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Parallel Experiment by Eleven Puzzles: “Put your heart into it and players will notice”

PreMortem.Games

Polish indie studio Eleven Puzzles has been making a name for themselves as the creators of some fine cooperative puzzle games, like Unsolved Case and Unboxing the Cryptic Killer. Co-founded by Adrian Olczyk and Karolina Pytka, the fully remote studio has been crafting unique multiplayer puzzle experiences since its inception in 2020.

Puzzle 138
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Solo dev Vladyslav Pidiashenko “I hope IHAS will inspire players to better their lives”

PreMortem.Games

In the upcoming Sci-Fi Action-Puzzle FPS IHAS , from Ukrainian solo developer Vladyslav Pidiashenko , players wake up aboard a giant, desolate spaceship swarming with hostile robots. A year later, I started to add puzzles and worked out a story and a few key philosophical concepts for the game.” Playtest early.

Dev 104
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Finding ways to better understand your players

GamesIndustry.biz

While players can often identify elements they like – such as colors, puzzles, or characters – they rarely can elaborate why the elements appeal to them. The more traditional and obvious methods, like playtests, player surveys, market research, and in-game analytics, are useful for understanding what it is people enjoy to play.

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Do you have any tips for designing great puzzles?

Ask a Game Dev

When designing a puzzle, a designer must think of the process by which the player interacts with them. Place and advertise the clues to the puzzle goal within the environment. This can be subtle or it can be obvious, depending on whether the puzzle is optional or part of the critical path.

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new Quake map: Tell Me It's Raining

Radiator Blog

These huge labor-intensive maps are hard to make for a variety of reasons, but in this particular context, the most relevant problem is that playtesting the same hand-tuned encounter repeatedly quickly drains its charm and it becomes difficult to gauge whether it's still interesting or not.

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Feral Cat Den is pushing the audio-visual boundaries of games with Nirvana Noir

PreMortem.Games

Evan Anthony: “Alternating between two timelines with such different visual designs, mechanics, and stories has been a real brain puzzle for us. They will have to talk to a diverse set of characters and find clues in dialogues and intricate puzzles, and unravel a conspiracy that could bring the world to its end.

Art 138
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new Quake map: "Heart Like A Bird's Nest"

Radiator Blog

So I blocked out some simple rooms above the existing arenas, to serve as a short entry puzzle area ("Quake puzzle" = you have to press a button to open a door) with a bit of exploration. Thanks to Fairweather for organizing, Yoder for playtesting, and lastly thanks to everyone in the Quake Mapping discord.

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