
# [038](/038)

![canvas](https://res.cloudinary.com/abstract-puzzles/image/upload/w_2000/038_yfj-wya_zew-wmn-lqj?raw=true)

This puzzle introduces a new layout algorithm and a new design algorithm. The piece shapes are created using [Voronoi tessellation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voronoi_diagram) - the centre of each piece is positioned in a noise-distorted grid, and the lines between pieces are equidistant to the nearest two centres; if a line is long enough a tab is drawn into it. As this is the first puzzle using this algorithm I wanted to keep the pieces fairly regular, but this does result in pieces with up to six edges.

The design is inspired by [Topography](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topography), a digital map is created using noise and each band of depth corresponds to a different colour, and the lines between the bands are only drawn at 45-degree angles.

Many of my recent puzzles have relied on layering and blending a small selection of random colours to create a pleasing palette, but for this series I wanted to engage with colour more directly. I picked a set of ten colours from across the rainbow which, if I'm honest, clash quite horribly. The artwork only uses seven at a time though, and it's interesting to see which combinations and neighbours work well together and which don't. The iteration I picked to produce has a particularly garish palette!

Solving the puzzle was surprisingly easy; I filled in the islands of colour first and worked outwards band by band. Although many of the piece shapes look rectangular, a lot of them have slightly bevelled corners which are big indicators of whether they fit in a space or not. I also really enjoyed placing the occasional wacky piece shape.
