Puzzle Perfect / Par.

Own

Moderator
In the game there are many different ways to solve each puzzle.

However, there's only one or two ways to do each puzzle in the absolute minimum number of moves, or under a certain time limit and damage limit.

Given that, may I suggest a reason to retry puzzles aiming for the minimum, as well as potentially tying achievements into it?

Example #1: You enter the Haunted Woods Block Puzzle chamber. It has a sign off to the side, or a pop up bubble over the hourglass plate when walked over, that displays the absolute minimum number of block pushes required to beat the puzzle.

If you beat the puzzle above that number, the game displays the par with your lowest number of presses below it. If you reach the par the sign turns golden. If you somehow go beneath the par, you're encouraged to record yourself showing how you did it and linking it to the developers for a World Record Smasher badge on the forums. The new Puzzle Perfect requirement in-game would be updated to the one they had set.

Example #2: Same as the Haunted Woods Block Puzzle, but for the phase mirror puzzle in the Flying Fortress.

Example #3: The hallway of fired projectiles in the Flying Fortress. It has a sign nearby displays a requirement to Puzzle Perfect it: 0 damage taken, under # seconds. Timer starts the very instant you enter the hallway.

Example #4: Same as #3, but with the conveyer belt room in the Toy Factory.

It might be better to not have the signs appear until after the puzzle has been beaten once, then having the sign fall down to initiate the Puzzle Perfect or Puzzle Par challenge. Maybe if you do a certain amount of them, you unlock an achievement and get a talent orb or something?
 
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GarlicJelly

Friendly Moderator (Formerly known as GoodStuff)
This sounds like a cool idea. I like the speedrun themed achievements and the minimal movement challange/achievement. Not so sure about the forum thing but the rest sounds sweet. :p
 

Own

Moderator
Well, the forum thing I suggested so that - if the devs inaccurately put the minimum par movement on a puzzle and someone found a quicker way to do it - they would have incentive to record it so it could be updated for the new true number of minimum moves.
 

Own

Moderator
This is a rough mockup of what I mean.

bEpiipQ.png


You complete the challenge / puzzle normally, and afterwards a signpost pops up from the ground telling you how you did and what the ideal mark was. You get that number or lower and the sign turns gold, or it vanishes, or it just pops and a chest appears in it's place. Just making them contribute towards an achievement seems easiest. You add a ton of gameplay to the game while people try to figure out how to best solve these puzzles/challenges but don't need that much more work involved, right? :)
 

KoBeWi

Jumpkin
This whole thing sounds a bit like my Puzzle Race challenge idea. Completed puzzles could be unlocked in the arena as a challenge (this way perfecting the projectile hallway would be more natural). But this would produce big number of challenges, so I'm not sure if would be good.

But, if it would be like you suggested, I'm proposing a redesign. Instead of sign that appears from nowhere, there could be a second plate next to reversing one or better - reversing plate would change into "Par Plate". In lore, it would be ancient device (like other plates) created to reward brightest minds.
Standing on it would display a hologram showing your score and par. It would have a puzzle pattern or some other sign. If it replaces reversing plate, it also should have a reset option, like instant puzzle reset after 10 seconds of standing.
Rough design (with both plates):
cWNJ0jE.png

Achieving par would turn the Par Plate golden and make a golden chest appear:
QuDyLTl.png
 
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Own

Moderator
Wow, I really like that design. Sure does put my sucky MS Paint abilities to shame. :D
 
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