Puzzle design kit
- inspired by The Talos Principle
About
Responsibilities
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Researching the reference game
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Experimenting with possible design solutions
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Rebuilding the game objects in the engine
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Adding quality-of-life features for users
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Creating a gym level to showcase the tool
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Building a demo level
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Creating gameplay models/visuals
This puzzle design kit is a set of tools that can be used by level, puzzle, or gameplay designers to create puzzles that are heavily inspired by The Talos Principle. It was built for Unreal Engine 5.1 using visual scripting.
This project focused on learning how to develop tools for preproduction. This resulted in me creating scripts that were accessible and easy to use by designers both for creating levels and for expanding functionality in the future.
Level design
4 step process
To showcase what the toolkit I created was capable of, and to do a personal stress test of the toolkit I built a demo level. This level consists of 9 puzzles that are divided into 4 sections.
These sections were based on the 4 steps in the four-step level design process.
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Introducing all the gameplay elements slowly in simple puzzles that explain the functionality to the player.
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Developing the player's understanding of the systems by requiring them to learn the small details of their functionality.
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Creating twists on the introduced gameplay patterns and questioning the player's assumptions.
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Concluding the level with a big set piece that tests the player's knowledge.
Player experience
Besides creating a system that was easy to use for developers, it was also important that the player had a good experience playing the levels. I did this in a couple of ways.
I added UI elements that show what objects the player has selected, these UI elements will also show if the object is in line of sight (white icon) or being obstructed by an object (grey icon). I also added an outline on objects that can be selected.
To give the player more control in where they will place the object they are holding I added visuals to help guide the player. These visuals could also be used to show that certain objects have an placement attraction.
Game research
The Talos principle is a game that derives its gameplay from its interactable gameplay elements and does not use any form of player mechanic. To get a good grasp of these gameplay objects with the aim of being able to recreate them later in Unreal I formulated the following research question:
What functionality is shared between level elements in The Talos Principle?
This question was explored using multiple methods, these methods included:
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Tables
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Venn diagrams
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Pseudocode
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Animated diagrams
The pictures on the right contain more detailed descriptions of the different methods used and for what purpose.
Method
Results
All of the research led me to identify 6 unique traits that encompass all of the puzzle mechanics in The Talos Principle. These traits all had a precise definition that made sure that they were as general as possible. This would result in traits that would guide me to create modular code.
The table on the left shows the 6 traits and how each gameplay element is related to the traits.
Engine research
During and after the game research I looked into different methods for how to implement the different traits into Unreal Engine. The experimentation was vital since it allowed me to try new techniques and go through trial and error to be able to make an informed decision for the implementation of the traits.
Pick-up prototypes
These prototypes are me testing if I can detect objects in front of the player, how to add them to the players hand, and how to remove them from the level.
Laser prototypes
Prototyping the laser was focused on how the nodes interact with each other, how the beam interacts with the player, and how the laser visuals would work.
Switch prototypes
To build a puzzle, a way of prohibiting player progression is needed. Therefore the energy wall was prototyped focussing on using interfaces and timelines.
Tool creation
Gym
This gym was intended to be fully explanatory for someone who might want to work with this puzzle design toolkit.
To showcase the toolset that I had built I created this gym level where the user can walk through, interact with the game elements, and look at the displays which included the game elements and an explanation of their functionality and use.
The second part of the gym shows different specific interactions that can help the user get a better grasp of the limitations and capabilities of the included puzzle elements.
The tool was created with the intention of being as modular as possible. The first step in this process was to identify the traits during my research, and then use these traits as a basis for the logic created in Unreal Engine. The whole project was created using visual scripting.
Three different methods were used to create each trait's behaviour. These were: inheritance, interfaces, and actor components.
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The connector, receiver and generator are all inherited actors from the laser base. This base has all the core functionality of a laser object.
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The laser objects, the switch inputs and switches all communicate with each other through interfaces.
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The pick-up functionality was created using actor components which meant it could be added to any object.
Tool structure
Reception
After the project was finished I decided to share my work in the community Discord for Croteam (the developers of The Talos Principle) on the fan creations page. I got a lot of positive and interested responses from fans, people involved with the playtesting of the Croteam games, and one developer at Croteam
Take-aways
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Doing extensive research into the features you are creating allows for a better structured and more user-friendly code structure
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Building features with modularity in mind creates more flexible code that can be reused throughout the project and others.
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For puzzle ingredients, it is important to create features that support each other and interact in interesting ways.
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This project could have been more modular if I had used more actor components for the laser objects, switch inputs, and switches.
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The 4-step level design process doesn’t perfectly apply to puzzle games this could be investigated further in the future.