WEBVTT 00:00:01.430 --> 00:00:07.549 Hi, this is Mark Brown with Game Maker's Toolkit, a series on video game design. 00:00:07.549 --> 00:00:12.590 A few months back I played Broken Age - the point and click adventure from Double Fine 00:00:12.590 --> 00:00:17.340 that raised 3 million bucks on Kickstarter, and became so bloated that it was released 00:00:17.340 --> 00:00:20.240 in two halves, almost a year apart. 00:00:20.240 --> 00:00:25.420 I generally enjoyed Broken Age's first half. It's funny and charming, and I liked both 00:00:25.420 --> 00:00:30.160 of the main characters. There's Vella, who is an unwilling sacrificial offering to a 00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:34.530 monster. And Shay, who wants to break free of his mollycoddling parents. 00:00:34.530 --> 00:00:38.899 But when the second half came out earlier this year, I started to find puzzles that 00:00:38.899 --> 00:00:41.570 had some seriously troubling design. 00:00:41.570 --> 00:00:45.390 Like the puzzle where this grabby hand is obsessed with boots: 00:00:46.180 --> 00:00:50.620 VELLA: Wow! It really seems to like boots. 00:00:50.620 --> 00:00:53.120 But doesn't seem to care about Vella's shoes: 00:00:53.520 --> 00:00:57.120 VELLA: It doesn't seem interested in me, or my clothing. 00:00:57.120 --> 00:01:02.190 Or the one where these girls say they need food, but Vella just won't give them this 00:01:02.190 --> 00:01:03.250 taco pill: 00:01:03.250 --> 00:01:07.900 VELLA: I don't wanna touch that pill until I know what it is. Could be space poison. 00:01:07.900 --> 00:01:12.900 Or the puzzle that you solve by doing absolutely nothing, or this baffling knot puzzle that's 00:01:12.900 --> 00:01:14.450 more like a Rorschach test. 00:01:14.450 --> 00:01:18.000 And then there's the puzzle that almost made me quit me the game for good. 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:22.220 There's this bit where Vella needs to figure out the right pattern to sew into this space 00:01:22.220 --> 00:01:26.380 scarf. But the correct solution is not somewhere else on the spaceship. 00:01:26.380 --> 00:01:29.180 It's not in Vella's story at all - it's actually hidden 00:01:29.189 --> 00:01:32.150 deep within Shay's story. 00:01:32.159 --> 00:01:36.280 That's despite the fact that in act one, there are zero puzzles that rely on information 00:01:36.280 --> 00:01:40.549 gleaned from the other kid's story. And despite the fact that you're never told to expect 00:01:40.549 --> 00:01:44.520 such puzzles in act two. And despite the fact that these two kids don't know each other 00:01:44.520 --> 00:01:47.270 and can't communicate with one another in any way. 00:01:47.270 --> 00:01:51.590 Its unfair, unreasonable, and - I say - poorly designed. 00:01:53.560 --> 00:01:57.320 Which is par for the course with point and click adventures, right? These games are filled 00:01:57.320 --> 00:02:00.890 with pixel hunting and moon logic and impossible conundrums. 00:02:00.890 --> 00:02:05.470 Like the notorious puzzle in Gabriel Knight 3 where you have to use masking tape and maple 00:02:05.470 --> 00:02:10.349 syrup to turn cat hair into a fake moustache, so you can impersonate a guy who doesn't even 00:02:10.349 --> 00:02:15.659 have a moustache. You have to draw some facial hair on his stolen passport with a marker pen. 00:02:15.659 --> 00:02:20.279 Yes, point and click adventures had stuff like. Stuff that was indefensibly dumb. But 00:02:20.279 --> 00:02:23.620 I don't think a few bad apples should doom an entire genre. 00:02:23.620 --> 00:02:27.680 Especially a genre that has given us some of the best stories in gaming history, 00:02:27.680 --> 00:02:32.090 and definitely some of the best jokes. A genre that moves at a different pace to many others, 00:02:32.090 --> 00:02:36.749 and offers more grounded, Macgyver-style puzzles than the sort of abstract fare you find in 00:02:36.749 --> 00:02:38.459 a game like Portal or Antichamber. 00:02:38.459 --> 00:02:42.620 So, instead of always beating on stupid point and click puzzles - which would be easy, because 00:02:42.620 --> 00:02:47.609 there are a LOT of them - let's look at some golden rules that can be used to make a good, 00:02:47.609 --> 00:02:52.509 responsibly-designed puzzle. Maybe we can help save this genre from the scrap heap. 00:02:54.900 --> 00:02:58.209 Rule one is to provide clear goals. 00:02:58.209 --> 00:03:01.760 Before you even get to the puzzles, players need to know what they're doing. They should 00:03:01.760 --> 00:03:06.699 always know what their short and long term goals are, so they know which puzzles to solve, 00:03:06.699 --> 00:03:08.999 and have the motivation to do so. 00:03:08.999 --> 00:03:13.639 In bonkers comedy Day of the Tentacle, for example, we know that our long term goal is 00:03:13.639 --> 00:03:18.549 to get stranded time travelers Laverne and Hoagie back to Bernard's time in the present. 00:03:18.549 --> 00:03:20.689 BERNARD: Well, hurry up and bring them back. 00:03:20.689 --> 00:03:28.129 DR. FRED: I will, as soon as I get a new diamond. Then all your buddies have to do is plug in their 00:03:28.129 --> 00:03:30.369 respective chrono-johns and... 00:03:30.369 --> 00:03:32.540 BERNARD: Plug them in?! 00:03:32.549 --> 00:03:34.889 Which means Laverne needs to get into the basement 00:03:34.889 --> 00:03:42.519 LAVERNE: I can see Doctor Fred's old lab, and his generator is still there. Gee I could really use that 00:03:42.519 --> 00:03:43.989 power. 00:03:43.989 --> 00:03:48.510 And we know this means getting into that grandfather clock and past that purple tentacle, which 00:03:48.510 --> 00:03:50.489 is our new short term goal. 00:03:50.489 --> 00:03:54.619 This might seem obvious, but you'd be surprised how many adventure games mess this up and 00:03:54.619 --> 00:03:58.949 leave players directionless, trying to solve puzzles for no good reason. 00:03:58.949 --> 00:04:03.359 LucasArts would often give multiple goals at the same time, so players can go work on 00:04:03.359 --> 00:04:05.629 something else if they get stuck on one of the puzzles. 00:04:05.629 --> 00:04:09.809 MAUREEN: The front forks are wasted so you'll have to get some new ones. And someone stole my 00:04:09.809 --> 00:04:15.290 welding torch. And last but not least, I patched up your ruptured gas tank but you're out of 00:04:15.290 --> 00:04:16.750 fuel and I don't have any. 00:04:16.750 --> 00:04:24.150 BLUE TENTACLE: Entrants will be judged in three categories: best smile, best hair, and best laugh. 00:04:24.150 --> 00:04:27.970 SOPHIA: You'll need all three stones if you want to find Atlantis. 00:04:27.970 --> 00:04:32.510 BEN: Where am I supposed to find all this stuff? MAUREEN: You can hack it, tough guy. 00:04:33.629 --> 00:04:36.129 Rule two is signposting. 00:04:36.129 --> 00:04:39.729 Once a player starts working on a puzzle, the single most important thing an adventure 00:04:39.729 --> 00:04:42.090 can do is provide clear signposting. 00:04:42.090 --> 00:04:47.060 Anybody who says that adventure games are about trying to guess what's in the designer's brain, 00:04:47.060 --> 00:04:51.060 obviously isn't paying attention. The best point and clicks are littered with clues that 00:04:51.060 --> 00:04:55.490 tell you what to do, often by looking at objects or talking to characters. 00:04:55.490 --> 00:05:00.009 So in Day of the Tentacle, if we talk to this purple tentacle we get a nice clue that tells 00:05:00.009 --> 00:05:01.370 us how to bypass him. 00:05:01.370 --> 00:05:06.910 'TACHE TENTACLE: But no one gets to this clock while I'm here. And unless I have to go chase down some 00:05:06.910 --> 00:05:10.780 escaped humans, I'm glued to this spot. 00:05:10.789 --> 00:05:14.900 And if we chat to the guard looking after the human prisoners, he says: 00:05:14.900 --> 00:05:21.240 GUARD TENTACLE: What are you doing for dinner? How about Club Tentacle? Ah, what am I saying, I can't afford 00:05:21.240 --> 00:05:25.419 to take out the trash let alone a classy babe like you. 00:05:25.419 --> 00:05:28.979 So, maybe we should try to win the human contest, then. 00:05:28.980 --> 00:05:33.380 'TACHE TENTACLE: Why, the grand prize is dinner for two at Club Tentacle. 00:05:33.380 --> 00:05:38.000 Signposting is like providing lots of little, subtle goals for those who are listening and 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:39.479 looking carefully. 00:05:39.479 --> 00:05:43.979 Too subtle and the clue can be missed, of course. Too obvious and the player feels cheated. 00:05:43.979 --> 00:05:48.780 But get it just right, and the player is set up for that all-important 'a-ha!' moment. 00:05:48.780 --> 00:05:52.540 That rush of blood to the brain when you have a lead, and can start figuring stuff out. 00:05:52.919 --> 00:05:57.259 Poor signposting leaves players not understanding the point of the puzzle. When Manny looks 00:05:57.259 --> 00:05:59.639 at this pneumatic message tube, he just says: 00:05:59.640 --> 00:06:01.300 MANNY: It's locked. 00:06:01.310 --> 00:06:05.030 Which might make you think you need a key or to break the lock, when actually the solution 00:06:05.030 --> 00:06:07.849 is to slide a card into this slot. 00:06:07.849 --> 00:06:11.659 Trust me, even the most stupid puzzles, like one about how it always rains whenever you 00:06:11.659 --> 00:06:14.999 wash a car, can be saved with good signposting. 00:06:14.999 --> 00:06:18.789 BERNARD: Some people think that washing one's vehicle will make it rain. 00:06:18.789 --> 00:06:20.590 THIEF: Oh? BERNARD: Uh huh. 00:06:20.590 --> 00:06:22.860 THIEF: How about that? 00:06:22.860 --> 00:06:24.550 Rule three is feedback. 00:06:24.550 --> 00:06:27.919 A puzzle should help solve itself, letting you know if you're on the right track and 00:06:27.919 --> 00:06:30.120 rebuffing you if you're not. 00:06:30.120 --> 00:06:34.139 If you try to do something that makes some logical sense, it's utterly infuriating to 00:06:34.139 --> 00:06:35.699 hear some generic line like 00:06:35.699 --> 00:06:38.659 GABRIEL KNIGHT: Nope, those don't work together. 00:06:38.660 --> 00:06:40.280 MANNY: I don't really wanna do that 00:06:40.289 --> 00:06:45.249 So, instead, the player should get a explanation of why that specific combination is flawed, 00:06:45.249 --> 00:06:48.209 and hopefully a small nudge towards the real solution. 00:06:48.209 --> 00:06:50.840 LAVERNE: Stop chattering mummy. 00:06:50.840 --> 00:06:55.740 LAVERNE: The judges will think you're chewing gum. Oh this will never work. 00:06:58.249 --> 00:07:02.770 Follow those three golden rules and you should end up with good puzzles. Puzzles where the 00:07:02.770 --> 00:07:06.889 player knows what they need to do, and has a good idea of how to solve it, and is helped 00:07:06.889 --> 00:07:08.259 to come to the right answer. 00:07:08.259 --> 00:07:12.069 Puzzles that, if you look them up, make you say "oh, I should have figured that out" and 00:07:12.069 --> 00:07:16.249 not "are you kidding me?!" Puzzles that feel fair, and don't send the player rushing to 00:07:16.249 --> 00:07:18.719 GameFAQs or the LucasArts hint line. 00:07:18.719 --> 00:07:23.939 Of course, elevating a puzzle from good to great is where the real creativity comes in. 00:07:23.939 --> 00:07:28.449 Play Day of the Tentacle when that promised remastered version comes out, and solve the 00:07:28.449 --> 00:07:33.499 brilliant time-traveling puzzles that make use of the three characters being spread across 00:07:33.499 --> 00:07:36.819 400 years of history to see how it's done. 00:07:36.820 --> 00:07:42.840 Tentacle is not perfect, of course. It requires some real-world knowledge that not all players 00:07:42.849 --> 00:07:47.069 have, it's got a tiny bit of pixel hunting, and if you don't listen carefully you'll miss 00:07:47.069 --> 00:07:51.099 the signposting altogether and can't always hear it a second time. 00:07:51.099 --> 00:07:55.849 But if LucasArts was making it today (or, making any games today), there are lots of 00:07:55.849 --> 00:07:59.610 modern conveniences that it could use to make the experience even more palatable. 00:07:59.610 --> 00:08:04.710 Many games today let you highlight all interactive objects to avoid pixel hunting. Telltale's 00:08:04.710 --> 00:08:08.949 early games have characters spill hints if you fail to solve a puzzle in a certain amount 00:08:08.949 --> 00:08:14.469 of time. Sci-fi noir Gemini Rue has multiple solutions to some puzzles and robot odyssey 00:08:14.469 --> 00:08:21.590 Machinarium gives away the answer, but only if you can finish a mini game. 00:08:21.590 --> 00:08:25.479 While many blame the death of the adventure game on these harebrained puzzles, others 00:08:25.479 --> 00:08:30.490 have claimed that it was the genre's inability to evolve. 3D graphics only made the games 00:08:30.490 --> 00:08:35.300 more clunky, and the addition of extra mechanics was rarely successful. They just couldn't 00:08:35.300 --> 00:08:37.979 keep pace with other genres, critics say. 00:08:37.979 --> 00:08:42.860 But I think there's lots of room for innovation, and reason to return to this genre. Adventure 00:08:42.860 --> 00:08:47.720 game revivalist Wadjet Eye has games like Resonance that turn your memories into inventory 00:08:47.720 --> 00:08:51.699 objects, and Technobabylon which lets you talk to electrical objects while you're in 00:08:51.699 --> 00:08:53.310 a cyber trance. 00:08:53.310 --> 00:08:58.899 And even before the genre kicked the bucket, games like The Last Express toyed with real-time 00:08:58.899 --> 00:09:03.959 adventuring, and Blade Runner encouraged multiple playthroughs by randomly picking which characters 00:09:03.959 --> 00:09:05.540 would be a replicant. 00:09:05.540 --> 00:09:09.930 So there's plenty more for this genre to do, and I for one hope it lives on. But it does 00:09:09.930 --> 00:09:14.990 need smarter, more player-friendly design to shake off that stigma of being the genre 00:09:14.990 --> 00:09:20.000 of cat hair moustaches and nuisance goats. Until then, it might never come back in any 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:23.160 meaningful way. And I think that would be a shame. 00:09:24.399 --> 00:09:28.440 Thanks for watching! What's the worst puzzle you've ever come across in a game? Tell us 00:09:28.440 --> 00:09:33.399 why it sucked so bad in the comments down below. Also, please like the episode, subscribe on 00:09:33.399 --> 00:09:37.379 YouTube, and consider supporting me and my ad-free videos, over on Patreon.