Windy Gun

Game overview

Windy Gun is a First Person puzzle game where the player would need to use the wind gun to shoot wind in order to complete a variety of environmental puzzles. The aim of the player is to explore the lab which they used to work at after 20 years of the lab being decommissioned in order to find the real purpose of the lab. The theme of Windy Gun is Science-fiction. 

This was the final year project developed from October 2021 to around April/ May 2022 and developed in Unity. I wanted to create "Windy Gun" in particular as way to bring the wind mechanic seen in other games to a main one. 

Puzzles

The puzzles were designed with using different "components" and adding them together at the final puzzle of the level. I did this because I wanted the player to learn the different components individually then all together at the final puzzle as seen above.  A problem I had during playtesting was that some players didn't understand what would happen after interacting with a plate or other interactable, I therefore decided to add in wires to make it easier to see the results as well as to make the room more interesting to look at. 

The "windy" gun

I wanted to ensure the gun was satisfying to shoot. In addition to this, I also wanted the wind to be invisible (is toggleable for accessibility) but the player can clearly understand information about the wind as well as the wind's effect being easily felt. I was able to show the direction the wind is going through leaves blowing in the direction the wind is going. This is to provide visual information for the player. This, in my opinion, was achieved. 

Team Composition

Mario Mingoia - Games Designer  (Designed the puzzles and level) Due to the game being solo-developed, I both needed and wanted to be more critical to know what areas should be improved. This therefore mean that I needed to ensure the Puzzles had a "ahh, that is how you solve the puzzle" moments instead of no clear solutions. As well as this, feedback from playtesters was equally as important because of the fact that others can sometimes see something better. 

reflection and improvement

Overall, I enjoyed developing Windy Gun especially because it allowed me to think about how to use Wind as a main mechanic to provide gameplay opportunities. Something that I'll be continue doing in the future for personal projects especially in regards to Puzzle Games is the idea of using components to Design Puzzles which has been stated previously. The reasons I like this way of Designing Puzzles is firstly because it allows the player to learn how each component works both individually and combined. The second reason is because, this is a more selfish reason, it makes the Puzzles easier to Design because it provided a blueprint for Designing Puzzles. 

Despite enjoying the development and Design process of Windy Gun, like with all things, I encountered issues. Some were admittedly out of my control where I couldn't really do anything about them. Others could of definitely been addressed such as sometimes lacking progress in some weeks and sometimes being overwhelmed. What I could of done, and something I could also improve on, is Project Management as well as sorting out something to keep me accountable. Project Management would help me in the future from keeping overwhelmed because I would have clear instructions. Project Management would also keep me busy because I would have tasks to do each week. Having something to keep me accountable would help in the future because they would make sure a task gets done as well as allowing me to get through being overwhelmed.