When it came to figuring out the game mechanics, the first game that came to mind was TICK TOCK, probably because my girlfriend and I recently tried it out.
While this game is also a puzzle game, its structure doesn’t rely solely on clues to advance the plot. During the puzzle-solving process, there will be three to four different scenes. Typically, the clues in each scene fall into two categories: one type reveals what happened at that point in the story, while the other type needs to be pieced together with clues from other scenes to progress.
In other words, this game breaks down puzzle-solving into two parts: piecing together the story and advancing to the next level. This prevents players from feeling overwhelmed, increases their freedom in puzzle games, and gives them a sense of independent exploration. I really like this approach, and it’s something I plan to learn from.
Another game, The Case of the Golden Idol, is a mystery game based on the TICK TOCK puzzle.
It doesn’t involve much movement; clues are found by clicking, but players need to piece them together and deduce the truth. Multiple clues can exist simultaneously, requiring logical reasoning to determine which one is correct.
This is also what inspired me, and I will learn from this to provide some misleading information or other hints when placing clues.