I've really been into puzzle games lately, for no specific reason. The one thing that becomes obvious when you start playing a lot of puzzle games is where game developers do good things with the games, and where they do not-so-good things. Good puzzles make us work for a solution and wrack our brains, making the solution a satisfying experience that keeps us going on. But many games create such a frustrating experience that players either give up before getting to that solution or walk away feeling poorly about their experience. With that in mind, here are some tips for what to look for in a puzzle game experience, along with some titles that get the game experience right or wrong.

1. Create a world, not just a few game screens: Maybe this is because of my background in role-playing games, but I want to know why I'm in the situation I'm in. This comes down to giving the player some context. Why are they faced with the obstacles they encounter? In Mafia Escape, it's all there in the title: you are escaping from the Mafia. Makes sense, right? In Binary, the player is faced with some great puzzles, but why? I played the game months ago, and the one thing I remember from the game is that I have no idea why I was doing what I was doing. Ask anyone who remembers the old Myst games and they'll tell you the imagery was beautiful and the puzzles challenging - but why were they solving them. It doesn't take much effort to put this in the game, whether it's derived from the title, provided from a text screen introduction, or even part of the game design to figure out why you're there.

2. Make it a puzzle game, not an "I Spy" game: One of my favorite puzzle game experiences is the classic Maniac Mansion. At one point in the game, you probably wind up trapped in the basement. Players might remember there's a stone in the prison that players can click in order to get out. How do you find it? By mousing over it. The cursor changes, hinting to the player that something is there. More contemporary games are losing this element, keeping the cursor the same regardless of what it's hovering over. As a result, the game is no longer about solving puzzles, but about the quality of your eyesight. For those slowly-aging gamers who burned our eyesight out on Game Boys and other portable systems, those visible indicators that something is there is essential.

3. Make puzzles logical to the setting: Again, maybe this goes to my foundation as a role-player, but I want to see a consistent game environment. If the game is in a medieval setting, suddenly having to have computer passcodes to get through a door ruins the environment. Honestly, this always used to bug me in the older Resident Evil titles. Why would the police station in Resident Evil 2 require playing-card themed keys that no officer or police corpse happened to carry? It just didn't make sense - and yes, I know nitpicking keys in a game where you are constantly under siege from zombies is moving into really nerdy territory, but it's still a good piece of guidance.

4. Actions have consequences: As a player, there's nothing more frustrating then getting stuck in a game with no clear idea of where to go or what to do. If you give me dynamite then you need to give me the ability to light it anywhere, even if that results in my death. At least I feel like there's something I can do. The best example of this is the old Shadowgate, one of my first experiences with point-and-click puzzle games. You may have had a lot of ways to die, but at least you (almost) always had something that you could do. Saying "you can't light that dynamite here" may save my life, but it leaves me as a player feeling powerless. Consequences give me a reason not to light that dynamite everywhere.

5. Don't forget we play games to have fun: There are people who like to solve math problems for fun. There are people who like to read to have fun. All of these people tend to like games as well. Don't make a game so heavily based on one skill or another that it starts to feel more like work and less like fun. If I have to solve an algebraic equation to move from room to room, I'm going to turn the game off and move to something else. At the core of the puzzle needs to be something fun, or what's the point of playing it?