Poll Question 007 - What kind of puzzle do you prefer?

Remember the Conc maps in TFC? I don’t know if you guys count those as puzzles, but I hated those maps beyond belief. I’m not super-great at stuff like that, and I find it pointless to try to get good at it. But what’s this? There’s dozens of conc maps out and two of my friends are extremely good at it. It’s ridiculous! That and those bunny hopping maps. What the heck.

I’m one to think puzzle-type areas of games are just in the eye of the beholder. Different people like different things– either extreme or basic.

I guess I’m one to enjoy when a game mixes elements of these puzzles– for instance in HL2 episode 1 in the Citadel core you had to use the gravity gun to grab those energy spheres and throw them into the power nodes to activate certain bridges, lasers, etc. You got a logistical and physics thing going on, and I loved it.

I know I’ve seen some other great ideas in some sven coop maps, but I can’t think of any at the moment….and I can’t think of any custom ideas to add to this post. Maybe later!

The puzzle preference depends on the game. I mostly lean towards logistical puzzles. When it comes to the run-of-the-mill FPS games/mods such as Half-Life and such, I enjoy logistical puzzles more since it’s the easiest, more used puzzle there is. Jumping puzzles depend on the enjoyment you get from the actual act of movement. In games such as Starsiege: Tribes, jumping puzzles (for lack of a better word) are as fun as hell.

When it comes to physics puzzles, it depends on the complexity. You need to pick up a plug and plug it into the socket: Boring. You drag a heavily explosive barrel next to a tower, and shoot it so that the tower falls, destroying the bridge and allowing you the ability to cut off the enemy retreat and finish them off: Awesome.

When it comes to making sucessful mods and maps, it usually leans on the orchestrated combination of the three.

On preference, though. I’m going for logistic. You have an unlimited field of which to do with just the press of a button, ranging from the dispensement of a can of soda to the nuclear destruction of the entire state of California.

Personally i think the killing of the tentacle monster in HL1 was one of the best implemented puzzles ever done in a fps. It was a large puzzle,covering a couple maps,but was in no way a gamestopper. And mostly exactly that,the stop-effect of most puzzles implemented in fps,kills the fun out of me.

What about mazes? Wouldn’t mazes be in it’s own category, as they usually do not involve moving anything or using buttons? (I’m a little ‘iffy’ on the definition of logistic puzzles)

I hate maze maps by the way. Any map that gets it’s own puzzle category is a bad map: logistic, jumping, or even physics maps included. Maps shouldn’t be limited to puzzles.

If I vote on the current poll it would probably be logistical since I cant vote my preference of Logistical & Physics combined.Jumping can go jump in the toilet along with stacking boxes.

The kind of puzzles you call “logistical puzzles” is often misunderstood by leveldesigners. Key- and lever puzzles simply exist to create a motivation for the player to explore different parts of the level with a goal that lies inside the level itself (the closed area that needs to be accessed by solving the key puzzle). The distance between the locked door and the key (or switch) creates opportunity for multiple routes (non-linear leveldesign) and various combat situations. There could be one or more routes leading from the door to the key, and one or more routes from the key location back to the door. And on the way there´s plenty of opportunity for combat (which is after all the most important gameplay element in FPS games).

Newer games like FEAR don´t get this simple idea, they handle lever puzzles like something that gives the player a break from the combat, so that he just has to do “something else” for a short while. That´s not how it´s meant to be.