Other ways to unfold figure 1. Another game designer Kevin Maroney includes puzzles as a subspecies of games. I prefer a finer-grained definition that I first heard from Chris Crawford, veteran game designer and founder of the Game Developers Conference . Puzzles are rule-based systems, like games, but the goal is to find a solution, not to beat an opponent. Unlike games, puzzles have little replay value.
Toys are manipulable, like puzzles, but there is no fixed goal.
Stories involve fantasy play, like toys, but cannot be changed or manipulated by the player. Four types of play, each built on the previous For instance, in the realm of computer entertainment software, Quake is a game, which includes some puzzles. The Incredible Machine is a series of puzzles, which includes a toy-like construction set for building puzzles. SimCity is a toy, which players make more puzzle-like by setting their own goals. Myst is a story, which happens to be told partly through puzzles.