While designing a puzzle is hard enough, sometimes it is even harder to deconstruct one. There are many methods to puzzle solving, none of which are set in stone. I've seen everything from pictures of clay structures, to flash animations, to stegged graphics, to crytography. Once you get accustomed to some of the wily ways of puzzle makers, puzzle solving becomes second nature, even with puzzles that *aren't* puzzles. :)For my example, I'm going to take you through one of my own creations, from JadedMedia eXperience. In stage 2 of our puzzle series, we decided to start off with a question about a secret word. While the correct entry in the form box got you to the right page (2.2), any other answer brought you to what we like to call "The Bad Trail" (2.1.1). Sifting through the Bad Trail may help some of you with puzzles in upcoming ARG games, although it is quite a simple trail to go through.
For the record, my methods aren't always the 'best'. Admittedly, I'm not a very good puzzle solver, but I try my best. If you have better methods to solving any of the puzzles on the Bad Trail, more power to you. You can now move on to writing for a satire-style web magazine dedicated to Alternate Reality Gaming. :)
Each page of the bad trail will be left intact, as it is on the JMX server.