Labyrinth—P2 Team10

Team 10: Eugene Hong, Sofia Kim, Butch Nasser, Jennifer Quach, Valerie Tang

Artist’s Statement

You’ve awoken in a dark maze with no idea who you are, where you are, or why you’re there. With only one way forward, you have no choice but to move deeper into the maze and accept your fate. As you traverse the maze, you encounter creatures who can reveal information to help you escape, but beware – there are others praying for your downfall. Explore the maze, find a way out, and most importantly: stay alive. What is the maze hiding? And what could you be hiding within your lost memories?

Labyrinth is a digital, single-player game that combines exploration, puzzle-solving, combat and storytelling. Inspired by stories from Greek mythology, the labyrinth symbolizes the one King Minos of Crete used to imprison the Minotaur. Each section of the labyrinth represents a unique environment, where you will meet new mythological creatures, unlock parts of your memory, solve puzzles, and collect ingredients to defeat the deadly enemies blocking your path. With the surprises of the labyrinth and the whims of the gods acting against you, do you have what it takes to survive?

Final Concept Map

Initial Decisions About Formal Elements & Values

From the start, we wanted Labyrinth to be heavily focused on discovery and narrative; evocated through Greek Mythology and embedded through glimpses of clues provided to an amnesia-ridden character. The labyrinth setting inherently encourages exploration because the player’s instinct is to find a way to escape, and a labyrinth’s layout allows us to embed narrative snippets into the paths. We hoped to create a strong magic circle by borrowing from Greek mythology elements in the environment, puzzles and characters, helping the player feel fully immersed in this alternate world. Naturally, the game would have multiple objectives – to piece together the story of the main character, understand the surrounding maze and find a way out.

The target audience for our game is young adults, since they have the most exposure to Greek mythology in popular culture. We considered our target audience through our design decisions mainly in art style, audio, language used and number of tutorials/ explanations. We also targeted individuals who were familiar with and interested in a mystic, top-down game style and matched the tone of our gameplay and narrative storytelling to what they may be accustomed to. That being said, we ensure to give description of evoked Mythology so somebody outside of our target audience would still understand what’s going on at any given point.

The scope of our game slice that we developed was a portion of the maze which encompassed the introduction sequence and three fully fleshed-out level portions that incorporated dialogue, quests and combat. Since we are focusing on the very first part of the game, we only included the early parts of the embedded narrative, which does not bring the player close to the final answer about their identity. However, we had a big-picture vision for how the narrative would carry on once we extended the game slice. 

It took us a lot of brainstorming to finalize our narrative arc. Perhaps the player had angered the gods and got placed in the labyrinth as a punishment. Perhaps they were one of the sacrifices that got fed to the Minotaur every year. In the end, we decided that the player’s true identity would be Daedalus, the designer of the labyrinth. In the beginning parts of the game, we would mislead the player to think that they are a sacrifice intended to appease the “violent Minotaur,” such as through the rock slab engraved with the cipher, “We are all sacrificial lambs for the violent bovine beast”. However, they would eventually find out that they are Daedalus through various artifacts, puzzles and interactions with NPCs. Another plot twist would be that there is no real physical exit to the maze. The player would have to use the information they collect about themselves and the maze to figure out that they have to locate Daedalus’ workshop, which is hidden in the labyrinth. The workshop contains the set of wings that Daedalus and his son Icarus used to escape King Minos. The way the player would escape is to use the wings to fly upward. However, the finale of the game would actually contain a branching path – the player doesn’t necessarily have to leave. Once they find the wings, they need to make a choice: to stay because of their attachments to and experiences in the maze, or to escape as they had originally intended. This decision would become harder after the narrative connections the player makes as they advance through the maze, and test the player’s moral compass.

We wanted to defy player expectations not only through narrative, but through setting. We would initially introduce the maze as a dark and terrifying place – what one typically expects a labyrinth to be. However, as the player progresses through it, the maze reveals itself to hold mysticism and beauty Though we were unable to implement it this time round, our vision was for each section of the maze to house a new biome (ocean, forest, snow) and gradually take on more warm and welcoming characteristics. We also manipulate any players’ past knowledge of Greek Mythology—while some factors will stay relevant, others would contrast their expectations, making a unique experience overall. In particular, we decided that the Minotaur, which is thought to be a vicious beast, would be a main source of guidance and companionship for the player. Them being condemned to the maze would be indicative of the Gods’, and peoples’, labeling of creatures monsters before getting to know them.

Later on, we decided to add more complexity to the gameplay. The player needs to engage in combat fights to unlock new parts of the maze—but that wouldn’t be the core focus of the game, just a nice addition. We also took inspiration from Daedalus’ crafting ability to incorporate the mechanic of collecting various ingredients to help with combat. As part of the quests, the player needs to solve puzzles to unlock the ingredients they need, or certain pieces of information. Additionally, combat acts a simple puzzle for players: if they simply attack indefinitely, they will lose, and need to alter strategies according to recently completed quests. There are also 3 main puzzles in the game slice:

• Medusa Puzzle: using the lengths of Medusa’s hair to unlock a box. This is the first puzzle, and sets some precedents:
  • The player will have to explore numerous parts of the labyrinth to solve a single puzzle.
  • The player needs to remember, or note, information.
  • Progression is (eventually) locked behind solving a puzzle.
  • If confused, the player can ask the Minotaur for hints. If they stay on a puzzle scene long enough, player hints will appear.
  • Players can leave unfinished puzzles using the button in the top left corner of the screen.
• Apollo Harp Puzzle: Listening and/or reading a poem to play the correct notes.
  • This invoked the Mythology and sets the precedent that you can please the Gods for special rewards.
  • Offers multiple ways to solve, to take account for non-musically inclined individuals.
• Rock Cipher Puzzle: Solving a cipher
  • A simple cipher, but the game provides enough information to solve without looking it up.
  • The necessary component to solve the cipher is discoverable in Level 2, but the actual cipher doesn’t appear until the end of Level 3, starting “Chapter 2/Level 4.” This prepares players to expect to retain information for a long time.

Our puzzles are moderately difficult, to imply that the Labyrinth is not a gentle place. However, hints and clues are scattered about, so players won’t get fully stuck if they try long enough—including clues tied to time the player spends looking at the individual puzzle scene. We wanted our puzzles to be difficult enough to satisfy players’ psychological need for achievement, and we believe that we achieved that after playtesting feedback (to come). Overall, the maze would twist and turn, and it was our intent to make traversing the maze not simple, but not impossible in order to evoke the feeling of being trapped and clueless to a calculated degree. This would make players feel more accomplished when they finally started to remember which way in the labyrinth to go when they revisit sections. Through all of these elements, we would primarily harness narrative, fantasy, and challenge to generate fun for the player.

Testing and Iteration History

Early Iterations (1-4; Mostly Analog) 

Iteration 1:

We tested our initial narrative arc and labyrinth structure ideas with students in the class. We specifically wanted to see whether our game should be exploratory or more structured with explicit quests in order to understand how to go about organizing the maze and the progression of our narrative.

Questions:

• Should we have a game that is more exploratory in nature, or more structured with quests, or both?
• Who should be our main character?
• Should we have a narrative that is linear with no branching?
• Should we allow player choices to impact the narrative that follows?

Findings:

• People liked the idea of having the main character be Daedalus and having an unconventional maze exit
  • Quote: “I think it would be cool for the game to unfold from Daedalus’ point of view… I wonder though whether his identity should remain hidden and how that would impact the narrative.”
• Suggestions for encouraging exploration through environment and NPCs instead of solely being motivated by escape
• Introduced the idea of multiple endings – the player needing to make a choice at the end depending on their experience with the maze

From this, we started drafting a general idea of our maze’s content, with the plyer starting in the bottom left corner and having to get to the conclusion in the top right corner. There would be a critical path one would have to follow to complete the game, but lots of side paths to embrace the idea of a Labyrinth.

Iteration 2:

We tested a few paper puzzles, analog puzzles, and used a basic maze setup on unity to link them together. The player could move around in the maze with the camera following them. Through this playtest we were aiming to enhance puzzle clarity and player guidance, and generally better understand whether new pain points arise with our puzzles prior to digitalization. We started with a large map to gauge how much exploration players would tolerate.

 

Questions:

• Do the added surrounding objects and visible walls improve navigation and immersion?
• Do individual scenes for puzzles streamline gameplay and reduce confusion?
• Is it clear to players that they need to find another object to solve the Medusa puzzle?
• Are the snakes in Medusa’s hair a clear yet challenging hint for the slider heights to open the box?
• Should the sliders be based on relative heights or exact height positioning?
• Do players appreciate the multiple solution paths for the music puzzle, and does it enhance their engagement?
• How much exploration can players tolerate?

Findings: 

• The maze should include landmarks, such as bushes and trees, to give the player something to keep track of their pathing
• The medusa puzzle needs a good amount of hints and guidance, so the digital version should make it clear what the player can do, or what information they need. Given that this is an initial puzzle that players will encounter, it was very important for us to find the sweet spot regarding complexity since we don’t want players to get bored, but we also don’t want it to be a frustrating experience. Embedding the right amount of hints would be important for us to prioritize when it comes to the UX of our game.
• A ball drop puzzle was too easy, so we shifted to a different type of puzzle.
• The music puzzle was too hard for people with little music listening background, we should make it clearer that the riddle contains the answer as well
• Players didn’t like a big map, and would prefer the walls to be closer, for the sake of time; however, having to explore was a positive factor.

From our findings, we fleshed out where puzzles and hints would be for our next iteration.

 

Iteration 3 + 4:

We locked down more concrete color palette and background inspiration, and drafted a few characters. For this session of play testing, we wanted to better assess player preferences for art style and character design, and ensure the visual elements supported the intended game atmosphere and player experience, as well as emotional connection to characters and the atmosphere. Since in the prior session we had focused more on the mechanics and dynamics of our game, we wanted to better consolidate the aesthetic direction of our game and understand how players feel about it. Aesthetics is very important for our game since it supports the immersive narrative experience we would like players to experience through our game slice. 

 

Questions: 

 

• What color palette creates a cohesive and appealing visual experience?
• Do the backgrounds align with the game’s theme and enhance immersion?
• Do the drafted characters fit well with the overall game aesthetic?
• Are players able to connect with the characters and find them engaging?
• What art style do players prefer for this game?

Findings: 

• We should try go for a 2D pixel mature art style
  • Quote: “ I liked these sketches more (pointing at the 2D pixel mature art sketches). I think they do a good job in balancing a nostalgic yet contemplative vibe which seems to be on theme with y’alls game.”
• Players found cooler tones to be more fitting for our game since it emphasizes the isolating aspect of being in a maze as well as giving the game “a calm yet mysterious vibe that fits the theme well.”

  

  

• Players liked the idea of having our game start off darker and then progressively including more biomes with more warmth as it emphasizes our narrative arc
• Players liked the serif font we chose as it emphasizes the Greek mythology theme as well as the pixelated font we chose since it adds more playfulness

At this point, we also shifted from the idea of having multiple biomes in our slice, to having this “Chapter” containing of three levels (puzzles) be one biome, with the start of a biome transition to a new area at the end of the slice. We took the feedback to find a balance to where the player feels the serious tone of the game through the immediate atmospheric visuals, but can slowly sense another lighter undertone through the dialogue, zoomed-in portraits, font choices, etc.

Developed Iterations (5+, testing primarily in Unity); 

Iteration 5:

We fully planned out each level’s pathing, and built the maze with basic combat, inventory system and NPCs. Through this session of testing we were aiming to evaluate the effectiveness of the level design, combat system, and narrative components as well as ensure that players can easily understand and navigate the game world. We initially tested with a highly Zoomed-in camera that limited player vision to the walls closest to them. We also started on a preliminary Dialogue System which we tested with simple Dialogue.

 

Questions:

• Are the levels’ paths clear and intuitive for players?
• Do players have difficulty knowing where they can go without visible walls?
• Do players find the combat mechanics engaging and rewarding?

Findings: 

• It is hard for the player to know where they can go without visible walls
  • Players visibly struggled and expressed frustration when navigating our game.
  • We eventually centered the camp to reduce player confusion and give a central return point.
  • We also expanded the camera so the player can see past their closest walls, giving the players the sense that they know where they can go next, and allowing them to build a better mental map in their head.
• We needed more emphasis on dialogue and narrative components to make the game interesting. Otherwise, the player would just be aimlessly wandering.
  • Players used a bunch of filler words like “um” “hmm” when navigating our game expressing a sense of awkwardness and decreased engagement.
  • We slightly attribute this to not having figured out the Dialogue System (due to bugs) so worked on fixing them and making the Dialogue System more cohesive.
• For combat, the learning curve was appropriate. Although the playtesters usually lost the first time, they quickly caught on to the strategy and won the later times. This to us signified our current level design is pretty successful.
  • “Figuring out combat wasn’t a puzzle? I liked how I had to figure out to block.”

 

From the feedback, we redeveloped our map, making it much smaller, and giving players fewer choices to explore at any given level, but still having choices and non-linear explorational ability. We wanted to keep combat itself, as that was a positive factor from playtesting, from here, we needed to solidify our written narrative; we seemingly had mechanical gameplay at a satisfactory state.

 

Iteration 6:

We beautified the maze by adding surrounding objects, added visible walls, and implemented the puzzles as their own scenes. By now, we had figured out how to use Dialogue to change based on variables, so then added more dialogue to connect each puzzle and scene. We added Dialogue Files to each individual object, containing variables and using those variables to interact with the scene (such as deleting an object when its defeated, removing an object when collected, preventing a player from revisiting a fully completed puzzle for clarity, etc.)

Through testing we aimed to understand the clarity and difficulty of puzzles and the navigational ease of our game, as well as narrative understanding. We tested with a variety of individuals in short segments, testing puzzles and dialogue individually. We finalized the combat tutorial, which would be a forced loss against a phoenix while explaining the instructions to the player, and then transition to them being saved by the Minotaur, solidifying players’ perception of him as an ally to talk to, despite their initial precognitions of the Minotaur from any mythology.

Questions:

• Is Dialogue understandable; are there points where you were confused and Dialogue didn’t help?
• For the Medusa puzzle, is it evident enough that players have to find another object in order to solve the puzzle?
  • It is obvious enough yet somewhat challenging to notice that the snakes in Medusa’s hair represent the height of the sliders in order to open the box? 
  • Should our sliders be based on relative heights to each other or exact height positioning?
• Do the visual enhancements and more visible walls improve navigation and reduce confusion?
• Are the puzzles of appropriate difficulty and engaging for players?

 

Findings: 

 

• Players were uncertain of objects they could interact with, and would try to interact with objects without dialogue (like rocks and trees)
  • We resultantly added an “Interactable Object” indicator that would appear when players get close enough

• The landmark objects that aren’t story-blockers should not have colliders because they create unnecessary obstacles and only block the player from the intended gameplay.
• For puzzles, especially the Medusa one, it was hard for players to identify if an object was an additional hint or the actual puzzle they needed to solve. 
  • We added Dialogue to clarify this.
• Our users stated some discrepancy in the semantics behind our color choice regarding the cipher puzzle. It was noted that it would’ve been better to use color to make it clear which words needed to be deciphered and which words acted as a guide. 
  • We changed text to red, and added Dialogue indicating that the puzzle was “partially completed” by someone else.
• Puzzles were all appropriate difficulty when assessed on length of time it took to solve, the statements made during the gameplay, and the methods in which each puzzle was solved. Although some players required clarification on the mechanics behind the puzzles, they were able to efficiently solve them without the repeat of rules. Additionally, there was much appraisal on how the music puzzle can be solved in a multitude of ways – this was quite a valuable surprise to us. 
  • From playtesting, we had playtesters do the following:
    • struggle with music but keep going at it until they got it, getting 1 note at a time
    • read the poem, get the puzzle instantly
    • struggle with the music, swap to the poem and understand after a while
    • read the poem, not absorb it at all, but heard notes and tried to replicate them (this person was more musically inclined)
    • one with hearing disabilities, who turned to us and said “If this is a listening puzzle I will hate you,” but read the poem and got it in only a little longer than other players who solved the poem, and said “never mind I don’t hate you” afterwards. We were happy our accessibility considerations were successful.
• Players seemed to traverse the maze more easily; player quotes include “I passed the line of yellow flowers earlier, so I should go the other way.” or “single tree at a crossroads, noted.”
• The dialogue may have been too long or tedious to click through at times. We realized that although dialogue was necessary to advance the story, it was better for it to be spread apart rather than consolidated at times, especially when the player is focused on solving a puzzle.
  • We also increased the speed of Dialogue, and allowed the player to instantly load the whole Dialogue if they press Enter while it’s loading, speeding up Dialogue consumption significantly.

After this iteration, we were at a strong point, and focused on finishing touches to create the best gameplay experience possible. One issue we found was that players typically didn’t want to leave a puzzle if it seemed they had all the information to solve it there (i.e. would never go to the Minotaur to ask for hints, even if they were struggling). We wanted to work on that for the next iteration.

Iteration 7:

We further refined and unified the game by adding scene transitions, a starting page, opening cutscenes and animated sprites to our characters, which we redrew with the final and official art style of our game, and invoking the feeling of the player as a rugged traveler, the Minotaur as strong and supportive. In addition to the finalization of our aesthetics, we incorporated combat UI with a background, added a background musical track, added a closing Thank You screen. To solve the issue of player stubbornness regarding puzzle scene, we incorporated time-based pop-up hint buttons on each scene, providing hints after 120 seconds of staying on the screen, but still not granting a full solution.

We also added

Questions:

• What parts of the game feel incomplete?
• Do parts of the game not mesh well together?
• What is your understanding of the narrative (to see if embedding was confusing enough to give a hint but not derail completely)

Findings:

• There was much enthusiasm for the art, which was noted to be “more cohesive” and efficiently matched the theme. The cutscenes added a cinematic touch to the story and added more to its aura, with a rainy vibe and a gloomy atmosphere. Our users also liked the camera work within the game, and the walking animations felt “professional” and made the game feel more lively overall. 
• There was confusion over the “other people vs. Minotaur” narrative, which didn’t seem to shine through with our current dialogue, so we revised dialogue to fix this.
• The rock cipher puzzle was deemed the most challenging in this playthrough, with our user being uncertain on what to do directly after being given a hint and needing additional advice to solve it. This meant that the overall playtime was quite a bit longer than our usual playthroughs. 
• Users stated that the barricades were helpful in guiding player movement, meaning that we could’ve made use of them more in the maze. 

Our first cutscene shows the player awake in the maze, and our second (after the tutorial) has the player lose consciousness and get saved by the Minotaur.

 

Going into our final build, we focused on adding onboarding guides: We clarified text for the combat, and had the player spawn such that dialogue boxes instruct them of the controls (to move and interact) early on. Experienced RPG players will be familiar and skip through text quickly, but new players won’t be lost. We also onboarding through experience: players can lose combat and learn how to fix their mistakes; dialogue often tells them to go back to camp to talk to the Minotaur, and that’s how quests and the story progress.

Final Playtest + Build

Hosted at Labyrinth by banass (itch.io)

Video:

Noteworthy Playtest Recording Moments:

1:29 – “The sound design is pretty fun.”

2:50 – “Is this a Greek Mythology-based game? I appreciate that.”

3:25 – “I like how this is a depiction of a friendly face” referring to the Minotaur. Success!

22:30 – “Oh I’m a chemistry guy, I like that!”

27:40- “Did I miss something?… [5 seconds later] Oh I did!” [joyful].

 

This final playtest focused on key questions to determine the success of our design choices:

Questions 

• Based off your experience and understanding of the game, describe your perception of the story: where are you, why are you there, what’s happening?
  • “I think that I am a former alchemist (potentially Daedalus, who was placed in the Greek Mythological Labyrinth… to be a sacrifice for the Minotaur. All of my memories were taken by some magic, and some other fellow sacrifices are trying to help me escape… this Labyrinth.
  • “The minotaur has not eaten me yet, so he probably won’t.”
  • This was the first player that thought that the main character might be Daedalus, which was a success! Our embedded narrative at this point was intended to sprinkle hints, and slightly deceive the player, but such that the foreshadowing would make sense if the slice were expanded to a full game
• Describe the visual, audio, and mechanical (controls) feel of the game. What were your thoughts, what did you like/dislike?
  • “I was impressed by the opening cutscene… the pixel art… the movement felt like I was flowing back and forth.”
  • “Visual bugs where I didn’t collide with things confused me.”
  • “Felt confusing to traverse at first, but the little trees and bushes helped.”
  • The player was satisfied with the controls and the overall feel!
• Describe your opinion of navigating the maze.
  • “I felt that there was a clear sense of progression.”
  • “I liked the central hub, thought might like it more if it wasn’t mandated to revisit to progress”
  • “If I explored enough I would find what I needed.”
  • The player wasn’t too confused by the navigation, though had some advice regarding mandated progression events.
• Describe your feelings after interacting with the Dialogue
  • “Normally I quickly skip over Dialogue, but I thought it was pretty strong, and found myself slowing down to actually read the text.
  • “It didn’t feel cumbersome or really long.”
• Regarding puzzles, what did you think of the difficulty, progression, etc.
  • “I enjoyed the puzzles overall. I thought that they increased in difficulty over time (maybe the music one would’ve been more difficult to someone who didn’t know music, but it worked out for me.” (this playtester has strong musical background)

Overall, the final product of the game was received well! Although they encountered some visual glitches, it didn’t negatively impact their overall perception of the game. In the end, we had custom-created a significant number of scripts, Dialogue Ink files, and art, to arrive at a cohesive final product. We hope you enjoy our game!

Credits

• Cohesive Ink Dialogue Tutorial as the basis for our game: Learn Ink (video game dialogue language) in 15 minutes | Ink tutorial – YouTube
• Scene Transitions: How to make AWESOME Scene Transitions in Unity! – YouTube
• Winter sprites: (FREE) Winter Village – Asset Pack by PIXELJAD (itch.io)
• Starting basis for the project: Get Started with the Creator Kit: RPG – Unity Learn