Ink Courier

The problem

Draw-your-own-bridge puzzles were one of the Flash years’ quiet masterpieces, because anyone could understand the goal in one second. The danger with a goal that clear is that every level collapses into one correct drawing, and once you have found it the game is over.

The rule that solved it

Ink that changes as it dries. A line you have just drawn is wet: sticky and slow. After 3.5 seconds it dries into slick, fast ink. So the age of a line is part of its shape. Draw your speed ramps early and your brake lines late, then press GO and watch the parcel roll toward the mailbox. Pressing GO again while it rolls rewinds and keeps your lines.

Ink is limited, and the budget tightens. It starts near 850 units, falls by 12 each level and stops at 520, with at most ten strokes. Every unit you save scores a point, so a short solution beats a long one. Stars sit along the way, and blots appear from level 4.

What we left out

What we left out was the single answer. According to the game’s note, each level can be solved in more than one way, and that was checked with a search before the game shipped. The Flash Hall describes the moment the physics takes over, and your plan succeeds or collapses, as the era in a sentence. Limiting the ink makes every line a decision.

Try this

Draw one long ramp and press GO at once, while the ink is still wet and sticky. Then draw the same ramp, wait a few seconds for it to dry, and press GO again. Same line, different journey. A win pays 500, plus 20 per level, 300 per star and 10 for every second under 20, and you have five lives, with one restored every fifth level. Short, dry, fast lines are usually worth chasing.

The maker’s note

Draw-your-own-bridge puzzles were the Flash era's quiet masterpiece, because anyone could understand the goal in one second. We added wet and dry ink so a line you have just drawn behaves differently from an old one. Each level can be solved in more than one way, and we checked that with a search before shipping it.

This is the note printed on the game’s own page. The Flash Hall explains the idea it borrows, under three design ideas we borrowed.