My third and, to date, final time participating in Global Game Jam came in 2020 in the form of Moon Base Zeta. This time, the team was much more prepared for the demanding workload a 48-hour time constraint imposes and we were able to make a fully playable, albeit short, atmospheric puzzle game in time to submit. Of course, it still didn't quite live up to our plans, with our original intention being an incredibly ambitious VR creation (which may be evident when solving the first puzzle), but in comparison to our previous submissions, Moon Base Zeta was a resounding success. A thoroughly entertaining project to work on with a satisfying end result, in Moon Base Zeta engaging puzzles, atmospheric lighting and an unsettling soundscape come together to make one unique escape room-style experience.
The name Moon Base Zeta is a subtle reference to the base's hexagonal design, 'zeta' being the sixth letter of the Greek alphabet.
The initial idea behind Moon Base Zeta was a 'VR escape room' (sound familiar?), though this quickly changed as we opted to drop the VR and expand the 'escape room' into a larger puzzle game spanning multiple rooms. Each room presents a unique puzzle, such as repairing faulty pipelines by replacing missing sections, or remembering a sequence of alien symbols to enter into a keypad in another room. Once the player has been to each room and solved its puzzle, they will end up at the bridge, where a stereotypical big, red button will end the game.
Of course, given the time constraints of Global Game Jam, the game was considerably shorter than we had hoped, and a variety of other puzzles were planned which we could not implement. However, in comparison to our previous entries, Moon Base Zeta was by far the most complete, offering a short but polished experience.
You can download Moon Base Zeta here!
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