![]() Again, we must be cautious because it depends what those steps constitute and how those steps are decomposed into distinct, invigorating tasks. If I have to carry out 50 moves to solve a puzzle, that’s a lot more work than a puzzle that requires 10 moves. Now “laboriousness” is obviously related to solution step count. Solution step count can only really function as a relative measure, comparing like with like, but still even then may not accurately represent the mental adversity posed by a puzzle. Yet ten moves in a basic Sokoban game is nothing. If a procedurally-generated level of Dissembler requires over ten moves, that’s a sign a veteran Dissembler player will find it challenging. The player’s purpose is to “dissemble” the puzzle and every step takes more of the puzzle away so the number of moves required is always bounded. Earlier in Ouroboros, I mentioned I had fallen in love with Dissembler, a very distant cousin in the match-3 family tree. It’s like describing Brexit as “just getting out of the EU” and you wouldn’t want to do that. ![]() I’ve previously floated the idea of “number of steps to solution” as a measure of complexity but it is pretty crude. ![]() Compare the “laboriousness” of Sokoban to something like a contemporary laser reflection puzzle.īut what do we mean by laboriousness? What causes it? The idea of a puzzle as a chore keeps coming up. Let’s talk about the “laboriousness” of turn-based logic puzzles, because if a puzzle feels like hard work, you’re more likely to throw in the towel rather than complete the thing. I’m happy to be shot down, have a contradiction identified or be told I’ve forgotten something. Welcome to inside baseball, puzzle edition.ĭo not think of this as My Magnum Opus Thesis of Puzzle Design but just a guy trying to get a handle on certain concepts. It started out as a short thought experiment but I kept expanding on it until I realised this was sort of a deep dive. Sooooo… I was trying to put together a few words building on some of the Ouroboros comment discussions. This is the eleventh part of The Ouroboros Sequence, a series on puzzle games.
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