If you like puzzle games, like a sudoku, then you might be interested in the PC game Everyday Genius: SquareLogic. I know the guys at Truethought who created SquareLogic, and I did some beta testing.  It’s tempting to look at it as a variation on sudoku, but I think it’s more challenging.

The goal is to fill in the correct number for each square using the following rules:

• No number can appear twice in the same row or column.
• Each board is divided into differently-colored “cages”.
• Each cage shows an arithematic “rule” in the top-left corner (such as 9+, 12x, or Odd).
• The answers for the squares in each cage must satisfy the rule. For example, a rule of 9+ means the squares in that cage must add up to 9.

In addition, the game offers a bit of customization for the difficulty and hints. For example, not only can you select a difficulty level, but you can also set the size of the puzzle from 4×4 to 9×9.

If you purchase the game through Steam, you’ll have access to leaderboards, achievements, stats, and even remote game storage so that you can resume your saved games from anywhere.

You can try before buying.

I’m still trying to get solve a 7×7 puzzle with no hints whatsoever, but I think it’s appealing because you can scale the difficulty really well. Plus, you don’t simply play puzzles in isolation because the game is divided into regions, and you solve puzzles to travel through and complete a region, providing a visual progression in the game.

Plus, unlike sudoku, SquareLogic isn’t the same puzzle everytime in that the cages and rules vary, as well as the possibility of hidden cages.

There have been some very good complex DS homebrew games, such as a Touch of War. But I think there’s a trend for excellent homebrew games: take a simple but entertaining game, and do it very, very well with the ability to add to it. For example, StillAliveDS and Warcraft Tower Defense follow this model, as both offer level editors and ways to get new content to keep the game fresh.

Add to that the very excellent Marble from Noda. The game itself is simple–you have tilt a gameboard to move a marble to its goal, dealing with obstacles along the way. Marble placed third in the Neoflash summer 2008 competition [which StillAliveDS won].

Marble is quite a game, one that you can easily play for a long time. The game has some beautiful textures and backgrounds, and the game physics are really well done. But what is truly impressive is the level editor, in which you can edit the marble, board, and game elements:

• Board — Adjust size, border size and width, texture [8 available], and diffuse light color
• Marble — Adjust size, starting position, diffuse light color, and texture [8 available]
• Board elements — Add walls, speeders, magnets, bumpers, black holes, life, portal, sticky; set size, position, diffuse color and other parameters for each element
• Game — Set time, rebound, friction, main light color, main light position, and background [8 available]

I think Noda has a great game here, one definitely keeping on your cart. Now, the graphics are somewhat rough in places, but this is still very enjoyable and well done.

Of course, while the game might be simple, the work behind is hardly that. But I think the focus allows these developers to do it very well.