The puzzle game I played was Full Moon by Bart Bonte, available on web and accessible on both PC and mobile, targeting a younger audience through its simple art style and silly text instructions, although many adults would likely still enjoy it as well. It is a one player point and click game where you try to feed a hungry bunny by bringing the food to it or bringing it to the food. Each level ends when the food item (an acorn, pear, apple, or carrot is in the bunny’s reach). I love how clicking, combined with holding/dragging, and waiting create many different methods of interaction with simple silhouettes, like trees, owls, rocks, and string lights. The immediate feedback the player gets from clicking and interacting with the screen is super satisfying, inspiring a sense of discovery, and also directs the player to the puzzle’s answer. However, not every item will be interacted with in the same way.
For example, consider the puzzle below. In a previous level, clicking on the tree would drop a leaf, but not in this level. Additionally, clicking on the owls causes them to always jump either up and down or to the next available space, but clicking the light bulb (unlike in previous levels) did not turn the lightbulb on. However, from previous levels, we know that the lightbulbs must be turned on from left to right/in order. Eventually, from trying different permutations of these clicks, I discovered that if an owl was “trapped” to jump up and down on the appropriate light bulb, it would light the bulb. While these inconsistent mechanics caused me some frustration at first, but overcoming the challenge through continuing to interacting with the items on screen was equally rewarding and satisfying.
Furthermore, the objective of feeding the rabbit combined with the very simple silhouetted art style and the nocturnal electric beeps and boops of its sound design create a sense of fantasy for the player, where you feel like a force of nature or even the rabbit themselves.
ABOVE: [LEFT] unsolved puzzle, [RIGHT] solved puzzle; smaller rabbits must hang off of a larger rabbit
ABOVE: The final puzzle. All adjacent lightbulbs to the one you click will light up. To light them all up, you must click the top and bottom rows only, lighting them up 6 at a time. Afterwards, the animals all dance, and you are congratulated for being an ace puzzle solver.
The one critique I would have for this game is that it is nearly impossible to play on mobile unless you have played it before and know what to interact with. The feedback and precision that is available with a mouse is all stripped away on mobile, so its just frustrating trying to click the tiny hit box to turn on a lightbulb. Ultimately however, the puzzles are the core of this game, and while the mechanics of each stage are somewhat unrelated to the other stages, the simple and silly story arc is still rewarding and fun for the player.
