A Framework for the Design and Analysis of Audio-Based Puzzles
with Nicholas Séguin, École de musique, Université d’Ottawa
Wednesday, February 26, 2025
5:30 – 6:30pm
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Puzzles are an integral aspect of many video games; they come in various forms and challenge the player’s problem-solving skills in a ludic manner. Some puzzles feature audio in a prominent way, either by making game sound a pivotal component of the puzzle-solving process, or by theming the puzzle around sound or music. Studying these audio-based puzzles can offer many relevant insights into the relationship between player and game audio. Yet, there currently exists very few resources for examining this relationship in the context of puzzles. In this talk, I will present the Audio- Based Puzzle Mechanics (ABPM) framework, a tool meant to assist both researchers and game designers in understanding the building blocks of audio-based puzzles. The framework was built using observations from currently available games and features five categories of puzzle mechanics: Input/Output, Spatial, Environmental, Contextual, and Epistemic. Overall, the ABPM framework aims to provide a solid theoretical foundation for future explorations on the topic of audio-based puzzles.
Nicholas Séguin is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Ottawa studying Interdisciplinary Research in Music. His research interests include game audio, ludomusicology, and auditory cognition. He is currently working on his doctoral thesis, which explores several aspects of audio-based puzzles in games.
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