"What is a puzzle" in T. Fullerton (2008)
What is a puzzle?
The dictionary definition of a puzzles is "A toy or contrivance designed to amuse by presenting defiiculties to be solved by inguenity or patient effort". A humurous but insightful definition is "a simple task with a bad user interface".
Stan Isaacs:
1. A puzzle is fun
2. and it has a right to answer
Part 1: Of the definition says that puzzles are a form of play.
Part 2: Distinguishes puzzes from other forms of play such as games and toys.
Novel: Puzzles are a form of play and play starts by suspending the rules of everyday life, giving us permissions to things that are not practicle. Folderd letters don't have any practicle value. They take somthing firmilliar and five it a novel twist - a good way of inviting to be playful.
Not Too Easy, Not Too Hard: Puzles that are too easy are dissapointing. Puzzles that are to hard discourage.
Tailor puzzles to the interests and abilities of the audience.
"The Well Played Game" - Read this book.
Puzzles Versus Games: Types of play activities, ranging from most to least interactive (Chris Crawford).
Games are rule based systems in which the goal is for our player to win. They involve "opposing players who acknowledge and respond to one another's actions. The difference between games and puzzles has a little to do with mechanics: we can easily turn many puzzles and many atheletic challenges into games and vice versa".
- Puzzles are rule based systems, like games but the goal it to find a solution, not to beat an oppenent. Unlike games, puzzles have little replay value.
- Toys are manipulable, like puzzles, but there is no fixed goal.
- Stories involve fantast play, like toys, but they cannot be changed or manipulated by the player.
Game - Winning
Puzzle - Goal
Toy - No Goal
Story - No Interaction
Quake is a game that includes some puzzles.
The incredible machine is a series of puzzles that includes a log like construction set for building puzzles.
Sims City is to make players more puzzle-like by setting up their own goals.
Myst is a story that happens to be told partly through puzzles.
- To design a good pizzle, first build a good toy. The Player should have fun just manipulating the puzzle even before reaching the solution.
Desgining Puzzles:
There are two aspects of puzzle design, as it applies to puzzles is crafting a particular puzzle configuration within a fixed set of rules. For example composing a crossword puzzle is a form of level design. The level designers challenge is to craft a puzzle with a distinct sense of drama and coherence that it is taylored to a particular difficulty level.
The other type of puzzle deisng is rule design: Inventing the rules, goals and format of a puzzle. For example, Edno Rubik was a rule designer where he invented the Rubiks Cube. The that some rules sets like Sudoku are reasonable forms that yield thousands of puzzles while other rule sets yeild onlt a single unique ouzzle genrally speaking, rule design is harder than level design.
Second, puzzle design has the same goal as game design in genreal; to keep the player in a pleasuably challenging state of flow that means capturing the players inntrests with an attractive goal, teaching the player the rule in a seemless and interesting way giving feeback during gamplay that keeps the player engaged and rewarding the player appropriately at the end.
Finally, be creative. Don't limit yourself to imitating the puzzles you have seen. There is a infinate suppy of puzzles waiting to be invented. Puzzles can be as varied and expressive as songs movies or stories. For inspiration, look beyond other computer games, to puzzle books, mystery stories, physical puzzles, science, mathmatics and anything else that captures your imaginations!
