
Edge Flip
Engine: Unity
Genre: Puzzler
Team: Lume Studios
​

Game Summary:
​
​
Edge Flip is a puzzle game about making a path to the exit. In each level our character Morrigan must move tiles to make a path in as few moves as possible. There are special tiles that make this interesting, such as tiles that block a row or column from moving, tiles that must be arranged in a specific order, even enemies to defeat before advancing.
Puzzles!:
​
The game board is built like a Rubik's Cube, with tiles being in three different directions. When a player moves a tile, they can be moved vertically or horizontally, and moving one tile moves the entire row or column. Finally, the rows and columns loop around.
​
The challenge is to create a direct path from Morrigan's position to the exit door, and this path must go through every key on the board. Players have a set number of moves and when they run out, the puzzle must be restarted.

Since this game is designed for a mid-core audience, there was quite a challenge in making sure that puzzles were not too confusing nor too hard, while keeping a sense of challenge. Several factors determine the puzzle's difficulty; chief among them was how easy it is for players to visualize the fastest path to the exit. Extra twists and turn often resulted in players being unable to identify a possible path. So sometimes it was better to reduce the complexity of the puzzle but reduce the number of moves available to compensate.
​
Designing each puzzle to have their own unique aspect was another challenge. Since the game has so many mechanics, I was able to try all sorts of different path styles.
Post-Mortem
What Went Right?
​
-
Puzzles get the most out of mechanics, having dozens of unique uses of each mechanic.
-
After adjusting for balance, the players respond well to figuring out the fastest solution path and improving their skills.
​​
What Went Wrong?
​
-
Several puzzles needed to be redone or trimmed down when players struggled with them. Eventually, with simplification, the puzzles worked.
​
What Was Learned?
​
-
Mid-core audience wants to be challenged, but having really easy puzzles to ramp difficulty and teach mechanics is still the most effective way to get them to master the game.