Trifoil
A downloadable game
Subverts your understanding of line drawing puzzles.
Playable early demo build is out! Join discord for a link, feedback welcome.
Trifoil is an upcoming line drawing puzzle game. Trifoil will have explorable levels, at least 200 unique hand crafted puzzles, spanning different mechanics. Trifoil's secrets can be discovered on steam and itch.io in the near future.
Wishlist on steam, join the Discord!
Devlog and game-play vids posted here and on twitter regularly.
Multiple puzzle mechanics
Later puzzles take a mind bending twist
And this is just the demo! Follow development on steam, devlog, twitter or discord as I take Trifoil from a prototype to a full featured puzzle/exploration game. Trifoil is planned for release on steam and itch.io for PC.
Status | In development |
Author | Andrew Jones |
Genre | Puzzle, Adventure |
Made with | GIMP, Unity, Aseprite |
Tags | 2D, Abstract, Casual, Exploration, linedrawing, Minimalist, Neon, Singleplayer |
Average session | About an hour |
Languages | English |
Inputs | Keyboard |
Links | Steam, Twitter/X |
Development log
- Steam page is live - Wishlist now!Aug 03, 2024
- Rough edit of the reveal trailer on youtubeJul 24, 2024
- Pre-demo alpha build ready for play testingJun 30, 2024
- Demo on Steam soonJun 22, 2024
- Adding TJunction mechanicJun 22, 2024
- Introduction to the first 4 mechanicsJun 06, 2023
- Back at it and revamp of the tutorial sectionApr 21, 2023
- Log 18: Private alpha release and updated the itch.ioJan 04, 2022
Comments
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I'm enjoying it thus far! The mouse controls could use some work, and I would like to see keyboard or gamepad controls. It's probably more amenable to the d-pad on a game controller rather than the mouse. The mouse doesn't quite feel like a match for this kind of gameplay (although I assume you have to support it so people don't complain).
The knot puzzles seem to have a relatively simple set of rules such that once you figure out what you can't do, it's much easier to sort of unconsciously work your way through a puzzle, even if it's long or seemingly complicated.
There aren't many knot puzzles which I was able to solve "at a distance," and I suppose that means I wasn't spending much of my time conceiving of a grand strategy to solve the whole puzzle and instead relied on not doing what I know you can't do. Once you know what you can't do, you can work through the puzzles by feel.
I'm not really sure what to think of that, since The Witness also has that quality. I mean, the point of it is to figure out the rule, and once you do that, all of the puzzles become much easier.
But maybe you want to start giving people new mechanics or combined mechanics right at the moment most people figure it out, kind of like how Too Many Cooks changes the show just when you think you know where it's going.
I got through all of the knot puzzles. I just started with the twist puzzles. I'll update you on my thoughts as I work through the game. :-)
Thanks, the controls are going to get a complete rewrite before release. I just got them going enough to start testing ideas.
Glad you figured out the implicit rules, they become much easier once you do. Combined mechanics come into play later.
The puzzles need to be improved. But that's the point of prototypes to test out ideas and iterate.
Thanks for checking it out and taking the time to write the above. Looking forward to hearing what you think of the other areas.
Pretty fun game! And I say that as a fan of The Witness. :)
Here are some thoughts...
I found the twist puzzles to be a lot easier than the knot puzzles as you pretty much just follow the walls - axis-aligned or diagonal. The knots required more thinking.
I think the game is somewhat lacking a-ha moments as the later levels seem to increase difficulty simply by being longer and more tedious instead of introducing new interesting situations. This is just a small complaint though! Just something to keep in mind when making more levels.
The mouse controls could use some work as it's sometimes difficult to get the line where I want. It's also kinda hard to see what knot and twists are left to do if the line is going through the tiles with pink structures once. Maybe the line should be thinner?
Anyway, good work on the game so far!
Thanks again for checking it out. Glad you enjoyed it. The movement system will get rework in the "polish" phase and should be smoother. Its a good point about the twist puzzle being not as good as the knot ones. I found that it was harder to create interesting puzzle that were just twists. I'll take another long look at them. Also good to know that the "ah-ha" moments were lacking in the later puzzles. Something I'll keep in mind for new ones and reworking the old ones. Email me at twentyfourhourpajamapeople@gmail.com and I'll put you on a list to get a steam key for the retail version of the game. But that's a while away (:
These are great puzzles, they're hard! I got the first few easy but then it took a while to get the 4th and 5th knots. Works great in Linux too, nice one.
Thanks for checking it out!