The difference between a puzzle and a bookmark
Hello Players,
There are 1 day left of the Steam Festival where you will have the opportunity to play the free demo version of our game!
ATTENTION this post contains spoilers for puzzles, and there is nothing worse than a riddle solved for you. So if this is a problem for you, stop reading. However, if you are interested in their design, I invite you to read.
There is a type of puzzle where you have a certain number of squares and the same number of pieces to be placed on them. The difficulty is that we have to discover their final arrangement. As a player, we have some knowledge of the position, shape, or color of some of them.
In one of the later levels, we come across several puzzles of this type. The basic problem is how to remap the controls from this puzzle to our game. We had to choose some way for the player to interact with the items to be collected and the board on which to place them.
1) We thought there would be two arrays, one from which you shoot to select an element and the other one where you position yourself. However, the bullet flight time was so annoying that we abandoned this way.
2) Another suggestion was to change the shape of the bullet and the color with the laser. It was so problematic that you had to make carousels all the time and the player had to make sure that the elements could not repeat. Again, there was also the problem that in some cases it was necessary to fire the projectile three times and another two with the laser.
3) There were buttons on the floor with the right color and shape and shots for the panels.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
This type of puzzle usually begins with arranging the most certain elements, in this case boxes that have a specific shape and color. Then the arrangement of less certain elements is checked and at the end there is a single element that we put in the only place that is left.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
When we want to go more towards the puzzle, we try not to put everything on a tray. We can start with some confusion in the schematic, e.g. randomly arranging the fields on which you have to stand to select an item. This will expand to turn a purely puzzle task into one that also requires some movement and encourages you to explore the space and view the views.
The last puzzle on the level after completing all the previous ones, despite the large scattering of hints, is relatively simple. However, there is a moment when we have all the tiles laid out but one. Why, apart from one block, one place, what can be difficult in this? First of all, the last field is covered with a large boulder.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
The first thing that comes to mind is to stand the clone on the button and shoot the field on the wall yourself. Just imagine if you have a lot of clones and each one has a button that would be active and set with a shotgun? Some people may have practiced this before and tried to put clones in other puzzles and noticed that the buttons with the clones did not light up.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Due to the way the levels are constructed, you might think that we might have hidden something under the bridge or behind some platform element. Unfortunately, there is also no hidden button that will move the obstacle.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Others might think that game developers are some kind of sadists, and we now have you go back half the map to such a single protruding button that shows the last puzzle. Despite the red color of the button, it is not the shape. ; -;
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
There are 2 ways to solve this puzzle that at least came to my mind when I was designing it. The solution with the use of a clone is that you tell the clone to shoot and run on the button ourselves. This small change to the solution to putting the clone on the button can often be harder to come up with.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
The solution without using a clone is to take advantage of the fact that the projectile takes time to reach the right place. We can climb onto the obstacle and fall off it right after firing it, or stand next to it and run onto the element.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Finally, I will give you a riddle. The comments section and the artwork tab are yours.
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