This is an example of limiting the core mechanic to create challenges.
Coloured lights can block the cloning and consciousness transferral, which forces the player to think creatively to solve puzzles. In The Swapper, the player can clone themselves and ‘shoot’ their consciousness (i.e. Secondary mechanics should help explore the main one by blocking it in some way or by revealing a facet of it. Puzzle games usually have a core mechanic and several secondary mechanics. You can of course combine digital and analogue mechanics, which I do in my game Mouse Dreams, and which Portal uses very effectively.
#HARD PUZZLE GAMES FULL#
Choosing whether a switch is on or off is too simple to present an interesting challenge on the other hand, giving the player full control over where an object is placed forces them to think. The player must take the physics behaviour of the objects into account.Īvoid giving the player simple decisions. Since the player has the freedom to place objects anywhere on the screen, they are not constrained (and can’t use the constraints to narrow down the solution). The player adds objects to the scene to influence a physics simulation to achieve a goal (in this level the goal is to get the balloon to float off the top of the screen): Here is a puzzle from Game of Clowns, an Incredible Machine style physics puzzle game.
Your main mechanic(s) should be ‘analogue’ – with a large range of potential states, such as objects subject to physics or things the player can freely place. Then the puzzle becomes about recognizing two pieces that fit together (the switches and the clue). However, this puzzle could work if it was part of a two-piece puzzle, such as a cryptic pattern on the wall that encoded the pattern. The player has to try all the switches in every combination until they get it right. This puzzle is complex, but it isn’t challenging or fun. Imagine a puzzle where you need to set six switches into the following configuration: These mechanics are not very challenging, and lead to ‘trial and error’ style puzzle solving. Digital and Analogue MechanicsĪvoid ‘digital’ mechanics – those with very limited numbers of states, such as an on/off switch. Portal’s portals – which allow the player to teleport to places they otherwise could not reach – is a simple idea, yet it opens up (hehe) lots of potential, especially when combined with secondary mechanics like lasers that can shine through the portals. Great mechanics lead to great puzzles, and the best mechanics are usually simple but profound. The Witness’s main mechanic is mazes Hue’s is changing the background colour, Portal’s is portals. MechanicsĪ game’s mechanics are the ways the player and game interact. I’ve linked all of the games I mention so you can check them out if you are unfamiliar with them.
I’ll use examples from my own games and also discuss some well-known puzzle games.