Barbara

[Release] Computer Processing Unit

Recommended Posts

You work for the Computer Processing Unit, a division devoted to the inspection of enigmatic computers from foreign worlds. As the only employee present, you must uncover important data on laptops stored in desks around the office. Each laptop contains a series of different Witness-inspired puzzles; these can be solved in any order. A map on the wall shows your overall progress.

 

Link to the game page

 

In short: An XCOM-themed Witness fan-game.

post-35814-0-95171000-1465072735_thumb.png

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

"a division devoted to the inspection of enigmatic computers from foreign worlds"

I don't know what that means but I'm sold.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

"a division devoted to the inspection of enigmatic computers from foreign worlds"

I don't know what that means but I'm sold.

 

EDIT: Changed the description then changed it back :P

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Here's a screenshot of what I've been working on!

Not on artist so I just made some simple models in sketchup.

 

post-35814-0-95782900-1463121578_thumb.png

 

Making this game on my own now so it will probably be pretty small.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hey, small and simple are like the cornerstones of jamming, near as I can tell.

 

Looking neat already!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hey, small and simple are like the cornerstones of jamming, near as I can tell.

 

Looking neat already!

 

Thanks! I'm going to make a little video of the animations soon. What the game is actually about is still sort of a mystery though...

 

 

What tools are you using?

 

Unity, and SketchUp for all the models. I wanted to make all my own assets, though I'm not sure how I'll do sound.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Progress screenshots! I'll probably get rid off the silly plants.

Clicking the laptop screen zooms you in (see 2nd pic) - the grid there is a framework for the decoder puzzle I'm working on.

 

post-35814-0-58925600-1463697994_thumb.png

post-35814-0-07647300-1463698703_thumb.png

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Wow that grid gave me a scary little Witness jolt, like I seriously started moving my mouse toward the green square and stopped myself before I started clicking or dragging.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Wow that grid gave me a scary little Witness jolt, like I seriously started moving my mouse toward the green square and stopped myself before I started clicking or dragging.

 

Yes! That's kind of what I'm going for :)

 

The grids ended up being smaller than the one shown but my game has turned into a not-so-subtle ode to the Witness (which I loved).

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I made some late changes based on feedback but now there is finally a "final" version of my game up! I updated the top post description as well.

 

 

PS. I'm dumb and can't figure out how to change the topic to [Release] ?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I made some late changes based on feedback but now there is finally a "final" version of my game up! I updated the top post description as well.

 

 

PS. I'm dumb and can't figure out how to change the topic to [Release] ?

 

Edit the first post and use the full editor.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

You forgot to link to the game page!

 

I'm afraid I couldn't figure this out at all, I'm no good with puzzle games. Nice presentation, though!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I really enjoyed the game within another environment style, unfortunately I could not even begin to figure the puzzle game out. Oh well, would love to play more, maybe with a tutorial ;-)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I got stuck on the first puzzle as my game window focused with only half hte puzzle on screen.

Lovely setup though, and i like clicking things.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I got stuck on the first puzzle as my game window focused with only half hte puzzle on screen.

Lovely setup though, and i like clicking things.

Sadly I had the same problem, probabaly a resolution issue! Would love to play it though, it looks intriguing!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I got stuck on the first puzzle as my game window focused with only half hte puzzle on screen.

Lovely setup though, and i like clicking things.

 

Drag the laptop to the centre of the desk.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Ha ha, I tried quitting out and changing the resolution to no avail before finally figuring that one out. One puzzle I managed to solve!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks for giving feedback everyone! I am working on a new version with more instructions/hints and a different set-up (you can now run around to access different laptops with different puzzle types) that will hopefully go up tomorrow. Also more things to click on ;)

 

It's hard to assess how difficult/obvious something is when you're making it!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

After a couple of minutes of bewilderment, I figured out how the first set of symbols worked, and managed to complete all of the puzzles on the first laptop! I never quite figured out how the number blocks on the second laptop worked, however. I completed three of the puzzles by taking what seemed like the most obvious path, but I wasn't able to infer what the rules were from those solutions.

 

Puzzle design is hard! If you look at what The Witness does, the first introduction to any of the new mechanics basically takes place on the smallest grid possible, where there are a limited number of solutions so that the player can get it right quickly. The grids then get progressively larger, widening the possibility space so that there's less chance of the player solving it by accident, but doing it gradually so that the specifics of the mechanics are (hopefully) unambiguous. It's really hard to do this perfectly if your goal is to teach the player the mechanics solely through gameplay, because people play the game in very different ways. Talking to friends who were playing The Witness as the same time as I was, it became clear that one of us would often have trouble grasping mechanics that were obvious to the others, and vice versa.

 

If you wanted to not resort to hints or instructions, it would be easy enough to do with the first set of symbols, by following the Witness formula, but I'm not sure how you'd do it with the puzzles on the second laptop, as they seem to be a lot more esoteric.

 

I did enjoy the game, though! The environment is nice, and being able to interact with things and drag them around was fun. I also had the issue with the first laptop that Dibs and Stackel mentioned, because I'd clicked on it before dragging it into the centre of the desk; you could fix this either by taking the laptop's height into account when moving the camera into position, or by simply disabling the zoom until the laptop has been dragged onto the desk.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks for your thoughtful comment; I appreciate it! And congrats and solving the first set :)

 

I was somewhat trying to follow The Witness's design pattern in terms of teaching the player the mechanics, but that turned out to be a rather ambitious goal for a jam game! As you said, it's difficult to discern if the rules will actually become obvious to players; I watched one of my friends do the puzzles and it's interesting to hear all the "alternative" solutions he came up with that had never even crossed my mind. I was actually worried that the puzzles on the first laptop (now those at Desk 301) were too easy after you figured out the mechanic, so I thought I needed to put more weight into the figuring out the rule part there.

 

I agree with your point about the number puzzles - there are so many possible ways to interpret the numbers that it is hard to discern the rule! I've changed the numbers to symbols in the new version, which I think works better. If you're curious, the way it worked was:

the digital root of each number indicated the number of sides the line should touch. So 11 = 1 + 1 = 2 sides, etc.

 

The laptop bug is solved in the new version cause you no longer drag the laptop. I also made all the laptops available at once so that there is no prescribed order in which you have to do puzzles, and there are some "light" instructions.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I played this on a stream and contrary to other people here my experience was pretty smooth. I figured out the first set of puzzles with the path without too much trouble, then was able to discern the pattern of the colour grids pretty well. I liked the one full of numbers where I was expecting some full on Sudoku stuff then found the actual solution. Off stream, I wanna play through the rest of the puzzles now that I don't feel the need to move onto new games. I particularly want to crack the puzzle of how to fill a cup with coffee.

 

Also the animation of the laptops rising was real nice, a great touch. We said it on the stream, but it'd be nice in the puzzles to have some audiovisual feedback. Even if it wasn't indicating correctness, it'd make for a juicier experience than a flat puzzle with just the basic interactions.

 

If you want to see the stream of me playing the game, it's here, and all the games are timecoded in the description:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

This was definitely my favourite of the games I played this afternoon. Really neat! I got stuck on the symbols-subbed-for-lines puzzle, but the rest of them I managed to get through in a nice progression. And the couching of it in the room with the laptop animations was great. I streamed my enjoyment as well, so if you want to hear me gush over your game, head over to 

Thanks for making the game and congrats!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I played this on a stream and contrary to other people here my experience was pretty smooth. I figured out the first set of puzzles with the path without too much trouble, then was able to discern the pattern of the colour grids pretty well. I liked the one full of numbers where I was expecting some full on Sudoku stuff then found the actual solution. Off stream, I wanna play through the rest of the puzzles now that I don't feel the need to move onto new games. I particularly want to crack the puzzle of how to fill a cup with coffee.

 

Also the animation of the laptops rising was real nice, a great touch. We said it on the stream, but it'd be nice in the puzzles to have some audiovisual feedback. Even if it wasn't indicating correctness, it'd make for a juicier experience than a flat puzzle with just the basic interactions.

 

If you want to see the stream of me playing the game, it's here, and all the games are timecoded in the description:

 

You played the new version of the game, compared to the other people here, and it was good to see that my changes made things smoother. From your stream it did seem that playing in full-screen causes the cross-hair to be miss-aligned; the green buttons and desk drawer are all clickable but didn't respond in your play through! Sorry about that (but thanks for catching a bug)! I like your suggestion for audiovisual feedback and I think I'll try to add that in. Thanks for playing and giving feedback :)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now