Baron Wittard Nemesis of Ragnarok Developer Diary – Part 1 — Part 2
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‘Puzzles are the lifeblood of an adventure game’ so someone said, at some time or another. Unfortunately, I do not remember whom or even where, or even when! Personally, I think that quote is something of an overstatement however, especially when taken literally because adventure games can and do contain more than puzzles. However, it does remind us that the puzzles are nonetheless important to an adventure game, even if they are not all important. And puzzles are something that our game Baron Wittard has in abundance. Lots of puzzles: all shapes, sizes, colours, flavours and difficulties. Wittard features some short and self-contained brain teaser puzzles, it features some large and complex machinery to operate and decipher, and it features all manner of cryptic clues to decode and interpret. But just as the puzzles form a large part of what makes the game so challenging and enticing for the gamer, they also make the development process a challenge and a puzzle for the developer. But unfortunately for the developer, it is a puzzle for which there is no walkthrough. In creating the puzzles for Baron Wittard, we had to decide not only what kind of puzzles we wanted to create, but how they were to be presented to the gamer, whether or not there should be one or another type of clue available for them, whether or not the difficulty was appropriate. And how is a developer to respond when its beta-testers are divided into two groups over a dispute about the difficulty of a single puzzle, one group thinking it is far too difficult and another thinking that it is far too easy? It is something of a puzzle indeed, and I would like to share with you a part of the solution that we found for creating the puzzles for Baron Wittard. Creating Puzzles and Learning from the Puzzle Masters I mentioned in the previous entry of our development diary that the development of Baron Wittard was inspired by both the Shivers and Myst series. The style of these two games is present in Baron Wittard insofar as it allows the player to explore the deepest and darkness recesses of the game world. The gamer is, in fact, from the outset of the game, at liberty to explore as much of the game world as his or her puzzle solving skills will allow. However, it is in the area of puzzles that I neglected in our previous diary to mention a third game series that has had a significant impact on Baron Wittard. That series is the 7th Guest series, and it consists of two famous games: The 7th Guest and its sequel the 11th Hour. These games were particularly notable for their difficult and brain-teaser style puzzles, some of which I remember playing for hours. There was something about the style of the puzzles in all three of these game series that we loved and that we wanted to take with us in creating Baron Wittard. For this reason, Baron Wittard represents something of a blend between all these puzzle styles, and I am pleased with the results. We tried to take the best things about the puzzles in all three games and merge them together into a coherent whole. Solving them too can feel very satisfying for the gamer, and I have had beta testers frequently mail me to mention the sense of achievement that they felt after completing some difficult puzzle in the game, or after discovering how to enter some new region of the Utopia. It has been our intention to inspire the player with a feel-good factor and a sense of anticipation when completing the puzzles, and there is a range of ways in which this was achieved. Completing some puzzles will unlock a new region of the Utopia, ripe for exploration and interaction. For example, we have one puzzle in which the gamer must operate the controls to a device in order to create an opening or pathway to a new and second region of the Utopia that has been completely inaccessible since its opening. On the other hand, we have puzzles which, when solved, do not open new regions but in some way change the existing regions or unravel a new secret or plot line. Common to all these puzzles, however, is integration with the game environment: all puzzles interact in some way with the game world. Completing them makes sense and offers the game a feeling of accomplishment and progress. Puzzle Types and Puzzle Difficulty I have received emails from some gamers who are very curious about and interested in what the puzzles are like in Baron Wittard. What kinds of puzzles are they? Are they easy or difficult? Most of these gamers have requested that I create for them some difficult puzzles, since they felt disappointed that many contemporary adventure games were too easy for them. I would like to say something in answer to both of these questions. To me, adventure games have generally featured three kinds of puzzles: inventory-based puzzles, object manipulation puzzles, and brain teaser puzzles. These terms are not necessarily industry standard or established terms. I use them only for the purposes of illustration. The inventory-based puzzles are the kind in which the main character maintains an inventory of collected items and uses those items in combination with the game environment to make progress in the game. These include puzzles such as: Use key on door, use hammer on nail, and use custard pie with face. Many gamers might be pleased to hear that Baron Wittard does not contain any of these kinds of puzzles; it was our decision from the outset to avoid inventory-based puzzles. Not because we disliked them per se, but because we wanted to focus on the other two kinds and to see what interesting results we could produce without relying on an inventory. The second kind is the object manipulation style, which is frequently found in the Myst series, and also occurs frequently in Baron Wittard. These puzzles do not require the player to collect items, but require the player to decipher how ancient machines work; how to operate strange and alien devices, and how to interpret and read diagrams or journals so as to get things done. For example, after journeying their way through part of the Utopia, players will finally reach the roof area where they will need to determine how to operate a rotating bridge. The point of this will be to rotate the bridge so as to cross to the other side and explore what dangers wait there. The third kind of puzzle that we have in Baron Wittard is the 7th Guest-style Brain Teasers, which are usually classic or modern logic-puzzles. The beauty of these puzzles is that they are self-contained, such as the famous eight queens puzzle in which the gamer must fit eight queens onto a chess board, and no two pieces can be in the same column, row or diagonal. With these, the player encounters the puzzle, decides what needs to be done, and the challenge is in reaching the correct solution. Players already have everything with them that they need to solve the puzzle: they have minds, and the determination to succeed. Making Puzzles Though some of the puzzles that are used in Baron Wittard are classic puzzles, we had to make sure the graphic design of every puzzle was unique. And the puzzles also had to blend in with the environment. For some puzzles this was quite easy, but other puzzles posed more of a challenge. For each puzzle we picked a theme that was suitable for the location in which the puzzle was placed. Some puzzles had to blend with the building’s electrical system, others were supposed to be door locks, and others had different purposes. After deciding where each puzzle would be placed, we searched for reference pictures for inspiration. After designing the graphics and coding the puzzle we started to look for sounds to complete the final design. Getting the sounds just right was a difficult process, but very important. The sounds of sliding parts and buzzing electricity made the puzzles really come to life. In short, Baron Wittard contains what many beta testers have called a charming blend of object manipulation and brain-teasing, and it is a blend of which I am proud. As to the difficulty of this blend, this no doubt varies from gamer to gamer. But I think those gamers who have emailed me for a challenge will not be disappointed with what I have created for them. I hope you have enjoyed this second entry of the developer diary. The next and final entry focuses on the exploration involved in playing Baron Wittard.
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