Beginner trying to make puzzles

[Merdock]

I have had much fun solving sudoku puzzles, and the other day I had an idea for one. Unfortunately, I have never made a puzzle before. When I was reviewing the "Instructions for setting puzzles" page on Logic-Masters, it says that the sudoku must be inserted in HTML format, with a link that seemingly goes to a tutorial page. However, it appears that that page can not be reached. Is there a new tutorial page, or a location that you would recommend beginners go to for creating puzzles? Also, is there a way that you recommend people check that there is only one solution beyond just attempting to solve it ourselves. Especially as this would be my first puzzle, I don't know how well I trust myself that I didn't make a mistake.

[Dandelo]

The dead link is just leading to a site where HTML is explained. The instructions are for setters who publish the first time here, not for beginners in setting puzzles.

I use penpa+ for setting, but there are many tools available.

If you want to test a puzzle just ask here for test solvers. And for help publishing ask here, too.

[CJK]

Hello Merdock,

it's nice to hear that someone actually reads the "Instruction for setting puzzles" page before setting puzzles
The link sends you to an HTML tutorial outside of logic-masters.de, but it seems like to be outdated. You can search for "HTML tutorial" or similar to find some pages with the same content (e.g. https://www.w3schools.com/html/). But for the beginning, it should be enough to just enter the instructions as plain text and add an image via "<img:xxxx>" as described in the "Instruction for setting puzzles" page. If you want to do more (like adding a link or a clickable button), you could search for the feature (like "HTML Link" or "HTML button") to find the correct syntax online.

For unique solutions, I recommend that you go through your puzzle thoroughly to check that every step could indeed be done as intended. You could also ask some other people to testsolve your puzzle and check for uniqueness (this is e.g. done for official competitions, to ensure nothing is missed). For sudokus (including a few variants), there are some solvers online that could be used for verifying uniqueness as well. But keep in mind that these do only check uniqueness and not whether the intended solving path is correct or not!

[Merdock]

The dead link is just leading to a site where HTML is explained. The instructions are for setters who publish the first time here, not for beginners in setting puzzles.

I use penpa+ for setting, but there are many tools available.

If you want to test a puzzle just ask here for test solvers. And for help publishing ask here, too.

Thanks for the info. I ended up making the puzzle in sudokumaker and after running through it a few times I feel pretty good about it having a unique solution. Then again, it could just be me know where a lot of digits are supposed to go, and I might be overlooking something. 

I'll probably make another post on here in a couple of hours to see if anyone would be willing to play test it, see if there is a unique solution and if it makes sense. Depending on how that goes, I may look into publishing it, or I may go back to the drawing board. 

Again, thank you

[Merdock]

Hello Merdock,

it's nice to hear that someone actually reads the "Instruction for setting puzzles" page before setting puzzles
The link sends you to an HTML tutorial outside of logic-masters.de, but it seems like to be outdated. You can search for "HTML tutorial" or similar to find some pages with the same content (e.g. https://www.w3schools.com/html/). But for the beginning, it should be enough to just enter the instructions as plain text and add an image via "<img:xxxx>" as described in the "Instruction for setting puzzles" page. If you want to do more (like adding a link or a clickable button), you could search for the feature (like "HTML Link" or "HTML button") to find the correct syntax online.

For unique solutions, I recommend that you go through your puzzle thoroughly to check that every step could indeed be done as intended. You could also ask some other people to testsolve your puzzle and check for uniqueness (this is e.g. done for official competitions, to ensure nothing is missed). For sudokus (including a few variants), there are some solvers online that could be used for verifying uniqueness as well. But keep in mind that these do only check uniqueness and not whether the intended solving path is correct or not!

Thanks for the reply. I ended up using sudokumaker to help set up the rough puzzle and then fine-tuned it from there. I have ran through it a few times, and I think it both has a unique solution and plays the way I want it to. I could be wrong, I have looked at it too much, so in a couple of hours I'll probably make another post to see if someone would be willing to play test it for me. Hopefully it both has a unique solution and is fun to solve