![]() ![]() RYBīut there are so many interesting twists in the RYB approach. Similarly to Hexcells, colouring a shape will reveal information about that shape’s neighbours. In principle, RYB tells you the number of differently coloured neighbours each shape has, and the players job is to figure out the colours. RYB assigns shapes a colour: initially, they can be one of three colours (red, yellow or blue) but this later expands to six. Hexcells is a binary pursuit, hexes are either on or off. In contrast, I found the abstract RYB (FLEB, 2016) more invigorating. I was able to complete the whole set of levels in under two hours although the followup Hexcells Plus (Matthew Brown, 2014) requires a lot more chinstroking. Find the blue hexes using local Minesweeper information such as the number of blue neighbours and, later in the game, aggregate Picross information such as number of hexes in a row. Hexcells (Matthew Brown, 2013) is an interesting Picross/ Minesweeper hybird. In contrast, Picross tends to be more zen you just keep filling in the board until you’ve got it. Now, Minesweeper has a little rogue in its machinery, make one mistake and it’s game over. You spend your time wringing out deductions from a scarcity of information. Picross games often function like Minesweeper: only if you solve the whole picture will the game declare you a winner. From this, you have to figure out the shape contained in the grid. Numbers down the edge of a grid indicate the number of “coloured” cells in each row and column. There are a lot of Picross games, none of which I have played. I thoroughly enjoyed Cosmic Express last year which focuses the player on sequence and efficient use of space. From these humble constraints, a dizzying variety of puzzles emerge. Perhaps most challenging are the little green aliens that “soil” a carriage – other races will refuse to board a soiled carriage which tends to soil your perfect solution. There are variations such as a crossroads piece and portals. This time, the player’s route must pick up all alien passengers, drop them at their destinations then leave the level. It has a single train with limited space for passengers. You know you’ve made it when someone writes up the latest “how to make a smash hit” on your game.Ĭosmic Express could not be more different. However, Trainyard enjoyed much success, being one of the early indie breakouts in the nascent years of the App Store. Trainyard was not for me because I did not enjoy predicting where multiple trains would be at particular times by counting squares or running experiments. There are twists, of course: if trains “collide” their colours will combine and they will change colour if they travel through “painting squares”. Once you’ve drawn the rail, you start the trains and watch what happens. Each train has a colour and must arrive at a correspondingly coloured station. ![]() In Trainyard, the player must draw a rail to connect train depots to a destination. Rail-based puzzles such as Trainyard (Matt Rix, 2010) and Cosmic Express (Hazelden & Davis, 2017) are also algorithm games. We need not play recent Opus Magnum (Zachtronics, 2017) to delve into the world of algorithm puzzles, although we might not get such delectable GIFs. They are programming metaphors, asking the player to construct an algorithm that solves a given problem. I’ll admit I haven’t seriously played any Zachtronics titles but they all share a common trait. In this article, effectively the final part of a trilogy on puzzle innovation, I want to head away from well-worn genres and talk about designs which feel more fresh. In the last two Ouroboros essays, we’ve talked about how puzzle design iteration is innovative and examined a particular design lineage. This is the tenth part of The Ouroboros Sequence, a series on puzzle games. ![]()
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