Wiki:Page Structure/Puzzles: Difference between revisions

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{{Infobox puzzle
The guide depicts the standard format for all puzzle pages currently on and to be added to this wiki. While some puzzles may require additional information, or reduced coverage in the described areas, we recommend future page creators begin with the following as a base.
|title = Puzzle Title
|hunt = Hunt Title
|round = Round Title
|image = <!-- Should start with File: -->
|image_width = <!-- include "px", defaults to 200px -->
|image_caption =
|author = <!-- If there are multiple authors, please also fill out author1, author2, ... fields with individual authors -->
|answer = <!-- All caps -->
|solves =
|guesses = <!-- total (correct and incorrect) -->
|link = <!-- puzzle link, these should all be plain URLs -->
|solution_link =
|checker_link =
|stats_link =
<noinclude>|suppresstitle = yes <!-- DELETE THIS LINE FOR ACTUAL PUZZLE PAGES --></noinclude>
}}
The introductory section of the article should include the '''Puzzle Name''' in bold, along with the following information:
* General puzzle type (Word? Logic? Etc.)
* [[Round Name]]
* [[Hunt Name]]
* A visual description of the puzzle, particularly any notable creative decisions (Is it presented as a series of images of Trebuchets? Is the page just blank?).


A brief, non-spoilery description of the puzzle may be included, if it is possible to discuss the puzzle without spoiling it. Think of this like a blurb for a novel; a successful one intrigues the reader without spoiling the plot.
==Opening Notes==
The opening sentence(s) for a puzzle page should introduce the puzzle in as concise a way as possible, and the following format should accomplish this:


== Infobox ==
The infoboxes on puzzle pages should contain the following information:


* Puzzle, Round, and Hunt Title
'''[Puzzle Name]''' is a [[Puzzle Type]] from the [[Round]] of the [[Hunt]]. [Brief 1-2 sentence description of visual presentation and/or mechanics]
* A relevant image to the puzzle (if applicable) and a descriptive caption
** Note: Puzzle images will need to be uploaded to the wiki, so avoid spoiler-y images.
* The author(s') name(s)
** If there are multiple authors, also fill in the author1=, author2=, ... fields. Otherwise the page will go into a category containing all of the author names, rather than make a category for each author. There is a maximum of 9 authors allowed; add any additional authors beyond 9 manually (which should happen fairly rarely)
* The answer to the puzzle in all-caps
* The number of solves and guesses a puzzle had (if available)
* A link to the puzzle page, solution page, answer checker page (if separate from puzzle page), and statistics page (if available)


If the template used on this page is copied from the source onto any new pages and the notes are followed, the information filled in should be automatically formatted correctly.
⚫
==Core Puzzle Information==
After the initial sentence, we can divide the rest of the puzzle's information into two sections (both titled with 2nd-Level Headings). First, we need to establish the Solve Path, which ''should not be ripped from the solution page of the puzzle''. These Solve Path write-ups should be an attempt to replicate the order of operations of an actual solve, as solution pages are often written exclusively from the perspective of the author, and may not accurately reflect how an average solver may proceed. They also may leave out pertinent information vital for a non-expert to understand the puzzle in full, or clues that the author didn't deem "important" enough to include in their solution. However, we still recommend reading the solution on top of establishing your own path and referencing it when writing your own Solve Path, as this is the best way to collect as much information as possible.


⚫
==Solve Path==
Key formatting elements of the Solve Path involve the inclusion of the final answer, and separate spoilers for each sentence (including a separate one for the final answer). While the intention of this wiki is not to provide alternate hint systems, this method of spoiling information is simple enough to perform that it may as well be done.
'''NOTE:''' This section is optional. While it's up to the author whether or not they write a solve path, solve paths are best written for puzzles that fit one of the following criteria:
* The puzzle does not have a solution page available, or the provided solution page is lacking in sufficient detail.
* The puzzle requires many step-by-step deductions, such as minimetas or certain instruction-following puzzles.
* The puzzle contains red herrings or other information that would not otherwise be covered in the element list.


This section should be mostly spoiler-tagged, aside from surface observations about the puzzle itself that do not contribute to the solution. Things like "This puzzle is presented as series of circular grids", or "The clues are separated into two columns labelled BINGO and BONGO."
The other section of core puzzle information is the list of elements utilized by that particular puzzle. This section should be in the form of a bulleted list, in which the names/titles of the relevant elements should be linked to their respective pages. After that, short descriptions or explanations of how those elements apply to that particular puzzle may be written, but may not always be necessary. Use your own judgment when determining whether or not they're necessary, but if there is still uncertainty, contact a senior editor via email or discord and information will be added or deleted as necessary.


After that, use the following spoiler tag system...
==Images==
{{spoiler|label=Solve Path}} to hide the majority of your solve path (click on it to reveal the text!) {{spoiler-end}}


As the goal of the Solve Path on a puzzle page is to provide a solver's perspective of a puzzle, and how someone may approach and ultimately solve it, it is recommended to avoid directly copying the solution page of a puzzle. Use it as a reference, particularly if a puzzle is difficult to understand, but attempt to write from your own perspective.
Visual information for individual puzzles should be kept relatively minimum in case of spoilers, but as a rule we try to include purely flavourful images as a way to bring colour and visual context to a puzzle page. For example, if a hunt has an "overworld" or otherwise has icons to represent individual puzzles, those icons can be presented on puzzle pages without fear of spoilers. These types of images should be accompanied by a caption that includes the connection between the puzzle and the image, as well as a brief description of the image itself.


While not everyone will share the same solve path, these pieces of writing should be constructive; if an alternate path is discovered, add it as an additional section of the solve path rather than replacing it entirely.
Should a puzzle not include such an icon, there is still a chance that it may involve non-spoilery visual elements. Once again, judgment calls may be used, but uncertainty can be quelled by involvement of senior editors.


== Track Differences ==
==Categorization==
'''Note: This section is only for hunts with multiple difficulty tracks.'''


Some hunts have multiple difficulty tracks for solvers to work through. Often, the higher difficulty track will be the default version of a puzzle while the lower difficulty will have additions to it, whether it be certain words getting highlighted in the flavortext, extra givens being provided for logic puzzles, or enumerations being added for crossword-style clues.
Categorization is helpful to group puzzles together by their elements. For consistent use of categories, place a [[Category: Puzzles that involve X}} link for each valid element (applied to the given puzzle) at the bottom of the page, and they will automatically be grouped together.


Puzzle pages should be written as if someone is solving the higher-difficulty path, with this section added where necessary to explain the differences between the two tracks.
=Example=


⚫
==Puzzle Elements==
One example of a completed puzzle page can be found below, and at [[The Ferris of Them All]].
Puzzle elements often contain just as many spoilers about a puzzle's solution as the solve path does, so this section should be mostly spoiler-hidden as well. Some elements will not need to be spoiler-tagged, particularly those that only cover the visual presentation of a puzzle.


Puzzle elements should be listed in order of ''first'' encounter when one is solving the puzzle. This means that most structural and flavor/theming elements will be listed first, as they will be the first thing most solvers encounter. Content and flavor/topic elements will be in the middle, with extraction-level elements and submission-based structural elements nearing the end. While exact order may be subjective, most of them should be able to be ordered consistently.


Sometimes elements will need to be created to fill in a key part of a puzzle's structure. If this is the case, we recommend using the talk page and/or to discuss what elements are needed and whether particular elements have been created and named yet.


{{Element|Element Title|Description of how the element applies to this puzzle. Specific details are both allowed and recommended. This element isn't spoiled because it only talks about basic puzzle presentation}}


{{spoiler|label=Spoiler-y Elements}}
{{Element|Element Title|Description of how the element applies to this puzzle. Specific details are both allowed and recommended.}}


{{Element|Element Title|Description of how the element applies to this puzzle. Specific details are both allowed and recommended.}}


{{Element|Element Title|Description of how the element applies to this puzzle. Specific details are both allowed and recommended.}}


{{Element|Element Title|Description of how the element applies to this puzzle. Specific details are both allowed and recommended.}}
'''The Trebuchet''' is a word-based puzzle from the [[The Grand Castle|Grand Castle]] round of the [[MIT Mystery Hunt (2020)|2020 MIT Mystery Hunt]]. It's themed after sieges and the use of trebuchets with relatively odd types of projectiles, although with a degree of creative interpretation of those projectiles.
{{spoiler-end}}


<!-- Add any other applicable categories here (if you're unsure, just ask!), besides "Puzzles from Hunt Title, Element Title, and Puzzles by Puzzle Author, which should be automatically filled if the above templates and infobox are properly used--> <noinclude>[[Category:Page Structure]]</noinclude>
⚫
==Solve Path==
[[File:The Trebuchet (Icon).png|thumb|alt=A trebuchet, presumably wooden, or something cheaper but painted to look wooden.|The puzzle's icon, an old medieval-style wooden trebuchet.]]
The puzzle starts off by providing the solver with a lot of nonsensical letter strings and letter walls, but acknowledging the flavourtext's mentions of projectiles, weights, and an offhand mention of the word "boggle", there are two places one can break in: the trebuchets themselves, and the walls.

If one looks at the trebuchets first, they can find a phrase that may describe a type of launched projectile interwoven with a unit of measurement (albeit mostly ones that aren't commonly used in modern times) such as HOT METAL and HUNDREDWEIGHT.

If one looks at the walls, they may be able to find several words and phrases hidden in them boggle-style. Things like CATS EYE, VERMOUTH, and SLIPKNOT can be found in the first, fifth, and seventh walls respectively. Additionally, each of the walls can be almost filled by the boggle entries in them, aside from 3-4 letters that go unused.

Alone, not much can be done with these two sets of information, but after finding a few things in a single wall (like SLIPKNOT, TOOL, MEGADETH, and MASTODON in the fifth) a revelation can be made. The projectiles from the trebuchets can be used to describe what is found in the walls. For example, HOT METAL describes the seventh wall, which is filled with "hot" metal bands like Slipknot and Megadeth. The grid at the bottom of the puzzle implies an ordering for these: lightest weight to heaviest weight. If that's done properly, the unused letters in each wall can be taken and placed in the columns in dropquote fashion, revealing a final phrase that clues the puzzle's final answer: '''MISTER POTTER'''.

==Puzzle Elements==
* [[Asked and Answered]] - ''"who’s commanding the opposing forces[?]"'' While not explicitly posed as a question, the flavourtext does imply that the goal of the puzzle is partly to figure out exactly who the commander is. As it turns out, it's Mister Potter from It's A Wonderful Life.
* [[Creative Interpretations]] - While all of the "projectiles" presented are in fact projectiles that may be used (albeit some not in real life), they can be parsed in ways that describe other things. "Throwing Stars" are in fact NFL quarterbacks, while "Pieces of Glass" refers to musical compositions by Phillip Glass (his 'pieces').
* [[Dropquote]] - Despite the abnormal presentation of the dropquote grid, it's relatively straightforward. Thanks to the clear delineations made by the different shading in the columns, it's clear which cells belong to them even among the jagged, brick-like construction.
* [[Final Clue Phrase]] - ''"COLDHEARTED FOE OF GEORGE BAILEY"''
* [[Hint In Flavourtext]] - Several hints, in fact. The flavourtext mentions weights, projectiles, boggle, and even hints towards the idea of using unused "bricks" to help construct the new "wall" (via the dropquote).
* [[Interwoven Words]] - On the trebuchets. Thankfully, not in clue format so it's much shorter and clearer, especially when the lengths of the weight and projectile differ.
* [[Reordering]] - By Magnitude. Helpfully clued by a feather at one end of the grid and a cartoonishly large weight at the other.
* [[Units of Measurement]] - Weight. Not exactly common ones (Dalton and Scruple especially), but valid nonetheless.
* [[Unused Information]] - Letters that go unused in the word search grid get transferred (in no particular order) to the proper columns in the final dropquote.
* [[Word Search]] - Boggle-Style.

Latest revision as of 19:56, 31 August 2023

Puzzle Title
Hunt Title
Round Title

The introductory section of the article should include the Puzzle Name in bold, along with the following information:

  • General puzzle type (Word? Logic? Etc.)
  • Round Name
  • Hunt Name
  • A visual description of the puzzle, particularly any notable creative decisions (Is it presented as a series of images of Trebuchets? Is the page just blank?).

A brief, non-spoilery description of the puzzle may be included, if it is possible to discuss the puzzle without spoiling it. Think of this like a blurb for a novel; a successful one intrigues the reader without spoiling the plot.

Infobox[edit | edit source]

The infoboxes on puzzle pages should contain the following information:

  • Puzzle, Round, and Hunt Title
  • A relevant image to the puzzle (if applicable) and a descriptive caption
    • Note: Puzzle images will need to be uploaded to the wiki, so avoid spoiler-y images.
  • The author(s') name(s)
    • If there are multiple authors, also fill in the author1=, author2=, ... fields. Otherwise the page will go into a category containing all of the author names, rather than make a category for each author. There is a maximum of 9 authors allowed; add any additional authors beyond 9 manually (which should happen fairly rarely)
  • The answer to the puzzle in all-caps
  • The number of solves and guesses a puzzle had (if available)
  • A link to the puzzle page, solution page, answer checker page (if separate from puzzle page), and statistics page (if available)

If the template used on this page is copied from the source onto any new pages and the notes are followed, the information filled in should be automatically formatted correctly.

Solve Path[edit | edit source]

NOTE: This section is optional. While it's up to the author whether or not they write a solve path, solve paths are best written for puzzles that fit one of the following criteria:

  • The puzzle does not have a solution page available, or the provided solution page is lacking in sufficient detail.
  • The puzzle requires many step-by-step deductions, such as minimetas or certain instruction-following puzzles.
  • The puzzle contains red herrings or other information that would not otherwise be covered in the element list.

This section should be mostly spoiler-tagged, aside from surface observations about the puzzle itself that do not contribute to the solution. Things like "This puzzle is presented as series of circular grids", or "The clues are separated into two columns labelled BINGO and BONGO."

After that, use the following spoiler tag system...

 
to hide the majority of your solve path (click on it to reveal the text!)

As the goal of the Solve Path on a puzzle page is to provide a solver's perspective of a puzzle, and how someone may approach and ultimately solve it, it is recommended to avoid directly copying the solution page of a puzzle. Use it as a reference, particularly if a puzzle is difficult to understand, but attempt to write from your own perspective.

While not everyone will share the same solve path, these pieces of writing should be constructive; if an alternate path is discovered, add it as an additional section of the solve path rather than replacing it entirely.

Track Differences[edit | edit source]

Note: This section is only for hunts with multiple difficulty tracks.

Some hunts have multiple difficulty tracks for solvers to work through. Often, the higher difficulty track will be the default version of a puzzle while the lower difficulty will have additions to it, whether it be certain words getting highlighted in the flavortext, extra givens being provided for logic puzzles, or enumerations being added for crossword-style clues.

Puzzle pages should be written as if someone is solving the higher-difficulty path, with this section added where necessary to explain the differences between the two tracks.

Puzzle Elements[edit | edit source]

Puzzle elements often contain just as many spoilers about a puzzle's solution as the solve path does, so this section should be mostly spoiler-hidden as well. Some elements will not need to be spoiler-tagged, particularly those that only cover the visual presentation of a puzzle.

Puzzle elements should be listed in order of first encounter when one is solving the puzzle. This means that most structural and flavor/theming elements will be listed first, as they will be the first thing most solvers encounter. Content and flavor/topic elements will be in the middle, with extraction-level elements and submission-based structural elements nearing the end. While exact order may be subjective, most of them should be able to be ordered consistently.

Sometimes elements will need to be created to fill in a key part of a puzzle's structure. If this is the case, we recommend using the talk page and/or to discuss what elements are needed and whether particular elements have been created and named yet.

Element Title - Description of how the element applies to this puzzle. Specific details are both allowed and recommended. This element isn't spoiled because it only talks about basic puzzle presentation

 

Element Title - Description of how the element applies to this puzzle. Specific details are both allowed and recommended.

Element Title - Description of how the element applies to this puzzle. Specific details are both allowed and recommended.

Element Title - Description of how the element applies to this puzzle. Specific details are both allowed and recommended.

Element Title - Description of how the element applies to this puzzle. Specific details are both allowed and recommended.

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