Re: A Bill of Author's Rights

[Charles Gerlach <cagerlac@merle.acns.nwu.edu>]

L. Ross Raszewski wrote:

> For example, it is wrong to make a puzzle that must be solved by random
> guessing.  However, there is nothing wrong with making a puzzle that _can_ be
> solved by random guessing.

<RANT ON>

7th guest and 11th hour were just re-released in the bargain bin,
so I picked them up. 

I solved one of the puzzles in 7th guest (the one where you had to 
get from the lower left to the upper right walking on different colored
tiles and watching the tiles fall away behind you). 

Since I hadn't understood what I had done, I went back and did it 
again.

It *still* makes no sense whatsoever. The "goal" as stated by the
annoying voice is "...can you get from A to B?" And the
answer is yes-- you can get to the exit arrow without difficulty 
almost every time. But when you get there, the voice says you 
didn't solve it and resets it. No clue as to why what you did was 
wrong.

Eventually I started messing around, taking circuitous paths to the
exit, and one of them worked. I looked at the path I had just taken
and saw no possible rule that had been followed throughout the
course of the path. 

SO, unless you want me to come to your house and shoot out your 
porch light, I would suggest that any puzzle that *can* be solved 
by guessing should be possible to figure out ex post facto. 

(For instance, I will admit (to my shame) that I got the circuit
breakers turned back on in "Losing your grip" via multiple undos. 
Once I had done it that way, I was dissatisfied, and looked 
around until it hit me where the clue for the ordering was. 
Perfectly satisfactory puzzle that I circumvented.)

<RANT OFF>

<MINOR RANT BACK ON>

How in the blazes did 7th guest stay such a hot seller for so long?
Bad acting, bad acting replaced/re-written with bad voice-overs that
don't even come close to matching the scene, no concept of which
direction doors should lead based on the floor-plan, "Feeling 
lo-o-o-o-onely?"-- the list of things that annoyed me can go on for
pages. 

I went in not expecting much, and came out with even less.

<MINOR RANT OFF>

-- 
Charles Gerlach doesn't speak for Northwestern. Surprise, surprise.