Newsgroups: rec.arts.int-fiction
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From: rbryan@netcom.com (The Essential Addition)
Subject: Re: Above all, pamper the player
Message-ID: <rbryanCy1p2z.A9E@netcom.com>
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
References: <376vuj$9gp@nntp.interaccess.com> <rbryanCxyCrC.7tr@netcom.com> <FLEE.94Oct21043335@algol.cse.psu.edu> <388ivf$qhh@usenet.ins.cwru.edu>
Date: Fri, 21 Oct 1994 22:56:59 GMT
Lines: 55

>Actually, that maze is trivially solvable.  There's a complete map of
>it in one of the upstairs bedrooms.  (The design on one of the carpets --
>the one in the room with the bishop's game, I think -- is the map.)
>
>This is a perfect example of how a poorly thought out maze can harm a
>game, incidentally. :>  Having a nice solution elsewhere is no good if
>a player doesn't realize the solution exists...


Refer to the above subject line.

The key words which Damien used were "poorly thought out."  Indeed, but 
it's clear to me that it is the player who, in this case, has not thought 
things out.  The solution is there.  If the player missed it, then why is 
the maze at fault?

The best puzzles in interactive fiction are (IMHO) those in which the 
player must draw a connection between two physically distanced objects.  
These puzzles are elegant, because they show that the author was not 
working room-by-room.  Rather, the author saw the game as a single, solid 
work.  A game in which every individual room is self-inclusive is not a 
well-crafted game.  How much fun would Trinity have been if, for example, 
the meteorite had crashed into an ice cave?  Or if A Mind Forever 
Voyaging had featured handy signs saying "This might be interesting -- 
why don't you record it?"

Why warn players about a trick to passing the maze?  If a player fully 
explores the world which a game places him in, then he should find these 
clues on his own.  In my opinion, if I have provided a solution and the 
player doesn't find it, then it is the player who made the error.

If you want to make things easier for the player, then package an 
instruction file with every game, including such tips as "go 
everywhere," "look at everything," "think form and function," etc.  In 
fact, I would argue that if you use just these three rules and a touch of 
common sense, you can solve 80% of all puzzles in interactive fiction.

But any player who blames the game for not spelling out the difficult 
puzzles should read the book, and any author who truly feels that 
he must make every solution as obvious as a brick in the head should 
probably be writing for children.  If the puzzles can not be solved with 
common sense and a careful reading of the text, then the puzzles are bad, 
and thus the game.  But if the game is bad, then easy solutions won't 
make the game any better, and it probably shouldn't be bothered with in 
the first place.





-- 

| "I drank what?"          The Essential Addition         "Dave, I'm feeling |
|      - Socrates            rbryan@ netcom.com            much better now." |
|                  [PRISM I: Firegods Coming in November]        - HAL, 2001 |
