Devlog 3.txt

YOUTUBE: @pinster43

So, let’s start where we left off in the last Devlog.txt — the second one. There, I said I would focus the beginning of the year on polishing as much as possible all the content already present in the game, following its order of appearance. Because of that, in that Devlog.txt I visually improved several environments, added important elements for the player experience, fixed issues and, up until then, I was gathering the courage to work on the game’s puzzles (since they involve procedural generation). When I convinced myself enough to believe I could work on it without giving myself a headache, I dove straight into this problem — not knowing it would involve weeks of trial and error while constantly changing how I wrote the code for something extremely specific — but I think it’s best to give some context so you’re not completely lost about what this problem was.

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Mirrors and Lasers

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In this case, I’m referring to the “Mirrors and Lasers” puzzle that I started developing in episode 13 of the numbered devlogs on YouTube. Previously, the puzzle focused on reflecting two lasers using mirrors so they would reach their receivers placed randomly around the room. This design completely broke the cooperative rules previously established by the game itself, so I had to take some considerable time away to figure out what the new design should be. It needed to be at least intriguing, since it marks the end of the game’s first block — or chapter — if you want to know exactly what the idea was, check the latest devlog published on YouTube around three weeks ago.

It took me a while, but I came up with something interesting. The problem was that this something made my brain fry for days. It drove me crazy. Giving a brief technical context just so you understand my frustration, this new design required synchronizing four procedurally generated objects in pairs, like A+A and B+B. The issue is that procedural systems are completely unpredictable. Just as an object might generate for one player as “ObjectA”, it might generate for another as “ObjectA Clone” or simply “Object”. This led me to think through all kinds of crazy solutions to make this separation work properly. Honestly, I didn’t shout “Eureka!” when I finally got it working; in fact, I’m not even sure how I managed to solve it in the middle of the chaos inside my head.

But now, let’s move on to lighter things that truly show real progress and motivate me to keep going without losing my mind.

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Important Additions

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To wrap things up, I’ll briefly go over some simple additions that were essential for the players’ future experience. I added a save system; every time you complete a room’s puzzle, the game automatically saves the room you stopped at. It’s possible to reset progress in the settings menu and also view your progress before even creating a room.

Lastly, ever since I created the clock puzzle, I had the idea that the ceiling would constantly descend while players solved it, creating a sense of urgency. So I finally implemented the ceiling lowering according to the time shown on the puzzle display.

That’s it — see you next time!