Daily Documentation

Monday: Today we worked on flushing out the idea, at the beginning we chatted about the sketch and communicated to make sure nothing was confusing. Then we started testing to make sure things we didn't think would work. We tested parts of the beginning not cementing anything and sort of just playing around with different things we weren't sure about and changing the idea if they didn't.

Tuesday: We started the actual creation process today and fixed things and created the whole thing. We actually skipped part of the machine to do the screw and spline tunnel before we started working on the first pulley since we weren't sure how we were going to trigger it yet. So we had issues with the spline tunnel and took about half the period figuring this out and we started here to try to fix this since this was a part we hadn't fully flushed out yet. So we fixed the spline tunnel and made sure a ball could go down the screw and trigger another idea that we weren't sure would work. So we were unsure and Bryce came up with the idea to let the trucks back wheels off the incline plane so it wouldn't go so when the ball fell on the lever it would lift the truck and send it down which worked.

Wednesday: At this point we went back to the beginning to fix a few problems which was the cup tipping too early, so we added the pizza box to have it on a platform. Next we had to fix the wedge and then we changed the position of the machine up onto the island and fridge and added the pulley. This was where the idea from the earlier cheese lazy susan came up to fling the ball into the pulley to make it go and so we did this. We ran into an issue with the lazy susan because we couldn't change the cake size so we just replaced it and that worked. Then we had a pulley issue with the boot which we fixed by resetting the pulley and that worked fine.

Thursday: This day is when we started having actual issues, timing. From this project we have learned timing is everything in Rube Goldberg. So first we scrapped the wedge in the tunnel idea and went with one ball in the cup and we had to tweak it so it wouldn't fall and get triggered by the pulley. We also had a few pulley problems which ate up a lot of time in trying to get it to knock the cup over. Then the issue of timing began, we couldn't get the ball to fall correctly onto the lever because it was harder to fix because the screw was always spinning so it was harder to try to get the point where it would actually fall and this took the rest of the period into the next day.

Friday: Today we worked all day on screw timing pretty much because it wouldn't work. After we got it to work at least some of the time we moved on and tried our original idea that was tweaked which was the ball on on an incline blocked by a wall which was a pizza box on a book but it was too heavy for the car so after eating through our time with trying we scrapped it and decided to do dominoes instead.

Monday: We started dominoes, we figured we should go up on an incline and it took some time to get to a position where it was low enough that it wouldn't fall because it was too steep. We also had to make sure the textures didn't overlap so this ate up time. At the first twist we had to figure out how to do the dominoes so this also ate up some time. After we got that all done we had a good stopping point and it was the end of the day.

Tuesday: This day we got the pulley put in and fixed it up. Then it took us a while to figure out the weight and how we should situate the pancake and the lever. Fixing the pulley and the pancake took us about half the period to get a good method that worked almost every try. After that we started figuring out our filming path and how we would do it, and ran into some filming issues that stopped us from finishing today.

Wednesday: The final day we were working I was in the classroom first for flex and started filming, I fixed the lasting filming problems so I was able to film without any issues and took a lot of takes before Bryce arrived and we were able to get all 3 successful tapes out. As well as a lot and I mean a LOT of failed takes.

Introduction

The game I am reviewing is called Goodnight Universe. The studio's nice dream made a goodnight universe. It was released on November 11, 2025. Goodnight universe is an interactive story game that takes you on a journey of self discovery. With a unique way of game mechanics and well crafted story telling, Goodnight Universe is an interesting and well in depth game. An interesting and unique game that is here laid out before your eyes.

Gameplay

I think what makes the goodnight universe stand out is the story and unique mechanics. Goodnight universe has an interesting story in who you are playing as and how you navigate throughout the story. The game is mainly story based. So the movement you take in the game is very controlled and limited in where you can actually go, or it seems that way with how story driven the game is. The main mechanics when you get more involved in the story is the ability to use your eyes, expressions, and head movements which you have to calibrate at the beginning of the game before you even start. I think using these mechanics feels immersive and fun as they are connected to the use of powers. Seeing as you can do different things with them. It's fun as in the game you have these fun task based challenges that are fun to do and also some funny parts of it. The controls of the game as they are based in your head and face mostly make the game feel a lot more immersive in  the game as it feels you are the one using the powers which is fun and engaging and keeps you focused on the story.

Graphics and Visuals

Goodnight universe has a soft colored, and warm style to the game. It has a cartoonish style that emphasizes emotion and expression in the exaggerated design. Goodnight Universe has smooth expressive animation to focus on character emotion as that is a large part of the game. It’s fully stylized and feels very detailed while also having a low poly look in some parts of shading and how the characters are built. It’s definitely very beautiful and well cohesive in the visuals of the game.

Sound and Music

You follow mostly this inner monologue that feels sleepy and comfortable with soft tones of the voice. The music of the game is also warm and calm. Another thing is the sound effects. One of the prominent ones that you notice is the sound effect that tells you an action is finished. One of the powers you have is to close your eyes to use it so you hear things moving and then this clear snapping sound as a cue to tell you to open your eyes which I found interesting. I noticed that the music of the game is more of a background thing as you have the narrator talking and you feel so engaged throughout. Mostly you hear the narrator throughout the game and the tone of the narrator doesn't shift much but you notice the shift from calm to sorrowful to warm. Although it's hard to tell as the narrator always has this sort of sleepy calmness which just makes sense in the story.

Story and Narrative

The story is told from one perspective but in different bodies. Throughout most of the game you are in the body of a baby. At some point you realize you're not just a baby. The game feels mostly focused on self discovery through this lens. As you go through the story as this baby. Slowly you figure it out through misunderstandings at points that you're not the baby but an alien that has possessed the baby by an accident. You feel guilty like a parasite. Then you find out that you aren't. Through the rest of the game it gets much more emotional as you go back to your original body. You can't survive on earth so as the player you have to make a choice to leave or to stay with the baby and family you've grown attached to. I chose to stay. You stay, save the family and the baby and eventually they accept you and you spend your last days on earth with them. I think the themes and characters are very interesting. I find it most interesting to play as a baby as you don't see games like this much and there are other parts of it that are interesting but to me this is definitely the most interesting part as you can't communicate with others.

Replay Value

I personally would play this game again. In the game it seems to me that there could be other outcomes however limited which interests me to see what else you could do. I also loved the story. It was absolutely amazing for me to play and experience. My impression of this game is that it is an overall amazing game. I've seen other games the studio has done like Before Your Eyes  and it is all around amazing work.

Conclusion

For this game though I found it very fun and engaging as well as incredibly emotional. I got the impression this would be a story game seeing the other games and it did not disappoint in what I was expecting. As I've said I think the way the story that is played is one of the biggest strengths of this game. It is written and told absolutely beautifully. Although I do think the mechanics could be improved as they didn't work the greatest at certain parts of the game and I definitely missed some things at some points because some of the time it didn't work too well.  I would definitely recommend this game to others. I definitely think that it should be shared and well known as I've said it is an amazing and beautiful game and I think a lot of people would definitely  enjoy and love this game as much as I do.

Final Rating

I personally would give this game a 5/5. It is a beautiful well crafted game that is clear a lot of love and time went into making it. I cried playing this game at the end because of the emotion of sorrow and it was just conveyed so well. It makes the parts of the game work well to create this beautiful experience. I thought this game was absolutely amazing and captivating.