Pumpkin Boy

The game aims to be an accessible, child-friendly, introduction to cerebral puzzle games with a charming setting and light story elements. Made in less than two weeks, the project was a tough but rewarding group effort, a hard lesson in puzzle design and time management.

Pumpkin boy is a puzzle game inspired by Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. Where you control your body with one joystick and rolling your head with the other. Then solving puzzles by throwing the head, moving boxes and pushing buttons.

Designing Puzzles

Because of the short development time the game has three playable levels. I was in charge of level one and two. We quickly decided the main mechanic of throwing the head and using pressure plates and pushable boxes as components to solving puzzles. Then we asked for a simple event system that could move and rotate objects so that the process of making puzzles would be easier for the designer.

This game was a part of Future Games - Game Project 1 where all the games had to be for the age group of 6-12. We got the theme of magic and mystery and getting closer to halloween time we chose the theme of a pumpkin. During these weeks we got the opportunity to test our games at Tekniska Museet in Stockholm. Where children could come and play our game.

It was really fun! Please tell me when the game is complete so i can play some more levels!

William Johansen

8 years old, (quoted during alpha testing at Tekniska museet)

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Early blockouts

blockout1 blockout2

what went wrong

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what went right

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Project information

  • Genre Puzzles
  • My Title Puzzle/Level Designer
  • Team Size 8 People
  • Project length 10 Days
  • Project finished September 2021
  • Engine used Unity
  • Project URL www.itch.io/pumpkin-boy
  • Visit website

View Trailer/Gameplay

Design Decisions

Some examples of design decisions and my thought process while making this game.

The throwing arc #1

One criticism we got during beta testing was that throwing the head was sometimes hard and instead of creating a challenge it was just frustrating. This was the old arc that just showed the angle of where the head was being thrown.

The throwing arc #2

Here you can see the newer arc that was designed. It was important to me that we stayed true to our vision of the game being kid friendly. The older trajectory was not always truthful and only somewhat helpful. I think the color change and longer line helps the player in the right way. We also added a small tutorial part where the key you need to use is shown on the floor.

The last puzzle #1

This is the last puzzle of the game where the player has to get over this river of acid. By standing on both of the left triggers the elevator will ascend. The design was to try making the player think they know the answer and then realize the true solution to the puzzle. By leaving your head behind you can run over and get the second box to then collect your head and complete the level!

The last puzzle #2

The puzzle was inspired by one of my favorite riddles when I was a child.

A farmer is travelling with a fox and a sheep. He comes to a river with a small boat in it. The boat can only support the farmer and one other animal. If the farmer leaves the fox alone with the sheep, the fox will eat the sheep.

Kill your darlings #1

This level is pretty much finished. Except I wanted this level to introduce a new element. A lever that can only be used by the body, instead of the pressure plates we used before. This level still works great in my opinion. However because of the short development face the artists did not feel like they had time to decorate them up to the game standards. I agreed and understood what they were talking about. I feel it's always important to listen to your team and how they think.Even though it means cutting something you worked hard on. The value of making the level was still earned.

Kill your darlings #2

I had an idea of making a maze with an electric fence. I decided to cut this level during its progress because it did not feel rewarding solving the maze. The idea was that only the rolling head was small enough that it could roll under the electric fence and then make a way for your body by using the buttons. It ended up being more of a guessing game and did not make the players use their heads. A valuable lesson in puzzle making.