How difficult should the puzzles be?

[prrt]

as long as you get a thread full of people asking for the answer of a riddle that is only letter E , people searching for nude pics are too stupid for puzzles .

 

[anne O'nymous]

Anyway, I've included a few puzzles and minigames in my game, but damn, it seems some players give up fast on even the easiest of challenges.

I think that it's more on useless challenges that they give up fast.

In adult games, mini-games should just be a small extra to the game play, when you don't feel like just showing a task expected to be hard. But they aren't the reason why we play the game, so they need to stay really simple ; reduce the complexity until even your friend who's the worse at this can do them without problem. If we wanted to play for the challenge, we would have chosen a regular game, they'll always represent a higher one that an adult game.

They also have to stay discrete and not be totally repetitive. There's a, now abandoned, game that have a mini-game as way to earn money. It's was something simple, Babylon towers, but once you had to play it five time in a row, you quite the game...

In the end, they should have a real meaning for the story, not come too often, be simple enough, and effectively add something to the game.

 

[hyper321]

I think the deductive sequences in Long Live the Princess are great. I'm also okay with minigames/puzzles when the characters are actually playing a game or trying to solve a puzzle. E.g. MC goes to an arcade, or MC tries to reassemble a torn up letter.

What I don't like is when generic puzzles and minigames are added to menial tasks. MC takes a shower? Shower minigame! MC drives to work? Driving minigame! MC ties his showlaces? Shoelace puzzle! It gets 100 times more annoying when you have to play the same puzzles/games again and again and again.

The perceived difficulty depends on who's playing. Some people have terrible reactions, some have terrible precision with the computer mouse, some don't know how to play certain card or board games, some people will never be able to solve puzzles that involve reading the dialogue and thinking. I really struggle with sliding puzzles but others might find the same puzzle easy, so it's good to have features like a skip option, difficulty settings, or hints.

 

[ParadiseLofts]

What I personally do in my game is just make various ways to solve every problem; There are more optimal solutions, but no player will get stuck, just get a lower reward, or a different cutscene. He just can get better in the next playthru finding a way to get better results with the accumulated learning about how to solve the "puzzles".

> What I personally do in my game is just make various ways to solve every problem; There are more optimal solutions, but no player will get stuck, just get a lower reward, or a different cutscene.

That's awesome! I have the same approach with Paradise Lofts, with almost every challenge. Either there is more than one path to solve the problem (in some cases there are more than two, actually) or one can also skip a challenge.

However, I think I have discovered that a lot of players do not realize there is more than one way, so either they aren't paying attention, or are flying through the script and don't catch it. Or more commonly, I think many folks just don't expect there to be more than one linear path for any particular challenge in these types of game, maybe.

A thing I particularly dislike is unnecessary repetition, so when some skill is mastered, or a challenge completed, one doesn't have to repeat, repeat, repeat to achieve the same thing in the future. For instance, I have one little minigame developed where the MC has to develop photo prints in a blackroom environment. One can skip this challenge from the get-go, but regardless, if you ever need to use that room again, you don't have to repeat play the game to get the next print made. Coincidentally, that's the most tedious minigame in Paradise Lofts. Spent a lot of time developing that, to only discover it isn't that much fun. I'm still tweaking it. lol.

And I'm tracking things similarly to the way you do it. If a player finished the game, doing everything without skipping or avoiding challenges, they will be rewarded more than those that just rush through things.

 

[polywog]

George was not a bright student, he was still on a 3rd grade level while his classmates were graduating. George thoought this was unfair. George vowed to get revenge one day, on the children of all those who had made fun of him. When George's daddy made him president, he put his plan in action. No child left behind. A program to reward the class imbecile, and encourage them to not give up. To do away with humiliating "special education" classes, that had hurt George so deeply growing up.
His program decreed that the class may not advance faster than it's weakest link, all of the other students must be held back, until the slow kids catch up, so that no child is left behind.

We can all agree that what George and his brother had to go through was horrific. No child should have to endure that kind of pain, but that is no reason to punish the smart children and take away their chances of success in life.
Don't hold back the best and the brightest, or even the mediocre students, just to spare the feelings of some shit for brains.

The same goes for games. Don't make the game for low IQ players. Sure their mothers are going to make a fuss... "my son played your game, and now all he does is cry" "my wife's son is stuck on level one, what can i do to help him" Have a walkthrough prepared so that you can send a compassionate reply to these complaining parents, allowing them to feel good about holding their child's hand and helping them through the game. Put a timer in each scene, so that when an intellectually deficient player is stuck in a room for too long, a wall collapses allowing them to escape to the next level, and they get a gold star for trying. But don't ruin the game for everyone else by making it lame.

Start the game with a question. Nothing too difficult, no right or wrong answer. Just a simple test to determine the player's aptitude. An algorithm to evaluate their answer, which spares them having to choose the easy difficulty level themselves, and a lifetime of shame from knowing they couldn't finish.

Instead of "help" or "cheats" menus, call it "self-help" people feel more comfortable about getting help from themselves, than getting help, or being a cheater.

Another option is auto-play mode. Where children can turn the steering wheel and feel like they are driving the shopping cart, while they are really being pushed.

Don't be like George.

 

[ParadiseLofts]

View attachment 514326
George was not a bright student, he was still on a 3rd grade level while his classmates were graduating. George thoought this was unfair. George vowed to get revenge one day, on the children of all those who had made fun of him. When George's daddy made him president, he put his plan in action. No child left behind. A program to reward the class imbecile, and encourage them to not give up. To do away with humiliating "special education" classes, that had hurt George so deeply growing up.
His program decreed that the class may not advance faster than it's weakest link, all of the other students must be held back, until the slow kids catch up, so that no child is left behind.

We can all agree that what George and his brother had to go through was horrific. No child should have to endure that kind of pain, but that is no reason to punish the smart children and take away their chances of success in life.
Don't hold back the best and the brightest, or even the mediocre students, just to spare the feelings of some shit for brains.

The same goes for games. Don't make the game for low IQ players. Sure their mothers are going to make a fuss... "my son played your game, and now all he does is cry" "my wife's son is stuck on level one, what can i do to help him" Have a walkthrough prepared so that you can send a compassionate reply to these complaining parents, allowing them to feel good about holding their child's hand and helping them through the game. Put a timer in each scene, so that when an intellectually deficient player is stuck in a room for too long, a wall collapses allowing them to escape to the next level, and they get a gold star for trying. But don't ruin the game for everyone else by making it lame.

Start the game with a question. Nothing too difficult, no right or wrong answer. Just a simple test to determine the player's aptitude. An algorithm to evaluate their answer, which spares them having to choose the easy difficulty level themselves, and a lifetime of shame from knowing they couldn't finish.

Instead of "help" or "cheats" menus, call it "self-help" people feel more comfortable about getting help from themselves, than getting help, or being a cheater.

Another option is auto-play mode. Where children can turn the steering wheel and feel like they are driving the shopping cart, while they are really being pushed.

You left the golden nuggets near the bottom, and that's solid advice. Appreciated!

 

[rubix100]

As long as it's not sudoku level hard then it's fine for a porn game imo