Maquette game soundtrack series#

And when I hit on the story of Kenzie and Michael, I knew I had something. So I went back to the drawing board to think about what kinds of stories I wanted to tell, regardless of gameplay. And the problem was, it was a story that was just there for the mechanic. But after a year or two of working on the game in my spare time, I realised the story didn’t resonate with me at all. And I initially picked a story just like that.

That is, have the heart of the story explain how the world-within-a-world came to be, or set up some plot where the player is actively trying to escape it, or turn it off, or whatever. Having a strong gameplay mechanic like the recursive world in Maquette, there was a temptation to write the story around it. What was the thinking behind this style of narrative? Without spoiling anything, it’s unusual in that it focuses solely on such a regular, relatable human tale. The realisation that we could have the player seamlessly carry objects between different scales was a major a-ha moment for me, both in the elegance of the implementation, but also from a puzzle-making standpoint.Īlongside the puzzle gameplay is the story of Kenzie and Michael. I changed the scale of one of them, and the core idea for Maquette was born. When I ran the simulation and saw two objects bouncing and tumbling exactly the same way, I knew I had something. I was studying this, and I had the idea to copy the complex physics movement from one object onto another. Yes, when we see a bowling ball about it hit a pin, we know the pin is going to fly, but we can’t predict how it’s going to tumble or exactly where it will land. But I started tinkering with physics around 2010, and I was really enamoured with how a physics engine could create complex, unpredictable behaviours. It had been rattling around in my head for a while. I don’t remember the first time I thought about the idea. The central mechanic behind the game’s puzzles - worlds within worlds - is really unique. You can place the small key between the dollhouse sized buildings in the small world, and a giant key will also be placed between the life-sized buildings, allowing you to cross. You find a small key, place it within a small world and find that, because the worlds nest within each other, a large key appears within the large world. The recursive puzzle mechanic works a bit like this - you need to get over a gap between two buildings, so you must make some kind of a bridge.

Maquette game soundtrack series#

The world of Maquette is a playable, interactive metaphor of the emotional underpinnings between two lovers, played out through a series of puzzles, representing the many challenges and triumphs a relationship can go through. You enter a fantastical world-within-worlds to navigate memories of couple Michael and Kenzie, explore awe-inspiring architecture that coincides with their past, and learn more about who they are on a journey of love, loss, and acceptance. Hanford Lemoore: Maquette is a first-person puzzle game set in a recursive world where players simultaneously experience the life cycle of a loving relationship.