Interview with Maciej Sawitus

Greg Livingston (Golem): I should mention that I have not played Monstaaa!, but if you feel it (or your upcoming games) is relevant for any of these questions, please share.

Maciej Sawitus: My upcoming game Rainbow Hero is going to have some elements of pushing boxes (though quite a bit different from what sokoban games do) but Monstaaa! doesn't (and besides it's not available anymore).

Before I move on with explanation of design strategies used in Puzzled Rabbit I should say that a vast majority of the levels used in the game are not mine (and there are many levels in this game!). I did design a couple of levels at the beginning of the game and I redesigned some of the levels. Otherwise I did play a couple of hundreds of levels from other prominent sokoban level designers and from those extracted most interesting ones. I've also analyzed many randomly generated levels but have not found them any interesting, so they were never used in the game.

I might also add that arranging levels in right order always plays an important role in how accessible a puzzle game is and I did go through many iterations here, especially when it comes to the first level groups (A and B). This was all so that the players don't feel overwhelmed right from the start and that they get a chance to learn basics with the minimum frustration possible.

I should also say thanks to guys who designed these great levels and gave me permission to use them!

Greg Livingston: Puzzled Rabbit sometimes establishes a kind of visual shorthand: a formation of blocks that appears multiple times, and the player knows what he or she can do in that space. (For instance, with a 2-tile-by-3-tile empty space, the player can push a box in and then push it back out. This is introduced in A-3.) What are the steps you took to develop the player's familiarity with these commonly reused spaces? How important was it to develop familiarity with these commonly reused spaces?

Maciej Sawitus: I actually never thought of it in terms of "commonly reused spaces" but they're a pretty basic concept as far as sokoban gameplay is concerned. To some degree it's used in most levels, from easy to hardcore ones. Sometimes they're easily noticeable, like the 2x3 in-out areas. But sometimes they're not so easy to spot, might have different shape or might require clearing (i.e moving other boxes out) first. Getting the players to learn how to use them was definitely one step towards teaching them how to solve advanced sokoban levels.

Greg Livingston: In many puzzles, the player must find a repeatable pattern and apply it to three boxes. (For example, in B-6, the player must push three boxes back and forth the same corridor, each in the same way.) What role does repetition of process play? In other words, what is the value of repeating a box-pushing process?

Maciej Sawitus: As long as the repetition doesn't go too far it can be very fun. It tells the player there's specific structure they need to understand in order to work well with it. Once they do, I believe players feel some kind of satisfaction when solving levels with that element.

It is generally good practice not to have the structure feel like random because it makes levels uninsteresting.

Greg Livingston: In world D, multiple puzzles use the same room layout and add more pushable boxes. Here, even though the room structure stays the same, the solution to the puzzle changes drastically. What role does repetition of structure play? In other words, what is the value of repeating those stage layouts?

Maciej Sawitus: Levels that look similar but play different are interesting - especially when arranged one after another - because they clearly communicate to the player that someone did it on purpose, not randomly, and that that someone designed it as part of a bigger puzzle. Solving a small puzzle that's part of a big puzzle is more interesting than just solving a small puzzle. The game has a number of "twin levels" like that to make things more fun.

Greg Livingston: Are there any tricks or red herrings you used in Puzzled Rabbit to throw the player off of the solution? (In my experience, there don't seem to be any unnecessary passages--if a tile is open, I'm pretty sure I'll need it for either pushing a block or moving the rabbit.)

Maciej Sawitus: I tried not to introduce unnecessary, misleading elements to the game. If something is there it's most likely needed. I did watch other people play miscellaneous levels with or without redundant elements and it was usually more fun for them without these elements.

Greg Livingston: Can sokoban levels have a theme to them? Or, in other words, is there some way of grouping them aside from difficulty curve? (Question courtesy of Yourself.)

Maciej Sawitus: I'm sure they could be grouped based on puzzle types though this might limit the variety of the game (or its worlds/chapters) because if you want these groups to be really different, then you probably wouldn't want to mix different puzzle ideas. And having similar puzzle ideas across too many consecutive levels might make things a bit boring for the player. In Puzzled Rabbit I didn't even attempt anything like that. I can see how this would be difficult to achieve with sokoban levels.

Greg Livingston: [Here, I pasted the wrong question to Maciej, not meaning to ask about the story. However, the response is interesting.] When it comes to the theory behind game design, which is more important to you: the intent of the author, the experience of the reader/player, or the essence of the story/game itself?

Maciej Sawitus: Experience of the player is ultimately always the main thing I care about.

The story I've added to the game and the quotes displayed at the end are just an extra candy so as to give the game more depth and attract those who need that something else besides pure puzzle solving. This is - on obviously much smaller scale - similar to what puzzle games such as Portal or Braid do. They're totally puzzle games i.e. completing the game requires solving specific number of puzzles and nothing else but they all do have a story. I know this is what made many people play these games.