Part 3 · Verbs — The Grammar of Mechanics
Chapter 7
Push, Roll, Fall
7 articles
Starting from the 'you cannot pull' that Sokoban invented, through rolling, gravity flips and track laying — the lineage of verbs that move things on a board, and the constraints each one imposes.
Articles in this chapter
- 1.The Verb of Pushing — What Sokoban Invented by Removing "Pull"2026-08-19 · Komugi · 6 min
Sokoban's minimal grammar of push-only, no-pull invented the deadlock as a form of difficulty. A design reading of the pushing verb through three heirs: Sokobond, Baba Is You, and Patrick's Parabox.
- 2.The Verb of Rolling — A Design Grammar for Rolling-Motion Puzzles (from Bloxorz to Stephen's Sausage Roll)2026-07-26 · Komugi · 6 min
A single verb—rolling—adds a dimension of facing to position and builds a deep state space without adding levels. From Kula World to Stephen's Sausage Roll, a design reading of rolling-motion puzzles.
- 3.Flipping Gravity as a Verb — The Grammar of Puzzles Where Down Changes2026-08-16 · Komugi · 6 min
VVVVVV, And Yet It Moves, Manifold Garden, Etherborn. I trace how the verb of flipping gravity — moving the one assumption players never question, which way is down — widened from a discrete whole-screen flip into continuous, surface-bound gravity.
- 4.The Verb of Laying Track — A Design Grammar for Routing Puzzles (from Trainyard to Railbound)2026-08-05 · Komugi · 7 min
Routing puzzles rest on one structural idea: the separation of planning from execution. No train moves until the track is finished, and once it runs you cannot intervene. From Pipe Mania's time pressure to Trainyard's static drawing, Cosmic Express's single line, and Railbound's junctions, this essay rereads the verb of laying track as design grammar.
- 5.When the Control Scheme Decides the Difficulty — From Grid Movement to Drag-and-Arrange2026-07-05 · Komugi · 7 min
Sokoban's grid movement, The Witness's line, the dragging of Gorogoa and A Little to the Left, Return of the Obra Dinn's cursor, The Gardens Between's time, and Golf Peaks's cards. A maker's-eye survey of how a single input shapes a puzzle's difficulty, framed by discreteness, undo cost, and affordance.
- 6.『Baba Is You』に似たゲーム8選 — 倉庫番系ブロック押しの系譜2026-08-27 · Michi · 18 min
『Baba Is You』に最も近いのは『Stephen's Sausage Roll』と『Patrick's Parabox』で、共有しているのは倉庫番系ブロック押し(sokoban)の機構である。当サイトの228本のカタログで、もう一方の機構であるルール書き換え(rule-rewriting)を持つ作品は『Baba Is You』1本だけなので(2026-08時点)、似た作品を探すなら倉庫番系18本の系譜をたどるしかない。その17本から、近い順に8本を選んで並べました。
- 7.A good puzzle wants to be solved: Tom Hermans' three layers — Presentation, Elegancy, Aspiration2026-07-06 · Tsumiki · 4 min
One piece today. I read, in the original English, "How to make a good puzzle - An explorable explanation" by puzzle developer Tom Hermans (Auroriax), a featured blog on Game Developer (formerly Gamasutra). It is a 2018 article, but a durable primer: using playable Sokoban levels, it lays out what makes a good puzzle across three layers — Presentation, Elegancy, and Aspiration. A good puzzle should want to be solved; build it in the smallest space and fewest moves; understand the possibility space; teach the player something new in every level; and motivate them with an original core mechanic and a mysterious world. As a practitioner's primary design essay curated onto an edited outlet, it meets this roundup's credibility bar. A little old, so covered with its date made explicit.