DotDash — A Cognitive Traversal Game

DotDash is a short-session graph traversal puzzle where every move is a commitment. It is built on three design principles:

Structural Honesty — All information is visible. Difficulty emerges from graph complexity, not hidden mechanics.

Calm Tension — Deliberate thinking over reactive gameplay. Failure comes from committing too early, not moving too slowly.

Anti-Dopamine Minimalism — No praise systems, no explosions, no manipulation. Just factual feedback and pure challenge.

How It Works

Connect nodes to reach your goal. Each move costs fuel. Perfect paths refuel you. Mistakes drain you.

The graph topology is the puzzle — parse it before you commit.

Controls

Click a node to connect.

Right-click or select an earlier node to backtrack.

Your goal is to find the shortest path. Suboptimal paths consume fuel.