Oh yeah, that was a really bad oversight on the developer's part. I think there's only been two puzzles so far where it was a problem, though.
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Tappingo (3DS eShop) |OT| A different take on Picross... only $2.99!
- Thread starter zroid
- Start date
Oh yeah, that was a really bad oversight on the developer's part. I think there's only been two puzzles so far where it was a problem, though.
bluepolicebox
Member
Played through a bunch of these puzzles earlier this evening and am really enjoying it. The concept is very engaging and being able to complete each one quickly makes it great for pick up and play.
I agree with the need for labeling the completed pictures though. Most are easy enough to identify but there were a few where I didn't really know what I was looking at.
I agree with the need for labeling the completed pictures though. Most are easy enough to identify but there were a few where I didn't really know what I was looking at.
oh thanks, good catch.
Yeah, I only saw it once with the grapes, but was was such a pain trying to tell the difference. Hopefully, there's not many other purple-themed puzzles again.
& seems kind of redundant to have a button to quit the puzzle & quit "the game" when it just takes you back an extra screen that barely takes a second to access considering how fast the game loads. Heck, I thought it was options or something, considering the "quit the game" button looks like a gear, which my tends to think means the options menu.
Edit: Oh wow, just did puzzles 55 & 56, now the pictures are much bigger, meaning the squares on the bottom screen are a lot smaller. Now I kind of wish there was a zoom in feature....I'm starting to notice a lot of small features that would really benefit this game, should a sequel ever get made.
Yep, looks like the puzzles become 24x24 starting with level 55. Say a prayer for us non-XL 3DS owners
Fusilli Craig
Member
Purchased it after reading everyone's comments and the overall mechanics are indeed rewarding and addictive.
Having finished Picross DS, 3D, E1+2+3 I'm always game for a new visual logic puzzle and this is the best I've played since the titles above.
All that said I think its important to temper some of the unabashed enthusiasm in the thread so far. The mechanics are superb but the production value and overall design of the game is pretty poor. Everything from the menu design to the aural feedback when "clicking" on a block is either rudimentary at best and non-existant at worst. The Picross series also suffers from some overally simplistic interface design but everything here borders on serviceable at best. I know the title is $3 and was developed by one person but once you've mastered the conceit of the rule set you really only have the interface to focus on as a developer.
Make no mistake, it's a fantastic puzzler and anyone into logic puzzles will get their money's worth but be warned the palette choices and overall sound and visual design is utilitarian at best. As mentioned in another post, the shapes you're crafting don't even get labelled leaving their identity a mystery in more than a few cases and there are grammatical and context errors throughout what text there is. Here's hoping the developer gets a chance to put a fresh coat of paint on a sequel.
Having finished Picross DS, 3D, E1+2+3 I'm always game for a new visual logic puzzle and this is the best I've played since the titles above.
All that said I think its important to temper some of the unabashed enthusiasm in the thread so far. The mechanics are superb but the production value and overall design of the game is pretty poor. Everything from the menu design to the aural feedback when "clicking" on a block is either rudimentary at best and non-existant at worst. The Picross series also suffers from some overally simplistic interface design but everything here borders on serviceable at best. I know the title is $3 and was developed by one person but once you've mastered the conceit of the rule set you really only have the interface to focus on as a developer.
Make no mistake, it's a fantastic puzzler and anyone into logic puzzles will get their money's worth but be warned the palette choices and overall sound and visual design is utilitarian at best. As mentioned in another post, the shapes you're crafting don't even get labelled leaving their identity a mystery in more than a few cases and there are grammatical and context errors throughout what text there is. Here's hoping the developer gets a chance to put a fresh coat of paint on a sequel.
Agreed. This is a great game, but there's so many small things that start to add up presentation/interface wise that hold it back. I really hope the developer gets feedback & is able to do a sequel. There's a lot of potential here, but it would seriously help to focus on the actual presentation.
matrix-cat
Member
Will buy as soon as it shows up on the Australian Eshop. I've been getting the withdrawal jitters bad since ploughing through the Picross Es a few weeks ago. Didn't Picross E4 come out in Japan a while ago? How long could it possibly take to localise a game like that?
It tends to take a while, I need my fix man
I know I should stop buying the es because they're so content-bare compared to Picross DS but I just need more
Thought that was weird as well, though I'm still glad for button controls, as I don't like using the touch screen now since the puzzles are bigger.
Sure, I understand that, but that - for me - seems an odd way of showing it. The default block looks identical to the blocks that spawn off it, so when you're quickly scanning a half-filled level it makes more sense for me to see the have the number show the number of blocks actually in the line.
When I first saw the game a few months ago, I had the same feeling. Having put some time into it though, I feel it's better this way. If they had taken the other approach, there wouldn't even be "1"s on the grid. Or for consistency the game would have to put a "1" on the blocks which don't extend at all, which would've just caused confusion and clutter.
n64coder
Member
I picked it up and it's very enjoyable. I can see how not having a redo/rewind button makes it more difficult. If you had that option, I think it would be too easy.
It just makes it annoying. I was playing a puzzle this morning where I accidentally tapped the wrong block, and set off a huge chain reaction that forced me to redo a large section of the puzzle.
Fair enough, I've not played it yet, but just looking at the screens that screams out to me. And this
wouldn't cause confusion imo, it would be more clear. I was a big fan of the drawing game in Pic Pic which is similar in gameplay and that showed squares with the correct numbers for the ones you joined up, like this...
Beaniedude
Member
I saw picross and came into this thread as fast as I could!
Guess I'll check out this one and leave donkey Kong on the back burner for now.
Guess I'll check out this one and leave donkey Kong on the back burner for now.
Have done several of the larger puzzles (24x24) now. They're great but I have to agree with the others, a "zoom" function would've been reeeeeeeeeaaallly useful. I'm using an XL, thank goodness, and it's hard enough as it is. On a 2DS or OG I can't even imagine...
Anyway, not to sound too negative, because this game is very good. A must-try for logic puzzle/picross fans considering its price.
Anyway, not to sound too negative, because this game is very good. A must-try for logic puzzle/picross fans considering its price.
n64coder
Member
wouldn't cause confusion imo, it would be more clear. I was a big fan of the drawing game in Pic Pic which is similar in gameplay and that showed squares with the correct numbers for the ones you joined up, like this...
Is this the Nintendo DS game?
CoconutTank
Member
Hoho, this is a nice puzzle game Used to be that I'd take my phone with me to the bathroom for some casual reading while I'm sitting down, but the puzzles are light enough so that I can try one or two while I'm there.
Used to be that I'd take my phone with me to the bathroom for some casual reading while I'm sitting down, but the puzzles are light enough so that I can try one or two while I'm there.Yeah, I was interested to read it -- I find they are definitely usually on point with their reviews.
haha... WHOOPS!
bluepolicebox
Member
Already finished with this unfortunately. I really enjoyed doing these puzzles. I'd definitely play another Tappingo--especially if the difficulty level could be bumped up a bit. I guess it's time for me to finally try a Picross after liking this so much.
78 puzzles in & they've definitely started to take more time. I average about 4-6ish minutes now filling them out because of how big they've gotten. I wouldn't say they're difficult, just more on the time consuming side, though I still think they're the right level of difficulty since I might have to redo some squares, but never comes off as frustrating (maybe slight annoyance, but that's it). While I do think the game could benefit from being a bit harder (as mentioned above), it's pretty much the right amount of hard, especially when I just wanna pick it up & play a puzzle between college homework.
Also the fact that every single puzzle is available from the start is a mixed bag. On the one hand, some people probably like this since they don't feel as though they have to stick with doing the easier stuff. But on the other hand, kind of feels as though the game is just like "here, it's everything I have" and you can just skip right to the final puzzle. Maybe it could have benefited from "clear # puzzle, unlock the next set of puzzles" or something? The only real driving force is "Huh, wonder what the next picture will be. Maybe it'll be another Nintendo controller!"
I really do hope a sequel comes out of this, because there's a lot of potential here to build on top of this & make it better (especially presentation wise as mentioned earlier on this page).
Also the fact that every single puzzle is available from the start is a mixed bag. On the one hand, some people probably like this since they don't feel as though they have to stick with doing the easier stuff. But on the other hand, kind of feels as though the game is just like "here, it's everything I have" and you can just skip right to the final puzzle. Maybe it could have benefited from "clear # puzzle, unlock the next set of puzzles" or something? The only real driving force is "Huh, wonder what the next picture will be. Maybe it'll be another Nintendo controller!"
I really do hope a sequel comes out of this, because there's a lot of potential here to build on top of this & make it better (especially presentation wise as mentioned earlier on this page).
4-6 minutes on the larger puzzles is pretty fast. I've completed up to puzzle 88, and most of them have been taking me 6-8 minutes, with a few of them going over 10. I try to be extremely careful in making sure that I don't extend any blocks in a potentially wrong direction, though.
This is good but there are puzzles that have multiple solutions possible, and the game only recognizes a "correct" one. By that I mean it's possible to have every numbered block read "OK" and still not have the level complete because the drawing is incorrect. To me, this is a major flaw that games like Pic Pic avoided.
Which levels did this happen on?
The mouse cursor one would be an early example.
Are you sure? I could swear I've gotten the "wrong" solution at least once or twice before and the game accepted it anyway. Maybe it's a bug with certain levels... I dunno.
Having literally never hearing of this game before, I happened to pop into this OP. As soon as I read the little primer on the game's mechanics, I immediately grabbed my 3DS and bought this. I love Picross and this is a nifty spin on the formula. I've only done the first 8 puzzles to dip my toe into it, but this is definitely something I can see myself just popping in to do a few puzzles every once in a while and enjoying my time.
Thanks GAF, you've helped me to support a worthwhile project!
Thanks GAF, you've helped me to support a worthwhile project!
Just finished beating all of the levels. Not that I expected anything different, but when you finish the last level.... literally nothing happens. No flourish, no congratulatory message, nothing - it just sends you back to the menu as always. Still, it's hard to complain when I got 8 hours of solid entertainment for only $3.
You're missing something. The mouse cursor only has one solution.
You're missing something. The mouse cursor only has one solution.
toythatkills
Member
Nah, not Slitherlink, that's something else. I've heard it called "Link-a-pix" and various other things, I'm not even sure what its "official" title is, if it even has one.
As for Tappingo, this is a fairly bad game really. There's just no difficulty at all. I solved the first couple of puzzles and then skipped straight to the last one and solved that as well with absolutely no struggle, I didn't even need to stop and think because everything was so obvious. It's basically as difficult as colouring in a picture in a colouring book, or painting-by-numbers. It's not a puzzle.
I can see why some people might enjoy that, because it's kinda relaxing just working through them and colouring them in, but as I say there is just no challenge at all and anyone buying this expecting a puzzle game is going to be massively disappointed when they find that there aren't really any puzzles that require solving.
Add to that the shoddy presentation and terrible "quirks" like having multiple solutions for puzzles and it becomes irritating. Even this instance...
[ ][1]
[1][ ]
... when it's separated from the rest of the puzzle is annoying to me. Both solutions appear to work but a puzzle game should never give the player a situation like this.
So yeah, some people will get something from this but if you want a puzzle game, I'd stay WELL away from it.