This post is part of a series of Blog Posts that I am writing for a class, Game Systems, at UC Santa Cruz.

Edge Cases of Puzzle Systems in Game Design

Puzzle Systems are a bit of a nebulous term in game design. The borders between what is and isn’t considered a puzzle can be muddied and are often debated in conversation about games that do not explicitly identify themselves as puzzle games. In this blog post, I am going to go over three systems in different popular games that are not considered to be Puzzle Systems and explain why one could consider them as such moving forward.

Pokemon Battles in the Pokemon Franchise

Pokemon battles take a giant amount of inspiration from their JRPG predecessors like Final Fantasy or Chrono Trigger and build upon the foundation of a turn-based battle system by opening up the possibility space because of the game’s focus on building whatever team the player desires. Unlike most JRPG’s at the time, games in the Pokemon franchise give the player no intended direction as to how they build their team as there is no set party, aside from giving them a choice of their starting Pokemon. This leaves the player with the responsibility of figuring out what it takes to build a team that not only is powerful, but can play well against a wide variety of opponents. Players attempt to solve the “puzzles” of Gym Battles and regular battles by memorizing type effectiveness matchups, remembering movesets after repeated battles, preparing for battles effectively by stocking up on items, etc. This open-ended approach to team building and combat in Pokemon is what transforms these systems into Puzzle Systems, because it encourages the player to figure out the “rules” of battle, and use those to “solve” each battle.

Level Grading in Speed-Based Games like Neon White, ULTRAKILL or Hotline Miami

When in-game time is the only metric for Speed-Game players to weigh themselves on, their priorities and workload in the game rests on making sure that by the end of the level, the timer reads the lowest time possible. However, when Speed-Games introduce a grading system that takes place after each level, the designers introduce a pseudo-cost/benefit analysis within the player’s head as they complete the level. With the grading system’s implementation, speed is still of the utmost concern but now certain metrics are added that influence the style of play necessary to “master” each level. These metrics could be things like “Style”, which relates to your combo meter and how much the player uses different weapons in the game ULTRAKILL for example. Other metrics could be defeating all enemies within the level or never taking damage, which players have to juggle at the same time as trying to beat the level in the fastest method possible. This injection of a grading system into a Speed-Game transforms the simple goal of going fast into a Puzzle System, placing the many tasks that must be done simultaneously on the player, and having them figure out the “rules” given to them to find the “solution” of claiming the highest grade on the level.

Stealth-Centric Gameplay in Games from the Metal Gear Solid and Hitman Series

Stealth gameplay is often lumped in with Combat and Movement systems but with games like those in the Hitman and Metal Gear Solid series, there is so much more at work within the design of their stealthy encounters. Stealth gameplay in these games constitute a type of Puzzle System I’d argue, because of their requirement of the player to figure out the “rules” in order to find the “solution” to the encounter. The “rules” in these stealth encounters may be, NPC paths, AI behavior, how far the field of vision extends from enemies, context specific environmental hazards like cameras or alarm systems, and the list just goes on. Players research these games by playing through many different stealthy encounters until they find the proper solution, perhaps changing the order that they eliminate the guards, or finding a new cover spot just outside of an NPC’s eyesight. Due to the many ways of approaching these encounters and how obscured their solutions are, the Stealth-Centric gameplay in these games quickly transforms into partly a Puzzle System for the player. Combining these factors with the fact that many games in the stealth genre, including those in my examples, incorporate a grading system at the end of each level, pushes these gameplay elements even further into being regarded as Puzzle Systems, for the same reasons that I had listed in my previous paragraph.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed my thoughts. Hopefully I made a point or two that stoked your curiosity.