Icosi-Do cover
Icosi-Do screenshot
Steam
Genre: Strategy, Indie

Icosi-Do

Second Weekly December Challenge
For this week's challenge, the theme is solving puzzles "two under par", meaning with two fewer moves than the level number suggests.

The 3 codes of the puzzles are: 9667-09, 4997-10, and 2344-11.

To play these puzzles, you first have to unlock level 9 in the full game by solving puzzles on levels 1 to 8. Then you start a game with NEW GAME (in the main menu) and select CODE instead of a level to enter the first code. By solving that puzzle, you unlock level 10 and can enter the second code, and so on.

For everyone, who doesn't own the full game, here is a "two under par" puzzle on level 7: 5756-07.

Going forward, I'll probably change the weekly challenges into videos showing me playing icosi-do and thinking aloud. The challenge would then be to solve the puzzles faster or in fewer moves than I did. Also, if you get stuck with a puzzle, you could look at my solution for hints. Please let me know what you think of this kind of challenge.

Update V-04: undo at your fingertips
This is the second regular update of the game, which brings a major new feature (undo with "X" button and key) and a couple of smaller changes:

  • You can now use the "X" button on Xbox controller (and Tilt Five™ wand) or the "X" key to undo the last move (in addition to the menu item LEVEL MENU > UNDO MOVE).
  • UI hints now include the "X" button/key when it is available. Note that undo is not available in RACE games, nor in the tutorial.
  • Since the "X" button is now used for undo, I decided that the "X" and "Y" buttons can no longer be used to change settings in the menu.
  • When using Tilt Five™, the new key/buttons to move the puzzle up are "G" key on keyboard, left bumper on Xbox controller, and "A" button on Tilt Five™ wand. The new key/buttons to move the puzzle down are "B" key on keyboard, right bumper on Xbox controller, and "B" button on Tilt Five™ wand. The new key/buttons to scale the puzzle up are "Y" key on keyboard, "Y" button on Xbox controller, and "Y" button on Tilt Five™ wand. For scaling down, hold the "Y" key or button until the puzzle shrinks.
  • The tutorial was updated accordingly and now also mentions that you can hover over gray rods to see their colors.
  • The manual has been updated, too.
  • Also, there are a few small cosmetic changes (including a small pause showing the final state of the puzzle when you run out of moves) and a bug fix regarding the way the music ends when a puzzle is solved.
  • And last but not least: the demo version number in the CREDITS is now T-04 (for version V-04). In the future, 'll keep them in sync.

As always, please let me know any comments or problems in the comments!

Update V-03: a useful user interface
This is the first regular update of the game, which brings a major new feature (UI hints) and a couple of smaller changes based on comments and reviews of the full game. Thanks to everyone who took the time and sent feedback!

  • UI hints appear at the top of the screen and show a subset of available keys and buttons that are sufficient to navigate the menu and interact with the puzzles using Xbox controller (or Tilt Five™ wand if connected), keyboard, or mouse.
  • Some buttons and keys are not shown since I feel that they would clutter the display. You can find a description of all controls in the manual.
  • You can deactivate the UI hints in SETTINGS > CONTROLS > UI HINTS.
  • As I added these UI hints for the whole menu, I fixed the user interface in a couple of places to be more consistent. Please let me know if you find something that I missed or that should be changed back.

Apart from UI hints, there are also a couple of smaller changes:

  • I changed the name "Enter key" to the correct name "Return key".
  • The frequency of the flashing of rods in the tutorial was increased to attract more attention.
  • If you swap the wrong (non-flashing) rods in the tutorial, you now get a message "WRONG MOVE" to clarify why you go back to the description of which rods to swap. (The UI hints should make it clear how to close the tutorial in any case.)
  • If you fail to solve level 1, the system now replies "WRONG MOVE" instead of "OUT OF MOVES", which hopefully is a bit clearer.

Again, thanks for everyone's comments and reviews, which were very helpful to improve icosi-do! Please keep them coming!

First Weekly December Challenge
For this week's challenge, the theme is solving puzzles "one under par", meaning with one less move than the level number suggests.

The 3 codes of the puzzles are: 7754-08, 6924-09, and 4073-10.

To play these puzzles, you first have to unlock level 8 in the full game by solving puzzles on levels 1 to 7. Then you start a game with NEW GAME (in the main menu) and select CODE instead of a level to enter the first code. By solving that puzzle, you unlock level 9 and can enter the second code, and so on.

For everyone, who doesn't own the full game, here are some "one under par" puzzles that you can play in the demo version: 5238-05, 5268-06, and 5700-07.

As always, please let me know what you think of these challenges.

In other news, I'm currently working on displaying optional "UI hints", i.e. information about some of the keys and buttons that are supported by the user interface at each moment. The first version will probably come out this week, so stay tuned for that!

Fourth Weekly November Challenge
This week, I'm starting with challenges that require the full game: specifically, puzzles on level 11 that can be solved in 10 moves.

The 3 codes of the puzzles are: 2921-11, 4471-11, and 4889-11.

To play these puzzles, you first have to unlock level 11 by solving puzzles on levels 1 to 10. Then you start a game with NEW GAME (in the main menu) and select CODE instead of a level to enter one of the codes.

For everyone, who doesn't own the full game, here is a surprisingly challenging level 4 puzzle that you can play with the demo version: 6008-04.

As always, please let me know what you think of these challenges.

Patch V-02: grayish text option and frame rate limit
Thanks for the feedback on the released game! By the way: I don't give out Steam keys yet, but I'm happy to send free copies of the game to any Steam curator; just send me the name of your curator account. OK; here's what's in this patch:


  • There is a new value GRAYISH for SETTINGS > VISUALS > TEXT, which - surprise, surprise! - renders text in grayish colors (somewhere between COLORED and GRAY). This is actually the new default.
  • Waiting for the V-sync signal has been deactivated because not all displays provide a V-sync signal, thus, there has to be a fallback solution anyway. I'm now using Unity's target frame rate, which is set to 60 fps in LOW and MID quality settings, and 120 fps in HIGH quality settings. You can change the quality settings via SETTINGS > VISUALS > QUALITY.

As always, please let me know if you have any comments or questions!


Third Weekly November Challenge
This week we have some more "one under par" challenges on level 6, i.e. puzzles on level 6 that can be solved with 5 swaps.

The 3 codes of the puzzles are: 3039-06, 4691-06, 5892-06.

To play these puzzles, you first have to unlock level 6 by solving puzzles on levels 1 to 5. Then you start a game with NEW GAME (in the main menu) and select CODE instead of a level to enter one of the codes.

Going forward, I will soon include challenges that require access to the full game - maybe together with one puzzle that can be played with the demo version. Please let me know what you think would be best.

ICOSI-DO RELEASE
After months of waiting, icosi-do has been launched! This is the first game that I launch on Steam; thus, I don't really know what I am doing, but so far everything appears to work fine. If you run into a problem, please let me know and I'll try to fix it as soon as possible.

A note on the discount: because of the week-long release discount, the game cannot be part of the upcoming autumn sale on Steam.

Be patient and don't forget to have fun!

Second Weekly November Challenge
This week's challenge includes three difficult puzzles on levels 4, 5, and 6 for everyone who is waiting for the much more difficult puzzles in the full game, which will be published later this week!

The level codes are: 5511-04, 9465-05, and 6868-06.

To play these puzzles in the demo, you first have to unlock level 4 by solving puzzles on levels 1 to 3. Then you start a game with NEW GAME (in the main menu) and select CODE instead of a level to enter the codes. (Make sure that MOVE LIMIT is turned ON in SETTINGS > MODES.)

Enjoy and please let me know what you think of these puzzles!

First Weekly November Challenge
While searching for interesting puzzles, I came across only two level 3 puzzles that can be solved with 2 swaps. Unfortunately, I never found a third one. Therefore, the third puzzle of this week is a level 4 puzzle that can be solved with 3 swaps.

The 3 codes of the puzzles are: 8507-03, 3439-03, 2939-04.

To play these puzzles in the demo, you first have to unlock level 3 by solving puzzles on levels 1 and 2. Then you start a game with NEW GAME (in the main menu) and select CODE instead of a level to enter one of the codes.

Enjoy and please let me know what you think of these puzzles!
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