Happy to share some technical details for anyone curious:
I wrote a custom solver to validate each puzzle and estimate difficulty.
It works by applying deterministic constraints until the board reaches a stable state.
If anyone is interested, I can share the logic flow or even open-source the validator.
Also curious: does anyone here have experience balancing handcrafted puzzle difficulty at scale?
One feedback I have is that the instant I get the combination correct and complete a challenge, it suddenly pops up a “congratulations” message with a button to go to the next level, I can’t see my final solution.
I really want to take a few seconds to see my final solution, study, understand and admire it.
I’ve enjoyed the game so far, one minor thing: there seems to be multiple puzzles back-to-back that are essentially just the same pattern as a previous puzzle rotated.
I’m not saying you can’t/shouldn’t do this but they should be spaced out more. It not fun to finish one puzzle then realize for the next one: “oh, it’s the same puzzle rotated 90/180 degrees”.
Additionally, I understand the 4 vs 8 surrounding block distinction but I wonder if it makes sense to do both. I found it a little annoying to have the rules change like that just as I was getting the hang of it. I could be wrong here and maybe you still want the ramp-up in difficulty but I’d almost prefer moving from 4->8 during the tutorial and never going back. But that might just be me.
Lastly, I agree with another comment here, make the initial few game count closer to 10 before the CTA. I wasn’t ready to make a decision after just a few games. Maybe even wait till the user finishes the first set of levels? Obviously they can choose to upgrade at any time but the CTA seemed too early.
I loved how quickly the app started up and immediately had me at an interactive step.
I think you really need to have 10-20 levels, not 2, before interrupting with the CTA for paying. I had only just learned the basic rules and had no clue if I liked the game or what hints would even be worth to me.
I was going to comment that the frame rate and responsiveness was oddly bad but when I went back to check a few things it was buttery smooth. Dunno if that was just a weird one-off or something that happens on first launch?
Let me hide the timer. I know, it’s silly. But it truly affects my enjoyment of nonogram games.
I like the simple little beeps it makes when toggling. Have you considered picking triads from different keys? This can break the monotony. You could pick a random key each game and different chords from that key!
Overall this is well done. You should feel proud of your accomplishment!
Thank you so much for the thoughtful feedback — really appreciate it.
About the initial lag you noticed: that most likely comes from the first-time Game Center initialization.
After that first launch, everything runs at full speed, but I’m looking into smoothing out that initial moment.
The timer toggle is a great suggestion and I’ll add an option to hide it.
And the idea about using triads/chords for the sound feedback is surprisingly interesting — I’ll experiment with this.
Thanks again for taking the time to share this. Feedback like yours really helps me improve the experience.
I like it. One thing I found frustrating is that I used a hint when I was stuck, and the hint just said “Impossible! Square X needs N matching neighbors.” This was obvious, why did spend a hint just for it tell me the rules of the game instead of any advice?
Good point! what I meant is that the engine is lightweight and runs well even on older hardware.
And yes, I’m working on Android and a Web version so more people can try it.
Thanks! Yes, at the moment it’s iOS only (iPhone/iPad).
I’m currently working on Android and a Web version as well — the core engine is portable, so those should follow.
A Web version is definitely planned, and Android support is in development as well.
Since the core engine is fully portable, both should come naturally once I’m done polishing the iOS launch.
Really appreciate your interest and willingness to support it on other platforms.
> Hi everyone, I built FuseCells, a minimalistic logic puzzle game where every level is handcrafted (no procedural generation). It started as a personal challenge to design a clean rule-set and scale it to thousands of puzzles without losing difficulty balance. > > What’s unique: • 2,500 handcrafted levels across multiple grid sizes • Deterministic logic — no guessing required • A rule system inspired by constraint-solving and path-finding concepts • Daily challenges and global progress tracking • Fully built as a solo dev project > > Technical notes for those curious: • Level generation tools I wrote validate solvability using a custom constraint solver • Difficulty is estimated via step-count of the solver • The game is optimized to run smoothly on low-end devices • Designed first for iOS, now fully adapted for iPad as well > > I’d love feedback from puzzle lovers, game designers, and anyone interested in handcrafted logic design. Here’s the App Store link: [inserați linkul] > > Thanks for reading — happy to answer any technical questions!
Sounds like something I would enjoy. Unfortunately I don't have iOS.
I hate to be the guy but your post text here doesn't exactly portray "handcrafted". Seems to be heavily AI with the sentence structure and the "[inserați linkul]" at the end (are you Romanian?). Quite a lot of em dashes and bullet points in the middle of sentences.
Happy to share some technical details for anyone curious:
I wrote a custom solver to validate each puzzle and estimate difficulty. It works by applying deterministic constraints until the board reaches a stable state. If anyone is interested, I can share the logic flow or even open-source the validator.
Also curious: does anyone here have experience balancing handcrafted puzzle difficulty at scale?
Bought and started playing it, I love it.
One feedback I have is that the instant I get the combination correct and complete a challenge, it suddenly pops up a “congratulations” message with a button to go to the next level, I can’t see my final solution.
I really want to take a few seconds to see my final solution, study, understand and admire it.
Thank you so much for the feedback really appreciate it! These are still the early versions of the game, and what you’re saying makes complete sense!
I’ll adjust this behavior in the next release.
Thanks again! feedback like this really helps!
I’ve enjoyed the game so far, one minor thing: there seems to be multiple puzzles back-to-back that are essentially just the same pattern as a previous puzzle rotated.
I’m not saying you can’t/shouldn’t do this but they should be spaced out more. It not fun to finish one puzzle then realize for the next one: “oh, it’s the same puzzle rotated 90/180 degrees”.
Additionally, I understand the 4 vs 8 surrounding block distinction but I wonder if it makes sense to do both. I found it a little annoying to have the rules change like that just as I was getting the hang of it. I could be wrong here and maybe you still want the ramp-up in difficulty but I’d almost prefer moving from 4->8 during the tutorial and never going back. But that might just be me.
Lastly, I agree with another comment here, make the initial few game count closer to 10 before the CTA. I wasn’t ready to make a decision after just a few games. Maybe even wait till the user finishes the first set of levels? Obviously they can choose to upgrade at any time but the CTA seemed too early.
Hello! Thank you for your nice feedback! It's first version of the app, so I will try to make much possible like you say, very good point!
I loved how quickly the app started up and immediately had me at an interactive step.
I think you really need to have 10-20 levels, not 2, before interrupting with the CTA for paying. I had only just learned the basic rules and had no clue if I liked the game or what hints would even be worth to me.
I was going to comment that the frame rate and responsiveness was oddly bad but when I went back to check a few things it was buttery smooth. Dunno if that was just a weird one-off or something that happens on first launch?
Let me hide the timer. I know, it’s silly. But it truly affects my enjoyment of nonogram games.
I like the simple little beeps it makes when toggling. Have you considered picking triads from different keys? This can break the monotony. You could pick a random key each game and different chords from that key!
Overall this is well done. You should feel proud of your accomplishment!
Thank you so much for the thoughtful feedback — really appreciate it.
About the initial lag you noticed: that most likely comes from the first-time Game Center initialization. After that first launch, everything runs at full speed, but I’m looking into smoothing out that initial moment.
The timer toggle is a great suggestion and I’ll add an option to hide it. And the idea about using triads/chords for the sound feedback is surprisingly interesting — I’ll experiment with this.
Thanks again for taking the time to share this. Feedback like yours really helps me improve the experience.
I just bought it. It’s a really nice game.
I have red/colour blindness and I find that the contrast between the red and green borders on cells is very low (they look quite similar to me).
It doesn’t stop my playing - it just slows me down.
It might be something you address is you find you have many players with colour blindness.
Hello! Thank you for the feedback! It's just first version of the game, I will work to improve it!
I like it. One thing I found frustrating is that I used a hint when I was stuck, and the hint just said “Impossible! Square X needs N matching neighbors.” This was obvious, why did spend a hint just for it tell me the rules of the game instead of any advice?
Hello, thank you for your feedback! Yes, I am working ob this now, will fix it on next release.
>The game is optimized to run smoothly on low-end devices
And
>Only works on apple devices.
These 2 items seem at odds with each other. Apple doesn't really make low end devices. Sounds like a cool game, I'll try it if you ever port it.
Good point! what I meant is that the engine is lightweight and runs well even on older hardware. And yes, I’m working on Android and a Web version so more people can try it.
Thanks for the note!
Looks cool. I assume it's iOS only? I'd love to play it otherwise, I love logic puzzle games
Thanks! Yes, at the moment it’s iOS only (iPhone/iPad). I’m currently working on Android and a Web version as well — the core engine is portable, so those should follow.
Really glad to hear you enjoy logic puzzle games!
I run Graphene and F-Droid only - but I would happily pay for an APK or web version when it arrives.
That’s great to hear thank you!
A Web version is definitely planned, and Android support is in development as well. Since the core engine is fully portable, both should come naturally once I’m done polishing the iOS launch.
Really appreciate your interest and willingness to support it on other platforms.
> Hi everyone, I built FuseCells, a minimalistic logic puzzle game where every level is handcrafted (no procedural generation). It started as a personal challenge to design a clean rule-set and scale it to thousands of puzzles without losing difficulty balance. > > What’s unique: • 2,500 handcrafted levels across multiple grid sizes • Deterministic logic — no guessing required • A rule system inspired by constraint-solving and path-finding concepts • Daily challenges and global progress tracking • Fully built as a solo dev project > > Technical notes for those curious: • Level generation tools I wrote validate solvability using a custom constraint solver • Difficulty is estimated via step-count of the solver • The game is optimized to run smoothly on low-end devices • Designed first for iOS, now fully adapted for iPad as well > > I’d love feedback from puzzle lovers, game designers, and anyone interested in handcrafted logic design. Here’s the App Store link: [inserați linkul] > > Thanks for reading — happy to answer any technical questions!
Sounds like something I would enjoy. Unfortunately I don't have iOS.
I hate to be the guy but your post text here doesn't exactly portray "handcrafted". Seems to be heavily AI with the sentence structure and the "[inserați linkul]" at the end (are you Romanian?). Quite a lot of em dashes and bullet points in the middle of sentences.
Any specific reason you used AI here?
Hello, yes, my English very bad)
That's fine frate, tell the AI to not use lists and em dashes so much.
noted! thank you frate)
Really
So good.
thank you!