In my opinion puzzle stages are by far the
most difficult levels to design in Super Mario Maker. Normal platforming stages are just so much
easier to playtest, to design and to get working than puzzles are. But playing a great designed puzzle stage
in Mario Maker is also one of the most rewarding experiences out there. So since Link finally entered the mushroom
kingdom about a month ago, a lot of new Mario Maker stages started to pop up. Basically, the arrival of link, caused a spike
in puzzle levels. But with so many new puzzle and zelda themed
stages being created, it also really raises a question. What does a good puzzle stage actually look
like, how do we design great puzzles, what are some traps to avoid and most of all, how
do we even approach designing a single puzzle in the first place. So today we are going to finally try and answer
those eternal questions, because today we are going to take a look at one possible approach
for designing puzzles in super mario maker. So are you ready? Let’s do this. Okay so first things first: There is not one
singular correct way to making great puzzle levels. There are many many different approaches that
can create amazing and creative puzzle levels, and some people might prefer different stages
than what we are going to discuss in this video. So don’t think about the stuff we are going
to take a look at as the absolute universal truth to puzzle level design, but more like
one out of many blueprints that can help to make better puzzle levels. Alright, so I haven’t been kidding when
I said that I think that designing good puzzles in Mario Maker is among the hardest things
in the game, so let’s start at the absolute very basics. Let’s start by taking a look at what a puzzle
actually is. So at it’s very very core a puzzle is simply
a problem, with a solution. Our job when trying to create great puzzles
is it to come up with interesting problems that require an interesting solution, more
on this in a second, but first let’s take a look at one of the most boring and basic
puzzles possible. Here the problem and the solution are visible
immediately. Our heroic plumber finds himself in this room
that is empty but for a spring and a door. The problem he faces is that he isn’t able
to reach the door because it is so high up that not even Mario’s magnificent and outer
world jumping skills are able to reach it. Luckily the solution is obvious immediately
as well. All that our puzzle solving plumber has to
do here, is to put the spring below the door, which is our solution. Hooray! So I think we can all agree that this puzzle
is horrible. Neither the problem, nor the solution are
interesting in the slightest, and how to solve it is immediately obvious. So why are we taking a look at this? Well, because one of the simplest, and in
my opinion easiest ways to come up with decent puzzles, is just to chain together several
super simple problems. Let’s take a look at this puzzle again,
but this time we added a new problem and a new solution. So this time the spring is not reachable,
oh no! We got a new problem! Luckily this new problem has a very simple
new solution. All that we have to do is to trigger this
skeleton platform, and suddenly the spring becomes reachable. So now we have two different simple problems
with simple solutions chained together to create a slightly more complex puzzle. Let’s go crazy with this concept and chain
tons of different simple puzzles together. Alright so this time, the spring isn’t reachable
because it is underground, the way to reach it is to use this skeleton platform, but we
can’t activate it because it is blocked by an evil red block. The way to get rid of the block is to trigger
this on off block, but we can’t trigger it ourselves. Luckily activating this blue platform, drops
a muncher on top of the bob omb which allows us to trigger the two state block, but we
can’t reach the platform because of the stubborn brick blocks blocking our progress. However we are able to get rid of those, by
triggering one of the p-switches, but we can’t reach those. Luckily this pipe spawns huge spike balls,
that would do all the triggering for us, but sadly the pipe is blocked. We can unblock the pipe by stepping onto the
snake blocks, but we can’t reach those because those are up too high. Luckily it is actually possible to reach them
by discovering that there is a hidden block hidden beneath them. But even if we do all of this we then aren’t
able to grab the spring, because the spring is now behind evil blue blocks, so we need
to trigger the on off block again. The way we do this is by dropping down this
blaster and… Hooray! We are finally able to grab the spring in
order to reach the exit door! All we did here was to chain together a series
of super simple puzzles, until we got a complex sequence of mini puzzles, that together create
a more complex puzzle. Okay so that is the first trick in our trick
box. Problem chaining. Now this puzzle is still by no means a great
puzzle. First all the different pieces of the solution
are really boring, second the puzzle basically solves itself just by messing around, and
third it lacks a clear theme and progression, but it is a neat little trick to make otherwise
simple puzzles a bit more complex. But what are actually interesting puzzles? Well, that’s hard to answer because the
options to create something interesting are basically endless, but let’s quickly take
a look at 7 different examples to build cool base puzzles, that we can escalate by chaining
simple problems into them. Okay so first let’s talk about the, in my
opinion coolest way to create puzzles. Learn something puzzles. So the idea for those puzzles is quite simple. There is a problem, and the player doesn’t
immediately understand the solution to the problem, because first they have to learn
something. So what is stuff that the player could need
to learn? Well one thing, are not so well known mario
maker mechanics, like that yoshi is able to swallow fire from a burner, and that our useful
fire swallowing dinosaur is able to carry this fire through doors. Another example for a game mechanic that a
lot of people aren’t familiar with is that stiletto boots cause destructive showaves
of air, that kill everything in their path. A classic example for such a learning progression
puzzle would be to have a setup like this where the p-switch only gets triggered once
the muncher dies. The only way to kill the muncher here is by
destructive shockwave. But when our hopefully entertained player
reaches this spot the first time she doesn’t even have a stiletto boot yet, so she probably
realizes that there is a problem, but the solution isn’t understandable right now. At a later point she gets the boot, but may
not yet be aware that these shockwaves exist. But even later she reaches a learning room,
that is designed in such a way that she understands the mighty power of dangerous shockwaves. Now she is able to add one and one together
and the spot from before basically tests her understanding of the newly learned mechanic. But, and this is where stuff gets really interesting,
we can’t only teach rules of the game in such a way. Actually we are able to create our own mechanics
and sets of rules that we teach as well. Here is a super simple example of how a stage
like this could look like. So here our lost hero of hyrule, finds himself
in the middle of one of bowsers many, many castles. To his right is a lethal lava pit, to his
left is a small room that at first glance appears to be a treasure chamber that grants
him a helpful special headgear. But little does our hero know, because this
room isn’t a real treasure chamber, actually it’s an evil teaching chamber in disguise. As soon as link jumps to collect his precious
reward, the on/off blocks have a change of mind and state, and the blue ones become solid. Oh no! So here’s the thing if link jumps in this
room normally, then nothing happens, only when he jumps at the place with the three
bowser statues the on off blocks change. That’s a rule of our hypothetical stage,
and that’s the mechanic we are currently trying to teach. Whenever there are three bowser statues, jumping
changes the blocks. Once link understood that he is able to leave
this room again, but not only this, now he also gathered the knowledge on how to cross
the lethal lava pit. All that he has to do is to always jump when
he sees the bowser statues. Hooray! Alright, so that are we have to learn something
problems, next let’s talk about notice something problems. So the core idea on how to solve a notice
something puzzle, is to, well, uhm … notice something. Here’s one of the most simple possible notice
something puzzles. So here the path forward is locked, and the
way to proceed is to trigger a p-switch. The solution to this puzzle is it to notice
that we are able to climb up here. So once again, that’s not really a puzzle
because it so unbelievably obvious that we are able to climb up here, which brings us
to our next concept. Noise. So what do I mean by noise. Well noise, is how much distraction from the
actual important parts of a puzzle is going on. It’s probably best explained by taking a
look at the exact same puzzle once again, but this time we add a ton of noise. So here our endless bomb carrying hero is
once again confronted with a locked door, and once again the solution is it to climb
up this vine. The only difference here is it that it is
not obvious that it is possible to climb up here, this time our hero actually has to notice
that there is a path up there. It’s the exact same puzzle, but there is
so much decoration and useless stuff going on, that we get distracted from the actual
solution. Basically, everything we added is noise. Decoration, enemies, useless items that look
as if they could be useful, this kind of stuff. So adding tons of noise to a puzzle is a really
easy way to make otherwise simple puzzles more complex. How much noise you like to add to your puzzles
is kind of a question of style, I usually prefer it if puzzles are really easy to read,
and if there is not much noise going on, beyond what is really necessary, but especially when
going for puzzles where it is required to notice something it makes a lot of sense to
add noise. Okay so next let’s talk about puzzles where
the solution is to escort something. Our new very best friends, the spikes are
actually a great example for such escort puzzles. So the basic idea here is it that the player
has to understand that he needs to escort something from A to B. This may be a bob omb, or a fireball spit
by bowser jr, or, well a fabulous spike ball. In our small example we actually have a second
puzzle chained into the first one. The amazing spike ball can’t reach its target
destination, the on off block, because of this evil blaster. Luckily Link is able to catapult this blaster
upwards like it weighs nothing. All that he has to do is one of his famous
downward thrusts, because, as it is known, downward thrusting gives Link an infinite
amount of mass. Hooray! Escort something puzzles are often really
cool as a central puzzle of a dungeon, maybe to obtain a boss key. The cool thing about them is that it is really
easy to split a stage up into, let’s say three different linear paths that all at the
end remove one obstacle on the path of whatever we are trying to escort, and the realization
that there is something to escort could be the final part of the dungeon, once all three
obstacles are cleared. Okay, so what’s our next example for interesting
puzzle ideas. Well, it’s remember something puzzles. Those are quickly explained, and they are
a staple of pretty much all Zelda games. It’s basically when the player encounters
something, and they realize that they will be able to use it at a later point in the
stage. It could be a code for a combination lock,
an area that can only be reached once an on off block got flipped, or, most commonly in
Zelda games something the player can only interact with once they got a certain item. In our tiny example link first passes an on
off block which he currently can’t reach. At a later point in the stage he finds an
ancient and fantastic headgear, again, and now he has to remember that there was an on
off block that was unreachable previously. Super simple stuff. For more simple stuff let’s talk about sequence
something puzzles. The idea here is that certain thing have to
get sequenced in the right order, in order to solve the puzzle. Here’s our example. At the bottom are three snake blocks, each
of those snake formed blocks travels upwards once touched, and then drops the item, that
is displayed below them, into the spot at the top. If link wants to save his probably kidnapped
princess, he needs to understand the correct sequence in which the items need to drop down
so that the on off block gets activated. Luckily the solution is actually surprisingly
simple here. It’s first the wonderful spike ball, followed
by the bob omb, and finished with the muncher, so that the brave bob omb is able to go boom
right above the block. Hooray! So sequence puzzles are probably a good spot
to talk about another aspect of puzzle design that is sometimes overlooked. A good puzzle is hard to figure out, but,
and that’s the key, easy to execute once understood. I often run into levels that feature really
cool puzzles on paper, but executing the correct solution is really difficult or tedious. The problem with such puzzles is the following. So when playing a normal Mario stage the fun
is in jumping around, maybe playing as fast as possible, or as safe as possible or whatever,
but the fun comes from actually playing through the different challenges, the fun comes from
the execution. Puzzles are different. The fun in puzzles is figuring them out, not
executing the solution. So once a puzzle is solved it basically loses
all it’s replay value. We can’t solve a puzzle in a better way,
or faster or more careful the next time we solve it. Once we figured it out, it just becomes a
tedious obstacle to do it again. So if it is really difficult to execute the
correct solution, then the stage gets really tedious to re-play if the player dies after
that puzzle. So it’s obviously not always possible to
build puzzles in a perfect way, where the solution can be executed within seconds in
mario maker, but whenever it is possible to make inputting the solution less tedious I
think it’s a good idea to do so, and if it is absolutely not possible it’s always
a good idea to throw a checkpoint after such a puzzle. Alright so next let’s talk about puzzles
that test spatial awareness. So it’s kind of hard to scribble together
a good example for such a puzzle in mario maker, without building a huge stage around
it, but the general idea here is it to test the players understanding of how several parts
of the stage fit together. So, just as a quick example, let’s say we
have this area at one point of the stage. Here we can clearly see that there are on/off
blocks at the end of a couple of conveyor belts. Now the level progresses, stuff happens, link
may find some awesome ancient headgear, time passes and suddenly our hero finds himself
in this spot. So this spot is just the other side of the
area we saw previously. So if link explored the dungeon mindfully,
then he will probably realize that this is the spot that is connected to the on off blocks
from before, and therefore he will throw one of his endless bombs onto the conveyor belts,
which, triggers the on off blocks that are currently out of sight. Cool, so finally, let’s talk about not a
puzzle puzzles. So what in all fuzzies names are not a puzzle
puzzles. Well those are puzzles that actually solve
itself but feel as if they were a puzzle. Think of those as problems that a player realizes,
but that actually don’t require any thinking on the players part to get solved. Maybe there is a wall blocking progress, but
after a while our arrow shooting not a plumber reaches a certain spot and suddenly the wall
implodes and the path forward opens up. There was a problem that felt like it needed
a solution, while in truth it was just normal part of the progression through the stage. Here’s another example. Let’s say somewhere in the stage we have
this lava pit hidden. The player probably realizes that there has
to be a way to reach the other side, and might even try a couple of different things, before
deciding to move on. After awhile she discovers this on off block,
triggers it, and, wow, the next time we enter this area a bridge magically builds itself. That’s more like a cool moment that feels
like a puzzle, than an actual puzzle, but including stuff like this into a long puzzle
stage is, at least in my opinion, often a good idea. Solving difficult puzzle after difficult puzzle
sometimes becomes a bit exhausting, but having cool, and maybe even cinematic puzzles that
solve themselves every once in a while gives a bit of a breathing room in between all the
actual hard and difficult thinking work. Okay, so those are seven ways to build interesting
puzzles. Those are by no means all the possible ways
to build puzzles, we could also build puzzles around exploration, or context, or you know
math if we really wanted to. Those are just a couple of ideas for interesting
puzzles that are easy to scribble together in mario maker. So finally, how do we take all those different
ideas and turn them into an actual good puzzle stage. Well, the idea here is to problem chain such
ideas together like we discussed in the beginning of the video. Maybe, there is a central puzzle, that requires
us to shoot three arrows in the correct sequence, but also requires a lot of spatial awareness
to understand. Maybe we build a puzzle around escorting a
bob omb, but in order to solve it we have to learn something first and in the end the
bob omb solves a not a puzzle puzzle. Or maybe there is a small series of simple
a does b puzzles, but we have to notice something before we are able to start the sequence of
puzzles. You probably get the idea. Building small problem chains out of interesting
problems is one way to end up with really cool puzzles, and it is how I usually approach
designing puzzles. For anyone who is interested in how such a
stage looks like, I built a small puzzle dungeon around those ideas. The stage isn’t perfect sadly, it ended
up being a tiny bit too confusing for my liking, getting puzzle stages right is really difficult,
but it still should still give you an idea on how a level designed around this idea looks
like. The ID is in the description. Awesome, so here we have it. A small guide on a possible approach for designing
puzzles in mario maker. I hope you enjoyed this little video, if you
enjoyed it don’t forget to leave me a thumbs up and maybe you feel especially puzzled today
and want to hit the subscribe button as well. The next couple of videos are probably going
to take a bit longer than usual, since I’m currently really really busy figuring out
a couple of extraordinary difficult puzzles in real life, but I hope, that you have a
wonderful day, and to see you soon. Goodbye!
Nice to see a Ceave video on this sub! All these things also apply to general puzzle design as well.