Design Process

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This short puzzle game was designed to correspond to the theme of "side effects".  I decided to play around with size changes, and the effects those changes have on the player.  I came up with the idea of a sponge that would change size depending on whether or not it was wet or dry.  I continued to come up with side effects until I felt that both sizes had an even amount of positives and negatives, and there were a decent amount of mechanics to play around with.  Absorbing water has the side effects of making Scrubbie larger, unable to fit in small spaces, strong enough to move rocks, slippery on soap, and capable of cleaning up sludge. Drying out has the side effects of making Scrubbie smaller, able to fit in small holes, too weak to move big rocks, capable of moving normally over soap, and unable to move over sludge.  This means that changing size will allow you to solve certain parts of each puzzle, but unable to solve other parts. In order to fully solve the puzzles, players have to swap back and forth to fully utilize all of the side effects of each size.

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I'm most proud of how well I managed to train players to use new mechanics in this game.  When introducing new mechanics, I always buffered them with mechanics they were already familiar with.  I made sure to limit the possibility space just enough to allow player's to safely experiment with new ideas, but not so much that the game held their hand the entire way.  I also used sound as a means of relaying additional information to the player for mechanics that may not have been entirely clear.

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This game was entirely designed and programmed by myself.