Find You

Platform: PC
Engine: Unity 3D
Duration: 6 months
Team size: 3-6
Role: Game and Level Design

This project started back on 2020 by one programmer and one artist. I've joined on August 2021 and did work until February 2022.

Since the game was barely designed and there were some playable levels and mechanics my main goal was to set all together. However, I did find that the design was not so cohesive nor consistent so I did remake most of the mechanics, added new ones and created many different levels (around 30) including the tutorials, I did design a tool for creating levels super fast and designed a progression of the levels/mechanics for the whole game. 

Game Overview

Find You is a single player 3D puzzle game where two characters are playing at the same time. Focuses on cozy aesthetic and not so long puzzles that may take a few minutes to solve.

Main mechanics involve the two characters to work on their respective 'dimension' to help the other one to get to the goal.
The actions that a character does in their 'dimension' may modify the other character's dimension or both dimensions at the same time.

Gameplay patterns

Gameplay patterns are repeating sequences of actions that players must be doing during the whole game. This way some of these sequences to solve mechanics and puzzles are done by 'muscle memory' and not being conscious at all once players have repeated them many times. However, the patterns in fact influence players to have different kinds of feelings/thoughts while playing. These patterns are also used and levels have to be designed to include them so players can find a way to not get stuck once their mindset is used to the patterns.

The most remarkable and important patterns are the following:

Tutorial levels

Here are the first two tutorial levels with explanation about what and how are they teaching the player. Note that there's no text nor guide/explanation on what to do, players should learn without any of these only by playing.

Level 0-0: Starting with the basic movement and set the objective

Since there only seem to be a different goal and no other way, players would 'instinctively' click on the only possible option and learn how to move and what's the goal of the game.

Once player reaches the goal with one character may be wondering the next step. 

Been the other character upside down, trying to move the view will result in a rotation which will teach the player how to change between dimensions.

When reaching the goal with the two characters, level ends and shows the 'Level Completed' screen.

Level 0-1: Moving camera and collectables

At first glance there's something new that seems interactable (moving hearts). So players natural reaction would be to click there to see what happens.

Player clicking hearts and learning that is a collectible.

When entering the level, player would look for the objective as has ben taught just before. But they will realise that there are some tiles blocking the 'click' to the goal.
Player must now discover how to rotate the camera horizontally as they already know that camera is movable.

Due to the camera angle at start, player will need to figure out that they have rotate the camera horizontally to properly click the goal.

Extra things that the player could be learning throughout this:

Overall, players should have learned a little bit more than just the mechanics/controls. They should've learned some gameplay patterns such as "Mimo <-> Mimi" and "Reach the goal at the same time". As well, due to learning camera rotations they may notice that it might help them not only for completing levels, but also for having a better understanding of how the puzzle/level is (in the future they may find some clues by doing this). Furthermore, they should now start to get the feeling of the game and puzzles which is not to overthink or stress but need to plan just some steps beforehand and progressing little by little without being punished.

The Elevator: Elevating "2D puzzles" to "3D puzzles"

When I joined the project I've noted that even if the game was 3D puzzles were not in 3D, they were simply 2D levels. So I wanted to add something that could've more difficult to achieve while being more interesting for the players. Since some of the references I was given for doing the design of the game did also use spatial puzzles, which this game was lacking I needed to create something game-changing. (hehe)

Differences between 2D and 3D puzzles

Even if the game is 3D, puzzles were 2D. The processes this GIF show are barely the same.

Even if things like these stairs add an extra layer, this puzzle is barely the same as the previous ones.

Also, controlling each dimension with a different character (by rotating the level/world) is barely the same as a split screen game. 

All of the above puzzles are still 2D even though they have some additional 'layers of thought' when solving them. However, rotating and changing between characters is interesting and affects the game feel in a positive way.

Layers of thought

As it's not a standard nor defined term (because I've invented the name to explain this, lol) I may define "Layers of though" as a very specific kind of mental process. This mental process are the simplest and more reduced actions a person can do while thinking which steps are next in order to achieve something from the very beggining (receiving the information) to the very end (reaching the goal).  [Of course ignoring some mechanical movements that may be implied due to muscular memory even the brain ones.] 

Here are mental layers to solve a simple prompt such as "open the door". In this schema are shown  two examples of the mental process. The first one is the direct one, whilst the second is an example of how could the prompt may be solved in this game.

Both are essentially the same and the more the player does those actions, the layers between 'button' and 'door' will be automatically skipped by their brains making a direct connection. Still, modifying the layers of though in between may affect positvely on the player to avoid their brain from get bored because the layers implied on the relation will not always be the same so they can enjoy the process.

However, still no 3D puzzles.


To achieve the  3D mindset for solving puzzles I needed to create a new game-changing mechanic. This mechanic would give the players the spatial way of thinking and will be converting the 2D puzzles into a spatial ones.


The change that I wanted to achieve can be represented as a colour puzzle in a plane turning into a Rubik's cube puzzle.


ELEVATORS!
This was the new mechanic I came up with.

Elevators used as moving and walkable blocks could modify both dimensions (level layouts) at once and allowed the characters to pass from its dimensional world to the other. Now players can change the layout of the level while changing their position, modifying two elements at once.

Now the game it's currently a 3D puzzle because now changes are done to the same level and have a direct effect on both, not only on one. Elevators change the layout of the puzzle for both ends (characters), not only for one. When the elevator is used again, it changes the layout of the other as well, they are not simple stairs.

Even if this may seem as well simple it completely changes the way of thought of the players way more than adding many 2D puzzle elements. More so, when there are two or more elevators the way the player thinks it's even more stated in 3D mode, which is the only way that helps solving the puzzles.

Concluding

The pass from a planar level into a box level. Similar as the example of Rubik's example used above.

It can be concluded that the levels with this mechanic are no longer 2D puzzles but now are 3D.

Yes, yes, you can see the elevators now.

Here's a video of a gameplay of an advanced level which uses elevators.

Level Walkthrough

Here is a Level Walkthrough of one level at early stage of the game. During the walkthough there will be some explanations on what the level wants to achieve and why it is how it is.

First glance at the level.
The goal is easy to acess and recognizable from the start and easy to access. There's a button easy to acces as well. Nevertheless, it's kind of a 'bait' due to pressing it at this point will serve for nothing.

Lines of the level are directing the vision to the important elements in order to progress the level. Are also in order of steps and importance. Moving barrier -> button -> Goal for the other character.

Only by rotating the level to play with the other char this is how the view is. Players will rotate the level from the previous view to this one because it's the only action they could do to progress.
As can be seen, the lines are as well making the player to look at important elements: The character's surroundings (blue button) -> The goal -> Green platform and button

There's as well a half-hidden collectible next to the entrance that player would notice for sure, due to its position really close to the goal where they must be looking. In this level it's easy to see and acess because it's still early even if the position of the collectibles are starting to be less obvious to see/access.

Since the 'only possible action' (gameplay pattern) is to press the blue button. The player can now figure out how to keep advancing throught the puzzle. As well as using pattern Mimo <-> Mimi

Again, there's only one possible option for blue character, press the green button due to player can not go anywhere else because of barriers.

Back to the other 'dimension' white character can advance (take the collectible) and press the green button.
This action will allow the blue character to pass through their barrier. While using pattern Mimo <-> Mimi, which is used almost always (so I will not mention it any more).

In the GIF, it can be observed that the blue character was also pressing the green button, keeping the barrier in place. However, if the player had moved the blue character beforehand, they would notice the shifted barrier. If blue character was still pressing the green button, once they release it, the barrier will move accordingly. These kind of interactions allow players to realise what is happening, even if they didn't plan or anticipated it beforehand.

Now both characters are close to the goal, in fact blue one can just go to through the goal. But there's the thing, both must reach the goal, so blue character has to help white one to finish the level. Button is that close to the blue goal and moving barrier is that close to the white/pink goal to apply the pattern "Reach the goal at same time" which is giving a sense of relief and safeness while finishing the level.

The design process

Here's the design process I used to design the puzzles.

1st phase: Defining the puzzle

Learn: 

Implement some used mechanics and when the new one has to be solved use any gameplay pattern to make sure player can get it and it's not whole new. (the new mechanic must be in between two other known, so player may figure out how puzzle is going to end and where the new mech has to drive them. Layouts are clear.

Be tested:

Bunch of dynamics that rarely are used in a non defined combination. this order of these levels has more creative freedom due to needs slightly different variations iterations to make sure how the player is thinking at every moment and cause them to find a new way of thinking.
The layout of these levels have more freedom so different and distinguishable shapes

Mixed options:

A merge of various kinds of level in one, usually for bosses which have different phases so a phase can be set on any kind of level mentioned.

Improve:

A level similar to any previous one but adding difficulty not only for the resolution of the puzzle, but also overwhelming the player from the beggining to stress their minds more than the previous puzzle. So they can leave how to solve similar situations but with a worse state of mind. By resolving situations while not being comfortable at all, theirs skills improve and gain more tolerance for much more difficult situations that will come in the future. 

How to overwhelm?
Examples:
- Adding a bunch of blocks, like corridors going nowhere
 - Create many sight-blockers so puzzle can not be easy identified at first glance and requires rotating camera many times.
 - Packing many similar elements to give the impression that there are more than what in reality they have to solve.

Remember, levels still have mainly the same amount of steps, all this overwhelming triggers are 'smoke'.
The layout of these levels may not be so distinguishable among them but the type it's clearly identified due to due the amount of elements in the level.

2nd phase: Flow of the ideas

At this phase of design the process may be different in order, can go backwards depending on the creativity of the moment.


Even if the structure of the levels has been defined that doesn't mean that levels can not be 'duplicated' for exactly same purpose or 'slot'. Many different levels may be the one that uses only A+B mechanic. There are many versions that fit the same 'requirements' in terms of progress but only one will appear on the final game or even they can be used as a base to mix all the best stuff into the definitive level.

3rd phase: Sketching

For creating levels I designed a tool in Unity 3D which allowed me to transform any block used for constructing floors/walls into a gameplay element. So it was really easy to implement any design and make it work instantly (even with some 'final art' assets!).
Because of this tool not all levels got into same level of detail in paper. Once some raw ideas were sketched out I jumped into Unity to build them and modify/finish what was necessary (specially for hiding some elements). By doing this I could test and iterate as soon as possible.

4th phase: Building

Since I joined the project when all the elements were in ‘final art’ state and due to the nature of the floors and walls which are already blocks and the tool mentioned above, there was no clear transition between 'blockout' and 'final art'. However it can be considered iterating the level until its final result as a part of 'blockout'.

5th phase: Iterating and finishing

Progression of the levels throughout the game

Since I was in charge of game and level design I did design the whole walkthrough of the game and the progression of the levels. Here is a brief summary of what I did to organise the levels and plan how they should be done as well as setting some metrics to start measuring the time of the core gameplay loops, steps required for completing each level and with the dificulty curve of the game.

I needed to create an ascending pattern of progression which allowed to keep adding new stuff  while reafirming what has been done previously. This way players would not get bored because no level will have the exactly same type and number of mechanics/dynamics but with different layouts, so each level could feel unique.
Here's a small example where each number represents a different level:
 1: A mechanic
 2: A mech. x2 times
 3: A mech. + A dynamic
 4: A mech. + A dyn. + B mech.
 5: A mech. + A dyn. + B mech. x2 times
 6: A mech. + A dyn. + B mech. + B dyn.
 7: A+B (merged) dynamic
 and so on...

This image is showing part of the process I did follow to organise levels and find a consistency and cohesive progress in the design of the game progression.
At the vertical axis are shown the mechanics/dynamics in the game and at the horizontal axis there are the levels. The result is which mechanics/dinamics does every level include and if they can be repeated (not necessarily only 2 times).
Note: the levels highlighted in orange are the tutorials showing only the new mechanic introduced.
Note 2: the 'Level 0' represents the very first tutorials with no puzzle mechanics at all.

Here's an updated image which includes as well 'Boss levels' highighted in grey and an additional dynamic as a result of two more complex mechanics/dinamics.
It is shown as well which gameplay patterns could be used in each level.

I consider 'buttons', 'levers', and 'keys' mechanics/dynamics to be in the same level of difficulty more or less. However the progression is like this because while having the previous mechanics/dynamics, adding those new ones give an extra level of difficulty that may not happen in a reverse progression. Also it was taking into consideration what would be more fun to add before to keep the players playing the game. This precisely was the criteria to decide whether or not to use any mechanic/dynamic in furhter levels, if they may be fun enough and not make players fall into boredom when using them over and over.

Eliminating the spaces  where the mechanic/dynamic is not used on each level the output graphic looks like this.
What it can be seen is that the game  follows  a consistency of  progression  while not overwhelming players by creating longer puzzles with a  higher number of steps on every level. The progression related to the duration or the mechanics/dynamics used is slow, so players will spend roughly the same amount of time playing. One of the main characteristics of the game is that levels should be similar in duration because it was designed to have short puzzles rather than spending hours. With the only exception of  the Final Boss Level.

The output curve of this graphic about amount of mechanics may be quite similar to dificulty in fact, are kind of related. Because even if dealing with new mechanics is more dificult, the more the player gets used to the previous mechanics, the faster/easier they solve those mechanics and can focus on the new challenges.
So the resulting difficulty by using this pattern for creating levels may be accurate to the position each level represents.  Obviously the difficulty is more ambiguous than that and must be tested out properly once the levels are done, but it helped a lot to have this metrics for mesuring how hard the level may be even before creating them.

Gameplay demo video

Thanks for reading this far, hope you have a good day :)