Plasklantis
A portal-inspired puzzle adventure
In order to get to the fabled city of Plasklantis and unite the mermaid Calypso with her people, you must jump, grapple and solve the trials ahead.
Project Breakdown
Introduction
Project details
The goal of this project was to make a puzzle adventure with only a few components and focus on making those components as fun and engaging as possible. Since this was a collaboration I also had to consider the world and setting around the character being utilized.
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Developed in 4 weeks half-time
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Created using Unreal Engine 5
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Template developed in 1 week
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Made in collaboration with Hedvig Kronnäs
Overview
The Process
Treading the waters
The preprod started with us creating mechanics in Unreal Engine 5 in order to see what was feasible and most fun in the amount of time we had. Only after this initial testing was done did I make a flowchart with the progression. Alongside the flowchart, I wrote down rules that I would have to design around as to make the puzzles work correctly.
Building Plasklantis
I started the building process by first prototyping 2 puzzles on paper and then blocking them out in-engine. After tinkering with the puzzles and getting a feel for the gameplay and puzzle mechanics, I started fleshing out the actual level, which contained 5 puzzles in total.
(Not) Reinventing the wheel
For inspiration, I revisited the reference game, Portal 1, to analyze how they structured their puzzles and introduced new mechanics to the player. Since my game had many overlapping mechanics with Portal 1, it was the perfect subject of analysis for this project. It's from this analysis that I created my design rules.
In orded to sell the illusion that we are underwater, I raised the fog-intensity and enabled volumetric fog to enable god-rays. The caustics were made with a panning material that I placed on the directional light. The level utilizes 2 different materials that I tweaked to give different results, such as brightening floors for readability or turning doors yellow to indicate positive affordance.
Mechanics
The level has 3 main puzzle solving components. Boxes, your hook, and Miss Mermaid.
The boxes are found lying around inside the level. They can be picked up by the player and placed wherever they like (but more often than not on a button.
Miss Mermaid is the level's "Companion Cube" stand-in. She assists in pushing down buttons for the player in places they might not reach. She's controlled by the player at will by aiming at a reachable spot and pressing Q.
The hook is found mid-way through the level and can pull boxes towards the player. It also allows the player to reach boxes in otherwise unreachable spots.
Designing by Subtraction
During the early stages of the project, 2 additional mechanics were considered. The first one was a bubble that would travel in a set direction, bringing boxes and Miss Mermaid along with them. The second one was a button that only Miss Mermaid could activate, which was often used for the final solution of the puzzles.
In the end, both features were cut. The Bubble required too much onboarding, meaning more components had to be in the puzzles to give a coherent experience.
The Miss Mermaid-button fulfilled the same purpose as the regular button, only being used as a lazy solution to avoid the player leaving Miss Mermaid behind when finishing a puzzle.
Onboarding
The onboarding sections for each of the mechanics follow the same basic formula:
See problem, get new tool, experiment with tool to solve problem.
Since the game has 3 main mechanics I utilized the first 3 rooms for this purpose. I decided to teach the player the mechanics in order of complexity. Starting with picking up boxes, using Miss Mermaid, and ending with the hook.
The boxes are introduced in the first room. I utilize a bait and switch in order to hide the solution of the problem before the player figures out what the problem is.
Miss Mermaid's mechanics are introduced in a room with a lot of buttons. It's up to the player to lead her to the correct buttons at the right point in time in order to solve the puzzle.
When the player first gets introduced to the hook, they're encouraged to explore the environment, thus finding the first box in the puzzle. Later in the puzzle, they're challenged with an accuracy test with the hook.
Guiding Methods
Throughout the level, I've used symbols and color to indicate the correct path forward. The doors are yellow on one side and purple on the other, so the color language is always consistent. It also helps reinforce the correct path forward.
All doors leading to the next puzzle are marked with a symbol of a fish! This symbol is only used to indicate the exit and solution to a puzzle.
30 Seconds of Fun
Since the game only has a few components, it was important that they were fun to use. Making the components fun was my first priority.
I quickly prototyped all the mechanics for a first draft in order to playtest them as early as possible.
After creating the first draft of the mechanics, I asked my classmates to playtest the game to get their feedback. Once I knew what was working and what wasn't, I started making test-levels and based them on alliterations using these mechanics.
Having settled on a few different alliterations, I had finished the theoretic part of the level. Thanks to the thourough planning and pre-production, building the level went smoothly.
Problems and Solutions
One of the problems I encountered was on the fourth puzzle. Players would get confused about what the first button in the room activated.
My solution to this problem was to add activation lines which lead the player to the exit door, helping the player find the correct path.
Another issue I encountered was that by the time the player had reached the fifth puzzle, a box had become reachable without having to solve the puzzle first.
My solution to this issue was to make the box available by placing a trigger which would activate the box-launcher when the player enters the room the puzzle takes place in.
Closing Words
This project was great fun, being able to work closely with another person and give eachother constant feedback was amazing and without all the feedback and input I got from my colleagues and my educators, this project wouldnt have been able to make it to this state. I would also like to thank Hedvig Kronnäs for being a great collaborator on this project and putting so much heart in it, aswell as Jakob Pihl for his lovely music. If i had more time on this project i would've loved to give Miss Mermaid more functionality for puzzlesolving since in her current state she can only stand on buttons.
Thank you for reading! - Anton