Ask HN: What do you think of this novel slider puzzle? [video, full rules, beta]

Gameplay video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lC34LO_bL4k

# Game Rules

# Objective

The game is played on a 6 × 6 grid using six colors.

Each color begins with:

1 gate

5 tiles

The six gates are fixed in place. They cannot move or be removed. Every row and every column contains exactly one gate.

Your goal is to leave as many of the grid's 30 non-gate cells empty as possible in the given number of moves.

# Shapes

Every tile and gate has one of two shapes:

Square

Circle

A tile can be removed only when both its *color* and its *shape* match the gate it passes through.

# Making a Move

Swipe any row or column to rotate its tiles and empty spaces by one position.

Anything that passes an edge wraps around to the opposite edge. The gate remains fixed in place.

During each rotation, exactly one tile or empty space passes through the gate. That interaction may change the passing tile and the gate. Everything else simply moves to its new position.

# Passing Through a Gate

There are three possible interactions:

* A matching tile is removed.

* Any other tile causes both shapes to change.

* An empty space creates a new tile.

# Matching tile

When a tile matches both the gate's color and shape, the tile is removed, leaving an empty space.

For example:

* A square blue tile is removed by a square blue gate.

* A circle red tile is removed by a circle red gate.

The gate does not change when it removes a tile.

# Any other tile

If a tile does not match both the gate's color and shape, both the tile and gate change shape:

* Square becomes a circle.

* Circle becomes a square.

Their colors do not change.

For example, when a circle green tile passes through a square green gate:

* the tile becomes a square

* the gate becomes a circle

Matching is checked before either shape changes, so the tile is not removed during that move.

Similarly, when a square green tile passes through a square red gate:

* the tile becomes a circle

* the gate becomes a circle

The tile is not removed because its color and shape did not both match the gate before the shapes changed.

# Empty space

When an empty space passes through a gate, it becomes a new tile with the gate's current color and shape.

The gate does not change.

The newly created tile cannot be removed during the same move.

# Reversing a Move

Every move can be reversed by swiping the same row or column in the opposite direction.

Reversing restores the previous board position, including any removed or created tiles and any shape changes.

The reverse swipe still costs one move.

# Tile Sizes

Among tiles of the same color, larger tiles are closer to the gate of that color.

Tile sizes update as the tiles move. Size does not affect how tiles interact with gates.

# Ending the Game

The game ends when you run out of moves.

You may also end the game early. Removing every tile may not always be possible.

# Scoring

Score = (% empty × 1000) + moves remaining

The empty percentage is the percentage of the grid's 30 non-gate cells that are empty.

# Beta

https://testflight.apple.com/join/3sstMjRK [iOS/iPadOS]