07/01/2023
It's often difficult, and sometimes impossible, to say exactly where an idea has come from. At first, I had no idea why I'd really thought of developing a web-based puzzle game. And, as far as I can tell, I'd never even played or even heard of an 'online riddle' game (more on that later).
I could vaguely recall having played a hacking game sometime in the early noughties, but I can't remember doing much more than getting past the first couple of levels and then giving up. So I definitely can't attribute that game, whatever it was, as being much of, if any influence on an idea twenty years post.
Without really knowing what I was trying to create, I started to do some Googling around to see what else was out there. The only thing I came up with during the earliest stages of wyfio development, that I thought had any shred of resemblance was Boxentriq. And it was only the tiniest shred. Whilst I had fun with Boxentriq for a few days it's; a mobile app, linear, heavily tool based and mainly about cryptography. Although I did find a discussion of Cicada 3301 on the Boxentriq site which I knew something of and so was, at the very least, lurking in my unconscious.
Whilst continuing to create and develop wyfio I had no further ideas as to exactly what it really was. It wasn't until a player (thanks silic!) said that wyfio reminded them of Godtower: The Skill of God (no longer available) that I got a little bit closer as to what wyfio is. I then started to look up games similar to Godtower and that led on to Notpron, OddPawn and an array of other online riddles. And whilst I think it circumabulates the online riddle genre, I've only brought myself to describe it as online riddle 'like' – up until this point at least.
Having dedicated so much time to thinking about puzzles, a decades old puzzle related memory rose to prominence - Skipper and Skeeto. In my mind, it was a bit of an 2d educational scavenger hunt, involving a mouse like character and his mosquito accomplice and was pretty much aimed at younger children. And I can remember having to help my younger sister with it (that's my excuse) because it wasn't anywhere near as easy as it looked – especially for its target audience. Thanks to My Abandonware I have since been able to confirm that my memory is largely accurate. The Wikipedia page also describes it as 'Edutainment' which is something I think wyfio aspires to in a small way, as opposed to being completely arbitrary with negligible educational value of any sort. So do I think wyfio owes much to Skipper and Skeeto? Probably not a huge amount, but it has to owe something more than the post-Skipper and Skeeto online riddle genre (yes I just said that :] ).
The only other obvious influences that immediately spring to mind as playing out in wyfio in relation to its 'structure' are more recent action RPGs featuring skill trees/wheels/constellations etc. which is an influence for the layout of the wyfio gameboard. Having said that, I suppose you could make a case for parallels between a scavenger hunt and 'fetch quests', the content associated with the mountains strange attractor, and the rewards you'll reap if you can 'grind'.
That'll do for now. Level up.