Missing in Time Devlog - Programmer

The theme for the game we created was "Missing", so we all instantly knew that we wanted to make a point and click, escape room type of game. Our main inspirations for the game were Tricky Doors and Professor Layton. The first of these focuses on escaping from different rooms by finding clues and solving puzzles throughout. The second contains more puzzles, and an engaging story, which is something we wanted to have in our game.  We wanted to base the game around an old artefact or mystery, and stumbled upon the Voynich Manuscript while doing some research. We decided to make this the central plot point of our game, as the meaning of the manuscript has never been discovered, or rather, it’s missing. The objective of the game is to infiltrate the manor, and discover the location of the manuscript in order to learn what it means.   

We wanted to keep the game super simple, as we had a few larger projects going on at the same time. However, we still wanted to create a fun experience. For the design, we went for a mostly medieval theme, as this was the time period where the manuscript was created. We also made the decision to use pixel art for the game, mostly because that's what we are most comfortable with making, but also because the majority of point and click games are not in a pixelated style, and we wanted to make something different.  

All of the art was done by Laila !!!!

I chose to do the programming for our game, as I had never really taken on a large programming role before. I saw this project as the perfect opportunity for me to increase my skill level, while only creating something simple.  

It turns out I was WRONG. Things that I thought would be really simple to make, turned out to be really difficult. I really struggled with a lot of the code, especially in the beginning when I didn’t have any assets to work with. I followed many tutorials online, and went through so many different ones trying to figure out which code to use for our game specifically. I ended up having to pull together loads of different versions of code in order to suit exactly what our game needed. I ran into SO MANY problems that I just did not know how to fix. But eventually, with the help of 40 year old tutorials and my friends, things finally came together.  

The game allows for almost every object to be clicked on, which displays a message about the object. Certain objects can be broken or dragged around the screen. Some objects can be clicked in order to display hints or open doors.   

By the end, we ended up with a game that LOOKS really simple, with easy pointing and clicking mechanics. But everything that went into it was NOT easy. I think now I will have a lot more appreciation for “simple” games, as I now realise how much effort goes into making them so simple for the player.