A few months back board game designer Joe Kell reached out to see if I wanted to collaborate on an entry to the Game Crafter's Coloring Book Contest. We came up with a twist to color-by-number: swap numbers around whenever players color. We iterated through multiple ideas and playtested with friends, family, and our respective playtest groups. While the core mechanic of a crayon fitting into numbered slots and going to the end of the line after being used remained constant, we tweaked a lot of other rules along the way.

We also discovered a lot of possibility and potential in the system and how to present it, including the power of letting players set their own goals. And yet we also found that people consistently underestimate the complexity and difficulty of the game, probably because it contains crayons. Our solution was to develop a tutorial map that immediately challenges you with goals that require a bit of thought - but not too much - to achieve.

We've been testing this approach to onboarding and getting a lot of positive feedback, and we're continuously making tiny tweaks in response. Now you can try this game for yourself, free! If you do, we'd be very much obliged for your feedback. Thank you!