CSE1GDTPuzzle Time

Paul Taylor 2009

What do you call a zipper on a banana?

A Fruit Fly

What are puzzles?

A puzzle is a problem or enigma that tests the ingenuity of the solver

-wikipedia-Seems to be stolen by:

http://www.statemaster.com/encyclopedia/Puzzle

Are Puzzles Games?

Every game is a problem solving activity -> approached playfully!

But games can contain puzzles too!We end up with two (almost) distinct types of puzzle:• A puzzle that is a game• A puzzle that is not a game

Incorporating Puzzles

Puzzles can either be the game, or be used inside the game

A Rubik's Cube, is a puzzlePicking locks in Oblivion – is a puzzle inside a

game

Trying to define a Puzzle...

• Scott Kim – Puzzlemaster“A puzzle is fun, and has a right answer.”Once you know the answer to a puzzle it ceases

to be fun.

*Games don’t usually suffer this fate*

The Dominant Strategy Approach

• Once you figure out a puzzle, the fun stops– The same is true for a bad game!

• Puzzles are a game with a dominant strategy• Whilst games are designed with balanced play

in mind, puzzles are designed with the discovery of a dominant strategy as the answer

The Death of Puzzles

• Compare the adventure games of the 1980’s and 90’s to now.

Where have all of the puzzles gone?

Head vs. Hands

Remember this balance?The rise of Consoles and the ability of computers

to react in real time allowed us to shift from games purely built around head, to

incorporate hands too.

Have we gone too far?

All the puzzles are hiding....

Improved Integration

If you look a little deeper into games, you’ll see the puzzles, lurking in the darkness...

http://a248.e.akamai.net/f/248/5462/2h/images.gamezone.com/screens/28/6/52/s28652_pc_17.jpg

http://www.marcofolio.net/images/stories/fun/games/fps/tremulous_screen3.png

http://www.flatrock.org.nz/wolf/images/Sam_and_Max.JPG

http://www.shinegame.com/games/puzzle-quest/b1.jpg

http://files.xboxic.com/xbox-360/viva-pinata/viva-pinata-e3-2006-pic14.jpg

Implicit vs. Explicit Puzzles

• The elegance of your game is reliant on the puzzles being implicit.

• As game design has matured, we have gotten better at integrating the puzzles.

Why do lions eat raw meat?

Because they can’t cook!

Why do lions eat raw meat?

Principals of Good Puzzle Design

Why do we need good puzzle design?

Lets explore it!

Make the goal easy to understand

• The first thing people need to know is what to do!

http://www.mrpuzzle.com.au/images/cube12.jpg

http://faireandfowl.com/PuzzleCubes.jpg

• What occurs once in a minute, twice in a moment and never in a thousand years?

The letter M

• What occurs once in a minute, twice in a moment and never in a thousand years?

We know what to do here:

• Why?

We know what to do here:

• Why?• It looks like a key– Keys go in and out– This is extrinsic knowledge

• I think we can safely assume all players of a game know what a key looks like

Make it easy to start

• Knowing where to begin is the next important piece of the puzzle puzzle!

http://dizz.com/shop/images/Font_PuzzlePieces.jpg

http://www.mgcpuzzles.com/mgcpuzzles/images/-2004-images/2116_jigsaw_puzzle_pieces_A.jpg

• You don’t know the answer immediately, but can start solving it straight away!

http://bluebuddies.com/gallery/Smurf_Slide_Puzzles/jpg/Smurfs_Slide_Puzzle_Game_Happy_Smurf_Keychain.jpg

More Scott Kim

“To design a good puzzle, first build a good toy.”

This relates directly to Lens #15

Making it obvious and interesting to manipulate

Give feedback on progress

• More over, give positive feedback!– The player wants to know that they are getting the

puzzle solved.– Spending too much time with nothing happening

is frustrating

Riddles vs. Puzzles

• What is the difference?

Riddles vs. Puzzles

• What is the difference?– Puzzles require manipulation, and give the player

feedback– Riddles have two types of feedback:• Wrong!• Correct!

– Until a riddle is solved, there is no way to progress and no feedback indicating progress

– This effect is sometimes known as a stone wall

Let players believe they can solve it

• Staring off into the abyss of hopelessness is not very enjoyable...

• A Rubik’s Cube gives the player so much positive feedback, but is it real?

• If the player is not progressing, then what happens when the player realises?

Increase difficulty gradually

• Much like a game, you can balance the challenge within a puzzle so that players can improve their skills as they progress through the puzzle– Jigsaws are a perfect example– Some puzzles attempt to destroy the natural flow

of puzzles

Don’t force players to complete your puzzle immediately

• Parallelism– What happens if the player can’t solve your

puzzle?• This leaves use with three options:

– Let them skip it– Give the player a hint– Have other puzzles which the player can work on

» The solutions can interrelate too!

– Crosswords– Sudoku

Puzzle Hierarchies

• Give your players a sense of knowing– Having smaller puzzles that are clues to the longer

term puzzles– Batman Skills

• You must keep this tree in a pyramid– Or players will loose sight of the overall goal!!!

To hint or not to hint?

What does that sentence remind you of?

To hint or not to hint?

What does that sentence remind you of?Shakespeare - Hamlet• Hints will allow players through the game• They can cheapen the game– So how and when.....

• When do you want a hint?– As you begin the puzzle?– Half way through?– When you get stuck?– Just before you give up?

• Generally if the player is completely stuck they need help!– Do not give hints too early!• Uncharted!

Beware the Perceptual Shift!

• These puzzles create a divide.– You either Get It or you Don’t

Deliver your hints elegantly!

• If possible!– Uncharted uses Sully to give the player hints, not

removing the player from the world.– More obvious hints are stored in the characters

diary, still keeping the player in the game.

Why cheapen the game?

• If the puzzle is required to progress in the game, would you rather preserve your elegance, and have the player give up?

• The better the puzzles you build, the less you will need to cheapen the game!

Give the players the Answer!

Whilst some players will be able to figure everything out on their own, the majority will need that one moment of clarity when they can ‘see’ the answer.

You can’t do this with all puzzlesIf you think hard enough you can with most

Walkthroughs

• In the end the internet is full of walkthroughs and many players will read them.

• This is why puzzles that are fun to manipulate are so important!

• Even with all the answers you want players to have fun!– Some tomb raider puzzles

Stone Walls and Perceptual Shifts

• Arrange Six Matches so that they form 4 equilateral (perfect) triangles

Stone Walls and Perceptual Shifts

• Arrange Six Matches so that they form 4 equilateral (perfect) triangles

• Tetrahedron

http://www.coolmath.com/reference/images/polyhedra-tetrahedron.gif

Good Puzzles and Bad Puzzles

• What makes a puzzle fun?• What makes a puzzle frustrating?• What makes a puzzle boring?• What makes a puzzle interesting?• How do you integrate a puzzle into your

game?

What makes a good game designer?

• Feeding your mind• Take the next two slides of history, and see if

you can create a chilling game.

• This is a little bit of research I did last week...

Zombie HistoryAfrican trypanosomiasisSymptoms:fever, headaches, and joint pains. Parasites enter through both the blood and lymph systems, lymph nodes often swell up to tremendous sizes.Winterbottom's sign, the tell-tale swollen lymph nodes along

the back of the neck, may appear.The disease slowly overcomes the defenses of the infected

person,Symptoms spread to include anemia, endocrine, cardiac, and

kidney diseases and disorders. • Then comes the second stage:

The disease then enters a neurological phase when the parasite passes through the blood-brain barrier.

Confusion and reduced coordinationThe sleep cycle is disturbed with bouts of fatigue

punctuated with manic periods progressing to daytime slumber and night-time insomnia. Without treatment, the disease is invariably fatal, with progressive mental deterioration leading to coma and death.

References

• http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4683903.stm

• TAOGD• http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/f

s259/en/

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_trypanosomiasis#Symptoms_and_clinical_features