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Hi Scott! Do you have any thoughts on how hard it is to come up with original adventure game puzzles and what your process is here? When I was looking at this

Hi Scott! Do you have any thoughts on how hard it is to come up with original adventure game puzzles and what your process is here? When I was looking at this once, I noticed there's a lot of puzzles that are shared between recent adventure games that you can find in older adventure games too e.g. screwdriver + screws, rusty door + oil, distract an NPC so you can steal something. Instead of this being from lack of originality, I think instead there's some limits on how many puzzle like this exist because they have to be common sense + not completely obvious + involve physical object manipulation + use common objects. I think this is one of the reasons a lot of recent adventure games and escape room games devolve into doors with abstract logic problems to unlock them. Alternatively, they need to introduce new mechanics to widen the design space, like adding time travel or magic.

ScottAdams 5y ago
My process has always been one of inspiration from a higher power. I would place a location, think of obvious items for the locations and then pretend I was there. What would I try to do and why? Then I would sit and think about it. I also enjoyed putting it in front of beta testers and seeing what new and unique things they might try that I would want to incorporate into the game. A big tip of the hat to Neil Novak one of my classic game testers from whom I got a lot of great inspiration! As far as new puzzles go I hope you try the new section I wrote for Adventureland XL. I have a large number of new puzzles and one that I am especially happy with that went in a direction I hadn't done before. To get into the XL section of Adventureland you do first need to complete the base game and it has changed a bit with a few new puzzles of its own. You can never loose so don't ever start over. Just keep playing and let me know what you think :)
anthk 5y ago
Most of IF games have puzzless very different from the ones from the graphical adventures as the text medium can set really complex interactions. Check out All Things Devour and Vicious Cycles, both have time travel mechanics.
- seanwilson 5y ago
  > Most of IF games have puzzless very different from the ones from the graphical adventures as the text medium can set really complex interactions. I used to think this but do you think most text adventures wouldn't work as graphical adventures? Most text adventure puzzles I see are "USE X ON Y" (or the verb required is obvious), nothing complex, the same as graphical adventures. I think All Things Devours would work, except it might have to be turn based. > Check out All Things Devour and Vicious Cycles, both have time travel mechanics. Are there good examples without time travel, magic, cartoon logic, sci-fi etc.? My theory is something like this has to be introduced because there just aren't enough interesting "USE X ON Y" style puzzles that haven't been seen before or are too silly/obscure e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_hair_mustache_puzzle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_hair_mustache_puzzle.
  - framsberg 5y ago
    How about The Edifice, which won the XYZZY Award for Best Puzzles and for Best Individual Puzzle? https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=4tb9soabrb4apqzd https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=4tb9soabrb4apqzd The puzzle that won it the Best Individual Puzzle award in one where you need to learn enough of a foreign (invented) language to ask a person for critical information.
    - seanwilson 5y ago
      This seems like another one that has to include a unique mechanic on top of common object manipulation to make the latter more interesting? I'll look at it more closely though. I know of https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=aearuuxv83plclpl https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=aearuuxv83plclpl and https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=w5s3sv43s3p98v45 https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=w5s3sv43s3p98v45 that use language and wordplay as well.
      - godrejplots 5y ago
        https://godrejsparkretreat.in/ https://godrejsparkretreat.in/ https://www.wevideo.com/hub#media/ci/2461109068 https://www.wevideo.com/hub#media/ci/2461109068 The project is surrounded by well-established precincts aided with excellent connectivity and commute facilities.

ScottAdams 5y ago

My process has always been one of inspiration from a higher power. I would place a location, think of obvious items for the locations and then pretend I was there. What would I try to do and why? Then I would sit and think about it. I also enjoyed putting it in front of beta testers and seeing what new and unique things they might try that I would want to incorporate into the game. A big tip of the hat to Neil Novak one of my classic game testers from whom I got a lot of great inspiration! As far as new puzzles go I hope you try the new section I wrote for Adventureland XL. I have a large number of new puzzles and one that I am especially happy with that went in a direction I hadn't done before. To get into the XL section of Adventureland you do first need to complete the base game and it has changed a bit with a few new puzzles of its own. You can never loose so don't ever start over. Just keep playing and let me know what you think :)

anthk 5y ago

Most of IF games have puzzless very different from the ones from the graphical adventures as the text medium can set really complex interactions. Check out All Things Devour and Vicious Cycles, both have time travel mechanics.

seanwilson 5y ago
> Most of IF games have puzzless very different from the ones from the graphical adventures as the text medium can set really complex interactions. I used to think this but do you think most text adventures wouldn't work as graphical adventures? Most text adventure puzzles I see are "USE X ON Y" (or the verb required is obvious), nothing complex, the same as graphical adventures. I think All Things Devours would work, except it might have to be turn based. > Check out All Things Devour and Vicious Cycles, both have time travel mechanics. Are there good examples without time travel, magic, cartoon logic, sci-fi etc.? My theory is something like this has to be introduced because there just aren't enough interesting "USE X ON Y" style puzzles that haven't been seen before or are too silly/obscure e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_hair_mustache_puzzle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_hair_mustache_puzzle.
- framsberg 5y ago
  How about The Edifice, which won the XYZZY Award for Best Puzzles and for Best Individual Puzzle? https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=4tb9soabrb4apqzd https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=4tb9soabrb4apqzd The puzzle that won it the Best Individual Puzzle award in one where you need to learn enough of a foreign (invented) language to ask a person for critical information.
  - seanwilson 5y ago
    This seems like another one that has to include a unique mechanic on top of common object manipulation to make the latter more interesting? I'll look at it more closely though. I know of https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=aearuuxv83plclpl https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=aearuuxv83plclpl and https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=w5s3sv43s3p98v45 https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=w5s3sv43s3p98v45 that use language and wordplay as well.
    - godrejplots 5y ago
      https://godrejsparkretreat.in/ https://godrejsparkretreat.in/ https://www.wevideo.com/hub#media/ci/2461109068 https://www.wevideo.com/hub#media/ci/2461109068 The project is surrounded by well-established precincts aided with excellent connectivity and commute facilities.