Laser Master is a game that I am actively developing in coordination with a local children's museum. This project intends to have both a Children's Museum Edition and a full PC/Mobile Edition, with the experiences featuring colorblind accessibility. A full version would intend to teach players to implicitly understand light, down to which colors refract more than others using mirrors, filters, prisms, and other items of interest.
Laser Master is a game I am currently developing with the intent to release both a Children's Museum Edition and a PC/Mobile version alongside it, with a local children's museum being very interested in the project, including being the host of playtesting sessions. The intent will be to have a QR code link to the Mobile Edition (Or Steam at the top for parents), with the intent being that the shorter museum version could draw interest to a longer version. It features particles that attempt to make puzzles accessible for people who may be colorblind, while also helping to make other hints more obvious, such as lasers showing which colors create an output light. Alongside this, to make this game as accessible as possible, instructions or hints will be made non-verbally, through the use of "plaques" or animations.
This project also works under the constraints of the target museum's hardware, requiring some level of optimization to ensure the fewest issues, with lasers only updating when necessary. All art elements have been designed within Adobe Illustrator, split into pieces where necessary for making the game world more alive, but a little "jank" in the fact that the outline on the environment is hand-placed. All game design has been done with feedback from the local children's museums' administration, education director, and other staff.
As the project currently stands, levels have been designed too heavily to be puzzles first and foremost for the target demographic, so they are currently going through redesigns before further playtesting and development. The new series will begin with attempting to teach the player how to "read" puzzles before introducing false paths and thought-provoking game elements/level design. Aside from this, it is still missing sounds, and I still intend to find how far I can push the hardware and still keep a consistent style.
As this game progresses, there will be a couple of ways the puzzle changes as the game approaches realistic simulation. In the intended experience, the player will have to eventually worry about precise angles and refraction, as well as puzzles that potentially involve optics or other aspects of light, even including a "Laser Master Mode" to get as close to realistic simulation as is sensible for a game. This experience is highly subject to change, as the intent is to make this an overall "educational" experience, making an understanding of how light works "easier to digest" than normal.
