Unpoint/Unclick - A blog about Puzzle Design in Adventure Games | #4

[LostTrainDude]

Out of curiosity and will to become better at adventure game design (and, why not, maybe game design in general), I've started a little experiment in which I try to deconstruct the adventure games I play by writing down Puzzle Dependency Charts (as described by Ron Gilbert) and sharing my thoughts here and there.

I thought it could be interesting for you folks out here to see Hope you'll enjoy!

I'll keep a list here, that I'll update whenever I'll post a new one!

#1 - Dead Synchronicity: Tomorrow Comes Today
#2 - Broken Age
#3 - Zak McKracken: Between Time and Space
#4 - Technobabylon


To anybody who may be asking: to develop these charts I'm using yEd which is free (also for commercial use).

[Hobo]

Ooh, I love reading about adventure game design and that was a pretty interesting read. Haven't actually played those games myself, but since they won't run on my laptop anyway, I really didn't mind spoling them.

Thanks for sharing this and hoping to see more.

[shaun9991]

Really nice work! Very interesting to read, and quite helpful for looking at when trying to think of puzzles

[Vince Twelve]

Wow.  I just finished Broken Age with my kids last night and this was a really nice way to visualize what we just did.  I'm impressed with the amount of work you put into these.  Well done.

[LostTrainDude]

Thanks everybody I really appreciate your feedback!

@Vince:
Writing down the puzzle chart for Broken Age was really a great experience! It made me find out what I think is the whole concept behind the puzzle structure and, therefore, made me twice as aware about how difficult may be to design a game with such idea of balance in mind.

[GinnyFromThePast]

This is great! Analyzing games to better understand game design is a great idea, and I've been promising myself to do that too. I wrote down a dependency flow for part of Broken Age too - it's still on paper
Perhaps you can expand on that and analyze the balancing of different types of puzzles. I always go back to an old article on this topic: http://junk.dk/puzzle/

Another thing you might find useful, as an exercise, is to write how you experienced a game or a story, as close to the experience as you can (maybe pause in the middle to write). Write about what you felt, where you were frustrated, how you perceived things. I've really enjoyed doing this (though haven't published the results on my blog yet).

By the way, I also like the design of the blog - very clean and easy to read. One suggestion - when I click on a category, I see all the posts in the category in full form, perhaps it would be better to see titles+snippets, and then I could open each post separately.

[LostTrainDude]

I always go back to an old article on this topic: http://junk.dk/puzzle/

Ah yes! That article is amazing!
I found myself looking at it many times as well (last time not even so long ago).

Another thing you might find useful, as an exercise, is to write how you experienced a game or a story, as close to the experience as you can (maybe pause in the middle to write). Write about what you felt, where you were frustrated, how you perceived things.

I should indeed focus more on this aspect! I think I did it just a little with Broken Age which had a mood (and a way to convey it) quite different from Dead Synchronicity, but still: you're right I'm still trying to sort out the best "recipe" for this kind of articles.

perhaps it would be better to see titles+snippets, and then I could open each post separately.

Oh yes, I had thought the same at some stage but I still haven't got the time to get around to it!

Thanks a lot for your feedback!

[Mr Underhill]

Great idea! Love these, keep it up.

[homelightgames]

I really appreciated your thoughts about Broken Age. I've always found analyzation like this valuable.
Keep it up.

visionmind

[Trapezoid]

Awesome! I did something similar for MI2 here (with some analysis.) I'm working on one for Day of the Tentacle too.

It's really interesting how much puzzle dependency charts have been talked about lately, and how rarely they were before. IIRC discussions about puzzle theory in previous years mostly focused on describing different types of individual puzzles (like that article GinnyFromThePast linked) and not the overarching structure; linearity, bottlenecks, player motivation.

[LostTrainDude]

Awesome! I did something similar for MI2 here (with some analysis.)

It's great! I recall reading it some time ago, finding it really interesting because it shows up how MI2 had some puzzles "parallel" to others, giving the player the chance to pursue different things in whatever order and at the preferred pace. Something really valuable in a long game, I think.

I'm working on one for Day of the Tentacle too.

That's amazing, actually I'm really curious about it. I was thinking to make one for Maniac Mansion, at some stage. A game that, IIRC, was designed before the "invention" of the Puzzle Dependency Charts, therefore with a huge chance of having a quite messy structure.

I'm really interested in seeing how a less "open" environment (like MM and, to a lesser extent, DOTT had) could have room for improvement and to what extent.

It's really interesting how much puzzle dependency charts have been talked about lately, and how rarely they were before.

I agree! And thanks to Ron Gilbert (again) for that, I suppose.

I have to say that after I started to do this on a somewhat regular and public basis, I'm developing some sort of "addiction" to these charts. Right now I can't even think not to use them whenever I try to design a set of puzzles for something I want to work on :laugh:

Truth is that I just think of them being extremely helpful when it comes to design, also narratively speaking. Or, at least, I hope so!

[LostTrainDude]

Here's the new (HUGE) post for Zak McKracken: Between Time and Space, the unofficial sequel finally released in English by Artificial Hair Bros.

Thanks a lot for the feedback I began to integrate my charts with the puzzle definitions as GinnyFromThePast suggested!

[GinnyFromThePast]

Hey check it out! Your blog post was shared on a Facebook page I follow:
https://www.facebook.com/wearestorybeasts/posts/465393743617221

[LostTrainDude]

Hey but... I know Storybeasts! Why haven't I liked their Facebook page yet?!

Thanks a lot for pointing it out I didn't know they shared my post and that's great!

[magintz]

good read, enjoying your posts. I've dug up an old post I wrote a few years back. if you haven't read it it's worthwhile http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=48814.msg636464740#msg636464740

[LostTrainDude]

Thanks a lot for the feedback and the heads up magintz! I think I missed that thread when you posted it, so I'm definitely going to check it out now

[LostTrainDude]

Aaaand #4 is here!

This time I tried to analyze Technobabylon, which for me was a really interesting game to play. Congratulations to Technocrat and Wadjet Eye! They brought to life a really amazing and heavily-detailed world. The amount of dedication that seems to have been put in this title is something that every game - regardless of the genre - should look forward to, in my opinion

Following your feedback, I tried to give a better analysis to the game world as well, other than the puzzles... I hope it was worth it
There are plenty of little details that make the world of Technobabylon great and consistent! I hope to have put at least the most important under the spotlight