Vertex
Created for : The New York Times Games
Role : Content Creator ( Puzzle Design, Illustration )
Released : Dec 2019.
Playable at : https://nyt.com/puzzles/vertex
Vertex is a game where players connect the vertices and create an image by the time they solve a puzzle.
While designing the puzzles, I always try to use the least amount of vertices to portrait the object.
The main reason trying to do so was that originally this game was designed to be played even on mobile devices without a zoom function. Responding to thus physical constraint, the puzzles had to be able to communicate to the player what object is being drawn with very limited connections. The puzzle design process itself became a game about “how blurry an image can be for the human brain to still able to recognize it”.
On top of ignoring most of the details of an item, sharing as many vertices between faces as possible, I discovered that colors helped a lot in creating illusions to “trick” the brain to understand. And instead of filling colors based on actual rules of lighting, filling in based on the parts and parts I’d want the players to recognize is a lot more helpful.
In later of the development process the zoom function was put in. However I still find keeping the vertex number low is a nice thing to have for a puzzle - it’s more efficient for creating the image and allows more significant feedback with each connection a player made.
To me Vertex is a weird game that tackles a specific spot in the human brain. There is a unique way of fun and satisfaction that I have no way to elaborate. Meanwhile it’s also a interesting communication between the puzzle creator and the solver - it seems to be a window, through which the creator allows the solver to experience a different understanding of the simple subjects in normal life.