRRRGHH!

I don't even know if I'm looking for hints. I'm sure it's actually pretty simple, but fuck man. I just needed to vent this out.

Edit: Jesus Christ, I just had an epiphany! I was thinking about it all wrong. I guess it did help to vent! Woohoo!