BOARDSCAPE
PLACEHOLDER
A Board-Game-themed digital escape room, created as an activity for teenagers in the SpellenWereld museum.
PUZZLES
A system for the implementation of modular puzzles, which facilitates the creation and iteration process for designers.
PLACEHOLDER
Modularity
The system uses inheritance and Unity's Events to add functionality on top of the base logic of each puzzle, such as opening, closing, and completing the puzzle.
This provides tools for the creation of new puzzles, such as what should happen when the player opens it, when they successfully complete it, when they input a wrong guess, or when the player tries to save.
Multiple Templates
The system offers multiple "building blocks": pieces of logic that the designers can chain together to create a fully fledged puzzle.
These templates illlustrate possible solutions to a puzzle, which can be fully customized and combined to create more complex ones.
Full Designer Customization
The system is designed with designers in mind, allowing customization through the interface of the engine itself, rather than having to delve into the code. Each template allows the designers to set all parameters that will lead to the solution.
INVENTORY SYSTEM
A system to allow the player to gather items from the game world, created using Unity's Scriptable Objects.
PLACEHOLDER
Made with Scriptable Objects
Unity provides a robust and flexible system of data storage in the form of Scriptable Objects. The player's inventory utilizes these objects to save data about which items are currently in the player's possession.
The player can then utilized those items, and the system can track each item's qulities and what puzzles can be solved with it.
Easy Customization
Creating new items for the player to use is very simple. The system works with the endine's UI, and thus a designer only needs to fill out the required fields, such as the item's sprite, name, tags, etc...
Any functionality that the item needs to provide can be added as part of the individual puzzles.
USER RESEARCH & TESTING
Using various research methods and techniques to connect with users and iterate, to ensure the game reaches its goal.
PLACEHOLDER
Connecting with potential players
The target audience of The Energy Case is young adults that are just now starting to live by themselves, and thus have a bit more control over their lives.
It is important to ensure that the game targets problems and ideas that are close to these users, and that the development team understand these issues. The best way to achieve this is to talk with users directly, and gather information from them.
Cultural Probes and Activities
Few people on the street will stop to fill out a survey, and they are pretty limited in the types of data they can gather. This is why the research for The Energy Case was made through fun activities instead.
These include coloring a pie chart, throwing plushies at pictures, and creating discussions from prompts, among others. These activities capture the interest of more people while also allowing more personal experiences to be gathered.