I wrote a custom solver to validate each puzzle and estimate difficulty. It works by applying deterministic constraints until the board reaches a stable state. If anyone is interested, I can share the logic flow or even open-source the validator.

Also curious: does anyone here have experience balancing handcrafted puzzle difficulty at scale?

One feedback I have is that the instant I get the combination correct and complete a challenge, it suddenly pops up a “congratulations” message with a button to go to the next level, I can’t see my final solution.

I really want to take a few seconds to see my final solution, study, understand and admire it.

I’m not saying you can’t/shouldn’t do this but they should be spaced out more. It not fun to finish one puzzle then realize for the next one: “oh, it’s the same puzzle rotated 90/180 degrees”.

Additionally, I understand the 4 vs 8 surrounding block distinction but I wonder if it makes sense to do both. I found it a little annoying to have the rules change like that just as I was getting the hang of it. I could be wrong here and maybe you still want the ramp-up in difficulty but I’d almost prefer moving from 4->8 during the tutorial and never going back. But that might just be me.

Lastly, I agree with another comment here, make the initial few game count closer to 10 before the CTA. I wasn’t ready to make a decision after just a few games. Maybe even wait till the user finishes the first set of levels? Obviously they can choose to upgrade at any time but the CTA seemed too early.

I think you really need to have 10-20 levels, not 2, before interrupting with the CTA for paying. I had only just learned the basic rules and had no clue if I liked the game or what hints would even be worth to me.

I was going to comment that the frame rate and responsiveness was oddly bad but when I went back to check a few things it was buttery smooth. Dunno if that was just a weird one-off or something that happens on first launch?

Let me hide the timer. I know, it’s silly. But it truly affects my enjoyment of nonogram games.

I like the simple little beeps it makes when toggling. Have you considered picking triads from different keys? This can break the monotony. You could pick a random key each game and different chords from that key!

Overall this is well done. You should feel proud of your accomplishment!

I have red/colour blindness and I find that the contrast between the red and green borders on cells is very low (they look quite similar to me).

It doesn’t stop my playing - it just slows me down.

It might be something you address is you find you have many players with colour blindness.

And

>Only works on apple devices.

These 2 items seem at odds with each other. Apple doesn't really make low end devices. Sounds like a cool game, I'll try it if you ever port it.

Sounds like something I would enjoy. Unfortunately I don't have iOS.

I hate to be the guy but your post text here doesn't exactly portray "handcrafted". Seems to be heavily AI with the sentence structure and the "[inserați linkul]" at the end (are you Romanian?). Quite a lot of em dashes and bullet points in the middle of sentences.

Any specific reason you used AI here?