Puzzling The Sequel
Status | Released |
Platforms | HTML5 |
Rating | Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars (1 total ratings) |
Author | Catherine |
Made with | PuzzleScript |
Status | Released |
Platforms | HTML5 |
Rating | Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars (1 total ratings) |
Author | Catherine |
Made with | PuzzleScript |
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The game "listen" is based on the designer's previous "puzzling" upgrade. It is a game of Sokoban, but with more interesting rules added. The game is progressively more difficult, which makes it easier for players to master the rules of the game. In the first level, I learned that the game required me not only to push the boxes to the target location but also to turn them green through the blue squares. This is similar to the rules of the designer's last "puzzling" game. The rules were simple, so I quickly passed the first level. When I entered the second level, I moved the target object into position as I did in the previous level and turned all the blue squares green. But I didn't go to the next level, which confused me. That's when I noticed a red square in the middle of the screen. I thought it might need to change color more than once, such as going through it once to blue and then again to green. When I passed it repeatedly, I found that its color did not change. Then I guessed that maybe the red squares meant I needed to stop on them at last. But apparently, it's also wrong to do so. I tried to push the cross past the red square and found that it changed to blue. At this point, I can go through it again to turn it green. Compared to the designer's previous game, this is a new rule that increases the difficulty and fun of the game. When coming into the next level, I found there were more red squares. But luckily, the blue squares are all lined up on one row, which makes the step of color-changing them a lot easier. But after removing the cross I found that the whole screen was filled with blue grids. And in the process of moving, it is not easy to control the color change. It is hard for players to complete the color change and push the cross to the target position at the same time. I used the strategy of turning the red squares blue, then pushing them to the target location, and finally turning the blue squares green. During the game, I needed to always be careful to avoid pushing the cross into a position where it could not be moved anymore.
The game is designed to make it easy for players to understand the rules. For example, the player needs to push the cross, and the target position is a square with a vacant cross in the middle. So players can understand what they need to do at the beginning of the game. The game uses red, green, and blue colors, they differ greatly and are clear for the players. In addition, the designers used different sound effects. With the player's movement, the success of color change, and the arrival of the cross at the destination, the users will hear different sounds. This can assist in reminding the players of each step of the operation.
I enjoyed playing Listen a lot and it is a great puzzleScript games with well-ordered problems and levels. Each level presents a different difficulty and I found myself being much more different after the final level compared to the level 1. The core rule of Listen is to put the crosses into the right places. It may sound simple, but with the constraints of the walls and spaces, players have to figure out a unique way to move them in the right places and it can take a few rounds of trials before we can find a correct solution. Even though the crosses are the core elements, there are supplementary requirements, which is that players have to also turn the blue and red squares into the green squares by steeping over them. However, red squares are a little bit different since it cannot turn green unless the crosses pass them and they turn into blue. All of the constraints make players to think about their decisions carefully and plan their moves ahead of time.
The first level is the introductory level and it aims to allow players to get familiar with the game mechanics and its rule. When I first played the level one, I was confused about what all the blue squares are used for and it will turn green and blue back and forth when I move back and forth. When I put the cross into the right place, nothing happened. So I then tried to turn all the squares into green and I successfully moved to the second level. The second level is the level that the red level is first introduced to players and I thought I can move to the next level without doing something about it in the first place. Then after the necessary procedures, I still cannot move to the next level. This is the time that I realized that the red square actually means something but I cannot just change its color just by stepping over it. Then I tried to move the cross above it and it indeed changed to blue. However, doing so will inevitably change the green squares back to blue, so I moved back and forth a few times to finally succeed and made to the level 3. The strategy for level 3 is to first move the two crosses into the right places first, use the left one to turn all the red squares into blue, put the final cross into the right position, and turn all the blue boxes into green. For the next several levels, the general dominant strategy is this: I first used the crosses to turn all the red squares into blue without making them placed into the dead corner, since I cannot move them around in this way. Then I put the crosses into the right position, and turn all squares to green. However, in the step for turning boxes into green, I may move the crosses slightly away from the right position due to the limitation of the space and walls.
I had a great time playing Listen. It is a well-designed puzzle game with lots of complex interactions between the player and the objects in the game. Few rules and objects were brought to my attention immediately when I started playing in the colored boxes and the plus sign. The player needs to push the plus sign into the white plus sign box, and change the blue boxes to green boxes to win the first level. Then, the designer brought up a new rule starting on the second level. A red box appeared which need the plus sign to bypass it to change it to a regular blue box. These rules made this puzzle game more interesting by having the player come up with a good strategy before making any moves. There was one level I moved my plus sign without thinking, then I ended up failing because there was no way to move that plus sign out from a dead end. This failure was useful to my strategy. It teaches me how to plan my moves before my hands. In addition, I believe that there are multiple ways to solve a level. The freedom of either pushing the plus sign in place or trying to make all colored boxes green is the player’s choice. Therefore, the choice from the player matters. One interesting interaction between the two rules was the red box. As I mentioned before, the player needs to bypass the plus with the red box to change it into a blue box. When I first encountered this rule on the second level, I got confused because I don’t know what to do. Then I experienced the boxes a little and figured out this interaction. I appreciated the designer not specify what is the rule for the red box because that allows the player to take some time to explore this interaction on a simpler level before it gets hard in the future levels. Since this rule appeared, it was used very often in the gameplay. Personally, I think it makes the game more interesting because the player needs to consider which plus sign they choose to do the bypass without getting it stuck at a dead end.
A level I remember the most is the one with a big white box on the left with multiple plus targets and many blue boxes on the right. It is a rather simple level to finish in my opinion, but it also has a lot of freedom for the player to learn the interactive rules once again to enhance their understanding and the use of the plus signs. My take was to put the plus signs into their target first, then change the blue boxes. Overall, it is an amazing puzzle game. I want to keep playing it and explore different strategies as a player. The designer did a great job on the combination of rules and game verbs. I would recommend this game to my friends who love solving puzzles!