How to Balance Puzzle Difficulty in Mystery Games

A preview for paid subscribers from the upcoming mystery design book.

Happy Mystery Monday!

I had a lot going on this week and it culminated in me getting sick, so today will be a quick post for paid subscribers: balancing puzzle difficulty in mystery games.

Below is a preview from my upcoming book on mystery game design, where I break this topic down in detail.

In this preview, you will learn:

• Why balancing puzzle difficulty is important

• The consequences of failing to balance puzzle difficulty

• How to work around excessively hard puzzles

• How to fix excessively hard puzzles

Enjoy!

How to Balance Puzzle Difficulty in Mystery Games

One of the most important aspects of making your mystery game is ensuring that the puzzles are neither too easy nor too hard to solve.

When possible, you should err on the side of making them too easy.

That's because, by definition, a puzzle that is too easy is also a puzzle that is both solvable and fair.

Puzzles that are too hard may end up in the "unsolvable" category, or the "unfair" category, or both.

It is also much more preferable to have a mystery that leaves the player wanting more, than a mystery that players want to stop thinking about.

All video games must balance their difficulty, but it is especially important for mystery games to get this balance right.

Someone playing a platformer might find it difficult to leap across a large gap, but with enough practice (unless they are a games journalist!) they will eventually make the jump.

On the other hand, that same person may not be able to make the leap in logic necessary to solve your puzzle, no matter how much time is spent thinking about it.

If the player can visually see the obstacle — as well as their progress — they are more inclined to persist in overcoming it.

If a player is fighting a really hard boss, and the boss's hitpoints go down lower and lower after each attempt, the player is motivated to keep trying.

But when a puzzle stumps a player, with zero visual indication of progress or the obstacle, the player will quickly get tired of trying.

And just like Battler Ushiromiya, the player will cry out "It's useless, it's all useless!" and close the game forever.

A puzzle that is too easy will feel boring, and maybe even disappointing.

But a puzzle that is too hard will feel frustrating, and that's much worse.

Players expect a challenge, but it has to be a fair challenge.

That's why it's so hard to get right.