{"id":355,"date":"2008-04-25T09:45:41","date_gmt":"2008-04-25T14:45:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wurb.com\/stack\/archives\/355"},"modified":"2016-07-19T17:07:41","modified_gmt":"2016-07-20T00:07:41","slug":"puzzle-quest-distribution-channels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wurb.com\/stack\/archives\/355","title":{"rendered":"Puzzle Quest: Distribution Channels"},"content":{"rendered":"

Puzzle Quest<\/em> seems like the logical next step in our examination of nonstandard combat mechanics. Like Bookworm Adventures<\/em>, it’s a RPGification of a casual game mechanic based mainly around pattern recognition, this time Bejewelled<\/em> and other “match 3” games. Match 3 games are usually classified as puzzle games, even though they generally don’t contain what I personally think of as puzzles — which is to say, things where the player’s effort goes toward trying to figure out a solution. Presumably it’s because their lineage<\/a> can be traced back to Tetris<\/em>, and thus to polyominoes and other assembly puzzles.<\/p>\n

But before I go into the gameplay, I’d like to talk about distribution channels. This is a game that’s available both on physical media and through online download, as is increasingly often the case. In the past, I’ve preferred to get games on discs where possible, but I’ve been rethinking this lately. On the one hand, physical discs give a greater illusion of permanence, which is important to those of us who like to play old games. There are discs on the Stack that I’ve had for more than 15 years. I don’t think I still have any downloadable installers that old on my system (and yes, such things did exist back then, mainly for shareware titles), nor the means to re-download them from their now-mostly-defunct publishers. On the other hand, my still-green experiences with long-distance moving have taught me how easy it is for physical objects to get lost, and Steam is making downloads seem like a more solid prospect, by making downloads from multiple publishers available under a single account that you’re less likely to forget about, and by being less likely to go out of business soon than a single indie publisher.<\/p>\n

I started using Steam only very recently, and basically out of impatience: the one software retailer 1<\/sup><\/a>Software retailers just aren’t as dense in San Francisco as they are in Manhattan. Before the move, there were four within my customary orbit.<\/span><\/span>