Grazza
Super Moderator
Posts: 11332
Registered: 07-02 |
Sure, a few puzzles are nice, in moderation. Icarus map08 was pretty notorious back when it was released, and is about the limit complexity-wise before it starts to break up the gameplay too much. At least you could just about deal with it by running around like a headless chicken until you eventually got the yellow key. And as some demos have shown, it doesn't take long at all once you know what you're doing.
STRAIN map23 had a puzzle that was in similar territory, and STRAIN map21 was almost all puzzles. It also offered a way to skip most of the map if you preferred.
It is also best if any puzzles have some logic to them (rather than random switch pressing), or some clues to point you in the right direction (such as Evilution's map30). The colour-coding idea from that was borrowed in Alien Vendetta map01, but just as a one-off clue, and I don't think that worked as well. If you don't make it fairly obvious to the player that he needs to solve a puzzle, then he may not know to look for clues at all.
A few maps have had a puzzle where you have various switches to raise or lower platforms so as to create a way across a gap. This can be quite nice as long as you can quickly see what effect your switch presses have.
Phml said:
The best puzzles are in my opinion those that don't try so hard to be puzzles. Cyberdreams is a good one, but ultimately any good nonlinear level can be puzzle-like - finding out optimal routes and such.
I think that's a very good point. Some of the most satisfying "puzzle solving" I've had in Doom is trying to find shortcut tricks in levels that weren't intended as puzzle levels at all (Icarus maps 22 and 28 spring to mind) - or in ambiguous cases where some shortcut tricks were deliberately allowed by the mapper (e.g. Kama Sutra), and the speedrunner's task was to piece them together in the best way.
40oz said:
Also, do you think skill levels have a part in this? Suppose I were to somehow cut out a difficult portion of the puzzle by making some teleport destinations only available on certain difficulties? How do you think puzzle solving plays a role in Cooperative? My best intention would be to make whatever the goal is that needs to be reached have some sort of secret shortcut that is activated once one player cracks the puzzle.
One way to make puzzles different using skill levels is by making the scenery objects different. Mappers tend not to use the feature too much, but scenery can be subject to skill settings. For an example, see Scythe map28, where the player must run further on skill 4 than on lower settings, because the shorter paths are blocked.
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08-27-10 19:34 
