Beam

Beam is a puzzle platformer I worked on during Fall 2021 in VGDev. The game involves the player using two beams to manipulate their environment: the move and swap beams. We finished with 11 levels (and a few more for the future that were drawn up but not implemented) that explore a lot of the space with just the beams and glass. A few more puzzle mechanics were prototyped as well.

I focused on puzzle and level design in this project. I made a lot of level sketches, prototyped, gray boxed, and further tested all my levels. This was my first time designing 3D levels, so I did a bit of research on first person considerations. I also spent the most time on puzzle design. I brainstormed a lot and over several weeks when creating puzzles, taking advantage of the random shower puzzle inspiration when it struck. I'm happy with the levels I made (sketches below), and the lessons I learned about drawing out levels to show to others. I also learned a lot about the puzzle process involving the players strength (wanting a weak player), going deep with mechanics rather than wide with several mechanics, and the pains of avoiding cheese when developing puzzles.

“Make your way through 11 levels, moving and swapping between boxes in the various levels. Not Portal! Never heard of it!”

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