I love Telltale games because when you get stuck the game will encourage you in the right direction. I agree with you that subtle hints and incidental dialog are the best way to help with that stuff. You could create some sort of meta karma points system to encourage people to participate, or just rely on the kindness of strangers. This would provide value to the developer as well, because they'd have discrete details about how their users are challenged by puzzles and know exactly where they messed up. Considering that most people get stuck in similar places, it would most likely lead to higher quality answers in the hardest puzzles. In fact based on the persons save file state, you could determine if another person has already submitted a hint request and compound the response.
If the game save files were structured in a simple way, users could even load up the stuck person's game and give them a response with appropriate hints or screenshots. Have a user submit a hint request ticket, volunteers or moderators choose to answer in a way that helps the user without giving away everything. Maybe create a simple GUI to integrate with a moderated adventure gaming IRC or forum community. Machinarium's instructions mini-game looked interesting (didn't actually play it), but it looked like it gave away the entire solution when the player just needed a hint.Īnother possible solution I think would be interesting would be crowd sourcing the hints. Burying these types of features in a UI with possible action cooldowns could prevent a user from spamming them relentlessly. In a more hand holding extreme, I think it would help to have a Geiger-counter like system to notify me if the item(s) i need are in my area. Most of my problems stem from lack of inventory, and could help me out greatly if I had a command to check my pockets and tell me if I have everything I need to move forward. I like the incidental dialogue that Monkey Island has weaved in to help the player, but it seems that whenever you need help the most the hint tells you something you already know. So what are the best in-game solutions you've ever seen in an adventure game, and what would you suggest could add to in-game hints? Even page titles and table of contents sections can inadvertently ruin a game. Even if you're stuck for hours, and feel completely deadlocked, you can easily spoil the game by accidentally reading too much from a poorly written guide. I don't look back with complete fondness to the time before GameFAQs, as I would never want to be stuck for that long ever again, but I do think that developers should do everything in their power to prevent the user from thinking they need a guide. Internet walkthroughs can absolutely destroy a game. This was a blessing and a curse, because though sometimes the puzzles were unfair or poorly designed, when you solved them on your own it felt amazing. I remember getting stuck for weeks on Grim Fandango (stupid wheelbarrow).
When you were stuck, you were forced to figure it out on your own. In the days before the internet (or your knowledge of it), adventure games had this frustratingly beautiful puzzle aspect to them. I was playing through Tales of Monkey Island, and I was thinking about in-game hint systems.
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