| Main Page - Back |
|
From str8ts.com, the orginal Str8ts site |
Puzzle Advice
The puzzle world has changed drastically and the puzzle publishing world hasn't been changing to take advantage of the new possibilities available.
Quality of Puzzles has to be the best it can be.
Simply going on the open market and finding the cheapest source for puzzles is a terrible idea.
Not all puzzles are created equal. Just because you were able to negotiated a rock bottom price for your puzzle source doesn't mean you got a deal.
Creating great puzzles is an art form not something simply generated by someones solver on the internet.
The few people that create amazing puzzles should be paid well since they are the one that will generate lots of income and paper sales for you.
Great Puzzle design has following characteristics
Very few puzzles offered for sale today meet even half these requirements. So don't be scared to test puzzles first to find out what your audience thinks of the puzzles you are putting in front of them.
Don't sign long term contacts with suppliers until you have tested their puzzles with a live audience.
Puzzlers nowadays are stubborn, demanding and don't have a lot of patience for average puzzles. One thing has changed quite drastically, the puzzle crowds actually know where to find great puzzles and they will skip your publication without even telling you how bad your puzzles are.
Quality of Puzzles has to be the best it can be.
Simply going on the open market and finding the cheapest source for puzzles is a terrible idea.
Not all puzzles are created equal. Just because you were able to negotiated a rock bottom price for your puzzle source doesn't mean you got a deal.
Creating great puzzles is an art form not something simply generated by someones solver on the internet.
The few people that create amazing puzzles should be paid well since they are the one that will generate lots of income and paper sales for you.
Great Puzzle design has following characteristics
- great looking starting positions ( meaning the puzzle that needs to be filled in looks inviting)
- the first clues that need to be filled in, should be apparent to get the puzzle in motion.
- the unfolding of a puzzle has to resemble something similar to a symphony ( lots of ups and downs following a steady flow)
- the puzzle has to be fun and challenging (solvers should have a hard time putting their pencil down)
- daily puzzles should have lots of variation and the solving of daily puzzles in particular should feel different
- solving techniques should be changed up forcing the solver to use all acquired learned tricks
- puzzles need to be graded correctly ( easy puzzles should be easier than a tough puzzle)
- puzzles that are supposed to have only one possible solution should actually only have one solution. ( you would be surprised how many puzzle do have multiple answers)
Very few puzzles offered for sale today meet even half these requirements. So don't be scared to test puzzles first to find out what your audience thinks of the puzzles you are putting in front of them.
Don't sign long term contacts with suppliers until you have tested their puzzles with a live audience.
Puzzlers nowadays are stubborn, demanding and don't have a lot of patience for average puzzles. One thing has changed quite drastically, the puzzle crowds actually know where to find great puzzles and they will skip your publication without even telling you how bad your puzzles are.