"Transforming" the Puzzle Game

Thinking about puzzle design in Newt!

In Newt!, exploration and puzzle-solving go hand-in-hand. As the player traverses the area searching for clues about the ancient civilization, they will be faced with interesting new puzzles. These puzzles are used to emphasize the narrative, encourage the player to explore, and push the player to think about the game’s mechanics in different ways.

In order to design these puzzles, our team first had to decide what will be possible in the game, including character’s unique abilities and the capabilities of the environment. Since Newt! is about exploring a secret civilization, we thought environmental puzzles with unpredictable problems would work well with the story. The variety of mechanics available allowed us to create intriguing puzzles for the player. We had to be careful, however, not to add too many mechanics into the game; this could lead to confused players and puzzles that are too difficult or time-consuming.

When we are brainstorming for a puzzle, we look at the puzzles that come before and after it. What mechanics are at play in those puzzles? How can we use the same mechanic but in a new and innovative way? How can we carry ideas from one puzzle to the next? Our goal is not to trick the player but to make them think of different ways of combining mechanics to solve the puzzles. There shouldn’t be many puzzles in a row that all use the same combination of mechanics, as this can become repetitive and boring. However, we still want to use some of the mechanics in the same way as before; a clever introduction to a mechanic will allow the player the remember it later in the game, when it may be combined with other mechanics.

For example, in one of the cave puzzles, we introduce Newt’s ability to transform into a large boulder that can fill a hole. Elena can then jump onto Newt to get over this hole and receive the newt statue. Later, in the ruins, Newt becomes a large boulder to fill a hole again. However, this time he is catching a box falling from the ceiling. Elena can then push this box where she needs it to go. While we used the same idea twice (Newt turning into a boulder), the combination of game mechanics was different. The player was granted affordance the first time and presumably knew what to do the next time they saw a boulder and a hole.

Designing puzzles can be tricky, but brainstorming the different combinations of mechanics and thinking about how to incorporate the narrative helped our team develop the puzzles for Newt!. We hope you enjoy the game and our unique puzzles.

Kali Gardner

Project Lead