Mechanics:
exploration:
The player must walk around and explore their environment, it is a key mechanic within my game. The Gameworld is filled with story book imagery and bright colours making the exploration experience be cosy and pleasant. It is a simple two dimensional game expedience where the player is partially free to walk around and explore at their own pace. As the player explores their environment they will unlock secrets and forgotten memories they will use to aid them with the in game puzzles and character interactions.
There are multiple rooms to explore giving the player the chance to interact with many different objects such as photos, toys and books in order to get the information they need to progress. Not all of this information is necessary to the progression of the game, some interactions can affect the ending of the game. Hence it is important the player takes their time to explore their environment as it is one of the key mechanics within the game.
Puzzles:
Once the player has explored their environment they will have to complete a series of tasks and puzzles that they discover. Some puzzles are more important than others and therefore have a more complicated solution.
An example of one of the easier puzzles will be the jigsaw puzzle in chapter one. This is the first puzzle the player will be introduced to and it involves them using a series of inputs to complete the image. The player will use numbers or buttons on their controller that corresponds to a space on the board. Since this puzzle is relatively easy and have a simple way of solving there will be a minimal reward, the rewards to a puzzle will correspond to the difficulty of the task.
One slightly more difficult puzzle will be reassembling a letter. once a player has found each part of this letter through exploration they then need to reassemble it. The player would use their mouse or joy cons to manipulate where parts of the letter are. This is difficult because each part of the puzzle is small and the player has to get each piece to line-up perfectly in order to complete it. More rewarding sections such as this will be on a time limit, having a time limit increases the pressure and makes the task that little bit more difficult.
Audio:
The audio for the game will have a nostalgic and soft sound for the majority of the game. Changing depending on the mood or setting but having this slower, soft, electronic sounding background music prevalent throughout the game. There will be an option to turn this music off in the settings without turning off the sound for the entire game, although the style of music fits into my Gameworld i understand that to some it can be off-putting or distracting.
The user interface will also have an electronic feel when the player clicks one of its buttons. Having a soft bleep resembling noise nostalgic from the time period the Gameworld is set in. The sound will heavily take inspiration from that of old Nintendo consoles, such as the DS and the Wii. Having sound design that takes inspiration from the time era the game is set in should be comforting and help with player immersion.
When it comes to the exploration of the game most unique items that the player can interact with will have their own audio signals. Each object will have sound design that resembles real life but also have an element of that electronic cheerful aesthetic