Proof of Concept Prototype Documentation

The prototype that I have made to truly show off the concept I want to do is this, where the player is put into a 2D platformer with nothing but instructions telling them the controls. As they try to walk around, nothing really happens. However, once they see the instruction at the bottom of the screen mentioning the shift key and they decide to physically press it, the camera shifts from looking forward at the world (and player) to an overhead view, making this now a top-down game. As the perspective switches, a very slightly differently colored part of the background wall is revealed to actually be a rectangle that was in front of the background wall and was hiding a square portal behind it. Once the player walks through that, they’re put into a seemingly identical room aside from the new object, a CalorieMate. If they try to walk to it, they disappear. But why? Upon shifting perspectives here, it is revealed that the CalorieMate is actually on a platform above the ground. Now the player must jump on some other platforms in-between to get up to the top platform, winning the game.

To make this, I made a new project in Godot – 3D this time. As I began, I tried figuring out how to use Phantom Camera, an add-on to the Godot engine that enables easy access to making preset areas for the in-game camera to go to known as “zones”. A YouTube video by someone named DevWorm went over the basics of the add-on as well as some of its intricacies while making a demo that I was able to download after the video. Utilizing both of these helped me understand it quite well and was able to use this knowledge of simple 2D zones into a 3D perspective swapping mechanic. After that, I spent the rest of my time wrestling with Godot’s 3D world creator and made two levels showcasing the concepts that can be used for puzzles in a full game while also putting an emphasis on illusion.