BBBB537. Discussing puzzle games with Adam Porter and Rob Fisher.
Channel: Stuff by Bez
Date: 2022-02-08

Talking about puzzle games!

https://twitter.com/RobToWit

Rob Fisher is a designer of games such as Genius Gems, Kompromat, Qwuzzle, Monkey Dash. 

In Genius Gems and Qwuzzle 2 players race to solve a puzzle and the first player to do so wins the round. What extra considerations go into a puzzle to be solved? Is it important that there is only one solution? How can we ensure it is always solvable? Is it an advantage for it to be always solvable? In puzzle games that give a set of pre-defined levels for one player to work through, how can we determine the difficulty of the puzzles?

Rob is based near the capital of Wales. Rob has one dog, one cat, one daughter, and continues to design games alone and with Adam.


adamportergames.com   
youtube.com/adamsboardgamewales   

Adam has pursued a career in dentistry since 1996, but always wanted to be an actor. After battling cancer, Adam decided that it was important to pursue all passions. From 2006 to 2012, Adam worked part-time in the theatre, at which point dental teaching work became too time consuming. After that, Adam started to be inspired by boardgames - first reviewing games, later on designing their own and passing on design insights to others. 

The first games were released in 2017: Big Bazar and Doodle Rush. Followed by Pikoko, Thrown, Qwuzzle, Zooligans, and Kompromat. (Qwuzzle and Kompromat co-designed with Rob Fisher.) 

Adam married Iris in 2019. They have three dogs, Tedi, Fawn, and Bella, who form a little family. Adam is currently busier than ever with dental work. A training scheme for dental therapists, committees and advisory panels, lectures in communication skills, conflict resolution, safeguarding adults, and several dental topics, as well as working in dental practice. 

Adam still uses actors for teaching. And board game design (and Youtube) is the stress release valve.