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 Forum index » Meta » Puppetmaster Help
The Importance of puzzles!
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Vecheeso
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Joined: 30 Mar 2008
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Location: Titusville, FL

 		The Importance of puzzles!
What do you think about their importance?
Hello all,
I am making an ARG based on a book series ive been writing for years. The big problem doesnt come from the fact that we have limited resources, or even that cutting out a lot of content is necessary to translate to the ARG medium, it seems that puzzles are a key to this whole ARG thing, however I am not entirely convinced, this is where you come in.
What do you think about the importance of puzzles? And what I mean by this is that, we will have clues leading to websites and videos, as well as the characters interacting with the players often as well. But what of the importance of taking the 2 seconds-2 days to find the next website because you didnt realize it was a Vigenere code etc.
I guess i'm wondering if it would completely undo the entire ARG theme by no having hard to find/hard to solve clues, or are puzzles not as important as player interaction or the unfolding of the story?
Thanks for your time!
-V
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PostPosted: Fri May 02, 2008 7:48 pm
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rowan
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Joined: 12 Apr 2004
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 		Re: The Importance of puzzles!
What do you think about their importance?
Vecheeso wrote:
I guess i'm wondering if it would completely undo the entire ARG theme by no having hard to find/hard to solve clues, or are puzzles not as important as player interaction or the unfolding of the story?

There's nothing saying that a game has to have puzzles, as long as it has something to do. ILB is a rather well-known example of trying to stay away from puzzles. The puzzles really only came about (iirc) from our boredom at waiting for the payphones to go active. The puzzles just simply became a timewaster for everyone who was watching online, so none of them were especially difficult.

I keep seeing new puppetmasters get hung up over the concept of puzzles in a game (just look through some of the latest meta threads). It seems to be a common thought that puzzles are things like ROT, Vig, Binary, etc, when in reality, almost anything can be turned into a puzzle. I think social engineering situations are vastly underused. Take a look at the Mr. Boddy trailhead - I love the fact that someone decided to ask if they could be the cook rather than a guest. It's the way real life actually works, not with sadly encrypted messages but with getting your hands dirty. Challenge your players to think creatively rather than by rote. Make Purloined Letters and force them to look at the things right in front of their faces. Create a mystery and entice the players to pick out the pertinent facts scattered across the entire story to deduce the truth about the matter.

But please, please, please - stop making lame puzzles that just make me want to scream "THIS MAKES NO BLOODY SENSE". If you've acquired information about a secret government operation that has destroyed an entire town, asking for help via Base 64 encryption on a website that is also trying to gather information is just plain stupid. It's sorta like standing in front of CIA headquarters with a bullhorn screaming in Russian. Sure, most people around you won't have any idea of what you're saying, but you can bet that someone who knows the language will come to investigate it fairly quickly. If you must conduct your business in front of the CIA, one would suspect that a low-key approach is best. </end>
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PostPosted: Fri May 02, 2008 8:26 pm
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Vecheeso
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Joined: 30 Mar 2008
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 		Thank you, that makes me feel a lot better, because I dont have much of an idea about puzzles, but I -know- storytelling, and granted, I could get people on the team who know puzzles, however, I think that in some cases that just get in the way of the story.
I believe the story itself should be a mystery, the entire thing a puzzle, rather than either extremely hard or extremely useless encryptions or deterrants getting in the way of continuing the story *cough* aporia agathon treehouse puzzle *cough*... Smile
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PostPosted: Fri May 02, 2008 8:33 pm
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natas
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 		Please, for god's sakes, if you use puzzles, make it fit in with your story. and please don't encrypt stuff just for the sake of encrypting it. It makes no sense. I just don't see why I need a degree in cryptology just to view an online diary about the last time someone walked their dog. ARGH!

PostPosted: Fri May 02, 2008 8:54 pm
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Vecheeso
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Joined: 30 Mar 2008
Posts: 337
Location: Titusville, FL
natas wrote:
Please, for god's sakes, if you use puzzles, make it fit in with your story. and please don't encrypt stuff just for the sake of encrypting it. It makes no sense. I just don't see why I need a degree in cryptology just to view an online diary about the last time someone walked their dog. ARGH!


thanks for the recommendation Natas, i'm glad you are so passionate about the genre, and I look forward to more of your insight, thank you.
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PostPosted: Sat May 03, 2008 12:58 pm
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Jas0n
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Vecheeso wrote:
or deterrants getting in the way of continuing the story *cough* aporia agathon treehouse puzzle *cough*... Smile


Twisted Evil

Not necessarily a puzzle getting in the way of the story, but interfering with an expansion of the story. That particular puzzle seems much more difficult watching you guys try it out than when we had others play test it. I know you'll feel rewarded when you do discover the answer to what you're looking for Smile

I can't give you any hints on it, other than to say that currently the only website on that we don't own the domain is on youtube. The characters in this puzzle have no reason to lead you to youtube either Smile Everything you need to get to the extra information is right there on the page, and like you've pointed out about the puzzles fitting the storyline - the puzzle fits the character who put it up.

We know someone out there can figure it out, and that's not a knock to anyone currently looking at solving it. It's quite a different puzzle than players are used to, so the answer isn't nearly as obvious as running to a java applet to decrypt something.
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PostPosted: Sun May 04, 2008 9:28 am
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Vecheeso
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 		Ty for the info Jas0n, I appreciate you commenting on my question here, as well as giving appreciation, and gratification that we are just missing something, obviously. Thanks!
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PostPosted: Sun May 04, 2008 10:51 am
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