Indigo puzzle chat with designer Shane Seward

So, what inspired you to create your own Revomaze?

I wanted to show Chris some of my ideas. I was going to get my own core created and send it to Chris, but every machinist I went to when they saw a Revomaze core said it was beautiful, but they could not make it.

Did you have any design concepts in mind, or were you inspired by something?

My friend Tom and I would discuss Revomaze on the way to work.  We would try and guess what Chris could have designed to trip us up.  Many of the features evolved out of those discussions.

When designing the Indigo, how long did it take you?

About three months.  After that Chris looked at the design an introduced me to factors of which I was completely unaware.  A new great feature got added at that point and it really started to get refined.

Do you think the fact that you had to change the design helped the puzzle?

Absolutely.  My design had a couple of features which were not suitable for a production puzzle.  Chris came up with a solution that was innovative and added to the overall design.

In terms of difficulty and solving time, how do you think the indigo ranks?

I think it’s about 85/100.  I’ll be interested to see how others rate it.

Are there any twists and turns that will surprise people?

There will be a great surprise at the end, I can’t wait for people to open it up and see the core for the first time. I also managed to hide my initials in there, but they are well hidden!

Where did the concept for an Indigo colour come from?

I initially wanted white, but I found out you cannot anodize white. Chris has already used all the standard colors, so we had to go to a custom color at additional cost.  Of all the options, Chris, Rachel, and I liked the Indigo the best.

Are you satisfied with the outcome of the puzzle?

Very!  It was amazing to see it go from a rough design on paper to a beautifully machined end product.  I feel very fortunate to have had this opportunity. Hopefully people will enjoy what we have created.

Thank you very much to Shane for sharing about the Indigo evolution; we feel very fortunate to have contributed to the creation of such a fantastic puzzle! You can buy the Indigo V3 puzzle on our website now, click the link to find out more: https://www.revohq.co.uk/product/indigo-v3-puzzle/