LudumData

Designing Puzzles is HARD

[raw] LD23MiniLD 14. Jul 2012 · 01:00 UTC · 85 days after compo start by KevinWorkman · 1

I’ve got the basic engine behind my game done- you control a black sheep, and each level is a pasture you’re trying to escape. But the pasture also contains other sheep (and shrubs) that can get in your way. The other sheep move when you do, and different sheep can move differently (some with you, some opposite you, some always left, etc)- so you have to use the herd’s mentality against itself to get to the goal.

The pre-art version of the game looks something like this:

The trouble is, designing puzzles is REALLY HARD. I don’t know where to go from here. I have a few puzzles that explain the basic principles of the game, but I’m hitting a dead end when I try to come up with meaningful, not-too-hard, not-too-easy puzzles. I thought this would be the easy part!

Any suggestions on how to design puzzles? Any ideas come to mind that I might expand upon?

Comments

Puzzlem00n
14. Jul 2012 · 01:53 UTC
Hmm… off the top of my head, I’m thinking of using the shrubs to create some sort of maze to funnel the other sheep through… But that might be too hard to design and to play for all I know. I’d love to play some sort of demo version.
14. Jul 2012 · 12:11 UTC
I’m designing levels for my new game also and it is difficult to come up with good levels too. I find that this works: experimenting with what’s possible and what’s not possible, and slightly editing the level until you can solve it. :)
the3rdc
14. Jul 2012 · 12:59 UTC
Love your concept. There are too few quality puzzle games out there, and this sounds like a fun one.
the3rdc
14. Jul 2012 · 13:04 UTC
Anyway, whatever you figure out I’m excited to play this one when it’s done. I’ll be watching you! : O
14. Jul 2012 · 15:01 UTC
Thanks for the replies!
15. Jul 2012 · 17:58 UTC
Well, fancy meeting you here?

The game was great. It took me far too long to figure out the ’15 Slider’ level, but I enjoyed the whole thing. I even managed the random level. The only thing I could ask for is more levels, but judging by these comments, that’s the problem.

I did have to laugh at ‘Entourage’.

Yeah, all it’s missing is artwork, the gameplay and level transition are very slick.
16. Jul 2012 · 10:55 UTC
Heh, thanks! I updated the game (as you probably know by now) to include “better” graphics and more levels. The answer to my problem was to add different kinds of tiles (lava and switches that opened gates) to give it a little more variety. Then coming up with levels was a bit easier but still time consuming!