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Puzzle exploration (Key Points from Jolie Menzels GDC Puzzle Talk…
Puzzle exploration
Key Points from Jolie Menzels GDC Puzzle Talk
puzzle: game with a dominant strategy
One clear solution
Not competitive challenge, makes player stop and think, explore world, detective
Fun from challenge
Player feels sense of trust and respect from designer
invited to find an attainable solution
Sophia look - emotion journey of solving puzzle
Fear - absence of skill
Surprise - curiosity, speculation, insight, discovery
happiness of mastery! solving the problem
Elements of puzzles
Combo of mechnics (actions) and theme (narrative, presentation)
System based - know what tools you have, how to use them, just have to figure out how to apply them to solve issue at hand
Context based - classic adventure game, examine things in environment, use things on other things
Unpredictable, based on the theme rather than the mechanic to tell you what to use to solve problem
Consistent world - use consistency so players know what to do based on the world
Difficulty
Steps to solve/ how long it takes to solve, get feedback on their move
reveal new mechanics or information
new applications of old mechanics or info
difficulty considerations
Audience for game
Why are the puzles there? narrative based or challenge focused
Where it will be found - rational puzzle design
introduce concepts in orderly fashion, preserve in a macro flow - consider where it fits in to the game
visual for planning the macro of your game, difficultty wise
breather puzzles; dip in difficulty after a hard puzzle to reenforce player confidence
Building a puzzle
Know the players goal: if you don't know, they won't knwo - at the base level its finding a key to go into a lock, make these clear
interactable objects are clearly interactable
Encourage player to disover steps in right order to solve
show relationships with narrative - use of cameras and cutscenes
make puzzle and clues visible
give the player feedback
reward when they do the right thing
Communicate when they've hit a dead end
limit actions available based on what you've programmed in to be interactabe and cause the correct next step
Trouble shooting
user testing - capture as much of the players thought process as possible
two people; more likely to communicate out loud what they're thinking as they progress through, not all in their head
Too easy
No variation in how you solve the puzzle eg alway use cut in pokemon for the same action
Not enough steps
no chance to solve it themselves, walked through it, didn't get a chance to think it through and gte the ah hah moment
Too hard
Is info given to solve it, can info be reaccessed
Is goal clear to player, level layout and visuals make the path clear
Too mnay steps, new mechanic not well taught, Unintuitive way o use the mechanic in a new way, inconsistent
Notes from Laura E. Hall GDC talk on using escape room techniques to inform VR design
storytelling is a gateway for fun : allows escapism
Puzzles are useful way to move people forward in gameplay
Old fashioned games: pair objects together to find whihc work
Old flash games were an interactive version of classic detective games
Puzzle solving relies on observation
influence difficulty by changing how much info is available to players in one go
eg group clues together to make the connection more obvious
Give part of the clue to help players understand what form answer the puzzle requires
Notes on building real life escape rooms
"
In the simplest terms: Find Locked Box -Solve Puzzle – Get Code – Unlock Box – REPEAT
"
https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/GlennisMcClellan/20180108/312596/Designing_game_play_for_escape_rooms_using_video_game_design_techniques.php
Make puzzles more complex by adding a cipher system: need to combine 2 objects to 'unlock' the puzzle
tie puzzles into the narrative
Give a narrative reason why there's a time limit - eg someone will break in and kill you in an hour
One approach: make a list of theme related items, some under the '
box
' category, aka things that could be unlocked to contain the next clue, and '
other
' things, which can be used to build the story, add immersion, and unlock the boxes
puzzles get harder as they progress - but make sure you do user testing so you know you judged your difficulty correctly
scoring systems eg leaderboards, points
Lose a point for a hint
'
pattern of quick wins vs. harder challenges
'
https://www.escapefront.com/escape-room-puzzle-design-bh1/
The best puzzles are the one that you look back at and say “I should have gotten that sooner.”
Another approach:
I collect a huge
library of puzzle ideas
, Physical, perspective, logic, pattern, old games, riddles, electronic sensors, science projects, and
interesting ways to hide information
, etc.
I come up with a s
tory or concept theme
that is interesting, and I haven’t heard of before. I am not only thinking about the story but also the game flow. I try to challenge myself with a way to build on the classic escape room flow of entering a room, find the secret room, and find the way out. I love trying to find new ways of moving teams through the physical space in different ways.
With the story in place, I then start
slotting puzzles
that fit with the
story theme
. I create the
puzzle flowchart
and a room layout.
With a story, puzzle flow, and room layout I then sketch out
set design
. I may need to
adapt earlier puzzles
or flow to accommodate other design choices.
I go into construction. I try to build as much of the puzzles and props offsite and then install into the room. In parallel, I am building the base of the room, walls, electrical, control panel, doors, painting, etc.
Then I install puzzles and do initial testing. Making sure the puzzles are
stable and work consistently
.
Beta testing
. Test with at least six teams of
differing size and skill
levels.
Make adjustments
as needed for the game
Launch game with a hyper care period to fix or adapt if any bugs are revealed.
Key points from Pauls presentation
Difficulty
Not too high - impossible games aren't fun
Not too easy - Need player to be satisfied when they solve it
Mindful Calculations > trial and error
Make sure it clear that there is a logical solution, not too abstract
Creating an 'ah-hah' moment
1 - player understand objective
2 - player discovers puzzle
3 - player works out solution
4 - player implements solution, solves puzzle
Imbue narrative and theme in puzzle type and modelling to add feeling of immersion
Generally sequential - one leads to another
Helps in creating a user story - narrative can develop as each puzzle is solved
