Maybe helper screen area utilizing a render-to-sprite approach? A few problems with that though: (1) the puzzle could turn out to be too obvious if done that way, (2) it may or may not require some modifications to the engine, and (3) this method could go against the overall look and feel established for Amnesia.Īnother problem is, of course, that the game is done, so too late for experimentation now. That would require some trickery related to how the player should perform a penumbra-like interaction while not looking at the object he/she is interacting with. An interesting approach would be to force the player to look at the hatch while operating (or trying to operate) the crank, which would put the puzzle-related cues on the upper edge of the screen - so he/she wouldn't be looking directly there. However, since the player, in your engine, needs to *look at* the crank in order to turn it, he might miss both the dust particles and the swinging rope. Now, if you made it swing sideways, but only the section between the crank an the jammed pulley, I'm sure most players would notice where the problem is. Another important point is: although I can see from the video that the cable/rope model changes or straitens after the player turns the crank, you must admit that the cable/rope is actually pretty static. The eye is attracted to movement, so the addition of the dust particles was a right move, although I can't see them in the video.
However, I think I would know what to do to make it work, but it goes a bit against your engine. "There is also the problem of making the player realize that the wooden piece is significant and not just part of the backdrop." :)Īnonymous 2 September 2010 at Thomas & FG: *If you watch this video, it would be very strange if you did. We even added an alternative solution to the original solution (not saying what the solutions are, in-case you like to solve the puzzle in another way than what is shown in the video).įinally, we hope, for the love of all puzzles, that this puzzle has been tweaked to perfection and that none of you will get stuck on it*. Over and over we tweaked the puzzle, we added descriptions and interaction messages, we changed the texture of the wooden piece, we added some faint light to show it clearer in the dark, there are some particles coming down from the wooden piece when you pull the crank, we made the model larger and we changed the angle it is stuck in. They simply could not find what was wrong, most important, they did not notice the wooden piece at all. For each test session we found that there was always one or more testers that got stuck on this puzzle. This particular piece of wood took quite a lot of tweaking in order to make it noticeable.
It turns out that a small piece of wood has been jammed into one of the pulleys, making it impossible for the crank to pull the rope going through the pulley. Unfortunately something is wrong with the crank/pulley and the player has to figure out what it is. The puzzle is that the hatch is too heavy to lift by hand, but by using a crank and pulley contraption the player can open it. It is the puzzle part that this blog post will discuss, as it took quite some time for us to get that puzzle right. This time it's about exploration and puzzle solving. Keeping to the Amnesia tradition it is one single clip, showing a sequence from the game. Once upon a time there was a wooden stick, a stick so firm, a stick so stuck it could not be seen upon without the touch of many small, busy hands.
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