Solved!

Solved! is a community-powered jigsaw adventure on Reddit where players relax, create, and share puzzles, unlocking flairs, artifacts, and achievements as they explore an ever-growing puzzle gallery.

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🧩 Solved! - A Classic Jigsaw Adventure on Reddit

Solved!

Inspiration

The idea for Solved! came from the nostalgia of classic jigsaw puzzles and the curiosity to see if Reddit’s new interactive platform could host a calming, creative experience instead of a competitive one. Most Reddit games lean into quick reactions or humor; I wanted to build something slower, more meditative, yet still inherently Reddit-y.

The turning point came when I realized that puzzle images could be user submissions themselves. That meant the community could create the content while others played it, a perfect blend of relaxation, creativity, and shared discovery.

What It Does

Solved! turns Reddit into a collaborative puzzle gallery.

  • Play official puzzles curated by the game.
  • Create your own puzzles by posting an image comment. They’re validated, processed, and published automatically.
  • Compete or relax across four difficulty tiers (20, 35, 63, 108 pieces).
  • Earn achievements and subreddit flairs that reflect your progress and creativity.
  • Join community posts that track fastest solves, perfect runs, and creator recognition.

It’s a living, self-sustaining Reddit ecosystem where every image can become an adventure.

How We Built It

  • Frontend: Phaser.js for real-time puzzle interaction and canvas rendering.
  • Backend: Devvit + Kiro framework for Reddit API triggers, storage, and automation.
  • Data Storage: Redis for user progress, leaderboards, and community puzzle metadata.
  • Media Hosting: Reddit CDN for puzzle images and background music.
  • Game Design: Procedural jigsaw piece generation with authentic interlocking shapes, beveled edges, and drop shadows for a tactile look.
  • Community Engine: Comment triggers that detect image posts → validate → auto-generate puzzle posts with metadata and leaderboards.
  • Achievements & Flairs: Redis-backed progression system connected directly to Reddit’s flair API.

This hybrid architecture allowed Solved! to feel like a native Reddit experience — lightweight, shareable, and self-updating.

Challenges We Ran Into

  • Reddit CDN limitations: Figuring out how to handle uploads safely within the platform’s rules took several iterations.
  • Deterministic puzzle generation: Creating interlocking shapes that align perfectly between adjacent pieces required a consistent seed and custom geometry algorithm.
  • Balancing realism and performance: Beveled edges and shadow rendering are expensive; I had to optimize caching and draw layers to keep 60fps on mobile.
  • Flair permissions: Automating flair updates demanded careful handling of subreddit permissions and rate limits.
  • UX tuning: Keeping the main post clean while still fostering community interaction required a clear distinction between official and community threads.

Accomplishments That We’re Proud Of

  • A fully automated community puzzle system; users create, share, and play without leaving Reddit.
  • Authentic, realistic jigsaw visuals with responsive, satisfying interaction.
  • Seamless integration of Reddit flairs as achievement rewards turning social identity into gameplay progression.
  • Built entirely on Devvit and Kiro, proving complex interactive systems are possible on Reddit’s new platform.
  • A polished, calming experience that feels at home in the Reddit feed.

What We Learned

  • Simplicity wins. A small, polished mechanic executed beautifully outperforms complex concepts.
  • Building on Reddit means designing for asynchronous engagement, players drop in, contribute, and move on, yet the world keeps growing.
  • The Devvit + Kiro combo can serve as a genuine backend replacement for small-scale community games.
  • Visual polish: lighting, edge quality, and animation timing matters as much as gameplay in evoking emotion.
  • The Reddit ecosystem is ready for creative, communal experiences, not just bots and memes.

What’s Next for Solved!

  • Building out the Adventure mode
  • Adding Leaderboards for Community puzzles
  • Expanded Achievements & Seasonal Events: rotating puzzle sets and limited-time rewards.
  • Creator Stats: track most-played puzzle creators and surface trending puzzles weekly.
  • Custom Music Packs: thematic puzzle soundtracks hosted on Reddit CDN.
  • Public API for Developers: allow others to build puzzle variants or remix Solved!’s engine for new subreddit communities.
  • Improved UX for curating the best Community puzzles
  • Better dynamic difficulty algorithm
  • Lots more ideas. We are in this for the long haul

Solved! began as a small experiment in community creativity, it’s now a platform that could redefine how games live inside Reddit.

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