X - Y - Z
Platforms: PC & Console
X-Y-Z is a perspective-switching puzzle game, inspired by Monument Valley & Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.
The player is equipped with the ability to shift perspectives and must use this in conjunction with their wits and platforming skills to traverse any obstacles and puzzles that lie in their way.
Responsibilities:
Prototyping (Paper, 2D)
Gameplay Programming
Level Design (Lvl 4)
X-Y-Z was a collaborative project, made by a team of 4 people. It started with the games concept and we used agile development methodologies to create a paper, 2D and finally 3D vertical slice of the game. We fleshed out the initial concept and core mechanics together and then each worked on our own level designs.
My role involved iterating the mechanics, prototyping, designing level 4, and programming the Unity builds. I also acted as Scrum Master throughout the project and utilised Trello to keep the deliverables on track.
Trailer
Process
Design Process
Once it was decided that we would be taking on the idea of a perspective-shifting platformer, we discussed the games design further over a period of multiple meetings. We spent time covering all aspects of the games mechanics and spent time coming up with level designs that best suited the core mechanic.
Going through the prototyping process was immensely helpful for ironing out kinks in the design of the mechanics that otherwise might not have been found until deep into development.
For a game like this, it was very useful having a physical version of it to demonstrate the perspective shift. It helped us figure out issues with our design and helped flesh out aspects of how the mechanic would work.
There was an instance in which the team was unsure whether the players position should change when returning to 3D space, based on which platform they were stood on in the 2D. Ultimately this lead to a discussion around how the mechanic in general would work in Unity, which helped out a great deal down the line.
The 2D prototype showed us the importance of iteration for the design of the levels and highlighted the importance of using the mechanic in a creative way, to really challenge the player and not just act as filler in the gameplay. This resulted in us going back to the drawing board and refining the majority of the levels.
Technical Process
The core functionality was tackled using colliders that are either enabled or disabled based on which camera is active.
By enabling them when in 2D, the player has surfaces to walk over to keep up the appearance and logic of the perspective, and also has solid walls to stop them from passing any architecture that they shouldn’t be able to when in 2D. The colliders each contain a separate script, that is used to crush the player if they switch perspectives when overlapping with walls.
The only real issue after this was ensuring that the position of the player within 3D space kept up with how we had designed the logic of the perspective mechanic. It was designed that they would be moved to platforms in 3D, that they had reached in the 2D space. To do this, colliders were once again used at any points where this logic needed to be applied, but instead to transform the player.
This meant setting up colliders with a reference point, that would both transform the player back and forth between positions respectively, to uphold the illusion of the world physics. It was crucial that the games logic worked consistently throughout all levels, so a great deal of time went into this stage of development.
Screenshots
