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#Post#: 80--------------------------------------------------
Re: Application of Puzzle Theory
DIR By: Pam
Date: June 7, 2021, 6:46 am
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Logic Sequence / Device Puzzles
These are puzzles that constitute some sort of
mechanical-causal relationship between the events leading up to
the final solution. There are many different kinds of classic
device puzzles, like the rig-a-trap puzzle, the excluded-middle
/ preparing-the-way puzzle as explained by Bob Bates, or the
machine puzzle, in which the player must figure out how to
operate a machine in order to complete the puzzle.
Logic sequence puzzles must be logical; the more steps you
add to the sequence, the more difficult it gets; and this makes
it crucial that each step is as unambiguous as possible to the
player.
As a side-note, have you ever completed a logic sequence
puzzle in a commercial adventure game, and not gotten a funny
little animation when it finally worked out - and possibly even
when it failed? I think not. Always reward the player with
something after solving a hard puzzle, and not with 'money' or
'points'. Players don't care about points. They don't play the
game for the points. They play to see all the fun stuff. So make
sure you give 'em some.
Smart clues
I believe I read about this somewhere, and it is certainly worth
looking into. Some games have "smart clues", that is, clues that
automatically appear if and when the player needs them. Imagine
a puzzle that you know is hard, and you have added 4 different
hints near the puzzle location, one of which is kinda
unambiguous about the solution. You know from beta testing that
6 out of 10 will solve it without the final clue (and they
generally tell you that the fourth clue makes it too obvious).
The rest, 4 out of 10, will not solve the puzzle without it.
To make this clue 'smart', write a script that checks the
player's actions on this stage of the game: if he has found the
three (more vague) hints, and still doesn't solve the puzzle
within a certain time limit, the extra clue is placed where the
player is likely to find it.
Now that's a smart clue.
#Post#: 81--------------------------------------------------
Re: Application of Puzzle Theory
DIR By: Pam
Date: June 7, 2021, 6:57 am
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Repeated-Action Puzzles
A simple yet highly adaptable puzzle type is the
repeated-action puzzle. The Reality-on-the-Norm
HTML https://www.realityonthenorm.info/
game Purity of the Surf uses
this in a very humorous way: [spoiler] The main character being
a surfer dude, walks around barefoot. When he enters the Italian
restaurant, Chef Lucca comes out from the kitchen, yelling at
him to get out. Entering again, the Chef once again comes
running, this time yelling even more (and it is a different
dialogue this time, hint hint..). After returning a few more
times like this, you have finally made the Chef so angry that he
tosses a fish at you, which you, conveniently, need for another
puzzle. [/spoiler]
Oh, and as Esseb kindly reminded me, repeated-action
puzzles will easily get players stuck, unless the player is
likely to attempt the action again. Using the action of entering
a location is fine, since you always walk everywhere when you're
stuck, but interacting with a squirrel is hardly something you'd
try if it failed the first time.
#Post#: 82--------------------------------------------------
Re: Application of Puzzle Theory
DIR By: Pam
Date: June 7, 2021, 7:02 am
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Dialogue Puzzles
With dialogue puzzles, you attempt to choose the right path
through a conversation, saying the right things or asking the
right questions, in order to accomplish something, get a piece
of information, get a hint, etc. If you choose the wrong path,
you can always just try again, but that will take a while.
If the puzzle is too complex, or the dialogue isn't
humorous, the player will soon stop reading the dialogue and
just click frantically through different choices until he's
explored all the possible combinations of the dialogue tree.
This kind of 'puzzle' should be avoided unless there is good
reason to use it (I suppose certain types of detective stories
would use them, for interrogation sequences etc.).
As the following examples show, a dialogue puzzle can
actually be quite funny, provided that: 1) it shouldn't be too
complex; 2) it should be obvious that there is a puzzle; and 3)
there should not be a lot of these in one game.
Pointed out to me by Creed Malay, here are a few good dialogue
puzzles:
- Manny trying to talk the security girl into giving him her
metal detector in Grim Fandango
- Guybrush convincing Elaine that he's in love with her in
Monkey Island II
- The V.K. test in Blade Runner
- And perhaps the finest dialogue puzzle of all: Insult Sword
Fighting, also Monkey Island
#Post#: 83--------------------------------------------------
Re: Application of Puzzle Theory
DIR By: Pam
Date: June 7, 2021, 7:27 am
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Forced Dialogue Puzzles
Many game developers refrain from using these, because they
tend to become a nuisance to the players (Bad Marketing
Strategies 101). The basic idea is this: in order to get the
response you need (and solve the puzzle), you must choose the
right path through the conversation with one or more NPC's. If
you get it wrong, you will have to restore a saved game or
you're stuck.
Naturally, you may provide a forced dialogue puzzle merely
as an alternative, allowing the puzzle to be solved in a
different manner even if the dialogue puzzle fails. In my
opinion, this is the best way to avoid frustrating the player
unnecessarily by forcing him to go through Restore
Game-purgatory every time he makes a wrong choice. Some games
have an auto-restore function which allows you to automatically
return to before you made the wrong choice, but that's for rare
events like deaths. With frequent events like these,
auto-restoring would become rather annoying too.
Puzzle repeating
We all know we shouldn't do the same puzzle twice in a game.
The player will find it tedious the second time around. However,
in Monkey Island II, that's exactly what the designers did with
the "Voodoo Doll" puzzle. [spoiler] The fortune teller woman
handed you the recipe for the first doll, and later on in the
game, you received subtle hints that you would need to make
another voodoo doll. You then had to recall what items you
needed for the doll and find them, only this time, some of the
items from earlier were no longer available, so you had to
improvise, which turned out to be a very amusing puzzle.
[/spoiler]
Credits for this one to Cerulean
#Post#: 84--------------------------------------------------
Re: Application of Puzzle Theory
DIR By: Pam
Date: June 7, 2021, 7:32 am
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Riddles and Logic Puzzles
Bob Bates claims this is one of the least satisfying puzzle
types, since "if the player doesn't get it, he just doesn't get
it". This may be true to a point, but the same could easily be
said for many other puzzle types. I believe riddles, when used
with caution, can add greatly to the atmosphere of an adventure
game, and certainly to the personality of the character
presenting the riddle. Same goes for logic puzzles.
An example of a good logic puzzle is the 'how many
fingers'-code on Phratt Island in Monkey Island II. If you
didn't get it, you could keep trying until you got it right, or
figure it out by yourself. I believe there was an in-game hint
somewhere, too, but I don't remember exactly where.
With riddles as well as logic puzzles, always leave hints
or provide alternative solutions. That way, chances are the
player will - eventually - 'get it'.
#Post#: 85--------------------------------------------------
Re: Application of Puzzle Theory
DIR By: Pam
Date: June 7, 2021, 7:36 am
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GUI / Board Puzzles
Probably the most script-heavy puzzle type, and often, it
is not worth the effort. There are thousands of classic board
games, from chess to tic-tac-toe, all of which could be adapted
as puzzles in an adventure game. This, however, is not always
trivial, as you will likely need to create a new GUI for the
game, as well as do some scripting for the 'game' to have a
realistic look-and-feel.
Some puzzles, such as certain machine puzzles, cryptogram
puzzles and others, often use separates GUIs as well, which
certainly justifies their use, but board game puzzles are hard
to fit into a plot in any reasonable way, and should be used
only when there is a tight connection between that specific game
and the main characters of your plot.
With that said, alternating interfaces can make a game look
much more professional, given that their use is justified. A
good example is in Pleurghburg: Dark Ages, in which several
additional GUI's are nicely integrated into the story: a
computer interface, a top-down view of a building, a
wall-mounted elevator panel, etc. Sure, none of those are used
as puzzles, but they add to the game play without seeming
out-of-place, and that's what you'll want with your GUI puzzles
as well.
#Post#: 86--------------------------------------------------
Re: Application of Puzzle Theory
DIR By: Pam
Date: June 7, 2021, 7:41 am
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Dead Ends, Red Herrings and Faux Puzzles
Dead ends are inevitable in adventure games, whether we as
designers aim to put them there or not. Unless our puzzles are
ridiculously easy, the player will get stuck in one or more of
them. Sometimes, especially with poorly designed puzzles, the
player will be clueless when faced with the obstacle, but most
of the time, he will have several logical and / or obvious
solutions to try out; then he will move on to a couple of more
imaginative ones, before getting stuck trying out irrational
combinations, more or less at random.
When this happens, the good adventure games don't abandon
the player altogether. They supply parallel puzzles to be
solved. While stuck in one puzzle, the player can move on with
another puzzle elsewhere, instead of getting frustrated by the
fact that he's stuck. Most amateur adventure games are very
linear, leaving the player with only one puzzle to solve at any
time, and are thus more prone to player frustration.
When non-linearity (parallel puzzles) is done elegantly,
the player won't even notice that he was stuck; after all, "it
could be part of the plot that you have to finish *these* two
puzzles before you can move on with the other one." As long as
you succeed in maintaining this illusion, the players won't mind
being stuck in the first place.
Remember however, not to create side-stories which are
separate from the main plot, or your game will fall apart. Two,
or even three, simultaneous puzzles or 'goals' are fine, but if
two of them are obstacles on your way to rescue a princess, and
the third is stealing an egg from a bird's nest, then you better
make damn sure the player knows exactly why he'll need that egg
later on, or he simply won't bother (well, most players will,
but only because they see the bird's nest and go "This is
probably a puzzle. I should solve this and see what I get." --
which is just idiotic, if you ask me).
The "faux puzzle" is when you intentionally design a dead
end, to let the players know they're on the wrong track (or just
to mess with them a bit). Sometimes you'll want to create one
after a beta-testing phase when several of the testers were
stuck trying fruitlessly to solve a certain puzzle in the same -
wrong - way. And at other times, you just want to be mean and
place a hammer in a place where the player can't reach it, just
when his current puzzle is to break something. Oh, don't do
that; that's just cruel. Heh.
Actually, adding a faux puzzle can be an interesting twist
to an otherwise dull puzzle. In the hammer example from before,
allow the player to reach the hammer (with a little luck and
perhaps a simple inventory combination), but then let the hammer
turn out to be a useless rubber hammer, or make it break or
something, indicating that the puzzle has to be solved
differently.
Classics & Inspiration
Multiple solutions to one puzzle increase realism. Like,
cutting a rope can be accomplished both using a rusty sword, a
shard of glass, or a pair of scissors.
'Caught in the dark' puzzles, where you wind up in a
dark place and must find a way to shed some light. They take
very little drawing / animating, and are a nice gimmick in any
game. Don't put too many in one game, though.
Who decided that players could only Use, Pick Up, Talk
To, etc.? Why not have a dog as player character: Eat, Smell,
Bark At, Poop, Pee.. or a mean biker: Break, Hurt, Kick, Yell
At..?
Remember the ship's horn in Monkey Island II? Blowing it
next to the blind lookout man would make the guy from the nearby
spitting contest come running and talk to the old lookout
geezer, which was pretty funny in itself. Later, you could use
this knowledge in the "Spitting Contest" puzzle. Making a funny
dialogue sequence made sure the player would remember this
effect.
#Post#: 87--------------------------------------------------
Re: Application of Puzzle Theory
DIR By: Pam
Date: June 7, 2021, 11:24 am
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Example of an applied puzzle structure
Let's have a look at a puzzle I was playing around with,
set in Reality-on-the-Norm, the main characters being a mean
little kid named Moe, and his nervous sidekick, Wilbur. The goal
of the puzzle is getting inside the kitchen of Chef Lucca's
Italian restaurant (to steal the birthday cake Lucca is making
for his naked brother Guido), and an additional goal of gaining
access to the hospital morgue. Here goes:
When the kids enter the restaurant, they see Chef Lucca
walking around and occasionally entering the kitchen. He is busy
decorating the restaurant and servicing a single customer who is
eating some kind of pasta dish and complaining that it has no
parmesan. Talking to Lucca, the kids learn that he is making a
delicious birthday cake out back. If they try to enter the
kitchen while Lucca is in the restaurant, he will yell at them
to keep out of there. If they enter while he's in the kitchen,
he will throw them out (but they will get a quick peek of the
cake on the table).
If they enter the kitchen like that a few times, the chef
gets more and more angry, and finally tosses a mortar (not a
bomb; the kitchen kind) at them (small reward: animation), which
they pick up. (Repeated-Action)
While Lucca is in the kitchen, the kids can steal the
hammer and scissors he's using for the decorating. (Timing
Puzzle)
Not far from the restaurant is the hospital. If the kids
enter there and ask if they can get inside the morgue, a guard
will tell them to leave. Enter again, and he will get angry at
them, wave his gun around (he's under a lot of stress) and tell
them if anyone walks through those doors within the next two
minutes, they'll be seeing the morgue sooner than they think -
hint, hint.. (small reward: animation) If they DO enter again
within 2 minutes despite the guard's warning, he will shoot them
dead. If they enter after the two minutes have passed, he will
merely throw them out and repeat his threat. (Repeated-Action
and Timing)
Back in town square, there is a closed fast-food place
called Dominatrix' Pizza (or at least we think it's a fast food
place - nobody knows for sure). Behind the window is a pill jar
(Larry 1 reference, heh). The kids must use the hammer to smash
the window (the brats!) and take the jar of pills (small reward:
animation), but to get away with it, they must distract a
character who's standing nearby. (Distract-n-Grab)
The jar of pills has a label on it that indicates danger.
If Moe eats the pills, he will drop dead (I kill my characters a
lot. I know it's bad, I just can't help it). If he makes Wilbur
eat a couple (which is quite likely since Moe's a real jerk),
poor Wilbur will start to vomit and look very pale for the rest
of the game. The mortar must be used with the jar to grind the
pills into a powdery substance. (Inventory / Combination Puzzle)
In the restaurant, the kids can now use the jar with the
pasta dish (small reward: animation). The customer will think
what they're sprinkling over his food is parmesan, and thank
them as he starts to eat. (I could have made a Quid Pro Quo
puzzle here as well, but I chose not to)
As the kids leave the restaurant, there is a cutscene
(medium reward) with a 911 call from the restaurant.
The kids should now go back to the hospital and enter
again, piss the guard off, and then go wait outside. Within
seconds (that is, less than two minutes), Lucca arrives,
carrying the unconscious customer (small reward: animation), and
enters through the hospital doors. Two loud shots are heard, and
a lot of cursing. (the funny sequence earlier makes the player
remember the effect of entering the hospital)
Another 911 call cutscene (medium reward), and this time
the police are alerted. The kids decide to get the hell out of
there before the police show up.
After this, the kids can return to the restaurant, enter
the kitchen and get their hands on the cake - not! The
restaurant doors are locked. When the police have sealed off the
hospital and brought the guard back to headquarters, the kids
can enter the hospital again (using the scissors to cut the
'Police Line Do Not Cross' tape) and get inside the morgue
(final reward: new location). Also, they will find the chef's
bloody apron on the floor, with the key to the restaurant in its
pocket. Voilá.
As you have probably noticed, I include quite a few
animations in the minor puzzles. This is key, I think, if you
want to keep the players interested. Also, I try to use
different types of puzzles so the player doesn't get bored
having to do the same over and over again. And finally, the
player can enter the hospital at any time to discover the
guard's bad temper, which makes the puzzle a little bit less
linear (and of course, there are other puzzles to solve at the
same time: something to do with the mayor, bribes and a large
genetic research corporation, heh, cliché is good).
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