📖 Puzzle Aspects

A puzzle is fundamentally made up of a device, puzzle piece mechanics and qualities, and theme

When discussing puzzle design we need a consistent way to talk about the aspects of a puzzle. We know a puzzle has pieces with various qualities. We know that a player will use various mechanics to solve a puzzle. We know there's a theme, or story involved. And we kind of know that there are different types of puzzles.

What we want to do is find a way to classify puzzles, and catalog their pieces. To this end we'll define the fundamental aspects of a puzzle.

A puzzle is comprised of the following aspects:

• Device: The core ruleset of a puzzle
• Puzzle Pieces: The parts of the puzzle the player interacts with, with their qualities and mechanics
• Theme: A unifying concept that defines the atmosphere, visuals, and story