Exilian

Game Design and Project Resources: The Workshops Quarter => Computer Game Development - The Indie Alley => Bigosaur => Topic started by: bigosaur on August 05, 2020, 03:24:45 PM

Title: The Game is ON
Post by: bigosaur on August 05, 2020, 03:24:45 PM

I'm making a new game. It's features cool pixel graphics and wacky puzzles where you move stuff around until you discover a common phrase or idiom from English language.

Here's an example of a solved puzzle, so you can see how it works:

(https://bigosaur.com/blog/images/tgio1.png)

By solving the puzzles, you get jigsaw pieces. Collect enough pieces to unlock extra levels. You can also get jigsaw pieces by solving the puzzles in least possible moves and by finding pieces hidden in levels.

(https://bigosaur.com/blog/images/tgio3.png)

Some are hidden behind other objects or produced after you manipulate buttons or other things on the screen.

(https://bigosaur.com/blog/images/tgio4.png)

More details on the Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1386280/ (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1386280/)

Title: Re: The Game is ON
Post by: dubsartur on August 05, 2020, 05:45:18 PM

I love the graphics!  They remind me of gaming in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Title: Re: The Game is ON
Post by: Lizard on August 05, 2020, 06:43:38 PM

This looks neat! The mechanics remind me a little bit of Baba Is You, another excellent puzzle game.

Title: Re: The Game is ON
Post by: Jubal on August 05, 2020, 10:50:33 PM

I look forward to playtesting! I do wonder if Boris looks a little too much like Borat?

Title: Re: The Game is ON
Post by: bigosaur on August 19, 2020, 02:51:00 PM

Quote from: Jubal on August 05, 2020, 10:50:33 PM

I look forward to playtesting!

A Steam key should be in your e-mail now.  :)

Title: Re: The Game is ON
Post by: Jubal on August 20, 2020, 02:44:52 PM

OK, I'm one puzzle solution and one puzzle piece short:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I can't find the puzzle piece for "let's call it a day", and I'm totally lost on the anagram/game show one, I guess that has so many pieces that unless you hit upon definitely the right idea then it's really hard to work it out. I might need a hint on those.

EDIT: Got the puzzle piece. Still zero idea on the anagram thing. There's just too many things it could related to - I'm trying to think of idioms with one of the letters, or "spell", or "arrange" or "show" or "board"... but there's just so many options with that set of letters that it's hard to get pointers.

Overall I think the idea has a lot of potential, there are a few puzzles I'd consider tweaking for one reason or another but overall I'm enjoying it, I really like this sort of wordplay gaming.

Some notes:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

About half the puzzles I got pretty quickly, some of them took more time, three or four were a bit tricky.

"She's a peach" is really hard for one that comes so early on in the game, because it doesn't appear in all idiolects of English to the extent that e.g. "she was blown away" or "throwing caution to the wind" does. (Also "she looks peachy" is more how I've come across the phrase before, but it's not something I'd ever say either way, I guess maybe it's just not something we say in my part of England).

I basically got "no pain no gain" by accident, but that's largely from my brain not associating "weight loss" with "no gain" - like obviously a reduction is no gain, but they don't fit together like that in my head.

It's usually phrased "plenty of fish in the sea", so I'd add more fish to that puzzle.

I don't know how valuable the move counter and move count achievement system is? Like it makes me want to go and replay a puzzle to get the counter down and get the achievement, but for most of the puzzles, working out how to do it in very few moves once you know the solution is either trivial or dull (some exceptions - getting "all in the same boat" in one move is quite a fun one). Most of the time I felt it was the game just saying "OK now go back and do the solution again", which... eh, when I already know the solution feels a waste of time.

I don't know what's going on with the anagram puzzle, but I will probably have some thoughts on that.

Title: Re: The Game is ON
Post by: bigosaur on August 21, 2020, 02:02:51 PM

Quote from: Jubal on August 20, 2020, 02:44:52 PM

Lost on the anagram/game show one, I guess that has so many pieces that unless you hit upon definitely the right idea then it's really hard to work it out. I'm trying to think of idioms with one of the letters, or "spell", or "arrange" or "show" or "board"...

There are only 3 possible slots to put the letters in, so you should only search for a 3-letter word. Did you try to place them in the bottom row? Hm, maybe I should redesign that screen to make it clear that the solution should go to the top row.

Quote

there are a few puzzles I'd consider tweaking for one reason or another

Let me know which and how to change them, please.

Quote

but overall I'm enjoying it, I really like this sort of wordplay gaming.

Awesome!

Quote

Some notes:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

"She's a peach"

is really hard for one that comes so early on in the game

I think I will re-arrange the levels so that it comes later.

Quote

It's usually phrased "plenty of fish in the sea", so I'd add more fish to that puzzle.

I'm not sure that would work. If there are already multiple fish in the sea, one could say that there were already plenty of fish in the sea before you started playing. Hm, maybe instead of a single fish, there would be a bucket full of them in the boat and you can dump them all in the sea.

Quote

I don't know how valuable the move counter and move count achievement system is? Like it makes me want to go and replay a puzzle to get the counter down and get the achievement, but for most of the puzzles, working out how to do it in very few moves once you know the solution is either trivial or dull (some exceptions - getting "all in the same boat" in one move is quite a fun one). Most of the time I felt it was the game just saying "OK now go back and do the solution again", which... eh, when I already know the solution feels a waste of time.

Yes. Initially I only wanted to have the extra "piece" on some levels where it's an extra challenge (like "all in the same boat") but it felt inconsistent. Maybe I should make every level a little bit more complicated (with more objects) and then replaying would make sense. Need to test that.

Title: Re: The Game is ON
Post by: Jubal on August 21, 2020, 02:43:06 PM

OK, finally got it.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I think the problem is that there are just too many three letter words: once I'd failed a few I started looking for lateral solutions. Things I tried included putting the B on the lady's head (bee in your bonnet), TEA up there "High Tea", putting the T as low on the screen as possible "getting it down to a T", ACE up for "Ace High", trying to make a combination that contained no multiple-letter words for "out of order"... so yes, I think maybe it needs to be clarified that the letters go in the top box. Maybe change the available letter so fewer other combos are available too? If the E and B were Q and Z then that narrows the options (whilst still leaving enough to make it a real puzzle).

Also, the "boyfriend only" comment from the lady character in that scene when you click her dress sat a bit badly, and I think it would for a lot of the target market for this game as well: like, I know a lot of people who do puzzles and quizzes in the UK and most of those people would a) likely love this kind of game and b) find that a bit off-putting. Just the implied touching-people-wrongly in a work context (even in situations like this where it's very fictionalised/cartoony) is something people in the Anglosphere are very twitchy about with all the sexual harassment scandals of recent years. Also, on a more practical note, maybe she could actually give a useful hint for the puzzle?

For plenty of fish, yes, a bucket of fish/several fish in the boat is what I was thinking.

I don't think making the levels more complex would necessarily help with the bonus piece thing - because the solution is always specific, so once you know it, it's just a case of doing that in exact order. You could make the secret piece on some levels hidden as at present, and on others like all in the same boat achievable with the few-moves thing, and have the end of level read-out say "search to find the secret" or "complete in fewer moves to get the secret" depending on which challenge it was?

A couple of other "how it's usually said":

• It's usually "it's always darkest before the dawn"
• It's usually "it's not rocket science" rather than "it's no"

Title: Re: The Game is ON
Post by: bigosaur on August 21, 2020, 03:20:37 PM

Quote from: Jubal on August 21, 2020, 02:43:06 PM

maybe she could actually give a useful hint for the puzzle?

Good idea. How about "Just do it!" or "It's time for you to do it" or "You should focus" ?

Quote

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

A couple of other "how it's usually said":

• It's usually "it's always darkest before the dawn"
• It's usually "it's not rocket science" rather than "it's no"

I will fix those. Thanks.

Title: Re: The Game is ON
Post by: bigosaur on August 21, 2020, 03:35:33 PM

Quote from: Jubal on August 20, 2020, 02:44:52 PM

OK, I'm one puzzle solution and one puzzle piece short

I'm curious. How long did it take you?

If not sure, check Steam playing time. I'm trying to estimate how many puzzles I would need for a 4-5 hour game.

Title: Re: The Game is ON
Post by: Jubal on August 21, 2020, 05:56:33 PM

Quote

Good idea. How about "Just do it!" or "It's time for you to do it" or "You should focus" ?

Yes, that's good! Maybe "Come on! Focus!" as "Get your act together!" is usually a pretty snappy/emphatic statement.

It took me about an hour to do the majority of the puzzles, and a while longer to re-do bits, find a couple of missing pieces, etc. So I think if you filled in the four panels on the main menu, that would be 4-5 hours fairly easily.

Title: Re: The Game is ON
Post by: bigosaur on August 21, 2020, 08:46:29 PM

Quote from: Jubal on August 21, 2020, 05:56:33 PM

It took me about an hour to do the majority of the puzzles, and a while longer to re-do bits, find a couple of missing pieces, etc. So I think if you filled in the four panels on the main menu, that would be 4-5 hours fairly easily.

Great!

I'll post some progress here when I make new levels.

Thanks for testing.

Title: Re: The Game is ON
Post by: bigosaur on October 24, 2020, 03:14:01 PM

I'm making some progress with game art this week:

https://imgur.com/gallery/Y94fRVO

Plan is the have the playable beta with all levels in by December 1st.

Title: Re: The Game is ON
Post by: bigosaur on November 02, 2020, 06:56:39 PM

Quote from: Jubal on August 05, 2020, 10:50:33 PM

I look forward to playtesting! I do wonder if Boris looks a little too much like Borat?

Perhaps you are right. I have thought that people have mostly forgotten about Borat and similarity wasn't that important, but it looks like he released another movie now, so I don't want to risk anything here. I'm removing the Boris character and all the references from the game.

BTW, I'm nearing the final beta test version. 52 out of 60 puzzles are ready and I already have the graphics ready for puzzles 53-56, just need to cut out the pieces and program the game logic. My plan was to have to complete game ready before December 1st, but it might be sooner.

Title: Re: The Game is ON
Post by: Jubal on November 03, 2020, 05:33:20 PM

Mm, I agree that the new movie does mess the semi-reference up. That said, I think it's maybe sort of good for the game to have a core viewable character as a mascot/puzzle intro, so I'd maybe replace him with something rather than just cut out from having any central puzzle-introducing character at all?

Title: Re: The Game is ON
Post by: bigosaur on November 03, 2020, 07:20:21 PM

Quote from: Jubal on November 03, 2020, 05:33:20 PM

Mm, I agree that the new movie does mess the semi-reference up. That said, I think it's maybe sort of good for the game to have a core viewable character as a mascot/puzzle intro, so I'd maybe replace him with something rather than just cut out from having any central puzzle-introducing character at all?

The problem is that I would have to redo the whole animation. We shall see.

Title: Re: The Game is ON
Post by: bigosaur on November 11, 2020, 10:08:19 PM

I re-did the animation with a different character and he's back in the game. I'll probably make a new trailer with him as well, but it's enough to explain the story.

The game is complete now and ready for testing. There are 200 puzzle pieces in total over 61 levels. The level selections are the following areas from South-East Europe:

• The Bosnian Pyramid
• Dracula's Castle (Bran Castle in Romania)
• Đavolja Varoš (natural monument in Serbia)
• Radan Mountain (anti-gravity hill which is a natural optical illusion)

Each area has 4 hidden puzzles.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

And there's also one puzzle locked in a safe on the main selection screen. It requires a 4-digit combination to open and every world has a hint for one of the digits.

I have update the build on Steam. If there are no bugs or things that need fixing, this will be the final version.

Hopefully I can iron out any bugs in a week or so, and then go back to developing the big Son of a Witch update.

Title: Re: The Game is ON
Post by: Jubal on November 12, 2020, 03:02:21 PM

OK, I'm now on 199/200.

The last puzzle piece I've not managed is:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

One of the level 1 bonus ones. I found the quicksand, the one under the pyramid, and the one on the bottom left-hand side. I'm obsessed with trying to work out if the keyboard pattern on the terminals under the pyramid could mean anything, I've tried redoing some of the puzzles using that as a suggested order but that doesn't trigger anything, I can't find anything else to click on and I'm generally confused.

Other thoughts:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I think the new mini-Boris (with goatee) looks better by far than the zoomed in one with no goatee. Could the zoomed in image get a goatee added since he's basically a static image anyway? This is purely aesthetic pedantry but I think it does help the look.

Puzzles I struggled with or have suggestions for:

• I still wonder if "She's a peach" would be better as "She looks peachy", but that's maybe just my idiolect.
• Pick the low-hanging fruit, which is easy once you've found the axe but seemed odd just because it's more of a hidden object puzzle and guessing the idiom doesn't actually help much with it.
• I took ages to get The Customer Is Always Right, I think it's fine and I was just being dim.
• Skeleton in the cupboard, the text the guy says once you block the door to get the puzzle piece should probably be "I can't open it when there's something in front of it" - the current text just makes him sound weird/a bit of a robot.
• Talk behind her back took a while, since I thought it would be talking over her head then got confused when putting him on top of her head and getting him to talk didn't work.
• I think speak of the devil is a more common phrasing than "speaking" as you currently have.
• I'd usually expect drinks on the house as plural rather than with shortening apostrophe as given in that puzzle.
• Time is money I wonder if the secret-generating bit is too obvious to begin with. Perhaps you should click Boris to make that speech bubble show up.
• Make My Day I think has a real issue in that there are too many possible idioms about days, I was trying "any day of the week" and so on. I think if you change "You =" to "Me = " then that would make it better, as it is I think the number of possible options with juggling letters around and the number of idioms this language has about days makes it a bit of a frustrating brute-force challenge.
• Killing two birds with one stone took several attempts but I think that's fine.
• I found it a bit odd when revealing the secret was a complete requirement of the puzzle, like in Costs An Arm And A Leg. I felt a bit like it would've been good to make me do something else for it.
• Comparing Apples And Oranges is tricky - I worked out the idiom fast but it took some time to work out the technical side.
• I feel like The Game Is On should have been more final somehow - like I did it and then had a bunch of stuff to go back and find, whereas it would've been cool if that was actually the very ending moment of completing the game.

I enjoyed it all anyway - well done, was very good fun :)

EDIT: OK, got piece 200 :)

Title: Re: The Game is ON
Post by: bigosaur on November 12, 2020, 04:46:10 PM

Quote from: Jubal on November 12, 2020, 03:02:21 PM

The last puzzle piece I've not managed is

It's very simple, you can move one of the

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

triangular blocks on the side of the pyramid.

You probably never hovered the mouse over there. I'm amazed how you did all the rest so quickly, as I thought some of the puzzles would be confusing  :)

Quote

Could the zoomed in image get a goatee added

I'll try to draw one and see how it turns out. As I've been practicing a lot with this game, my artistic skills are in a flux currently, so I'm not sure what I can do. Some stuff I think "no way" and I just draw them perfectly. Some I think "that's easy" and I cannot produce anything that looks good in multiple tries.

Quote

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Pick the low-hanging fruit

, is more of a hidden object puzzle

I tried various approaches for that one, but couldn't make it work without it being too easy. If you have some ideas... I'm all ears.

Quote

Skeleton...the text the guy says

I will change that.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Quote

Talk behind her back took a while, since I thought it would be talking over her head then got confused when putting him on top of her head and getting him to talk didn't work.

Hm, looks like I forgot about that possibility. I will try to change it so that you can only do one of the solutions. I could even change it to be 2 separate puzzles, but now I'm reluctant to go into that direction as there are exactly 200 puzzle pieces.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Quote

I think speak of the devil is a more common phrasing than "speaking" as you currently have.

Will fix.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Quote

I'd usually expect drinks on the house as plural rather than with shortening apostrophe as given in that puzzle.

I'm not sure what to do with that one. At first I wanted to do the plural variant, but then you need to have at least two bottles and placing one in the spot would still give you a possible solution (the current one). I even tried a singular without 's, but that sounds bad.

Quote

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Time is money

I wonder if the secret-generating bit is too obvious to begin with. Perhaps you should click Boris to make that speech bubble show up.[/li][/list]

Not a bad idea.

Quote

I think has a real issue in that there are too many possible idioms about days, I was trying "any day of the week" and so on. I think if you change "You =" to "Me = "

I thought it would be too easy if it said "Me"?

Quote

I found it a bit odd when revealing the secret was a complete requirement of the puzzle, like in

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Costs An Arm And A Leg

I wanted to use those to misguide the players, have them thinking "oh, this one is just for the secret puzzle piece".

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Quote

• I feel like The Game Is On should have been more final somehow - like I did it and then had a bunch of stuff to go back and find, whereas it would've been cool if that was actually the very ending moment of completing the game.

I wanted it as well, but on the other hand, I wanted to allow the players to solve the puzzles in any order they want. Hm, maybe I could split that one puzzle I mentioned above into two puzzles, and move this one to the end of the game, so it unlocks when you have all 200 puzzle pieces?!

Quote

I enjoyed it all anyway - well done, was very good fun :)

Thanks!

Title: Re: The Game is ON
Post by: Jubal on November 12, 2020, 07:42:14 PM

For low hanging fruit:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Maybe you could have three trees with fruit at different heights, and you have to put just the low one off each different tree in the basket? I think that would be more about the idiom and less the hidden object puzzle it is now.

I like the idea about splitting the over her head and behind her back into two puzzles and triggering the game is on when you reach 200 pieces. That would make a nicer finale I think.

I think drinks on the house works fine if you just change the idiom text and leave the puzzle as is - a wine bottle can contain multiple drinks worth of wine after all unless you're really going at it hard :)

I think with the text-scrambling ones you need a fairly big clue, or the range of options is just way too high. To complete that one I ended up looking in an idioms dictionary and I'd tried like 2/3 of the things in there for "idioms about days". I mean you can leave it as is, but I think it's especially difficult at the moment so I'd lean towards making it "Me".

Title: Re: The Game is ON
Post by: bigosaur on November 12, 2020, 08:06:05 PM

Quote from: Jubal on November 12, 2020, 07:42:14 PM

For low hanging fruit

That could work. I can leave the hidden object in the game - to be used to get the secret puzzle piece.

Quote

I think drinks on the house works fine if you just change the idiom text and leave the puzzle as is - a wine bottle can contain multiple drinks worth of wine after all unless you're really going at it hard :)

Oh, ok. That's easy to fix then ;)

Quote

I think with the text-scrambling ones you need a fairly big clue, or the range of options is just way too high.

Alright. I have no idea how difficult it is, because I already know all the answers. I have fixed that now.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Title: Re: The Game is ON
Post by: Tusky on November 13, 2020, 02:43:41 PM

Do you need any more playtesting?

Title: Re: The Game is ON
Post by: bigosaur on November 13, 2020, 09:29:25 PM

Quote from: Tusky on November 13, 2020, 02:43:41 PM

Do you need any more playtesting?

I might need more soon. Not sure when, maybe tomorrow, maybe next week. I'm doing some changes for the Nintendo Switch port, so I want to make sure I don't break anything in the Steam version. So it all depends when I finish porting.

If you are interested, I can send you a Steam key once I have a new build ready. Just send me your e-mail at dev@bigosaur.com and I'll e-mail you the key once the build is up.

Title: Re: The Game is ON
Post by: bigosaur on November 21, 2020, 07:27:19 PM

Finally I went back, re-recorded the material and re-edited the video. Here's a version with the new Boris:

This one should be final.

Title: Re: The Game is ON
Post by: Jubal on November 22, 2020, 01:53:06 PM

Great :) Let me know when you know what the official release date is and I can get Exilian to tweet about it and suchlike.