I don’t think anyone whose opinion you should care about would expect you to invest time you don’t have in their games, so please think of yourself first!
I prefer to avoid puzzle games in the first place, and get very annoyed if they’re sprung on me without warning. On the off chance I end up wanting to play the game despite the puzzles, I still hate the puzzle parts. Well, apart from riddles. Those I can deal with.
I’m kind of on this side too. There are puzzle games I’ve enjoyed, from Myst to Hadean Lands to Filament, but when I’m in another type of game I enjoy more-- like an interactive novel or open-world RPG-- I’m usually a little irked when a puzzle shows up to break the flow.
Having that puzzle be super easy doesn’t really improve matters; it just makes it feel like an over-elaborate fake choice. I’d rather have a challenging puzzle gating off some optional content than a simple puzzle as a main-plot “bottleneck.”
BUT there are clearly loads of people out there who love their puzzles, so don’t take me as representative.
Happy September 15th everyone!
Excerpt sharing time!
Remember that excerpts shared here are not intended to elicit proper critique and feedback, but if anyone does have an opinion, feel free to contact the author in a DM (also making sure they are ready for the feedback would be a good idea.)
These sharing exercises are to help build up confidence, and some authors may be at the point where the act of sharing is still overwhelming to them.
For this month’s excerpt, I am going to share a piece of creative writing I wrote a week or so ago.
I first pull the ferro-shade chainmail suit on, the stuff so black it’s impossible to fit properly without using the built-in witch-light guiding traces. It fits me like a second skin, easily stretching with my movement and surprisingly comfortable.
Ferro-shade chainmail has both magically reactive elements and biotic elements, with the former spelled by master witch craftsmen and the latter harvested from shades by master ghost hunters. It is also highly illegal and if I am caught wearing it, I will be thrown into the local dungeon and the key to my cell thrown away for good.
…
Witch-hands and a magical mirror coalesce around me to assist in dressing.
As I secure the riding cloak around my shoulders, it reacts by subtly moving of its own accord. Not threateningly. Benignly, if anything. A living sentience wakes itself up and seeks to connect with the most animalistic parts of my brain. Our emotions and intuition align as one, and my five senses are enhanced far beyond that of any mortal.
Automatically, without thought, I flip the hood up for a moment before deciding I’d rather have the full range of my peripheral senses right now and push it back down onto my collar.
It is time for me to leave my dressing room and head to the stables, but I am missing something, so I pause and take a brief look about me. My eyes glance from one spot to another, until they focus on the piece of jewelry I’ve left in its box.
I have been behind this entire month, so far, so I do apologize that I was late in posting this.
The good news this month is: If I continue at the pace I am on for the month, I might finish my first editing pass on Patchwerks this round of testing. I have added 40,000+ words to the game this pass, and that does not include the rewrites and deletions made as well.
The time sink (as in sinkhole) is a major consideration. I can only test for up to three authors a month (and less this month because I am still behind) and even then I push myself.
You really help by doing what you can, but no one should begrudge you if you are unable to do “more”… it isn’t fair to anyone, including yourself and the authors in question, if you burn yourself out, drive yourself insane, or get sick trying to do too much.
And I say this as a person that tries her best to do as much as I can each month myself, to help others.
Final note: If I am quiet the next few days, it is because I am truly trying to get my month’s work caught up.
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Right, but that’s why you should tell up front that the game has puzzles, instead of sneaking them in under the radar.
The puzzle is available in one of two branches in the storyline… and you do have the option to skip the puzzle with minimal penalty even if you pick that branch. (minus losing the achievements) 
I’ll probably just keep it as it is. 
How would you guys describe blowing a raspberry without saying… that?
I think this sort of depends on context, but something neutral might be ‘sticking out their tongue and blowing [air over it],’ or something akin to that? (Bracketed part optional, I think.)
Well, part of the issue is that you’re eavesdropping, so you can’t see the character. So I’m trying to find a way to describe the sound but that isn’t… overly modern sounding or incredibly rude lol
That’s what I’m trying to avoid lol, it doesn’t fit the vibe. 
I’ll figure something out.
Hmm. That’s a tough one. ‘A flatulent noise,’ maybe? Flatulence is a word from like the 1600s or something (but has Latin roots), if that’s a reasonable period to be drawing from.
Can’t you just say it sounds like a fart? That’s maybe a little impolite, at worst.
“You hear Joe blow out his breath through his teeth as he sighs in exasperation.”
People tend to assume that old time people were super polite and all that they weren’t. they were rustic and harsh and very direct. Only the higher classes educated had that politeness to differenciate from the masses.
The Quijote has an entire chapter about this puking and farting. With Qjijote chastising Sancho terms.
The key importance and impact of The quijote is so bast. That we now use ALL suggestions and terms Quijote recommended 500 years ago.
I would just say “blow a raspberry”. Or if the tone behind it would work, snort/scoff; or if it’s more about playful teasing, and the phrase blowing-raspberry doesn’t work, I’d have them say something playfully-teasing instead of making a noise.
The problem with challenge and difficulty in these games, imo, is that in almost all cases it’s challenging precisely once and then it’s just tedious in all future replays. After all, the nature of these games is “read the text, answer a multiple choice question”. That is not compelling gameplay, that is a quiz.
“makes a rude noise”
“gives a lengthy thhhbbbbbting of the tongue.”
Have you tried sticking “raspberry onomatopoeia” into google and seeing the results that pop out?
This sounds like a medical condition. “He was afflicted by a thbting of the tongue, and we had no choice but to operate with urgency.” 
A bit late, but I’ll add my two cents. I think it depends on the tone of the story. Like @poison_mara I prefer to role play, so if the story has a darker tone, or set up such that the MC is facing an impossible/ near impossible task, then I prefer the story to be a challenge. On the other hand, if a story has a lighter, more whimsical tone then I prefer it to be easier. Obviously, there is a large spectrum in between there. 
tldr: I’d match the difficulty with the tone.
I might suggest “pftt”? 
That’s only the case if there’s only one set of “correct” answers leading to one “good” ending.
If “failing” the “quiz” leads to an outcome as compelling and as satisfying as “aceing” it, and the player is made aware of this, then there’s no reason why they wouldn’t want to continue playing through a “failed” playthrough, or come back to see what else is out there for them after a “successful” one.
Today was not a writing day for me, but rather I spent the afternoon at the national library, looking at their marvelous collection of illuminated manuscripts. And spending a non-trivial amount of time in their bookstore, although I managed, with heroic effort, to avoid buying seven or eight books that called to me from the shelf. I should probably finish the books I’m currently reading, instead.
My best role-play of Morrowind was one that had the infamous You destroy the fate of the prophecy you can continue knowing the world is doomed I slept in Caius bed he believed I was stoling his skooma and attacked me. So I killed him and used his home lol. Best Morrowind experience ever as a skooma slaver
