The Cisterns

A third person puzzle adventure

Making games for noobs

I love gaming with my children. For this level, I wanted to investigate how to make a fun experience for the unexperienced player.

I analysed and playtested Stray, a game that is incredibly good at creating immersive and balanced gameplay. I decided to work with water as the driving mechanic and base my designs on the movie castle in the sky.

My rules for an immersive noob game:

- The flow should be linear but feel nonlinear.

- The flow should lead you naturally through confusion, seemingly stumbling into answers.

- There shouldn't be actual anxiety or violence.

- Focus on immersive tutorialization.

The Story

I usually structure my level design on some rudimentary story or emotional motivation. It helps me to design the spaces and the flow to know how it should feel.

I based my story loosely on that of Stray:

You are separated from your friends, and now you have to traverse a hostile, strange, and confusing environment until finally reuniting.

Level Chapters

1. The Rabbit hole – Introduction of the world

Give context

The first part of the level serves as an introduction to the world and to give a context to how deep and dark we're going later in the game.

"What is this place?"

"I want to go there, but how?"

"I don't want to fall into that void."

"What was this used for?

Recollectablity/readabilty

I knew that I wanted to end the level where I started it, so I tried to build in clues so you can have that realization.
-Humans and light to strengthen the end
- Markings inside the void for readability

- Human structures to strengthen world building

2. The Cistern – introducing water

What makes the water?

In this chapter I wanted to introduce water as a mechanism. During playtesting I struggled a bit with striking the right balance. After the confusion of the rabbit whole, some people where to scared of the water to explore the room, and some people didn't notice that the water was rising.

Design Choices:

I hardcoded the spawn point to control how the room is read.

I made the bottom of the cisterns rounded so the rising water is more tangible.

I made the water green instead of blue to make it seem less friendly

I designed the space to give the player the feeling of a world that extends beyond the playable space.

3. The Riddle – hope, despair, solution

Building a riddle

In this chapter I wanted to showcase all the elements of a good escape room. Presenting each element in such a way that the player is subconsciously guided towards a solution.

1) Presenting a problem - how to get out. Using leading lines and light, you should subconsciously understand where you need to go.

2) Presenting the possible clues to a solution, which is also builds the sense of a world and hopefully tingles the curiosity of the player.

3) Building just the right amount of frustration so the solution is satisfying.

4) At the verge of giving up, you get a clue that takes you a bit closer to a solution by building upon your previous intuitions.

5) Now a twist: you need to think outside the box, against your intuition, to solve the problem.

"I should go that way, but it's out of reach."

"Ah, those platforms can float."

"Oh, they don't go all the way."

"Wait, should I actually let the water rise?!"

4. The Void – cinematic funnel before reveal

Building a ride

After a long claustrophobic experience, and as a sort of funnel before the revelation of the last chapter, I decided to build a dreamlike, grandiose ride through the breaking cisternal system. Focus on action, flow, and drama.

5. The Reversal – wait, what?

Setting up a surprise

This last segment serves as a payoff for the whole level. I wanted the player to experience the surprise of returning to the start and a Ketsu-like sense of closure: "Yes, I now master this environment."

Process thoughts

The importance of a good modular kit

After the first rounds of rough blockout, I spent a day modeling a few essential assets and building a versatile spline tool for my pipes. Often, you don't need much more than a handful of key objects to sell an entire world.

Kishōtenketsu - building and subverting intuitions

I base my design loosely on Kishotenketsu because it's applicable on both on story, space and gameplay. To me it's a framework around building intuitions - tutorialization, and using these intuitions as building blocks.