What Does a Good Puzzle Game Include?

[Maidlyn]

I'd like to hear from the RM community what they think makes a puzzle game good. I think challenging, yet possible puzzles that are enjoyable for the player are in any good puzzle game.

 

[_Shadow_]

You should add mechanics gradually, and same goes for difficulty.


The game should be balanced and on the first levels, user should see what is going on and play along as a tutorial.


Best thing is NOT many cut scenes from action and not much text.


A puzzle game should also be an original idea. 


Finally a casual mode to reach the ending should be nice and SIDE quests that will be ultra hard to just complete 100% makes sure nobody stays unsatisfied.


That is what I am look for on agood puzzle game

 

[Kes]

I think challenging, yet possible puzzles that are enjoyable for the player are in any good puzzle game.

This is so general as not to be very helpful.  It's a bit "motherhood and apple pie".  No one is going to disagree with it.  Could you be a bit more specific because at the moment this could mean almost any puzzle.  What I find challenging you find a complete breeze or vice versa.  Only a rare dev would put in games which s/he thought were not enjoyable for the player.


Maybe you could say what particular puzzles, in what circumstances (because often context is all), you thought made for a good puzzle game.

 

[PsychicToaster]

Puzzles require a degree of design that is difficult to articulate in mere words. Diagrams and artwork usually work best. Puzzle designs often involve thematic elements cohesive with the game itself. The Legend of Zelda games, for example, are built around using items to solve puzzles. The difficulty and complexity of the puzzles builds gradually as more items are accumulated and used in combination with one another to find solutions to puzzles. A dungeon also requires the item you found in it to make it to and defeat the boss, which becomes a puzzle in itself. 


I agrer with @ksjp17  It varies from game to game and we don't have enough information to actually provide an answer. I could cite a litany of ways NOT to do puzzles but that isn't what you asked for lol. 

 

[Aoi Ninami]

The key to a good puzzle is the "aha!" moment: when the player solves it, they should feel a buzz of satisfaction because they were clever enough to outwit the creator. Maybe there was a component whose purpose wasn't obvious, and when you thought hard enough about the question "why was this even included?" you spotted a cunning way to use it. Maybe there was a really plausible first move they were automatically making, but it turned out to be a red herring. Maybe the correct first move was something they were automatically rejecting because it looked so bad.

The flip side of the "aha!" moment is frustration; you can't get that feeling of satisfaction without first being frustrated, feeling that the solution must be inches away and yet you somehow can't see it. This means you have to tread a dangerous line: too much frustration and you risk the player being turned off and giving up on the puzzle.


There are a few ways around this. Firstly, start with simpler puzzles and then work up to more complex ones: that allows the player to get used to the mechanics, and gives them the feeling that they enjoy solving this type of puzzle, and that gives them more determination to persist when they get stuck. Secondly, teach the player the rules and then stick to them -- the player should never feel that they failed at a puzzle because they didn't know the rules. Thirdly, give the player a sense of progression: sometimes even if you can't see the complete solution to a puzzle, you can feel that you are getting closer because certain components are falling into place, and you get some kind of feedback letting you know you are on the right track.