The weekly newsletter for Fed2 by ibgames

EARTHDATE: June 11, 2006

Inside Scoop - page 1

CLIMBING THE MONKEY PUZZLE TREE

by Monkey

It has been an odd day. In fact, it has been an odd week. It's been one of those weeks when I've been afraid to sit down and just allow myself to think for fear of a startling revelation. What if those crazies are right and us monkeys really did share a common ancestor with humans? Ugh! I suppose it is possible. After all, those poorly evolved human wretches have only got opposable thumbs. How they climb a tree whilst holding a pina colada is beyond me.

So I spent the majority of the week feeling somewhat puzzled. This can happen if one does not allow oneself time to think for a whole week. Hmmm... that sentence felt kind of regal. It's always worth punting a few references to oneself as "one" in order to rise above the rowdy rabble. Ok, that sentence felt more like a tongue twister, which is probably not going to alleviate my sense of perplexity.

Interestingly, the dictionary definition of "puzzle" is:

to baffle or confuse mentally

This confused me even further. I mean, other than "mentally", how do else do you confuse someone? Even if you confuse someone's sense of smell or vision, you are still confusing them mentally since the brain mediates these senses. Anyway, let's ignore that definition and look solely at nouns.

So, the definition of the noun, "puzzle" is:

something that baffles or confuses
something, such as a game, toy, or problem, that requires ingenuity and often persistence in solving or assembling
the condition of being perplexed; bewilderment

Each of us, at some point in the past, was a stumbling, fumbling, mumbling, bumbling newbie. Some of us more than others. I seem to remember that the proprietor of Mars' proclaimed Social Centre of the Solar System used to enjoy a bit of fumbling in the backroom when custom was a bit slow. And as a newbie, we were all presented with somewhat of a puzzle. Admittedly it wasn't a very tough puzzle to obtain a ship permit, but it set the scene for the gameplay ahead of us. And perhaps many of us forget that puzzles are an inherent part of Federation 2. We get so caught up in progressing through the game as quickly as possible that we tend to forget that there are other aspects to this experience.

And one of the biggest, albeit invisible differences between Fed2 and Classic Fed is the flexibility of the underlying game code. I think it is fair to say that what we have experienced so far, in terms of objects and events and the way in which players interact with them and indeed the objects themselves serve to shape the game environment, is the tip of a very exciting iceberg. We may be aware of the evolution of the game as far as the coding of additional ranks, commands and infrastructure builds go but in parallel with these is the fast-evolving potential for complex and innovative events. At present, planet owners can request custom objects for their planets, and these objects can trigger game events. In the future, we will be able to include walking, talking mobiles on our planets and code custom events into each location. Essentially, almost anything will be possible given a bit of innovation, planning and careful implementation.

Many of the planet owners have designed their planets and written the location descriptions with a puzzle in mind. So you can expect puzzles to start popping up all over the place in the near future. And don't forget the role that puzzles are likely to play in the central gameplay of Fed2. The devilish Duke puzzle and the fiendish JP quest played a pivotal role in, not only the advancement of players up the ranks but the formation of player relationships both positive and negative within Classic Fed. I don't think it will be too long before puzzling (that's the act of doing a puzzle and is probably a word that I just made up) becomes as central a part of life in Fed2 as the hauling at commander, the futures at trader and the sitting... errr I mean share trading at Financier.

It also opens up a whole new avenue for player interaction. No longer will the ranks be separated by task. Some puzzles may require a player at a certain rank to perform a certain action at a certain time whilst holding a certain object. Oh, I'm sorry, do you need an industrialist to help you solve that puzzle? Shame you irritated them all by only offering them fruit factories on your planet. Before long, the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. One day you may be the wolf. Another day you may be the little child. Opportunities for collaboration and even dastardly sabotage are galloping over the horizon as I write.

Have a look at the second definition of "puzzle" above. There is a very important aspect to that definition; the use of the word "persistence". Don't expect to waltz into a puzzle, try a few doors, find a few objects and put them together randomly to trigger the "wow, you're a genius" message. If the puzzle designer has done their job properly then you can expect something other than a linear progression marching inexorably towards the denouement of the quest. A puzzle should have you spending hours pursuing a particular hunch only to find that it was a sneaky red herring. It is upon the dawning of realisation that the puzzle designer has just duped you that, mentally, an image of them laughing should appear before you. Gotcha! Log off in a huff and spend all night thinking about it. You may well awake in the morning with a mini Eureka! moment and return fresh-faced and bushy-tailed to the puzzle. And when you have solved it, that moment of red-herringness (yes I'm making up words for fun now) will make you smile because it will act as the black to your white, the contrast against which your triumph will radiate like the sun.

So, I implore all of you to get out there and have a go at the puzzles in the game. Solving puzzles is a skill that needs a certain amount of development and we all have the perfect opportunity to get some practice in before "the powers that be" introduce something truly fiendish. Just remember one very important thing. The puzzle designers, whether they are players or staff, have invested a lot of time and effort into the puzzles. Until you have designed and implemented one yourself, you probably will not appreciate just how time consuming a process it is. These are mini "works of art" that the designers can be rightly proud of so please show them the utmost respect and do not pass on any information that you gained during the working of a puzzle. Even the world's most amazing puzzle can be destroyed in one swift moment by the dissemination of its secrets. And you are not doing the puzzler any favours by telling them how to progress. All you will be doing is diluting their "contrast" so that when they do complete it the feeling of satisfaction will be hollow. If someone does ask you for help then just gently direct him or her to the puzzle designer. For only they should have the right to decide how best to help people through their creation.

Right, I'm off to Tenpin to try the puzzle there. Since I'm already feeling puzzled I'm kind of hoping that by puzzling myself again, the two will cancel out and leave me more able to cope with life as a distant cousin of humans. Happy puzzling Fedders!


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