Happy October, puzzlers! Apropos of pretty much nothing (but mainly because I’ve been endlessly designing rooms for my upcoming game, so it’s on my mind), I thought I’d share some of my recent thoughts about difficulty curves in puzzle games.
It’s tempting to assume that in any puzzle game, the challenges should get strictly harder – and for a simple linear game, such as a set of sudoku puzzles, that might be fine – but in a broader game with story or adventure elements, this isn’t necessarily the best option. If a player is spending many challenging minutes/hours on every single puzzle late in the game, at the same time that they’ve started uncovering and resolving some of the game’s mysteries, then their slow progress may feel annoying – just when the puzzles are supposed to be at their most fulfilling.
As with all games, difficulty should ebb and flow to provide breaks and levity, but there are some features unique to puzzle games that can allow even a ‘simpler’ challenge to fulfil a useful role. With that in mind, I thought I’d summarise my own approach here:
EARLY GAME
- Basic puzzles that introduce key gameplay elements (including the core mechanics of the game, and how the interfaces work)
- Easy challenges that combine these basic elements
- And, in non-linear games: Moderate optional puzzles that require more complicated strategy with these same basic elements (to reward players who want to put extra thought in, without yet requiring it)
MID-GAME
- Puzzles that introduce new gameplay elements (these might be new features that have been unlocked as the game/story progresses)
- More complex puzzles that combine all the elements so far
- Short puzzles that require one clever insight to solve (such as a way different gameplay elements interact that the player was not explicitly told)
- And, in non-linear games: Challenging optional puzzles that also require obscure tricks to solve (to reward those who want to fully explore all the gameplay elements so far)
LATE GAME
- Moderate puzzles that introduce any final new gameplay elements
- Very tricky puzzles that combine all elements (expected to take significant time to solve)
- Relatively simple puzzles featuring earlier gameplay elements (to provide downtime between the tricky puzzles where a player can reflect on any story, as well as a reminder of mechanics the player may have forgotten)
- Short but complex puzzles that require (and guide the player to) obscure key tricks to solve (so that a player, once they have solved these, can return to earlier optional puzzles armed with the tools necessary)
- And, my favourite: Gimmicky or outlandish puzzles that are more about humour/entertainment than any true challenge (again to provide levity between the more difficult puzzles, as a sort of reward)
ENDGAME
- Fiendish puzzles taking advantage of all elements and tricks in the game (possibly including some more gimmicky, but still difficult, challenges)
- And of course, the WigDev classic: One final puzzle that, within its complexity, subtly hides a trick that hasn’t yet appeared anywhere else in the game (to give one final ‘Ah-hah!’ moment for the player when they spot it, while providing payoff to those who had worked out such a trick in advance)
Now, to be clear, this is not some sort of ‘manifesto’ for how all puzzle games should do difficulty curves. (If it was, I’d make it look nicer, with pictures and examples.) Every game is different, and ideally the spread of puzzles should uniquely reflect the features and tone of the game they’re in. But this list does neatly summarise the way I approach the issue – The ‘WigDev Method’, if you like.
If you’ve played my games, you’ll likely recognise levels and puzzles that fit with what I’ve written about here. And the next time you’re late in a WigDev game and come across a surprisingly short or simple puzzle… You’ll have a good idea what’s coming next.