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  • Subject: A game about logic and philosophy
Subject: A game about logic and philosophy

The cake is a pie

So as an aspiring designer, I've decided to finally try and pull together my first game. And even though it's probably going to be terrible (your first ten games always are), I want it to touch on something unique and unexplored. So I'm trying to make a web game about logic.

So far, the concept is that the player walks through this little 2D world, observing things such as all trees being green or all clouds being in the sky, before they come to these ravines, and, in the style of the common bridge-physics games, have to build their way across them. BUT, the ravines have signs at their edges, always asking a question, and using visually represented logical syllogisms, the player must build an answer, and use it to cross the ravine.

For example, after passing a whole bunch of orange squares, the player will come to one square with its color concealed. The ravine will ask, "What color is this square". The player will then construct the most basic logical argument. On the base of the ravine they can ground known premises, in this case, "The shape is a square", and "All squares are orange". From this they can suspend a statement in mid-air, the conclusion that "The square must be orange", which can be used to cross the ravine.

As the game goes on, I hope to expand into much more complicated and interesting puzzles, which might be solved in different ways. The problem is, Flood, I'm struggling to conceive solutions to even slightly more complicated problems in my notes. So, I'd like you, using only logical rules, to try and solve some of these problems in your post.

The Watering Can
Two men stand beside their respective trees. One grows oranges, the other grows lemons. Between them is a watering can, and both men argue that they need it to water their trees. The ravine asks, "Who should get the watering can?"

In this puzzle, I have already had to invent a new sort of game mechanic. When grounding your premise at the base of the ravine, sometimes it is necessary to provide a subjective premise. For example, you might pick the object of lemons, and right-click to provide your own property of lemons, from which you might be able to choose, "All lemons are good" or "All lemons are bad".

So, could you try and solve it?

  • 12.28.2012 4:02 AM PDT
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Posted by: theHurtfulTurkey
A real test of a man is if he is willing to scrape a sharpened razor up and down his junk just to please a woman.

The answer to the tree problem is Oranges because Every Villian is Lemons. If the lemons are not watered, the villians will not grow.

your first ten games always are [terribru]are you talking about 1 quickie games or ideas that don't have revisions or tweaks and are just thrown into a game for experimentation, or what? How much content constitutes as a game?

[Edited on 12.28.2012 4:12 AM PST]

  • 12.28.2012 4:10 AM PDT

The cake is a pie


Posted by: Sh1n1ng Wolf
The answer to the tree problem is Oranges because Every Villian is Lemons.

your first ten games always are [terribru]are you talking about 1 quickie games or ideas that don't have revisions or tweaks and are just thrown into a game for experimentation, or what? How much content constitutes as a game?

If I were to finish this game it would be a quite short online platformer, but I'd like it to have more playtime than many of the short-but-sweet arty games like Air Pressure.

  • 12.28.2012 4:15 AM PDT

It sounds like a pretty good, though quite complex, premise.

  • 12.28.2012 4:19 AM PDT
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they should share the watering can

  • 12.28.2012 4:47 AM PDT

The cake is a pie


Posted by: Elegiac
they should share the watering can

Mmm yes I'm trying to compose a system in which the player can find whatever solution they like. I did in fact plan for such a solution briefly in my notes.

- All water is liquid.
- All liquid can be shared.
+ All water can be shared.

- All life is good (subjective premise)
- All good should be preserved.
+ All life should be preserved.

But I'm confused where to go from here. I'm worried that I might be running into Hume's is-ought problem, in which case finishing my game design will involve solving a 200 year old philosophical aporia.

  • 12.28.2012 4:51 AM PDT
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If I didn't preserve life, I wouldn't have a decision. For me, 'life is necessary' is the first consequence of living.

  • 12.28.2012 4:57 AM PDT