this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2026

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I built a minimalist arrow escape puzzle game to help unwind during short breaks. Free, no ads or sign-ups. Would love your feedback! (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 month ago by singledaisy@lemmy.world to c/indiegaming@lemmy.world

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Hi everyone,

I'm an indie creator who really enjoys clean, minimalist logic puzzles. Lately, I felt that too many web and mobile games are overcrowded with pop-ups, forced daily sign-ins, and overwhelming visual clutter.

I wanted to build something extremely simple: a game you can fire up in your browser instantly, test your spatial logic for 5 or 10 minutes, and feel that satisfying "click" when a grid clears.

So, I created this free online arrow escape game.

What it's all about:

100% Browser-based: No downloads, no account registrations needed.
Pure Spatial Logic: Focused entirely on path-finding and grid clearing.
Zero Distractions: Designed specifically for a quick, calming mental break during work or study.

I am currently trying to polish the level design and difficulty curve. I would really appreciate any feedback from fellow puzzle enthusiasts here!

Did you find the mechanics intuitive? How does the touch/click controls feel on your device? Thanks for checking it out!

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[–] Bo7a@piefed.ca 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

This hits just the right spot for me. I played on desktop.

Controls and gameplay were intuitive, everything was fluid and smooth.

great work! I'm going to share this a lot today.

[Doh, I tabbed out to share with friends and got the timeout with the prompt to watch an ad. This is going to be a sticking point for some of the folks I share with. I understand monetization, but that type feels yucky to a lot of people. Maybe consider embedding smaller ads in the page or some other way to make a few cents off your quite good game.]

[–] singledaisy@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Thank you so much for the kind words and for wanting to share the game! 🙏 I'm thrilled to hear the desktop gameplay felt intuitive and smooth!

Regarding that timeout prompt: since the game literally just launched, there are actually zero ads embedded right now! What you saw is just an inactive, pre-built ad slot that doesn't trigger or display any real ads.

But you are 100% right—even seeing that prompt feels yucky and breaks the chill vibe. Thanks to your advice, I'm going to remove that pre-built slot right now to ensure a much better experience for everyone. Thanks again for helping me polish it! 🎮✨

[–] lost_faith@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Welp, this is bookmarked on my work PC now, ty. Once I play a bit more I may have feedback, liked and loved.

Edit: I'm on lvl14, the grid has a nice growth to it, each level getting smaller arrows, but at 2 different levels it got bigger than the previous level. Is that a rest level or just pulling the wrong map.

What you saw is just an inactive, pre-built ad slot that doesn’t trigger or display any real ads.

Are you considering ads? If so, I'd like to suggest an opt-in approach. Make a "support me, with ads" button where users could, if they wanted to help you without direct payment, click knowing they will be watching ads to help you out. I've thought about this approach and for small devs I'd be willing to turn off ublock and watch an ad or 3, if I could choose when and if they play. If you take this approach I'd be interested in the results, even 6+ months from now.

[–] pro_user@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)

On my iPhone 17 pro in Safari, this is hardly playable without adjustments. My browsers default zoom is 115%, which hides some of the buttons off-screen. The full-screen button does not seem to work.

My advice: make the game itself a single page application, instead of a small embed on a website.

[–] singledaisy@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago

Thank you so much for the detailed technical feedback! 🙏 Knowing your exact setup (iOS Safari at 115% zoom) is incredibly helpful.

I appreciate the SPA suggestion! However, I am actually actively working on a fix right now to get the mobile fullscreen button and zoom scaling working properly as-is, without needing a full architecture rebuild.

A fix will be rolling out soon. Truly appreciate you testing it out! 🛠️✨

[–] singledaisy@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Hey again! 👋 I just wanted to reach back out and say a huge thank you for your incredibly specific feedback earlier. Mentioning the 115% default zoom on your iPhone 17 Pro and Safari was a lifesaver for reproducing the bug!

I've just pushed a major layout and viewport update that specifically addresses the issues you highlighted:

📱 Fixed the Full-Screen Button: It now responds properly on mobile Safari, giving you an immersive view without the browser chrome.
🔍 Resolved Viewport & Zoom Cropping: I reworked the responsive scaling so that no UI buttons will get pushed off-screen, even when your Safari default zoom is set to 115% or higher.
👆 Refined Touch Hitboxes: Tapping should feel much smoother and more accurate now.

While I haven't fully migrated the architecture to a standalone SPA just yet, the updated viewport scaling and working fullscreen mode should make it feel much closer to that clean, native experience you suggested!

I'd be super grateful if you could give it another spin when you have a moment and let me know if it plays smoothly on your iPhone now. Any further feedback is always welcome! 🙏🚀

[–] pro_user@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

You sound a lot like an AI. Not in the last place because the zoom-cropping issue is not resolved at all.

[–] Lumidaub@feddit.org 1 points 1 month ago

Heya, I have nothing inspirational to add so here's an observation: in later levels I had a few misclicks due to my phone screen being too small. I probably could've prevented those by zooming in but it's quite easy to get into a flow state which would be interrupted by having to zoom. I wouldn't expect you to try and find a fix, just wanted to share my experience :) other than that, nice meditative game while I wait for that process on my laptop to finish.

[–] lost_faith@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 month ago (2 children)

The background could be a darker colour, it really contrasts, in a painful way, with the rest of my dark mode settings

[–] singledaisy@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

Hello, after the update, you can click the settings button to access dark mode.

[–] singledaisy@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

That’s a fair point. I spend most of my time testing the game in light mode, so I didn’t realize how harsh that white background feels next to a dark browser. I’ll look into adding a darker background. Thanks for pointing it out!

[–] valar@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Neat, very satisfying

[–] singledaisy@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

Thanks! Glad you found it satisfying—that’s exactly the feeling I was hoping for :)