Walkthroughs: necessary or game-killers?

[blueskirt]

The best way I found to play an adventure game is with someone who passed through the game, or someone who is ready to play the game at the same time as me. This way if I get stuck, I can ask for subtle hints, ask if the puzzle make sense, ask if there is walking deads or pixel hunt, and my friend can do the same.

I wonder if this might actually be an argument in favor of in-game hint systems? Although I'm generally opposed to in-game hint systems, it seems like a well-designed system can monitor the player's progress and provide only information related to the tasks the player is trying to accomplish without spoiling too much of the rest of the game. Thoughts?

One possibility would be to include a Cousin Ted kind of character in game, like in Day of the Tentacle. If you are stumped and don't know what to do next, you can talk with Cousin Ted, tell him your problems and receive subtle guidance on what you should do next. But it would probably be a pain to implement correctly and test if it work.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

I wonder if this might actually be an argument in favor of in-game hint systems? Although I'm generally opposed to in-game hint systems, it seems like a well-designed system can monitor the player's progress and provide only information related to the tasks the player is trying to accomplish without spoiling too much of the rest of the game. Thoughts?

A hint system exactly like this was implemented in Dance Til' You Drop!, the first ags game I released.  If you haven't played it, do so and call Richard's agent periodically.  He never actually spells out what to do but almost always has hints relevant to what you are doing.

[mkennedy]

The best games will have several solutions for every problem and would require no walkthrough to complete. The best and most clever solutions of course would score the most points where as other sub optimal solutions will net you less points, but still allow you to complete the game. Games with dead ends though where the game can become unwinable are a definte thing to avoid. For such games often use of a walkthrough may be a requirement.

[blueskirt]

While I'd like to see this more often, I don't think multiple solutions for every puzzles can be done as it is hardly feasible. Most likely there will have multiple solutions for some puzzles, sometimes a chapter in the game won't be traditionnal puzzle solving but walking in and out of boxes and cages at your own pace, your own order and your own way, kinda like Indy and the Last Crusade or Hitman, but it is rather hard to do this for all puzzles, and eventually you will end on a puzzle that will leave you stumped. Plus it cannot be done with every games as it mostly rely on the type of story, atmosphere and gameplay the author aim for.