System-Centric Puzzle Design in 'Patrick's Parabox'

In this GDC 2024 talk, the designer of the IGF award-winning puzzle game Patrick's Parabox shares a collection of puzzle game design techniques used and learned during its development. These include: heuristics for iterating on mechanics, strategies for creating puzzle levels, and things to look out for when playtesting.

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[coratoraYT]

I really loved Patrick's Parabox because it wasn't a hardcore game. And you're exactly right, showcasing the system made it very exciting as a player that enjoys puzzle games, but not puzzle games that beat you up and take your lunch money.

[domoyoro]

this talk isn't just about puzzle design- it also applies more broadly to level design!

i've been working on a precision platformer for over 4 years, and this is super similar to my own creative process. i would've loved to have seen this exact presentation when i was still figuring out how to string challenges together, and how to iterate and create new challenges.

this process is how you take a handful of mechanics and ideas, and explore them in a full-scale level or world. playtesting is vital for this, too!

excellent talk!

[an_asp]

It's interesting how visible this design process ends up being in the game itself. Having played the game, it almost felt like I already knew half this talk going in. You can really feel just how deliberately the game was designed to make it feel smooth and intuitive despite the mind-bending subject matter.

[CheesecakeMilitia]

Patrick made a really friendly game, and I commend him for it. It's one of the puzzle games I regularly come back to chisel at one or two puzzles a session as opposed to the hard puzzlers I love but permanently shelved like Stephen's Sausage Roll and Baba Is You.

[prinnydadnope]

I like puzzle games that are not "just" challenging, you can feel the enthusiasm of the creator in showing a feature or a concept in this video and it is how I see not so challenging puzzle game, enthusiasm sharing

[edugomezf]

I like puzzle games but I sometimes abandon them because of a tendency to make puzzles more and more complex, requiring dozens of steps and a thorough planification to even ascertain how to solve them. My mind gets lazy when I find really intricate and confusing puzzles.
That's one of the reasons I love Patrick's Parabox. We don't get a huge level with 20 boxes of different types. We get a simple level that may require a clever idea to solve, and it is delightful.

[fizzd]

loved it, this is such a good tutorial on making an accessible puzzle game

[jbrownson]

I love this game so much, enjoyed the talk

[Arganoid]

Great game. My 8 year old nephew loved it too.

[dashalpha]

looks like I still have a few areas to get to! I love this game and really need to get back into it.

[VestinVestin]

The best part is that anyone could've come up with the idea for a puzzle game about pushing boxes around, but it takes this guy's ingenuity and dedication to make such a game charming and captivating!

[dacolib]

While Patrick'sa Parabox might not be my favorite puzzle game, it's one of my most recommended ones, cause I feel most anyone can reach really mind bendy stuff so it's very easy to recommend

[domcamus]

Excellent talk! Is it, in fact, obvious that mechanics which offer more possible puzzles are better? I can imagine in theory it might not be. Portal, for example, only really has about three puzzles arising from its mechanics, but people seem to have fun with it.

[KuroOnehalf]

Nice talk! As expected from Patrick. :>

[fure]

please upload the Chris Zukowski talk please

[DoctorMandible]

Like the Farnsworth Parabox from Futurama?

[yanhu]

He did lots of design but I was still stuck in some level...😵‍💫

[JessicaPerry-uq]

Clark Jeffrey Harris Karen Moore Dorothy

[bombsjetpack]

The real reason why Patrick's Parabox had great success is that there are so many easy levels. Just dumb down the difficulty. People will support.