Make Shapes!

An educational puzzle game idea to teach shapes and colors. “Make Shapes!” is a bad pun on “Make Way!”

The map is a bunch of dots (on a grid), with grayed-out (“not-yet-filled-in”) lines between them.

Each “turn”,

The game gives you the next color. (You can see the whole row + the whole background turns that color to be obvious. So you can look and think ahead.)
You tap one “grayed-out” line to make it that color!
If this finishes a SHAPE (say, a square of only red lines), you “completed that color”.

Depending on the grid/lines possible, you could make triangles, pentagons, diamonds, etc. We might even make this explicit: “RED must become a TRAPEZOID”.

Higher Difficulties =

You can’t overlap lines of different color, so you need to finish a shape (to get rid of those lines) with the right timing?
Everything inside that shape disappears? This is a way to get rid of “bad lines” you can’t use?

How to generate puzzles?

I think it’s a very strong idea with lots of educational value, but I didn’t see a clear way to randomly generate its puzzles. (I didn’t have the resources to create a large number of them by hand.)

Sure, you can just create an empty grid of dots, then “fit” shapes on it.

For example, a square just means “connect vertex (X,Y), (X+1,Y), (X+1, Y+1), (X,Y+1)”. But what about e.g. pentagons and hexagons? They need a different kind of grid, otherwise the distances don’t work out.

Okay, we might move to a triangular grid. But then squares—arguably the first shape kids will be able to play with—are literally impossible.

Okay, what if we do both? We just overlay a rectangular and triangular grid, and any shared points are just considered the same point? Sure, that will work, and it will also create a complicated mess that 4-year-olds can’t follow :p

Okay, what if we simply reduce the scope and only use a small set of possible shapes? Then the game loses its educational value again …

I could not figure this one out, maybe you can.

An educational puzzle game idea to teach _shapes and colors_. "Make Shapes!" is a bad pun on "Make Way!" The map is a bunch of **dots** (on a grid), with **grayed-out ("not-yet-filled-in") lines** between them. Each "turn", * The game gives you the next color. (You can see the whole row + the whole background turns that color to be obvious. So you can look and think ahead.) * **You tap one "grayed-out" line to make it that color!** * If this finishes a SHAPE (say, a square of only red lines), you "completed that color". Depending on the grid/lines possible, you could make triangles, pentagons, diamonds, etc. We might even make this explicit: "RED must become a TRAPEZOID". Higher Difficulties = * You can't overlap lines of different color, so you need to _finish a shape_ (to get rid of those lines) with the right timing? * Everything _inside that shape_ disappears? This is a way to get rid of "bad lines" you can't use? ## How to generate puzzles? I think it's a very strong idea with lots of educational value, but I didn't see a clear way to _randomly generate_ its puzzles. (I didn't have the resources to create a large number of them by hand.) Sure, you can just create an empty grid of dots, then "fit" shapes on it. > For example, a square just means "connect vertex (X,Y), (X+1,Y), (X+1, Y+1), (X,Y+1)". But what about e.g. pentagons and hexagons? They need a different kind of grid, otherwise the distances don't work out. Okay, we might move to a triangular grid. But then squares---arguably the first shape kids will be able to play with---are literally impossible. Okay, what if we do _both_? We just overlay a rectangular and triangular grid, and any shared points are just considered the same point? Sure, that will work, and it will also create a complicated mess that 4-year-olds can't follow :p Okay, what if we simply reduce the scope and only use a small set of possible shapes? Then the game loses its educational value again ... I could not figure this one out, maybe you can.