What Makes a Good Puzzle?

Puzzles can be one of the most complex things in game design. In this video, I break down some great conundrums from favourite games, and share some knowledge from sharp puzzle designers, to find out what makes a good puzzle.

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Further Reading / Viewing

Level Design Workshop: Solving Puzzle Design | GDC

A Good Puzzle Game Is Hard To Build | Rock, Paper, Shotun

Games shown in this episode (in order of appearance)

Snakebird (Noumenon Games, 2015)
Braid (Number None, 2008)
Portal (Valve Corporation, 2007)
Stephen’s Sausage Roll (increpare games, 2016)
Induction (Bryan Gale, 2016)
Yono and the Celestial Elephants (Neckbolt, 2017)
The Talos Principle (Croteam, 2014)
Cosmic Express (Draknek, 2017)
Deus Ex GO (Square Enix Montreal, 2016)
Pipe Push Paradise (Corey Martin, 2018)
Inside (Playdead, 2016)
Lara Croft GO (Square Enix Montreal, 2015)
The Swapper (Facepalm Games, 2013)
Portal 2 (Valve Corporation, 2011)
The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom (The Odd Gentlemen, 2010)
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Nintendo, 2011)
Hue (Fiddlesticks Games, 2016)
The Turing Test (Bulkhead Interactive, 2016)
Black the Fall (Sand Sailor Studio, 2017)
Rise of the Tomb Raider (Crystal Dynamics, 2015)
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (Naughty Dog, 2016)
Ittle Dew 2 (Ludosity AB, 2016)
Agatha Christie – The ABC Murders (Artefacts Studio, 2016)

Music used in this episode

Snakebird OST
k. Part 2 – 01 untitled 1, animeistrash

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