Hello again zen puzzlers! Some of you may have spotted my previous post teasing a follow-up to [i]Mega Mosaic[/i]. Well I'm now happy to officially announce my next puzzle game, [i][b]Proverbs[/b][/i]! [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44981493/50abf67bdf4bf46162358153c3ec85b404782f83.png[/img] As some of you correctly identified, this sequel is based upon the 1559 painting [b][i]Netherlandish Proverbs[/i][/b] by Dutch renaissance painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Why this painting? I first came across it as a teenager; a print of it was hung outside of a room where I sat and waited for piano lessons. I'd pore over the strange, funny and often grotesque details with friends. If you're not familiar with the painting, it represents a common trend in painting of the time, where artists would cram hundreds of common proverbs and idioms into a single canvas. Many of these phrases persist into modernity and have equivalents in english (e.g. To bang one's head against a brick wall). And what a perfect subject matter for a Mega Mosaic! I wanted to follow up the original with a single focused theme, and it means that solving regions will no longer just reveal part of the image, but delve into the meaning of the original work! [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44981493/c4ffc7f4a5c60f1fc9261bb048cb27d5c740a9c1.png[/img] With [i]Proverbs[/i] I'm also experimenting with some gameplay changes which will increase the challenge slightly, while addressing some of the complaints about the first game . [h3]New region system[/h3] [i]Mega Mosaic[/i] featured thick solved lines, dividing the puzzle into regions. These served an important role in giving lots of "starting points" throughout the middle of the board, but they also meant that players never really solved the entire board from scratch. In [i]Proverbs[/i], there are no solved boundary lines, and the puzzle is divided up in the gaps between squares. What's more, [b]clue numbers now only describe the number of white squares inside that region[/b]. So you'll need to also consider how many neighbouring squares there are when solving. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44981493/0c1d6d89a201807a81be7982c9b8fb227bdbfab7.png[/img] [h3]Pacing[/h3] The top of the board in [i]Mega Mosaic[/i] featured some truly huge regions. While there's still a range of large and small regions in the new game, the board is divided up slightly smaller and more evenly this time around. [h3]Hand-crafted solution[/h3] With [i]Proverbs[/i] I'll be taking the time to carefully craft a solution that roughly matches up with the illustration, replacing the random noise of the first game. (Ignore the noisy solution in these screenshots, they are WIP!) [h3]Next Fest Demo[/h3] Overall I hope these changes will perfect this particular recipe. But you can have a taste for yourself soon, as I'll be releasing a demo in time for [url=https://store.steampowered.com/sale/nextfest]Steam Next Fest[/url], running October 14th-21st, with a full release not long after! [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/3083300/Proverbs/][img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44981493/0cb96b9071832df9e5ea1b2b19a6ad53095116f5.png[/img][/url] In the meantime, wishlist and follow the game to hear about every milestone on the journey to release! [u][h2][url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/3083300/Proverbs/]Store Page[/url][/h2][/u]