Image-Heavy Presentation
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Puzzles with image-heavy presentation contain a large amount of image data for solvers to sort through or identify with comparatively very little text-based information (or none at all).
Puzzle Application[edit | edit source]
Images are a very helpful medium for hunt puzzles, as they can provide a high level of interaction with text-based aspects of a puzzle. When isolated, however, their options become more limited. When performed correctly, an image-heavy presentation can feel very rewarding to solve, as their lack of instruction and reliance on visual interpretation puts a lot of faith on solvers' ability to intuit the correct solve path.
The most common form of image-heavy presentation is in the form of either identification or non-text clues, as these are easy ways to present a large number of images without needing text to explain what to do. However, as is the case with most presentation gimmicks, making a normal puzzle type using primarily images without a real reason to so can feel stilted, so the importance is making the image-heavy structure feel special in some way.
Puzzles with image-heavy presentation can also feature abstract shapes, requiring solvers to either figure out the meaning of the shapes or identify something that the shapes represent. These puzzles often work best as fish puzzles, allowing setters to focus on creating smaller revelatory experiences where solvers identify the topic of an abstract puzzle rather than trying to create a full-length puzzle without using clear, recognizable images.
Examples[edit | edit source]
- Boxes(TM) (MITMH 2016) (web) - An abstract image-based puzzle, in which solvers must recognize logos/branding based on the color and size of particular letters. The puzzle doesn't even include flavortext, relying entirely on the solvers' ability to recognize popular logos.
- Filler Puzzle (MITMH 2021) (web) - A diagramless crossword puzzle in which the clues are presented entirely as pictures. In fact, besides the title there isn't any in-puzzle text, instead presenting all of the clues as single images in an unnumbered sequence, with the across/down clues separated by a page-dividing line.
- Butterfly Catching (ECPH) (web) - An homage to r/PictureGame's normal content: identifying locations based on single images. In this case, that's really all that solvers are given: a series of images from street-views of various locations around the world, along with some butterfly images overlaid for use in indexing. While it does still have a title and flavortext, the entire rest of the puzzle is just these images.
