FUNDAMENTALS OF GAME DESIGN, SECOND EDITION
. Checking the Victory Condition
Bear in mind that players don't always find the solution to a puzzle the way that you envisioned when you invented it. There might be more than one path to the goal. When your game checks to see whether the player solved the puzzle, you should test only to see whether the player met the victory condition you gave her, not that she has done it in the way you expected. Otherwise, you've cheated her, and she'll be justifiably frustrated. She's managed to get to the correct solution state, but your game refuses to recognize it.
This problem appears in the game Interstate '76, which, while not a puzzle game, does offer a level containing a puzzle of sorts. The player drives an armed and armored car in an area enclosed by a concrete wall, and the victory condition for winning the level states that (among other things) the vehicle must escape the enclosed area. The game's designers put in a hidden ramp, which they wanted players to find and use to drive out of the area. However, players discovered another way to get out: If a player drops a land mine near the wall and then drives toward it at full speed, the force of the explosion lifts the car high enough to clear the wall, and the car flies over it and out. Unfortunately, the software doesn't test for the solution state that the player is given: Is the car outside the wall? Instead, it tests to see if the player uses the ramp. If a player escapes without using the ramp, the game
doesn't know that the player has completed the level, even though the victory condition has been met.
Of course, sometimes games contain bugs that allow a player to cheat and reach a solution by a means that's completely outside the rules. In Interstate '76, however, the trick with the land mine isn't a bug but an innovative solution that the designers didn't consider. When the software checks the victory condition in your game, be sure it checks the solution state that you told the player to achieve, not the way in which he achieved it.
Although artificial life might not seem very much like a game, simulations about people, pets, and even entire species can be entertaining and have been made into successful and fun products. An A-life game can be about individuals and relationships, or it can be a simulation of an ecosystem. To design this type of game you must consider how the simulation will run and ways that the player will interact with it.
Puzzle games, on the other hand, provide the player with hours of strategy and problem solving. You'll need to provide a game that combines high-quality presentation with well-thought-out game mechanics and interaction. Players can be very opinionated about puzzle games, but the individuals who enjoy puzzle games are often also very loyal.
