Puzzles Should Be Playable

For the last few months I’ve been sharing Skyscraper puzzles on Instagram, with links to downloadable PDFs. The PDFs were created so that people could actually print them and play offline, or use the interactive form feature to play on their computer. My original thought was that users would appreciate having puzzles they could tackle whenever and wherever they wanted. However, it was only later on that I realized how out of touch I seem to be.

I’ve always been a fan of traditional puzzles and puzzle books, which is naturally why I published the Skyscrapers puzzle book series. So, I was deeply entrenched in the mindset of things need to be accessible offline, things need to be printable. However, after interacting with Instagram and Facebook for the last few months I realized that the puzzles are not convenient or accessible for mobile users. More specifically, that they would find it difficult to engage with PDFs on their devices.

Then came the lightbulb moment: “These puzzles should be interactive!” If people can’t play them, what’s the point? I’m not accomplishing anything.

Given the complexity of building an app, I’ve decided to start with a web experience first that works on mobile. It’s faster to build, with my limited free time, and reduces the burden of developing for multiple platforms.

True to form I immediately began to over-complicate the process, extend features, delve deeply into research and just generally start spinning my wheels and compounding stress. Yeah, no. I’m not allowed to do that anymore. So I’ve pared all of the features down to just get the playable application out the door and into your hands. Err.. devices?

Luckily it wasn’t too hard to choose an engine and ramp up my knowledge on the syntax and framework. Then it was time to hop into my beloved Flash (animation software) to make assets! The biggest challenge has been building things to be extremely mobile friendly and responsive, which I imagine is going to take quite a bit of testing and debugging to get just right, but I’m optimistic.

As of now, I’ve gotten the design finished and the basic UI working; implemented menus, settings and dynamic puzzle population. However, there’s still some work to be done; cross-platform number inputs, pencil marks, hints, solution checking and a bunch of testing.

Designing the user experience is a fun challenge; I want to create an interface that feels inviting, fun and a little bit cheesy, just like the good old days.

The rest of the site is currently in development, and will offer more features, such as: daily tracking and minor social elements. I hope to expand this into a full-fledged app, complete with more puzzles, games, and creative content. Naturally, all of you being able to access and enjoy the content is the most crucial thing. Feel free to reach out and let me know if you’re interested in early-access, beta testing new features, or if you just have something that you’d like to see. There’s so many things I want to build and I can’t wait to share them all with you.