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Messages posted by: Johan
Profile for Johan -> Messages posted by Johan [1045] Go to Page: Previous  1, 2, 3 , ... 68, 69, 70 Next 
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The studio is still Java only. Some browsers don't seem to support that very well anymore (I think in some cases you can set some permissions), but it works in IE for me. When it doesn't work, you just see a text field with 'null' in there where the puzcode usually ends up when you press update. Maybe we can be of further assistance if we know a bit more about your specific circumstances.

HappyDog wrote:
However, from a solving point-of-view, my original points still stand. 
Fair point. Luckily, I don't plan for letter Sudoku to become a regular thing, but a few related puzzles might still come through the pipeline.

tsr21 wrote:
Oh! I missed the message too! Johan, you are too clever for your own good!  

JHe wrote:
I think I know what you mean. But that was obvious - I saw it before I even started solving. So it didn't affect the solution in any way and so I didn't count it as special property.

Not meant to put down the puzzle, of course. That must be difficult to achieve and I doubt I could ever do it myself. 
Okay, I'll stop acting all mysterious about it. I wasn't actually sure if it was hard to spot or hard to miss, but in my excitement I ran it by some top puzzlers and none of them had seen a full sentence inserted into a Sudoku before (although Thomas Snyder did something cool here). And then the rotational symmetry on top of it makes it quite constrained. I felt it worked even better in combination with the anagrammed title, which originated from the need to quickly identify the still missing letters (trying to mitigate the wrong-handed solving experience HappyDog described). But maybe it is still too fresh for me to have an accurate perception of the originality of the design.
The anagrams are intended as useful mnemonics, but they are only a finishing touch and not the main reason the letters are there.

Let me give a hint in the form of an older puzzle.
Although your arguments are valid regardless, I wonder if maybe you missed one of the puzzle's special properties? Perhaps I made it look too easy with the rotational symmetry and all.
Thanks!

Because the Hitoris turned out so well, I felt encouraged to explore possibilities with another puzzle type. More on that soon.
Thanks!

I originally set out to determine whether the digits of pi could form a valid puzzle, but then realized I didn't have to limit myself to numbers. It was new to me, but if I understood edderiofer's judgement correctly, he has seen sentences before.

Valid sentences become increasingly rare as the grid gets larger, so I felt very lucky to have stumbled upon this one. Did you know that 'hitori' translates to 'alone' or 'one person'?
I usually either start by choosing a puzzle type that I feel like playing around with and then I try to think of some constraint to impose on myself (this could be as simple as rotational symmetry), or I start with some theme in mind and then I try to find a puzzle type in which I could explore it.

Then I draw an empty grid and repeatedly place more clues and derive whatever I can from what I have given away so far, all the while keeping in mind my self-imposed constraints, the fact that it needs to end up with a unique solution (*) and that it should have a fun solving path.

Every now and then I will need to backtrack because I can't make it work. This is most often because I realize some area of the puzzle will allow for multiple solutions (if any) if I don't give out certain clues that I don't want to give out, or because I have reached a contradiction. Sometimes it is also because the puzzle would become too easy or too hard.

Puzzle making experience and familiarity with a puzzle type can help to build intuition for spotting potential issues far enough in advance. Still, it has happened to me that I spent hours and hours on a single idea and eventually failed to deliver. On other occasions, puzzles came out much better than I had expected with much less effort than I had anticipated.

Creating a puzzle is like solving a different kind of puzzle - one that allows for some more creativity. And although at times you might fail, when you succeed, you are left with something others can also enjoy.

I hope this is helpful.

(*) Note: While solving a puzzle, you can sometimes use the assumption that it has a unique solution in your deductions, but when creating a puzzle you are not allowed to do this - at least not to prove the uniqueness.

P.S. I should clarify that for some of my puzzles I wrote computer programs to help me find or create them.
I think I know what you mean. This puzzle flows very nicely.
Thanks!
1) The legend is located under the pencils. It has three clickable areas - one for each cogwheel size.

2) During the design phase, you can cycle through different cogwheel elements. The first one only allows for wheels of size 1, the second of size 1 and 3, the third of size 1, 3 and 5 (they have an almost transparent number in them as an indicator). You should use the first element for the outer ring, the second for the ring within and the third for the rest. This way all cogwheels will stay within the puzzle during the solving phase.

I hope this helps.
I changed the dots and lines a little bit. Is it better now?

JHe wrote:
Spam alert - the post above. 

Thanks. I removed it and banned the user.
Thanks! Yes. Shipping might be different for amazon.com, amazon.de and amazon.co.uk, depending on your location.

I posted a 'look inside' video to give a better impression of what the book looks like: https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/photo/101679560062405278073/6420087512079641474
 
Profile for Johan -> Messages posted by Johan [1045] Go to Page: Previous  1, 2, 3 , ... 68, 69, 70 Next 
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