The real trick

[rodjman]

As was discussed many times in the creation of the game, the REAL trick is patiently gaining an understanding of EXACTLY what needs to happen for a puzzle to be solved. What I like to do before making a "real" attempt on a puzzle is to just try to manufacture exactly the stones that the solution requires, with no regard for correct placement or move count. This gives me an idea of precisely what transformations, destructions, etc. need to happen to win, and then the puzzle becomes a matter of performing those steps as efficiently as possible. Life is easier when you break it into multiple steps, and Sun Stones is no different!

[simonstrange]

For the very low-move-count puzzles, I like to just look at how many spaces are empty, and how many stones begin "off-grid". That gives me a rough count of "how many moves will it take to fill this glyph?"

Then I subtract that from the goal, which tells me how many moves can be made in addition to those essentials. In general, in a puzzle where I need to create lots of stones (Silence is a good example) it actually takes 2 moves for each stone created outside the grid - 1 move to place the sunstone, and a 2nd move to put it into position.