Game Development
Lazy Thief
A story about how unexpected assets from an artist can reshape your game in a flash (yes, that's a pun).
Back in 2014 Ajay Karat and I released a puzzle game called Lazy Thief. That was my first real interaction with Armor Games, and I had no idea that two years later I'd be helping build their indie publishing division.
This game started out as a sort of linear, 2D stealth puzzle game. The original idea was that you'd play as a thief sneaking into a castle, taking out guards and solving physics puzzles in order to gain access to the next room. The first level, a teaching puzzle, was going to be about shooting down a drawbridge. Here's an early prototype:
After spending FAR too much time working out the math to make sure that arrows stuck at the proper angle into their targets...
Ajay sent over art for the in-game gems: some round, some square, some triangular. Like any game developer with no respect for scope, my brain immediately saw a new game hiding inside those assets. What if the round gems rolled through the level, while the square ones acted as stoppers? That one small idea reshaped the whole project. The linear, bespoke stealth-puzzle turned into figuring out how to juice that new core mechanic.
Miraculously, that game went on to be ported to iOS and Android (although I don't believe it's still available), but it persists on Newgrounds and Armor Games, among many other sites who helped themselves to the files. It's fine, that's how the Flash era was. There's also a PC version up on my itch page.
This game didn’t light the world on fire or anything, but I have fond memories of working on it with Ajay during nights and weekends. I think I even still have the 100+ notecards I used to lay out the difficulty curve and cull the herd. I had a very "high-tech system" of smiley-face stickers and highlighters that gave me a bird’s-eye view of puzzle type and difficulty as I figured out the right order.
I feel like the game does a decent job of introducing new mechanics, teaching the player how to use them (without tutorials), and giving them enough challenge to feel smart when they progress. But you can let me know what you think should you decide to check it out.