ITS DA BOMB! As with games, sometimes when designing a puzzle, youre given a theme and you must create the mechanics to fit the theme. In this case, youre designing a game based on the old TV show MacGyver, and part of the storyline in the game involves the main character defusing a bomb. Rather than making it a non-interactive cutscene, youve chosen to make it into a timed puzzle, where taking too long to solve the puzzle or solving it incorrectly results in the game being over. If that doesnt provide some tension to the player, nothing will. Consider the different kinds of puzzles mentioned in this chapter and choose at least three puzzle types that would be appropriate to the theme.

Deliverable Three paragraphs per puzzle type, describing the basic mechanics of each puzzle.