Difference between revisions of "White Jigsaw"

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==Review==
 
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{{Spoilers}}

Revision as of 17:00, 16 August 2022

Title screen.

White Jigsaw is a puzzle video game developed and published by Gamedesign for Flash in 2006. The game is just a simple all-white jigsaw puzzle with fully-interlocking pieces. It starts at a simple 4x3, but, each time you solve the current puzzle, it is replaced by one of the same size, but at a higher piece-density. The second puzzle is 5x3, then 6x4, 7x5, 8x6, and so on. Each puzzle takes exponentially longer to solve as the all-white design doesn't give any hints as to how the pieces fit, so you must rely on their cutout shape. The original game has been taken offline and was replaced by White Jigsaw 2.

Personal

When I found out about Gamedesign, I found this game as well. I remember getting up into the teens in an attempt to finally find the end, but eventually giving up. In 2022, I found an old messageboard where a player mentioned they spent several days on a single puzzle to reaching 42x31, which was pretty good evidence that the game wouldn't end. After that, I figured out how the save game file works and tried increasing through a number of levels. Eventually, I put myself on a level that had pieces so small they were just a bunch of black dots. Unless the game has a victory condition on finishing the level, I'm pretty confident that it never ends. In a way, this made me both happy and annoyed. Happy to know that I don't have to keep trying to beat it, but annoyed that the developer didn't make it clear from the beginning. I also discovered that by hacking the save file you can generate non-square ratios like .

Status

This game is free. It can't be beaten.

Review

Video Game Review Icon - Enjoyment.png Video Game Review Icon - Control.png Video Game Review Icon - Appearance.png Video Game Review Icon - Sound.png Video Game Review Icon - Replayability.png
4 5 3 1 5

Best Version: Browser

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

  • The game is an enjoyable calming experience... for awhile.
  • Unlike a lot of puzzle games, the game engine doesn't automatically connect pieces, it only snaps them to the grid. This prevents you from being able to "cheat" by quickly moving pieces all over the place.
  • The generation code is quite nice. The pieces are all unique, but still look like legitimate jigsaw pieces.

Bad

  • As you get further into the game, the pieces keep getting smaller, and they eventually become too small to see clearly. You can use Flash's built-in zoom feature, but this is a pain to deal with.
  • Since Flash is no longer supported by modern browsers, you'll have to play it in a Flash emulator. Also, the original version of the program was replaced with version 2, and there is no longer a link to it on the publisher's site.
  • The game saves into your browser's storage area, making it difficult to backup or transfer your save game, and, if you ever clear your cache, it gets deleted!

Ugly

  • As far as I can tell, the game never ends. Online, commenters have posted reaching level 36x27 with tiny pieces, and I have hacked the saved game file to put myself on 160x120 (while it was loading, Flash warned me several times that the program had stopped responding).

Media

Screenshots

Download

There is no longer a link to the original White Jigsaw on the developer's Web site (though it still exists if you know the exact URL). Because of this, I'm making it available for download here. You can run it in the Flash Player Projector Content Debugger.

Links

Link-Official.png