Terraformation

About Terraformation

Terraformation is one of the daily logic puzzles on Puzzmallow, a site of small puzzle games made by a team of two in the UK. It works something like a nonogram on a hexagonal grid, wrapped in a science fiction story: you are an operator sent to make planets and moons habitable.

Each zone is a hexagon made of hexes, and every hex must be filled with one of three terrains, such as red habitats, green vegetation and blue lakes. Clues run along the rows in all three directions and say how many hexes of each terrain the row holds and how they are grouped, in order: '2 1' for lakes means two lakes side by side and then a single lake, and '0' means none. On top of that, two of the terrains must be built from specific shapes shown in a guide at the top (they may be rotated or mirrored), and the guide says whether those shapes may touch each other. The third terrain can go anywhere.

The daily set covers six worlds, each with its own grid shape and patterns (Mars, Venus and Ganymede were among them on the day we looked), and a system panel tracks your quota of zones completed. Clicking a hex cycles through the terrains, right-clicking cycles back, or you can pick a single colour to paint with; Undo and Reset are always there.

The puzzles are free with ads, and a paid Puzzmallow membership removes ads and adds more puzzles. It suits nonogram and logic grid fans who want a longer daily challenge with a spatial twist.

How to play Terraformation

1. Open Terraformation and read the guide at the top showing the allowed shapes for two of the terrains.
2. Read the clues on each row in all three directions: how many hexes of each terrain and how they are grouped.
3. Click a hex to cycle through the terrains (right-click to go back), or choose a colour button to paint one terrain.
4. Make sure the shaped terrains form only the allowed patterns and follow the touch rule.
5. Fill every hex correctly, then move on to the next world until all six are done.

Tips

• Start with rows marked 0 for a terrain; they rule that terrain out of the whole row.
• Use the shape guide early: a pattern that fits only one way near an edge can fix several hexes at once.
• Remember the third terrain is free, so it fills whatever the other two leave.
• Work one direction of rows at a time, then check the other two directions.

Questions