Creating the Chrysolia Springs Puzzles (Patreon)

Special treat for you this morning-- I've had this one in my back pocket for a while. Today I'll be showing you exactly how the Boulder/Surf puzzles in the Chrysolia Hot Springs in E16 were made, step by step. 

My writings here are-- months and months old. In fact I'm not even going to edit it... for the nostalgia factor. And also because I have to leave in five minutes. I originally wrote the below to try and teach Ikaru how to make these kinds of things in the hope that he could go on to do it himself... he declined after reading it >~< 

Nevertheless, hopefully it should be interesting for you all to see!

--

Staato: http://prntscr.com/bydboe

First I adjusted this area in red because I noticed an error. The player could not push the bould down into the puzzle after getting it into the section because there was no position for them to be in above the boulder. By pushing that cliff inward I create a space for it. Note the same problem exists here and will need to be adjusted accordingly. http://prntscr.com/bydgo7

In order to demonstrate what I meant, I quickly laid this out based on the original grid idea you sent:

http://prntscr.com/bydhfw . The idea here is that that water in the center is the main thing that they have to push it around (without it the puzzle would be simple) but they also have to use that spot to complete it. 

I notice some problems right away. Namely the player can't push the boulder downwards at the top left section. To correct it, we add a tile the player can walk on but the boulder can't. That's water, of course. 

http://prntscr.com/bydid1 This is now solvable. But isn't it a little simple? Let's see if we can spice it up...

http://prntscr.com/bydjbl Here, I've done two things. First, I've blocked off the right section, as there should generally only be one solution to a puzzle. This also helps me see the remaining paths more clearly. Second, I've just somewhat randomly expanded the single-tile water spots into more natural pools. This had several nice effects. I assume you can easily imagine the player's path in the previous rendition, but here is the path the player now has to take: http://prntscr.com/bydklc

But there's still so much room left... Why stop here?

by the way i noticed there were several ledges in B1F that were no longer necessary because of the boulder-ledge issue so I removed those. 

anyway.

http://prntscr.com/bydo2r I add a little bit more including an endpoint. The ladder is the boulder's current position. They then have to apporach from its right and then reuse a previous pool to get it in position. Now we can do something with the right side. 

I decide it would be interesting to use a second boulder. Firstly, we have to make sure this one can't be used to clear the puzzle instead of the main one: http://prntscr.com/bydpqv Thanks to our mechanic, this is very easy.

Then, the way to push it out: http://prntscr.com/bydq59

Let's now review the path the player has to take. Nothing from the first part of the puzzle should have been affected, so first they must follow all of the green arrows as above. Then: http://prntscr.com/bydqtv

I see I've made a mistake. I said before a puzzle should generally only have one correct solution, but there's an unnecessary option here. I imagined that the player would go through the lake at the top right, but after pushing the boulder inwards there's no reason they couldn't just walk right where they push it. 

When considering options for this, I get a fun idea.

http://prntscr.com/bydtzr Another geyser set. When the player pushes the second boulder on to the rightmost babby geyser, it increases the water level of the one a few spaces to the left of it. The player has to stand on that one, so it will push them upwards onto another space and block off that path. Note it doesn't push them onto another floor because the water level isn't high enough for that unlike the geysers that start at a height of 2.

There are two problems with this: 1) it will be hard to make the minigeysers look good in that small space. 2) it will be unclear to the player which geyser connects to which. 

For now, let's review the path the player will take for the second part of the puzzle: http://prntscr.com/bydv7i

This is pretty complicated (challenging) and uses the entire space available, so I will consider it completed. 

Now we have to make it look good.

First, to solve the problem of it being unclear which geyser connects to which, I decide connected geysers should be connected by shallow water. This means our strength target geysers and our floor-changing geysers will need to be in the same puddle. This should make it clear to the player what connects to what, and I don't consider it a loss to difficulty since it will never be particualrly difficult to get to the floor-changing geysers.

I'm just going to call them geysers 1 2 and 3 for the time being since otherwise is tedious. That refers to their heights, so 1 is the strength-target babby ones, and 3 is the ones that push them onto another floor. 2 are the ones that just blip them upwards. 

http://prntscr.com/bydwkb This looks weird so I will edit the geyser graphic to allow them to look good on puddle edges. I also know that I need puddles with one vertical space height, so I will create those. 

Congratulations, Kanaya says she's jealous of you. Don't worry, I'll protect you.

http://prntscr.com/bye1km Better. By the way if you need me to do any such graphical edits, you can just ask. I might not get to it right away, but I'll get to it. 

http://prntscr.com/bye21f This one is okay too.

Now we'll take up as much space as possible with cliffs since they are the largest, but most natural obstacle.

http://prntscr.com/bye5dy A good start. Notice the bottom part. I expanded that pool so that it wasn't awkwardly small (and thereby obvious) and it happened to connect to a break in the cliff. I decide to leave it there and place a rock. We can use this for a hidden item location, which will also mask the purpose of that pool. 

I notice an error: To fix it I clip out part of the water. Fortunately this adds to the puzzle since then have to use and dodge that first lake immediately. http://prntscr.com/bye6uu I extend the water to the left to make it look more natural, and since it doesn't impact the puzzle.

http://prntscr.com/byec3b Not bad, I think! But now let's double check to review and make sure the puzzle is still solvable and no shortcuts have presented themselves... We'll put the player's path in green and the boulders' paths in brown. 

http://prntscr.com/byecs3 One mistake! And I notice that we're not using a lake we should be. To fix it..

http://prntscr.com/byedy3 Let's try again.

http://prntscr.com/byee9g Tsk tsk. 

http://prntscr.com/byefgm Better! How about the player?

http://prntscr.com/byeg8l Almost perfect! Note the path in the red is never used, so I will seal that up. This helps the puzzle feel clean, and also confuses the player somewhat less (gotta throw them a bone now and then). Also it will reduce the room for error in unforeseen solutions. 

http://prntscr.com/byeh5r All done! Now when working on other parts of the map, of course, we naturally should be sure to not uhh break this, or preferably touch it at all >>