Applying a swap on two sets is different from applying a swap twice on the same set.
Maybe I misnamed the help by calling it a hint? Let me be clear - the idea is that with puzzle games the risk is higher than other types of games that the player gets stuck and abandons the game.
When a player gets stuck which outcome do you prefer - that the player decides on their own to see the solution and continue OR that they abandon the game?
When the player pays for a game and gets stuck they are likely to search for the solution online - that is outside of your control. And if the player is playing some game for free they are even more likely to just drop it and do something else.
In action games this issue is called difficuly spike - if a section of the game is a lot more difficult than the previous this causes frustration and possibly rage quit. Designers avoid that.
I understand what you mean. And I know there's a difficulty spike there. I'm currently thinking of ways to solve that.
However like I said, I don't want to add a dialogue line or other direct hint that directly leads to this discovery, that will just ruin the aha moment.
My intention is to use puzzle design in such a way to lead the players to discover this on their own.
Portal games do the same thing, very rarely you are directly told what to do, instead the game nudges you into the solution. I want to replicate that
