Just wondering how important are highscores in a puzzle game? For example Bubble Blast and Cut the Rope have highscores. But do they really benefit from them? Angry Birds, for one, doesn't and is also very successful.

I can imagine highscores are very important for a survival or tower defense type of game, but for a puzzle game I wonder if I'll be better off spending time on something else... say, unlockable achievements?

Personally I agree with you. If I were playing a puzzle game the main goal for me would be to complete the puzzle, having achievements for maybe completing the puzzle in a certain timeframe would be appealing :)

Thanks for your comments, Danny. I think I'll just focus on achievements then. Something that doesn't change gaming experience but alters visual style in an interesting way, like in Fruit Ninja. Seems like more fun to me. After all, highscore is just a number.

The chief for the Gauls, where Asterix lives is called.... Vitalstatistix.

High scores, OpenFeint, Facebook integration is all about engagement. It is a way to boost the players ego. If you read Johnathan's early articles when he wrote about making Monster tilt, he mentioned that the charm of posting on Facebook and sharing with people was what enticed him.

In short, one of the engaging factors for a game player is the challenge to beat the previous score, in some puzzle games they have stars and a score, so getting a 3 star becomes the challenge.

Ultimately, someone will download the game *not* based on do you have high scores or not, but the visual appeal, and then continue to play if they are challenged.

cheers,

?:)

I agree with jayantv. If the puzzle game is really captivating, scores may contribute to keep the player involved with the game for longer. Many people like to play the levels again to get higher scores.

Note: Sorry my bad English :S

Well, what I meant is integration with service like OpenFeint. Angry Birds do have stars, and I'll have somethings similar in my game to enhance replayability (say, you try to better your results by playing 1- and 2-star levels after you've finished the game).

But in a puzzle game, unlike survival type of game (e.g. Doodle Jump), you'll usually end up with the same score when all levels are completed with 3 stars, so sharing your results with someone else is kind of lame. Unless you count solving time maybe, like Danny suggested. Hmm... if you count if only once - the first time a puzzle is solved, it could be interesting.

I do plan to add Facebook and Twitter integration, though.

Thanks for your comments, guys!