Kotaku: Puzzle Games

Sunday Timewaster: the irRegular Game of Life

Maggie Greene — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 12:30:00 MST

The irRegular Game of Life is a weird but fun little game (by irRegular Games) based on mathematician John Horton Conway's 'Game of Life' theory. In this iteration, you are given puzzles to solve and must set the little cells into motion to meet the goals of each level. It's surprisingly hypnotic at times — after getting past the initial introductory levels, you watch the cells shuffle back and forth, creating a variety of patterns and interacting with each other. There's also a sandbox mode and some other features; the regular puzzle mode was plenty fun for me.

The irRegular Game of Life [Kongregate via IndieGames]

Sunday Timewaster: HDOS Databank request 01

Maggie Greene — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 13:30:00 MDT

This is a fun little remake (more or less) of the puzzle mode of Tetris Attack; you have a limited number of moves to swap blocks and clear the whole board. While the early levels are pretty easy, some of the later stages get pretty complicated — all in all, not a bad little browser-based timewaster to kill some time on a Sunday.

HDOS Databank request 01 [Game Reclaim via IndieGames] [Update: mirror at Kongregate]

Saturday Timewaster: Aether

Maggie Greene — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 14:00:00 MDT

We're having a slow weekend here at Kotaku: Owen is off, and I'm holed up in bed trying to stave off the flu; Aether made a nice respite from my headache and general feelings of 'blah.' It's a weird little game — a little abstract and fuzzy around the edges, you control a little guy and his pet who can fly through the air with the greatest of ease, using said pet's tongue as a grappling hook/trapeze .... I actually quite enjoyed zipping through space from planet to planet, trying to solve puzzles and bring the color back to unhappy people (the core of an unhappy planet seen above). It's not the most intuitive game ever — it did take me some time to figure out how to successfully get off the ground and into the atmosphere - and I broke out the mouse because the trackpad wasn't cutting it. Still, it's pretty and soothing (and short) — good for a bit of time on a Saturday afternoon.

Aether [Armor Games via IndieGames]

Holiday Timewaster: Hexiom Connect

Maggie Greene — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 15:00:00 MDT

Hexiom Connect is a pretty intuitive browser-based puzzle game; you have to rearrange hexagons on the board so that all the colored lines are connected. There are 40 levels (and even a colorblind option, so if you can't tell the difference between red and green, never fear), so I've spent quite a chunk of time this morning clicking, clicking, clicking the minutes away.

Hexiom Connect [Kongregate via IndieGames]

Whither Monkey Island: 'Puzzles Are For Geezers'?

Maggie Greene — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 14:40:00 MDT

Are the ridiculous, wild goose chase puzzles of classic adventure games obsolete? Michael Abbott at the Brainy Gamer grudgingly says they may be — "A revealing slap in the face awaits the - shall we say "veteran" - gamer who hands an old adventure game to a young gamer with a hearty recommendation and an assurance of blissful gaming in store." The response is likely to be 'Is this supposed to be fun?' Now, I know plenty of people who still remember fondly games like Monkey Island and other classic adventure games, including their oftentimes bizarre and lengthy puzzles, but:

Despite my fondness for the adventure games of yore, it appears the days of puzzles in narrative games have come and gone. Puzzles - especially the serial unlocking variety found in the old LucasArts games - seem to have become a relic of a bygone era. Where they once provided a necessary ludic element to a clever and often complex narrative - designed to add challenge and force the player to earn his progress through the story - few modern players have the patience for such challenges anymore ....

Combat has replaced puzzles as the progress-impeding mechanic du jour for modern gamers, and fast-paced action, quick reflexes, and gamepad dexterity are the premium skills. To be sure, games like SOCOM and Call of Duty also require strategic thinking, and online multiplayer often requires fine tactical thinking and cooperation. But puzzles - the kind you study for awhile, scratch your head about, and maybe even mull over in your sleep - have largely disappeared from narrative games.

Is there a place for puzzles of the old school stripe in current games? Abbott suggests considering the purpose of such puzzles in narrative-driven games while re-thinking their implementation; it's a difficult puzzle, to be sure, but one whose dividends could pay off in future gameplay.

Puzzles are for geezers [Brainy Gamer]

PopCap on Unicorns, Casual Market, and Making Games

Maggie Greene — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 14:30:52 MST

Jason Kapalka, co—founder and Chief Creative Officer of PopCap Games, sat down with Alec Meer to chat about a whole host of issues — unicorns, match three games, and the casual market. It's an interesting interview that touches on a number of issues surrounding the casual market: who's playing these games? Is there a market outside the aggressively casual? And is PopCap returning 'credibility' to puzzle games?

As far as we're concerned, puzzle games never lost any credibility. I think the resurgence you're seeing now with things like the Wii and casual games in general is really just the natural state of things... as with computers and the internet, their early phases were dominated by geeky hardcore early-adopter types, but later they became much more mass market and universal in their use and acceptance. Why shouldn't video games be the same way? It makes no sense for them to remain a ghetto exclusively for twenty-something males who like shooting imaginary aliens.

Zing! It's a great little interview and well worth a read through if you've got the time.

PopCap on Casual, Peggle & Valve [Rock, Paper, Shotgun]

Holiday Weekend Timewaster: Guest House

Maggie Greene — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 12:00:00 MST

While browsing my feeds during the inevitable mid-holiday news slump, I was pointed to some fascinating little Japanese point-and-click (or 'point-and-kick ass,' as Leigh Alexander described them over at Sexy Videogameland) puzzlers, lumped under the heading of 'room escape games.' Guest House is the latest in the series, and I spent quite a while clicking my way through all the frustrating (but not too sadistic) puzzles. It's a good way to spend a few hours on a lazy weekend. Terminal House [via Sexy Videogameland]

Hot Flashes: Chain Factor

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 14:40:00 MST

With this year's list of stellar releases, you shouldn't be wanting for games to play, but if you've found yourself dead broke or simply stuck in your cubicle with nothing to do today, direct thy browser to Chain Factor, the best beta puzzle game I've played all day. The concept—and art direction—is brilliantly simple. Drop a disc onto the playfield and, if the number of discs in that column or row matches the digit of a colored disc, it will disappear. If it weren't for Desktop Tower Defense, Chain Factor may have taken the prize for best Hot Flash game of the year. At the very least, it will probably walk away with the Hot Flashes Award For Musical Achievement.

Chain Factor

Timewaster(s) of the Day: Grow Games

Maggie Greene — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 13:00:35 MDT

Not that I don't have enough to do setting up in a new city, but I've been cheerfully clicking away at the various Grow Games over at Eyemaze all morning - the games are ridiculously cute, but not in an irritating way, and wonderfully simple and frustratingly complex at the same time. You are given a handful of panels, and you have to select which order to click them in - they will grow or change in relation to/with each other, and the point is to grow each panel to its max. The games are reminiscent of a lot of the game design theory of Danc over at Lost Garden, though they lack the feedback he so frequently discusses. Still, a great waste of half an hour ... or an hour ... or a few hours .... [via Rock, Paper, Shotgun]

"Casual" Gamers More Hardcore Than Previously Thought

egauger — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 19:40:18 MDT

Gamasutra reports that according to a recent study, the elusive "casual gamer" is not as flighty a beast as previously thought:

A new report released by Macrovision Corporation, which operates the Trymedia Network for the digital distribution of PC games, reveals that, according to a recent worldwide survey, 37 percent of those who use casual games play nine or more two-hour 'sessions' each week.

This contrasts with assumptions that these mostly female, mostly older gamers were getting in a game of Solitaire or two during the gridlocked part of their morning commute and then returning to their lives as upstanding citizens.

"Just one more game," mutters Granny "Nubk1lla" Grace, gritting her dentures in front of the Xbox. Her wide-eyed grandchildren huddle in a far corner, clutching each other and praying mom and dad will return from vacation sooner than later, and then maybe they'll get something to eat and someone will check on the baby, who hasn't cried in an awful long time... Eliza gauger

Study: 'Casual' Players Exhibit Heavy Game Usage