Prismwraith Devlog 1 | The first prototype

The first prototype for my color-changing FPS game, dubbed “Prismwraith”.

The project first started when I learned about changing the material color instance of objects in Unity. This lead me to start thinking about how changing the colors of things could be used as a gameplay mechanic. I then came up with the idea of mixing colors together. At this point I had a idea for a main mechanic, but no incentive to use it, like if in Tetris a row of blocks doesn’t disappear when you line them up. I was missing the crucial gameplay catch.

Then it hit me. Mixing an object with its complementary color would cause the object to disappear. The goal for the player then became mixing colors found around the environment in order to create the color complementary to an obstacle that impends the player’s progress. With this simple mechanic, the game turned into something somewhat resembling Portal, with an innovative central mechanic that the entire game is built around. The player needs to solve environmental puzzles to progress.

However there was still something not quite right. All the player had to do was find the correct colors to mix, and then carry the resulting color to the progression block. This made every solution a one-trick pony. While the color mixing was cool and intuitive, it still was to fundamentally basic. So I made it so that the player is unable to move while holding a color. Now not only was the goal to find and mix the appropriate color, but to also transfer that color to the progression block. Finding sight lines between paintable surfaces was now a major part of the gameplay loop. This is best shown in the final puzzle shown in the video.

With that, I had a promising proof of concept. Now it was just a matter of building upon it.