Core game mechanic

Presentation Deck: link

“Aperture” is a single player 3D third-person puzzle game where the player pushes, pulls, and lifts objects in the past to manipulate the state of the future. Actions in the past will have consequences on objects in the future, which help the player reach a desired goal or location in the future. The player can swap between the past and future at any location in the level, generally through photos, which act as their portal. To figure out what next steps they need to take, they’ll need to strategically swap between the past and the future. The overall experience for the player would be to solve puzzles, watch how the future reacts to changes in the past, explore the levels and uncover the truth of the past. 

We were inspired off of a specific level in the game Love You To Bits, which is 3:27 - 4:15 of this video: https://youtu.be/DGsgBQnxtpQ?t=207.

The character wants to cross the pond, but the boat can’t be reached in the future because the water is dangerous. They go back in time where the water is clear, so they can swim to the other side and push the boat to the left. Now, in the future, the boat is now on the left, so they can cross the pond safely. 

The levels and movement will look like Animal Crossing push/pull mechanics. The linked video showcases push, pull and rotation of furniture. For our game, we are focused on the push and pull animations when moving an object, not necessarily a rotation action.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjtDuThsxbo. 

In regards to player control, we will have 4 directional movement as well as directional movement. For now, we plan on using the third person controller unity package for our player movement and camera.   

When brainstorming this game, it was difficult for us to find novel ways to implement or change the time travel puzzle solving mechanic. Therefore, we came up with many extensions and additional puzzle mechanics that work with past and future manipulation. The purpose of our pitch was to present these ideas and receive feedback on which “extensions” are good or bad (in many aspects, including how “fun” the mechanic is, how novel the mechanic is, how easy or difficult it would be to implement, etc.) We further expanded the description in this creative pitch so it includes our core mechanic (past and future switching). The next section explains how these puzzle mechanics would function.

Puzzle Functionality

Segmentation Mechanic: The player might initially have full access to ONLY the future level, but would only have access to the segments of the past level that are visible in the photographs. To progress, the player would need to find and reveal new photos in the future level which would, in turn, give the player access to more sections of the past level. This allows the present to affect the past while giving the player a tangible sense of progression.

Flooding Mechanic: The player can dip the photo in water in the future level and cause the past level to be flooded OR the player can unblock a water source in the past level so that the present level would be flooded. This flood could be used to get the player across platforms with large drops, or help the player gain access to an item that would be normally unreachable.

Matching Mechanic: For this mechanic, the player would need to arrange objects in the future to match a photograph from the past, where the photograph is obscured or taken from a different angle than the player is shown. The player would be allowed to progress once the level matches what is seen in the photograph.

Under/Overexposure Mechanic: The photo of the past could be overexposed, causing the past level to be seen only in shadows and highlights, forcing the player to deduce where they need to go by looking at the shadows. Conversely, the photo could be underexposed, resulting in the past level being too dark and forcing the player to navigate the dark by using light sources. The exact lighting we use for the level will depend on the tone of the game. 

Inspirations

Art

Our game will be inspired off of A Short Hike, in terms of its low-poly environment, character modeling, and dialogue and Animal Crossing for its furniture, character designs and shaders. The palette we’re aiming for is muted pastels.

We’re hoping to evoke a bit of playfulness, but also a sense of melancholy through our art. The goal of each level of puzzles is to tell a story through its environment design.

A Short Hike trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usBVx4J4CUM 

Animal Crossing trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3YNL0OWio0 

A Monster’s Expedition trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX-2OcGWIyQ

Moodboard:

Music

For the music, we’re aiming for music that tells a story, such as the music in To The Moon, Undertale and Sky: Children of the Light.

We are hoping to have music that reflects the tone of the level, but also to showcase the capabilities of the music students that are on our team. This means it may include, but not limited to, piano, orchestral music and jazz. 

Some tracks we like: 

For River - To The Moon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QfPDmzpC2Q

Professor Layton theme -- more mysterious + upbeat https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDgDi7c-N3g 

Genshin Impact - Loves’ Oath

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CV4yrXm9qI

Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess - Midna’s Lament

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJr9H2u8-CA 

Howl’s Moving Castle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwxatzcYf9Q