I’ve mentioned now and then that I’m working on a video game with a friend. It’s an adventure game/dating sim with a modern Lovecraftian setting, probably called “Starspawn: A Miskatonic Mystery”. We’ve successfully launched board and card games in the past, but we’ve only ever made toy computer games, so we aren’t total noobs but it’s still shaping up to be a real journey. From scripting to engine development to finding artists to work with, it’s been really great learning all the tricks of the trade, though it’s been less fun internalizing the well-known fact that game development is harder than you think. And it’s going pretty well, thank you for asking! We have most of the functional requirements down and are stapling everything together, skinning it, making it Feel Like A Game, etc. I also haven’t written more than an outline past Act 2. So, 90% of the work is done, we’ve just got the other 90%. And then we can do a Kickstarter with a playable demo. Anyway…
Part of the gameplay is inspired by the old LucasArts puzzlers like Monkey Island. You know—click on stuff to interact, get witty banter, maybe add it to your inventory. Apply items to other items or to somewhere else on the screen, witty banter, maybe something happens.
(This new Monkey Island game is a blast, by the way, if you’re looking for something to play.)
Coding up this part of the engine was pretty straightforward. What’s been much tougher is learning how to write fun puzzles! Last year I was talking about this with a friend who makes augmented-reality games as a hobby and he introduced me to a concept that Ron Gilbert (the grandpappy of these games) came up with at LucasArts: the Puzzle Dependency Graph. This is a super interesting tool and I thought I would share it with you all. Part flowchart, part mathematical construct (you can calculate metrics from it)… It’s not just useful for writing puzzles; I’ve found it to be helpful in plotting out the actual mystery too.
I’ll be stealing some images from Ron Gilbert’s blog post on the topic. Here’s his example for a very simple puzzle, where your goal is to open the basement door:
I always work backwards when designing an adventure game, not from the very end of the game, but from the end of puzzle chains. I usually start with “The player needs to get into the basement”, not “Where should I hide a key to get into some place I haven’t figured out yet.” […]
So… first, we’ll need figure out what you need to get into the basement… And we then draw a line connecting the two, showing the dependency. “Unlocking the door” is dependent on “Finding the Key”. Again, it’s not flow, it’s dependency.
Now let’s add a new step to the puzzle called “Oil Hinges” on the door and it can happen in parallel to the “Finding the Key” puzzle…
The end goal is a series of act-sized diamonds:
In an adventure game, providing a fan-in/fan-out shape like this is very important. It allows the player to work on things in parallel, if they get stuck on any particular sub-puzzle; and, if you’re doing a branching-narrative thing, can provide both choice (or sometimes the illusion thereof) and structure for plot-driven stories. So, in addition to being a useful way to map out what you’re doing, it can also let you know, at a glance, whether you’re doing it right, and how complex any given section will be for the player. For a real-world example, here’s a slice of Day of the Tentacle, from a talk excerpt that goes into some of the mathematical concepts you can apply to the graph, if you are interested in that:
In puzzles and stories, your characters obviously have to do some things before they can do other things. You can expand each of those things into a sub-graph of other things, or collapse them, as necessary. If you want to give the players more time with something, or expand complexity in any given area, you can simply choose a node and expand it into another diamond. For example, in the newest Monkey Island game, at one point you need a mop. You could just have the character ask the right guy for a mop. But the game instead has you ask the guy for a mop–and then he sends you on a quest to find the “mop handle tree”, which is in a secret place, which requires you to find a map for it, but the cartographer needs something else…
Or suppose there’s a hole in your novel where act three should probably be; the hero goes from point A to point B with minimal trouble. This is immediately visible on your graph. So you take the one node, “gets to point B”, and branch it out. Maybe the road they need to take is closed, so they need to take a detour. Okay, so they have to figure out which detour to take. They pull up Google Maps on their phone–
Okay, so Google hasn’t mapped this area, so they find the nearest gas station–
Okay, so it’s a spooky gas station abutting the woods. The attendant tells them–
The attendant won’t tell them, because…
You get the idea. I’ve used it to map the actual mystery plot of the game too, and it’s been very helpful, especially for keeping track of the things that are happening offscreen.
So what’s everybody playing these days? I’ve got Monkey Island to finish, and some dating sims for research (Coming Out On Top and Monster Prom), and like many I am still chewing my way through Baldur’s Gate 3… and finishing Persona 4… I play a lot of games. Finally beat Metroid Dread, that was very fun.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I love that kind of adventure game. I played them as far back as the Infocom text only games. I didn’t realize they were still around. I think the last one I played was a version of Sam and Max.
Also, you’re making me think about how to add words to a novel by complicating the lead up to tasks. My drafts are always short. I think adding in the middle like this is probably better than tacking stuff on at the end.
Martin
The original Monkey Island was great this way. If you followed the clues where to go, your first stop contained everything you needed to solve the various parallel puzzles. It was very well designed and written.
The downside to the puzzle dependency graph is that pretty much all RPGs build their dialogue systems on the same graph (because the dialogue is usually instrumental to solving the puzzles), and dialogue doesn’t work that way so storytelling is usually pretty shitty – and I really want someone to crack the storytelling nut in video games. I’ve been poking around non-linear fiction for some clues how to address that without a lot of luck.
Anyway, haven’t been too inspired on the games front lately – currently playing a Rimworld modpack and some Minecraft with my son on a server made up of KSP mod devs. There’s a Factorio clustorio event coming up in a few weeks which I’ll probably join. Son and I will probably do a Factorio Space Exploration modpack play through after that. Me and the kids played through some Project Zomboid over the holiday break, and I’ll probably get back to finishing up my Horizon Forbidden West NG+ UH play through, which got derailed when my Phantom Liberty DLC came out for Cyberpunk and my daughter kicked me off the PS5 for two weeks.
Daughter is playing through BG3 (Astarion crew) and I’ll probably jump into it in a bit – I played the shit out of all the prior games and the Icewind Dale series so I’m sure I’ll love it.
Major Major Major Major
@Martin:
Yeah, we’re doing sort of a hybrid thing, I guess, which is nice. The main story advances more or less on rails, with interactions changing based on sentiment. But each secondary character has their own branching narrative that’s separate from the main story. If you choose to advance one of them (and your time is limited, so you have to be choosy), there are a lot of possible ways it can go down based on your choices, how you perform on various quests, and so forth. And since it’s separate from the main plot, we can provide actual choice and not just the illusion thereof.
strange visitor (from another planet)
that was an interesting post, major(x4). i play a lot of games but rarely give much thought to what’s going on under the surface
i’m finishing up elden ring. i have armored core 6 on deck but my xbox one disk drive has crapped out and i think it’s time to upgrade to the series x if i can scrounge together the cash.
SFBayAreaGal
What systems do you all use to play these games?
cain
Damn a whole post on my favorite video games. One of the devs followed me mastodon and Twitter. Ron and others are total outspoken progressives.
I have a lot of games I’m playing right now .. including Baldurs gate 3. I still have to finish return to money island. The guy who does the voice of guybush threepwood is a food critic in Phoenix. Worth a follow on mastodon
The adventure game I am playing now is crowns and pawns which is part adventure and historical. Good stuff !
HumboldtBlue
My cousin has worked in the Harry Potter sphere for years, and she is a member of the team that developed the game Hogwarts Legacy.
cain
@Martin:
The current game is like that. All you need to solve the puzzle is in that room and you don’t have to go to different locations which I like
cain
@SFBayAreaGal:
I’m using a SteamDeck!
cain
@HumboldtBlue: I have that game ! Trying to get my wife into video games using that. She is a big Harry Potter fan.
FelonyGovt
Interesting. I don’t play this kind of video game at all, but I do play phone app escape games such as Escape Game Collection, where somewhat similarly, you find an object, pick it up, and figure out a way to use it to advance in the game.
HumboldtBlue
@cain:
Funny enough, I’ve never read a Potter book nor seen a movie. The books were huge with my nieces and nephews, I know that. LOTR too.
schrodingers_cat
I play the Wordle, Quordle, Octordle and Waffle everyday. I am not much into video games except for the ones that come free with Windows like Spider solitaire. Where should a beginner begin with video games? I like word games and games of strategy.
OT: My kitteh no longer likes Friskies wet food. Any suggestions for wet food from juicers with cats?
Thanks.
Major Major Major Major
@SFBayAreaGal:
We have… all of them…
HumboldtBlue
Speaking of Harry Potter, here’s Darren Fletcher narrating the Red Bull Soap Box Derby run of a Harry Potter-themed team.
Mike in NC
@schrodingers_cat: Our cats like Fancy Feast.
Ken
I’m cheap, so I mostly play free online games. In the puzzle/escape genre, some of my favorites have been from Studio Look: Scope, Trace, and Escape from Castle Claymount. Excellent puzzles and even better graphics.
MagdaInBlack
I am pretty much video game ignorant, but my first computer, a Gateway, came with a game called “Myst.” It seems it was the kind of thing your talking about. I had a lot of fun with it.
RandomMonster
I worked as a creative in the game industry for 25+ years. After my inevitable layoff, I dropped out and switched careers entirely. Do I miss it? Eh, not really. It’s a business that can just suck the life out of you.
cain
@HumboldtBlue: despite heavily into urban fantasy I never read any of the Harry Potter books.
Splitting Image
I finished playing the Old Kingdom campaign in Pharaoh towards the end of last year, but that’s my most recent bit of gaming. My plan is to play through the Middle and New Kingdom in the next few weeks once I find some time.
I’m currently trying to make some headway ripping my old DVD collection, which has been an on-and-off project for a few years. I should have some extra time this winter to get this done, so I want to at least finish off all of the movies on my shelf. After that there are a few TV series to get done as well.
I also have my notes for Icewind Dale 2 sitting a couple of feet away from me, trying to tempt me back in. I was extremely fond of the Infinity Engine games when they came out, and ID2 was one that I never got around to completing back in the day. I restarted it some months back and had to put it aside.
cain
@Major Major Major Major:
I have a switch but I don’t use it. Games on it useless because they want to sell me 15 year old games at full price.
Meanwhile I can get games for cheap on steam.
Eta I have a pc as well it only has a Nvidia GeForce 970. I always update my machine when a new Witcher game comes out 😁😂
cain
@Splitting Image:
I suggest getting jellyfin on a raspberry pi to stream your collection.
Parfigliano
Never read a Harry Potter book or seen a movie. Dont play video games. Weirdo. I know.
Keith P.
This is my favorite genre of game (Zak McKracken is my favorite game of all time), so I really enjoyed this post. FWIW I’m playing Asgard’s Wrath 2 right now. It’s freaking huge. I’ve been playing for a month and have recruited just 1 of 3 people as part of Saga 1 (of 4).
HumboldtBlue
@Parfigliano:
Why even get up in the morning?
Major Major Major Major
@cain:
There are many more games for switch that don’t match this description… that’s like ten ports
strange visitor (from another planet)
@schrodingers_cat: you might like stray. it’s a game where you play the cat.
Marc
I enjoyed the Ron Gilbert’s post about Puzzle Dependency Graphs. A couple of decades ago i was writing software to automate generation of dependency graphs like this, but it was used for simulating the organization of complex engineering projects rather than games. The daughter now works as a game programmer for what remains of LucasArts within the Disney organization, ILM Immersive in San Francisco. They are readying their first game based on a well-known franchise that will run on some soon to be shipped hardware. If I say any more I’ll be shot 8^)
Matt McIrvin
I need brainless stuff right now so I got back into playing simulated pinball. I prefer sims based on real-world pinball machines so I’m playing the collections of classic Williams games for Pinball FX on XBox, some of which I have real-life experience with.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Starting in March 2020 (I wonder why), me and 2 college buds starting playing some old classic, multi-player political board games on Vassal. We’re all spread out over metro Denver. Started with Kingmaker. It’s great in that these games can take forever and with Vassal, you play for two hours, save the game, pick it up where you left off.
Had a 4th guy join us (lives in Estes Park), friend of one of the others. Then had a 5th guy (old friend of mine) join from Rochester NY.
I actually made a Vassal module for the old SPI game, Russian Civil War, then made one for the 2nd Edition version (which isn’t as good).
After 4-5 games of RCW, we played Rail Baron for a while. Then moved onto Power Grid. Played that a bunch, then went hard core playing Genesis, a Bronze Age multi-player political game. That one was a slog, 2 games, then started on Circus Maximus.
We played that 2 nights a week for a year. Never got tired of it.
Are now playing Pandemic. I put together a Vassal module for one of the historical variations of it, Fall of Rome, which we’re about ready to start.
After that it’ll be Tetrarchia, another Imperial Roman multi-player game.
Vassal has been a godsend–we play 2 nights a week for 2 hours. We use Skype as the audio connection.
Sure Lurkalot
The process sounds interesting, creative, fun and hard. Best of luck with your game! I hope it’s wildly successful.
I was really into the early puzzle games..7th Guest, Myst, Riven, Zork Nemesis…played on my PC. Also played a bunch of SimCity and a golf simulation game (don’t recall which one). My nephew tried to get me into his XBox games (still long ago) but they were mostly shooter games.
Are there Myst type games available for a PC or iPad these days or do you have to invest in a platform?
Bostondreams
On my third playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3. I tried playing a full-on evil Durge (Dark Urge), but I just can’t bring myself to wiipe out the grove and lose the wonderful Karlach. So resisting Durge it is (again), maybe with some different choices this time though. And I might let Shadowheart kill the Nightsong this time…but losing Dame Alyn…man.
I was tempted to get the Harry Potter game, but with a queer kid, I just couldn’t bring myself to give any money to that woman. BUT I don’t bregudge anyone else playing it, because it does at least look interesting and my boycott doesn’t have to be yours! :)
Tony Jay
@HumboldtBlue:
I’m playing that right now and you can tell them from me they did a cracking job.
Except for the spiders. Yackity.
laura
I haven’t gamed since Atari developed pong, so I got nothing. But it’s so nice to Major^4th and if I ask real nice, just maybe he’ll toss up a picture of the fog-pelted Samwise and smol bean house tiger.
Anoniminous
Like to get a copy of SimLife, if any are to be had, and see how well it holds up in 2024 to my fond memories of 1994.
Another Scott
I played something like this (and maybe it was that) via a terminal at a summer program for HS students at the University of Dayton in the late ’70s. It was more fun than tearing off the edges of line-printer printouts. ;-) I might still have a printout of the code somewhere, but I really shouldn’t (I collect too much stuff!!).
xyzzy, of course.
I had an Atari 2600 as a kid, but was worried that my heart was going to explode playing Centipede so much that I gave it up after a while.
(Excluding Tetris, Solitaire, etc.) the last “modern” game I remember playing was SimEarth on a 486 PC back in the dark ages. I mainly just read stuff now.
It’s great that there are so many types of gaming, etc., now. Have fun with it, and good luck M^4!
Cheers,
Scott.
NotMax
Miskery Date?
;)
brendancalling
I’m not a gamer, but I get that whole “putting the puzzle together” thing, albeit to a MUCH lesser degree. I engineer a podcast with Martin Longman (shameless self-promo!), which means scripting/opening theme, bumpers, transitions, troubleshooting, cuts and “splices”, etc. It’s a big job—I can’t imagine mapping out something like a game, especially one of those plot-based games. Sounds like fun to do it though!
Wapiti
@Sure Lurkalot: Heck you can get a whole series of Myst games for the PC.
I get almost all of my games from Steam these days; Steam is a company out of Seattle that retails games. The thing I really like is that they know which games you bought from them so you can load an old game onto a new computer rather than saving all of the CDs or whatnot. They have a custom browser that you use to search for games. They’re also big on security, using two-factor authentication, for example, to confirm your purchases.
TiredOfItAll
Mostly play Zelda games, although I enjoyed Myst back in the day. I’m a huge fan of the late Benoît Sokal’s games – Amerzone and Syberia. These days I much prefer playing video games on small handheld devices like the Switch – I miss the old Nintendo DS – rather than on a television or monitor. Mostly these days I play relatively complicated board games online – Seasons and Innovation are two favorites. And, for a novel about video game developers, I recommend Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tommorow by Gabrielle Zevin.
The Lodger
@schrodingers_cat: my cat likes Sheba. I have no idea how much mo re expensive it is than what your cat is eating.
cain
@Major Major Major Major: sure they have budget games but the deals on steam are way better than switch
I only bought the switch to do yoga or games that you use the controller to do physical things like ring fit adventure.
cain
@laura: lol I’m old enough to play that and also pony that we got at Sears in the 70s.
Trivia Man
My frend wrote the Tex Murphy games, I was lucky enough to be a beta tester. Lots of fun to have the whole crew watching me play – smirks when I took the bait, laughs when I bricked something easy, smiles when I solved it.
Same crew worked on the Links golf games. It was fun to play golf with them and hgear the in-game dialogue in the proper voices. “Looks like you’re gonna get wet” for example.
Matt McIrvin
@Trivia Man: A couple of my friends worked on Humongous Entertainment’s kids’ games in the 1990s and 2000s–the Pajama Sam and Spy Fox series. One of them sang the Shirley Bassey-esque theme song for one of the Spy Fox games, absolute brilliance.
Matt McIrvin
(The closest to the game industry I’ve ever been was working on optimizing the graphics APIs for a couple of proto-smartphone OSes in the 2000s, which were used to render games among other things. I’d probably have been a pretty good game-engine programmer but it’s a super tough business to be in and it was probably better for me that my specializations have been less sexy.)
Matt McIrvin
@schrodingers_cat: For a while I found that playing Duotrigordle was a really effective way to fall asleep. I don’t know if that’s a property you want your game to have but it was useful.
We’ve been playing some various card/board/dice games at home. Sequence, Kismet (basically a slightly different Yahtzee, traditional in my wife’s family for some reason). Uno, and an insane, chaotic variant called Uno Flip.
And a card game called Chrononauts which is about rival time travelers battling to screw with the course of history. Fun though I do question its concepts of historical causality and some details are arguably in poor taste. Kid loves it.
We tried picking up a new dice game called Qwixx but my daughter got stressed out by my attempts to figure out the strategy while I was learning to play it. I needed to shut up.
Matt McIrvin
@Another Scott: Believe it or not, there’s a modern Atari 2600 development scene, made of amateur/semipro “homebrew” developers. Some of the modern cartridges kind of cheat by including non-period hardware such as ARM coprocessors, though sometimes the developers try not to do anything a game company couldn’t plausibly have done with sufficient resources back in the day. And there are emulators that can play the ROM images too (sometimes with the ability to emulate the more popular hardware enhancements as well).
The company currently calling itself Atari (not the original, but they own part of its IP–in fact, I think it’s the same company that ate Humongous Entertainment in the end) even now sells a miniaturized “2600+” console that can play vintage cartridges if you’ve got them, though inside, it’s really just the same emulation software you can run on your PC.
NobodySpecial
My list of games sitting on my hard drive yet to be played is growing longer and longer. I’m so exhausted lately. Not physical exhaustion, but psychic exhaustion. My focus just isn’t there for the games I normally love or even the ones I’ve gotten recently, I just sit there. It’s doubly concerning because the doctor can’t find any physical reason for it.
Greg
@Martin:
Jon Ingold gave a talk called “Sparkling Dialogue” at AdventureX 2018 discussing the ways game dialogue typically fails and some ideas for making it better. (Here is a direct link to the video of the talk.)
Greg
@Major Major Major Major: You may find a lot of value in Emily Short’s case study article about the process of creating her game Bronze, starting from the original SpeedIF entry and using the puzzle chart to analyze and improve the storytelling structure.