2D puzzle "Tangled Stones"

[thewizardplusplus]

Here is a technical demo of my game. It lacks a menu and any settings, and the graphics are highly sketchy. My main goal was to test the idea of the gameplay.

Title: Tangled Stones.
Genre: 2D puzzle.
Date of start of work: Wed Nov 04, 2020.
Date of release: Thu Apr 22, 2021.
Developers: only me.
Screenshot:

Summary:
There is a set of paired connected stones on the game field. The player's task is to untangle them and place them in the hole at the bottom of the screen.
Description: https://github.com/thewizardplusplus/tangled-stones/blob/master/docs/gameplay.md.
Controls:
The stones are moved by the drag-and-drop mechanism using a mouse/touchscreen.
Resetting the game field is done with the @ button.
Builds:

• LÖVE game file (410 KiB): https://github.com/thewizardplusplus/tangled-stones/releases/download/v1.5.6/tangled-stones.love
• Windows (4.06 MiB): https://github.com/thewizardplusplus/tangled-stones/releases/download/v1.5.6/tangled-stones-win64.zip
• macOS (5.67 MiB): https://github.com/thewizardplusplus/tangled-stones/releases/download/v1.5.6/tangled-stones-macos.zip
• Linux (in AppImage format; 4.1 MiB): https://github.com/thewizardplusplus/tangled-stones/releases/download/v1.5.6/tangled-stones.AppImage

Source: https://github.com/thewizardplusplus/tangled-stones (MIT license).

[pgimeno]

The idea is interesting, certainly. It somewhat reminds me of a casual puzzle game called Buttons and Scissors. However, using Box2D for the implementation brings in some problems. Box2D rope joints are actually springs, meaning you can actually stretch them, against the design goal. Also, some boxes get stuck when touching the corner of another, when they should be free.

Random generation is also a problem if you don't have a means to discard impossible layouts. What are you supposed to do in a case like this?

[ReFreezed]

Yeah, Box2D seems to be a problem here. Also, another bug. Holding down one mouse button and pressing another at the same time creates extra ropes that permanently hold the squares in place.

(Another tip is to make the window grab the mouse while dragging squares since the game doesn't receive mouse events when the mouse is outside the window. Dragging squares to the bottom of the window is currently a bit awkward because of this.)

[milon]

Fun tech demo. I love puzzle games, and this one has promise.

[thewizardplusplus]

Thank you very much for your feedback!

Box2D rope joints are actually springs, meaning you can actually stretch them, against the design goal.

Yes, I noticed it. In my opinion, this is even good because, otherwise, many combinations would be insoluble since the moving of a stone often requires an increase of the distance to its pair, especially at the beginning of the level.

Also, some boxes get stuck when touching the corner of another, when they should be free.

I ran into this, but only when trying to pull a stone out of the depth of the level. Most often, in this case, you can simply grab another stone and return to the stuck one later. You can consider this as an additional obstacle for the player.

Random generation is also a problem if you don't have a means to discard impossible layouts.

This is a flaw. I need to implement a graph-based algorithm that will track such situations when generating a level. As a temporary solution, I made a level reset button if the level turned out insoluble.

Holding down one mouse button and pressing another at the same time creates extra ropes that permanently hold the squares in place.

Wow! Amazing bug! Thank you, I did not notice it.

Another tip is to make the window grab the mouse while dragging squares since the game doesn't receive mouse events when the mouse is outside the window.

Thank you, I did not know about this possibility!