Croquet Conundrum
Note: Saving for the embedded version of the game may not work on all browsers. Try refreshing the page after solving the first few levels to see if saving will work in your browser. Or you can just download the executable version of the game—it runs at a higher quality too!
Croquet Conundrum is a small puzzle game about hitting a ball through pipes to traverse a world of interconnected islands.
The game is entirely playable with your mouse, although there are keyboard shortcuts for some actions. In the downloadable version, you can press F to toggle fullscreen. Should you wish to reset your save file, press the undo button ~50 times in a row while the map is open. Should you wish to preserve it, do not do this.
Credit goes to Riley Woodward for making the music for the game. I recommend checking out his other stuff here: https://www.youtube.com/@rileyw6142.
I'd also like to thank my family and friends for supporting me while I developed the game, and the Cascadia Hobgoblins for giving me useful feedback and motivation to finish the project. One person can make a video game, but they can't do it alone :)
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Development log
- The aforementioned larger update68 days ago
- Small fixes before larger update83 days ago
Comments
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Really really good 'thinky' !
I have a technical question about the hint system and overall design. Does the game store some sort of tree of all possible game states for each level? If so, did you also use that tree to check that you can't softlock yourself by bringing balls into levels? If not, how does the hint system know if it's solvable or not? Also, how is "closest to the finish" measured if the path is not unique?
Great questions!
Each puzzle stores a set of every state in which the puzzle is solvable. Because the game is relatively small I was able to create these sets manually, but if the game were any larger I would have used a solver to find all the solvable states. Checking a hash set is a constant time operation, so it's virtually free to check if the current state of the puzzle is contained in the set, which if and only if it is, the puzzle is solvable.
Since each puzzle only has a finite number of shots the player can possibly obtain, and the player cannot move without consuming some sort of resource, each puzzle can be represented as a Directed Acyclic Graph with all solution states being leaf nodes. Because of this, we know that every move will always bring the player closer to a solution state (provided they move into a state that is contained in our solvable states set). Therefore, we can fairly accurately check how close a player is to solving a puzzle by just checking how many moves they have made in that puzzle.
I should also mention now that levels and puzzles are distinct. Some levels will have multiple puzzles in them. For instance, the level named "Bridge" has two different puzzles in it: the one entering from "Toucan" and exiting into "Gator", and the one entering from "Gator" with an extra ball and exiting into "Cyclone". This means that each level can have multiple sets of solvable states corresponding to different puzzles within the level. The game knows which puzzle the player is attempting to solve within a level by using the player's starting position, whether they brought a ball with them, and the lists of pipes the player has already entered and exited through. If there is no puzzle that matches the starting configuration, the hint system will say there is no solution.
Also, the game is designed in a way where it is never bad to bring a blue ball into a level with you, so there are no possible softlocks (as far as I'm aware)
Good amazing game! 5 stars
Although the rules are simple - hit the ball and put it in the gate - the puzzle design is very elaborate and deep!
I managed to reach the ending with my baby brain, but I didn't realize that it was ending 1 and that there was a more hidden ending with a higher difficulty level...
Incredibly awesome game, meow~!
This is fantastic. I'm partway through and looking forward to completing it.
I did it!
Glorious game!
Android Play Store when?
I have no estimate currently, but I do still intend to get it onto Android
I'm actually quite deep on my second run, already did ending one, and it's fun the second time, "CUMMON BRAIN, YOU DID THIS ONE BEFOER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! why can't brain do it again :("
Found this from Icely's video and knew I had to play it myself. (I think was after he beat bones that I quit spoiling it and dived in.) I love the tight puzzle design, especially the way it stays so when rooms are reused from different entrances. I love the way it sticks closer to the actual rules of croquet than I would ever have expected a hard puzzle game could. I love the way the Almanac doesn't tell you what to do, but does clarify the rules on what you've seen. I don't love how the web version crashes if make a move in any level, open the map, pick a multi-entrance level, open the map again before picking and hit reset. I love the way the hints are based on "don't tell me what to do, just tell me if I've gone wrong;" more puzzle games should try that! (Where the state-space permits.)
Really really amazing game :)
Sad that its over tho, but sometimes keeping things short makes them better i guess ;p
my progress is gone
Oh no! Can you give me some more details so I can try to figure out what happened? Were you playing in the web browser, or were you playing the downloadable version? If you're playing in the browser, please tell me which browser.
browser, chrome
That's really strange. I always use chrome and saving has always worked. I was thinking that it could have been because I pushed a new update last night, but I just did some testing on an unlisted itch.io page and my progress transferred between the old version and the new version. Maybe you somehow cleared your browser cache?
Can you verify that saving has ever worked for you? Play a couple levels and then close the window and come back and see if your progress is there.
my progress has saved before, it justrandom;y dissapeared today
Hmm, I don't know what the issue could be then. If you remember what puzzle you had gotten to, I can send you a save file with the unlocks up to that point so you can get back to where you were (it would have to be for the downloadable version though, idk how to manipulate the save file in the web browser)
Never played Croquet before, puzzle design is incredible and makes for some really interesting puzzles. I didn’t get very much into the meta puzzles, but I overall enjoyed playing through the game!
Btw, hint system is awesome.
If you've got a back yard I 100% recommend picking up one of those $40 croquet sets from Walmart or something. It's such a fun game because it has just the right mixture of skill, randomness, and rivalry. You would also pick up the rules pretty quick because the real game uses most of the same rules as this game does (2 shots max, wickets give 1 shot, balls give 2 shots and let you put your ball next to them, etc.)
Awwwww, it's done now, i'm kinda sad
Well I'm glad you enjoyed it, thanks for playing and cataloguing your experience! It definitely won't be the last game I make, so no reason to be sad :)
hahahah, just got ending 2, that one is funny. Thats 1 2 and 3 done. The hunt for 4 begins. Great game, seriously so good. And the hint system is great, next level. You could have even charged an add for hints, made a little money from this gem.
i got only end 1 and 4, oasis and tunnel look too spaghetti to me lol
10/10 game! Hint system is next level!
super cool game! very reminiscent of a monster's expedition
insanely good hint system too
i would easily pay money for this
very fun! wish there was more to do, could definitely see this becoming a full 30-60$ game
Alternative title: A good Croquet is hard to play
I like the title as it is. it definitely ties in to the mood of the game.
Very fun game! Loved the mechanics, including the limitations and possibilities that came with it. Appreciated the almanac and especially the hint system, it was pretty helpful for when I got stuck on a level. I found all the endings very enjoyable, they all felt like they fulfilled a particular role in the game to me.
I've gottent ending 1 and 3, but for now I'm 100% stuck on tunnel.
Really nice game with great hint system!
This is very cool :)
Thanks a lot!
I'm curently on the very frustrating path to find ending 2. I hate this game but I must 100% because I love it and that's why I hate it.
I believe in you! Take a break if you need to though. Sometimes taking time away from a puzzle you're stuck on is the best way to progress.
actually I've been coming back in and out for a few days now. Super fun
What do you do on an ending level? the wicket doesn't do anything
I see I guess you do this on purpose
I got the "you can exit from the same pipe you entered" from wayyyy after I got it in Title
Thanks for reporting that, I'll look into it
What a clever and difficult game! Best puzzle of the year.
Finally finished everything, really cool game and fantastic puzzle design!
Great game! Made for an enjoyable evening play session. Smart use of theme and constraints to find surprising depth. The hint system is really innovative and a perfect fit for the game. The alternate endings are challenging, fun, add a nice meta layer in terms of how levels connect, and really show off the clever design skills repurposing existing layouts.
Awesome game, I enjoyed it very much! As others have said, the hint system is so cool (and very necessary imho lol).
Here's the full map of the completed game in case people want to know how much they have left to solve (spoilers obvs.)
https://imgur.com/a/29HUdko
where are the other 3 endings i only found ending 1/4
If you open the map you should see a lot of question marks showing puzzles you haven't been to yet. Now that you've gotten ending 1, you have all the information you need to reach all of these locations. Figuring out how to get to them is a puzzle of its own though, so don't give up!
If you get really stuck, you can always ask the hint system "What is my goal here" to see if there's more to a level than you think.
thanks a lot
I am also learning how to make games using unity and games like your give me insperation
What a wonderful comment! I'm so happy that my game could inspire you!
Tricky puzzles, good vibes. Congrats for finally releasing!!!!
Love these carefully created puzzles! You can tell the dev put a lot of time into these!
OMG YES IT'S DONE
CONGRATS!!
i played the demo and really liked it, looking forward to this one!
simples mechanics and BIG BRAIN puzzles. i'll play again for sure. great game !
I love it! The hint system is probably the best I've seen!
Truly a quirked up puzzle game. 10/10 will play again