OP Here, I'm gonna try drawing all non-redundant lines to see if it improves the feel. UPDATE: done.
I will say that it took time for me to develop an intuition for where to focus solving efforts. I think if people spend a little time with it you wont have to click around as much to know where the next break in is.
I think it would, though there is a risk it'd be too cluttered visibly. But it does add the option of printing which is nice.
Looking at your example puzzle with all lines visible; the 8742 line in the top right and 896 in the bottom right are both redundant (second one doubly so since it's all givens). Maybe 50% of the two-cell lines are redundant and 33% of the 3-cell; so it might be manageable?
try it now, I think showing the runs is an improvement. I think theres a few more things I can do to improve the visuals. I also updated the article to make the rules for runs more general - a human could place them anywhere they'd like without the even/odd side constraint.
> I think theres a few more things I can do to improve the visuals.
You could:
• Make the run lines thicker, and use Bézier curves to give them a flow, which is easier to process as a whole than a series of thin line segments.
Internal dots, dashes, criss-crosses or other textures would further visually set lines apart from each other and make them easier to visually follow.
• Apply a faded background color to the end tiles. Have dead-ends stop at the edge of end-tiles, with a large terminal dot on the edge line. Shading, edge-dots, and lack of internal lines will help all the end-tiles stand out from the other tiles, even when glancing at the diagram as a whole.
• When you select a tile, also highlight the run lines that go through it by adding outline along the (now thicker) paths, or a bolder/saturated color. Highlight the numbers along those lines. And background highlight the end-tiles of those runs.
• You could put a vertical bar of the 1-9 buttons on both the left and right sides. Easier access than below the game.
• Then the other buttons can be a row below. Reducing the puzzles + buttons total vertical dimension. (You could add a little framing space on top.)
I think those might make the puzzle more attractive, reactive and add to its distinctive look. And make the different logic of each puzzle easier to visually process.
I will say that it took time for me to develop an intuition for where to focus solving efforts. I think if people spend a little time with it you wont have to click around as much to know where the next break in is.