Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Another sort of conceptual challenge occurs in mystery or detective games in
which the player must examine the evidence and deduce which of a number of
suspects committed the crime and how. In the game
Law and Order
, based on the
television series of the same name, players follow clues, ignore red herrings, and
arrive at a theory of the crime, assembling the relevant evidence to demonstrate
proof. In order to succeed, however, the players must have some familiarity with
police forensic techniques as well as an understanding of human motivations for
committing crimes. These details are extrinsic knowledge, not spelled out as part
of the definition of the puzzle.
You may find designing conceptual reasoning challenges a lot of f un because they
offer a lot of scope to the designer, but you'll work harder when creating these than
putting together simpler trials such as physical or exploration challenges.
LATERAL THINKING
Lateral thinking puzzles are related to conceptual reasoning puzzles, but they add a
twist: The terms of the puzzle make it clear to the player that what seems to be the
obvious or most probable solution is incorrect (or the necessary elements to achieve
the obvious solution are unavailable). The player must think of alternatives instead.
A classic test of lateral thinking—and one used to demonstrate that chimpanzees
possess this faculty—requires the subject to get an item down from a high place
without using a ladder. Deprived of the obvious solution, he must find some other
approach, such as putting a chair on top of a table, climbing up on the table, and
then climbing up on the chair. Because chairs do not ordinarily belong on tables,
and neither chairs nor tables are intended for climbing, the test requires the subject
to transcend his everyday understanding of the functions of objects.
Lateral thinking puzzles often require the player to use extrinsic knowledge gained
in real life, but to use it in unexpected ways. In
Escape from Monkey Island
, the
player has to put a deflated inner tube onto a strange-looking cactus to make a
giant slingshot (or catapult), which requires knowing that inner tubes are stretchy.
Adventure games frequently include lateral thinking puzzles. You must be careful
not to make the solution too obscure or to rely on information that goes beyond
common knowledge; you can expect the average adult player to know that wood
floats, but you cannot expect the player to know that cork comes from the bark of
certain species of Mediterranean oak tree (that challenge belongs in a trivia game).
Provide hints or clues to help a player who gets stuck. In general, the more realistic
the game, the more it may rely on extrinsic knowledge because players know that
they can count on their real-world experience as being meaningful in the game
world. In a highly abstract or highly surreal game, the player won't expect com-
mon-sense experience to be of any use. Such games may still include lateral
thinking puzzles, but you must provide the knowledge the player needs to solve
them within the game.
