Pixelsocks: We should start with context. Can you tell me about Cogs?

Rob Jagnow and Brendan Mauro
Photo from Lazy 8 Studios

Brendan: The idea was to create a puzzle game that leverages modern hardware because any computer that your grandma buys today will have a 3D card in it. Going with that, along with a love for contraptions, gears, and widgets, programmer Rob Jagnow came up with the idea to make a sliding tile puzzle game that involves a steampunk feel. You connect gears and pipes to build contraptions. Rob spent five years building it in his spare time, and brought me on two years ago to do the art.

Pixelsocks: The tile puzzle is a classic, and although you’ve added a lot to it, the puzzle is still famously difficult. Is the emphasis on art there to help ease players past any frustration they might feel?

Brendan: It quite possibly might do that. It’s definitely a difficult game, and that’s been one of the biggest complaints so far. However, if you enjoy puzzles, you’ll enjoy the challenge itself.

One thing I’ve heard this week is that art can’t make a bad game good, but it can make a good game great. That was the kind of goal I was going for. I think we had pretty solid gameplay to start with and I wanted to add something good to the top.

Pixelsocks: Sliding puzzles are based on physical objects, which seems like it would lend itself to the iPhone port you just released. Has the touch interface forced you to retune the difficulty for the port?

Brendan: That’s a good question. We don’t have any metrics to back up the decision, but we actually made the game a little easier on the iPhone. The data we did collect showed that people had trouble finishing the pipe puzzles. I’m not really sure why that is; maybe it’s just the smaller interface or it’s not as responsive.

Pixelsocks: How about the technology?

Brendan: We had to reduce the detail in the art quite a bit, but I pride myself on coming pretty close to the PC graphics. We had to lose bump mapping and a few other little things for optimization. Otherwise it’s the exact same little game.

Pixelsocks: Layering so many elements on top of an already challenging puzzle seems like it would be difficult. How do you design the puzzles?

Brendan: Rob did all the programming and level design, and he’s really just a smart guy. He had a Photoshop file where he’d lay out the 3D multisided puzzles in 2D. Then he’d start with the solution, draw it out, and work backwards from there.

Pixelsocks: Can you tell me about the LOLspeak mode?

Brendan: Neither Rob nor I is incredibly fluent in another language, so we decided to throw LOLspeak in there for the first localization test. It’s kind of a joke and kind of a fun gimmick. I know some people think it’s the best part of the game and others only play it in LOLspeak.

Pixelsocks: It’s very well-written, if such a thing can be said about LOLspeak.

Brendan: Thank you, I’m the one who wrote the translation.

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Tags:   Brendan Mauro · cogs · excellence in design nominee · GDC · gdc 2010 · IGF · IGF 2010No Comments

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