Game Overview
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A 2D Puzzle Platformer where you switch the timeline and dash with the orbs to solve puzzles and survive the ruins
Gallery
Responsibilities
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Designed the core mechanics, including the time switch and the orbs
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Designed other game objects, like lever and buttons to enhance the interactions
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Designed and implemented half of the levels
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Facilitated in dividing the responsibility for each level, and improved consistency between the levels throughout the game
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Mainly responsible for most design documents
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Including game design documents, sprint reviews, retrospectives, and Wikis​
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Conducted and recorded information for playtest session
Design Goals
Elegant Mechanics
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The game focuses on a single core mechanic of time switching where everything else enhances the mechanics with more interactions, which allows the game to have simple rules but still retain depth
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Since it is a mobile game, we want the controls to be simple. So, we only used a single virtual joystick and a single button
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To reduce the twitchiness of a puzzle-focused game, we lowered the action part of the skill ceiling as the time slows down automatically when the player gets close to the orb so that the player has time to action
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However, the time still progresses slowly to add a sense of tension, so that the player won’t think for way too long
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The game also offers dynamic difficulty in the sense that the player can shoot more orbs into the portals to make the action part easier for those who just want to enjoy the puzzles
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Whereas those who also like the action part of the game, can blast through the level as soon as they figure out the solution with some high-skill ceiling actions
Guiding the Player Invisibly
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The game uses colors and contrast to notify which state the player is in, so the player doesn’t need to look for it
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Colors and lights highlight the interactable objects.
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When looking at the particle effect, the direction of the particles’ flow hints at the direction the orb will go.
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Furthermore, the orb as a moving object itself draws the player’s attention, and hints at the direction it travels could be the player’s path
Well-paced Puzzles
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Since we want to keep the player in the flow, we start the game quite easy but an interesting mechanic to keep them engaged
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In the early stage, the player is allowed to test and try the thing out when a new mechanic is introduced and can make mistakes without any punishment
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Gradually, the player’s skills are learned and reinforced, so they will face more challenging puzzles with new twists to keep things fresh
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Meanwhile, puzzles do not strictly get harder and harder, there are downtimes for the player to relax a bit to create tension and release
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In the final moment, the player will keep using the orbs to thrust the character into a new height. The challenge itself is not hard, but the exhilaration of the rhythmic upward movement symphonizes with the climax as the player feels the final achievement of completing the game
Postmortem
What Went Wrong
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Lacking game consistency early on. Since we started with two level designers, and with the addition of a third level designer later on, we lost some of the communication efficiency, resulting in our levels having different metrics in the early milestones. As we found that out, we separated our responsibilities so that we don’t just build our levels, but also need to find any potential metrics or design metrics for others so that our levels are consistent.
What Went Well
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Early Pivot. Initially, we had the idea that certain platforms only exist in one timeline, but we quickly found out that it requires additional artwork to convey the information to the player or the player could be easily confused. So, we cut the mechanics as early as possible, so that we didn’t waste more resources on a mechanic that is hard to work out, instead by focusing on a smaller set of mechanics, our game is more elegant.
What I Learned
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Playtesting is Crucial. Without a fair amount of playtesting each milestone, we simply won’t be able to find all the problems ourselves and have enough time to iterate on them. Through playtests and documentation, we gathered enough notes to make priority lists for each of our milestones to keep things organized.