Show HN: Skub – a sliding puzzle browser game • Hacker News Board

Show HN: Skub – a sliding puzzle browser game

#1

Post by kasperstorgaard » Tue, Mar 24, 2026, 6:22 PM UTC

Hi HN,

I've built Skub, a sliding puzzle game for the browser, based on a classic boardgame: Ricochet Robots.

It started as a challenge of trying to simplify the boardgame mechanics to fit on a mobile browser, which led to an 8x8 grid.

Since, it has evolved to a bit more of an experimentation with Deno, and a way for me to truly try out AI-assisted development. Claude Code has been especially helpful in building the BFS solver and setting up CI, less so in UI and logic.

I hope you enjoy it, all questions / feedback welcome.

Show HN: Skub – a sliding puzzle browser game
skub.app

Re: Show HN: Skub – a sliding puzzle browser game

#2

Post by daisydevel » Tue, Mar 24, 2026, 6:31 PM UTC

On the game page, pressing the browser's back/forward buttons changes the game state instead of navigating between pages. It would be great if undo/redo had their own dedicated buttons, and the browser back/forward worked as normal page navigation (e.g. going back to the main menu).

Re: Show HN: Skub – a sliding puzzle browser game

#3

Post by stanac » Tue, Mar 24, 2026, 6:31 PM UTC

It's interesting, couple of things you can fix/change:

1. It's annoying to be asked to provide username every time I complete a level. Can you simply remember my previous choice? Instead something like next level button would be my preference.

2. Tab works until it stops working, it will switch between game elements and then at one point it will focus on buttons (firefox, windows).

Re: Show HN: Skub – a sliding puzzle browser game

#4

Post by kasperstorgaard » Tue, Mar 24, 2026, 6:34 PM UTC

stanac wrote: post #3

It's interesting, couple of things you can fix/change: 1. It's annoying to be asked to provide username every time I complete a level. Can you simply remember my previous choice? Instead something like next level button would be my preference. 2. Tab works until it stops working, it will switch between game elements and then at one point it will focus on buttons (firefox, windows).

1. interesting, I already have something in place for this, it should auto submit after the first time, storing an anonymous userId in cookies. might have been too lax on the browser testing. 2. tab is not a first-class citizen, so your milage may wary :)

Re: Show HN: Skub – a sliding puzzle browser game

#5

Post by kasperstorgaard » Tue, Mar 24, 2026, 6:34 PM UTC

daisydevel wrote: post #2

On the game page, pressing the browser's back/forward buttons changes the game state instead of navigating between pages. It would be great if undo/redo had their own dedicated buttons, and the browser back/forward worked as normal page navigation (e.g. going back to the main menu).

There is dedicated undo/redo in the panel, but good call that it should probably replace in history on state change, not push

Re: Show HN: Skub – a sliding puzzle browser game

#6

Post by daisydevel » Tue, Mar 24, 2026, 6:37 PM UTC

kasperstorgaard wrote: post #5

daisydevel wrote: post #2

On the game page, pressing the browser's back/forward buttons changes the game state instead of navigating between pages. It would be great if undo/redo had their own dedicated buttons, and the browser back/forward worked as normal page navigation (e.g. going back to the main menu).

There is dedicated undo/redo in the panel, but good call that it should probably replace in history on state change, not push