calamarain
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 933
Registered: 03-25-2007
IP: Logged

How do you get ideas for these? I mean, I can create a room where you can see what to do immediately, the puzzle is managing to do it. Those kinds of rooms are trivial.

But lynchpins are a lot harder to think up. Mine tend to come in a bizarre moment of inspiration, or when I notice something unusual happening when I test a room. This doesn't happen often, I'm really not very good at making lynchpin based rooms.

But how do you think up ideas for what the lynchpin should be? The thing that's not immediately obvious. I'm curious to know how you guys get your ideas for them. Do you look at a quirk of behaviour? Do you just stick stuff down and see what happens?

How do you lot do it? I'm curious to know your methods I might discover one that works for me.

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My Holds

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[Last edited by calamarain at 10-19-2007 12:04 AM]

Chaco
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 3626
Registered: 10-06-2005
IP: Logged

The lynchpin is usually either figuring out how to make something happen for me, or figuring out what an interaction is.

For example, two lynchpins from a couple of my holds (without the rooms they are associated with )

-An aumtlich gaze will freeze a mimic.

-Relay stations can be destroyed by bombs.

At other times I just make rooms where the goal to be accomplished is enforced by unusual means, such as in:

-Chaco's Hold : Level II: Doors and Arrows : 1 South, 1 East

-Terrakept Resonant : Thrice Descended : 2 South, 1 West

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Quick links to my stuff (in case you forgot where it was):

larrymurk
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1913
Registered: 12-09-2004
IP: Logged

I often get ideas from other holds. I often start playing a room and think I see the trick. Then I realize that doesn't actually work in the given room so I create a room where the player is forced to use said trick.

Other times I just try to think what are interesting object characteristics or interactions and design a room based on that.

calamarain
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 933
Registered: 03-25-2007
IP: Logged

larrymurk wrote:
I often get ideas from other holds. I often start playing a room and think I see the trick. Then I realize that doesn't actually work in the given room so I create a room where the player is forced to use said trick.

Other times I just try to think what are interesting object characteristics or interactions and design a room based on that.

Whatever you do, it seems to work. I've done something similar to that myself - Below Witherwood has three or four rooms where the idea was inspired by something done in the Limited Space contests.

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My Holds