'Unpacking' the design pillars of a chill puzzle game

gamedeveloper.com:

In this GDC Vault talk from from last month's big show, Witch Beam's Wren Brier dives into the process of designing Unpacking, 2021's hit "chill" puzzle game where players learn the story of a character by moving her belongings into new lodgings. In the game, players go through about eight moves with the main character, learning all about her life by arranging her belongings (and making choices about where to put things in the new home).

Brier noted that the game was actually based on a real-life move: when her partner moved in with her, and the couple found themselves thinking about the "game like" qualities of the whole process. Brier had previously worked on popular (and well regarded) mobile games like Jetpack Joyride, and the couple set about making a prototype that focused on one simple mechanic: unpacking boxes of the character's belongings. That focus on one core mechanic: polished, immediately clear to players, and versatile helped the team navigate some uncharted waters.

As Brier freely admitted, Unpacking is pretty weird and unconventional: there are no scores, or fail states or negative consequences for players. It's also a story-based game without any dialogue: all of the story beats and character cues are conveyed through the gameplay itself and the environment. The team went about finding the core of the game by deliberately employing subtractive design: eschewing conventions and adhering to only the elements that would make their game what it needed to be.

"Now, obviously, pre existing game conventions can be really useful," Brier said.

"A designer shouldn't have to reinvent the wheel every time they make a game. But they can also be a trap designers can fall into without realizing it. Does my game really