(a resource for nwn2 builders)

I ran across a post by peterb over at Tea Leaves talking about the state of puzzles in video games.

In a video game context, I'm speaking of puzzles as being parts of games. The typical puzzle implementation is self-contained ("Solve this puzzle to advance past this door,") but that is a matter of habit, not a requirement. A puzzle can have a scope that encompasses all of the non-narrative parts of a game, or can even be intimately intertwined.

Further down her gives four general guidelines for making good puzzles in games:

1. The puzzle has to have a reason for existing.

2. The existence of the puzzle should move the narrative forward somehow, even if only by a little bit.

3. The more integrated into your game world the puzzle is, the better.

4. This one is debatable, but I believe that where possible, the puzzle should be to figure out what the puzzle is. That is, if you have to explain the rules to the player when they start, you've already lost. Ideally, once the player recognizes that they have encountered a puzzle, they should be able to solve it within moments of figuring out how to solve it.

Check it out:
http://www.tleaves.com/weblog/archives/000031.html