I was inspired to create IsoTopology based on the story of the Bridges of Königsberg problem. The problem posed the fact that you could not cross each bridge only once and make it to every section of the city. Based on this idea, I came up with puzzles that only allowed players to use traversal options once to complete them.

I started the design process on paper for this project. I designed three puzzles for this prototype with increased size and difficulty. I also introduced special tiles that could be used twice. I wanted to make sure that I created levels that could pose a challenge, but also taught the player how the tiles worked without any text tutorial. I achieved this through the design of the first puzzle using double use tiles near the first gem that shows how it can be used more than once.

This project was one of my first attempts creating puzzles in a digital format and I learned the importance of paper prototyping, the depth of simple mechanics in a puzzle environment, the value of playtesting and the idea of creating puzzle systems in an iterative manner. As this project’s timeline was about a week, I did not have time to playtest it with outside players, but after the fact, I learned that it could have helped to grow and refine the concept.