Puzzles can be as varied and expressive as songs, movies, or stories.
For inspiration, look beyond other computer games to puzzle books, mystery stories, physical puzzles,
science, mathematics, and anything else that captures your imagination.
Exercise: Invent a Puzzle
Your challenge is to invent a computer-based puzzle inspired by a headline from today??™s newspaper. A er you
have invented the rules, cra at least two levels for your game: one easy and one hard. Remember that you
are designing a puzzle, not an action game, so the puzzle must have a precisely de?¬? ned solution.
Make a paper prototype of your puzzle and test it on other people. Be sure to explain what the goal of the
puzzle is, what the rules are, and how the player controls the action. What do your testers enjoy? Where do
they get stuck or confused? How can you change the puzzle or the rules to make the game be er?
Answer to the Le er Puzzle
Just to make things more exciting, the answer to the quiz above is the only le er that does not appear in
this sentence.
What is a Puzzle? 39
40 Chapter 2: The Structure of Games
Premise
A basic way that games create engagement is with their
overarching premise, which gives context to the formal
elements.
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