作者：Herman Tulleken

上个月，Dev.Mag发表了5份独立开发者的采访稿，话题是解谜游戏的设计。

在这篇文章中，我将分享自己从我们这5次解谜设计采访中获得的信息，对设计师呈现的各种想法进行归纳总结。下文的讨论几乎没有例证，如果想要知道这些想法在真正游戏设计过程中的运用，那么你需要查看原采访稿。

从解谜游戏中，我们可以很容易地看出设计师如何运用核心机制，通过它们构建富有吸引力的游戏体验。

我在介绍文章中已经说过，有些解谜游戏设计准则适用于所有类型的游戏。将“解谜”替换为“关卡”（游戏邦注：其他适当的游戏玩法单位亦可），在选择机制、训练玩家、处理难度和进程及游戏测试等方面的建议也能够运用于其他游戏设计中。

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何为优秀谜题？

“我觉得，当我们设计出某些精巧的东西时，玩家会与我们一样享受整个过程。”——Teddy Lee

优秀的谜题至少应该：

1、含有清晰的规则；

2、含有清晰的目标；

3、找到难易平衡点，形成有趣的挑战。

在此基础上，有趣的谜题应该：

1、可以让玩家思考很长时间，但是一旦找到解决方案就会让人觉得其实很简单；

2、以意料之外的方法运用游戏机制；

3、有多种解决方案；

4、允许存在分裂系统，这样就会存在适合新手的难度等级。

在解谜游戏中，不可单独分离看待谜题。应该将各谜题放在整个游戏的系列谜题背景下。比如，只有在游戏中的合适位置出现训练谜题，才算是优秀的设计。

过程

“我会一直修改，直至其感觉良好。”——Ted Lauterbach

不同设计师在设计游戏时会采用不同的设计步骤。以下是有关设计过程的若干通用注意点：

1、设计大量谜题，勇敢地抛弃不合适的谜题。

2、专注于游戏玩法，而不是引擎设计。

3、在构建前先进行谜题设计（游戏邦注：可使用纸笔、Excel或Photoshop）可以使得关卡更加紧凑和专注。纸笔设计可能并不适用于所有类型的游戏，在这种情况下，在引擎中构建原型是个较好的战略。

4、先确定目标，然后插入玩家实现目标所需要的元素及促使谜题难度增加的障碍。

5、考虑是否应当在游戏中添加圈套。圈套可能会使谜题更具挑战性，但是也可能变成不必要的内容。

6、移除带有误导性的路径（游戏邦注：比如可能误导玩家进行跳跃的地方）。

7、测试和修改。

8、润色和提炼游戏玩法。

机制

谜题游戏（游戏邦注：其他游戏也是如此）的核心是游戏的基本规则和玩家能够做出的基本行动。

1、限制机制的数量。这可以让你专注于：关卡设计；巧妙运用机制；润色机制，使其展现出最大的趣味性。

2、选择灵活的机制。Teddy Lee的经验法则是：如果你一开始利用单个机制思考出5个谜题，那么你随后就很可能构思出更多的谜题。如果你无法做到，那么可能就意味着这个机制过于贫乏，无法用来制作许多有趣的谜题。

3、最大限度地使用机制：探索机制的各个层面和结果。你需要对机制有透彻的了解。

4、结合机制创造自然的游戏体验。

5、重复使用机制和技巧，但是不要重复使用谜题，否则你就可能让玩家产生厌烦感。

6、交错使用主题和技术，让游戏的整体体验更为有趣。

训练玩家

要解决谜题，游戏必须向玩家教授可用的规则和战略。

1、没有人会阅读教程，也没有人想阅读游戏教程。

2、单独引进各项核心机制。将难以看到的技术变成玩家唯一能做的事情，以此教授相关技术。

3、预测误解，鼓励玩家在游戏早期的失败中改变这些误解。

4、控制难度。

5、确保玩家用来解决谜题的东西很容易看到，减少视觉上的障碍。

6、使用帮助角色来呈现动作，这种技术对平台解谜游戏中的训练特别有用。

7、假如复杂性是关卡的必要内容，提供视觉标记，帮助玩家做出精准的跳跃以及其他动作。

难度和进程

难度理论很容易理解：

1、从简单谜题开始，逐渐变得更加困难和复杂。

2、使用难易交错或“缓冲”谜题来帮助玩家树立信心，保持玩家的动力。在困难谜题之后设立1到2个简单谜题，以便玩家进行放松。

3、在接近尾声的时刻让玩家明白这一点，尤其是当玩家无法看到游戏场地的全景时。

4、实际的难度设计比理论更为困难。

5、断定谜题难度的唯一可靠方法是进行游戏测试。

游戏测试

“有时候，玩家可能无法意识到某些我认为显而易见的东西。”——Dave Hall

“你可能认为，玩家在失败后会尝试不同的方法，但是他们往往不会这么做。”——Guy Lima

“不是因为他们很笨，而是因为你考虑不周。”——Rob Jagnow

这可能是创造优秀谜题最重要的步骤。

1、游戏测试从开发早期开始，增加测试频率。

2、通过之前未玩过该游戏的玩家测试游戏。

3、在测试时保持沉默，否则你就无法知道谜题是否过于困难：不要提示玩家；不要提出问题。

4、当玩家的行为令你恼火时，就意味着关卡存在需要你修改的设计问题。修改问题的方法有：在关卡中提供更多线索；移除误导玩家的内容；在谜题前插入更多介绍解谜概念的关卡；移除部分问题和解决方案之间所需的步骤；删除谜题。

5、在测试完成后，询问玩家对谜题和体验的感想。

6、收集数据和反馈，改善谜题难度。

游戏邦注：本文发稿于2011年6月4日，所涉时间、事件和数据均以此为准。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

How Are Puzzle Games Designed?

Herman Tulleken

Over the last month or so, Dev.Mag has published five interviews with indie developers discussing puzzle game design.

In this article, I give you my take on the info we gathered in our five puzzle design interviews; a kind of distillation of the various ideas the designers presented. The discussion below is terse with almost no examples; to see how these ideas play out in the design of actual games, you will find the original interviews more helpful.

I chose the games for our series to be what I called “combinatorial puzzles” (an ugly term, a colleague informed me in a friendly email. I agree – if you have a better word, please share!). Puzzle games that make it easy to see how the designer takes core mechanics and put them together into a cohesive, compelling playing experience.

In the introduction article I have said that some principles of puzzle game design apply to all games. Replace “puzzle” with “level” (or other suitable game-playing unit), and the advice offered on selecting mechanics, training the player, handling difficulty and progressions, and playtesting can also be used for more general game design.

What is a good puzzle?

“I feel like when we design something clever, players enjoy it just as much as we do.” – Teddy Lee

Minimally, a good puzzle:

has clear rules;

has a clear objective;

finds the balance between too easy and frustrating, to make an interesting challenge.

On top of this, an interesting puzzle can be a puzzle that:

stumps the player for a long time, but whose solution looks obvious once found;

uses the mechanics in unexpected ways;

has multiple solutions;

allows a tiered system so that beginners and novices can play at different difficulty levels.

In puzzle games, puzzles can’t be judged in isolation. Each puzzle should be judged taking into account its role in the sequence of puzzles in the game. For example, a training puzzle will only be good if it occurs in the right place in the game. See difficulty and Progression below for more on this aspect.

Process

“I’ll tweak and tweak until it feels… right.” – Ted Lauterbach

Different designers follow different (although similar) processes to design their games. Here are a few general notes about the design process:

Design lots of puzzles, and don’t be afraid to throw some away.

Focus on gameplay, not engine design.

Designing puzzles before building them (using paper, Excel, or Photoshop) can help to make levels tight and focussed. Designing on paper might not work for all games, in which case prototyping in the engine is a better strategy.

It’s a good idea to start with the goal, and then insert the elements the player will need to get to the goal, and obstacles that will make it more difficult.

Consider whether you should add decoys in your game. Decoys can make puzzles more challenging, but can also become unnecessary filler.

Remove misleading paths (such as the impossible jump that looks possible).

Test and iterate (see below for notes on playtesting).

Polish and refine your gameplay.

Mechanics

At the heart of a puzzle game (any game) is the basic rules of the game, the basic actions a player can take.

Limit the number of mechanics. This lets you focus on: level design; interesting uses for mechanics; polishing mechanics to extract the maximum amount of fun from them.

Choose flexible mechanics. A handy rule of thumb of Teddy Lee: if you can initially think of five puzzles with a mechanic, chances are you will be able to think up a lot more later on. If you can’t, it probably means the mechanic is too brittle for making many interesting puzzles.

Use them in the maximum number of ways: explore all their aspects and consequences. You need to know your mechanics inside out.

Combine mechanics to get emergent gameplay (tricks).

Reuse mechanics and tricks, but don’t reuse puzzles, otherwise you risk boring the player.

Stagger themes and techniques to make the overall experience more interesting.

Training the Player

To solve a puzzle, the game must teach the player the rules and the strategies available.

No one reads, or wants to read, a tutorial.

Introduce core mechanics in isolation. Teach hard-to-see techniques by making it the only thing the player can do.

Anticipate misunderstandings and encourage the player to fail and so clear up these misunderstandings early in the game.

Control difficulty (see below).

Ensure the things the player will use to solve the puzzle are easy to see – reduce visual clutter.

One technique that is especially helpful for illustrating manoeuvres in platform puzzlers is a helper character (perhaps a ghost) to illustrate the actions.

In cases where dexterity is required, provide visual markers to help the player take precise jumps and other actions.

Difficulty and Progression

The theory of difficulty is straightforward:

Start with simple puzzles, and make puzzles progressively more difficult and complex.

Use staggering difficulty or “breather” puzzles to help build confidence and keep the player motivated. After a difficult puzzle, give the player an easy puzzle or two to allow a mental break.

Let the player know when they are close to the end, especially when the entire playfield is not visible.

The practice of difficulty design is harder.

The only sure way to judge the difficulty of a puzzle is to playtest it.

Playtesting

“Sometimes players will not realise something that I thought was quite obvious.” – Dave Hall

“You’d think after failing, people would try a different approach, but they often don’t.” – Guy Lima

“It’s not because they’re stupid; it’s because you’ve lost perspective.” – Rob Jagnow

This is possibly the most important step in creating a good puzzle.

Playtest early and often.

Playtest with people who have not played the game before.

Keep quiet, or you won’t find out whether a puzzle is really too difficult: don’t offer hints; don’t ask questions.

When player behaviour makes you cringe, it means there is a design problem you need to fix. Here are some ways to fix a problem: provide more cues in the level; remove distractions that mislead; insert more levels before that puzzle to illustrate concepts; remove steps from problem to solution; cut the puzzle.

Ask players afterwards about the puzzle and their experience.

Gather statistics to help measure of difficulty.

What do you say?

If you have additional puzzle game design tips, please share them in the comments! (Source: Dev.Mag)