Press (Z) to select difficulty
Press and hold (X) to generate a puzzle
use arrows to navigate, and press (Z) to input a number (1-9)
UPDATE 2025/08/12:
Toggle "note mode" ON/OFF in the pause menu. Hold (Z) and a direction on the keypad to input a blue dot inside the cell, so you can note down possible numbers!
Tried a hard puzzle. The solve didn't require any advanced technique, but the lack of markings made the process very slow. Halfway through it, I just inputted the grid in a Sudoku setter and quickly finished the grid with corner and center markings.
I don't see how you could add markings with pico-8's screen resolution...
Maybe if you replace numbers by colors ?
Auto red is a nice feature. A special color for fixed cells would be welcome.
I can see a way this could be more playable :
if you add a pen color selection in the pause menu, it could help with backtracking and let the player play by intuition/backtracking instead of exhaustive marking of the grid. Maybe trial checkpoints with auto pen color change instead ? Purists might argue that's not the right way to play Sudoku, but it makes sense to me if markings are not possible.
Adding key support (0 for blank and 1 to 9) would also help, at least for those playing on PC.
@RealShadowCaster Those were some good suggestions; I changed the colour of the set numbers, and I'm working on adding a "note mode". For some reason no matter what I try, I can't get PICO-8 to recognize any keystroke aside from the arrows, Z, X, and pause buttons so the notes are dots scrawled by holding Z+A direction (after toggling a note-mode ON/OFF in the start menu). IDK if it's what you were suggesting for sure, but I think it's cool; I'm just not sure how to share this new version (idek if this comment will ping you lol?)
EDIT: I think I figured out how to add a new version!
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