How We Design a Piece Out Level

Every level starts with a question

A Piece Out board never begins as a grid. It begins as a question like: what happens when a mirror piece can only rotate clockwise? Or: can a corridor be so tight that only a specific orientation fits? If the question has an interesting answer, it can sustain a board, sometimes a whole chapter.

Paper first, software second

Design sketches happen on squared paper because it is faster than any tool we have built. A promising sketch gets digitised into our internal editor, which enforces the game's rules and flags impossible configurations instantly.

The shortcut hunt

Once a board is solvable, the real work starts: trying to break it. Testers, and occasionally our solver tools, hunt for solutions shorter than the intended one. A shortcut means the board was too generous; we tighten it until the elegant path is also the shortest path. Roughly a third of candidate boards die at this stage.

Difficulty is a dial, not a switch

Playtests with real players calibrate where a board belongs. The same puzzle can be tutorial-easy with one extra open cell, or expert-tier with one cell removed. We adjust walls the way a sound engineer adjusts faders, a little at a time, until the intended solve feels earned rather than discovered.

The hint is part of the design

Every shipped board includes a full step-by-step hint, written alongside the solution rather than generated after. It is one reason custom commissions take days, not hours: the hint has to teach, not just reveal.