Create a game where the player must use a programmable robot to sovle puzzles.
Create a game that has over two hours of gameplay.
Create a game that tells a story of one's pursuit of saving their world.
Create puzzles that feel rewarding to solve.
General Info:
Title: Signaled
Platfrom: PC
Genre: Puzzle
Programming Language: C#
Development Time: ~4 months
Engine: Unity
3D Assets: Autodesk - 3ds Max
UI: Inkscape, GIMP
Description:
As your planet is on the brink of destruction, you are sent to a station in the far reaches of space. In it, you find a series of puzzles. With each one you solve, things in the station begin to shift and change. At first the changes are subtle, but as you progress, you begin to realize that the station is trying to communicate a solution to you a solution that can save your world.
Post Mortem:
What Went Right:
I succeeded in making the game have over 2 hours of gameplay.
I succeeded in making the puzzles rewarding to solve.
I created a sophisticated text editor, and code parser with error handling.
What Went Wrong:
Although the puzzles were rewarding to solve, getting to the solution sometimes felt tedious, and frustrating.
While trying to stay minimalistic with the environment, the world began to take on look overly grey. This issue was something I found difficult to overcome.
Early on I made the decision to keep dynamic enemies to a single type. Later I found that it created bouts of boring gameplay at certain points throughout the game. I managed to overcome this a bit by focusing on a variety puzzle presentations, but I still feel it would have been more enjoyable with one or two more enemy types.
What I Learned:
I gained a better understanding of writing code parsers for c-style scripts.
I gained more experience in designing, and developing puzzles in games.
I learned ways of creating UI based text editors complete with all the features one would find in simple editors such as Windows' Notepad.
