Noema
3D Single-player Puzzle-solving Action Game
An elaborate 3D adventure puzzle-solving game designed for players who intend to ground their focus, reconnect with their consciousness, and achieve balance within their nine inner worlds of intelligence.
Mentor: Jason Elliott
Genre: Third-Person, Single-player, Action-adventure, Puzzle-solving
Engine: Unreal
Platform: PC
Team Size: 6
Duration: 13 weeks
Game Trailer
Roles & Responsibilities
Game/UX Design
The initial game concept I wrote was adopted by the team, which was about exploration and mediation to build players' strong minds inside one body;
I categorized game features, like puzzle types, obstacles, skills, 3Cs, world settings, story synopsis, visual and audio design, especially puzzle archetypes such as mechanical, logical and mathematical, exploration, hidden, word, sound, meta puzzles, etc.;
I devised several specific puzzles applicable to the Unreal prototype, considering that our game would be a 3A game.
Production
I outlined the game design documentation by breaking it down into an introduction, world setting, archetypes, 3Cs, visual design, sound design, puzzle design, meditation design, chapters, etc.;
I visualized specific puzzles simplistically way through sketching for further implementation;
I held regular meetings to grasp our pivot fully and reach a consensus on game design directions, e.g. core loop/mechanics, visual styles, testing goals, etc.
Research
I facilitated or participated in playtests, observed players and summarized outcomes for iterations;
- I built before-and-after surveys for testers to identify their unspoken insights.
Storytelling
I wrote a principal version of the storyline based on a typical teenager protagonist;
I emphasized the consistency between world setting and level progression through embedding story pieces in levels/puzzles.
Tools
Prototype
Unreal, Krita, Paper, Figma
Production
Photoshop, Notion, Google Docs, Google Form, Office, Miro, Canva
Communication
Emails, Discord, Zoom, In-person Meetings
Target Players
The game is aimed at players who are looking for an immersive and explorative experience that takes place in a fantasy. To define one of Bartle's player types, Noema is targeted to audiences that are explorers and achievers. However, it could appeal to a broader selection of players.
Age range: 10+ years old will have the ability to play the game. It is not specifically directed to youth. However, it is a family-friendly game.
Essence Statement
Take a step inside your mind - the center of your existence; the powerhouse that collects your thoughts, breeds your anxieties and informs your intelligence. Through exploration, puzzle-solving, and meditation, Noema takes you on a journey deep within to discover the key to clarity and centredness. Further challenges emerge as you maneuver mystifying visuals and are confronted with your most difficult critic, yourself. This game is a fun, family-friendly game that helps you reconnect with yourself and discover a level of peace you never knew you were capable of.
Core Loop
Game Overview
Noema is a 3D, third-person puzzle-platform computer game that focuses on exploration, puzzle-solving, and meditation. With perplexing visuals and morphing puzzles, Noema takes players on a confusing and mind-bending journey through 9 islands of intelligence - visual-spatial, linguistic, bodily-kinesthetic, logical-mathematical, naturalist, musical, intrapersonal, interpersonal, and existential.
Noema can be described as an intentionally chaotic gameplay experience due to alternating moments of exploration and pause. Platforming elements and gravity shifting allow players to walk, run and jump onto different dimensions of walls/floors while letting them overcome unexpected obstacles. Eight archetypes of puzzles and three types of mediation consist of the gameplay on the nine fantasy spaces, rendering moments of playing and relaxing.
Throughout the game, players can push and pull boxes to solve puzzles. They collect hidden components to construct essential items to unlock new abilities or mechanisms, such as changing avatar size through portals. The exploratory environment morphs along with the gravity shifting, puzzle-solving progress and focused waiting movement. Once all the puzzles on one island are completed, a distinguished meditation activity is required to accomplish, which encourages the player to pause for self-reflection.
Key Features
The three key features below are the pillars of Noema, guiding the game design direction.
Explore Your Imagination
Noema’s world is filled with bright colours, random floating objects, and fascinating puzzles that transform and morph before your eyes. Players are transported into a unique gaming experience, prompting them to question where they are and why they are there.
Focused Waiting
Players are invited to participate in moments of focused waiting, both physically and mentally. These meditations are gamified to create a more interactive and engaging experience and encourage more mindfulness.
Conquer 9 Intelligences
This game is supported by psychologist Howard Gardner’s nine intelligences, a theory that is embedded deeply into each of Noema’s nine chapters. Players start off simple by mastering basic Visual-Spatial Intelligence, gradually making their way to the final chapter, Existential Intelligence.
World Setting
Noema’s world is located inside her mind, where she loses track of time. She finds herself alone in her journey, a journey that explores her wild imagination. Even when elements from the outside world begin presenting distractions (memories from different past experiences), she doesn’t lose focus, and nothing can stop her from accomplishing her journey. Noema is completely immersed in her own journey of self-discovery - no technology, no media, no family members. She's completely on her own.
Her mind is divided up into different islands that are separated from one another. These islands each represent a different portion of Noema’s psyche, her different intelligence types. These intelligence types represent the different chapters within the game. However, the path forward is unclear. As Noema starts to conquer an island’s challenges, the path forward assembles in front of her own eyes, leading her onward through her journey.
Puzzle Archetypes
Noema’s chapters are built with a combination of different puzzles. Puzzles consist of challenges Noema faces and has to put some thinking to solve. The puzzles can come in different moments: specific rooms or areas, or even while she walks, in short stretches, when she has to find out how she can proceed. While the contents of the puzzles are unique to that chapter’s themes (i.e. linguistic intelligence has word-related puzzles), each chapter will use different types of puzzles - the puzzle archetypes. See puzzle design for more detail on the individual puzzles. There will be eight puzzle archetypes on Noema:
a. Mechanical Puzzles
These puzzles involve movable elements in the environment: boxes, stair blocks, platforms, spheres, and movable jump pads. The player can also modify and/or build sections of their environment by combining these elements. These dynamic level elements can be pushed and pulled around within limited areas and allow the player to position them as the puzzle requires. Examples: moving the boxes to their designated spots, moving a stair block to access an out-of-reach area, moving a jump pad to reach a high platform, and closing a gap the player finds in order to push a box across a chasm.
As a design consideration, the movable objects must be limited to specific areas to prevent the player from taking them to puzzles where the elements don’t belong. Mechanical puzzles are the main archetype in Chapter 1 (Visual-Spatial Intelligence).
b. Logic and Mathematics Puzzles
These puzzles rely purely on logic-deduction to be solved. Mathematical problems, sequences, cause and consequence, geometry. The game will bring these challenges integrated with the environment, and the chaos might be on the player’s way, making the puzzles more difficult to solve. Examples: connecting the dots, pattern building and mathematic enigmas.
Logic puzzles are the main archetype in Chapter 6 (Logical-Mathematical Intelligence).
c. Exploration Puzzles
Each space is a 3D maze designed for the fun of discovery, where they explore to collect items and/or find the ultimate path to arrive at the terminus of each map. There are blocked paths or dead-ends in some spots, such as confusing rooms leading the player to explore wrong paths and discover the right path.
Exploration puzzles are the main archetype in Chapter 7 (Interpersonal Intelligence).
d. Hidden Objects Puzzles
This type of puzzle is connected to the “exploration puzzles” tightly, usually based on the design of the map to hide objectives in the place/angle where it is hard to notice to enhance the fun of exploration. These hidden objectives are used to unlock the next levels or achievements.
Hidden Objects puzzles are the main archetype in Chapter 5 (Naturalist Intelligence).
e. Word Puzzles
By showing a hint of items/graphics, this type of puzzle requires players to spell the word of prompts or do the opposite, like images on the wall, shapes in the air or items on the door. Players click on the alphabets in the right order, or players figure out the item they need through words. The outcome usually would be a hint for the next puzzle.
Word puzzles are the main archetype in Chapter 3 (Linguistic Intelligence).
f. Size Change puzzles
This kind of puzzle requires the player to change their size using the portals. Ideally, the player should see elements they’re familiar with (e.g. Boxes, stairs, doors, platforms) but on a different scale than them. In order to interact with said elements or even access smaller or bigger areas of the map, the players cross the size-changing portals as needed.
Size Change puzzles are the main archetype in Chapter 2 (Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence).
g. Sound puzzles
Puzzles are based on sound and music, combining notes in different rhythms and tones, freely or in specific combinations. Examples: the player is challenged on creating specific combinations of musical notes (finding out a combination that matches the prompt); repeat musical patterns; build a melody to unlock a box using as hints the ambient sounds.
Sound puzzles are the main archetype in Chapter 4 (Musical Intelligence).
h. Meta Puzzles
Puzzles that unite elements of the other puzzle archetypes. The level of complexity is higher and will require more effort from the player to solve meta puzzles. Examples: hidden objects that should be collected and placed in a certain order to unlock a word enigma; actions that must be taken in a certain order to make a lever available, allowing a specific path to appear.
Metapuzzles are the main archetype in Chapter 8 (Intrapersonal Intelligence) and Chapter 9 (Existential Intelligence).
Colour Palettes
from chapter 1 to 9
Challenges & Solutions
1. Defining the core loop and key features
Due to distinguished backgrounds and gameplay experiences, our teammates had different conceptual expectations.
I guided teammates to speak out about their interests, by embedding them into our project so all could enjoy the game design process the most;
I proposed a core loop of exploration, puzzle-solving and mediation on Miro for teammates to understand the significant experience we would like to build and design in 9-world gameplay;
Based on the core loop, we reached a consensus on key features I desired to highlight and apply to convince players.
2. Embracing pivots and iterating based on feedback
Our MVP kept evolving based on user testing outcomes and the advisor's suggestions.
I facilitated several playtests to gain actionable feedback through pre-and-after surveys and observations;
I proposed and scheduled meetings with faculty and testers to receive iterative advice; then, we evaluated the results as a team.
Each member conducted game research on possible directions and plans that our developer could implement within a limited time.
3. Refining testing goals and MVPs
When we were at different stages of prototyping, we must refine prototyping goals coupled with testing.
The initial Unreal prototype had too many visual distractions;
I suggested my definition of MVP and showed the core value of prototyping that was necessary to show off, and we debated on what a solid MVP should look like to demonstrate core gameplay mechanics;
We focused on answering specific questions through testing, such as testers' understandings of the core experience, visual styles, sound effects, puzzle difficulty levels, meditation activities, etc.