Fractal Jigsaw Puzzle

February 8, 2016 7:21 AM

Fractal Jigsaw Puzzle
A jigsaw puzzle in which the pieces are jigsaw puzzles. Runs in your browser.

Role: programmer

posted by mpark (23 comments total)

This project was posted to MetaFilter by Going To Maine on February 8, 2016: “There are a lot of pieces in this puzzle.”

Pretty cool! Sort-of-bug: the bottom-most square of the puzzle doesn't completely fit in my browser window and I can't scroll down to it.
posted by Going To Maine at 10:05 AM on February 8, 2016

I'm already hooked!

I had the same problem as you, Going to Maine, but I was able to zoom out in Safari on a Mac by hitting Cmd-Minus once or twice, and now I can see the whole puzzle.
posted by amf at 10:24 AM on February 8, 2016

Oh, right. I haven't quite figured out scrolling with HTML canvas; I just rely on zoom (ctrl+scroll wheel on Windows).
posted by mpark at 11:26 AM on February 8, 2016

I did the first one, and it shrunk down and gave me a new puzzle, but only the piece from the first one has a texture on it - the rest are kind of pinkish. The pinkish tiles don't snap when I put them in the right spot, but the textured one from last time snaps to its position just fine.
posted by aubilenon at 11:44 AM on February 8, 2016

Oh I just now watched the video. I didn't realize I had to double click to solve each of the new ones. So I guess it's not broken, but it would be nice if the UI gave me some hint that I need to drill down to solve the new pieces before I can snap them into place.
posted by aubilenon at 11:47 AM on February 8, 2016

Is there any way to save?

Also - pony request! - one feature that I like of typical jigsaw puzzles is the ability to snap together free-floating pieces.

I've also inflicted - ahem, introduced this to my husband who is an avid puzzler.

Very cool, thanks for making and sharing this!
posted by bookdragoness at 2:50 PM on February 8, 2016

It saves - I took a chance, and when I went back into the puzzle, it asked if I wanted to continue from last time.
posted by bookdragoness at 3:04 PM on February 8, 2016

The ability to form free-floating groups is one of two things on my to-do list that didn't make the cut. The other is rotatable pieces.
Based on MF feedback, I might also need to address scrolling, disabling sound, and adding some sort of hint system to explain what to do (I thought the video + instructions would suffice, but apparently not).
Thanks to everyone who's tried it out!
posted by mpark at 4:54 PM on February 8, 2016

Rotating pieces would make the game impossibly difficult.
posted by Going To Maine at 4:59 PM on February 8, 2016

I wouldn't worry, GTM; I don't know if/when I'll ever get around to it.
posted by mpark at 7:10 PM on February 8, 2016

Seconding that the ability to snap together free-floating pieces would be a nice addition. Please don't make the pieces rotatable, though!

BTW, how many levels are there? I thought I finished the whole picture, only to find that it was just one piece of the next level up...
posted by amf at 12:16 AM on February 9, 2016

Oh no, please no rotation. Free-floating snap pieces would be great though.

amf, theoretically infinite but you'd probably run out of time/patience first because each level you go up also compounds the number of lower-level pieces to be made. Also probably a limit due to computer memory space.
posted by bookdragoness at 6:52 PM on February 10, 2016

Is there an easy way to port your progress to another browser? Is it enough to copy the local storage puzzle data?
posted by Phredward at 7:17 PM on February 10, 2016

I implemented free-floating groups for solved pieces.

There actually is a top level. You'll know it if you get there.

I'm afraid I don't know if local storage is portable between browsers.
posted by mpark at 8:05 PM on February 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

Wow. That's addictive! Well done.
And, yeah, please don't make pieces rotateable.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:08 PM on March 1, 2016

I think I may have finished the puzzle, but I'm not sure. So, I've worked the puzzles-inside-puzzles-inside-puzzles-etc., and I'm to a point where the completed mega-puzzle just sits there. It doesn't shrink down into yet another puzzle. But, there's nothing to tell me if I've completed the game.

I double-clicked on one of the completed pieces and the game zoomed into that piece, and now I can't get back to the completed mega-piece.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:08 PM on March 2, 2016

the escape key zooms back out
posted by aubilenon at 11:51 AM on March 3, 2016

I cleared things up with Thorzdad via email. He still has a lot of puzzle left to solve.

Is it sad that I keep checking this post?
posted by mpark at 1:03 PM on March 3, 2016

I played eight pieces (!) and then closed my browser and even though I clicked yes to resume, I only got one completed piece back. Maybe a problem with local storage on safari? Currently working up the gumption to continue :)

(and thank you for such a lovely game! My partner and I idled hours away in it. Such fun!)
posted by conkystconk at 1:55 PM on March 6, 2016

Do try again, conkstconk! It should save every time you close the tab it's in, so solve a piece, close, and reopen. If you run into more problems send me a message.
posted by mpark at 1:22 PM on March 8, 2016

I'm still working on this in my spare time. Anyone else?
posted by mefireader at 2:07 PM on May 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

So's my wife :)
posted by mpark at 3:45 AM on June 6, 2016

So, I'm still doggedly plugging-away at the puzzle. But, I have to say, the extraordinarily large number of solid green pieces/areas is really starting to drag on me. I find myself getting excited when I start a new piece and there's one or two sub-pieces which have a mere whisper of fractals on them.
posted by Thorzdad at 12:48 PM on June 26, 2016 [1 favorite]