PUZZLE25
Version 0.1.1
Save Game Sketching
June 8, 2026
11 Puzzles
Second devblog. I thought it would be hard to write these but it's actually a pretty good exercise.
I am realizing that Puzzle25 will need some kind of sign-in and save game functionality to really work properly. It's unlikely that people will be able to finish it in one sitting. Did some research into options with both cookies and SQL, ultimately I think SQL will be the cleaner option. It will be a pain but it's still early enough that it's not a ton of rework. Still, may not get a ton of work done in terms of new puzzle design this week.
I'm also questioning the original 25 puzzle design concept now. Maybe it would be fun to add a new one each week? That probably helps to drive recurring traffic and lets it be more of a hobby than a portfolio piece. I'm happy to develop it organically and see where it takes me.
In the Adsense journey, I got approved to have in-game ads (similar to those horrible ones on mobile games) but that isn't really the vision. It might be an option to integrate it with a hints system, where you have to watch an ad before getting hints for the early puzzles. Could also have it as a one-timer on signup or when you start playing. I really want sidebar ads still as the layout of the page was designed for them.
Until next week!