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I love a bit of picross, not tried the test version yet so forgive me if this is included, but would it be possible to include a visual indicator that a row / column has been partially / fully completed, perhaps by making the number clues show in red when a row has been partially completed and in green when fully complete?
 
would it be possible to include a visual indicator that a row / column has been partially / fully completed
That's not in at the moment, but indicating fully completed columns/rows shouldn't be too problematic - I'm not sure about partial completion though (the maths for how I would start attempting that is buzzing around in my head now though!). I'm not promising anything though.

[EDIT] Completed rows/columns indicators are now in :)

I've used green numbers, but not sure about the colour. I initially used light grey and that was OK to me. Preferences?

pictocross.PNG

[EDIT 2]

Added new update. Please delete the old "Picross" file and the appdata directory. Unzip and place this "pictocross" file in your Desktop directory on your SD card. Remember this isn't a standard Repo style .PND

Pictocross.zip
 

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Proper (WIP) map editor now in and working - allows you to create maps of any size, although scrolling is not implemented yet. I still need to add a puzzle naming and themes (this will include changing the blocks, colours and backgrounds.

01.PNG

02.PNG

03.PNG

I also fixed a bug in the last version that displayed the horizontal clues backwards. :/

[EDIT]

Updated the editor.

pictocross04.PNG

Now allows brief puzzle names/descriptions.
 
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Some very cool designs there ED. I think some of them may require inverting, as they might be too tricky as puzzles, but I'll see what I can do :)

Cheers :)
 
Hmm, I looked at them and they should all work, though there are some hard ones there, yes :)
 
OK. Here's one of your puzzles in a playable Windows version.

Pictocross Windows.zip

Show me the first few opening moves ;)

[EDIT] Good Picross/Nonograms should not rely on guessing at all. They should use only logic to identify puzzle-peice/cross positions.
 

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It should work in WINE, but no guarantees.

I'm off to work soon, so I haven't got time at the moment to do a Pandora version. :(

BTW 30x30 puzzles are now in and working! Clues are an issue at the moment though :(
 
Tried it. Opening moves weren't too hard - I even managed to get as far that I recognized what picture you sent me :)

However, near the middle and end, there were a few times where you need to guess, and that shouldn't be the case.

I'll try to play through all my levels as well (just don't have a possibility right now).

BTW: Is there a way to include a testing routine into the level editor, that tests whether the puzzle needs guessing work or not?

And maybe even make suggestions or at least show where the problem is.

That would be awesome :)
 
Hmm, it'd certainly be possible to brute-force the puzzles and see if they're completable from the clues, but I'd expect there to be a more efficient way to do it.


In practice when I do a puzzle like this I look for the longest lines first, e.g. if it's a 15x15 puzzle I'll look for a line that's say 7 and 6 making a total of 14 (7+6+1). Big numbers help because then even if the line's two or more short, as long as the piece is three or more long there's always be an overlap that's guaranteed to be set.


That's pretty much all the logic there is to these puzzles. Setting crosses is important too I guess, as they puts extra constraints on shorter lines and lets you work out where they could fit I guess. If a line is a 1, 1, 2, 3, 1 and you find three in a row set you know that's the three and can terminate it with crosses. Hmm, though that also tells you where the three is in the line, and say that's towards the left of the puzzle can fix the position of the 1, 1 and 2 too. That's a little trickier to encode as an algorithm, I suspect. Or maybe it has a recursive solution, as once you can split the clue and the puzzle at a point, you can feed the shorter clue and the shorter puzzle line into the original algorithm that works out if whole lines can be guessed in the puzzle.


Hmm, I get the feeling I'm disappearing down a logical rabbit hole here, so I'll have to leave it there for a bit.
 
I don't know about testing for guesses, but I can certainly add a hint? option to give some assistance - how useful it will be would be random though. It could either do what "Picross e" on the NDS does, ie ask if you want assistance at the start of a session and fill in a whole column and row, or just pick out known placements of blocks.

I'll provide a proper update in the next couple of days. :)

@Levi - Logic - both for the blocks and the crosses is what Picross is all about. Never guessing.
 
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Its my suggestion for a name/logo for the other game described. Its a play on how ultimate is ultimativ in german, and then once more to get the effect that isnt in either, which is also play on the word itself.

Ultimativissimo!  (its hot here too)
 
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Another day, another update. This time for the Pandora. Again, it's not a proper Repo .PND, but it's playable if you place the unzipped folder onto your desktop.

pictocross.PNG

This WIP gives you one full 30x30 puzzle to complete. AS you can see from the screenie, some of the vertical clues are off the screen. If you tap the clues they will move down o you can view them properly. It works well, but is probably not the most elegant of solutions. It's certainly better than my original idea of floating clues either side of the cursor.

Thoughts?

[EDIT] As I had to rejig things and test them, I used new functions within my program and cut and pasted bits in and out, so some stuff that worked in the other versions might not work at all or correctly here. Eg I can't remember if I added button support back in or not.

Pictocross_Pandora.zip
 

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Looks somehow like Minesweeper. I never was able to get into these kind of games somehow, to high for me since Windows 3.1 actualy. :D  I was more the Solitaire gamer back then.
 
You could probably save a lot of verticle space by showing the numbers as a row of dots. e.g. "3" would become "•••". This would obviously not save space for bigger numbers but there are usually a lot of 1s, 2s, 3s, and 4s.

It's looking great btw, good job. I would probably enjoy helping out if I had any extra time to do so.
 
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