Comments on: Professor Layton and the Curious Village dissection http://www.mandible.net/2008/03/04/professor-layton-and-the-curious-village-dissection-i-haff-tvelve-metchsteek/ Breaking Into the Industry Sun, 28 Feb 2010 07:37:08 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 hourly 1 By: Zorba http://www.mandible.net/2008/03/04/professor-layton-and-the-curious-village-dissection-i-haff-tvelve-metchsteek/comment-page-1/#comment-1316 Zorba Wed, 05 Mar 2008 03:34:10 +0000 http://www.mandible.net/2008/03/04/professor-layton-and-the-curious-village-dissection-i-haff-tvelve-metchsteek/#comment-1316 The first thing that came to mind with the farm boys was: "No-one gets paid! You work for good of country, here in Communist Russia!" "Should" is such a bad term for a puzzle, in so many ways. I do remember that one giving me trouble, though. I know there were a few others, but I don't remember which. It was definitely a small issue overall, counting by sheer number of puzzles involved, but small issues can end up being magnified a lot if it irritates the player sufficiently. (I will be touching on this in my next dissection, which I already have planned.) Yeah, a lot of puzzles couldn't be randomized well, unfortunately. I don't really see that as being a great global solution, although some of the puzzles that would be hardest to randomize, like the Princess Escape series, wouldn't even need randomization since there's no way you can fail to get a perfect score. It'd be different, and it wouldn't be an inconsequential thing to do at all. I'm hoping to make these articles reasonably frequent, though obviously it depends on how quickly I finish up games. :) The first thing that came to mind with the farm boys was: “No-one gets paid! You work for good of country, here in Communist Russia!” “Should” is such a bad term for a puzzle, in so many ways.

I do remember that one giving me trouble, though. I know there were a few others, but I don’t remember which. It was definitely a small issue overall, counting by sheer number of puzzles involved, but small issues can end up being magnified a lot if it irritates the player sufficiently. (I will be touching on this in my next dissection, which I already have planned.)

Yeah, a lot of puzzles couldn’t be randomized well, unfortunately. I don’t really see that as being a great global solution, although some of the puzzles that would be hardest to randomize, like the Princess Escape series, wouldn’t even need randomization since there’s no way you can fail to get a perfect score. It’d be different, and it wouldn’t be an inconsequential thing to do at all.

I’m hoping to make these articles reasonably frequent, though obviously it depends on how quickly I finish up games. :)

]]> By: Stiltskin http://www.mandible.net/2008/03/04/professor-layton-and-the-curious-village-dissection-i-haff-tvelve-metchsteek/comment-page-1/#comment-1315 Stiltskin Wed, 05 Mar 2008 03:27:56 +0000 http://www.mandible.net/2008/03/04/professor-layton-and-the-curious-village-dissection-i-haff-tvelve-metchsteek/#comment-1315 "A game based around timetravel without an insane self-referential plot just isn’t right..." I'm looking at YOU, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time. Anyways, I look forward to reading more of these kinds of articles. I'm looking into creating my own game at some point, so these are very good reads for me. To be honest, though, I can only think of one puzzle that sticks out as vague (that one with the two farm boys, who divide the land in half, and you're asked how much of the money should go to each.). Aside from that one, and perhaps a very small number of others, I thought the language was spot-on. And a randomization system would totally change the gameplay, as it would require major changes to the style of the puzzles. Unless, that is, you randomize which puzzle you get, but that blocks off a large number of puzzles from the player. “A game based around timetravel without an insane self-referential plot just isn’t right…”
I’m looking at YOU, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time.
Anyways, I look forward to reading more of these kinds of articles. I’m looking into creating my own game at some point, so these are very good reads for me.
To be honest, though, I can only think of one puzzle that sticks out as vague (that one with the two farm boys, who divide the land in half, and you’re asked how much of the money should go to each.). Aside from that one, and perhaps a very small number of others, I thought the language was spot-on. And a randomization system would totally change the gameplay, as it would require major changes to the style of the puzzles. Unless, that is, you randomize which puzzle you get, but that blocks off a large number of puzzles from the player.

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