The jam hadn't quite started yet, we still had about a week before the clock started ticking. But of course, our minds were buzzing with ideas and excitement. 

The premise was set. We would make a game that functioned similarly to a Sokoban type puzzler, but with the ability to dig a piloted Mech between a surface scene and an underground scene. The goal would be to collect a mining resource in each stage and include a fuel gauge that would deplete with every dig so that the player would need to plan their moves before taking action. 

While we couldn't jump into GBS or start working on artwork at this stage, there was nothing stopping us from doing a bit of research and exploring some of the more straight forward aspects of what the game would need by sketching our visions down by hand and sharing them with one another. 

I opted to play through Mole Mania (1996), the main inspiration for Unearthed. Mole Mania features a Mole named Muddy that can dig underground to get around enemies and solve puzzles. I figured Shigeru Miyamoto, the games lead designer, had probably already solved a bunch of problems we would be facing when designing Unearthed. Recording my thoughts on its various design elements and how they may translate to our own game would not only prove to be helpful, it would also get the creative juices flowing when brainstorming our own mechanics. 

One of the nicest things in Mole Mania from a players point of view, is the ability to stick your nose above ground and see whats above you without having to worry about taking damage from enemies during their patrols on the surface. This was not something that would be achievable in GBS 2beta5 (at least it was a bit too risky to worry about something like this during a jam) so one of the main takeaways from researching Mole Mania was that timing based puzzles which required the player to dig only when it's safe to do so would be problematic to design. Instead, we would need to focus on cause and effect based mechanics that required logic and planning.

Another problem Miyamoto had already solved that was immediately applicable to Unearthed was that each 16x16 pixel tile (the size of Muddy) was marked with background art that clearly showed what areas the player could and could not dig through. This kind of visual cue would be critical information to the player during game play and essential in my own level designs. I opted to include visual cues for un-diggable locations in the underground scenes of Unearthed - something you can't directly see in Mole Mania's sub-terrain - because the Mech's digging function was finite and we simply wouldn't be coding the equivalent of Muddy's surface peaking feature.

Another aspect of the game that we could explore on paper before the jam started was some of the UI elements such as the level select screens and the information required within them. 

Both of us were interested in providing the player with a non linear approach to level progression, so it was important to allow the player a good amount of choice when choosing what to play next. This kind of approach allows the player to continue playing the game if they find a puzzle too vexing. The player could then try a different puzzle before they return to it for another go later on. Here is a look at an initial concept we explored for the level select screens:  

This iteration allowed the player to choose any level on a world, and the resources gained would slowly build a colony on the planet. Eventually, you would have enough resources to build a colony with space flight capabilities. The player could then reach the next planet with an all new series of puzzles to solve. 

We eventually moved away from the colony idea as we wanted the player to feel more isolated. The story would be more closely tied to Max, our Mech pilot and protagonist, away from his family, working tirelessly out there in space.

Another iteration, one closer to the final level select screens we would eventually implement can be seen in this mock up:

The colony idea is still here in this sketch, but would soon be dropped. We had given the progression a more traditional system. The player would need to travel across the planet in order to progress. As we still wanted to give the player some level of choice, we opted for multiple paths across the planet before finding a launch pad to leave for the next planet. In this way we could give the player some choice but also control the tutorial progression, slowly introducing mechanics along the way. Furthermore, we had decided to implement a scoring system to increase replay-ability and offer a kind of optional difficulty system. The player could now return to any puzzle and attempt a par score (and later we would include the even harder Dev high score)

We were also playing around with a calendar based work schedule that would have you returning to your family sooner the more stars you had achieved but I'll leave that for a later Devlog. 

In the above image we have some of Ben's sketches relating to several possible puzzle mechanics, and a small mini-game relating to the dropped colony building system in which you had to solve a mini-puzzle to complete the launch pad and leave the planet. We also have the beginnings of the level surface and underground scene plan. 

The colony idea was yielding some pretty interesting results as far as game play and game systems, but in the end, it was running counter to the atmosphere we wanted to inject into the games story, that of an isolated space traveler, toiling away on his own. We felt it was important that the games systems and mechanics supported the story we wanted to tell, and so it was all scrapped in the end!

In the next Devlog we will take a look at the planning strategies we used in the early stages of the jam.

Happy gaming!

Tom (Gumpy Function)

Want to conrtibute to Unearthed's development?

We're currently looking for people to playtest Unearthed as we finalize its many facets. If you would like to download a beta build of Unearthed and help us smooth out the kinks, please feel free to join Ben's discord here!