"Combine the power of dreams and programming!"
That is cool catch phrase, but in reality, game design is never straightforward.
At heart, DreamScript is quite regular first person puzzle game - find your way to the level exit, rinse and repeat. But player's ability to reprogram his/her environment gives it fun and unique twist.
During the development of DreamScript, there has been three core elements that we have had to balance:
1. Fun elements:
- Shrink yourself, spawn stuff, get crazy with the code!
- Overall story that keeps the player motivated and immersed in the game world
2. Puzzle elements:
- Interesting challenges
- Steadily increasing difficulty curve
- Make the player feel smart
3. Educational elements:
- Teach real programming concepts to the player
- Make programming feel less complicated and scary
With limited resources, there is never perfect balance or perfect game. Nevertheless, with the help of playtesting and after some redesigns, we are quite confident with our product and excited about the future.
You can evaluate did we pull it off later this year.
