When I was a kid, I loved a game called [James Bond Jr.](https://www.mobygames.com/game/nes/james-bond-jr/screenshots...) that had these little puzzles that were super fun to do. Some of them were hair-pulling difficult, too. I never saw a modern rendition of those puzzles, so I thought to create one.
Eight Colors is the result. The rules are simply, but puzzles do get challenging after few levels.
Oh no! I don't know how we got a hold of this game. Back then, most games were pirated bundles (literally, no Indian could afford to spend $40 on a game). Somehow this was on the entry in "7 in 1" Cassette.
After reading the comments, I thought back would be undo, but it doesn't seem to do that. It just triggers the game to "reload" to the exact same positions?
It wasn't my intention to hijack back button. I was merely pushing the links to the current level, so that it's easier to share the level you're playing. But it does seem there's a better way to do it. The URL itself can be changed without modifying the history[1]. I will push a fix soon for this.
I wonder if it might be a nicer UX if you could choose for the Shift key to be needed to slide circles around rather than to move the selection. In my mind, conceptually, arrow keys are for moving the selection, and tessellating objects "requires more work" so I'd expect Shift to be needed for that - not vice-versa.
The most convenient way to play seems to be to use mouse for selection, keyboard for sliding. That would become pretty inconvenient if sliding required use of the shift key too.
It was exactly the way you describe in the earlier prototype. But I changed it based on feedback. I guess there's no set of controls that can satisfy everyone. :)
I do think you develop muscle memory for it pretty quick. Additionally, you can also use mouse, which can be convenient based on your preference.
> In my mind, conceptually, arrow keys are for moving the selection, and tessellating objects "requires more work" so I'd expect Shift to be needed for that - not vice-versa.
Totally swapped in my mind too! I guess it's one of those "look up/down" thing in FPSs, you can learn the other way but it still does not feel as natural.
What's even more annoying is that the way this is currently implemented, I can't even use local overrides to change the behaviour since the site uses query strings for everything.
This is very fun! However, on iPhone SE-sized screens, it’s not possible to see the entire target pattern, nor is it possible to scroll down so the browser chrome (Mobile Safari) gets in the way. I got the first level by guessing
Nice game! Consider using key codes instead of characters, right now to use WASD controls you have to switch language (to English or something else that uses latin alphabet I guess).
This is very fun. I get tripped up where my "control" line is and often make mistakes because the "control" line is not moving with the direction. For example, a shift to the left leaves my mind assuming the y-control line would move left as well so I could make a subsequent down shift on that column.
Nice game! I'm not on mobile so I don't know how swipe actions work. Looks to me like it would be easy to program selecting the axis you want moved by selecting a piece in the same row/column and then swiping the direction you want it to go in.
After finding a pattern I can use to move colors around, I think, I finally developed an intuition about the movement in Rubik's cube. I've known about solution patterns, but it didn't click until now. Thanks, I'll have to test it!
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[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 206 ms ] threadEight Colors is the result. The rules are simply, but puzzles do get challenging after few levels.
Hope HN likes it! Happy to hear any feedback!
Other than that it seems nice and responsive. The popups for level complete are immersion breaking, perhaps a little more subtlety there.
I might see if you can fix that at some point in the future. You probably have other things to fix first. Great idea though.
[1]: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/History/rep...
1. How do you move the shaded lines without clicking?
2. I had to figure out the arrow keys myself. A tooltip would be helpful
3. Your solve time accumulates after retries
I wonder if it might be a nicer UX if you could choose for the Shift key to be needed to slide circles around rather than to move the selection. In my mind, conceptually, arrow keys are for moving the selection, and tessellating objects "requires more work" so I'd expect Shift to be needed for that - not vice-versa.
I do think you develop muscle memory for it pretty quick. Additionally, you can also use mouse, which can be convenient based on your preference.
Seems like a single toggle checkbox would be enough to satisfy everyone ;)
- arrow keys move the cursor
- the cursor is easier to see. Just a circle is probably better for me than the overlapping shadows
- shift + arrow does the move
- the cursor follows the moved element
Totally swapped in my mind too! I guess it's one of those "look up/down" thing in FPSs, you can learn the other way but it still does not feel as natural.
What's even more annoying is that the way this is currently implemented, I can't even use local overrides to change the behaviour since the site uses query strings for everything.
I am irritated and annoyed beyond measure.
Fyi, on mobile Firefox/ Android, the address bar obscures part of the legend.
This is a neat way to implement it, too.