Ruben talks Puzzle Design

04 December 2009

During the last 9 months puzzles have become a very significant part of my life. Before joining the Blue Toad Murder Files team I designed high-level ideas for games and prototyped rough concepts. Then I became the puzzle designer and I had to start thinking about very small details that make or break a design. Here is an insight into how that process works.

Researching: Collecting the evidence

During the first part of the project I spent a lot of time searching for traditional puzzles, old maths problems and any other random ideas that I could potentially adapt as a puzzle for the game. The truth is that many of the classic puzzles we all love have been around for hundreds of years, passed from generation to generation, and they are still here for a reason - they’re lots of fun to play. Although we wanted to include lots of them (at one point we even had a crossing-the-river style puzzle in the game!) we also wanted to find the right balance between these awesome classics and original experiences that felt new and refreshing.

Prototyping: Cooking the puzzle

The creation process of the puzzles began by reading the script. We wanted to link the puzzles with the story as much as possible. Although at the beginning this sounded like it would be a major design challenge, the fact that I had a script to use as reference when designing the puzzles has proved a very positive thing. Designing a puzzle without having any constraints is like playing a game without enemies, it’s simply not that fun or exciting!

When designing puzzles I spent long hours scribbling, painting or cutting paper in weird shapes; I leafed through plenty of magazines and art books and I had long conversations with the creative minds in our team who gave me their valuable opinion whenever I got stuck with a particular problem. It’s amazing how you can do the same kind of activities one hundred different times and learn one hundred different things, depending on what are you looking for at that particular moment.

Then came the time to create a paper prototype of what the player would see on the screen. That forced me to concentrate on the details and think about the finer, small things that could make or break the puzzle. Although it may sound like my job was then done, the reality is that the design was far from over!

Polishing: From average to A-Grade

Next we reviewed the puzzles. Once the paper prototype was done I showed it to the artists, programmers, producers and lead designer. The purpose of these meetings was to evaluate it from different technical and design points of view, but at the end of the day the most important thing was to make sure that everyone had fun playing it.

This is the most stressful part of my job, but it is also one of the most important. The team’s opinions and views are what made the puzzles go from good to remarkable. Everyone in the team pushed for excellence and that’s why we have such a beautiful game and why we’re so proud of it.

Ruben Farrus