Finding Things...Competitively (Variation #1)

So far, the hidden puzzle mechanic has been seen as a mechanic mainly for casual games and tends to only involve one player (one can argue that multiple people could be working together to find objects, but the games are generally designed so one person is able to solve the puzzle). So how can this mechanic be made more interesting for people uninterested in the casual game genre?

Why not make it a competitive mechanic? I can envision this going two ways:

The first way has two players set up at separate computers (or even mobile devices) linked to the same game. Both players are given the same scene with the same list of objects to find. If played on a computer, the player would not be able to track where the other player's mouse is located and vice versa. As soon as one player finds an object, it is crossed out on both players' list. The goal for the player would be to have found the most objects on the list after the entire list has been crossed out. Games that run too long would be prevented by a timer, in which the player that found the most objects by the end would win. Games that end in a stalemate would be broken by having the players find a special object hidden in the same scene or a new scene (the special object would be an item that is able to be hidden in all the scenes, similar to the Pegasus in I Spy scenes).

Here is a sketch of how the gameplay might work:

While the main action is still finding items off a list, the mechanic is now responding to the actions of multiple players rather than one, adding the competitive element. This way, the hidden puzzle mechanic is still easy for new players to learn, but by having another player it can take a much more active role in a game and be used as a core mechanic in games outside of the casual genre.

The second way involves changing up how the penalties associated with hidden puzzle mechanics are involved. There would still be two players set up at separate devices. The players would be looking at the same scene, but the scenes would act independently of each other (one player cannot clear objects on the other player's screen). The players would also have a different list from each other. The goal for the player would be to clear their list before the other player does. While already a different way in itself, the mechanic is interesting due to its possible use of abilities. These abilities, either found as additional hidden items in the scene or somehow unlocked during gameplay, would allow a player to send a penalty commonly found in hidden puzzle focused games to the other player. This would include temporarily freezing a player's mouse so they can't click or move, temporarily blurring the screen so the player can't look for a short time, or even adding an object to the player's list and setting them back an object.

Here is a sketch of how the penalty abilities might be used:

Adding the competitive element to the hidden puzzle mechanic allows for innovative use of the hidden puzzle penalty mechanics and could allow the hidden puzzle mechanic to branch into social games. This allows more interactivity between players rather than just having players competing for a high score or passively helping each other out.