Designer Diary: An Exercise in Questionable Engineering

Hey Puzzle Bomb Family,

Time flies, and it's already that time again where I dive into the design process of this month's puzzle! I'll admit these are even a bit fun for me to write, as I remember what my goals were for a particular puzzle, and journey through how those goals translated into a puzzle that y'all are enjoying today!


The Goal for Sublime Contrivance

Of course, the puzzle didn't yet have a name when I first put my pencil to paper, but my main goal here was pushing the limit on how thin I could make the width of many pieces without freaking you out about the puzzle breaking. So, long, thin pieces were in my mind here when I set out on the design journey.

Unlike puzzles like Haybound Needle, I knew I just wanted some of the pieces to be long and thin, contrasting with other shapes and textures throughout the puzzle. Here was my first sketch, which was largely just doodling:




A Note About Perfection vs. Progress

As you've seen by now, these first sketches can be pretty rough, but everything has to start somewhere. I think there's a parable for life here that some wisdom can be gleaned from. I see many folks get paralyzed from progressing forward, trying to plan and prepare every detail before moving ahead. While planning and preparation is good, it can also be crippling if you don't dive in at some point!

This is true for so many aspects of life. I've seen folks have many business ideas never come to fruition, as they never feel like they're ready. I've seen folks hesitate to begin a relationship with Jesus, thinking they need to clean themselves up before coming to Him.

I personally probably fall into the error of not planning enough, forging ahead until I hit a wall, or realizing a mistake that needs fixed. It's probably while the Lord chose a wife for me that's a planner! But, the fact remains, at some point, you just need to dive in, as you'll never feel 100% prepared!


Further Development

That first sketch got me a decent crack at a layout, so it was time to refine! I did a lot of work digitally on this one, as sketching isn't ideal for precise, mechanical puzzles like this, especially with all the thin pieces where I wanted to maintain the same width.



A couple of notable developments as I refined the design:

1) More patches of long, thin pieces. The initial sketch was a bit unbalanced in this regard, so I added some more areas, as it's a visually interesting element.

2) The lime. I had that large circle in the upper right, and had to do something interesting with it. Why a lime? Who knows! It just came to mind as a fun and bizarre contrast to the very tech/mechanical nature of the rest of the puzzle.

This decision also gave birth to the puzzle's name. I suppose this highlights a bit of the wisdom on progress over perfection... some unexpected things come about along the journey once you just dive in!


Polishing it Off


It's always striking to me how a certain color selection can give a puzzle a different personality. I use the exact some colors in over 90% of our puzzles, but dropping out a color or two can change the look drastically.

In this case, our blue and orange colors were dropped out, making this the first Bumfuzzled with a purple/green/pink configuration. Abstract puzzles are always the best opportunity to play with color schemes since they're not attempting to represent anything, but again, the random lime decision anchored this design with the green inclusion!

Another design trick is adding small dot drop-outs throughout the puzzle. While it doesn't change anything functionally, it's something I occasionally employ to add more visual interest and texture.


My Favorite Pieces/Sections

Since I didn't have a ton of design progress to share in this diary, I figured I'd zoom in on my favorite bits of this one!

1) The Tilted Plus-Sign Thingamobob



I often stick little miniature puzzles into the midst of my designs. When I tested my production sample, I was surprised at how hard of a time I had finding the four purple pieces that go into the central pink piece. It's a fun little five-piece puzzle!

2) The Missing-Butt C



I like the visual detail here: a nearly complete circle, with the front half a C-shape, and the back half a drop-out. Nothing crazy, but I enjoy the effect!

3) The Art Deco Pinball Flipper



Again, I just enjoy the visual here, but I also like how the right-most piece can function as a small fidget toy of sorts. Since the wood is pretty flexible, you can gently pinch the ends of the long pieces together, and they spring back into form when you release. This might freak some folks out who think they might break a piece, but it's less breakable than you might think!

Welp, that's it for Sublime Contrivance! I hope you've been enjoying it, and that you're prepared for a wild puzzling November!

Blessings,
Chad, the Puzzle Bomb Designer and Other Stuff Guy