The first thing that you will see are the game mechanics. And then the only thing that you will see are the game mechanics.
The initial draw for games like Portal were things like… okay, yes, the personality of an evil robot overlord and the creation of an undying cake meme, but also the innovative approach they took in using new game mechanics to get through crazy puzzles that don’t simply have one right answer. Antichamber is probably a better example in this respect, constantly challenging you with new ways to approach a problem without the plot.
The brilliant tech demo above released yesterday for Pillow Castle Games’ newest project, The Museum of Simulation Technology, is built around the concept of “forced perspective” – an optical illusion that makes things seem larger or smaller than reality.
It is normally used as a camera trick to make pictures like this:
In The Museum of Simulation Technology, your first person perspective will use this concept as a weapon, picking up objects and making them larger or smaller by changing how you look at them.
Feeling a little déjà vu?
If you’ve got that strange feeling that you’ve seen something like this before… well, there’s a distinct possibility that you have. The game mechanics are very close to this Unity Ludum Dare challenge game, Tale of Scale, which released back in December 2012 and uses forced perspective to solve puzzles in similar ways.
Tale of Scale is not nearly as polished as The Museum of Simulation Technology, but keep in mind that it was also created in 48 hours! In comparison, The Musuem of Simulation Technology (Pillow Castle’s first project) is under development by a special team – students from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA.
The game is currently still in development, but it will definitely be interesting to see what the finished product will look like.
