Puzzle Design

[energythief]

Hello fellow riddlers!

Many players have asked me questions about how these puzzles are designed, why certain solutions work the way they do, or even where I get the inspiration for certain levels. In this thread, I'll be sharing what I can (without giving away any spoilers).

I hope you find it interesting.

[energythief]

Member dustofsnow asked me:

[glow=red,2,300]"Energythief, how do you come up with these puzzles?"[/glow]

Most of the puzzles I've created in one of four methods: "Top-Down", "Bottom-Up", "Deliberately Instructive" or "Combination". I'll share an example of each, using only the first few levels as examples so as not to give anything major away.

1) "Top-Down" puzzles are those created based upon a particular style of puzzle. These puzzles tend to be conceived of before I have a particular answer in mind. After I determine the style of puzzle I want, I then set about the work of finding a way to express it.

Example: Level 2's picture rebus. I knew I wanted to introduce wordplay as a concept very early on, but I didn't have a particular word or phrase in mind. Once I knew it would be a rebus, I searched lists of common English words before settling on one (which was itself an auditory combination of two VERY common English words, each of which could be expressed as an image).

2) "Bottom-Up" puzzles, on the other hand, start with the solution, and work up from there. Certain words or subjects just seem to appeal to me (for whatever reasons), and I have tried to work those into the puzzle where I can.

Example: Level 5's missing person puzzle. Given the nature of the individual in question, it was a natural to include a puzzle with him as the answer. Once I decided on that aspect, I asked myself what sort of puzzle could be created to yield that response. Level 5 is what I came up with. (Note that Level 5 is also cool because it's the first of the overtly "linked" puzzles, in which the answer for one level is part of the clue for the next level.

3) "Deliberately Instructive" puzzles are designed to impart a particular technique at first. Once the technique has been introduced, then I consider it a part of the solver's toolkit, and I am free to return to the subject in a much more devious way later on.

Example: Level 1's "click the hotspot" puzzle. Using the mouse is such a natural tendency for first time players that it was a natural way to start the game and impart a sense of accomplishment. Obviously, later puzzles rely on mouse-clicking as part of the methodology required to solve them, not as the goal in and of itself.

4) "Combination" puzzles combine some or all of the techniques described above. Later puzzles tend to become richer in innuendo, misdirection and general all-around mischief, which is only possible by having layers of content. For example, a puzzle might require source code analysis, keen observation, wordplay, URL-based file manipulation, then require information from previous puzzles. (Yes Level 15, I'm talking to you. )

Example: The first few levels in the game are all really of this type, no matter how they were designed, as basic techniques need to be introduced. The most obvious example is Level 3's file extension switcharoo. This puzzle introduces solvers to the ability to enter filenames directly into the URL, as well as how to hunt for other files implied by the clues. While level 3 is fairly straightforward, later levels, like the playlist ones, feature this as a small component of their gameplay.

There are other ways to create puzzles, and not every puzzle in Enigma fits even these categories, but in general, this is a good overview of how the ideas come.

Wow, that was long. I hope that has given you some insight into the amount of thought we've given this labor of love, if nothing else. Thanks for asking!

- energythief, March 30, 2006

[judyg8or]

Very interesting.
I have a technical question. How do you insert text in an image's source?

[Tails_155 (DJ T-Rey)]

and mentally DEstructive

[scooter]

I have a question for you, ET: How much of the artwork (pics, etc.) in the puzzle are original and how much is downloaded from various places on the net?

[Tails_155 (DJ T-Rey)]

well we know one or he took himself...

(LOL ET you double-posted )

[dani]

How LONG does a puzzle take on average? Which level took the longest so far??

[Tails_155 (DJ T-Rey)]

i'm pretty sure the longest was 75 (you'll see when you get there / you know it if you got there)

[ricfaith]

i'm pretty sure the shortest has got to be 80 easiest to create, yet tricky in its own right

[Fresnel]

I don't think 1 would have been too tricky to make.

[ricfaith]

yea but the pic would need to be found, and the coordinates noted. 80 is, well. simple.