Day of the Tentacle
A LucasArts point and click adventure where three characters solve puzzles across 400 years of time travel.
Where Day of the Tentacle comes up1 episode or test
Game Maker's Toolkit holds Day of the Tentacle up as the model for fair puzzles. A long term goal of returning the time travelers breaks into concrete short term goals, clues come from looking and talking, and Laverne explains why a wrong combo fails. Flaws remain: real-world knowledge and some pixel hunting. Lesson: signpost every puzzle and explain failures, but check for lockouts.
- Player tries the mummy in contest
- Laverne: judges will think it's chewing gum
- Explains why the attempt fails
- Hints at the fix
- Player tries a logical combination
- "Nope, those don't work together"
- No reason given for failure
- Infuriates players whose logic made sense
A specific reply keeps wrong guesses fair and points to the fix.
From Mark Brown, puzzle design analysis
What was said about Day of the Tentacle
1Why its puzzles are held up as the model of fair design
Chain a long term goal into concrete short term goals. The long term goal is bringing Laverne and Hoagie back to the present. It leads to short term goals like getting past the purple tentacle guarding the grandfather clock.
Dr. Fred needs a new diamond before the chrono-johns can be plugged in, and Laverne needs the old lab's generator power, so she must reach the basement. The contest is judged on best smile, best hair and best laugh, giving several goals at once so a stuck player can work on something else.
Plant clues in objects and dialogue so players find their own lead. The purple tentacle says he is glued to his spot unless he has to chase escaped humans. The guard's dinner remark points to the Club Tentacle contest.
A clue must be neither too subtle, so players miss it, nor too obvious, so they feel cheated. "Signposting is like providing lots of little, subtle goals for those who are listening and looking carefully."
Good signposting makes even an absurd puzzle feel fair. Bernard mentions that some people think washing a vehicle makes it rain, which sets up a puzzle where rain follows a car wash.
"even the most stupid puzzles, like one about how it always rains whenever you wash a car, can be saved with good signposting."
Explain why a wrong attempt fails and nudge toward the fix. When the player tries the mummy in the contest, Laverne remarks that the judges will think the mummy is chewing gum, explaining the failure and hinting at the solution.
Gabriel Knight and Grim Fandango instead use generic lines like "Nope, those don't work together", which infuriate players whose attempt made logical sense.
Even the model game locks some players out. It needs real-world knowledge not every player has, has a little pixel hunting, and its spoken signposting is easy to miss and can't always be heard twice.
Mark Brown still credits it with going beyond fair to great by spreading three characters across 400 years of time travel. "If you don't listen carefully you'll miss the signposting altogether and can't always hear it a second time."
Point and Click Puzzle Design
Held up as the model for fair puzzles: it sets a long term goal of bringing the time travelers back and short term goals like getting past the purple tentacle. Clues, the car wash rain hint and Laverne's mummy line explain failures, though it still needs real-world knowledge and has a little pixel hunting.
Chain a long term goal into concrete short term goals. The long term goal is bringing Laverne and Hoagie back to the present. It leads to short term goals like getting past the purple tentacle guarding the grandfather clock.
Dr. Fred needs a new diamond before the chrono-johns can be plugged in, and Laverne needs the old lab's generator power, so she must reach the basement. The contest is judged on best smile, best hair and best laugh, giving several goals at once so a stuck player can work on something else.
Plant clues in objects and dialogue so players find their own lead. The purple tentacle says he is glued to his spot unless he has to chase escaped humans. The guard's dinner remark points to the Club Tentacle contest.
A clue must be neither too subtle, so players miss it, nor too obvious, so they feel cheated. "Signposting is like providing lots of little, subtle goals for those who are listening and looking carefully."
Good signposting makes even an absurd puzzle feel fair. Bernard mentions that some people think washing a vehicle makes it rain, which sets up a puzzle where rain follows a car wash.
"even the most stupid puzzles, like one about how it always rains whenever you wash a car, can be saved with good signposting."
Explain why a wrong attempt fails and nudge toward the fix. When the player tries the mummy in the contest, Laverne remarks that the judges will think the mummy is chewing gum, explaining the failure and hinting at the solution.
Gabriel Knight and Grim Fandango instead use generic lines like "Nope, those don't work together", which infuriate players whose attempt made logical sense.
Even the model game locks some players out. It needs real-world knowledge not every player has, has a little pixel hunting, and its spoken signposting is easy to miss and can't always be heard twice.
Mark Brown still credits it with going beyond fair to great by spreading three characters across 400 years of time travel. "If you don't listen carefully you'll miss the signposting altogether and can't always hear it a second time."
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