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I have to say the fact that I was able to figure out how the puzzle worked - what I was meant to do - with no instructions in about 60 seconds is a good sign.

I'm also immediately kind of addicted to this....I really like it.

The one thing that annoys me is that I can't see what a symbol is if the dog/bunny is on it because it's covered up. It's hard to remember when there's so many. Some transparency or slight design adjustment would fix this easily.

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I didn't understand the conditions at first. I think it would be good to have visual feedback on what the issue is when trying to make a forbidden move, e.g. trying to move through "somebody at Carrot", the condition and the Carrot field should be highlighted together.

Having a knack for these, I found these "lack" of hints (understanding goal, covered tiles, no precondition failed) to be part of the game, and making deduction/memory work for it. There was just enough for me to understand it.

Had these hints been there I'd have been bored rather quickly.

I agree. It's similar to how Doom was initially whereas now every game is filled with explanations.

That might be because most modern games are much more complicated than Doom. It’s also possible that modern game designers don’t want people to abandon the game before having a chance to really get what the core of it is about.

Don’t get me wrong, there is still a place for games with mystery and obscure mechanics etc, but it doesn’t make sense for most games to be like that. It’s just an unnecessary way to keep away players that would otherwise love the game.

I think that it is also that there are more resources for in-game help on modern hardware.

But there is a difference between a subtle hint and the MegaMan/navi style "hey listen! Here are several paragraphs to read"

Play through portal with developer commentary, that's a masterpiece on how to use hints well without players even realizing.

Things like how hallways are structured, where light is shining, etc.

Wait, which MegaMan game has a verbose tutorial?

There are games where figuring out what to do is the goal, but this game has an good enough design that it really doesn’t have to be one of those. Many older games use that kind of obscure design as a crutch to appear more interesting and difficult than they really were.

If you have a knack for them, you can probably just avoid making illegal moves and not worry about it.

Reinforcing the rules of the puzzle when you try to violate one is a good idea.

Only thing I didn't know at first was that I assumed multiple conditions were or instead of and. Also, people are talking about flashing lights? I get to the completion criteria with the dog on the bone and the rabbits on the carrot and the game doesn't end. I can keep playing, no lights. Is there more?

You need to have both rabbits on carrots

There is only one carrot, they are both on it.

Bah, was using darkreader, hurray flash lights!

It was not obvious to me until the very end that you can have overlapping animals, my gut instinct is to treat this similar to a "wolf/lamb/cabbage" kind of puzzle and keep the dog and rabbits separate.

> I assumed multiple conditions were or instead of and

Same, so I tried, and it was very obvious that it didn't work, so, and. Discovering that was, to me, part of the whole experience that makes it rewarding.

> The one thing that annoys me is that I can't see what a symbol is

In a similar vein, when both dog and bunny are on one field, I can't choose which one to pick up.

If you’re fast enough you can pick up one, drop somewhere and pick up the other when the first one is animating back.

This is the way. Moving also reveals the location they are on, if obscured.

Didn't realize that was possible. I thought they were never supposed to meet and solved as such.

I also like that you can make a few mistakes and still solve it.

Are there even any dead states?

Yes. From beginning: Dog right, dog right, dog up.

And you have to reload the page then...

Should have been a "back" button or smth!

Oh yeah, I had to reset once lol. It has to do with getting a couple of characters stuck in the arrow trap without being able to get someone on a tree to escape...I think

Not sure what I am missing. But all the possible moves lead to dead states.

That being said, not sure what the transition labels mean. "Somebody at bone", "Somebody at carrot" or "nobody at bone" means nothing to me. I suspect there's another game that I don't know about that would provide the context.

The path with that label is blocked unless the condition is fulfilled. I don't think it relies on any prior knowledge (at least nothing specific I can think of)

ahhh ok. It is a precondition. That helps!

It's entirely self-contained. "Bone" is a node in the graph, put either a bunny or dog on the bone and that "somebody at bone" path will be enabled because its condition will be enabled.

Yes. I didn't get it. Hated it. Then got it. Completed it. Now I love it. Sign of a good puzzle... though the frustration/challenge balance is on a knife's edge with this game.

Overall, yeah. It has the feel of a clever, loveable game... how it comes together.

Great work. I love these postings. Very artistic.

I love this - also had a hard time with remembering covered icons. Perhaps a tiny offset of the dog/bunny, or even a size difference would help.

Honest question: What kind of design change would you make? I am struggling to think of a good solution that doesn't involve making pieces smaller, which I don't want to do.

One option is that a subtle version of the location image pops up next to the location space if it is occupied

Maybe change the animal picture to have them holding the item in their mouth?

Being able to move all animals in the same circle.

Right now you could only move the upper one.

Just display the animals side by side, when they sit on the same node.

It would be fun to have the characters integrate with the node images, as if you are dropping them into little worlds. E.g. when you move a rabbit to the boat node, the boat now has a little rabbit poking out of it. It would be similar to those combined emojis [0]

I recognize that this is a really bad idea from a usability/discoverability perspective, but wouldn't it be charming!

[0] https://emojikitchen.dev/

Took me about 2 minutes to figure out how to successfully move and quite a few more to fully solve it. A lot of fun!

I second the UX of clearer way of showing the icon the player pieces are on. I don't know if transparency is the way to go. Maybe the shape of the node can differ.

Colour coding?

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