How Indiana Jones and the Great Circle’s Puzzles Balance Difficulty

-


Puzzles aren’t everything in a video game, but in a game based on the iconic character of Indiana Jones, they need to fill a prominent role and they need to be done well. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle developer MachineGames has not only incorporated plenty of puzzles into the game but has also ensured its puzzles will frequently surprise players if they wish to experience Indiana Jones and the Great Circle‘s larger world.




Game Rant recently had the opportunity to interview Indiana Jones and the Great Circle design director Jens Andersson about the game’s puzzles and how they offer a balance of easier and more challenging puzzles. While Andersson made it clear that puzzles aren’t one of the core focuses of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, he did make it clear they would be a highlight.

indiana jones preserving legendary performances

Related

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Shows How Video Games Can Preserve Legendary Theatrical Performances

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle stars a youthful Harrison Ford, which could mean gaming could help preserve a franchise’s legacy.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle’s Puzzles Are a Mixed Bag of Difficulties

Indiana Jones doesn’t necessarily spend a significant amount of time solving puzzles in the movies, but it’s still an iconic part of each story that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle would be remiss to exclude it. Puzzles are one area where the developer had to flex its creative muscles, as many of the puzzles shown in the movie are often a bit too revealing and wouldn’t translate into a video game very well. When asked about how MachineGames went about designing Indiana Jones and the Great Circle‘s puzzles, Andersson replied,


When you look at those puzzles in the movie, X marks the spot on the floor. That’s not a great video game puzzle necessarily.

When incorporating puzzles into any game, developers must maintain a healthy balance of difficulty with them to help prevent players from seeing each puzzle as an irritating roadblock. Arguably, the difficulty of a game’s puzzles should frequently surprise players who might have initially expected to solve each one with ease, as that characteristic can simultaneously increase their entertainment value. However, it’s also important that not every puzzle is so challenging that players might be unable to progress through the game if they can’t solve them. As Andersson continued,


We knew we wanted puzzles to be a big component of the game, and what we ended up with was a wide variety of puzzles, like big puzzles along the golden path that you need to solve. With these, we have a really robust hint system and a very epic feel to it in some ways. But those are not going to be the hardest puzzles in the game, because we need to make sure players will get through them without getting stuck. Even though you can ask for hints, we can still push it further than most games can.

So, the puzzles directly involved in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle‘s story are much easier for players to solve, which should appeal to casual players who are in it for the story more than anything else. However, not all of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle‘s puzzles are this simple. Should players desire to leave the beaten path every so often to explore a bit more freely, they will likely encounter much more challenging puzzles along the way. Regarding the game’s more challenging puzzles, Andersson stated:


If you keep playing, you will be able to 100% the game. Go back and find everything, but it’s going to be hard to find everything and there’s going to be hard puzzles that prevent you from getting that adventure book. There’s some hand holding, but for the harder stuff, you have to work for it.

Puzzles may not be the most important part of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle‘s gameplay, but they are certainly there to ensure players have something different to do between their main objectives. Furthermore, it’s fortunate that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle‘s puzzles provide different levels of difficulty based on their relevance to the main story, as that ultimately increases their appeal to a variety of playstyles.

Bir yanıt yazın