S-08 · Sublayer review

PuzzleScript

An open-source engine for making small block-pushing puzzle games, with a gallery of games other people made.

The review

PuzzleScript is a tiny engine for making tiny puzzle games, the kind where you push blocks around a grid onto targets. Its maker, increpare, built it to lower the barrier to making puzzle games, and its about page is honest about what it cannot do. Within those limits it is wonderful.

You can spend an evening playing the gallery of games other people made with it, or open the editor, follow the first steps and have a playable puzzle of your own within half an hour. It is open source, with docs, a Discord and a sponsor page.

A way in

Play two or three games from the gallery first, then open Make A Game and change one rule in the example to see what happens.

A place to stop

Finish the level you are on, or save your game's source text, and stop. Making things is absorbing; a timer helps.

Before you play

• Making a game needs a keyboard; playing works anywhere.
• The gallery's games vary a lot in difficulty.
• Your game is plain text you can copy and keep.

Also on the shelf

• GuessThe.Game: A daily video game puzzle: name the game from its screenshots in six guesses or fewer.
• Hexcodle: A daily guessing game for colour: work out today's six-character hex colour code from a target swatch.
• TETR.IO: A modern, fast block-stacker you can play alone or against people around the world.