So I printed out version 1 a while ago and I want to know if I'm missing anything about the metapuzzle in version 2. Am I missing anything important? For reference, mega spoilers, rot13(V'ir orngra cntr sbhe)
Actually, I think we did! There were eight exclusive puzzles unlocked from solving the meta puzzle. The big clue is the "edition" box in the first version was replaced.
I have literally hundreds of board games, computer games, gamebooks -- not to mention movies, YouTube....but THIS puzzle book has been my chief and best entertainment over the last couple weeks. Great stuff. Just purchased the follow-up. Thanks to Tom over at Shut-up and Sit Down game channel for the recommendation.
This is so cool, I have the digital free version and so far I have loved every part of it. I managed to get other people to play and we had a wonderful evening of brain-wrecking together. Thanks a lot for your work, I'll try to get a physic version soon.
This is a brilliant bit of game design. I love how gently the puzzles guide you into understanding each rule, so far I’ve never felt lost but still feel clever when I get a new one. Do you have any advice about tuning the difficulty in that way? It’s something I really admire in games that do it well but struggle with creating.
Thank you for the kind words! Well, it helped me a lot to playtest LOK with various people, seeing where they struggle and streamlining those bits. In terms of the puzzle design, it's always the case of being as basic as possible in presentation of a new element and then making it more challenging with other puzzles, where the new element is already known. So yeah, there can never be enough of simplicity and accessibility - you can always ramp up the difficulty with later challenges.
LOK is a groundbreaking text that will pioneer the world of inductive game design. i have only just begun but have glanced forward at future chapters and cannot wait to work through this whole beautiful book. amazing artwork, highly immersive, rewards lateral thinking and straightforward logic both.
Its EXCELENT, I adore this game, the puzzles are short but smart and I love the sense of achievement when I figure out a rule, I've printed the pdf in A5 and carry it with me to solve puzzles on the metro and it's fantastic. I love that it is free so anyone can enjoy this masterpiece and if you have the means you can pay what you want.
For those that want to support digitally, this PDF format works really well on eInk tablets like the Kindle Scribe or ReMarkable. If it has a stylus and you can write on the document, it's fantastic!
I love the puzzles, but was stuck on nr. 24. Even after looking at the solution it seems to be invalid. :( Rule of TA and adjacency are not respected in the solution? Or am I missing something?
Oh WOW, this is incredible! I saw LOK on the front page of Itch and instantly clicked it because it's 100% up my alley (and I had a bunch of HP Instant Ink prints about to expire lol so it worked out doubly well!). I printed a copy for myself and for my partner, Angel, so we can work through it together-but-separately.
I'm really, really excited to work through this book, but goodness is it huge, VERY well put together, and clever!
I heard about lok from the latest shut up and sit down video, tried the free pdf and LOVE IT which led me to buy it right away. I really like how clever the puzzles and the rule discovery is. Thanks for this great game! I'm also looking forward for your next projects!
Do you have recommendations for similar solo / puzzle games?
As far as I know - and as far as I discussed your question with a friend who is an expert on these puzzle sets - there aren't many paper-and-pen games around where figuring out the rules is a puzzle itself. I'm aware only of The Witless by TheGreatEscaper ( https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/47870/witless-a-puzzling-journey ) and FMTC by Jack Lance ( https://jacoblance.wordpress.com/2020/05/16/logic-puzzles/ ). There are of course a lot more instructionless puzzles in the video-game format (The Witness, Understand, Taiji ...). I'd love to see more such paper games, so let me know if you find anything else :)
I will also upload my Let's Play videos on my YouTube channel in the future. (Since I am speaking in Japanese, I know it will be difficult to understand!)
Hi, Competor, this is great! Thank you for playing LOK and for translating it (and also for the kind words). I'm interested in making a Japanese edition PDF with your translation - if you agree, please contact me at blazgracar@gmail.com - there are some details I need to sort out beforehand.
Looking forward to the Let's Play videos, even though I won't understand them :D
Thanks again, I think it's fantastic that you took your time to translate it! Best, Blaž
When I solved puzzle 33 I was already hooked so I bought the digital file. I just reached chapter 6 and figuring the rule made go “Aaahhh!” so I came to purchase the physical book but unfortunately it’s sold out :(. Great job mate! I will surely keep my eye open for anything new (and old) by you!
Glad to hear this! :) Thanks. Yeah, the response overwhelmed me a bit, I truly didn't expect to sell out, at least not so quickly... I will have another print run ready sometime in August - I hope there will still be some people interested in it when I'll have it!
I just started playing this from a suggestion of a guy in a mechanical puzzle Discord group... really enjoying it so far! I suggested Lineon to him, and then discovered they're by the same person! You do great work! Looking forward to more!
Very nice of you, phunknsoul, thanks! I really need to get back to Lineon and finish it, I feel like I learned some stuff while making LOK that would benefit it :)
I needed to translate the game so that my friends and family can play it too, not sure it was the easiest or best solution especially since your amazing presentation is lost in the process but I ended up just using a pen.
I am going to laminate the sheets but still scanned those to be sure I can still print more if needed, I still have to make the second half but here is how it looks in case you'd be intrigued (I guess at very least it shows the interest we have in your game) : https://imgur.com/a/G0ZX4D0
I solved the different chapter beginning examples on the go but haven't begun to dig the advanced ones, this will be ton of fun.
This is so cool, CryptRat! :) I'm really surprised by the work you've put in! Please, send me the final scans so I can have them for my archive (blazgracar@gmail.com) - I might even use your translations for a French edition in the future, if you'll be up for it. I hope your friends and family will enjoy it :) Thanks!
I completed the translation (I did not look at the last sections, of course ;) ). I'm trying to send you a mail with the files but since I assume it won't work, whatever the reason, here are all the separate sheets either way (I guess imgur is not worse than some weird download link) : https://imgur.com/a/XlqV782.
Only just starting to solve these puzzles but I have to leave a comment because I can't believe nobody else has. This is such a fun-looking book, both with the puzzles and the aesthetic. Very excited to continue progressing through this world!
← Return to puzzle book
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
hey, I still don't get how 31a puzzle isn't solvable while 28-30 are. Any hint? :)
31a is about when/where to turn. Do you see a difference in turning between 31a and 28-30?
okay I read the rules at the back of the book and it cleared it out for me. Thank you! Outstanding work, congrats on the book!
thanks!! :)
So I printed out version 1 a while ago and I want to know if I'm missing anything about the metapuzzle in version 2. Am I missing anything important? For reference, mega spoilers, rot13(V'ir orngra cntr sbhe)
Hey! We already talked on Discord and sorted this out right? :)
Actually, I think we did! There were eight exclusive puzzles unlocked from solving the meta puzzle. The big clue is the "edition" box in the first version was replaced.
I have literally hundreds of board games, computer games, gamebooks -- not to mention movies, YouTube....but THIS puzzle book has been my chief and best entertainment over the last couple weeks. Great stuff. Just purchased the follow-up. Thanks to Tom over at Shut-up and Sit Down game channel for the recommendation.
This is heartwarming to read, thank you so much :)
Hi. How would work an international purchase? I'm from Brazil
If you’re talking about physical book, there shouldn’t be any problems - you can order to Brazil here: https://letibus.bigcartel.com/product/lok
This is so cool, I have the digital free version and so far I have loved every part of it. I managed to get other people to play and we had a wonderful evening of brain-wrecking together. Thanks a lot for your work, I'll try to get a physic version soon.
Thank you, SunnyPie :)
This is a brilliant bit of game design. I love how gently the puzzles guide you into understanding each rule, so far I’ve never felt lost but still feel clever when I get a new one. Do you have any advice about tuning the difficulty in that way? It’s something I really admire in games that do it well but struggle with creating.
Thank you for the kind words! Well, it helped me a lot to playtest LOK with various people, seeing where they struggle and streamlining those bits. In terms of the puzzle design, it's always the case of being as basic as possible in presentation of a new element and then making it more challenging with other puzzles, where the new element is already known. So yeah, there can never be enough of simplicity and accessibility - you can always ramp up the difficulty with later challenges.
That makes sense, thank you! Looking forward to playing more and also trying that out.
Coool!! Like the puzzles
LOK is a groundbreaking text that will pioneer the world of inductive game design. i have only just begun but have glanced forward at future chapters and cannot wait to work through this whole beautiful book. amazing artwork, highly immersive, rewards lateral thinking and straightforward logic both.
this game rules. thank you.
Thank you for the kind words!
Its EXCELENT, I adore this game, the puzzles are short but smart and I love the sense of achievement when I figure out a rule, I've printed the pdf in A5 and carry it with me to solve puzzles on the metro and it's fantastic. I love that it is free so anyone can enjoy this masterpiece and if you have the means you can pay what you want.
Keep the good work
Thank you! :)
For those that want to support digitally, this PDF format works really well on eInk tablets like the Kindle Scribe or ReMarkable. If it has a stylus and you can write on the document, it's fantastic!
Really enjoyed and I can't wait to see more in the digital version
I love the puzzles, but was stuck on nr. 24. Even after looking at the solution it seems to be invalid. :( Rule of TA and adjacency are not respected in the solution? Or am I missing something?
24 is valid. You probably misinterpreted a rule, I suggest you look in the "Rules" section to confirm
You are right! Thanks and congratulations on this project!
Oh WOW, this is incredible! I saw LOK on the front page of Itch and instantly clicked it because it's 100% up my alley (and I had a bunch of HP Instant Ink prints about to expire lol so it worked out doubly well!). I printed a copy for myself and for my partner, Angel, so we can work through it together-but-separately.
I'm really, really excited to work through this book, but goodness is it huge, VERY well put together, and clever!
- ✨Beth
Thank you, Beth, have fun with the puzzles :)
I heard about lok from the latest shut up and sit down video, tried the free pdf and LOVE IT which led me to buy it right away. I really like how clever the puzzles and the rule discovery is. Thanks for this great game! I'm also looking forward for your next projects!
Do you have recommendations for similar solo / puzzle games?
Thanks again!
Thank you very much! :)
As far as I know - and as far as I discussed your question with a friend who is an expert on these puzzle sets - there aren't many paper-and-pen games around where figuring out the rules is a puzzle itself. I'm aware only of The Witless by TheGreatEscaper ( https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/47870/witless-a-puzzling-journey ) and FMTC by Jack Lance ( https://jacoblance.wordpress.com/2020/05/16/logic-puzzles/ ). There are of course a lot more instructionless puzzles in the video-game format (The Witness, Understand, Taiji ...). I'd love to see more such paper games, so let me know if you find anything else :)
this seems like such an interesting puzzle game! the art is also very pretty :)
Thank you very much, appreciated :)
Hello!
I enjoyed it very much! It was a great puzzle game.
I made a Japanese translation of this game. If you are interested, please take a look. I hope you would be pleased.
ルール解読系パズル本「LOK」の日本語翻訳 / JP translation of the word search puzzle book "LOK" by Blaž Urban Gracar https://gomamisomix.hatenadiary.com/entry/2022/09/24/001012
I will also upload my Let's Play videos on my YouTube channel in the future. (Since I am speaking in Japanese, I know it will be difficult to understand!)
Anyway, good game!
Hi, Competor, this is great! Thank you for playing LOK and for translating it (and also for the kind words). I'm interested in making a Japanese edition PDF with your translation - if you agree, please contact me at blazgracar@gmail.com - there are some details I need to sort out beforehand.
Looking forward to the Let's Play videos, even though I won't understand them :D
Thanks again, I think it's fantastic that you took your time to translate it! Best, Blaž
OK I sent a mail!
When I solved puzzle 33 I was already hooked so I bought the digital file. I just reached chapter 6 and figuring the rule made go “Aaahhh!” so I came to purchase the physical book but unfortunately it’s sold out :(. Great job mate! I will surely keep my eye open for anything new (and old) by you!
Glad to hear this! :) Thanks. Yeah, the response overwhelmed me a bit, I truly didn't expect to sell out, at least not so quickly... I will have another print run ready sometime in August - I hope there will still be some people interested in it when I'll have it!
Perfect. I am definitely in!
I just started playing this from a suggestion of a guy in a mechanical puzzle Discord group... really enjoying it so far! I suggested Lineon to him, and then discovered they're by the same person! You do great work! Looking forward to more!
Very nice of you, phunknsoul, thanks! I really need to get back to Lineon and finish it, I feel like I learned some stuff while making LOK that would benefit it :)
So cute and evocative, and the puzzles are so clever!
:>
This is awesome, big thanks for sharing.
I needed to translate the game so that my friends and family can play it too, not sure it was the easiest or best solution especially since your amazing presentation is lost in the process but I ended up just using a pen.
I am going to laminate the sheets but still scanned those to be sure I can still print more if needed, I still have to make the second half but here is how it looks in case you'd be intrigued (I guess at very least it shows the interest we have in your game) : https://imgur.com/a/G0ZX4D0
I solved the different chapter beginning examples on the go but haven't begun to dig the advanced ones, this will be ton of fun.
Thanks again!
This is so cool, CryptRat! :) I'm really surprised by the work you've put in! Please, send me the final scans so I can have them for my archive (blazgracar@gmail.com) - I might even use your translations for a French edition in the future, if you'll be up for it. I hope your friends and family will enjoy it :) Thanks!
I completed the translation (I did not look at the last sections, of course ;) ). I'm trying to send you a mail with the files but since I assume it won't work, whatever the reason, here are all the separate sheets either way (I guess imgur is not worse than some weird download link) : https://imgur.com/a/XlqV782.
I got the email, all good! :) Thanks!
Only just starting to solve these puzzles but I have to leave a comment because I can't believe nobody else has. This is such a fun-looking book, both with the puzzles and the aesthetic. Very excited to continue progressing through this world!
Thank you, CyberneticSquid, much appreciated! :) I hope you’ll enjoy the rest of the journey as much as you had enjoyed the beginning!