My First Sudoku
I finally took my first steps into making Sudokus. I think making the Renzokus has helped prepare me a little bit as the same process occured of making sure each number placement didn’t clash on the horizontal or vertical.
So for the two I made here, the first thing I had to really concentrate on was just that: making sure the numbers didn’t clash across row, column and box took a few attempts. After getting the grid filled in though it was a simple case of drawing another blank grid and filling in numbers to make good clues.
To do this I essentially concentrated on one or two numbers that I wanted to direct the player towards in particular. In a 6x6 grid there aren’t a lot of solving solutions you can cater to like in a 9x9 grid. But to just get this first Sudoku made it was about getting it finished so I could reflect on what to do next. Filling out this grid with clues was just about communicating the minimum necessary for the player to solve it and also give them a starting position.
The second Sudoku was more of the same. What is the minimum amount of clues necessary to allow the player to fill in the grid. Even then looking back over it I can see numbers that could have been removed to make the puzzle a little more interesting. The 5 in box two and the 1 in box five are prime examples. However, I’m not great at solving Sudokus, there’s definitely more for me to learn in terms of solving solutions so I can get better at designing them.
Once again, it’s important to go back over puzzles you create over a period of time to reflect on what you could do better. This blog is fairly handy for doing that, especially if I only have a little bit of time to work on the puzzles.
What became immediately apparent in 6x6 Sudokus though is how limiting they are for the designer. There’s very little space to lead the player around the grid without letting the whole thing cascade in on itself. So the solving solutions are indeed limited but also there is a pattern that emerges across horizontal boxes where the rows in a box are the mirror of the adjacent box
They can be put in different orders yes, but once the player figures out this pattern in a 6x6 then it becomes even more trivial. This size of grid is perfect to start on though as it’s helped build my confidence to move on to the standard 9x9 Sudoku grid. I have been working on one and it’s been difficult but highly enjoyable. That’ll be the subject of my next blog though!
