#6 Varying puzzles

To repair the giant machines of the Exographer world, you’ll have to solve puzzles. To design them, our game designer Pierre-Alban Ferrer had to meet various design objectives: simple or advanced learning of a power (see devlog #3), checking players’ skills, using the camera, illustrating mechanics specific to science…

Puzzles based on ray redirection, for example, meet the latter two objectives. The first (scientific) inspiration are the electromagnets of particle accelerators such as the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. These are used to bend particle tracks as they travel through the tunnels to serve various experiments. In play, this curvature is greatly exaggerated to allow right-angle redirections and beam separations. This brings us close to some of the puzzles in Half Life: Alyx.

These puzzles also require the use of a camera: electric rays are not visible unless photographed. This again echoes science, and adds a little memorization challenge. Finally, we’ve added a little difficulty by blurring these beams with one of our absurd materials.

Other puzzles focus more on learning the mechanics of the game. The « code lock » type puzzles, inspired by escape games, require a good understanding of the character’s movements in order to explore the levels and collect clues by taking pictures. 

Another learning puzzle: in the muon sanctuary inspired by the Kamiokande mine (see devlog #1), the character must pass « light bulbs » to « turn them back on » and restart the machine. This mechanism, very similar to Mario’s gold coins or Sonic’s rings, allows us to show the way, but also to make massive use of a newly acquired power (the zediacal boxes), combining them with other powers. The challenge is: how do you deploy this box in the right direction to reach this precise point in the level?

Other puzzles will test the handling skill of the acquired powers. Such is the case with the time-limited passages. By adding the time constraint, we’re calling on reflexes rather than thinking, ensuring that Ini is capable of meeting the challenges ahead.

Exographer has a number of other surprises in its gameplay mechanics, which will put your thinking skills to the test. For example, where did InI get lost on his ascent of Cosmic Mountain?