Hey Puzzle Bomb Fam!
I hope your September has been off to a great start! It's been a hot one here in Kansas, and we're headed to Branson to go to Silver Dollar City's homeschool weekend once the kiddos are out of homeschool co-op today. It's supposed to be 100 degrees there tomorrow, so I foresee a lot of time on the water rides!
At any rate, while I wait for school to be out, it's time to dive into this month's puzzle design, Ponderous Panda!
The Creative Spark
This design started with a simple visual im my mind: a panda posing with a big Rubik's Cube. Why? Who knows! But, it seemed promising enough for me to crank out an initial sketch, even if I didn't have a full-fledged puzzle design. I tend to not overthink much of anything, preferring to just dive in and see what happens!
Here's that first sketch:
Pretty simple, but there was a cute factor already going on, and I quickly had an idea to take it to Bumfuzzled-level expectations!
Exploding the Rubik's Cube
The puzzly idea that came to me was not just using the Rubik's cube as a visual element, but exploding the idea of a Rubik's cube throughout the entire puzzle. I set about overlaying a grid of Rubik's squares over the entire illustration.
I then began eliminating squares until I had a pleasing smattering of squares scattered and grouped throughout the puzzle.
Lastly, I wanted the theme to inform the puzzle mechanism. A series of edge combinations applied to each square makes the solve experience very puzzly and combinatorial, reminiscent of solving a Rubik's cube, where recognizing patterns is vital.
To make this element extra tricky, I applied the same edge "code" to two or three pieces in most instances, but with each piece having a unique combination of edge codes. As a result, there are many false fits here, meaning you need to know at least 2 edges of a square placement before you can deduce the correct square to place.
I also enjoyed how some squares are full squares, some are split in half, and some are incomplete squares. This adds a bit of extra trickiness and unexpectedness. I also enjoyed all of the unused "codes" on the pieces that protrude from the edges of the design, which makes it trickier for folks who puzzle without the frame, but easier for those who use the frame (about 10 pretty solid starting points for frame-users!).
As a convenient proverbial cherry on top, this arrangement of squares added much-needed visual interest to an otherwise fairly plain illustration!
Segmenting the Panda
As long-time Puzzle Bomb fans are familiar with, I often switch brush styles in my puzzles, switching up cut styles within the same puzzle. As I set out to cut up this puzzle, I thought a bamboo pattern would be a nice thematic fit, while also providing an interesting natural contrast with the very precise "codes" on the squares.
With the final color scheme in mind, where the theme is going to give hints about the color groupings in the panda's body, it was also important that the cut pattern here be fairly non-descript. The colors here are going to make it easier, so the cut pattern needs to add difficulty.
I didn't stop to capture much incremental progress here, but here's that grid of bamboo applied!
The Mini Rubik's Cube Puzzle
The last bit was making sure the Rubik's cube connected together, and was a tricky little solve in itself. I brought back out the combinatorial toolbelt again, which turns a fairly low piece count section of the puzzle into a tricky little experience!
Again, many of my puzzles end up being a series of smaller puzzles, and with these low piece count areas, it's important that the appropriate level of trickiness is introduced to make it something more than just a rote exercise.
I also added color at this point, which is always such a fun step, as it brings the whole thing alive! I already knew the panda was going to be nude pieces and purple, my darkest Bumfuzzled color, with the rest of the pieces being a somewhat random smattering of the other colors, while also paying attention to visual balance.
I love how the whole thing took on a fairly pop art feel, with a pretty simple illustration lit up with the grid of colorful squares. Something I hadn't envisioned at the time of that initial sketch, but evolved as the theme informed the design! Diving in and seeing what happens doesn't work for everyone, but I've found it works for my way of thinking.
The Final Result
I was thrilled with the product sample here, and the experience when I tested the puzzle was exactly what I had in mind. It's not always the case, as some puzzle surprise me! It's always interesting to experience the final "feel" of my design decisions, and seeing if the puzzle plays as I thought it would.
I sincerely hope y'all have been having fun with it! If you haven't played with it yet, I hope you get the time soon to sit down and relax to a wonderful puzzle!
Love and blessings,
Chad aka the Puzzle Bomb Design and Other Stuff Guy
6 comments
I look forward to reading about your process with each new puzzle. It feels like a fun way to interact with your designs and to keep developing my wish list.
The bamboo is a great touch.
The false fits are getting so smart over time, they’ve been in a few lately and they’ve really done a great job of increasing the difficulty of the puzzles that they’re in.
I did this puzzle blind. Discovering mid-build that there was a Rubik’s cube was so fascinating, that I’ve been waiting for this designer diary just to find out ‘what on earth was in Chad’s mind to come up with pairing a panda with a Rubik’s Cube’ and it turns out it was – just a thing that appeared.
In this one, I didn’t actually spot that the pieces with leaves were bamboo until right near the very end, when I realised they were all in straight lines. That was a very fun extra touch too.
I’ve often had to go to the web to find a picture of the completed puzzle because I was stumped. I finally realized that taking a picture on my phone before disassembling the puzzle was the way to go.
I totally missed the bamboo stems! I noticed the leaves and thought they were fun connectors for a panda, but didn’t catch some of the pieces actually represented bamboo because the color was the same. The solve felt kind of like Nebular Skirmish since many of the pieces were the same general shape, just looking for the right combination of connectors. It didn’t take too long once I got going because the pieces are pretty big. I’m glad you kept the orphan connectors on the edges to add that challenge. (Haybound Needle trained us for puzzles like these!) Overall it was one of the easier puzzles and I like the cute image.
False Fits is absolutely right! Even the bamboo “leaves”, some fit in multiple places but only one right solution. I figured out the rubiks cube part first and that helped but this was my first time starting out without the frame or background, I had been solving them with the frame and blank background initially and then a second time (at least) solving them with no background or frame, I thought this one looked pretty easy so I skipped to the hardest difficulty and it stumped me lol. The squares that stick out of the edges were not intuitive for me, I ended up looking at a small screenshot on my phone to figure out the last ten pieces or so. Figuring out the “Code” on the sides of the squares was an awesome way to fit the pieces together. Definitely a fun challenge!! Thanks again!