Here's a game that combines jigsaw puzzles with arithmetic problems to great success
An upcoming indie puzzler takes on the complexity of circuits by reducing them to familiar puzzle pieces and simple math. In Electrogical, set to release this year and with a demo out now, you'll place pieces on the board to form a chain that adds, subtracts, divides, and multiplies to reach a set output—but the pieces you have are fixed in shape and rotation, the boards are weird sizes, and you might not need every part you have to succeed.
It's pretty approachable for both a puzzle game and a math game, without time or attempt limits or anything like that, and it aims to reward creative approaches by the player. The cool part is when it starts messing with the formula: Challenge levels have simple solutions, but let you chase high scores by using more pieces, or fewer pieces, depending on the goal—or give a bonus for forming a shape with your pieces, or even for balancing your math like an equation.
Electrogical is an award winner even though it's not out yet. It was a winner of the GYAAR Studio Indie Game Contest hosted by Bandai Namco last year.
"Electricity, hardware, and technology can be very complicated topics, but when broken down into their simplest form, anyone can understand the basics. Electrogical gamifies the basics of electrical engineering," said Yutuka Kinjo, the solo developer behind Electrogical, in a press release.
The demo that's on Steam now is pretty long and shows off some cute puzzles to play around with. It takes its time to get going with complex stuff, but the upside there is that it eases you into the style of game Electrogical is going for. There are even some clever, cute bits where it makes you solve a circuit to turn off the music you're on and swap to the next song on the soundtrack. Diegetic! I love it.
You can find Electrogical on Steam, along with its demo.