"Not just because the ravine is there," Schafer said. Puzzles should inform players "why they want to cross a ravine," for example. They should also have a clear motivation to overcome that obstacle. Players should be able to see what's blocking their progress. Schafer outlined his "rough version" of good puzzle theory, saying puzzles in adventure games in the vein of Grim Fandango and The Secret of Monkey Island are better when they follow certain guidelines.įirst, they should have a very clear obstacle. There's a real entertainment to being stuck in the right way." "Someone who is complaining about puzzles, they're really just complaining about bad puzzles. "I realized I really did still like puzzles," Schafer said of his researching phase. "There's a real entertainment to being stuck in the right way." "I was just about to figure that out!" he said, self-deprecatingly, "That's so annoying!"
He was looking for cracks in the walls and clues in the architecture that might provide a hint, but the game cut him off with a tip, essentially answering the puzzle for him. While playing the game and theorizing ways to solve a climbing puzzle, Schafer said he began to have flashbacks to the first Tomb Raider. Schafer recounted a story about a puzzle that frustrated him in PlayStation 3 title Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, a game he said he liked, but illustrated one shortcoming in modern puzzle design: a lack of faith in the player.
Those creators of classic and modern-day adventure games offered differing perspectives on the use of puzzles in adventure games, and how they've evolved over the past few decades. The adventure game creators Schafer talked to, he explained at a panel at GDC Next today, included his former LucasArts colleague Ron Gilbert, Machinarium designer Jakub Dvorský and Superbrothers Sword & Sworcery EP co-creators Craig Adams and Kris Piotrowski. When Tim Schafer and Double Fine Productions made the decision to return to the adventure game genre with Broken Age - the Kickstarter-funded game previously known as Double Fine Adventure - the veteran game creator turned to his peers for fresh insight.
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