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#1: Jan Wolter (jan) on Aug 9, 2006

Puzzles without white space are really awfully dull.

I need to find time to implement some strategy in the software to deal with these. Maybe have a warning message pop up when people create solid puzzles.

Or maybe I could allow alternate background colors. So the puzzle creator could designate "blue" as the background in the puzzle. Then the initial grid would come up all blue instead of all white. White could even be one of the possible foreground colors.

The biggest problem with implementing that would be the number images used to display the clues. I already have 100 different numbers in three different sizes and five different colors for a total of 1500 images. If I had settable background colors, and white as a possible forground color, I'd have six foreground colors each on five background colors, for 30 color combinations. Add three sizes and 100 numbers, and I need 9000 tiles. Would it be worth the effort?

I would do the warning pop up. Novice pezzle designers need to be educated that this is not simply a forum for drawing pretty pictures. You might even have them automatically directed to your tips page since they obviously haven't read it.

Allowing background colors would be too much work for you, Jan. Besides, allowing a background color does not guarantee the puzzle would be solvable. Novice puzzle designers who don't understand the concept that they need to design white space into their puzzles are going to have no idea how to design a solvable puzzle. I think we would see a lot more puzzles that have multiple solutions and require guessing.

Would there be any way you could program the program to not allow novice designers to fill in all the spaces? For example, when the designer has filled in 70% of the pixels with color, the limit has been reached, and he/she has to erase out some pixels in order to fill in any more.

That's an interesting idea, though mostly I'm reluctant to make too many hard and fast rules.

I'll think about it. I expect I'll have plenty of time to think, because there are several things higher on my "to do" list.

I wouldn't think of it so much as a "rule" but as a limit. At some point it stops becoming a puzzle and becomes a picture. Of course the trick is to figure out what that point is since it varies depending on the skill level of the person working the puzzle.

Even if the limit were set at 90 or 95%, the novice designer trying to fill in every space would bump up against the limit and suddenly become aware that they're not supposed to be simply drawing a picture. They need to do something else--design some white space in. I think that's the first step in educating novices in how to design a puzzle. I think that would be less embarrassing than being told that their finished design makes for a boring puzzle.

Believe me, I understand about higher priorities. I'm just procrastinating on mine right now.

I don't think you'd need 9000 tiles; just add a set for white, which would appear as white numbers on a black background. THe puzzle solver will figure out what it means.

Jan, I like the idea of having alternate background colors.

Put an icon next to the puzzle before you click on it (like the ? next to the puzzles that might have more than one solution)

I think we're seeing fewer of these "solid" puzzles these days. The checker that gets run automatically on all puzzles detects and discourages them, but doesn't entirely prevent people from publishing them. This seems a pretty good solution.

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What about having a category for 'colouring in' puzzles. That way there is something for youngsters and newbies to try their hand at before jumping into the puzzles proper.

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This puzzle's difficulty is ranked higher than the American Flag by the same designer, and it has lots of whitespace. Comical.

Possibly because there's a bit more tedious counting involved

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