For our 24th developer interview, I am delighted to introduce you to Arcainess! A long-time Henchbunny and the developer of Square: Trial and Error. We got acquainted sometime in 2025 when they reached out to me to try their game, and after playing it, I had many pressing questions about the creation process! With that, I would like to present our 10 questions and answers with Arcainess.
1. Thank you so much for taking the time to answer this interview! Could we get an introduction to you?
Hello! My name is Arcainess. I’m an LV36 Adventurer, happily married for 15 years, and I have 2 amazing kids. I also have a slight obsession with bacon. In my free time, I enjoy playing/creating games whilst spending time with my family.
2. For those who have yet to try Square: Trial and Error, what is the story behind Town Square and Mr Square?
The story! Well, the Story is about the unknown entity known only as “The Glitch Zone” taking over Town Square. With its terrible powers, it’s corrupted Town Square and taken away the residents! So it’s up to you, Mr Square, to solve 20 puzzles to save the people of Town Square!
3. Were there any games like Square: Trial and Error which inspired you?
Ohhhh, interestingly enough, there isn’t a specific game that I took inspiration from. Square was made from a culmination of many things that I will explain so that you can understand how Square was born.
Cryptic Puzzles
For this aspect, I quite often think of random elements and how I can make a game out of it. The first thought was a cryptic puzzle game that players would have to solve in order to progress.
An example puzzle would be “Wednesday, Wednesday, Monday, Sunday” on a wall, which to most people wouldn’t make sense at first. Then, next to the door would be a keypad you can type numbers into. So here, you would get a clue that the writing on the wall is likely the key needed to unlock the door. Then, you would need to find another room with the number 1 next to Monday and 7 next to Sunday, the days of the week go Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
So 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.
That would mean the code to the door would be 3, 3, 1, 7.
I would mix it up or alter it slightly to add a bit more challenge. For example having 1 next to Thursday and 7 next to the Wednesday instead, so that the player would need to figure out that it’s still 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 but this time you start counting 1 from Thursday.
The Art Style
Well, I’m sure every game dev knows this, but making a game isn’t cheap and can be quite costly. Anyone who is a content creator knows that making things isn’t cheap. So, the 16-bit looking graphics were a means to make it more affordable for me. Originally, the game was supposed to be just 20 levels. The character started off as a faceless square, no direction, no face, no nothing. It was supposed to be just a square doing 20 levels, and that was it.
The Growth of Square
As I continued the development of Square, it grew. The level hub was basic, just a place to travel to the next level, but then I thought, I’ll add a house for him, then a neighbor, okay, then a street, let’s add some NPCs, etc. It grew from there to Mr Square having a face, interactive NPCs, a full explorable area where you can find caves, treasures, etc. It just grew, and so much stuff was added to it.
The Final Gameplay
I mentioned the days on the wall and the numbers being the original idea, but I figured I can only do so much with those. So started thinking, “I want to keep the cryptic style of the game, but how?” Again, it started small and just grew, as you can see in the first level, it was something simple, and then I added more elements, changed them around each level, and more. I won’t explain the rules for each level though, otherwise that defeats the purpose of the game.
4. What kind of unique gaming experience do you hope players of Square: Trial and Error will have?
Its uniqueness lies in how different the levels are. It’s labeled as a puzzle game, but I think the way the puzzles are designed with trial and error in mind really will give the player a sense of, “oh, this is new,” and provide a new experience. Most puzzles tend to give hints to the player to lead them to the solution, but Square gives no hints, and the player needs to pay close attention to figure out why they have restarted and what they need to do to beat the level.
5. What game engine is Square: Trial and Error designed on and why?
RPG Maker MV! Purely because it’s the engine I used the most and am most familiar with. Despite its name, you can make different genres of games there. And it works pretty well for Square. I can’t code at all, but the in-game event system allows me to edit the game and design it the way I want.
6. What is a typical week or workday like for you as an indie developer?
After the kids are at school and my wife has gone to work, I’m left to my own devices. I mostly spend 3-4 hours a day working on my current project. This could be from adding text for NPCs, creating the graphics for them, laying out the level design for a level, rummaging through ideas to see what works and what doesn’t work.
At the moment, I’m working on an update for Square, testing out new level mechanic designs. One is a forest where you need to slide around on slime.
I did some work to make the character slide in the right way to get to the other side and activate some switches so they can progress. But I didn’t feel like it was a good level layout. So I added some Slime Orbs that players need to collect to proceed to the next area. This felt a lot better as now players will need to slide around a lot more and try to figure out how to get all the Slime Orbs rather than just go from A to B.
When I’m not developing games, I’m answering emails, some to spammers who are asking for a free key so they can stream Square :p Or marketers who want to help with Square’s advertisements XD Or sending out emails myself to help promote Square and the like.
7. In polishing a game like Square: Trial and Error, what part(s) is/are the most time-consuming or challenging?
Making sure each level works and making sure each level works!! I said that twice because I spend so much time doing it, and no matter how many times I check, cracks will still slip into the main game upon release. So sometimes it’s replaying a level 10 times, and 1 of those 10 times, you find a bug. You’re not sure how that bug happened, so now you’ve got to try everything in the game to replicate it so you can fix it. For example, I’ve had a few people stream Square. Each time you clear a level, you earn SP, which is the currency in the game, but *one* streamer wasn’t. Why them and no one else? I booted up the game, and when I cleared a level, I earned SP? So what’s going on? After a while, it turns out a change of outfits caused the bug. It turned a switch off that prevented players from earning SP.
Challenging? Finding the right line between too cryptic and too easy.
A lot of the levels have cryptic elements to them. It’s about figuring out how to make the player guess and work out what they need to do within reason.
I can make the levels so cryptic with so many layers of rules added to them, but that might be too much for most players to figure out. One comment I saw when someone was streaming, “The trial-and-error elements of the game work because the levels are short.” You will restart a lot of times in the level, so the *length of the level* was an important thing. It can’t be too short or too long.
But if I were to pick something that’s both time-consuming and most challenging? Marketing XD getting people to playtest the game, stream it, leave a review, etc., is one of the hardest and most time-consuming things to do.
8. What keeps you inspired to continue game development?
“I really enjoyed this game” is such a boon to hear and really motivates me to keep designing games, and the fact that I enjoy designing and creating games so much. When you make something and see other people enjoying it, it just gives you that boost you need to carry on. As we know, creating things for people to enjoy can be difficult in the sense that you can spend months or even years making something or for it to receive negative feedback. But all the positive support I get from my friends helps me a lot and urges me to carry on.
9. Do you have any advice for players of Square: Trial and Error in clearing the puzzles?
Yes, the early levels are made so that they teach and set you on the right path of thinking. When you fail a level and have to restart, think of what you were doing that caused it.
10. Where can we subscribe to the progress and news about Square: Trial and Error?
Bluesky is the main go-to for updates on Square, as I post a few things about the game on there as well as other things to help support my friends.
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Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to our interview with such thoughtfulness! Please support Arcainess and their future endeavors!
To view our trial of Square: Trial and Error, check out this VOD from November 2025!