CypherGrid
A downloadable game for Windows
Rudy is going to teach you how to decrypt hidden messages and Ucogi will test her ninja skills, as she cracks codes under fire!
CypherGrid is a logic puzzle: tiles in a grid must be colored according to numbers and if done correctly, a hidden picture is revealed. These pixel art-like images contain crucial info and clues for your secret mission!
The game's mechanics are unique and original. I can't wait to expand on this puzzle concept and release additional levels and story!
Please leave a comment with some feedback. It will make my day!
To play it in your browser, check in on NewGrounds.
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Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $1 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Development log
- CypherGrid v1.7May 28, 2023
- CypherGrid v1.6May 14, 2023
- CypherGrid v1.5May 07, 2023
- CypherGrid v1.3Mar 20, 2023
Comments
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Ah, as with all projects, once it becomes good enough and has enough work put into it, it must become paid. Oh well, isn't going to stop me :)
The current version is going to be a free demo, once I get to work on the actual game. So far, the game has a good basis but I need to work on a better story and make it a more complete experience.
Oh EXCELLENT. I was willing to foot the bill, since it's just one dollar, but knowing that'll be the price of the full game makes it that much easier to spend :)
My mind is not made up regarding the game's price and I don't want to mislead you. Ideally I would love to make several games in episodic format. That said, reality tends to mess up my plans! So, everything is subject to change.
Understandable! Thank you for being so up front about it :)
I was expecting a nanogram game, but I got a simple addition game instead 😂.
Playing v1.6, I realised that there is a simple way to clear all the stages, starting from the top left of course. This... left me a bit confounded about the game.
Nanograms have no set solving methods. It requires players to uncover more clues as they go, and the time used to solve it is usually unknown.
This puzzles here are so far, simple and straightforward. The only difficult part is to make sure I note down which numbers have been used, and pay attention to whatever distractions I see.
There are a few ways I can think of to complicate the puzzle without adding more distractions. For example, use more maths operations (which is something that might turn off players) like adding the numbers and check if the sum has the factor of the clue, add more than 1 clue in a single board, do the reverse and guess the clue from the pre-completed board, or simply use nanogram.
I am invested in the story. I look forward for more. 👍
"A simple addition game"... This hurts a bit, but it is something that nobody mentioned until now, and it's an interesting subject for discussion. I was pondering about this a lot, so thank you for bringing it up.
This game is indeed more straightforward than Nonograms. I don't mind that, because some people struggle with the priority rules and math. Plus, I wanted to make an original game, not another Nonogram clone. I have ways of making the puzzles harder, and your suggestions are very close to what I have in mind. I intend to add new stuff soon.
There is also a way of making ambiguous which tile is correct. Check the following image. A and B are the same puzzles but they have different result. This brings the deduction aspect closer to Nonograms, but it would confuse and frustrate the players, as the correct answer should be only one. So, I intentionally removed anything like that from v1.7.
The game already has numbers that disorient the player. If the tiles can be ambiguous in a Nonogram fashion, then the game would be almost unplayable. CyphersGrids have a different fundamental philosophy as a game, compared to Nonograms.
Perhaps you can put the really difficult ones in the bonus section instead of in the main story line 🤔
Well, looking forward to it :v
The game will get harder gradually, so I intend to put the really difficult ones at the end. New ideas and rules will be introduced as the player progresses and after each idea and rule is explored fully before moving to the next. I intend of making this in an episodic format, and this first demo is demonstrating the basic concept and its potential.
Just went through the latest version, nice changes! The tutorial is quite engaging and easy to understand.
I must second noodsnood69, the A meaning "anything with letters and words" is a bit unintuitive. Even with Dedu's hint i basically brute forced that one.
Most intriguing! Looking forward to updates on this one!
Thank you!
You are the 3rd player that complains about the "A" and the 2nd player to brute force a solution. I don't know why this is so hard... and I don't want to change the letter "A" or redraw any items. An easy tweak would be to make Dedu say something more obvious, like "This looks like a letter. Can you find two items that relate to letters and words?"
Do you think this would have helped you a bit more?
Yeah, rewording the hint like that might do the trick! Mostly it's just expecting the clue to either relate to a shape, or only the first letter of the word. The book saying "Atlas" is what threw me off I think.
I update the game yet again, with more improvements.
V1.7 thanks you in the end credits ^^
Thanks for the credit! I just want to help make your game as best as it can be from this position!
Speaking of helping, if you ever want your games in Spanish, I'd love to translate them!
Awesome! I will have that in mind!
Alright, just finished the newest drop, gotta say, love the new password save function, like how they did it in arcade games, and the fact that theres now SFX brings things even more life.Also really dug the new Prologue/Tutorial, I'm sure it'll help new players pick it up faster, although the "A" being for "Anything with words in it" threw me off for a bit. Aside from that, there were a couple of times the tutorial where I took damage due to the puzzle being a bit funky, which I'll send & see if I'm blind or not :)
Nice catch! I create these levels manually and sometimes I miss things. The inconsistencies you found, were design mistakes.
Thank you very much for your feedback! You were the first one to playtest this new version!
Always happy to help :) And hey, this means we get two updates back to back, no complaints here!
Decoy numbers are just there to confuse you, but they shouldn't mess with the puzzle's solution. I fixed the inconsistencies and I colored Dedu's dungeon hints in blue, to help people understand better how to use the "A". And which all that, I updated the game to v1.51!
I don't know if it's just because of myself having solved them already, or if when you updated it it did something funky, but all of the paper puzzles have orange squares where you're supposed to click, even the map and the clock in the safe.
Yes... T_T
I accidentally released the debug mode. I just corrected it though.. in v1.52! New releases are hectic and things like that can get easily overlooked.
Excellent! Glad we could get this all hammered out, and I'm always happy to Beta test the new drops :)
Awesome! Thanks for all your help!
LET'S GO NEW UPDATE JUST DROPPED
Haha! I had a few complains about the tutorial being a bit hard to understand. I hope this version fixes a few issues!
When is next update? good game
Thanks! I'm currently working on a tutorial update because many had trouble understanding the rules. Depending on the playtesting, I may have a new version in 3-4 days.
I can't pass the tutorial. Even understanding the diagonal priority setup, I don't understand why some cells give incorrect answers. Please help.
....I think the tutorial is in the wrong order or I missed something. It wasn't until I knew about using numbers once that I could solve the puzzles.
....then a time limit?!? It takes so long to figure out the whole thing! =(
Also, how do I continue my game instead of starting from the beginning every time?!?
Some cells are incorrect to throw you off as a red-herring distraction, but the final answer is always legit.
The time limit was experimental, but you can beat it if you restart the puzzle a few times, as the final answer does not change. The time limit is a superficial obstacle but I do need to make it slower, as it makes players panic.
In the main Menu, press the "Ninja" button, to get to the second half of the game. I may add a password system if the final game gets to be too long.
Really like the art style of the game, reminds me of the classic flash games I played and this like western anime look they sometimes had. Awesome work!:)
Making all that in under 10 days was a huge challenge and comments like yours is what makes it worth it. Thank you!
Heya! Me again, played the newest update & greatly enjoyed it. Smoother animations as well as running smoother in general, more difficult puzzles, & a bit more story to top it all off! The grid puzzle with hacking was particularly difficult. Oh, & to clarify, last time I was indeed referring to the original nonogram when I said it has an "Interesting basis, but gets overly complicated & stale fast". Looking forward to seeing more from you in the future :)
Thank you so much! You are one of the few people who can appreciate the evolution of this game, from v1.0 to v1.3. Feels like a completely different game now, doesn't it? It makes me very happy that you like it, and I do have a lot more puzzle ideas to add in future versions.
Quite an interesting puzzle you've designed! Original, intriguing and with the potential of being quite challenging!
I look forward to both more puzzles and more of the story!
Check the new version, you will love it! I managed to add a crazy amount of new content in just a couple of days!
Hey! Just went through & played this, & it's a refreshing new take on a game that has an interesting basis, but gets overly complicated & stale quickly. There was just enough here to get a taste for what's to come, but there's also some parts that are rough around the edges, like how when Ucogi jumps, she doesn't have anything below her knees, as well as a couple of typo's & a bit of grammar that takes some thinking to understand. All in all, I'd say this makes a great demo, 8/10, looking forward to how this turns out
CypherGrid v1 was done under a time limit and I didn't had the chance to proofread it or even have someone playtest it. And about Ucogi's jump animation... it was done in 3 hours, and it was finished 30 minutes before deadline. Fun times! But yes, I need to add limits for people who re-scale the game's window.
Also, you must be talking about Nonograms when you say that they "get overly complicated & stale quickly". Thank you for the long and honest comment!