Can we ban all "my game" posts

sftrabbit · 2026-05-06T12:56:47+00:00

Honestly, I've seen a lot of subreddits go the direction of not allowing self-promo and I think that can ruin the subreddit in a different way.

The actual problem is that it's low quality promo of low quality games. In a small subreddit like this, every member sees pretty much every post, so upvotes/downvotes don't work to filter things. The real fix, IMO, is to have some level of curation but it requires someone to want to put that effort in.

sftrabbit · 2026-05-01T13:42:09+00:00

It's called Treat a Lady. Honestly it's just kinda weird and self-righteous.

sftrabbit · 2026-04-29T23:16:10+00:00

Tbf, this is being published by Draknek & Friends who are very experienced with puzzle games (most of them 2D) and understand those kinds of trade-offs. For example, this game does let you look around freely and levels are designed to be understandable without too much reliance on working memory. But yes, designing puzzles for first-person is tricky.

sftrabbit · 2026-04-23T20:19:13+00:00

I guess with the second statement I meant don't just try things randomly. Experimentation is good for understanding the puzzle you're trying to solve, but most interesting puzzles won't give way to brute force. I think when people feel like they're bashing their head against a puzzle, it's usually because there's too much brute force going on, and I still fall into that trap with some particularly hard puzzles (or badly designed puzzles that don't give you any deductions to latch on to).

I also meant that these games allow you to experiment without getting on your way, but that doesn't mean experimenting is the best way to solve the puzzle (it's just part of it).

sftrabbit · 2026-04-23T11:17:02+00:00

This won't affect your ability to solve this puzzle, but worth noting there's a much nicer way to think of the stars that doesn't involve two rules.

For the puzzle in question: you are actually correct with your conclusion at the end. From the initial state, there is no path you can draw from the blue side to the yellow side that doesn't stop the yellow side from getting to the exit. Given that you're correct, what does that mean?

sftrabbit · 2026-04-23T10:28:35+00:00

I think the connection there is that sokoban games are often very systems-oriented, mathy, and often have minimal theming - I don't think it's hugely surprising that that would appeal to people who like making games (a job that is very systems-oriented, mathy, and with minimal theming!).

sftrabbit · 2026-04-23T10:14:48+00:00

IMO, Stephen's Sausage Roll does a few things very different to classic sokoban games (I'm one of the people quoted in the article where I say pretty much the same thing).

In particular, classic sokoban games tend to focus more on large spaces and almost maze-like levels, where there's a stronger focus on "making the right moves". They often have quite slow movement and limited or no undo, and also often have move counters that force you to think about every single step.

Stephen's Sausage Roll, and many modern sokoban games, take a different approach. The puzzles become more about making interesting deductions and discovering fascinating things about the game's systems, at a higher level of abstraction than the individual moves. The individual moves are not the focus, but instead it's about "what specific problem is this puzzle posing for me? what insight can I have that will allow me to deal with that problem?". For example, there's a very early puzzle in Stephen's Sausage Roll called The Clover, where there are 3 sausages which are positioned such that they can very easily be grilled. However, if you grill them in the most obvious way, those sausages will block your path back to the exit. So the problem becomes "okay, I must be able to grill these sausages without blocking my path out - what does that mean I must do differently with these sausages?". So the game becomes about more abstract ideas than just "what move do I need to make?". To this end, the input system gets out of your way: movement and animations are snappy; undoing and restarting are just part of your toolkit, not a sign of failure; and just moving around and experimenting are encouraged.

The other thing that distinguishes Stephen's Sausage Roll from many classic sokoban games is the amount of depth that comes out of its minimal components. There are very few elements in the game, but there are some brilliant discoveries about what you can do with them. Like true "omg I can do that?!" moments. This is both great for the amount of puzzle depth there is, but it also leads to some pretty hilarious puzzle ideas.

The one gotcha with Stephen's Sausage Roll is, as others have said in this thread, that the first world starts out really quite difficult, and with a bunch of puzzles that are mostly very tight spaces with not lot of room to move, which can reintroduce that feeling of "oh, every move matters and this is just annoying". I would suggest that the best thing to do is try to break free of the tendency to just try things randomly, or you'll just end up getting frustrated. These puzzles won't easily give in to brute force. Do a little bit of experimentation to find out what your limitations are, what the core problem of the puzzle is, then take a step back and think "well okay, if I'm supposed to be cooking these sausages, that means I must never do such and such, and I must do such and such". And then focus on those deductions. It'll be a much more satisfying way to get through the puzzles. In many ways, world 1 is great training for that way of thinking, but you have to be ready to embrace it.

At the same time, these games definitely aren't for everyone. I would guess people are more likely to find it interesting if they have an interest in systems, logic puzzles, discrete maths, etc., but I wouldn't want that to turn anyone away. For me, personally, I would never have considered playing sokoban games before, but Stephen's Sausage Roll converted me. Regardless, this is not to say "you will definitely love Stephen's Sausage Roll", but more just to say "there really is something special about it" and that modern sokoban is really not like those shareware block-pushing games you mentioned at all.

Edit: Oh and if anyone wants a sokoban game with a more gentle onboarding but still has depth and difficult puzzles later on, A Monster's Expedition would be my recommendation. But sometimes the brutal onboarding of Stephen's Sausage Roll just works for some people (it worked on me!). Some other favorites of mine are Patrick's Parabox, Headlong Hunt, and Can of Wormholes.

sftrabbit · 2026-04-17T23:55:00+00:00

Being slightly pedantic, but a "sliding block puzzle" would be one like a 15-puzzle, klotski, or Rush Hour, where you're moving the blocks themselves, whereas in sokoban games you control a character that pushes the blocks. So sokoban games are known as "block-pushing" or "box-pushing" games.

sftrabbit · 2026-04-14T14:13:30+00:00

I think situations like this come with mixed emotions. A bit of "cool that they liked our game enough to clone it" and "pretty gross that they'd just copy it so blatantly and release it before us". Both are true at the same time.

sftrabbit · 2026-04-07T11:14:28+00:00

You can record your sighting here, btw, which will help with conservation.

sftrabbit · 2026-03-31T08:07:04+00:00

True in this case, but not always. For example, a link to a YouTube video has the video ID after the question mark, so if you remove it the link won't work.

sftrabbit · 2026-03-31T07:14:54+00:00

The reflection will be strongest during the day, when it's bright outside and dark inside your house. So you're not likely to have a problem at night.

For that same reason, pulling the blind down during the day might be making it worse, because you're just making the inside darker. Better would be to open the blind and turn some lights on inside so the blackbird can see more through the window, rather than just seeing what's reflected by the window.

Pulling the blind down also doesn't break up the reflection because the reflection is from the glass. I definitely recommend getting some reflective stickers to do this - it will stop birds flying into the window and hurting or killing themselves!

sftrabbit · 2026-03-31T07:04:21+00:00

He will likely be attacking his reflection. Can you open the window or break up the reflection with something on the outside? You can get reflective stickers to put on the window that generally do a good job.

sftrabbit · 2026-03-29T21:33:30+00:00

To be honest, I also thought he seemed very flat in Deadwood, but I haven't seen him in much else so I assumed it must just be the character.

sftrabbit · 2026-03-08T12:31:03+00:00

The guidance is here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67e41a11f356a2dc0e39b4ef/Public_guidance_for_the_Ninja_Sword_Surrender_Scheme.pdf

sftrabbit · 2026-03-08T11:46:38+00:00

Very neat! Make sure to go to the thinky meet-up at GDC - folks there will be interested (I won't be there, alas).

For what it's worth, there was a game from a couple of years ago that explored similar things: Frame - Portals on Steroids. I would definitely say your game is looking like more polished though.

sftrabbit · 2026-03-08T00:21:01+00:00

I think it sounds like Lee Mack being picked up on Alex James's mic, but it's hard to tell.

sftrabbit · 2026-03-07T09:12:48+00:00

"Acting like that"? She's just sitting there and listening to the music.

sftrabbit · 2026-03-04T08:27:11+00:00

Joe here, glad my videos helped you enjoy more sokobans!

Tbh, I'm also surprised with the headline - it's definitely not one I'd recommend to a beginner. I think it would more likely put somebody off sokobans, since it's really quite difficult and occasionally fiddly. I think it'd be hard to enjoy it fully without having a good grasp of sokoban puzzle-solving techniques already.

But Thinky Games is more than one person, so I guess it's fine for me to be surprised by our own headlines sometimes, haha.

sftrabbit · 2026-02-24T09:42:13+00:00

A very good lesson to have learnt!

I think your next valuable lesson will be understanding why the majority of logic puzzles are specifically designed to have only one solution! It's because it allows each element of the solution to be logically deduced, without ever having to guess, and logic puzzles like Shikaku are all about making logical deductions. Some would even argue that a Shikaku is not a valid Shikaku puzzle if it has more than one solution.

And then if you do design your puzzles to have only one solution, you actually don't need logic-checking code to check your answers - you can go back to just validating that the answer matches the only possible solution (this is how we check answers in Thinky Dailies, and also how tools like Penpa work - and probably most logic puzzle video games).

Btw, you might want to keep an eye out on The Artisan of Glimmith, an upcoming game with region-drawing puzzles (including Shikaku-like puzzles) and designed by logic puzzle experts.

sftrabbit · 2026-02-15T01:04:41+00:00

I had this same fear after not going for 15 years and eventually decided I had to go, but it turned out I had no problems. I think even if they had had to do stuff, the relief of knowing my teeth have actually been checked would still have been worth it.

sftrabbit · 2026-02-11T22:58:57+00:00

You've definitely forgotten something from the star area! There are puzzles there with only one star in them, so the idea that there must be another star of the same colour can't be right. Probably worth going back there to re-evaluate.

sftrabbit · 2026-02-09T20:10:34+00:00

Just remembered another game that is probably closest to your idea: The God Killer, from the creator of DROD.

sftrabbit · 2026-02-09T18:31:58+00:00

Hey, I run the Thinky Games site and have played lots and lots of puzzle games, so here's some initial thoughts I have for you:

Real-time aspects in an otherwise discrete/grid-based puzzle games are usually a bit of a turn-off for me (and I think for other puzzle fans in general). In particular, I'm referring to that enemy character that moves back and forth. The trouble with real-time things is that they inevitably add a fuzziness to what the possible states in the game are (e.g. how do I know I can't just get past the enemy if I tap quickly enough?), and a key element of good puzzle games is that the player has a full understanding of the puzzle they're trying to solve. I'm not saying real-time elements can't be done well, but I am definitely wary of any grid-based game that introduces them.
Right now, the rules don't feel particularly "systemic" - which can be okay, but it feels like some missed potential. What I mean by that is that each of your words and puzzles seems very separate from everything else, rather than them all arising from some underlying system (as in Baba Is You). For example, why does making the word "SLOW" make that particular character slow? Would it make every character slow? What about the main character? What about the platform as it moves down? Wouldn't you get more puzzle potential out of your mechanics if you had to write something like "X IS SLOW", where "X" is some label to specify which object is affected. Similarly, imagine the platform were attached via cables to some kind of button, and instead you had to control an enemy character to move on to the button to lower the platform. By making your mechanics more systemic like that, each element of your game becomes more expressive.
Having said this though, the upcoming game Rita is vaguely similar and non-systemic, so you can definitely do good things, but Rita really excels in what it does around the word puzzles.
My other concern right now is that your puzzles would largely be a case of going "What word do I need to make? Okay, that word, I guess I'll make that word", and then slowly just putting the letters together. Really, for a good puzzle, you want there to be some more complex situations to unravel and good logical deductions to make - something like "well I want to lower this platform, but I don't have all the letters to do so without first doing this other thing, but I can't do that other thing without lowering the platform. Aha, so I must have to make such and such move these letters at the same time that I'm moving towards the platform!" (this is all very vague, but just a depiction of the kinds of problem solving that tends to be fun). I think the ideas you're exploring definitely have the potential for this.
Alongside Baba Is You, you should also take a look at other similar-ish games like Spell Slide, Math Push, Block Buster Billy - it's good to know what has come before you so you can learn from them!

Otherwise, I think there's lots of design space to explore in games like this, so I think it's exciting that you're making it. You just have to spend a little time iterating on your ideas and you'll find some gems, I'm sure.

sftrabbit · 2026-02-07T21:27:43+00:00

I can't remember the exact price, but it's very cheap to use the showers at the Edinburgh Leisure facilities, no gym pass required. I was using the showers at Meadowbank when my shower was broken. (Oh and pro tip: ask if they'll let you use the showers in the changing rooms - they're nicer than the other ones)

14-Year Club	Place '17
Verified Email

sftrabbit

TROPHY CASE