Puzzle Dimension is a 3D puzzle game that puts your spatial visualization ability to the test. It was Doctor Entertainment‘s first release and came out on Steam in 2010 for PC and Mac. A year later the PlayStation 3 version followed.
Gameplay
The objective is to steer a ball on a 3D structure and collect the sunflowers and enter the portal. The ball dictates the direction of the gravity and the difficulty gets harder for each puzzle.
The 100 puzzles are sorted in ten clusters depending on structural properties and what kind of blocks that the puzzle contains. Blocks range from ice, fire, sand, spikes, teleporters and more. A cluster contains ten puzzles and they can be solved in any order, if you get stuck – pick another one. Collect sunflowers to unlock more clusters and new graphical themes.
Technology
Puzzle Dimension was made with Doctor Entertainment’s in-house engine Traktor. A couple of interesting features in the game include graphics and music that change as each puzzle is played. Graphics go from pixely retro blocks to detailed shapes and textures as the player comes close. The music blends between an 8-bit retro style and new clear versions of each song.
What I did
My main task for this project was to create all the puzzles. In the end we got 100 puzzles in increasing difficulty ranging from the simple and obvious to the really challenging ones.
Our editor was in development during the entire project and meant that I could request new features that were needed to create the puzzles. Writing bug reports and feature requests along with gameplay suggestions were fun and very instructive.
When we came closer to release I helped in preparing review sources and press releases and created the game manual. Post release I answered questions in the Steam discussions and helped in troubleshooting any problems the players might have.
Links
Puzzle Dimension Homepage
Puzzle Dimension Steam Store
Puzzle Dimension PSN
Doctor Entertainment Homepage
Traktor Engine
Youtube playlist with solutions to all 100 puzzles