motris (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} motris) wrote,@ 2008-03-14 02:12:00 |
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!irakAkari!
Continuing my four-week series of new puzzle types leading up to the release of Battleship Sudoku, with week one being the introduction of Color Sudoku as a fun new sudoku variant, here is week two: irakAkari.
I loves me some nikoli puzzles but have rarely tried to tweak any of their non-sudoku types until now. Akari (rules for Akari) is a "puzzle" that works much better online than on paper, but suffers I feel from most often being too easy. The 10x10 puzzles on Nikoli.com feel a lot like a sudoku might if you get 72 givens - you basically just have to do a couple obvious things like click all four squares around a "4" and then you are done. They become speed races for that 5-6 second solution, and while the larger puzzles can have more interesting chaining at times, it seems Akari could be made much more interesting with some small changes. Certainly, going to a non-square board might improve the puzzle as hexagonal grids offer a lot more potential for block-to-block communication in the puzzle. I leave this construction as an exercise to the reader for now. However, I've wondered in the square puzzle if a method to extend viewing zones from vertical/horizontal lines into lines that bend could be interesting.
Thematically, if the puzzle is about placing guards in a museum so that they collectively "see" every square but see no other guards, imagine the museum now is made entirely of mirrors. This means in most directions the guards will see themselves (still allowed), but if there are diagonal walls, then the viewing zone will extend in a new direction allowing a guard to see another guard around a corner, which is not allowed. In this variation, all squares, including squares containing a diagonal mirror, are still seen. However, guards CANNOT occupy a square with a diagonal mirror, so these spots must all be viewed from elsewhere. Numbers on black squares, as always, represent the number of guards immediately adjacent to that square.
The example should give you a feel for how a solution could look. I've then given 3 puzzles that are maybe medium in difficulty, and definitely harder as small puzzles than regular Akari, that hopefully show off the potentials for interesting logical deductions with this small change.
irakAkari example:
Puzzle 1 (Breezy)
Puzzle 2 (Gusts up to 25 mph)
Puzzle 3 (Storm warning)
Continuing my four-week series of new puzzle types leading up to the release of Battleship Sudoku, with week one being the introduction of Color Sudoku as a fun new sudoku variant, here is week two: irakAkari.
I loves me some nikoli puzzles but have rarely tried to tweak any of their non-sudoku types until now. Akari (rules for Akari) is a "puzzle" that works much better online than on paper, but suffers I feel from most often being too easy. The 10x10 puzzles on Nikoli.com feel a lot like a sudoku might if you get 72 givens - you basically just have to do a couple obvious things like click all four squares around a "4" and then you are done. They become speed races for that 5-6 second solution, and while the larger puzzles can have more interesting chaining at times, it seems Akari could be made much more interesting with some small changes. Certainly, going to a non-square board might improve the puzzle as hexagonal grids offer a lot more potential for block-to-block communication in the puzzle. I leave this construction as an exercise to the reader for now. However, I've wondered in the square puzzle if a method to extend viewing zones from vertical/horizontal lines into lines that bend could be interesting.
Thematically, if the puzzle is about placing guards in a museum so that they collectively "see" every square but see no other guards, imagine the museum now is made entirely of mirrors. This means in most directions the guards will see themselves (still allowed), but if there are diagonal walls, then the viewing zone will extend in a new direction allowing a guard to see another guard around a corner, which is not allowed. In this variation, all squares, including squares containing a diagonal mirror, are still seen. However, guards CANNOT occupy a square with a diagonal mirror, so these spots must all be viewed from elsewhere. Numbers on black squares, as always, represent the number of guards immediately adjacent to that square.
The example should give you a feel for how a solution could look. I've then given 3 puzzles that are maybe medium in difficulty, and definitely harder as small puzzles than regular Akari, that hopefully show off the potentials for interesting logical deductions with this small change.
irakAkari example:
Puzzle 1 (Breezy)
Puzzle 2 (Gusts up to 25 mph)
Puzzle 3 (Storm warning)
