- It's fun.
- It's solvable.
Motivation
- Distractions from the every day.
- A mental challenge.
- This reading shows that the motivations to play puzzles are the same as those to play games.
Puzzle Divisions and a Brief Explanation:
Action -
Puzzles with a mental challenge also combined with a twitch skill, for example Tetris.
Error recovery is present.
Easy to learn.
Story -
Use the puzzle tell an interesting story - about the line between story and puzzle link you make.
Keep the story relevant to the style and mechanics.
Certain genres are easily adaptable to Story Puzzles.
Competitive -
Players use the same puzzle area and all attempt to complete the puzzle as quickly as possible, beating the opponent.
Quickness, as these puzzles are usually turn-based.
Should be simple, and very quick - like Peggle.
Construction -
Lego is a perfect example of a Construction Puzzle.
Modularity (Give the player choices, e.g Lego can be made into anything in any combination).
Must not restrict the players creativity when making a construction puzzle.
Not too little, or too much structure.
Intensity Ramping -
Different Mechanics => Accelerating Puzzles => Based on Twitch.
Increasing Difficulty Through each Stage/Level => Based on Twitch.
Increasing difficulty, then a new mechanic (e.g. an upgrade, then being at the same level and work up to the next upgrade) => Difficulty Range does not Greatly Increase.
Semi-Linear Ordering => Offer the player complete choice in levels with no set order => Difficulty range does not Greatly Increase.
Ordered => One task must be completed to move onto the next.
Meta Puzzle => Small puzzles give clues as to how to solve the larger puzzles, gives the player a strong sense of progression.
How Should You Start?
Enjoying the manipulation of the puzzle (Core Mechanics).
Start familiarly - Introduce the player to the objects that can be manipulated, but do not alter the puzzle state.
Specifying Rules
Make it clear what can be done and what cannot be done in the game.
Building up Puzzles
The ordering of difficulty must make sense. Do not give the player an incredibly difficult puzzle at the beginning, because they will not be able to do it and the game will quickly become boring.
Simplifying
One example of simplifying - Making a puzzle that is about cars in a car park and you have to simplify the puzzle into its core component, getting the car and getting it out of the park.
Editor
Means you can quickly build and tweak puzzles, testing the components.
LEVEL DESIGN
Start with a bang!
Teach techniques
Paint a picture
Develop a theme
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