Oma & the Moon
“Oma & the Moon” is a 3D puzzle game inspired by a story from my childhood about wanting to get closer to the moon. The player has to switch between a first-person and an isometric camera to solve puzzles and get through doors with Grandma’s (“Oma” in German) help. The game was created to explore level design and narrative concepts in 3D, as well as working with Unity.
The game is supposed to communicate the feeling of being too small, so a first-person perspective for playing a “little me” character was an obvious choice. On the other hand, it wouldn’t make much sense if the player was able to solve a big puzzle in that perspective, but unable to open a door. To solve this, I decided to introduce a third-person isometric camera as well: The player switches between these two perspectives to either move around as little me, or to solve the puzzle and create a path for themselves.
Feedback showed that there could be more build-up as the user progresses through the levels. I tried to make sure the first level teaches the user how to play before it gets more tricky in the second and third. Blocks moving back and forth, the necessity to switch between both cameras several times and different height levels of the blocks further challenge the player. This also helps the narrative progression told in the game.
