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How to Make a Great Puzzle Game

161 points by keyle 7y ago

keithnz 7y ago
one of my favourite puzzle game creators is Everett Kaser games... http://www.kaser.com/ http://www.kaser.com/ HoneyComb hotel being my favorite! The games have been around for a long time, and seem to be updated for modern platforms. But the website is still a blast from the 90s, and the graphics are joyfully 90s amateurish :) One of the interesting things he did was invent his own language, and virtual machine for doing his games.... http://www.kaser.com/kint.html http://www.kaser.com/kint.html
- keyle 7y ago
  This collection of games is quirky and fascinating.
- cableshaft 7y ago
  Honeycomb Hotel took a short while to figure out how it works (in particular I didn't realize the puzzle isn't considered solved until all walls are placed), but it's quite addictive, thanks for that. Any others of his that you would recommend?
- cbsks 7y ago
  Thanks for the recommendation! I downloaded it on iOS and have been really enjoying it. The controls took a few minutes to get used to, but the included documentation was superb.
lostgame 7y ago
Myst was probably my favourite puzzle game. :)
- jimbob45 7y ago
  It really didn't age well if anyone is getting that itch. The atmosphere is phenomenal but the puzzles can be extremely frustrating. Back in the day, that wasn't a problem because exploration felt like a privilege. Now, the scenery doesn't captivate like it used to and you just want to know how to solve the stupid thing. Portal 2 is a great brain-teaser if anyone is looking for a constructive use of their time tonight. I recommend the Nyskrte NYS maps if you want a real head challenge.
  - teshier-A 7y ago
    If anyone has that itch they can turn to Obduction and Quern : Undying thoughts, both recent and both very good.
    - jlangemeier 7y ago
      My only problem with Obduction is the loading; oh my god the loading. I know they wanted to keep the original Myst on Windows 98 feel, but a 30 second to 2 minute load between scenes is killer and why I haven't finished it.
  - shantly 7y ago
    The Witness, mentioned up-page (at time of writing—will probably stay there, given the author) is great and a bit Mystish, though with a very different sensibility re: puzzles. There's also The Talos Principle, which is kinda Myst+Portal. I didn't like Portal 2's official single player campaign as much as the first Portal, but the two-player coop mode is excellent, and a rare example of multiplayer puzzling.
jblow 7y ago
Since I am mentioned in the article I have a correction to make that I think is pretty important. The article says that I like to find ideas by “playtesting” then goes on to describe playtesting as a form of user testing. Whereas there is some definition of the word playtesting that might be applicable to the way I design puzzles, it is not remotely the one in the article. In fact I think too much “playtesting” as described here will make your game boring, and will degrade your skill as a designer, and over time make you a boring designer. It is important to avoid this. If you playtest too much it means you don’t really know what you are making or don’t have confidence to determine what playing it can be like. Even if you don’t have these skills or this confidence yet, you should be working on building them. Certain high skill levels of design will not be accessible otherwise. The amount of playtesting we did on The Witness was very small — about 5 or 6 days over the course of 6.5 years, on a game that takes 50-100 hours to play through. Whereas I do sometimes get puzzle ideas from bottom-up exploration of a space by myself (which is the definition of “playtesting” that would make sense here), in fact the vast majority of my puzzle ideas just spring to mind after I have built a sufficient understanding of the possibility space. So these are more like two distinct phases of design, and you might switch between them when designing one game. But I think most of the actual puzzle ideas have to come at least semi-intentionally, or the game will not feel very strong. You have to know where you are trying to drive the truck.
- doctorpangloss 7y ago
  This is a really insightful point, design wouldn't be learnable if it always relied on discovery through testing. Compare to giant companies like Twitter, where I have heard engineering & product managers say "Every idea has been thought of, it's only a matter of testing them one after another." What an intellectually bankrupt idea. It is the most experienced product designers who can just look at something and tell you if it is good or bad, before trying it, that big corp product undermines the most.
  - chii 7y ago
    > It is the most experienced product designers who can just look at something and tell you if it is good or bad, before trying it, that big corp product undermines the most. that's because for every product designer that can tell good from bad, there are 10's of pretenders who dont know what they're talking about. The stakeholders don't have the time or expertise to vet (otherwise, they'd be product designers themselves!). Thus, they need objective verification. This is what turns into the 'matter of testing the idea'.
codesushi42 7y ago
Chip's Challenge is the all time great. https://archive.org/details/chips_challenge_windows_3.x https://archive.org/details/chips_challenge_windows_3.x
- throwaway_bad 7y ago
  Oh my god this runs in my browser! There goes my week
- frogpelt 7y ago
  Love it. Thanks for finding this blast from the past.
- nathancahill 7y ago
  Oh wow!! I played this game when I was little but never knew what it was called and never found it when I searched (from vague memories). Thanks!!
- acomjean 7y ago
  If you listen to the Apple time warp podcast interview with Chuck Somerville”. He talks about chips challenge/ chucks challenge /chips challenge2 and the licensing from the current owners. It’s actually kinda a fun listen about Apple ][ development. http://appletimewarp.libsyn.com/apple-time-warp-podcast-episode-2-editedm4a http://appletimewarp.libsyn.com/apple-time-warp-podcast-epis... For those that like reading more than listening ars summarizes it https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/06/how-an-early-90s-windows-gaming-classic-was-unearthed-after-years-in-limbo/ https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/06/how-an-early-90s-wind...
Mathnerd314 7y ago
missing: how to make any money from said game.
rienbdj 7y ago
This article talks more about what a great puzzle game is and less about how to design one. it's a bit disappointing!
pierre 7y ago
For those interest in designing great puzzle games, I would suggest reading the following thesis on evaluating fun in puzzle games. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/27476077_Automatic_generation_and_evaluation_of_recombination_games https://www.researchgate.net/publication/27476077_Automatic_... (update: Non paywalled version https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e401/51cbec7bdcc65b59fff53cc2ee692c63bb83.pdf https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e401/51cbec7bdcc65b59fff53c...) Cameron Browne (the author), suggest many way to evaluate your puzzle, and this was used in his further research as a way to automatically generate fun and interesting puzzle games. http://cambolbro.com/games/index.html http://cambolbro.com/games/index.html

161 points by keyle 7y ago

one of my favourite puzzle game creators is Everett Kaser games... http://www.kaser.com/ http://www.kaser.com/ HoneyComb hotel being my favorite! The games have been around for a long time, and seem to be updated for modern platforms. But the website is still a blast from the 90s, and the graphics are joyfully 90s amateurish :) One of the interesting things he did was invent his own language, and virtual machine for doing his games.... http://www.kaser.com/kint.html http://www.kaser.com/kint.html

keyle 7y ago
This collection of games is quirky and fascinating.
cableshaft 7y ago
Honeycomb Hotel took a short while to figure out how it works (in particular I didn't realize the puzzle isn't considered solved until all walls are placed), but it's quite addictive, thanks for that. Any others of his that you would recommend?
cbsks 7y ago
Thanks for the recommendation! I downloaded it on iOS and have been really enjoying it. The controls took a few minutes to get used to, but the included documentation was superb.

lostgame 7y ago

Myst was probably my favourite puzzle game. :)

jimbob45 7y ago
It really didn't age well if anyone is getting that itch. The atmosphere is phenomenal but the puzzles can be extremely frustrating. Back in the day, that wasn't a problem because exploration felt like a privilege. Now, the scenery doesn't captivate like it used to and you just want to know how to solve the stupid thing. Portal 2 is a great brain-teaser if anyone is looking for a constructive use of their time tonight. I recommend the Nyskrte NYS maps if you want a real head challenge.
- teshier-A 7y ago
  If anyone has that itch they can turn to Obduction and Quern : Undying thoughts, both recent and both very good.
  - jlangemeier 7y ago
    My only problem with Obduction is the loading; oh my god the loading. I know they wanted to keep the original Myst on Windows 98 feel, but a 30 second to 2 minute load between scenes is killer and why I haven't finished it.
- shantly 7y ago
  The Witness, mentioned up-page (at time of writing—will probably stay there, given the author) is great and a bit Mystish, though with a very different sensibility re: puzzles. There's also The Talos Principle, which is kinda Myst+Portal. I didn't like Portal 2's official single player campaign as much as the first Portal, but the two-player coop mode is excellent, and a rare example of multiplayer puzzling.

jblow 7y ago

Since I am mentioned in the article I have a correction to make that I think is pretty important. The article says that I like to find ideas by “playtesting” then goes on to describe playtesting as a form of user testing. Whereas there is some definition of the word playtesting that might be applicable to the way I design puzzles, it is not remotely the one in the article. In fact I think too much “playtesting” as described here will make your game boring, and will degrade your skill as a designer, and over time make you a boring designer. It is important to avoid this. If you playtest too much it means you don’t really know what you are making or don’t have confidence to determine what playing it can be like. Even if you don’t have these skills or this confidence yet, you should be working on building them. Certain high skill levels of design will not be accessible otherwise. The amount of playtesting we did on The Witness was very small — about 5 or 6 days over the course of 6.5 years, on a game that takes 50-100 hours to play through. Whereas I do sometimes get puzzle ideas from bottom-up exploration of a space by myself (which is the definition of “playtesting” that would make sense here), in fact the vast majority of my puzzle ideas just spring to mind after I have built a sufficient understanding of the possibility space. So these are more like two distinct phases of design, and you might switch between them when designing one game. But I think most of the actual puzzle ideas have to come at least semi-intentionally, or the game will not feel very strong. You have to know where you are trying to drive the truck.

doctorpangloss 7y ago
This is a really insightful point, design wouldn't be learnable if it always relied on discovery through testing. Compare to giant companies like Twitter, where I have heard engineering & product managers say "Every idea has been thought of, it's only a matter of testing them one after another." What an intellectually bankrupt idea. It is the most experienced product designers who can just look at something and tell you if it is good or bad, before trying it, that big corp product undermines the most.
- chii 7y ago
  > It is the most experienced product designers who can just look at something and tell you if it is good or bad, before trying it, that big corp product undermines the most. that's because for every product designer that can tell good from bad, there are 10's of pretenders who dont know what they're talking about. The stakeholders don't have the time or expertise to vet (otherwise, they'd be product designers themselves!). Thus, they need objective verification. This is what turns into the 'matter of testing the idea'.

codesushi42 7y ago

Chip's Challenge is the all time great. https://archive.org/details/chips_challenge_windows_3.x https://archive.org/details/chips_challenge_windows_3.x

throwaway_bad 7y ago
Oh my god this runs in my browser! There goes my week
frogpelt 7y ago
Love it. Thanks for finding this blast from the past.
nathancahill 7y ago
Oh wow!! I played this game when I was little but never knew what it was called and never found it when I searched (from vague memories). Thanks!!
acomjean 7y ago
If you listen to the Apple time warp podcast interview with Chuck Somerville”. He talks about chips challenge/ chucks challenge /chips challenge2 and the licensing from the current owners. It’s actually kinda a fun listen about Apple ][ development. http://appletimewarp.libsyn.com/apple-time-warp-podcast-episode-2-editedm4a http://appletimewarp.libsyn.com/apple-time-warp-podcast-epis... For those that like reading more than listening ars summarizes it https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/06/how-an-early-90s-windows-gaming-classic-was-unearthed-after-years-in-limbo/ https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/06/how-an-early-90s-wind...

Mathnerd314 7y ago

missing: how to make any money from said game.

rienbdj 7y ago

This article talks more about what a great puzzle game is and less about how to design one. it's a bit disappointing!

pierre 7y ago

For those interest in designing great puzzle games, I would suggest reading the following thesis on evaluating fun in puzzle games. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/27476077_Automatic_generation_and_evaluation_of_recombination_games https://www.researchgate.net/publication/27476077_Automatic_... (update: Non paywalled version https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e401/51cbec7bdcc65b59fff53cc2ee692c63bb83.pdf https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e401/51cbec7bdcc65b59fff53c...) Cameron Browne (the author), suggest many way to evaluate your puzzle, and this was used in his further research as a way to automatically generate fun and interesting puzzle games. http://cambolbro.com/games/index.html http://cambolbro.com/games/index.html