Sol
A 3D exploration narrative puzzle game told through the perspective of a next generation rover. You have been activated to investigate the disappearance of missing colonists on an unknown planet.
August 2016 — PC — Unity
I entered mid-way through production of this intricate game, having to integrate puzzles seamlessly into the existing project workflow and game world. I learned advanced scripting techniques, play tested the game at conventions, and converted a mobile game into a 3D puzzle.
Features
CONVERTED MOBILE MINI GAME INTO
3D WORLDSPACE INTERFACE
Since I had come in during the middle of the project, I was tasked with porting a third party mini game designed for mobile into our 3D game world, keeping the puzzle canvas present in the world space. This allows the player to rove around freely and open the puzzle from any angle. Some detail-oriented code conversions were required around the skeleton of the package, as well as transferring of screen space user-interface for mobile into world space ready game objects.
CREATED AND ITERATED ON VISUAL/AURAL PUZZLE FEEDBACK SYSTEMS
I was responsible for creating the user friendly feedback system which included dragging wires along grid cells, success/fail on connecting nodes, and providing a screen space inventory for wire counts. One of the largest obstacles to this implementation was scripting all of the catch cases for the puzzle logic, such as backtracking wire drags, overlapping wires, and running into the broken cell spaces. I also iterated on the spark particle effect for dragging, directing the head of the wire, and integrating success/fail audio feedback, all of this based upon analyzed play testing results we did at gaming conventions.
PROGRAMMED PUZZLES TO
ORIENT TOWARDS PLAYER
Since these puzzle canvases reside in world space, we wanted to design them functionally to be approachable from any position and any angle. I programmed the ability of the canvas to rotate, position, and scale itself in order to stay the same relative size to the player as well as the interaction mechanic for entering and exiting the puzzle, allowing the player to attempt the puzzle without hassle in the 3D world.