What's so appealing about puzzles?

For level designers, at least, puzzles are a great tool you can use to give players a means of acting on your game's narrative with intent. At least, that's what Ubisoft's Jolie Menzel posited at GDC 2017 in her great talk on the art of using puzzles in game levels.

Her talk zeroed in on what exactly a puzzle is in the level design space, and explored techniques to create and refine puzzles that will elevate the player's experience in your level. She also shared some useful techniques you can use to evaluate and troubleshoot puzzles, hopefully avoiding potential pitfalls and frustrations for your players.

Menzel's talk was both fun and informative, so make time to go back and watch it now completely free via the official GDC YouTube channel!

About the GDC Vault

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its accompanying YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.

Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC or VRDC already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.

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