Learning Rules by Looking
No manual, only panels; each solved one teaches a new rule.
- Prototype complexity
- Who plays
- Solo decisions
- Design focus
- Information · Discovery · Planning
No.256The Witness01The core loop
Action → feedback → next choice- 01Meet a new symbol
- 02Try and fail
- 03Infer the rule from easy panels
- 04Apply it to harder combos
↻Feedback changes the situation — the next round starts from there.
Walk through one round
A simplified design example. Situations and numbers illustrate the mechanic, not exact rules from a reference game.
- T1
Turn 1 · The situation
Black and white squares appear; the first three panels require a line separating them.
- T2
Turn 2 · The player chooses
On panel four, infer 'same colors must share a region.'
- T3
Turn 3 · The feedback
Success; the panel lights and the next row opens.
- T4
Turn 4 · The next decision
The next set combines this rule with a new symbol.
How it plays
Puzzles express rules through symbols with no written instructions. Sequences run easy to hard, early ones allowing a single solution so players deduce the rule. Errors give simple failure feedback, and success becomes player knowledge.
What the player weighs
- Grind this panel or seek tutorial panels elsewhere
- Trust your hypothesis or test it again
02Start small
Scope is an editorial estimate for the minimum prototype, not the reference game or a production schedule.
03One mechanic, different implementations
The Witness
Players draw lines on panels across an island, each area teaching a new symbol rule purely through observation and environmental hints, with no text.
Taiji
Players toggle tiles on grids, inferring symbol meanings through experiment and comparison, in a philosophy similar to The Witness.
The difference worth noticing
The Witness centers on drawing paths; Taiji on toggling grid tiles, changing how rules are expressed.
Case notes are Yoroll editorial summaries; rules may change between versions.
04What could you combine?
Fish schools leave distinct ripple patterns, and players deduce which pattern means which fish and where it gathers.
Prototype this combo in Yoroll→Follow the next idea
Earned Map Information
The map doesn't just appear; you buy it, find it, or draw it yourself.
- Prototype complexity
- Who plays
- Solo decisions
- 01Enter unknown ground
- 02Seek a map source
- 03The map fills in
- 04Plan routes with it
Push Without Getting Stuck
Boxes push but never pull; one wrong shove can wedge them for good.
- Prototype complexity
- Who plays
- Solo decisions
- 01Study boxes and targets
- 02Plan push order
- 03Push and watch for dead ends
- 04Undo or solve
Decoding an Unknown Tongue
No dictionary, only symbols on walls and the gestures around you.
- Prototype complexity
- Who plays
- Solo decisions
- 01Collect unknown glyphs
- 02Guess from context
- 03Submit a translation
- 04Confirm and unlock dialogue