“When you read the reviews, it’s funny,” he said. “Because so many of them are at opposite ends of the spectrum.” He references two critical responses to the game that he read following its release one described the puzzles as “intricate, devious, and really difficult,” while the other noted that they “weren’t tough enough.” Both were positive reviews. As Miller discovered from the critical response to the game, it’s difficult to please everyone. In addition to ensuring that different elements of the game are given equal focus, the team at Cyan Worlds spent plenty of time fine-tuning the difficulty of the puzzles included in Obduction to satisfy all corners of their audience.
I think our approach is more balanced - not that there’s a right and wrong, that’s just what we like to do.” Middle Ground He’s got some story in the environment, but he really likes to emphasize the puzzles. I think Jonathan Blow really likes the puzzle side, so perhaps the environment and the story are not his big concerns. “Many people are OK with emphasizing the puzzle end of things,” he explained. “Like The Witness, for example. This sense of balance between the three tenets of story, environments, and puzzles has been developed over the course of three decades since Cyan Worlds was established in 1987. However, Miller acknowledged that other approaches can be just as successful. All those things fight with each other in this crazy way.” “And that has to fit with the fiction - the puzzles that we’re trying to put in your way, to impede you and slow you down a bit. “You sit down and you try and make the aspects of this world fit together well all the beautiful places that we build have to fit with the storyline that we’re developing at the same time,” he added. “All those things have to balance,” Miller said. “I really like putting the puzzles in,” Miller said. “But there’s so much tugging.”Īnyone who has played Myst or Riven will go into Obduction expecting an experience that offers amazing, otherworldly environments to explore, and a plot with a little more depth than your average video game narrative.
However, they’re not the sole component of the games that the studio has produced. Whether we’re talking Myst, Obduction, or any game in between, puzzles are what players have come to expect from Cyan Worlds.
And even after 20 years in the business, there are always going to be imperfections. Whether you realize it or not, hours of pain-staking work has been done to make sure that this is the case. If you truly allow yourself to settle into that setting, and be aware of all the things happening around you, then you’ll have everything that you need to solve the puzzles. He’s got some story in the environment, but he really likes to emphasize the puzzles.Īccording to Myst co-creator and Obduction lead designer Rand Miller, Puzzle games not only need clever puzzles, but a engaging world for those puzzles to live.
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