Hello friends! Peanut here with another part of our Devlog! This time I got all the information about Puzzle Creation Challenges –- brainstorming puzzles, their difficulty levels, and their inspiration
Let’s start with the puzzle-story relation 📖🐶 TMYS is all about the travels of Grandma Rose and puzzles are the main device of the narrative. The dev team had meetings about how well players would follow the events as they go while making sure that not only are the puzzles fun to play, but that the levels themselves are relaxing. One of the priorities was not using “game-overs” or timers to minimize frustration and let you all focus on the story and colorful artwork.
When did the devs know that a level was finished? When they felt that it was fun to play and it looked good – so there are no hard challenges or quick time events that could completely throw you off.
Some of the puzzles were inspired by other media or in-real-life versions of the places that you can see in the game. The Amazon Forest totem and shrine are a cozy take on the kind of puzzles that Tomb Raider or Uncharted characters could stumble upon during their travels. Another inspired set of levels is in the second chapter of the game – the process of making black tea is very similar to how it’s actually made. Everything is put together in a more game-like way – so you can experience it hands-on!
An important part of the Orient Express puzzle set is the map, which is based on one of the real but older routes of the train line. Familiar places, cities, and sights can be spotted and experienced not only through Rose’s eyes but your own as well 🗺👀
With all of this in mind, the developers balanced between different difficulty levels and storytelling. Some puzzles are easier, meant to show off the story and others are made to be more thought-inducing. While designing all of them the devs added a few changes that would make the components of each level fit better together. For example: you don’t have to place every single ball of rice in the perfect spot while making onigiri. Just sit back, relax, and enjoy what’s right in front of you without worrying about making mistakes 🏖🌟
Speaking of onigiri – I’ve got the info from TMYS’ game designer that the cooking levels were really fun to make. Making food step-by-step and watching it come to life is really something – if you are in the mood for any of the recipes in TMYS you can make them at home, too!
Even though Steam Next Fest is behind us, our demo is still up 🎮🥜 If you’d like to play it, we’d be glad if you left us feedback after doing so. There is a short survey at the end. Happy puzzling 🧩 That’s all for now, everyone, take care! Peanut? Out~
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1415570/Tell_Me_Your_Story/