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I saw this game on Steam. They have a demonstration of the game in video form here, and here's the GIF I generated from that video (that's lower in quality and shortened due to the maximum 2 MB required to post):

enter image description here

Basically, a cactus grows out of its post, and needs to push a plant into a hole (or multiple plants into multiple holes). I want to know if this puzzle already exists with an official name, and if so, the exact rules to the puzzle.

For example, we know from the demonstration that pushing a wall would make the cactus grow, but what about pushing the plant into the wall when the plant is already against the wall? Would the cactus grow like that?

And would the cactus be able to push one plant against the other, and continue to move forward by pushing one plant, as that plant pushes the other?

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    $\begingroup$ I've not seen this game before. The rules seem to be that the head of the cactus tries to grow in the chosen direction. If there is a plant in the way, it can push that ahead of itself. If there is a wall in its way (or presumably if it pushes a plant into a wall) then in order to grow it will push the body of the cactus backwards. That may also push plants, but if that movement is also blocked by a wall anywhere, then it will not grow. It looks like the kind of puzzle game I'd enjoy playing. $\endgroup$
    – Jaap Scherphuis
    Commented Feb 23, 2021 at 15:26
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks for the edit! But I was just worried that editing out the status would invalidate @Deusovi's answer. $\endgroup$
    – risky mysteries
    Commented Feb 28, 2021 at 5:27

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Like most indie puzzle games, the mechanics here are unique to the game. (I know this from watching the developer's updates as the game's mechanics evolved; I also have had one or two brief conversations directly with them during development.)

The questions you ask can't really be definitively answered until the game is out, but given the physical metaphor I'd suspect that the answer to the second is 'yes'. The first seems more unclear.

Update: Now that the game is out, it seems that the answer to both questions is "no". If a plant is ever pushed so that it has nowhere to go, it disappears - this is true whether it's pushed into a wall, another plant, or into the cactus's body. (Also, the game's good, go play it!)

Some of the updates over time:

In the original announcement, it's clear that the mechanics are the main thing being shown off. It's not directly stated that they're original, but there wouldn't be much to show if they weren't.

And here are some quotes from conversations about the game mechanics, as the game evolved over the course of the year. These are from a public Discord server focused on 'thinky puzzle games', where many indie game developers talk about puzzle design and occasionally give progress on their current projects. Even though the conversations are publicly accessible, I don't feel comfortable sharing too much of them, so I've kept the excerpts pretty brief:

5 May 2020:

[someone else]:
The 'growing plant' metaphor fits your mechanics so well. It actually clarifies so many parts of the game. It clarifies which end is growing, clarifies that its a rigid shape that can be pushed around. It gives you another feature to animate (flower pot), etc.

Mischka Kamener: I know! I was so happy when I thought of it, but it took a while to get there. For a long time I was resigned to either go with a snake or abstract blob creature

25 Aug 2020:

Mischka Kamener: [...] the reason I went with having some gridlines embedded within the wall is to try to make it clearer where the grid goes into the wall. I think I've done that more in early levels than in later ones.

24 Sep 2020:

[someone else]: how's your cactus game? And yes, motivation is tough

Mischka Kamener: I did win an internal battle against scope creep recently though which I'm very happy about. I was thinking about adding in some other ideas, but ultimately they weren't as good as the core ideas I've already got [...]

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  • $\begingroup$ But what if I choose to disregard that specific game? I mean, is "Room to grow" a complete original, or is it even loosely based on another common puzzle? $\endgroup$
    – risky mysteries
    Commented Feb 23, 2021 at 19:24
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    $\begingroup$ @riskymysteries As I said in my answer, it's completely original. You could say it's somewhat similar to games like Sokoban or Snakebird, but there's no single clear inspiration. $\endgroup$
    – Deusovi ♦
    Commented Feb 23, 2021 at 22:17
  • $\begingroup$ So if the plant disappears... we basically lose because we won't be able to win anymore, right? $\endgroup$
    – risky mysteries
    Commented Feb 28, 2021 at 13:28
  • $\begingroup$ @riskymysteries Yes, if the plant disappears you cannot win the level. (At least in all the levels I've seen - there may be some that have more plants than targets.) $\endgroup$
    – Deusovi ♦
    Commented Feb 28, 2021 at 22:32

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