S3E7 – Bad puzzles in otherwise good games

Imagine if half way through The Empire Strikes Back, Han Solo shot a storm trooper, turned to the camera and said: Right. Wanna see if we get off this cloud base? Here. Complete this sudoku. It would sort of break the flow, right? Even if the sudoku were Star Wars themed… Christ, those things actually

Continue reading S3E7 – Bad puzzles in otherwise good games

Imagine if half way through The Empire Strikes Back, Han Solo shot a storm trooper, turned to the camera and said:

Right. Wanna see if we get off this cloud base? Here. Complete this sudoku.

It would sort of break the flow, right? Even if the sudoku were Star Wars themed…

Christ, those things actually exist. A lesson here, folks – never make a lame joke and then Google it.

Anyway, this week the three amigos sit down and discuss puzzle design. What is it that makes a puzzle not quite fit? Is it one that is impossible to solve because the game doesn’t give you enough hints? Is it something that seems completely out of sync with the rest of the plot? Is it just something that takes eight hours to complete with no discernible pay off?

All these things, it turns out. And we even come up with some examples.

Thanks to Tomer Gabel for sending in a voicemail related to last week’s topic on adaptations. If you have any follow ups on that, this episode, or indeed anything in life that’s just getting you down, Dr Phil Fred is happy to hear from you. E-mail him, yo.

Also, this episode, Fred realises he needs Latin lessons, Troels realises he needs sleep, and Gareth realises that he needs both of these things.

We also done an after dark thingy again.

(Download After Dark mp3)