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Sid Meier, who doesn't make puzzle games, has a saying that everyone who does make puzzle games has probably thought about from time to time. Actually, it's more of a question. A challenge. To paraphrase, since I am stupid and have lost the exact wording, Meier likes to ask his team: Who is having fun here? Voila: the question as hand grenade. Is the designer having most of the fun? If so, what about the player?Another way of putting this is to say that, weird as it sounds, I'm starting to suspect it's easier to make a puzzle game that's ingenious than it is to make one that's satisfying. (As a design idiot, I should mention that I imagine none of this is particularly easy.) Boxboy!? Boxboy! definitely looks like it's going to fall into the first camp: minimalist, monochrome art, a brilliantly clever team behind it (HAL Laboratory, of Kirby fame) and a simple premise ripe for endless clever riffing. You're a 2D square, right, and you can sprout chains of other 2D squares from three sides of your head/body unit. That's it. Bring on the switches.
I was all set to admire what followed rather than truly enjoy it. But then something happened: Boxboy! surprised me. It's a delight! (Of course it's a delight. It's HAL Laboratory.)
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