You can tell a lot about a game by where it expects you to look.
Sometimes the board is competing with a timer, a special offer, a score multiplier and a row of small symbols whose meaning you are meant to remember. You have opened a familiar game and been given another interface to learn.
With Sunroom, the starting point is the familiar part. Solitaire should look like solitaire. A sudoku should give the numbers room. Word Search should make the letters easy to follow.
The family now includes Solitaire, Sudoku, FreeCell, Word Search and Mahjong. Their resemblance comes from a shared intention: make the game comfortable to read and easy to find your way around.
Clear without being childish
There is a particular design mistake we want to avoid. Increasing the size of a button can turn into treating the person pressing it as if they need everything simplified for them.
Those are different decisions. A person can know a game very well and still prefer larger numbers. They can enjoy a difficult puzzle while wanting the controls to be straightforward. Clarity should leave the interesting part intact.
In Sunroom Solitaire, large corner numbers help you read the cards. In Sudoku, hints explain a reason. In Word Search, selecting the first and last letter gives the gesture a clear shape. Each game has its own details; the family should make those details easier to approach.
A family resemblance that earns its name
Sunroom is a useful name because it describes a shared feeling without trying to describe every mechanic. We can give the games a related visual language and still let a card game and a number puzzle be different things.
The important resemblance is in the experience. You should be able to find the board, understand the controls and make your next move. If you need a hint, the explanation should help you return to the game. Settings should be where you expect them.
That is also why we keep the familiar game name in each title. People looking for FreeCell should not have to decipher a marketing name before they know what is inside.
Room in the day
A game does not have to be a major event to deserve good design. There are the minutes between two other things, the evening when you would rather play a little than scroll a lot, the puzzle you leave and come back to.
Sunroom is made for that sort of place in a day. We want the board to be inviting, the lettering to be generous, and the person playing to remain in charge of the pace.