Adventure puzzle mechanics
Any quest is a mixture of an interesting plot, a set of logical tasks, colorful characters, graphic design ... You can list for a long time, but today I would like to talk about such a key component as logical tasks.
I spent about a month on the passage of the riddle from the Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars (there were no passes yet), but when George was able to neutralize my luckless animal, my joy knew no bounds:
Sometimes a puzzle can make a gamer beat his head against a wall and throw the game until better times. How to achieve a balance of tasks and release a first-class quest?
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In this article I will try to consider the variants of classic puzzles and analyze how they affect playability.
The first thing that came to my mind was the hunt for pixels. I think everyone remembers the time spent in scouring every point on the screen, when the eyes did not look up from the cursor because of the fear of missing a small detail. The abundance of such tasks is extremely tiring and annoying. When several hours are spent on ineffectual search for the next pixel, which will help to move forward. In my time, due to these types of tasks, I abandoned Discworld 2 , but later returned to him because of my love for the beautiful humor and world of the Disc. The great advantage of such tasks is that they can always be solved by walking around the location again.
Sometimes it is enough just to ask or offer something interesting and it's in the bag, the storyline continues to evolve.
Usually with this type of puzzles sin games with a detective story, such as Sinking Island from Benoit Sokol. It is necessary to interrogate a cloud of witnesses, to understand who of them is lying by finding no consistency or contradictions. The abundance of such puzzles is very quickly tiring and forced to constantly look into the passage, in the worst case, the game will be deleted without the right to reinstall.
A bit more complicated type of puzzles, in contrast to the previous one, it is required to understand what will help to get out of the current situation from the inventory. Sometimes combinations can be quite simple and obvious (handcuffing the chain and go free), but sometimes there are completely insane combinations that it’s almost impossible for a normal person to do (“Take a hammer fish and replace it with a hammer in the hands of the first cricketer.” we slip the flamingo to the player, but to the monkey librarian we return the bird. ”- from the passage of Diskworld 2).
In some games, the main character may have special abilities on which a number of interesting tasks are built. A prime example is the Machinery , where a small robot is able to stretch, or the second Kyrandia (in general, the entire series), where Zantsia is able to brew potions. Usually, such puzzles are not very complicated and are accompanied by a lot of hints, so it is perfectly acceptable to use this type of tasks within the framework of an additional feature of the game.
In my opinion, this is the most interesting and difficult type of task. It is necessary to solve a certain type of logic puzzle. This is the most difficult kind of task, the constant solution of this type of puzzles leads to frustration and a sense of inferiority of the player. In my experience, there are usually one or two puzzles for the whole game, with the exception of some episodes ( Myst , Safecreacker ) forparticularly perverse interested individuals.
Small games built into the main game, requiring only a little skill in handling the mouse and keyboard for passing. Used to distract the player from logical thinking. Honestly, I have not met such type of tasks in modern quests for a long time.
Usually, one type of puzzle is brought to the fore, usually it is pixel hunting and interaction with the environment. Exceptionally, these two types of tasks are very monotonous and tedious. Therefore, usually, developers add to the gameplay a couple of complex logical tasks and several unusual puzzles of the form “combining objects” or modifying interaction with the environment (as was the case with the goat from Broken Sword). Also, the gameplay is easy to dilute with mini-games or interesting features of the characters.
I spent about a month on the passage of the riddle from the Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars (there were no passes yet), but when George was able to neutralize my luckless animal, my joy knew no bounds:
Sometimes a puzzle can make a gamer beat his head against a wall and throw the game until better times. How to achieve a balance of tasks and release a first-class quest?
')
In this article I will try to consider the variants of classic puzzles and analyze how they affect playability.
Pixel Hunting
The first thing that came to my mind was the hunt for pixels. I think everyone remembers the time spent in scouring every point on the screen, when the eyes did not look up from the cursor because of the fear of missing a small detail. The abundance of such tasks is extremely tiring and annoying. When several hours are spent on ineffectual search for the next pixel, which will help to move forward. In my time, due to these types of tasks, I abandoned Discworld 2 , but later returned to him because of my love for the beautiful humor and world of the Disc. The great advantage of such tasks is that they can always be solved by walking around the location again.
Interaction with the environment
Sometimes it is enough just to ask or offer something interesting and it's in the bag, the storyline continues to evolve.
Usually with this type of puzzles sin games with a detective story, such as Sinking Island from Benoit Sokol. It is necessary to interrogate a cloud of witnesses, to understand who of them is lying by finding no consistency or contradictions. The abundance of such puzzles is very quickly tiring and forced to constantly look into the passage, in the worst case, the game will be deleted without the right to reinstall.
Combination of items
A bit more complicated type of puzzles, in contrast to the previous one, it is required to understand what will help to get out of the current situation from the inventory. Sometimes combinations can be quite simple and obvious (handcuffing the chain and go free), but sometimes there are completely insane combinations that it’s almost impossible for a normal person to do (“Take a hammer fish and replace it with a hammer in the hands of the first cricketer.” we slip the flamingo to the player, but to the monkey librarian we return the bird. ”- from the passage of Diskworld 2).
Special abilities of characters
In some games, the main character may have special abilities on which a number of interesting tasks are built. A prime example is the Machinery , where a small robot is able to stretch, or the second Kyrandia (in general, the entire series), where Zantsia is able to brew potions. Usually, such puzzles are not very complicated and are accompanied by a lot of hints, so it is perfectly acceptable to use this type of tasks within the framework of an additional feature of the game.
Logic puzzles
In my opinion, this is the most interesting and difficult type of task. It is necessary to solve a certain type of logic puzzle. This is the most difficult kind of task, the constant solution of this type of puzzles leads to frustration and a sense of inferiority of the player. In my experience, there are usually one or two puzzles for the whole game, with the exception of some episodes ( Myst , Safecreacker ) for
Mini games
Small games built into the main game, requiring only a little skill in handling the mouse and keyboard for passing. Used to distract the player from logical thinking. Honestly, I have not met such type of tasks in modern quests for a long time.
A few words about balance
Usually, one type of puzzle is brought to the fore, usually it is pixel hunting and interaction with the environment. Exceptionally, these two types of tasks are very monotonous and tedious. Therefore, usually, developers add to the gameplay a couple of complex logical tasks and several unusual puzzles of the form “combining objects” or modifying interaction with the environment (as was the case with the goat from Broken Sword). Also, the gameplay is easy to dilute with mini-games or interesting features of the characters.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/153063/
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