Summary: Signpost Maze puzzles are created in Puzzle Maker Pro by choosing a grid size and difficulty, generating the puzzle with its matching solution, and exporting print-ready or web-ready output. This tutorial covers making your first puzzle, re-skinning the signposts with your own content, and titling the page.
Overview
Signpost Maze is a directed-path logic puzzle: every cell shows a signpost, and only one of the top-row entry lanes threads all the way to the exit. This tutorial walks through creating one in Puzzle Maker Pro, from opening the module to exporting a print-ready puzzle and solution. The module uses the same Settings / Style / Titles tabs as every Puzzle Maker Pro module, plus its own Content tab for re-skinning the signposts. New to the puzzle itself? Read How Signpost Maze Puzzles Work first.
Required Modules
The editions:
- Lite — the full puzzle generator with the built-in signpost arrows (Lite always prints these; re-skinning is Creative and up) and static PNG/JPG/SVG/PDF export of puzzle and solution.
- Creative — re-skin the four directions with numbers, letters, colors, or your own images (a holiday icon set, your series mascot), plus Puzzle Book Studio Creative.
- Productivity — Time Saver batch creation with a ready-made grid-size-and-difficulty progression (a full book’s easy-to-hard interior from one run), Puzzle Book Studio Productivity, JSON output, and online play.
- Creative Interactive and Productivity Interactive offer online game play.
See Puzzle Maker Pro Editions Explained.
A free demo of every module is available, so you can try Signpost Maze before buying.
Preparation
Nothing needs to be prepared in advance — no word lists, no images. (Planning to re-skin the signposts with your own images on Creative or higher? Have at least four ready — see below.) A 6-wide by 5-tall grid at Medium difficulty is the default and a comfortable place to start. Puzzle Maker Pro generates the puzzle and its matching solution together.
Choose the Main Settings
On the Settings tab, set the options that define the puzzle:
- Width and Height — sized independently, 3 to 15 each (default 6 × 5); it doesn’t have to be square. The effective minimum is 4 — setting either to 3 is silently generated as a 4 instead. Keep grids at 8×8 or smaller. Grids up to 8×8 generate fast (a second or two at worst, usually far less); above that the exhaustive route search slows sharply, and a 9×9 or larger grid can take several seconds or stall without finishing — treat 8×8 as the practical ceiling.
- Difficulty — Easy, Medium, or Hard (default Medium). This changes how long and winding the true route is, not the grid size: Easy picks a shorter, more direct solution path; Hard picks a longer, twistier one.
- Use built-in signposts (arrows) — checked by default, so every cell shows the built-in signpost glyph. With Creative or higher, uncheck it to re-skin the four directions with your own content on the Content tab (below); on Lite the checkbox and Content tab are shown but locked, and every puzzle uses the built-in signposts.
- Legend position — Top, Bottom, Left, or Right (default Top). Only matters once you re-skin the signposts (arrows mode needs no legend, since each glyph already shows its own direction).
Generate and Preview
Set Quantity to 1 while you dial in the size and look, then generate a preview. Every puzzle is generated from its own random seed, and Puzzle Maker Pro builds the matching solution at the same time. When the look is right, raise the Quantity and the same settings produce a whole batch — single and batch are the same workflow, just a different number.
Re-skin the Signposts (optional, Creative and up)
Re-skinning the signposts is a Creative-edition feature (Productivity includes it too). On Lite the Content tab is visible so you can see what upgrading adds, but its controls are locked and puzzles always print the built-in signposts.
To use something other than the built-in arrows, uncheck Use built-in signposts (arrows) and open the Content tab:
This is the same shared content-variation control used across Puzzle Maker Pro — see
How to Use Content Variation in Puzzle Maker Pro for how the control and
its content types work in general. What’s specific to Signpost Maze:
- You need at least four usable items (one per direction) — a smaller pool falls back to the built-in signposts.
- Because a color or picture doesn’t point anywhere on its own, Puzzle Maker Pro prints a small legend next to the grid (in whichever position you set above) showing which item stands for which direction.
- Choose Use First 4 Values to take your items four-at-a-time in order across a batch, or Draw 4 Random Values to pick four at random for each puzzle.
Style the Puzzle
Signpost Maze uses the shared style panel on the Style tab — canvas color, cell background, the grid line (cell border), and a font setting that only affects Numbers or Letters content variation (a Creative-and-up feature — on Lite it has no visible effect); the built-in signposts, images, and color swatches are fixed glyphs that don’t change with the font. There are no region or wall styles, since the grid lines are the only borders. A crop option trims the outer margin for a tight board. For full styling guidance, see How to Customize Puzzle Designs in Puzzle Maker Pro.
Set the Title
On the Titles tab, choose a Smart Title. A Smart Title fills in the puzzle’s own details automatically, so every page in a batch is labelled correctly without retyping. Signpost Maze offers seven formulas. The examples below are for a 6×5 Medium puzzle:
- Signpost Maze Grid Size Difficulty — e.g. “Signpost Maze 6×5 Medium”
- Signpost Maze Grid Size — e.g. “Signpost Maze 6×5”
- Signpost Maze Difficulty — e.g. “Signpost Maze Medium”
- Grid Size Difficulty — e.g. “6×5 Medium”
- Grid Size — e.g. “6×5”
- Difficulty — e.g. “Medium”
- Custom — your own title text, used exactly as typed
The same options are available for the puzzle Description (default: “Start at the green square and follow the signpost in each cell, one space at a time, until you reach the exit. Only one path leads all the way through!”). Note: the rendered board has no green square — entry lanes tint light blue and the exit light pink — so use Custom to write your own instruction until this default text is updated. Smart Titles works the same way in every module — see the Smart Titles tutorial for how it works.
Export Your Puzzles
- Print / PDF — PNG, JPG, SVG, and PDF of the puzzle and solution, on every edition.
- JSON output & online play — with Productivity, export JSON and an interactive HTML batch (plus a ZIP for the BookPublisherTools WordPress plugin). A solver presses an entry lane in the browser and drags the route out one cell at a time, exactly as on paper — each step can only go where the current cell’s signpost points, and a wrong lane simply traces out to its dead end. Re-skinned content shows the same legend online too. See How to Play Puzzles Online.
- Time Saver — also on Productivity, batch-create rows across different sizes and difficulties in one run — including a ready-made grid-size-and-difficulty progression — then assemble the pages into a finished book in Puzzle Book Studio. See How to Batch Create Puzzles with Time Saver.
Signpost Maze does not offer Interactive PDF or Puzzle Slides.
Outcome
You can now create Signpost Maze puzzles end to end — sized to generate fast, re-skinned with your own content and its legend, titled, styled, and exported for print or the web — one puzzle or a whole batch assembled into a book with Puzzle Book Studio.
FAQ
Which edition do I need to batch-create a whole book?
Productivity — it adds Time Saver for batch creation across mixed sizes and difficulties, including a ready-made progression, plus Puzzle Book Studio Productivity for assembling the result.
How big a grid can I make?
The Creator UI allows 3 to 15 on each side, but grids should stay at 8×8 or smaller. Above that, generation slows sharply, and a 9×9 or larger grid can take several seconds or fail to finish at all.
Do I have to use the built-in signposts?
On Lite, yes — the built-in signposts are the Lite look, and the Content tab is locked. With Creative or higher, uncheck Use built-in signposts (arrows) and choose numbers, letters, colors, or your own images on the Content tab — Puzzle Maker Pro prints a small legend so the direction each item stands for is still clear.
What output formats can I export?
PNG, JPG, SVG, and PDF on every edition; JSON and online play need Productivity (see Export, above) — Signpost Maze has no Interactive PDF or Puzzle Slides output.
How do I make the puzzle harder without a bigger grid?
Raise the Difficulty. It lengthens and winds the true solution route rather than changing the grid size, so you get a harder puzzle at the same safe, fast-generating size.
Can I control which lane is the entry, or where the exit sits?
No — entries are always the top row and the exit is always a single cell on the bottom row; the generator places them and builds the route and decoys around that automatically.