Re: Announcing: Fyleet, Crobe, Sangraal

[pmt6jrp@gps.leeds.ac.uk (J R Partington)]

In article <uoczoyy3bq9.fsf@evelake.pdl.cs.cmu.edu> Nat Lanza <magus@cs.cmu.edu> writes:

>As far as I'm concerned, save restrictions are a game author's way of
>saying "Hi, I'd like to make my game harder, but I didn't want to have
>to think up better puzzles, so instead I'm going to saddle you with
>annoying restrictions."

No, you've missed the point. The sort of puzzle that we have in mind
is one where there is a unique route through a maze, which is told to
you in a cryptic message by a character in the game (and different
players of the game will be given different routes and hence different
cryptic messages). 

Once you have the message you need to demonstrate that you know what
it means by rushing through the maze. If instead you save the game and
later find the correct route by trial and error, then you have not
solved the puzzle.

Many variations on this theme are possible, of course.

Saving and restoring is such an artificial thing to do anyway (when did
you last manage it in real life?) that maybe it should be banned in
all games 8-)

JRP

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In "Curse of the Mystic Spy of Bradford," you escape the giant by
climbing a tree but don't forget to burn the mushroom.