Rule Panels

Updated on (created ) — Filed under: Kudamono Docs

Most newly added and upcoming genres will follow the Modern Rule Panel Format, especially if these are simple genres ( 2 — 5 rules, 0 — 3 symbols).

The following criteria comprise the Modern Rule Panel format:

  • a single, unique puzzle is displayed in all panels
  • each panel before the last breaks exactly one rule and respects all other rules
  • the last panel shows the solved puzzle, with the phrase Solved!

It's more challenging than it seems!

The puzzle should be very small, almost trivial (ideally 4x4 or even 3x3).

For hex grids, 3x3x2 or smaller would be ideal.

This can be relaxed in some genres (5x5, even 5x6) if other criteria prove very hard (or impossible) to fulfill

Also, a common convention is for the last broken rule(s) to be the distinctive rule(s) of the genre. This ensures that someone new to paper puzzles will read the simpler, more general (base) rules before diving into the (more interesting) specific genre rule(s).

Sometimes it may not be clear what should constitute a single rule or panel. Here are some guidelines:

  • when two symbols have related, yet different behaviours, each should be presented in a separate panel;
  • when different symbols have identical behaviour, all should presented as a unified panel - with one highlight per symbol;
  • number symbols should be presented in a single panel:
    • numbers 1 and 0, if allowed by the genre, should always be present
    • some larger number should also be present — to showcase a variety of numbers
    • the effect of multiple numbers in a line/region/etc… should be illustrated (if relevant)
    • question marks, if available, should be included:
      • if they behave like any number, no extra panel needed
      • if they behave slightly differently, a separate panel must be added (for example, if questions represent only a subset of available numbers, e.g. non-zero)

Multiple or excessive highlighting in a panel generally indicates that it should be split

In doubt, please check past examples, such as the good examples below!

Good examples to follow:

In certain cases, some constraints are interdependent, meaning violating one will automatically violate the other. In these rare cases, it is acceptable to display both constraint violations in the same panel.

Examples:

After the last panel, an additional correct panel (with a different puzzle) could be used to clarify a particular aspect of the rules. However, please consider whether it is possible to clarify that aspect in some of the previous panels instead.

Examples:

Panels for the chosen genre should be as plain text, using this template:

puzzle url sentence for rule 1 puzzle url sentence for rule 2 ... puzzle url Solved!

You may also instead include each rule sentence in the url, using the title field.

⚠ All modernised genres display a preliminary panel "This is an interactive example…". It is added automatically, so please do not include it in your submission.

Panels for variants can also be sent, using exactly the same format. Usually a single panel is sufficient, but in complex variants, more may be necessary.

For global variants, please consider how the variant panels would adapt to different genre classes (e.g loop versus path, branching vs non-branching). It may be necessary to send different versions of the panel, one per class.

*Local variant** panels, though restricted to a single genre, do not need to use the same example puzzle.

At the moment, variant panels are displayed only when a variant is selected. In the future they may be added to the genre pages as well.

Existing sentences should be reused as much as possible when modernising a genre, as they are likely to have already benefited from prior feedback.

When writing new sentences, please do the following exercise: imagine that all images were erased, and only the sentences would be left. A new player reading them should still be able to fully comprehend a genre.

With this in mind, here are some extra tips:

Since each panel corresponds to an error, it is tempting to describe it. Please resist this temptation and describe the correct case instead.

When crossing is not allowed, instead of pointing the error as The loop crosses, say The loop may not cross.

The contrary of must is may not (instead of must not).

Instead of writing no branching, write The lines may not branch or Line branching is not allowed.

For example, if a rule is about numbers, what are the numbers counting?

So instead of writing under counting is not allowed, describe it as e.g the number of adjacent shaded tiles may not be below the number.

2023-12-22 Rule Panel Modernisation Project added 2024-02-06 Rule Panel Modernisation became a separate page, with a genre guidance table and credits section 2024-02-08 More precise guidelines about each panel's text were published 2024-02-20 Added clarifications about the format in the hex grid, and an example, after a question by 5381 2024-02-23 All modernised genres gained a preliminary interactive "new puzzle" panel, a suggestion by Eli Doris (TwoHoleStraw). This encourages people to try to solve the example and helps distinguish given elements. 2024-02-24 Further clarification to the sentence guidelines 2024-03-11 More specific guidelines for what counts as one rule were added, after pondering questions by PinkHoodie, Anurag Sahay and Eli Doris (TwoHoleStraw). 2024-05-09 Clarified the motivation for the "key rule in last panel" convention (Martin Ender (Menderbug)) 2024-09-29 Panel modernization tables and credits moved to a separate panels-modern page, to keep this page simple. 2024-09-29 Added exceptions, such as for interdependent constraints, and the possibility of adapting variant panels to genre classes (PinkHoodie,Random 8)