Damien 
I recently created a Unity tool to help automate some admin in my game (namely generating easy-to-read solutions to my puzzles), and as part of this I needed to get screenshots. This post details a quick and easy way to get a screenshot of your game and save it as an image file in your … Read moreEasy Screenshot in Unity
Partway through developing Entangled (* working title) I started to feel that it should be in 3D. I was comfortable with 2D, but I felt that the game might be more interesting and fun with an extra dimension. The game felt like it would have more potential in 3D. And the challenge of using 3D … Read moreEntangled* Dev Blog #2 – 3D or Not 3D
Entangled (*working title) is a puzzle platform game with a novel mechanic blended with physics in a science-fiction setting. You play as a robot with the ability to entangle objects to enable the solving of otherwise impossible tests…for reasons you learn over the course of the game. This dev blog is intended to show the … Read moreEntangled* Dev Blog #1 – Finding the Idea
In this article I will detail several concepts and techniques for creating great puzzles. These concepts can be used to improve your existing puzzles or to help complete or refine your puzzle designs. Sequence Puzzles Most puzzles require the player to do actions in a certain sequence to solve them. The simplest form of this … Read morePuzzle Design Concepts Part 1
Complexity and Difficulty Puzzle difficulty is important to manage. If your game is too easy it will be boring for players; if your game is too difficult it will be more frustrating than fun. You need to find the right balance of difficulty, both in individual puzzles and in the game as a whole. You … Read moreManaging Difficulty in Puzzle Games
The Practical Side of Puzzle Design Before you can learn how to come up with great puzzle ideas, you’ll need a technique for recording your ideas. in a tangible form. This will vary according to your personal preferences and strengths. You could build puzzles directly in your game engine (or a level designer built into … Read moreHow to Design Puzzles: Puzzle Ideas
Once you have your puzzle mechanics chosen, it’s time to start designing puzzles using those mechanics. But before you can start creating puzzles you need to understand puzzles, how they work, and what makes them fun and challenging for players. Puzzle Theory A puzzle is a challenge that needs to be overcome. Get to the … Read morePuzzle Design Theory 101
Whether you have a ground-breaking unique puzzle mechanic nobody has ever seen before or are reinventing some tried-and-true classics like a block-pushing game, how you choose and use your puzzle mechanics is what will make your game shine. Mechanics A game’s mechanics are the ways the player and game interact. The Witness’s main mechanic is mazes; Hue’s … Read morePuzzle Game Mechanics
A common issue that can plague Unity devs, especially beginners is that input doesn’t always work consistently. The most obvious manifestation of this is when your jump button doesn’t always cause your player to jump, or your shoot button doesn’t always shoot! While these symptoms can be caused by a number of things, there is … Read moreWhy Jumping (or any input) Doesn’t Always Work
C# is a case-sensitive language. This means that “hello” and “Hello” are considered completely different by the language. This can often be a problem for beginners, and also can cause the occasional head-scratching for advanced C# or Unity developers. Generally, in C#, the case sensitivity is not a big concern, as the compiler and IDE … Read moreCase Sensitivity in C#