Hello everyone, and welcome to the latest episode of our Community Puzzle Spotlights!
While exploring the incredible creations in the workshop last week, we were thrilled to discover "The Co-op Principle." This puzzle pack quickly stood out to us. We downloaded it, launched it, and found ourselves genuinely enjoying its unique asymmetric puzzle experience.
"The Co-op Principle" draws inspiration from beloved co-op puzzle games like "We Were Here" and "Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes." It requires two players to communicate and collaborate, solving puzzles on their respective screens. Our playthrough was filled with laughter, and we were delighted to see how well this concept worked within the Talos universe.
We highly recommend subscribing to this puzzle pack and trying it with a friend. Once you've experienced it, don't forget to share your thoughts on the puzzles in the comments or directly on the workshop page.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3470874980
Now, let's dive into a conversation with the talented creator behind "The Co-op Principle." Qoqqi!
BASEMENT CHATS WITH YASEN
⚪Hello Qoqqi, it’s great to have you with us! Could you please introduce yourself to our readers? Since when have you been creating puzzles for The Talos Principle, and how long have you been part of our community? What initially inspired you to start designing puzzles for the game?
I love playing puzzle games, and I also enjoy creating maps for various titles, including The Talos Principle. I’ve always been curious about creating things, I'm into modding and programming in general — although I haven't published most of my work.
I first played Talos about three or four years ago. I was impressed with what the game offers: the story, the music (I love Virgo Serena and The Fall of Gehenna; Damjan Mravunac makes really good soundtracks—tell him I said hello), the addictive puzzles, and most importantly, the stars, that was the most interesting part. And yes, the easter eggs. :)
The first map I ever created and published was "Elohim’s Creation" for TTP. I made it about a year ago after spending a month and a half diving into the Serious Editor. When I began working on it, I didn’t expect to build something truly substantial I was simply "testing out" the editor (which, by the way, is also why the puzzle "Intervention" turned out so small, it was the first puzzle I made).
⚪Your release of The Co-op Principle is one of the most unique takes on The Talos Principle. You’ve essentially created an asymmetric co-op experience, somewhat reminiscent of We Were Here. I had a fantastic time playing it with my friend. Could you share how the idea for such a puzzle concept came to you? Was it challenging to design puzzles that fit this cooperative format?
I'm really happy you enjoyed it!
I've always wanted the chance to play The Talos Principle with a friend (much like in Portal 2). Since there wasn’t an official way to do that, I decided to try building it myself.
Originally, this map was just an experiment inspired by We Were Here, where players also play offline and solve puzzles by sharing information. I was curious whether I could pull off a cooperative format using the editor's built-in tools, which to be honest are still quite limited. For some parts, I used third-party tools to add certain objects to the level.
⚪Now that your co-op project is complete, do you have any plans to add more puzzle sets to it? Are there any other new projects you’re currently working on that you could share some details about with us?
At the moment, I don't have concrete plans to continue or expand The Co-op Principle; however, there's still a chance I might revisit it someday.
Right now, I'm focused on creating a "Reawakened" version of my original Elohim's Creation map. I'm trying to reconstruct as many details as possible, but I'm once again facing the editor's limited functionality. I would love to recreate the final cutscene from Elohim’s Creation, though. On the plus side, the new editor offers many fresh features that make development much easier, so this new version will look significantly better.
Beyond that, I occasionally publish small, standalone ideas as mini-maps ("Little Island, Little Star," "Lost Connection," "Ra, the Sun God"), and I also dive into the game files to build tools for the community, like the Talos .level editor.
⚪Thank you for joining us for this interview, Qoqqi! We’re definitely looking forward to highlighting your future projects. For the grand finale, feel free to give a shout-out to anyone out there!
I would also like to thank everyone who helped me create this map.
Special thanks for the story and dialogues to NataliJey.
Thanks for the playtesting to chamdresser, SamX, and Kirena-kaya from the NOEMA Archives Initiative.