1. The Puzzlemaker’s Survival Kit Scott Kim -- scottkim.com March 6, 2003 -- Game Developers Conference

2. Puzzles are part of many games ¥ By themselves ¥ Within larger games ¥ On web and phones ¥ In education

3. But how do you… ¥ Design a good puzzle? ¥ Get started? ¥ Produce levels efficiently? ¥ Match puzzles to your audience?

4. The puzzlemaker’s survival kit !!! ConceptsGenresProcessRefs

5. CONCEPTS Behind all puzzles !!!

6. A puzzle is a problem that is fun to solve and has a right answer As opposed to everyday “problems” That can be confirmed by computer

7. The play pyramid Game Puzzle Toy Experience

8. Motivation Deeper Meaning Challenge Character & Setting Distraction

9. Modalities: Word, Image, Logic

10. Modalities: Combinations

12. Beyond pure reason ChanceKnowledgeDexterityPrizes

13. Five genres

14. GENRES 1. Action–Puzzle

15. Action puzzle games ¥ = Puzzles + Time pressure ¥ Yes: Tetris, Collapse! ¥ No: Pacman, Mummy Maze ¥ Popular with women ¥ Popular on the web

16. Key issue: Error recovery ¥ Tetris – clear lines ¥ Collapse! – clear clumps ¥ Pipe Dream – replace tile ¥ Q*Bert – reversible moves

17. Demo: Collapse!

18. Lessons from Collapse ¥ Nested rhythms New block Click group New line Blow up bomb Level up Reach top GAME ACTIONSPLAYER ACTIONSTICKS 2000 300 36 12 4 1

19. Lessons from Collapse ¥ Easy to learn ¥ Randomness is addictive ¥ Business model: upsell

20. GENRES 2. Story–Puzzle

21. Story puzzle games ¥ Puzzles + storyline ¥ Yes: Myst, The Fool’s Errand ¥ Yes: Metal Gear Solid, Ico ¥ No: combat quest games

22. Key issue: role of puzzles ¥ Branching narrative – choices

23. Key issue: role of puzzles ¥ Branching narrative – choices ¥ Linear narrative – locks

24. Key issue: role of puzzles ¥ Branching narrative – choices ¥ Linear narrative – locks ¥ Enhanced narrative – optional depth

25. Demo: Ico

26. Lessons from Ico ¥ Appropriate story ¥ Solve puzzle two ways ¥ In-game hints ¥ Re-use mechanisms MUSICALS The Producers Singing in the Rain West Side Story GAMES Ico – Quest Myst – Mystery Fool’s Errand -- Cards

27. Other examples ¥ The 7th Guest ¥ Myst ¥ Metal Gear Solid ¥ Law & Order

28. GENRES 3. Competitive–Puzzle

29. Competitive puzzle games ¥ Puzzles + multiple players ¥ Yes: Jeopardy!, Boggle ¥ No: chess ¥ Almost: Scrabble

30. Key issue: Scoring ¥ Score: Jeopardy! ¥ Board: Trivial Pursuit ¥ Race: Set ¥ Take turns: Battleship ¥ Social scoring: Boggle

31. Demo: Boggle

33. Lessons from Boggle ¥ Simple format ¥ Random content ¥ Short play cycle ¥ Scalable room Tangleword Jeopardy! 12121212121212 220

34. GENRES 4. Construction–Puzzle

35. Construction puzzle games ¥ Puzzles + Building Things ¥ Yes: The Incredible Machine, Pit Droids ¥ No: SimCity, Marble Drop ¥ Almost: Tetris, Lemmings

36. Key issue: Modularity ¥ Few pieces, many combinations {  } = 10 {  } x {  } = 25 {  } x {  } x {  } = 54

37. Key issue: Modularity ¥ Legos, furniture ¥ Too little structure ¥ Too much structure

38. Demo: Incredible Machine

47. Lessons from Incredible Machine ¥ Start with a tutorial ¥ Edit + Run ¥ Authoring = Build + Record

48. GENRES 5. Pure Puzzle

49. Pure puzzle games ¥ Puzzles are the focus ¥ Yes: Pandora’s Box, Mummy Maze ¥ Yes: FreeCell, Minesweeper ¥ Yes: Crossword, jigsaw puzzles

50. Key issue: Larger Form Accelerating Linear Sawtooth Semilinear Ordered collection Metapuzzle

51. Demo: Mummy Maze

52. Things to notice ¥ Small board fits on phone ¥ Tutorial vs. on-the-fly tips ¥ Liberal undo ¥ Easy to get stuck

53. Lesson 1: indulge one style ¥ Satisfy player’s appetite

54. Lesson 1: indulge one style ¥ Satisfy player’s appetite ¥ Economical to produce

55. Lesson 1: indulge one style ¥ Satisfy player’s appetite ¥ Economical to produce ¥ Daily delivery

56. Lesson 1: indulge one style ¥ Satisfy player’s appetite ¥ Economical to produce ¥ Daily delivery ¥ Variety through content

57. Lesson 2: generate puzzles ¥ It’s hard --- Pit Droids ¥ Random --- Solitaire ¥ But possible --- Mummy ¥ Algorithmic– Lights Out

58. Lesson 3: easy to learn ¥ Familiar – Solitaire ¥ Self-demonstrating ¥ Simple– Diamond Mine ¥ Discoverable -- Alchemy

59. PROCESS Eight steps to a finished game

60. The Eight Steps 1. Inspiration 2. Simplify 3. Editor 4. Spec 5. Levels 6. Hinting 7. Testing 8. Presentation S PECIFY R ULES B UILD P UZZLES

61. Step 1: Inspiration ¥ Other computer games

62. Step 1: Inspiration ¥ Other computer games ¥ Noncomputer games

63. Step 1: Inspiration ¥ Other computer games ¥ Noncomputer games ¥ Art, mechanism

64. Step 1: Inspiration ¥ Other computer games ¥ Noncomputer games ¥ Art, mechanism ¥ Subject matter

65. Step 2. Simplify

66. Step 3. Editor ¥ Programmer: reusable code ¥ Game designer: tweak rules ¥ Level designer: build levels ¥ Player: build levels

67. 4. Spec ¥ Board — grid, network, irregular, none ¥ Pieces — shape, image, attribute, supply ¥ Moves — sequential, side effect, primary ¥ Goal — exact match, partial, condition

68. 5. Level design ¥ Start with bang ¥ Teach techniques ¥ Paint a picture ¥ Develop a theme

69. Start with a bang

70. Teach techniques

72. Paint a picture

73. Develop a theme

76. Step 6. Hinting ¥ Flow From the book Flow

77. Step 6. Hinting ¥ Sequence ¥ Giving hints ¥ Adjusting difficulty Easy Medium Hard Score BEFOREDURINGAFTER Alternate paths Shortcuts Steer the player Manual Demo Tutorial Undo BEFOREDURINGAFTER On-the-fly hints Camera angle Dialog

78. Step 7. Testing ¥ Are the rules clear? ¥ How hard is it? ¥ Are there other solutions? ¥ Is it fun?

79. Step 8. Presentation

80. References

81. Books ¥ Games Magazine ¥ 1000 Play Thinks (Moscovich) ¥ The Colossal Book of Mathematics (Gardner) ¥ Advanced Lingo for Games (Rosenzweig)

82. Web sites ¥ Shockwave.com ¥ Mathpuzzle.com ¥ Puzzles.com ¥ Rubiks.com

83. Game stores

84. For slides from this talk, visit scottkim.com Scott Kim, scott@scottkim.com, 650-728-8582 Copyright 2003 Scott Kim Images of games copyrighted by their companies