arissa_nightblade Member Posts: 70 From: Registered: 02-10-2007 |
I've been researching all different types of puzzle games like Tetris, Bejeweled, Puzzle Bobble and Dr. Mario, just to name a few. I've noticed that most of these types of games have a playing space that's either 8 or 10 units wide. Why is that? How come it's not bigger than 10? I'm just wondering if there's a mathematical thing behind it or not. ------------------ |
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JeTSpice Member Posts: 433 From: La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA Registered: 06-10-2006 |
One reason might be the average player's ability to keep track of 8 lines of a puzzle easily. It seems that most of these puzzles rely on a person picking out 3 jewels in a row, or identifying a shape that is 2 or 3 units across. This represents a portion of the screen--like a third or a fourth. It's easy for the eye to pick out. The challenge for the player is not in finding the piece as much as in identifying it's shape, or it's color amidst a crowd of such pieces. Contrast with some of the casual Mystery series games, where the object of the game is to find the pieces, not necessarily to react to them in a quick manner. For instance, if Tetris were 32 spaces across and 24 spaces long, it would be difficult for most casual gamers. The game would appeal to only a few. |
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arissa_nightblade Member Posts: 70 From: Registered: 02-10-2007 |
So the smaller the space the easier it is to the eye? is 8 or 10 spaces generally the easiest? How come none go lower than that? ------------------ |
MastaLlama Member Posts: 671 From: Houston, TX USA Registered: 08-10-2005 |
some may go lower but it would be boring to play Dr. Mario or Tetris with only 3 units wide |
SSquared Member Posts: 654 From: Pacific Northwest Registered: 03-22-2005 |
Chuzzle is 6x6. EDIT: Forgot to close url statement. [This message has been edited by ssquared (edited October 19, 2007).] |
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arissa_nightblade Member Posts: 70 From: Registered: 02-10-2007 |
and I also noticed, some puzzle games where you have to match colors, the 'difficulity' increases by adding a new color to match. How does this make it harder? I'm just trying to understand the concept behind this... ------------------ |
leet hacker Member Posts: 118 From: Hobbiton, Shire, Middle-Earth Registered: 07-30-2007 |
quote: maybe because anything lower would be too small; can you imagine playing tetris on a 4*6 board? ------------------ "By the way, what does BTW stand for?" - IRC message Über-Geek |
samw3 Member Posts: 542 From: Toccoa, GA, USA Registered: 08-15-2006 |
I think it all depends upon the game and the cognitive impact it has on the player. I was reading about short term memory (the grey stuff that is) the other day on wikipedia. The article was stating that the average human being can juggle 7±2 different units in his or her short term memory, however a process called chunking can greatly increase a person's recall ability. This is like breaking up a credit card number into groups of four, because most cannot remember all the digits unless they were memorized (long term memory). Perhaps this has a lot to do with it. 8 or 10 is just on the upper range of this short term memory limit. Perhaps this makes a game more of a challenge. Another reason for 8 is that its a nice round number in binary 1000, and 10 is nice and round in decimal.. not to mention its a very human number (ten fingers, ten toes) and maybe quickly selected without much thought. However chess and checkers are both on 8x8 boards which make for very computer friendly AI algorithms, even though they we both invented well before computers existed. Part of balancing a game is the scale of frustration/boredom. Maybe 8-10 is a sweet spot for most games. But not always the case.. look at minsweeper. Finally, for a laugh, check out Minesweeper the Movie God Bless! ------------------ |
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arissa_nightblade Member Posts: 70 From: Registered: 02-10-2007 |
wow, I never knew that about credit cards! @_@ That's so weird! Thanks for the heads up about all this. It's been one of those things that really make me curious. And LOL at that minesweeper movie. That's awesome! ------------------ |
bennythebear Member Posts: 1225 From: kentucky,usa Registered: 12-13-2003 |
minesweeper the movies is hilarious! ------------------ proverbs 25:7 www.gfa.org - Gospel for Asia www.persecution.com - Voice of the Martyrs
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