Pieces

April 22, 2024 in Prototyping

Pieces is a game idea I currently have in development. It is a daily artwork puzzle for players to solve, either at a relaxed pace or against the clock for those that like competition.

While I’ve been designing and building out the concept into an interactive prototype, my son suggested it could be a really great fit for the New York Times Games suite, which we both love and use every day. So… for the purposes of a demo, I have adapted the game to fit into that ecosystem.

Try it for yourself

You can try out the game prototype at the link below and there’s also a short video beneath so you can see what it looks like and how it works.

Please be aware that for now it’s best viewed on large screens in landscape format.

Further info

I am a designer and front-ender with a love of illustration and simple games, and for me Pieces brings all of these interests together. I made this exploratory prototype for a bit of fun, but I think it could be a good fit for NYT Games because, it is:

  • A daily game that doubles as both a puzzle and a relaxing activity.
  • Accessible to speakers of all languages as it is visual and not reliant on words.
  • Fun and engaging. Friends and colleagues who have playtested it have found it both relaxing and enjoyable and love seeing new art every day.
  • Potentially revenue generating. One idea is to feature artworks from the NYT Store that could then be sold to interested users. Or there could be a partnership with contributing artists and illustrators.
  • Able to offer varying difficulty levels. My underlying code can be easily adapted to allow for different levels of difficulty based on lower or higher resolution tiling of artworks.

Here’s a few screenshots of the prototype in action featuring wonderful artwork by collaborator and talented artist, Tommy Parker (thanks Tommy!) along with one or two other artworks from the public domain.

Sample screens

The UI for Pieces
Example games in Pieces

Thanks

Thanks for looking. And if you know anyone on the NYT Games team, I would love an opportunity to share this prototype with them to see what they make of it!