After having finished everything else I wanted to do for my dungeon, I return to the dilemma at hand.

  “Hmm… puzzles, puzzles, puzzles. What can I do?”

  I usually don’t work like this. My style is to do things as they come to mind rather than following a list.

  When I feel like creating a new monster, I do so; if you look at it from the other side, I only create one when I feel like it. The same is true for traps, dungeon zones, etc. This means that when I force myself to develop a certain idea, it isn’t unusual that nothing comes to mind.

  But not this time. If I want my dungeon to be ‘complete’, I must finish all zones, and this ‘all zones’ includes the puzzle area too.

  I can’t call it ‘puzzle area’ if there’s only one puzzle, can I?

  “Come on, me! This can’t be!” I hit my head repeatedly on a nearby wall, “I should be able to come up with something good!”

  There are plenty of available examples of games that have puzzles, even if I keep it just to the DMA dungeons I’ve seen, but there’s a problem with them. Every single one of them is booooooring! Boooring, simple and, more importantly, booooooring!

  That, or I can’t simply replicate them in my dungeon.

  Sure, I could always place a riddle, or the typical ‘press the buttons in the correct order’ puzzle. A memory one, where the invaders must remember the sequence. A hidden number that opens the lock, or, god forbid me, a mathematical formula that must be solved.

  …If I were ever to do the latter, please kill me.

  But none of the above works. What I need… No, what I require is something better. Something… grand. Something that’s at least on a similar level to my first puzzle.

  Something that makes invaders regret they’ve chosen this path instead of the simpler, battle-focused alternative…

  “But is it even possible to match the Infinity Cat!?”

  Yep. That’s the real problem. The real problem isn’t the lack of ideas but that they don’t quite reach the self-imposed required level. It must also match the ‘no-combat’ rule, which makes it even harder.

  For example, I’ve been considering an idea based on the ‘it lurks below’ concept. A large monster that’s hidden under the water, and you must somehow evade… But how can I make it interesting enough without breaking the rules?

  Another idea that has been orbiting around my head has to do with Laura’s Doppelgangers, those creatures we used in the preliminary tournament matches that can transform into another unit…

  But then what? What can I do with them?

  It would be amazing if they could pretend to be one of the invaders and wreak chaos among their group, but for that, I need them to be able to adapt and change behavior on the fly.

  The thing is that this is impossible to do with AI…

  “If only I could take the lead and control the monsters… Hahaha, wishful thinking.”

  Even if I could, I wouldn’t spend so much time playing random roles. It’d be too boring after the first or second time.

  “I do really like the last idea, though…”

  It’s a shame that the AI can’t fulfill its role properly. If I could make the monsters behave like the players they’re copying, I’m sure the results would be on par, if not greater, than those provided by the Infinity Cat.

  As a side note, I haven’t seen a single player who has successfully cleared the ‘Infinity Cat Challenge’, as I like to call it, with a clear head.

  Without exception, they’ve always started acting crazy mid challenge. I wonder why… “Fufufu…”

  If only the AI could properly imitate players… Sigh! Right as it is now, any player that isn’t completely stupid would recognize the fake companions, the Doppelgangers, after the first time they open their mouth.

  As much as I can try, it’s impossible to make the AI imitate the way players talk. Doubly so if I’ve never met that player beforehand.

  I could make my clones copy me because I knew how I programmed them. I could force myself to talk and say the same phrases I recorded, so it was impossible to differentiate us… But that’s something I can’t do when I don’t know anything about the invaders.

  “As much as I like the idea, I should stop thinking about it. There’s no way I can make it work. Even if I somehow silence everyone, as soon as they use a single skill…”

  I stop mid-sentence. My thoughts trail off as a result of recalling something.

  Silence… Silence… When was it again? I believe Ricard was explaining everything he knew about Field Effects or something similar… Didn’t he talk about a silence-something field effect…?

  I quickly open the dungeon menu and display the Field Effect list in front of me.

  There I find it. Right near the top of the list, sorted by alphabetical order. Absolute Silence… A Field Effect I had thought was a useless garbage joke when I first read it, completely forgetting about its existence until I recalled Ricard’s ‘knowledge drilling’ session.

  “We’re getting somewhere,” I absenmindedly nod, “With this, it’ll make it harder to identify the impostors. Also, it won’t clash with the original idea of no-combat. But still… This alone isn’t enough.”

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  Even if the Doppelgangers aren’t allowed to talk, and players can’t immediately recognize the real from the fake, the gestures and the way they move will quickly reveal the differences.

  Ugh… It’s too hard to deceive players when you must rely on stupid AI…

  “It’d be way easier to go the other way around, making them act as if they believe they were the real players, as I did with my clones…”

  Though that wouldn’t make much sense anyway.

  “Uugh… there must be something… something…”

  I spin the chair in thought. I turn, and turn, and turn… Until I start to get dizzy, stop spinning, and raise both hands into the air.

  “Aaaagh! If only the AI had any actual intelligence! They’re worse than five-year-old kids!”

  As much as I try, I can’t let go of the Doppelganger idea.

  The only reason the Doppelgangers worked in our ‘horror hotel’ dungeon was that we never allowed the players to get a good look at them, running and hiding as soon as they were spotted.

  “Run and hide… Run and hide…” Those two words stick in my head. “Kids, run and hide…”

  Slowly, an idea starts to take shape. And this time, I swear it’s a proper one.

  “I can do this, and limit their moves this way… This way, even if they realize the truth, it’ll be too late…”

  If it’s impossible to make the AI properly impersonate a player, why bother trying? Why not turn the idea around? Instead of trying to hide within the player group, why not make the Dopplegangers hunt them?

  “Hahaha… just thinking about it makes me laugh.”

  If the first puzzle is the ‘Save the Cat’, this one will be ‘Impostor’s Hunt’. Hunt not as in ‘you must find the fake’, but as in ‘you’re being hunted’.

  There aren’t many things that are as annoying as being imitated by a stupid AI, one that doesn’t even try to pretend to be you. It’s even more obnoxious when said monster is chasing after you.

  The viewers will never know for sure if the fakes are doing what you do out of their sight, or if the fakes are making up everything. I know because I’ve experienced it with my clones.

  This ‘Impostor’s Hunt’ will be like a game. A messed-up game of tag.

  As I keep thinking of the rules, I start creating the playground. And I mean it literally.

  I set up a large flat space surrounded by painted walls depicting the sky, the sun, and a forest. I keep the ceiling relatively low so players can’t freely fly, and start adding stuff like swings and slides. I put several barriers, too, limiting movement.

  Snakes made of several circles connected to the ground, nets to climb up and down, those logs that are balanced in the center, however they’re called…

  I make sure to create as many chokepoints as possible, and also one-way paths, like the slides, to further limit mobility. I do everything I can to make this place feel like a complex labyrinth.

  Then, I add the most important element: nine of those small plastic houses kids like to play in. Well, more than houses, they resemble igloos.

  Anyway! It doesn’t matter what they’re called. What matters is that they will be the most important elements in this room, because inside them I’ll put the nine buttons that the invaders must press to unlock the door to the dungeon core.

  Oh, by the way. Despite the many obstacles blocking the way, I don’t cover everything, allowing players to see through most gaps.

  This is intentional. I want them to cower in fear and anxiety for one of the rules they must follow. I’ll explain it to you shortly.

  At this point, I start the creation of the Doppelgangers, or should I say ‘Impostors’? The units I’m using are the Doppelganger, of course, and random slimes I’ve got in the stasis capsules.

  It doesn’t really matter what skills I give them, because under the effects of the Impostor skill and the Absolute Silence field effect, they won’t be able to activate them anyway. But the slimes do have an important role, and that has to do with what their corpses would look like if they were to die.

  …Basically, a pool of slime of the color of the slime used to create them, in case you’re curious.

  “Hahaha…! This is getting to the good point! The puzzle rules!”

  Rules! Rules! Who doesn’t like rules!?

  I’ll write as few and as simple rules as I can, as I did with the Infinity Cat puzzle. Though I’m sure that, by now, you already know that ‘simple’ doesn’t mean ‘easy’.

  The first rule is simple: the invaders must press the button on the nine igloo-houses to open the door.

  The second rule is also pretty simple: no violence allowed.

  “Hey, this is a children’s playground, after all! Who could dare attack the kids playing in it!? They’d have to be a monster!”

  And that’s all. That’s all the rules.

  No, I’m not kidding. Those are the two single rules that make this puzzle work. Although I must admit there are a few caveats and other things that I’ll have to explain to the players so they can actually clear this.

  For starters, there will always be twelve Doppelgangers, three imitating each player. In case fewer than four invaders come, then the remaining Doppelgangers will copy the aspect of a random humanoid unit that isn’t a player.

  The number is important because I want to make the playground feel alive. But also for another, nastier reason…

  …and that reason is none other than the following. If a Doppelganger meets with the original, it’ll explode into a pool of slime.

  Yep. Just, kapoom. Dead. The puzzle rules will immediately kill it.

  This is one of the few ways you can make one of your units straight up die. Some players use them for on-death triggers, but in my case is just to make the game harder for the players.

  Why harder? Of course, it’s because of the following two facts.

  One. When the three Doppelgangers copying the same player die, it’s game over. The game must restart, and all progress is lost.

  Two. Doppelgangers are very, extremely apprehensive. If a Doppelganger sees a ‘dead body’, it will explode too, possibly creating a chain reaction.

  Oh, and let’s not forget.

  Several chokepoints can only be opened if there are at least two or three different ‘players’ present. In this case, Doppelgangers count as players. So this means players may have to cooperate with Doppelgangers, even knowing they’re fakes, but only those that aren’t imitating them, because otherwise they will explode.

  So yes. The final game isn’t about finding the fakes.

  The final game is about convincing the Doppelgangers that they’re real, avoiding contact with the original, and keeping track of where everyone is, all this while clearing the puzzle’s real objective.

  “And all that without being able to communicate at all! Fufufu! Hahaha!”

  This is a ‘game’ to test the player’s mental resilience. Can they bear the constant thought of finding their clone unexpectedly? What if they find one of their clones right after asking for help from another, making the two burst simultaneously? How many of their clones are still alive? Should they stop moving altogether to reduce the risk?

  The gaps between obstacles are perfect to get info on the other players and Doppelganger’s moves, but it’s also a double-edged sword. Can you stay calm if you constantly see movement, but can’t know who it is?

  “Hahaha… I’m looking forward to the player’s reactions!”

  In the end, my idea turned out pretty decent.

  Oh, right. I almost forgot to tell you. Before the game starts, all players will be split and spawn at a random spot in the playground. It’s the same for the Doppelgangers, except that they won’t ever spawn near the player they’re copying.

  We wouldn’t want the players to spawn together, would we? That would make the game too easy. Fufufu! Hahaha!