Game Design- Puzzle Research
Game: Limbo
Released in 2010, Puzzle, Platformer Game
- The primary mechanics of this game are moving and interacting with objects (pulling/pushing).
- The player is lead through the game by screen alignment and direction that they facing when they start.
- The level I decided to analyze was the intro/ beginning level. The first puzzle consisted of having to get to a location that you can not reach. There is indication that this contraption is there for a reason, you can see a handle coming off of it. Which gives the player a clue. This puzzle would be classified as a classic game puzzle cause it easily resets itself and is simple and easy to solve.
I think the puzzle makes the player feel smart because they have to figure out how to use what they are given to get to the other side.
The next puzzle I came across was another obstacle where the player had to get to a place that they could not reach. This puzzle first presents itself with a rock cliff and a rope that is too high for you to reach so you need to figure out how to get up to it. When you first come up to the obstacle you exit off of a boat. The way to reach the cliff is having to pull the boat over. That does not click right away though, the player has to think about it first. I think that this puzzle is an categorized as an unusual use of an object puzzle. The player has to figure out what to use to reach his destination. And that would be the boat, so here the boat is used to travel across the water as well as a tool to help the player climb. The puzzle makes the player feel smart because they have to backtrack to figure out how to solve the puzzle, and they have to figure out how to use the tools given to them.
The last puzzle i analyzed was a puzzle where the player can not cross because of traps set up on the ground. The player must figure out how to cross without dying. You don’t have a long enough jump radius to make it across without dying. I think this puzzle classifies as a trial and error puzzle, the player is not given anything but the traps and they will try jumping in a different ways and anyhting they can to try and cross. Eventually they will try and move one of the traps. Which allows for the player to make the jump without dying. This puzzle makes the player feel smart because they must figure out what the problem is and why they can’t cross. They feel accomplished once they figure it out.
