Hey Puzzle Bomb Family,
It's that time of the month again, where we take a sneak peek into what I was thinking as I designed this month's puzzle!
The Spark
Bumfuzzled #27: Hexagonal Landscape started with a very basic idea of tension between geometry and chaos (a bit similar to Bumfuzzled #15: Waning Geometries). Beyond that, I really didn't set out with a clue of what it would look like, so this design was purely sitting down for a sketch, and seeing what happened. Here was the initial sketch:
If you're wondering about the letters/numbers, abstract designs can often get a bit busy/confusing when they lack color. This is how I keep track of various blocks of (currently undetermined) color as I sketch.
You can see that this sketch looks almost nothing like the final puzzle, although some of the initial sketch made it through. Every design starts somewhere, and this design would prove to be *highly* iterative, requiring several passes before getting to a final design.
Where's the Geometry?
The initial sketch had a lot of chaos going on, but little geometry. This was a bit on purpose, as rigid geometry is far more tedious and time consuming to draw, so the initial sketch is often a first pass at layout before I begin refining.
I quickly realized that circles weren't the best route here, as a hexagonal design would allow me to render some of the finger-like pieces in a geometric fashion. These types of repeating elements can really strengthen a visual design, and also make for a more challenging puzzle. So, the next pass introduced a lot more hexagonal geometry.
A much better balance of geometry and chaos! However, it's still missing... something.
A Major Change!
I stared at this sketch for quite a while, realizing it lacked focus or any kind of strong visual draw. In particular, the center was super blah. I tested out covering the whole center with a giant hex:
This sketch was a bit further down the road than the initial hex-plop, but this shift accomplished a bunch of key things for the design:
1) A strong, central focus to anchor the entire design.
2) An element of depth, as the central hex appears to be "overgrown" by some of the surrounding elements, while super-imposing upon others.
3) A third puzzle pattern vs. the smaller geometric and chaotic elements. The puzzle was leaning toward the fairly difficult end of the spectrum, and this took the edge off.
Final Refinements
With the overall design about 90% there, all that was left was final tweaks and of course chopping it all up into smaller bits and ensuring good connectivity.
In particular, I thought it would be a fun trick to make many of the geometric fields have irregular connections, and many chaotic fields have hexagonal connections (this is more visible below, when you see it in full color). So, while the final visual delineation between geometry and chaos is clear, the pieces don't give it away. This makes the line between chaos and geometry a bit obscure as you're assembling.
Glorious Color!
Of course, pretty much any design is super "meh", and often not even distinguishable, without color! For this particular puzzle, I didn't really have a color scheme in mind, so it was fun to play with various colors until I landed on a final combination.
Y'all know by now that I have a flair for the bizarre and whimsical, and the central pink/green scheme is just that. It's a bit electric, and a combination that really hadn't been strongly featured in a Bumfuzzled up until now.
I remember someone commented a while back that my puzzles often have a feel that I "switched brushes" for various portions of each design, and that is definitely the case here:
- Pure hexagons are green/pink, and have irregular connectors.
- Fields with a strong geometric final appearance are blue/purple, and have irregular connectors.
- Fields with a strong chaotic final appearance are orange/nude, and have geometric connectors.
In my designs, there's almost always some sort of "rule" or order to the chaos!
Side Note: My Favorite Piece!
There typically isn't an individual piece in a given puzzle that I love, but this one has one!
I just adore this little orange piece that's both a tricky fit in this hex "window", and also adds to the 3D-ness, showing the orange fingers passing through the window.
Outside of this piece, some of the connectivity of this puzzle is also quite fun. If you look closely, you'll find individual pieces that connect as many as 7 other pieces together.
Enjoy!
I hope you've been enjoying this puzzle, and if you don't have it yet, there's still a week left to get it for just $1 as your first subscription puzzle. We've been getting great feedback from Bumfuzzled subscribers who enjoy getting a surprise from us every month, so if you've been sleeping on the puzzle subscription, you're missing out!
Until next time, much love and blessings!
Chad aka the Puzzle Bomb Artist Guy
4 comments
The late additional of the hexagon centrepiece was such a good call This has quickly become one of my favourites, and I do think that late addition is a big part of why. That orange piece that is your favourite is a genius little piece of design because of the way in which it gives depth to the entire puzzle.
Definitely the hardest one of the three I’ve done so far- my husband and I solve no border no mat, and were left with about 5 pieces at the end that stumped us. Ended up having to refer to the box to figure out those last five!
I like the curly edges. I have a feeling this is going to be challenging for me. Haven’t rec’d it yet though. So I think I’ll take a nap.
I played this puzzle with a friend who was new to the bumfuzzled series and they were hooked by the way many of the pink/green hexagon pieces were initially very difficult to discern which concentric hexagon they belong to. She also noticed that The Teal/Purple sections have the interlocking hexagons, but the spaces they interlock into aren’t always hexagons at all! After we finished the puzzle (Frameless, backless) we wiggled the frame over the edges, and then signed the back and slid the puzzle onto the back. As I put the puzzle in its sleeve she exclaimed “There are 27 of them!!!”
Another puzzle bomb fan obtained. Thanks for the fun!