FUNDAMENTALS OF GAME DESIGN, SECOND EDITION
Fast Puzzle Games
Most computerized puzzle games, such as Sokoban, move slowly and allow the player to think about his next move for as long as he wants, so they're not action games. Fast puzzle games require the player to solve a problem as quickly as possible. These games are usually simple, visually abstract, have a limited control set, and are easy to design and build. Tetris is the archetypal fast puzzle game. Other examples include Collapse!, Columns, and Bejeweled in its timed mode. Casual gamers like fast puzzle games because they are easy to learn and don't take a long time to play. They also don't use stereotypical content associated with many video games: no guns, no dragons, no scantily clad women. This subgenre is ideal for handheld devices and cell phones.
The action-adventure is a hybrid genre, combining features from both action games and adventure games. To play them well requires a fair amount of physical skill, but they also offer a storyline, numerous characters, an inventory system, dialog, and other features of adventure games. The later editions of the Zelda series for the Nintendo 64 and Nintendo GameCube are action-adventures, as is Indiana Jones
and the Infernal Machine. The earlier, 2D isometric Indiana Jones games were pure adventure games.
Chapter 19, "Adventure Games," discusses action-adventures in more detail.
