Solveland - Graduation Project
Previous
Next
Solo development
Feb 2020 - Jun 2020
Project information
Description
Genre: first-person puzzle
Team size: 1
Platform: aimed at PC
Project type: Graduation project
Software used: Unreal Engine 4, 3Ds Max, Photoshop, Illustrator, Trello
Solveland is a first-person puzzle game, wherein you have to solve big-scaled puzzles in order to progress further. The goal is to solve puzzles to create new paths and to find the exit of this abandoned ancient city.
Responsibilities / contributions
Creating game mechanics and systems based on the features
- Creating a game concept that fits the scope
- Planning out deadlines and writing a development log every other week
- Finding references about the game concept and the solo development approach
For my graduation assignment, I wanted to create a small game with a relatively compact system that I could use in different manners. A puzzle came to mind, if I have a core feature, I can use it in multiple ways. With this assignment, I can focus on more aspects, such as Unreal Engine, Blueprinting, level design, game design, and puzzle design. To help me push during this solo development, I promised myself to write a devlog every other week. This way, I have a deadline, a short-term goal and I can reflect on my work.
Building a paper prototype and in-game prototype
- Make a paper prototype that helps me design puzzles
- Creating an in-engine prototype with Unreal Blueprints
- Finding and maintaining an efficient workflow
The core mechanics were written down and tested with a paper prototype. Those mechanics would still need to be tested in-engine, but the vision was there. The ‘Cubes’ feature is the base, and I wanted to make it in such a way so that I could use it for my other features. Therefore, this system needed to function effectively. Meaning, I wanted to be able to paste this around in the scene and still be functional. Each level contained four puzzles with a thought-out difficulty. I was still using the paper prototype for designing puzzles. I made a simple pixel-based overview of each level, which I could produce in Unreal.
Designing and creating puzzles with the core mechanics
- Creating combinations with game mechanics
- Designing a map containing different levels and puzzles
- Creating a bubble diagram for the level and difficulty flow
The map layout design started with a Google Sheets table, showing the difficulties and the different combinations of the features. Once I had that, I transformed that into cells in Photoshop and with those cells, I could make a bubble diagram. This diagram represented the level flow throughout the whole map. This was extremely helpful, and it helped me create the map layout. I started on paper and once I had a sketch that was satisfying to me, I went to Photoshop and made the map layout in there. The original map layout was way over-scoped, but there was plenty of room for me to down-scope it to a size that was achievable for me.
