What Makes a Good Puzzle?

[@DoubleATam]

This was mentioned in passing on the video, but just to re-emphasize: not every puzzle should be that hard. You might want a couple easier puzzles between hard ones, to not only make the player feel smart, but to build assumptions to later subvert.

[@jacobshirley3457]

It's basically like any movie, game, or even life. Having non-stop intensity/difficulty exhausts you, and the opposite will bore you. Pacing, however, shouldn't be a random mix of highs and lows. Imagine intensity roughly as a sawtooth wave. You want to gradually build up difficulty, but drop it off every couple puzzles. Of course, each "tooth" should vary in size and steepness to avoid making the pacing obvious.

[@jamalsachleben3026]

The intensity of the game should also tend upwards, meaning that when the intensity goes down on that sawtooth wave it shouldn't go down to exactly where it went to the last time

[@RebornLegacy]

@@jamalsachleben3026 Yup. It's like a slanted sawtooth wave.

[@tomstonemale]

Basically, the Braid puzzle Mark called a "trick" for no good reason.

[@kinamiya1]

Yeah whats the point of making a puzzle game if you are not going to teach them the basics

[@KoolKojoS]

While I was watching this video, I literally paused it when he got to SnakeBird level 10, went on the app store to see if it was even out on iOS. Found it, played up to level 10, got stuck for about 20 minutes, figured it out, and continued the video only to see Mark explain the level in the EXACT sequence that I went through unconsciously. Great video Mark! :)

[@donnypassary5798]

That was the one that made me quit! Feel so silly now that I see how it should be done. Guess I have to do more of "reconsidering the assumptions" later on.

[@BigDBrian]

Oof. Keep going, the game has some of the greatest puzzle design I've seen in recent times. (18 is my favourite semi-early puzzle)

[@donnypassary5798]

Right? I mean, that wiggly mechanic is actually quite deep. Normally, I tend to solve the puzzle thinking that all objects are "statics". The fluidity of those birds really stumbled me. Hope I could manage to get to that level soon!

[@gamedesignwithmichael]

That is some dedication to the cause.

[@cipherpunk7409]

I also quit on level 10. I still remember mentally justifying it by telling myself "this is a stupid kid game." Which is funny because I really enjoy difficult puzzle games.

[@mothersbasement]

Fantastic video. Puzzle design is fascinating and I'm hapoy to see you finally tackle it. One thing I will add is that if you're not careful, you can create a predictable rhythm of assumptions and "catches" that players catch onto over the course of your game. I remember playing through the room (fantastic game btw) and reaching a safe puzzle where I had to turn a dial in the correct sequence of directions to open a door. It's meant to be a moment of trial and error where you find the sequence by getting it wrong a few times and correcting your mistakes, but I was able to figure the sequence on my first try just by second guessing the designers based on patterns in previous puzzles. So I guess the final, broader tip I'd add to this video is to think of your whole game as a puzzle in itself, and remember that players are building up assumptions across their entire run that you need to subvert.

[@KnightsDisillusion]

Mother's Basement Video Games are the best.

[@reNINTENDO]

I made a puzzle game for my capstone project, and it was interesting building off concepts as it went along. For the most part things were pretty straight forward, but sometimes I would find revelations within my own rule sets which would allow for sequence breaking or solutions I didn't want in previous puzzles. Viewing the entire game as a puzzle is a useful concept for both building more challenges as well as streamlining the ones that came before. And even for discovering what the rule set should be.

[@reperfan4]

Kind of reminds of one of the developer commentaries from the first Portal, where one of the early test chambers had a second possible solution, and while it was ultimately much simpler and faster than doing it the "main" way you were highly unlikely to know or even think of it the first time seeing the test chamber because in order to pull it off you had to understand flinging mechanics only "officially" introduced much later in the game. In the end they left it alone rather than removing it and forcing players to take it the "main" way because it both rewarded players on future playthroughs with a faster clear time for having more mastery of the mechanics, but also felt really satisfying inherently because the player felt like they had "tricked" or "beaten" the system when they solved a puzzle in "their own" way.

[@CandorZofain]

Actually reminds me of a recent Mario Maker video that CarlSagan42 posted. He's playing troll levels and makes a comment on their inherit puzzle design. There's a challenge called Super Expert 100-man in the game where many levels (designed by random people) are designed to trick the player into making wrong choices, say by luring them with a Power Star only to be trapped by hidden blocks. Overtime you build up these assumptions and fall for them less and catch them sooner. The troll level he was playing was working with those assumptions that he'd built up. So the correct solution was to go into the hole and grab the power star despite it looking like a Super Expert trap. Here's his comment, but the first level he plays is perfect embodiment of what I'm saying. kzbin.info/www/bejne/iXyXXqt8ocSXfdEm56s

[@BenjaminRodriguezReyes]

I find that it's good to create a rhythm and keep it up for a few levels to let the player start feeling like they "get" the game now, then break it up with new stuff just as they're starting to get comfortable.

[@xisumavoid]

The snakebird soundtrack is fantastic :-)

[@jr.p.8429]

wow a wild Xisuma !

[@jamesorendorff2284]

I've been thinking about buying it but now I'm sold.

[@spo0ds152]

what are you doing here??

[@luksky0795]

It's surprising to see you here

[@jamesorendorff2284]

Dragonblade GMD watching great videos on game design, duh

[@stevenvass2814]

Mark, one thing you didn't cover is giving the player the choice of several puzzles at once. This way if they get stuck on one, there are others to attempt. Snakebird's map is a great example of this, as is Infinifactory, The Witness, and Stephen's Sausage Roll. Portal 2 used a linear design which greatly restricted player choices, but they spent thousands of hours playtesting to make sure it would work. For an indie puzzle dev, I think giving your player's multiple puzzles to attempt at the same time (outside of simple puzzles that introduce new mechanics) is a winning design. Absolutely loved this video, and wish this one tidbit was mentioned because it would make this video "complete", in my opinion.

[@quadrplax]

The Talos Principle does this very well too

[@EMPerror403]

that counts as 'level select design'

[@BagOfMagicFood]

I always wondered why the Eggerland/Adventures of Lolo series went back and forth on this.

[@Yachtumn]

Baba is you does this very well too

[@varunchaturvedi2581]

A Monster's Expedition is also a great example of this!

[@LinkingYellow]

This was great! If I could add anything, it'd be how important it is that the correct solution works the first time it is tried. I've created too many puzzles where the player tried the correct solution, messed up with execution, and wrote it off as the incorrect solution only to get stuck till they give up.

[@ZiggyStyley]

I remember watching 'Teens React to Portal' and finding myself being frustrated watching people struggle with the first puzzles, but this gave me an appreciation for how the game teaches you to change your understanding of how mechanics work. The kids struggled because they were new to the game and were looking at the puzzle with a normative logic, once they began to get their heads around the mechanics of portal solutions became logical. It became a real pleasure to watch people learn to understand the game for the first time.

[@rmsgrey]

Now they're thinking with portals!

[@General_Nothing]

If you play Portal in commentary mode, in one of the early levels they talk about having to design a puzzle specifically to teach players that you can use either portal as an entrance, because up until that point in the game you basically only enter the blue portal and exit the orange one. When I showed my cousin Portal he got stuck on that exact puzzle for a long time because of that.

[@JamEngulfer]

I'll be honest, when I first played Portal I just couldn't work out how to do most of the puzzles. I think I literally wasn't old enough to work it out.

[@NintendoCapriSun]

I remember thinking I could design puzzles when I was a kid. Found out pretty quickly that I was wrong!

[@rubixdude1067]

I managed to make a puzzle game but you were right it's hard to make puzzles.

[@batcat2338]

IMPRESSIVE

[@miggle2784]

Give us an example

[@racool911]

Same,

[@rhodexa]

That was the catch

[@ShinoSarna]

Interesting idea I've been thinking about : there are actually TWO types of puzzles. There are 'ruleset puzzles' and 'adventure puzzles'. Ruleset puzzles are the ones you discuss in the video - they exist mostly in puzzle games - in these, player knows the rules of the game, and the trick is understanding what sequence of moves will bring them to the ending (perhaps while pushing logic of the ruleset to its absolute logical conclusion). The trick to those is being able to visualize the puzzle in your head, and thinking several moves ahead, and thinking deeply about what you already know about the ruleset. In adventure puzzles (as name suggests, mostly found in adventure games) where player DOESN'T know the rules of the puzzles, but puzzle is absolutely trivial once you do, and figuring out the rules is the entire point - e.g in Sam n Max S1E1, player is tasked with finding some swiss cheese for a rat, and has availiable a gun, and a giant pile of plain gouda cheese. Once player realizes the rules of the puzzle (that bullet holes in cheese can make it look like swiss cheese), solution becomes trivial, and can usually be solved in one-two moves. The trick to these is lateral thinking, to try to apply real-life logic to try to find out what the rules are. Of course, there are also best practices for designing adventure puzzles - for example, making sure that the solution does follow either real life logic or in-world logic (otherwise we get 'moon logic puzzles'), that player KNOWS about all objects needed to solve the puzzle, to telegraph the solution in case of more obscure puzzles (basically, add some sort of clues or hints), and also making sure that there isn't e.g. a more logical way to solve the puzzle at hand that the designer didn't account for (if player has a retractable ladder in their inventory, asking them to climb a ledge by creating a grappling hook from a piece of yarn and a fishing hook might leave players seriously confused); and finally, NOT asking players to use outside world knowledge. If player needs to look some fact up to progress the puzzle, let them look it up INSIDE the game (Blackwell games did this beatifully with its in-game search engine). The interesting part is that some people did experiment with trying to use BOTH types in their games - for example, in Witness, Johnattan Blow regularly changes rules of the puzzle, and figuring out the rules is very often an objective of the very first puzzle in the set - and sometimes it just goes for a straight up 'adventure' lateral thinking puzzle (like with the 'apple in the background' puzzle - if you played Witness, you likely know which one I mean.) Of course, adventure games also often include occasional 'ruleset' puzzles to add some variety (often in some form of pipe/ventilation puzzle, or a puzzlebox holding a key item), but that's usually confined to one puzzle in the game, and can feel arbitrary and annoying if done incorrectly.

[@user-bo6vy5eg8g]

no cat mustaches

[@ayazahmadov7985]

So Rubik's cube is an adventure puzzle. The whole point of it is to figure it out. Once you do you solve it in like 20+ moves

[@a.y.102]

@@ayazahmadov7985 Rubik's cube would obviously be a "ruleset puzzle". There are only 6 faces to turn and you can easily understand what each turn does. Theoretically, a person can know the effect of a combination of moves of a Rubik's cube by knowing only its basic rules, without trying the combination on a Rubik's cube. Side note: the optimal number of moves to solve a Rubik's cube is 20 or less (some cases are proven to require at least 20 moves, while all the cases are proven to require no more than 20 moves).

[@rekindle7602]

@Luc Bloom that's actually a great way of phrasing the distinction: the riddles are about figuring out how your expectations are being subverted, the puzzles are about figuring out what is permitted by the puzzle's mechanics

[@momsaccount4033]

You could also make an adventure game and sprinkle puzzles throughout that take advantage of the adventure game's mechanics. Honestly, that could work as a pretty cool subversion. You make these mechanics that seemingly fit so perfectly with a specific genre of game. Sci-fi, Action, Horror, etc. And then you take those mechanics and create a series of puzzles utilizing those mechanics. That sounds like a decent blueprint for a videogame.

[@carterbrown2441]

Another thing to remember when making a puzzle game is that you have to want to continue. If it is just level after level of puzzles it can easily get boring. In the first half of Portal 2, you want to keep playing to see Wheatley again. The setting, music and entire mood of the game makes you feel lonely ,which makes you want to continue just to find someone to talk to.

[@carloscaro9121]

This may reflect your preferences more than anything that can be generalized. Consider a game with no gameplay besides the puzzles, no narrative, and what can only be considered the tiniest excuse of a setting. Well, that describes Tetris (and its clones), Bejeweled and clones, Peggle, 2048, Sudoku, chess puzzles, Solitaire and variants, Minesweeper, Pipe Dream, Mahjong, crosswords, and similar things like Jumbles, and countless clones of all of the above. Not exactly a list of poor-selling games, and none of the above really give you anything beyond 'I'm solving puzzles to solve puzzles.'

[@jensb3946]

Carter Brown What are you talking about? If you’re playing a puzzle game, you’re there for the puzzles, not for a story.

[@Ch35h1r3C47]

@@jensb3946 Generally true, but any extra incentive to continue and to mentally refresh the player are probably good inclusions too. Music and good sound design are also important to most people.

[@augustaseptemberova5664]

@@jensb3946 I wouldn't generalize. There's a heap of adventure games that combine riddles and puzzles into a narrative, think of The Cave or Little Nightmares.

[@momsaccount4033]

While I do agree that things such as good character writing and trying to see "What happens next?" in the story is good to implement as something to motivate the player, what you just said isn't necessarily fact. You can make a good puzzle game people want to complete without all of the fancy character writing and dialogue. As long as you get a sense of "Aha! I figured it out! I'm smart!" throughout most of the levels, then that's already a good puzzle game as that feeling of "beating the system" is already incentive enough to push the player to the end of the game. Kind of the point of a puzzle game to be honest lol

[@Dilandau3000]

As Myst designer Rand Miller said, a good puzzle is one where when you look up the answer you go "of course, why didn't I think of that!?" If instead you go "I would never have thought of that" or "that's a stupid thing to do" the puzzle designer has failed. Of course, this helps you evaluate whether a puzzle is good, not design one. Games like Myst make things even harder for the designers because they're trying to present a believable world as well as a puzzle game. The elements of the puzzle must feel like it makes sense for them to exist in the world besides just serving as a puzzle for the player, which adds a layer of complexity. I feel the best puzzles are those where you don't feel like you're solving puzzles, but you're just trying to figure out how the world, or some piece of it (e.g. some contraption) works and that happens to be a puzzle. My biggest pet peeve is puzzles that are easy to solve, but where the solution is difficult to execute. It means that you can't easily attempt any ideas you have on how to solve it. "I think this is the solution, but finding out if I'm right will take me ten minutes" is never a good thought to have during a game.

[@GepardenK]

Myst/Riven/UrU are very interesting cases to bring up here because they focus primarily on a type of puzzle not discussed in this video, Myst less so than Riven/UrU. Their puzzles are not merely logical conundrums but also conceptual conundrums - they challenge you to understand new concepts that can only be understood by having a deep understanding of the puzzle's context. As such it is impossible to simply think your way logically to the solution, you must apply a more scientific approach with observation/hypothesis/experimentation/evaluation etc. This is particularly noticeable in Riven which takes this concept the furthest. Aside from a few smaller obstacles there are really only two main puzzles in Riven (Rebel Hideout and Fire Marble). Many players regards these puzzles as very hard, yet from a logical perspective their pieces are extremely easy to put together. What makes them challenging though (Fire Marble in particular) is that they are presented in such a way that it is almost impossible to grasp the sheer scale of the puzzle without having a deep knowledge of how the world of Riven and it's infrastructure operates. As such Riven's puzzles are actually not solved by pure logical thinking but by observing the world and how it is put together, by reading about character motivations and history, and by slowly getting accustomed to cultural cues. In many ways this makes Riven more of a detective/archeology simulator rather than a pure puzzle game - even if the puzzle in the end is very straightforward and logical. It's just that Cyan won't allow you to complete the puzzle before you truly understand the world of Riven.

[@BigDBrian]

if P = NP then if you can evaluate whether a puzzle is good, you can construct a good puzzle :^)

[@darkowl9]

I like Obduction for this reason as well -- it feels like the culmination of everything Cyan has learned so far. The puzzles are very much "aha!" moments, though sometimes it was _very, very_ difficult or maybe a touch unclear. But you have so many orders in which things can be solved, so...

[@Dilandau3000]

mrBorkD Maybe we can use a Quantum Computer to construct a puzzle that is both good and not good until somebody plays it?

[@Picnicl]

That is a truly excellent post, Dilandau3000, within the comments of this truly excellent video by Game Maker's Toolkit.

[@SDGGames]

6:25 I remember playing a Zelda game for the DS when I was a kid. At one point, you needed to copy something from a map on the top screen to your personal map on the touch screen. I poked at it for an hour with no idea what to do, but when I came back from dinner later, the puzzle had apparently solved itself. When I played through the game a second time, I got stuck at the same exact place. At one point, I closed the lid of the DS, and finally realized that touching the two screens together was actually the solution. I still remember the frustration I felt in that moment to this day. If solving a puzzle doesn't cause any euphoria, it's probably too contrived...

[@李欣桐-n1f]

I would say if not considering nostalgia, I consider that puzzle to be of the same category as bravery grasp in BOTW, where the player is to figure out a mechanics which the game never told you. I know a lot of us like such puzzles, bur for me these puzzles just feels…awkward. For comparison, my favourite temple is Temple of Time from TT because this is the one which tells you the objective from the beginning. You know that every move you made contributes to the goal, and when I finally reach 8th floor and get that statue back, it really gives a sense of accomplishment (aside from the fact that I realised I forgot the big key).

[@morganlak4337]

Idk I love this puzzle, that's such a creative solution and really takes some out of the box thinking. The issue is that it halts the entire game to make you solve it, I think very obtuse and difficult puzzles like this are really great optional content, but when the game is at a stand still until you solve one, it's awful

[@jitsauce522]

theres a puzzle like this in hotel dusk, where in game a certain object is stuck in a box placed on the top screen, and the solution was closing and opening the DS so it would fall out on the bottom screen, I personally really loved it, it felt like a crazy solution i never saw in any other DS games, but i can understand not liking it in a slightly more normal game

[@ruolbu]

But HOW do you get those three sausages grilled and reach the exit?!?

[@GMTK]

I think you need to ignore one of the grills entirely and cook two sausages on the same grill.

[@umnikos]

There are actually several solutions. It took me a lot of thinking and I figured it out but if you google the solution you will find a completely different one...

[@Gidaio]

Good thing I own the game. I'll have to try it out.

[@ThePhoenix107]

I guess you could also push the right sausage up, roll it to the left side of its grill, push it down and roll it over it from the other side. Then you could just grill the other sausages the easy way and still have room to turn around to reach the exit.

[@reamuji6775]

i tried the game and can't even finish any puzzle lol, idk if i mistakenly play the sequel if there are any. but i can't even tell which one is level 1.

[@hiroshi_mcbride]

The arc from this video to Mark's own puzzle game coming out has been fascinating to watch. And really cool to see how these lessons are applied in the game!

[@Gilboron]

I actually found this pretty interesting to watch as a writer, too. After all, many challenges or mysteries in stories are essentially a kind of puzzle. Of course, there's differing factors at play there, as it's the characters who need to solve the "puzzle" and the finesse lies mostly in making the reader/viewer feel involved in the solving of the "puzzle" without making the characters seem slow or stupid. But there's still interesting correlations to make between a good video game puzzle, and a good narrative puzzle.

[@NathanK97]

well one way to keep the reader from feeling like the characters are slow and stupid while still giving even the slowest readers enough time to figure it out, ad rewarding the quicker ones who figure it out sooner, is to put a forced deadline in the plot so the answer can't be revealed until the end no matter what the characters, or the reader has already figured out, such as the ferry not arriving with the police until the morning or something forcing the character to keep what they know a secret for the safety of the conclusion.

[@jebussonofgob]

I'm so happy to see Snake Bird getting some love. Such a good puzzle game.

[@KuroOnehalf]

I love Snakebird's first half but really do not like the final puzzles. Some of the final star levels showcase what I think is one of the cardinal sins of puzzle game design, where the possibility space is so large that the solution ends up feeling very obfuscated and hard to get at even with random trial and error. I love puzzle games and wanted to love Snakebird but Star Level 4 of Snakebird made me quit the game on a sour note.

[@tomstonemale]

@@KuroOnehalf That's the last level I can't complete after a year xd

[@zyaicob]

If you know zefrank's True Facts series, replace the word "bird" with Ze's pronunciation every time you hear it in this video.

[@acheeblessyou]

@@KuroOnehalf that's why it was a Star Level. I couldn't finish that either, but you don't need to complete every level / collect every collectible / complete every side quest.

[@StefanLopuszanski]

As a puzzle designer myself, I think one of the best things I've learned is you want to create a puzzle that is like a good math problem. That seems weird, but hear me out. Puzzle games are like teaching people in the education system. You explain to them the basics, go over all the basic rules and goals, and then give them problems to solve using the things you've taught them. Puzzle games almost universally have a set of rules and interlocking mechanisms that are used in a specific series to overcome a challenge. This is also how math problems are solved. You know the rules and tools you have and need to figure out which to use and what order to use them in to get the solution. If you don't properly teach the rules and mechanisms then players will not be adequately equipped to solve them. Just like if an educator didn't properly prepare students then the students will have issues. Also, you can't give a student (player) something too complex at the start or they will get frustrated and give up. Having a good onboarding process is crucial for puzzle games. You might have the best puzzle game mechanisms out there, but if players can't grok it then it isn't going to do well.

[@technoultimategaming2999]

I say coding is more like a puzzle game. For example, you may want to make a program that writes whatever you say, until you say stoo. As a python programmer i = 0 While i

[@novaraptorus]

10/10 use of the word “grok”

[@raph2550]

I've given math support to middle schoolers, and my game design knowledge turned out very useful

[@OutbackCatgirl]

There's an aspect to puzzle games that I am deeply in love with that may not have been touched on here... Unintended Solutions and *intended* 'unintended' solutions. Where there's an alternate method of completing the puzzle that feels like you're "breaking the rules" to attain it, often involving more time and skill, being technically challenging to achieve, often giving - in my experience - a happy little thrill, when most of the time that solution will have been left in *intentionally* for one reason or another, like that one chamber in Portal where you can skip directly to the top of the exit elevator with a single fling, making the player feel extra smart for 'outwitting' the puzzle's boundaries. Or most of the gold stars or easter eggs in Talos Principle which involve smuggling puzzle elements outside their designated areas. (Talos is such a phenomenal game imo, it gave me that very feeling so many times, and is the first puzzle game in years that's prompted me to not only go for a 100% completion run, but to also get all endings and bonus objectives and even easter eggs.)

[@MassiveAchievement]

the talos principle is the best puzzle game of all time. The star from the top of the building in the middle of the lake from Road to Gehenna was the hardest puzzle in the whole game( the only time I looked up on the internet for an explanation.

[@technoultimategaming2999]

Portal Stories Mel had a puzzle where you required to make a loop out of self spawning cubes. The solution felt wrong, that I even checked to see if I glitched it. Nope making a loop was part of the solution

[@BRICK101]

Great video! That Talos Principle puzzle is a great example. I remember that moment really clearly, it was one of the most well designed moments of the game

[@SavageGreywolf]

In a great puzzle, you immediately see the goal, spend the majority of your time in the level figuring out what you need to do to get to the goal, and once you figure it out you quickly are able to achieve the goal condition. In a bad puzzle, you spend the majority of your time in the level trying to find the goal, once you find it you quickly are able to figure out what you need to get to the goal, and immediately afterward achieve the goal condition. In a TERRIBLE puzzle, you quickly see the goal, you immediately realize what you need to do to get to the goal, and you spend the majority of your time in the level trying to achieve the goal condition.

[@arandomhashbrown3756]

Does that mean that bad puzzles are just exploration games and terrible puzzles are action games?

[@SuperDestroyerFox]

@@arandomhashbrown3756 no they were referring specifically to puzzle games

[@TristanCleveland]

@@SuperDestroyerFox He was joking.

[@haydenhoxworth9505]

TotK shrine puzzles are 50% terrible

[@davidbaird4606]

A like a mix of these broad videos and more specific ones

[@penwoopydo]

Where's the reply to this?

[@samamamacusb2049]

Right here.

[@AbbreviatedReviews]

I used to avoid puzzle games, but when I started my curator page it was one of the few things that I could actually get to review (puzzle games are apparently a hard sell). I don't know that I'm necessarily a huge fan of puzzle games now and I can hardly say I know what separates a good one from a great one (though I'd still say Portal and Portal 2 are the greatest), but I can say after playing so many indie titles that there are plenty of things that can be done wrong. The most egregious issue is when a puzzle game forces you to perform an action that doesn't make sense in the context of the game. Whether it's pressing a button that wasn't clearly explained or using something in a complex way that wasn't previously used in a simple way. It's a sure way to get casual puzzle gamers to bail on your game. The second issue I encountered a fair bit was when you could just do the equivalent of "button mashing" to solve a puzzle you're stumped on. It takes away the only compelling element of the genre and takes away any feeling of accomplishment. What made me enjoy games like Semispheres and Portal Bridge Constructor, outside of their aesthetic, was that you'd get these challenging moments of varying degrees but at the end of it, you used mechanics that grew upon themselves in a way that felt natural. It seems easy to make a puzzle that's way too easy and one that's way too, but making a series of puzzles that transition between them in an organic way separates a bad puzzle game from a good puzzle game.

[@ap1evideogame44]

Definitely introducing mechanics in simple ways and then using them in more complex situations is the best way to go. Starting with something very easy, then eventually combining them in ways which seem impossible to someone who didn't play up until that point!

[@AshnSilvercorp]

I can't say it's the best, but I'd recommend checking out TRI: Of Friendship and Madness if you're still checking out puzzle games. It's a bit old now, but it can be quite good a times.

[@ap1evideogame44]

Looks interesting...

[@adiener]

This is super well done. I've designed quite a few puzzles in games and sort of stumbled on some of these principles by accident, but this really helped coalesce those ideas into something clearer. Excellent analysis.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Wew, what an undertaking Mark! This is such a vast, broad subject but, as usual, you tackle it superbly. I kinda like mini-puzzles within bigger games, like the water pipe connection minipuzzle in BioShock. I think if you do a small thing _really_ well, it'll always come across as more accomplished. The Witness as well, just drawing a line. But, how many ways to draw that line. And Quantum Conundrum! Make something fluffy, _and_ jump on it.

[@thomashorne2607]

oh hey dan root. Love your vids

[@natedunn51]

Dan Root it's always about making things fluffy and jumping on it

[@ethanpeters3047]

the witness is driving me mad

[@RaoulWB]

Lately I've been playing BoTW and, thinking about the game that I'm making, I was just wondering what made a puzzle good and not just look like a way to make the game longer. So, thank you!

[@SolMasterzzz]

"... and it's effortless to execute the solution, which is always a plus in my book." I'd even go further than that. To me, puzzles where the execution isn't effortless are not really puzzles at all. Difficulty should always come from figuring out the solution, never from actually executing the solution. That is my main philosophy when designing puzzles. The goal should be clear, the rules should be clear, and the execution should be effortless. "Be prepared to put in some hard work." This is very, very true. I wouldn't call myself an expert by any means, I've made like one small puzzle game in my life, but keeping track of all possible solutions to a puzzle, the assumptions players make, clarity of the rules, difficulty curve of puzzles, etc, is a lot of work.

[@coderaven1107]

This is what I love about parkour and parkour games (in recent times especially Ghostrunner): They combine the clearness of goals (kill enemies, get to location x as fast as possible), rules (available movements and enemy behaviour) with a difficult execution.

[@KappakIaus]

The Rise of the Tomb Raider part at 14:22 is funny! I played the game recently, and it is NOT "clearly impossible to get there in time". If you have good movement, you can get on top of the second platform and barely miss the ledge on the other side... Guess what I tried for 15 minutes before checking a walkthrough out of frustration :(

[@hugopietras1622]

I tried the same thing for like a hour before checking a walkthrough.

[@Nersius]

Did a similar thing w/ Valkyrie Profile Lenneth. There was a level with a section where an elevator was used to both travel and be used to lock and unlock rooms at certain times. I did not know this, so I kept exploiting a terrain creation mechanic to unreliably climb up 'unscalable' walls only to be locked out of where I needed to go.

[@yourmum69_420]

I haven't played rise, but I have had this exact issue many times with other Tomb Raider games

[@subprogram32]

Ahhh that neat breakdowns of stuff I like so much! Obviously puzzles are not as rigid as the ideal structure you describe, but you say the same before going into them anyway. My fave part was the bit where you compare the Portal 2 and Turing Test puzzles to see how the little things make a significant difference in the satisfaction level you get from the puzzle.

[@Hobby_Technology]

I'm coming back to this after a year and I gotta say thank you! This video helped me win my first game jam!

[@GMTK]

Congrats!

[@TheArmchairHistorian]

I absolutely love your videos Mark, you're like the Nerdwriter for video games. Griff

[@arnenesbye2420]

Unexpected.

[@ShermanTheMajor]

Undetected

[@Mattstak]

did you sign your youtube comment

[@ok_danda]

For real, this is some of the highest quality content you can find on KZbin. Fine job again!

[@DarylTalksGames]

Man the assumptions part was really striking. I never realized it, but when I come across a puzzle in a game, I typically do go in overconfident and immediately fail. It's another great example of how letting the player mess up is a much better tutorial than a text box. I love how puzzle games can make the player better by simply letting you figure things out rather than just gathering experience points and leveling up. To me, using real world critical thinking is a much more enjoyable way to progress in a game than just upping your in-game stats. Fantastic video as always!

[@noodian3268]

Did you just mistake the Weighted Storage Cube for an ordinary box? I'm dissapointed, Mark, very dissapointed.

[@Tumbolisu]

And he didn't use the term Heavy Duty Super-Colliding Super Button either. Or Thermal Discouragement Beam.

[@JM-us3fr]

lol

[@uwnbaw]

It's just a box with Tumblr popularity

[@EvenMoreFries]

The *Aperture Science* Weighted Storage Cube.

[@MartaTarasiuk]

Woah, I had no idea making puzzles is so complicated. It never even occurred to me that all those red herrings were added purposefully.

[@GameRevo]

Nice! This is the first GMTK I've seen which involved a genre I don't really play that much, and it made me seriously want to play a number of these games. Understanding the inner workings sometimes makes a game far more interesting, so, thanks! I enjoyed this.

[@IoFoxdale]

Game Revo snakebird is incredible and pretty cheap. It’ll also make you feel like a moron in like, six levels so it’s good bang for your buck

[@GameRevo]

That one in particular really jumped out at me. I might get it!

[@11zoomzoom11]

Game Revo Talos Principle is a bit less cheap and a bit higher commitment, but trust me it's worth it! One of the best puzzle games I've played.

[@deathtoll2001]

I'm the same way with a lot of the console games he highlights, as I've played almost exclusively PC since the PS2 was big. Now to just find the time to play them properly!

[@VoidHeart1]

The best puzzle game I have ever played has been baba is you and it genuinely is one of the most difficult but satisfying to solve games of all time. I wish the video has focused on that game a bit as it breaks norms of puzzle games but still succeeded in making it entertaining. Although it genuinely is one of the most difficult puzzle games because of how you are supposed to solve some levels, but nonetheless give it a try if you haven't! Much love to the maker of the video ❤

[@romainbajoit2865]

"Every puzzle starts with its mechanics : a set of ironclad rules that governs how the game works .." *BABA IS YOU:* HOLD MY BEER

[@darkerbit]

The implicit rules: TEXT IS PUSH, TEST IS RULES. (plus some spoilery ones)

[@fattytan1377]

The game: THE RULES ARE THE RULES, LITERALLY

[@seanss]

BEER IS HOLD

[@senza4591]

HOLD MY LITERALLY EVERYTHING

[@End3rmik]

Baba is you

[@reNINTENDO]

It was nice to realize I already knew basically everything in this video before watching it. Not to undermine the quality of the video (it's excellent by the way), it's just I've made a puzzle game before and I definitely think if I didn't know this stuff or didn't realize it while developing the game it would have ended up significantly inferior to the final product. I can't stress the importance of play testing enough. There was so much I learned from watching (yes, watch them play; in puzzle games that's extremely important) that wouldn't have occurred to me otherwise.

[@jackcarr6686]

im so addicted to your channel, your voice and your passion combined is brilliant congrats on 400 thousand the first time i found your channel was your "how Johnathan Blows creates a puzzel"

[@TheWeirdoClub]

This video is exactly what I needed. I've wanted to learn how to design game puzzles for YEARS but could never ever wrap my head around it. THANK YOU for giving me a fantastic starting point!!!!!

[@skylarkessler9805]

Excellent video. You really hit the nail on the head with how it should be effortless to execute the puzzle once you've figured out the solution in your head. I really dislike when setting up the solution to a puzzle is made difficult even though you know what needs to be done.

[@XCM666]

This is an incredibly precise analysis of such a vast topic. I've recently worked on a puzzle game (not featured here) and the concepts you describe really manage to articulate the puzzle design process. In my game, the player is challenged not only to complete the puzzle, but to do so in an optimal way (least amount of moves). This is a great setup for the concept you describe as Assumption, which manifests itself in - what I had referred to as - unintuitive puzzle solutions. Meaning, puzzles where a "straightforward" solution is easy to spot but is inferior to a less apparent one. This video puts a lot into perspective. Thank you, Mark!

[@CharacterDesignForge]

This was absolutely fantastic, thank you so much, Mark!

[@thepolyglotprogrammer]

Thanks for this video! I am actually making a puzzle game right now and am doing a lot of research on the topic. Great video!

[@MK-xm2nh]

Deadly Rooms of Death (DROD) is the BEST puzzle game series ever. Looks like Gauntlet, plays like a TBS that's totally deterministic, no rng. If you like puzzle games, you OWE it to yourself to check them out. Google Flash DROD, it's a flash remake of the first game with stuff like achievements etc, the main catch is that it's free

[@sebastien3411]

Yes! DROD is definitely worth checking out for anyone interested in puzzle games. The game has so much more depth to it than almost any other puzzle game. A lot of that is based on a fan community that has been designing super deep and interesting puzzles for well over a decade. Also worth noting: the non-flash versions have free demos available that pretty much give you full access to everything other than the main story-line.

[@RayIveySeriously]

Another fabulous video. I got to work as the Puzzle Design consultant on the 2nd and 3rd Law and Order games and you aren't kidding that it's tough to come up with a puzzle you're happy with.

[@carterbrown2441]

A solution to a puzzle must also be precise. If it is not there is a large chance that the player could just find the solution by doing things randomly. Another way you can stop players from stumbling upon the solution is to punish some of the wrong solutions. Even if it is just making them restart the puzzle. A game that really struggles with this is the mobile game, Monument Valley. While playing this I accidentally found the solution to almost every puzzle in the game just by walking around. It is still has a nice art style and unique puzzle concept.

[@surajeswaran635]

A little late, but thank you. I’ve used the ideas from this video to make my own small puzzle game, where you need to get two hearts together. However, when you press the arrow keys, one heart moves and the other moves in the opposite direction

[@TheMikirog]

Damn perfect timing. I was making a machine-based point-and-click game and this video came right up. Thanks!

[@prometheus625]

This channel is like a dream come true for aspiring game designers. Thank you so much for the front you put in, very happy I found this 😊

[@funx24X7]

There's a recently released puzzle game called Baba Is You that I wish came out before the creation of this video, it's such a beautifully executed game that touches on nearly every concept in this video.

[@foxus-a113]

I've just discovered this channel couple of weeks ago and can't stop watching it. Thank you for all the clear and informative explanations about game design. For someone like me who's interested in game development, these videos are very precious.

[@kleptomcrunfast1373]

Wonderful analysis and video, as per usual. Thank you for featuring Lara Croft GO - it is, in my opinion, the best puzzle video game I've ever played, and I think it boils down to the fact that it repeatedly and consistently features so many of the elements you discussed (that, and it's incredibly well polished and atmospheric without being cluttered or detracting from your focus on the puzzles). The bonus levels in the (free!) DLC chapters in particular felt absolutely diabolical at first, but were so incredibly satisfying when you figured them out.

[@MM-fj4py]

One of the things I love about these videos is seeing all these interesting games gives me some new games to try.

[@KnightsDisillusion]

Congratulations on getting 400K subs Mark!

[@GMTK]

Cheers!

[@Lyubimov89]

Knight Warrior i am surprised - this channel is already worth at least a couple of million subs minimum.

[@KnightsDisillusion]

Lyubimov89 So true.

[@Echodonut]

+Lyubimov89 spread the Good Word of Mark the Brown, and subs he shall receive!

[@AshnSilvercorp]

he needs 1 million.

[@AustinJSchaeffer]

Thanks for the video! I've been working on a puzzle game for about 4 years now and this video helped get me back in the puzzle design mindset after not working on the game for nearly a year.

[@foxgood5173]

Great video as always. You should run a GMTK GameJam for this concept, like you did for dual-purpose design last year---puzzle games are one of the easiest genres for showing creative game design, so it'd be interesting to see the results of doing so.

[@pedrochevez2090]

Talos Principle is one of my favorite games, let alone puzzle game. It's brilliantly done, very thought provoking both in it's puzzle designs and philosophy. A MUST for anyone.

[@acblook]

Good video! In my opinion, it's not so much all the details you explain here that make a good puzzle, but the point of it instead (although the details are important) A good puzzle helps you teach yourself something, and that's most important. The longer that thing has been in plain sight, waiting to be learned, the better the puzzle is. And lastly, the simpler the problem and solution are, the better.

[@samcolgin]

I am a puzzle developer and right now all we have is an understanding of the mechanics, a few textures and basic movement. But me and the other person on the team are watching your videos and taking a lot of inspiration on how to, for example, teach without teaching, keep players engaged rather than addicted, and how to (in this case) make a good puzzle. Thanks for all the wonderful videos and keep up the good work!

[@vazeyo]

3:27 Oh yeah! I remember that puzzle. It took me some time...

[@jhal114]

what an incredible piece of writing. brilliant and intriguing introduction captures from the very moment of the video and does not let go. Builds up the content from what you've just learned about intricacies of puzzle game genre and present the next in a such a way that is similar to how a 'puzzle game teaches you from previous levels'. Please continue making such artful and quality content!

[@koagzero]

Thanks for the video! For my game, I've been having trouble balancing between withholding knowledge from the player for him to figure out himself, and making it more obvious for him. Although I thought I had checked a lot of the mental checkboxes for designing puzzles, I still found players stuck at places they're totally not supposed to, even despite iterations of simplifying the puzzle - and I've been confused whether to keep it that way or not DX After watching this video I feel like maybe its the clarity of the communication of the elements of my puzzles that may be lacking. Maybe some subtle hints like lighting and shifts in the camera would do a lot more better than giving hits in a textbox. Or maybe players enjoy just solving it completely on their own more? I guess there's where all the needed playtesting goes to, and it's especially tough because the same puzzle can't be tested on the same person twice! P.S. This video came at such a great time because I was agonising over whether I've been designing the game right after seeing people get stumped at weird places during the recent grad show my school was having. Still have a long way to go Xd

[@leoleo1035]

Mark, I've been following you for a couple of years and really enjoy your content. As a Game Design student your videos have been really helpful for my studies and building knowledge. I'd like to ask if you wouldn't mind giving even more references for level design, they've been superb in helping me and my colleagues develop our research, but we needed even more hard references, books and articles, some sources we could rely, quote and drink from. Once again, thank you for being part of my Game Designer life, you've changed my perspective!

[@karlhenrik3473]

This is definitely one of my favorite videos ever, thank you for this! Super interesting and well done!

[@8bit_llama]

Great video! I made a couple of puzzle games recently and it’s cool to see that you share some of my ideas on how puzzles should be done.

[@h4724-q6j]

I would disagree that the player shouldn't ever be figuring out what to do. In the broad sense, of course they should know what the end goal of the puzzle is, but sometimes figuring out what must be done to achieve that is more fun than figuring out exactly how that happens.

[@JaneXemylixa]

I guess he meant "what the player is trying to achieve", too.

[@naejimba]

This channel is so valuable. The most frightening thing to imagine having to design, for me, is a puzzle game. Thanks for making it seem a little less scary.

[@WhiteZet1]

I downloaded The Witness and played it for an hour. Easy puzzles everywhere. Then I got stuck for an hour, and I literally started to feel like the game was bugged. Of course, my little brother who never played or watched me play the game instantly came up with a solution after I showed him the basic premise of the puzzle. It's incredibly weird how simple solutions just slip past us when we have an assumption. Thinking outside of the box is something I definitely should learn to do more. But even when I try to do so, I still think inside a damn box.

[@ShibuNub3305]

It’s like, you think outside of the box but then you’ve just stepped into another box that needs thinking outside of all over again and by that point you’ve used all your mental energy so you keep on hitting the same wall until you finally break and look up a walkthrough or just give up forever

[@Inogat]

this show is consistently so clear and interesting and the presentation is so perfect I'm just baffled every single time! This is just pure gold! Every show, no matter what they are trying to talk about, can take inspiration from this one.

[@xCrossBite]

Yo, Mark, I'm really happy for you, I'ma let you finish... but Captain Toad is one of the best puzzle games of all time!

[@Mattschoe]

I know I'm pretty fucking late, but try "The Witness" it's also really great

[@littlenarwhal3914]

Wow. This is great. Ive been pondering over puzzle design for months now, trying to figure out how I can break down a puzzle to make it great, and this is an exact and specific answer. Thanks a ton.

[@moanguspickard249]

That potato baking game frustrated me just from watching this video......love it

[@rorystockley5969]

Sausage!

[@lunawolf2950]

They're... sausages?? tho???

[@Fenrir1]

I absolutely love the Talos principle. There were many times playing that game where things at first seemed completely impossible, and figuring them out made you feel like a genius (until the next seemingly impossible task).

[@NJoint]

Amazing video, as always. I'm curious about why "The Witness" is not shown here, and that makes me wonder if "The Witness" adjusts to the premises here explained. Keep up the good work, I always feel a rush of happiness everytime I see you've published a new video.

[@aliengeo]

It's interesting to see how at 13:38 Mark inadvertently foreshadows the revisions he had to make to Untitled Magnet Game five years later-in adding extraneous elements to the puzzle in an attempt to make them more challenging, he took focus away from the central conceits and made them difficult at the expense of fun.

[@RustoKomuska]

I realised just how out of my depth I was with puzzle design when I first tried to make a puzzle level in mario maker

[@elecboy5126]

I can't express my gratitude for this video enough.I have been on the search for these principles for months. To think that instead of an article or an interview or a ted talk or a step by step tutorial or a KZbin series dedicated to the subject, the core concepts of puzzle design would just appear in my recommendations, ready to be absorbed by my eyeballs with a metaphorical spoon. This easy to digest video actually is of use in the process of making a puzzle challenging, whereas everywhere else I looked instructed to "make a complicated sequence of events and then mess with it until your playtesters have what is vaguely described as an 'aha moment'". Consider my quest to obtain a basic understanding of what to do in my portal 2 level editor completed. You have done me a great service.

[@Pearcinator]

A puzzle design video from both you and MatthewMatosis? Christmas came early!

[@Wooktent]

In the beginning of developing my first puzzle game. Making it small so to make it a practice game before a bigger game idea is done. This seems like an amazing assessment, I hope this comes in handy during my level designing phases. Thank you for this!

[@usernamehandle]

I was just praying for a video like this. Will you answer more of my prayers, Mark Brown?

[@matesafranka6110]

I am in fact working on a puzzle game, so I really appreciate this video :) I kinda felt out some of these principles on my own, but it's really helpful to have them neatly collected like this, so many thanks!

[@linguinisescapology7567]

can you do a gmtk about how in games like punchout you can make it fun, not tedious to replay the same thing

[@Actinjsh]

He already has a video like that about hitman, I think it's called "The art of repetition"

[@cookiecan10]

@Acedons I don’t think those are the same kind of repitition games. Games like Hitman and Infinifactory are based upon trying to find different/better solutions for the same problem. Games like Punchout, Geometry Dash, Super Meat Boy are more about becomming better at a skill

[@blackheart7921]

Games like Punchout, Super Meat Boy, Touhou etc. are fun despite constantly replaying the same thing because they're essentially action-puzzle games, so they have a puzzle part (finding a solution) and an action part (executing that solution). The games obviously become easier as your execution improves, but often, you can find different approaches that are easier to perform, or you just have to find the right detail to focus your attention on in order to succeed.

[@rodanuo771]

Just discovered your channel not long ago. Your contents gave me a realisation that I might actually have a genuine interest in game-design. I also really like the engaging yet calm commentary.

[@tommyswain3762]

Mark, could you do a video on party games like Mashed, Mario Party and Crash Bash? I feel like they’re worthy of a dissection.

[@habitablefiction7090]

The numerous examples make this video much more majestic.

[@generalkdi]

I'm surprised there's not even a mention of The Witness.

[@rubybishop8749]

I want to make an open world game with puzzle elements. But I don't want it to feel forced, like I'm just adding busy work to slow progress. I'm on a research journey to find out how to implement puzzles subtly, so that one many not even realize they're doing a puzzle. This video has been a huge help. Thankyou!

[@carterbrown2441]

5:35 Mark did not forget about Pi day!

[@LaughingThesaurus]

Presentation to me is one of the most fascinating things to me in game and level design, and it's really cool to see an example of how it applies to puzzle design!

[@MmmDoggy]

Not sure if you were implying Ittle Dew 2 has easy puzzles because the extra dungeons in that game have insane puzzles.

[@GMTK]

Nah, Ittle Dew's pretty hardcore. Just needed a random puzzle that was a pretty easy

[@MmmDoggy]

Right on my dude. Great video as always!

[@terrypaulpearce]

That is literally one of the best videos about game design of any kind that I've ever watched. Bravo.

[@Nixitur]

I don't know why, but I _really_ can't stand Snakebird. It's super frustrating for me. There's a new game which fits these points surprisingly well, even though it's technically a turn-based tactics game. It's called Into the Breach and it's by the FTL devs. You control three mechs on basically a chess board and have to protect buildings from giant bugs. You always know where the bugs will attack and every effect is deterministic and easy to understand. But there will almost always be more bugs than mechs, so you have to get creative with pushing bugs away from buildings, punching bugs into other bugs or their line of fire, pushing your own mechs around... Each turn is essentially a mini-puzzle, embedded into the larger one of the entire five-turn battle. Of course, with each battle being partially random, it can't always have the revelation. But the variety of equipment and upgrades your mechs can have makes every situation different enough that you can feel smart all over again with every turn. And an optimal solution to each battle is always reasonable to achieve, but never easy.

[@DEVN31]

Wow, this was fantastic Mark! This channel is seriously something special, and it's incredibly admirable to see someone put this much effort into their content.

[@Dragoon4002]

Mark, if you have not already, please do a video on Atlus' Catherine :)

[@Loffeno]

Was looking just for this video from GMTK since I'm working on a puzzle game for a college project. Your videos are always super helpful for game design (I have a huge list of notes from all of them).

[@douglaspantz]

13:09 You seem to assume that The Turing Test is trying to be harder than Portal. Edit:Oh, Nevermind, It Has No Assumption

[@_ka_de]

As someone who is currently working on a puzzle game, I can definitely confirm that bit at the end, never has been anything so hard in my life as making levels in that are both fun to play and challenge the player at the same time.

[@InnuendoStudios]

Hot take: that puzzle in Braid is the best one in the game.

[@hb-robo]

honestly the entire clone world was genius.

[@CarterHerrigstad]

1:35 that right there is my Favorite Puzzle game! "The Swapper" it also has an amazing story if you read all the stufff, in game and stufff