There are a couple of slight resonances with two other types of puzzles/games. First, a really well-designed crossword puzzle can toss you only a few easy answers, then lead you along with some "hints" in the form of partial letter-intersections and number-of-spaces guides. In the best cases, you will end up coming up with answers you never even knew. Second, the New York Times Spelling Bee has some puzzles that I have to step away from from time to time. Sometimes I even wake up with a couple of fresh solutions, and sometimes I wake up having misremembered an available letter. I think that the partial availability of solutions, coupled with the longer-term uncertainty, is the key to developing obsession (a less scary word for addiction these days) in the player.
Yes! I often thought about crosswords' "back into an answer" dynamic while playing, particularly because there are a couple cases in BP where I came to the right conclusion the wrong way around.
At one point, I was trying to find the combination for a safe in a room with a large drawing of a character in his formal best. Knowing that all of the safe combinations were also in the form of calendar dates, I thought "well, it looks like he's wearing his Easter best, so maybe one of the days when Easter could fall?" And low and behold, a date in April ended up opening the safe -- only for me then to spend time wondering if that was how I was expected to solve the puzzle, and eventually learn that it was just a total coincidence that I stumbled upon the right answer in this backwards fashion.
I'm still pretty early in the game due to a lack of free time, but had a situation at work the other day where I hadn't even played in several days and then suddenly a solution popped into my head. I almost shouted out "PLANET!" in the middle of a meeting as I realized an answer to one of those painting puzzles that's so obvious now in hindsight I can't believe it took me that long.
I do appreciate the redundant clues built in to the game. Sure, sometimes it may just confirm an answer I already knew, but since you're mostly not guaranteed to get rooms (or notice things in them) in the same order as other players it's a good system that has prevented me from caving in to the pressure to look things up online.
Thanks for write-up. Game resonates for me with Outer Wilds where each run I would crack a little bit of the wider puzzle and better understand the world. Similarly feeling of the leads getting thin at the end as I accumulate knowledge but it seems the major delta is the lack of randomness lets you drive to a thrilling conclusion with certainty in case of OW.
I totally understand, and yeah, that’s definitely a big difference in the ending. On the other hand, I’m not even sure where the ending to BP is — reaching Room 46 and getting the credits to roll was really just the beginning of the bigger mysteries. And every time I think I’m close to the final mysteries, I see a snippet of online discussion about a level of mysteries that I hadn’t even been aware of.
There are a couple of slight resonances with two other types of puzzles/games. First, a really well-designed crossword puzzle can toss you only a few easy answers, then lead you along with some "hints" in the form of partial letter-intersections and number-of-spaces guides. In the best cases, you will end up coming up with answers you never even knew. Second, the New York Times Spelling Bee has some puzzles that I have to step away from from time to time. Sometimes I even wake up with a couple of fresh solutions, and sometimes I wake up having misremembered an available letter. I think that the partial availability of solutions, coupled with the longer-term uncertainty, is the key to developing obsession (a less scary word for addiction these days) in the player.
Yes! I often thought about crosswords' "back into an answer" dynamic while playing, particularly because there are a couple cases in BP where I came to the right conclusion the wrong way around.
At one point, I was trying to find the combination for a safe in a room with a large drawing of a character in his formal best. Knowing that all of the safe combinations were also in the form of calendar dates, I thought "well, it looks like he's wearing his Easter best, so maybe one of the days when Easter could fall?" And low and behold, a date in April ended up opening the safe -- only for me then to spend time wondering if that was how I was expected to solve the puzzle, and eventually learn that it was just a total coincidence that I stumbled upon the right answer in this backwards fashion.
I'm still pretty early in the game due to a lack of free time, but had a situation at work the other day where I hadn't even played in several days and then suddenly a solution popped into my head. I almost shouted out "PLANET!" in the middle of a meeting as I realized an answer to one of those painting puzzles that's so obvious now in hindsight I can't believe it took me that long.
I do appreciate the redundant clues built in to the game. Sure, sometimes it may just confirm an answer I already knew, but since you're mostly not guaranteed to get rooms (or notice things in them) in the same order as other players it's a good system that has prevented me from caving in to the pressure to look things up online.
Thanks for write-up. Game resonates for me with Outer Wilds where each run I would crack a little bit of the wider puzzle and better understand the world. Similarly feeling of the leads getting thin at the end as I accumulate knowledge but it seems the major delta is the lack of randomness lets you drive to a thrilling conclusion with certainty in case of OW.
I totally understand, and yeah, that’s definitely a big difference in the ending. On the other hand, I’m not even sure where the ending to BP is — reaching Room 46 and getting the credits to roll was really just the beginning of the bigger mysteries. And every time I think I’m close to the final mysteries, I see a snippet of online discussion about a level of mysteries that I hadn’t even been aware of.
Ooh... now you're making me doubly intrigued. Definitely gonna pick this up.