The Anatomy of a Game: Clues
February 28, 2022•194 words
A player can ask for a clue if they don’t know what to do next or how to solve a problem. Whether there are any clues available to the player depends on several factors. Firstly, did the game author write any clues into the game? Secondly, if they did, has the player exhausted the supply of clues for the item they’re asking about?
If the game author so chooses, clues may be provided for:
- Problems
- Set Dressings
- Locations
Of course, not every problem nor set dressing may have clues associated with it. Also, you can’t ask for clues for an object that isn’t your current location or that you’re not carrying, nor for problems that have already been solved.
Clues should not be used willy-nilly. They carry two penalties.
- TAF games have a target time for completion. The default time is 45 minutes, but this can be set by the game author—or indeed, by the player—to a different value. A value decided by the game author—like 30 seconds, or a minute—is deducted from the remaining game time.
- The second penalty is a 3 point deduction from the final score.