One thing that's been in the back of my mind for years is puzzle spoilers. How should I handle them?
The worst thing possible IMO would be for a player to hit their first hard puzzle in the game and google it, only to eventually have everything spoiled or just end up using a guide for the rest of the playthrough.
One thing I've been implementing is numbering/naming puzzles and having the current number/name at the top of the screen when paused. This way a player who decides to look up a solution can google the specific puzzle and hopefully avoid more general spoilers while looking for help.
I've had thoughts about including in game hints or curated community puzzle guides, but I fear both would just push more people towards getting help in the first place. Plus they'd take a non trivial amount of work and I really don't want feature creep.
The worst thing possible IMO would be for a player to hit their first hard puzzle in the game and google it, only to eventually have everything spoiled or just end up using a guide for the rest of the playthrough.
One thing I've been implementing is numbering/naming puzzles and having the current number/name at the top of the screen when paused. This way a player who decides to look up a solution can google the specific puzzle and hopefully avoid more general spoilers while looking for help.
I've had thoughts about including in game hints or curated community puzzle guides, but I fear both would just push more people towards getting help in the first place. Plus they'd take a non trivial amount of work and I really don't want feature creep.
