Update #22:Rather than showing random screenshots with relatively little explanation, I thought I'd talk some about the design philosophy of the game. A lot of puzzle games involve something like pushing boxes onto switches in order to open a door, or something like that. As the game progresses, there will be more objects to push around, keys, more switches, and an ever-increasing demand for spacial reasoning skills.
There is nothing wrong with this sort of puzzle game. But Verumsomnex uses an almost completely opposite philosophy: rather than predictable elements that have to be arranged in consistent ways, the game has relatively few consistent elements (almost none between levels) and they typically do not act in the same way in different puzzles.
The goal of this is to create a dreamlike feel to the game, rather than a strict logical one. However, it's also important for the game to not feel
arbitrary. Let's take a look.
Note: This explanation will reveal the solutions to a few puzzles early in the Island level. If that's going to ruin your enjoyment of the game, and you can remember it for the months it's likely to take me to put together a demo, look away now.So you stroll into this room. There are buttons on the floor, TVs on the ceiling, and a door that needs to be opened for you to advance. What is the solution to this puzzle?
A logical guess might be that is has something to do with the TVs up above--say, press the buttons under the lit ones. Let's give that a try:
This is not exactly what we hoped for: pressing a button just randomizes what TVs are lit up. There is no clear pattern.
Instead, let's look outside the room for clues. In order to get into this room, we passed an NPC. His comments may have seemed like they served no real purpose, just some flavor text.
In fact, what you have to do to get the door open is to not try
any combination. Just sit there and wait. The door will open a set amount of time after the last button press. In order to solve the puzzle, you just need to take Reginald at his word.
Next we run into another set of buttons--this time with no TVs. There's no helpful NPC either. In fact, we have no clues available in this room. Waiting doesn't seem to work. The buttons this time stay stuck down though, unlike the last time...
Well, those TVs must have been there for
some reason.
(If you happen to have changed what TVs are lit up, you'll need to push that set of buttons.)
This is a relatively straightforward couple of puzzles, but should give some idea of what I'm trying to do with the game. Solutions are not based on spacial reasoning or consistent mechanics, but rather by general clues and educated guesses.
If people like these longer posts, I'll discuss various strategies for avoiding the frustration searching for these solutions might cause in a later update.
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