Trickstir
Trickstir was a student project voted most fun, most innovative, and best aesthetics by an alumni panel reviewing student games. I led the design on the project and created the original prototype.
Contributions
Developed and implemented the rotation mechanic inspired by a web game
Designed every level in the game which required extensive playtesting and tuning
Implemented all the art except the animated witch
Created and implemented visual effects and shaders to enhance the experience
This is Numbskull, my inspiration for Trickstir.
the first prototype where I created the Numbskull mechanic in ~6 hours
Mechanic Prototyping
This project began with the whole team creating individual prototypes of game ideas. I created two prototypes, one of which became Trickstir.
I was inspired by an old web puzzle game called Numbskull that I played as a kid with my dad. I decided to recreate the base mechanic and put a unique spin on it.
I brainstormed a number of unique mechanics that we could add to make the game more interesting. Our ideas coalesced into unique ingredients, as the team determined that the theme of the game could be a witch brewing a potion.
This is a graph I made with my analysis of the 50 levels in numbskull
I prototyped early levels in a digital canvas before all the unique mechanics were implemented
Level Design
To understand the design space, I created a spreadsheet to analyze every level in Numbskull to determine what worked and what didn't to make sure we didn't make the same mistakes.
As soon as the base mechanic was created, I began creating as many levels as possible to explore all of the possibilities of each mechanic to have many levels to choose when creating the final set.
I wanted levels to communicate something new about the system that players hadn't realized, an "ah-ha" moment.
To find or create these new moments, I had several strategies, including the creation of interesting shapes, seemingly impossible situations, easy situations that turned out to be almost impossible, and more.
This is the caption to an image, you don't have to include it but it may be useful in describing the intention behind this choice of visual aid.
Visual Effects
It is vital the player immediately understands what is going on in a puzzle game. If players get confused about the rules of the game system, then their confusion leads to disappointment and unnecessary frustration.
I created the visual effects to communicate succinctly what happened to the player or warn them about the potential dangers of a block.
Near the end of the project, I added a small amount of visual effects and movement to each ingredient which helped even a static screen of the game look interesting and alive.
Playtesting and Iteration
Our programmer created an in game feedback form that populated a spreadsheet early in the project. It provided invaluable insights.
I still ran many traditional playtests, and the data from the other tests allowed me to make informed design decisions, such as the order of levels, what levels to cut, and where players were getting stuck.
I credit much of the game's success to frequent feedback and those data-informed design decisions. Without them, I wouldn't know the best pacing of levels, and people may bounce off the game.
© 2025 Langston Key
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contact at keylangs@msu.edu