Trouv / willos-graveyard

Sokoban puzzle game made for GMTK 2021 game jam - Joined Together
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design: complicate 'Premature burial' to reduce solution range #164

Closed Trouv closed 7 months ago

Trouv commented 7 months ago

The current iteration of the 'Premature burial' has a few different valid solutions regarding the destination of the E stone. It could have been in the bottom left, top left, or up against the bush, any of these allow you to solve the puzzle in mostly the same way. While I think "redundant solutions" like this aren't the worst thing in the world, when the puzzle is supposed to be instructive it can have players learning the wrong lesson. They'll fail in some instructive part of the puzzle while working towards solution A, but later succeed at it while working towards solution B, and they might think it was the difference between solution A and B that made the difference and miss the point. I think this is likely what the player in #161 was referring to when they mentioned "trial and error".

This new redesign of 'Premature burial' is more complicated, but I think the solution is a little more compelling and forces you to reckon with the core concept of the puzzle more. But most importantly, there are no redundant solutions here that I am aware of.

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