inspired by firewatch comes A Curse of Winter to be solved...
Midsummer Frost
First Person Puzzle Adventure
Summary
The player explores a frozen midsummer forest equipped with only a lantern and their wits. By making their way to the nearby mining village, they can restore the seasons to normal.
The lantern's heat will reveal the path forwards. Among the ice and frozen mining machinery, its warmth restores dormant summer flowers said to signal the end of winter.
Breakdown
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Solo development spanning 7 weeks of half-time work
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Focus on Composition and Puzzle Design
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Scripting of puzzle ingredients and events
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Programs used
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Unreal 5.4
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Blender 4.2
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Miro
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Photoshop/Photopea
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Notes:
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Base project not made by me: I used Forsaken as a template for its interactable objects. Forsaken is made by Tony Palm
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My addition to Forsaken is the ice melting mechanic with accompanying cogs, doors and flowers
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Meshes are made by me in Blender and Unreal's modeling tool.
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Particle effects from Unreal Marketplace
Level Overview
The Forest
The Cabin
Side-
Scene
The Village
The Mine Pass
The Tunnel Gates
Exiting Mine Pass
PLayer start
PUzzle at Tunnel Gates
View at side-Scene
pUZZLE AT mILL
The Village
The mill
The Crane
The
Square
All puzzles solved
Puzzle at crane
PUZZLE DESIGN
Designing with Kishōtenketsu
Teaching the player how gameplay mechanics function is key in puzzle design. I let the story structure of Kishōtenketsu lay the foundation for my puzzle design.
This story structure is divided into four parts; "Ki", which introduces a concept; "Shō", which gives more context; "Ten", which sets up a reveal (or twist); and finally "Ketsu", which can be likened to a calm epilogue.
the Cabin
The Lantern is used to melt chunks of ice. The ice don't stay melted for long though, and quickly refreezes.
Frozen and hidden in the ice are objects of interest. Thawed Cogs open doors, Dead Trees fall over with their roots exposed, and Creatures may come to life. This encompases the "Ki" stage.
The Forest & Tunnel Gates
Once freed from ice, Summer Flowers become permanent heat zones, which can be moved.
Through clever placement, the player can use the flowers to unlock doors requiring more than one thawed cog. This constitutes the "Shō" stage.
miLL & cRANE
Observant players will have noticed how doors have a wide lip on their bottom. In the final area, a few ice chunks lies beyond the reach of the lantern's warmth.
Putting this together, if the player places a flower on the door lip, the door will lift the flower in reach of the hard-to-reach ice. This concludes the "Ten" stage.
The Square
The level ends once the player places four flowers at the implied spots. However, only three flowers are available on their first visit.
Having solved the previous twist, all four flower spots can be satsified. Summer is restored, in all its glory.
Hover to see change
Design Techniques
The Design Goals of this piece was to sell the feeling of loneliness and coldness, while keeping player flow intuitive and engaging. I touch briefly here on how the piece began and how it ended, but for further details, see the Process section.
Scene Breakdown
Mid Term Goal
The Celebration tells a piece of the narrative
Short Term Goal
The path leads to the first flower.
Tertiary Details
The snowy Village Square houses smaller details which become clearer on closer inspection. They set up Mid Term and Short Term Goals.
Layers
The bordered foreground frames the middleground, which pops from the blueish background
Primary Details
The houses stand out from their surroundings, focusing the composition.
Secondary Details
Movement, colors and framing, are attempts to draw attention to the Crane and Mill. These set up Long Term Goals.
Long Term Goals
The spinning mill and the framed crane serves as Points of Interests
Guiding Lines
Implied Lines in the environment and leading lines in the architecture aim to draw you in.
Discoverability
Part of the solution is hidden to reward exploration.
Funnels & Reveals
Exiting the Lantern Cabin, Exploring the Forest, Reaching the Village - all examples of how funnels are used to lead the player on and reveal new information. Sometimes the information is narrative context, othertimes it is gameplay functionalities or vantage points. The final funnel is part of a two-part reveal. A bent pine acts as a Red Herring: the player should believe the forest continues, but a Hard Reveal brings the village into view.
Signifiers
As key focal points Flowers and people are a warm orange, chosen to contrast with the blueish cold. The cooler lighting dampens the red houses, in an attempt to keep the focal points true.
Movement that attracts
Movement is intentionally used sparingly in this frozen world. The Mill moving when all else is not is meant to inspire curiosity. As a Point of Interest housing a Summer Flower, it was important to let it stand out.
Player Guidance
Strewn flower petals act as breadcrumbing for my intended path, as a tie to the narrative theme. While this helps with findability, I also offer the player discoverability in straying from the path to find clues or hints.
Affordances
Burlap sacks are used as an affordance to communicate how Summer Flowers may be placed, since they share visual design. They are placed in a way of showing the player the Cause and Effect of engaging with the puzzle locations.
Process
Concept to Whitebox
Ideas strike in moments of unexpected inspiration. I enjoy a broad set of hobbies and side-interests, all of which fuels the imagination. For more information, see my contact page.
Preproduction
Inspiration from Music
My initial inspiration was the mood of a Lucia Concert: I imagined a snowy Bauer-forest, warmed by lantern light. I landed on having imagery associated with summer as juxtaposition to build mystery.
Designing by Subtraction
Exploring good puzzle elements in my game world, I put together a minor narrative. After rounds of feedback, I could cut away excess content and keep the best parts, which laid the foundation.
As the project progressed, much was iterated on. The adjacent gallery showcases the most recent version of the plan.
Prototyping
Gameplay mechanics and lighting was prototyped in tandem with with theoretical planning. RnD-time in this area was cut down significantly thanks to earlier scripting experiments of mine.
Rough Blockout
Hover to start Blockout Timelapse
IDentity Crisis
The initial idea overlapped thematically with my planned second piece, and thus I decided to reconsider this piece.
I experimented to find a new identity for this piece, and refined my overviews. However, much of my original mechanics was kept and repurposed.
Why Change it UP?
Sometimes not all plans hold up. The more I blocked out, the more I realized my idea was more based on artstyle rather than level design.
It was important for me to keep the Midsummer Pole and Flowers. With slight redesign choices, the original mechanics and visuals could still be used. The change proved valuable in crafting the puzzle solution, as a more relatable protagonist size meant a higher degree of player intuition.
Whitebox Iterations
Hover to start Whitebox Timelapse
Refining mechanics
Through feedback, my puzzle functionality became more apparent. I refined my prototypes in a new gym, and set out to build with a firmer grasp of what I was creating, on.
Designing The Cabin
My goal was to use snowpiles to force the player close to the prop-filled table before reaching the lantern.
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The aim of the table props are to set up intrinsic motivation in the player, seeking the mystery
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It also frames the lantern and subconsiously connects them to the flower motif, also found just outside
Designing the Forest & the Tunnel Gates
Playtesting showed that putting the Tunnel Gates outside the Lantern Cabin was poor pacing. The forest came to be with a a side-scene of environmental storytelling, satisfyng the pacing issue, with additional benefits seen in later playtests:
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Added a sense of discoverability, but kept findability
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Drove player engagement, with freeing the animals
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It maintained the eureka effect of the Tunnel Gate Puzzle
The Forest leading to the Tunnel Gates, Before and After
Designing The Mine Pass
The Mine Pass initially had a physics-based puzzle. Again, playtesting showed pacing issues. The conclusion was removing all puzzle elements from the mine:
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This balanced the tension between other puzzles
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It added greater contrast between the areas
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It prevented Gameplay Fatigue, by giving players a mental pause
Designing the Village
The final area was always meant to house the puzzle parts "Ten" and "Ketsu". The blockout redesign took shape around an interesting reference, and through feedback and playtesting a better layout emerged.
The village is houses the Crane and the Mill ("Ten") and the Midsummer Pole ("Ketsu")
The Mill puzzle
A pre-thawed flower subverts expectations and the mill force players to think differently - removing it stops the mill's blades, preventing exit with the flower.
It also serves as a contrast to the forest, given the prompts to explore the village for clues. Playtesting resulted in the following alterations:
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The Exploration Path recieved better signposting, with edges and rhythm
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Increased breadcrumbing using petals promoted forward momentum
The Crane Puzzle
This puzzle aims to challenge the player's perception and logical thinking.
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The First Draft put forth the idea of using enough flowers to melt all ice.
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The Second Draft rectified some metric issues, with the solution being attained with too few flowers.
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The Third and Final Draft was based on feedback to use flowers to move flowers, rather than just the player moving them.
Ketsu Achieved - Summer Restored!
Reflection
Closing Thoughts
This piece reminded me of how much I enjoy making puzzles. It also proved for myself that when plans go sideways, I can roll with the punches and still maintain momentum.
Some areas I would've liked to spend more time with, but I'm satisfied with the results, given the scope I aimed for.
