Cock-a-doodle-do everyone!



This week I am designing puzzles for Pigsodus. Aside from having a nephew who loves my minecraft dungeons and some time spent as a RPG game master – I have virtually no experience in this noble craft.

I have fortunately played tons of games and I know really well what makes a good puzzle. It’s simple really :

it has to be hard enough to be satisfying

the elements of the puzzle have to be logically connected

hints must be presented on how to approach the problem initially

The above are my elegant puzzle design principles for a more civilized age. I’ve given it a lot of thought and maybe you’ll have a use of what I came up with.

First one is pretty straightforward – solving the problem has to provide a sense of completion. Not only does the player push the story forward – an ideal puzzle gives him a nice warm thought, like ‘Carl is wrong! I AM smart after all‘.

Too easy and it gets boring. Too difficult – the thought changes to ‘This game is dumb’ (almost no one will admit lack of intellectual prowess ) and ALT+TAB gets pressed to read the solution – a really bad scenario.

Practical knowledge? Better to start from an easier riddle and work from there. Test it a lot until it reaches the perfect difficulty spot.

The next two principles deal with frustration. The worst thing that can happen is getting stuck for a long time. There were games I’ve never finished because of that. Providing initial information gets the player on the right track. Gluing the puzzle elements with logic prevents the ‘Oh no you didn’t’ reaction.

So how to create a perfect puzzle? I think this recipe is a good start :

Get a good idea (play this to start thinking out of the box) Design the initial and completed state. Design the elements of the puzzle and choose the input mechanics (keyboard, mouse, position etc.) Design the interactions between the elements – keeping in mind it has to MAKE sense – even the most absurd stuff can – trust me). Test it until it hits PDS.

Inevitably some players are going to get stuck. I have a cool idea for Pigsodus here – inspired by a great question on Quora – read up if you like.

Basically you can count how much time passed from encountering the puzzle first. If a player spends a lot of time in the area than you can send him an automated hint. AntiStuck system. Patent pending.

Last but not least, here’s some cute pigcelart from Sawa. See you soon and please please support us on Thunderclap. It is E X T R E M E L Y important to us!