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Simon Tatham's Portable Puzzle Collection

chiark.greenend.org.uk

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Re: Simon Tatham's Portable Puzzle Collection

#21

Post by kybernetikos »

MITSardine wrote: post #12

I've had this on my phone for years, it's a great collection of puzzles. I haven't tried them all (games on phones), but it's certainly the best I have. No ads, no useless gamification, but well polished and varied puzzles, and quite a bit of control over the difficulty. My favourite has to be "Keen", it's a sudoku-like where a grid has to be filled with no repeated numbers on either columns or rows, and arbitrarily…

Net can be done with reasoning rather than mindless iteration. You start by locking in end points surrounded by other end points except for one free space. if you have a straight line that can connect two end points then you lock it in the other orientation. If a line is locked next to a T pipe, the back of the t pipe goes against the line. If a corner piece is next to a locked pipe, you know that the side opposite the incoming pipe is empty, so it could be the back of a T or the side of a line piece, etc.

Re: Simon Tatham's Portable Puzzle Collection

#22

Post by Jigsy »

MITSardine wrote: post #12

I've had this on my phone for years, it's a great collection of puzzles. I haven't tried them all (games on phones), but it's certainly the best I have. No ads, no useless gamification, but well polished and varied puzzles, and quite a bit of control over the difficulty. My favourite has to be "Keen", it's a sudoku-like where a grid has to be filled with no repeated numbers on either columns or rows, and arbitrarily…

I like Solo (Sudoku), but that's hard to play on my phone sadly.

I end up doing hard modes of Flood and Signpost a lot, though.

Re: Simon Tatham's Portable Puzzle Collection

#23

Post by MITSardine »

kybernetikos wrote: post #21
MITSardine wrote: post #12

I've had this on my phone for years, it's a great collection of puzzles. I haven't tried them all (games on phones), but it's certainly the best I have. No ads, no useless gamification, but well polished and varied puzzles, and quite a bit of control over the difficulty. My favourite has to be "Keen", it's a sudoku-like where a grid has to be filled with no repeated numbers on either columns or rows, and arbitrarily…

Net can be done with reasoning rather than mindless iteration. You start by locking in end points surrounded by other end points except for one free space. if you have a straight line that can connect two end points then you lock it in the other orientation. If a line is locked next to a T pipe, the back of the t pipe goes against the line. If a corner piece is next to a locked pipe, you know that the side opposite t…

Yeah, that's what I meant. On the other hand, something like Towers has you trying different configurations because there's not always enough information to motivate the next step.

Re: Simon Tatham's Portable Puzzle Collection

#24

Post by merelysounds »

If you’re on iOS:

- Puzzles[1] - includes these games and more (sudoku, nonograms, minesweeper, others).

- Nonoverse[2] - it’s just nonograms, but built by hand (not randomly generated); it’s my app, inspired by the above.

[1]: https://apps.apple.com/app/puzzles-reloaded/id6504365885

[2]: https://apps.apple.com/app/nonoverse-nonogram-puzzles/id6748...

Re: Simon Tatham's Portable Puzzle Collection

#25

Post by MostlyStable »

MITSardine wrote: post #23
kybernetikos wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Net can be done with reasoning rather than mindless iteration. You start by locking in end points surrounded by other end points except for one free space. if you have a straight line that can connect two end points then you lock it in the other orientation. If a line is locked next to a T pipe, the back of the t pipe goes against the line. If a corner piece is next to a locked pipe, you know that the side opposite t…

Yeah, that's what I meant. On the other hand, something like Towers has you trying different configurations because there's not always enough information to motivate the next step.

I haven't tried Towers, but I had thought that every game in his collection was such that guessing was never required. The logic/rules might not always be obvious, but supposedly they are there.

Re: Simon Tatham's Portable Puzzle Collection

#28

Post by MITSardine »

MostlyStable wrote: post #25
MITSardine wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, that's what I meant. On the other hand, something like Towers has you trying different configurations because there's not always enough information to motivate the next step.

I haven't tried Towers, but I had thought that every game in his collection was such that guessing was never required. The logic/rules might not always be obvious, but supposedly they are there.

I think there's still a unique solution but, on the harder difficulties, you're given very little to work with. (in Towers)

Re: Simon Tatham's Portable Puzzle Collection

#29

Post by zellyn »

merelysounds wrote: post #24

If you’re on iOS: - Puzzles[1] - includes these games and more (sudoku, nonograms, minesweeper, others). - Nonoverse[2] - it’s just nonograms, but built by hand (not randomly generated); it’s my app, inspired by the above. [1]: https://apps.apple.com/app/puzzles-reloaded/id6504365885 [2]: https://apps.apple.com/app/nonoverse-nonogram-puzzles/id6748...

Oh nice! I play Loopy while listening to podcasts or sometimes watching Netflix, and the bugs causing right edge to require double long-hold and left edge to require fanatical precision always drive me nuts, so this is very welcome!

Any way to change the yellow to something tamer, and reduce the line widths slightly?

Re: Simon Tatham's Portable Puzzle Collection

#30

Post by merelysounds »

zellyn wrote: post #29
merelysounds wrote: post #24

If you’re on iOS: - Puzzles[1] - includes these games and more (sudoku, nonograms, minesweeper, others). - Nonoverse[2] - it’s just nonograms, but built by hand (not randomly generated); it’s my app, inspired by the above. [1]: https://apps.apple.com/app/puzzles-reloaded/id6504365885 [2]: https://apps.apple.com/app/nonoverse-nonogram-puzzles/id6748...

Oh nice! I play Loopy while listening to podcasts or sometimes watching Netflix, and the bugs causing right edge to require double long-hold and left edge to require fanatical precision always drive me nuts, so this is very welcome! Any way to change the yellow to something tamer, and reduce the line widths slightly?

To clarify, only the second app is mine. I’m a fan of the “Puzzles” and the original from the current HN discussion. But I didn’t like that the nonograms (a.k.a Pattern) were random patterns and not pictures; so I built “Nonoverse” to address that.

Unfortunately I don’t know much about Loopy. If you want, this could be your sign to build your own version :)

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