Devlog – Puzzle Design Process

Welcome to all the new puzzlers here from Reddit, you've helped me and my game reach 2000 wishlists and nearly 100 followers here on Steam! Thank you for your support, it helps!

The comments on my Reddit post were genuinely kind and supportive. One of those comments was an interesting question about the game's puzzle design and my process:

This devlog answers that question. If you're short on time though, here's what I replied:

That's the short answer. but I wanted to elaborate on this because the process of'coming up with the puzzles'is one of the most fulfilling aspects of game development for me. It's one of the tasks I could do for hours on end, happily, and completely lose track of time. It triggers my perfectionism and curiosity to keep going until I've found the most interesting solution or interaction.

I have to thank Patrick Traynor (Patrick's Parabox) for a lot of this. When I first started making puzzle games about 2 years ago, his article helped me find puzzle design strategies that work for me.

The most important part (for me) is endless iteration. It's a curious process of playing around with ideas for mechanics and puzzles, observing the consequences, and keeping an eye out for interesting interactions you might not have expected to happen. With some effort and polish, 'happy accidents' can become solutions to a puzzle or a-ha moments in the final game.

Screenshot: Prototype levels with dozens of iterations and variations (for a handful of puzzles)

Most of the work that goes into it will never be seen. (see screenshot) For every 50 puzzle drafts, only a handful will make it into the final game. In summary this is how I approach puzzle design:

Inspiration: Take inspiration from programming, architecture and life to generate ideas Prototype: Prototype the basic building blocks to be able to validate and explore those ideas Experiment: Playfully combine and experiment with mechanics and interactions Iterate, Iterate, Iterate: Focus on the most interesting results and thoroughly explore them Curate: Collect and select the most interesting puzzles Polish: Play-test and polish the selected puzzles

In a way, designing puzzle games is a lot like playing them! It's a playful process that requires you to test your assumptions and ask yourself the right questions to come up with new solutions.

Speaking of playing them... I'll be releasing a Steam demo in the next few months!

Have a great weekend, -Tim (Frycandle)