Welcome to Behind the Doors - your favorite weekly blog about all things Doors!
Since we’ve been going strong with the cyberpunk doors, why not write up a third one for good measure? This time introducing Big Beats ready to groove up your day.
This is the second music-themed door we created, the first one being Music Mystery (yes, very original) from Doors: Origins or most commonly known around here as the Piano. We took a somewhat different approach when we started designing the concept. Just because we already had a musical level did not mean we would try recreating those ideas and incorporating them into this door.
Initially, the idea was to have somewhat of a disco or club, where we could include a dance party or those cool timing games, where you press arrows with your feet. It sounded really cool on paper, but it didn’t translate to success in reality.
A lot of the design has stayed similar throughout the brainstorming process. A quick thing to note, is that the platform has been the same for all four cyberpunk levels. It gives us good ground to work on (pun intended) and lets us be consistent, while also trying new stuff. One curiosity we removed totally was the little TV screen noticeable in the back face of the prototype. We had an idea to put a puzzle there, but as you will see later on, the puzzle chosen was far too big to fit inside such a small screen.
Abandoned Nightclub of the future As you can see, the big cassette was always there - we didn’t really know what to do with it, but we knew it would be included in the gameplay one way or another. This version of Big Beats definitely looked more run down than usual. In fact, the whole concept revolved around creating an “abandoned nightclub of the future”. It was going to be your typical broken glass, trash everywhere disco, but later You, the player, would have turned it to a presentable and busy hangout spot for the cool kids in the block.
The Helper and The Dancefloor The Helper, as you might have already guessed, was this little helper robot you can see in the GIF above. We wanted to include a robot but we got sick of the humanoid C3PO-style machines and went for a little something along the lines of the vacuum cleaner bot. Its intention was to open up the dance floor once the player completes a certain gameplay mechanic we don’t wanna spoil yet. And so the rundown beaten club no one talked about was suddenly the talk of the town - the lights are shining, the music is blasting and the player is ready for the newest puzzle.
The front design remained the same as the prototype, the difference was in the details we included around and into the door. The lanterns resemble Chinese paper lanterns, but with a sci-fi twist of adding an emissive material. The labels and writings were neon with faux scribbles, which were also made to resemble Japanese hieroglyphics.
The puzzle we added is a timing-based click mechanic, which was originally inspired by the amazing rhythm game Osu! we are all big fans of. The prototype idea of a party dance game got transformed to the similar rhythm puzzle, with the exception that the dance floor is still a great place to bust some moves and have a good time.
Thank You for reading this week’s Behind the Doors. Don’t forget to join our Discord to get notified about all our future posts and announcements, as well as chatting with the team and community! If you enjoyed our demo and want to see more from Doors, check in with your favorite puzzle streamers, because plenty of them are already playing an exclusive 15-level version!
Behind the Doors: Cyber Criminals
Welcome, welcome and welcome back! Guess what everyone, today is another Cyberpunk level day!
We have yet another futuristic level on our hands, this time involving two robot criminals, a police precinct and plenty of fun puzzles to solve! Enjoy reading this week’s Behind the Doors level - Cyber Criminals ːsteamhappyː
Let us start by saying that this level had MANY concepts. And when we say many, don’t take it lightly. A total of three different door concepts had to be mashed together in order to create a prototype we could work with. The ideas were changing and shifting depending on where we wanted to go with the concept, so you could say we definitely took our time with this one.
Concept №1 The first concept was the most far off from the final design. And it only makes sense to have a very sketchy draft at first, we weren’t the first to work on a single instance for weeks without reaching a desirable outcome. Without beating around the bush too much, the first concept involved a woman in a cryopod. By all accounts, this idea sounds both intriguing and like it could have decent gameplay. Was she a criminal or maybe some cyberpunk superhero?
The answer, naturally, was that she was.. thrown in the bin with all the other concepts. No surprise there, but at least we liked the front face of the door - it was boxy, a lot of wires, cables and unexplained circuitry so it fit right into the vibe of the cyberpunk future.
Concept №2 So, moving onto concept number two. This time we had to take inspiration from somewhere and instead of looking outward towards the numerous media and art, we decided to get inspired by a previous level of ours. The idea was to make a “building” with a flying car parked inside it. Sound familiar? Well that’s because the Getaway Garage level (from Doors: Origins) had a broken down car you had to fix.
Although we liked the idea of a flying car, the space it was taking inside the diorama was not justified for the gameplay we had planned for it. We had to improvise, adapt and overcome in order to reach a reasonable conclusion for the car.
Concept №3 And that’s how concept three was born. One look is enough to understand where we were going with this - it was now a Police station and the flying car issue was also resolved. A vertically parked car was taking up waaay less space than one parked horizontally.
You might wonder why we turned the house/building/garage into a precinct. Well, the car was never thought to be more than just a random flying car, but giving the level a theme with the police car and jailhouse was definitely the direction we had been looking for. Seeing it in prototype was the little push that sprung all the ideas about robots, criminals and police chases flying all around the room.
In general, the final design was finished right after we had the gameplay covered, but our artists took it a step further by adding a dark and gloomy atmosphere to the brightly contrasting door. The background was inspired by dark cyberpunk movies such as Blade Runner and The Matrix, we wanted to express a sense of vastness to this level, make it feel like it’s a real station in a real city.
Thank You for reading this week’s Behind the Doors. Don’t forget to join our Discord to get notified about all our future posts and announcements, as well as chatting with the team and community! If you enjoyed our demo and want to see more from Doors, check in with your favorite puzzle streamers, because plenty of them are already playing an exclusive 15-level version!
Behind the Doors: Food Fight
Welcome to the third Behind the Doors, everyone!
We have important news today - the Origins posts have officially concluded. We are moving onto the Paradox chapter, where we will cover more than 8 unique doors and concepts!
Thinking long and hard which should be the first door to include in our final and favorite chapter.. the answer was quite obvious! The Cyberpunk category was the first conceptualized idea and Food Fight was naturally one of the first levels to see the light of day.
Mind you, when we say Food Fight, one must take into account the level barely had a concept, let alone a name and general direction. At first, Food Fight was the “Sushi level” as we liked to call it. In fact, quite a lot of levels kept their original codenames in the circles of our studio. Can you guess which level we call the “Wooden bird” ?
“A cat is a puzzle for which there is no solution.” Hazel Nicholson
Inspirations
On the screenshot you can see two faces of the same door. Left one is the front, right one is the back. At first, the level was inspired by the Japanese street food shops on the sides of the busy pedestrian streets. Typically they consisted of stools in front of a long wooden counter, where people could have a nice bowl of ramen on their way home. Our prototype combined the style of Japanese stalls mixed in with some western chair influence and the cyberpunk neon dragon logo on top.
Sushi
Before we get to the meaty part, what’s your favorite sushi? According to our prior research, the most popular sushi differs depending on the country. In Japan, most people enjoy plain sushi with their choice of fish (most often Tuna). However, in the USA people prefer over-the-top sushi with more than 5 ingredients or as we like to call it “flavor bomb”. The one thing we found, that connects both parties, is a nice, fresh avocado.
So naturally, the sushi you make in the level is a classic combo of fish and avo accompanied by the fun minigame of assembling it correctly. If you look close enough, you might even spot the avocado somewhere in the screenshot below.
Cat vs Drone
The drone didn’t really have a purpose at that point in development. We were jumping back and forth between ideas, wondering which one would fit best with the cyberpunk theme. The killer drone idea died out as fast as it was suggested, so all that was left was to repeat the process.
Who would’ve thought a cat would be the saving grace of Food Fight? The answer is none other than one of our devs, a self-proclaimed cat enthusiast, who gave the idea to have a Cat vs Drone fight as the main event of the level.
Thank You for reading this week’s Behind the Doors. Don’t forget to join our Discord to get notified about all our future posts and announcements, as well as chatting with the team and community! If you enjoyed our demo and want to see more from Doors, check in with your favorite puzzle streamers, because plenty of them are already playing an exclusive 15-level version!
Behind the Doors: Valley of Kings
It’s Tuesday once more, which means it’s Behind the Doors time!
Welcome back everyone to the second post, this time featuring a long lost ruin forgotten by time.. Valley of Kings. And while you may not be familiar with this specific door, you can watch your favorite streamers play it exclusively right now. We present to you Valley of Kings, a level from the Ancient Ruins category.
“A little magic can take you a long way.“ Roald Dahl
Fun fact: Valley of Kings derives its name from the Valley of Thracian Rulers in Bulgaria, where our studio is based. Well, we are based in Sofia, not the actual Valley.. In this level, the iterative process was King and our team had the task of brainstorming ideas based on the already made prototype. The process of our 3D artist creating a prototype to having a finished level design is a strenuous one highly dependent on the imagination and teamwork of everyone involved… but that might be a story for another time...
"We want a level with ruins"
The first prototype on the left shows the literal representation of “We want a level with ruins”. And yes you guessed it right, it didn’t work out so well. As a whole, the prototype seemed empty, barren almost. The frame of the door was crumbling, it seemed like the only thing keeping it together was the door blocker, which in its distinctive style seemed out of place. The statues looked cool, that’s for sure. Even though they were simple placeholders, the team needed a direction and the statues were definitely the right one.
"The Intermediary"
Moving on to prototype number two (center) you will notice there is one thing missing - the crumbling door frame is gone and in its place is an intricate frame design with circular symbols, which defies the laws of gravity. Needless to say, it didn’t make the cut. The statues are now two identical hooded figures holding swords - simple and yet very effective at helping the team come up with original ideas.
"And the winner is.."
Prototype number three (right) proved to be the winning design in the race. After the second iteration the team felt satisfied with the placement and overall silhouette of the door. At that point, the details started going into their respective places - where to put the puzzles we chose and which mechanics fit into the general aesthetic of the level and category.
The final design of Valley of Kings was inspired by a few ideas.
Firstly, we included a runic cipher seen in the steps below the door. The actual runes were a mixture of Elder Futhark, Proto-Bulgarian and Anglo-Saxon writings found in real-life locations around the world.
Secondly, the magical blue crystal and its interactions were inspired by tabletop games and fantasy art designs. Without spoiling the level too much, we can safely say that an unexpected and beautiful twist should be on your radar when you press Play.
And finally, the winter scenery. Winter is a big part of this category as you will see from both this level and Frozen Fate. We want to present a sense of desolation with these doors - they were forgotten by both time and man. And don’t get surprised by the bright green leaves seen around the statues and ruins - they are not accidental.
Thank You for reading this week’s Behind the Doors. Don’t forget to join our Discord to get notified about all our future posts and announcements, as well as chatting with the team and community! If you enjoyed our demo and want to see more from Doors, check in with your favorite puzzle streamers, because plenty of them are already playing an exclusive 15-level version! (And Valley of Kings is one of them!!!)
Behind the Doors: The Passage
Hey everyone! We’ve come with news from the Doors world, because every Tuesday from now will be a special one!
Our team has found some awesome buried prototypes from the Origins and Paradox chapters and they’re resurfacing to give you some behind-the-scenes info on some of our favorite levels.
“One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself.” Leonardo Da Vinci
This week’s spotlight shines on the very first category in the Origins chapter - The Workshop.
Highly influenced by Leonardo Da Vinci’s inventions, we wanted to create a world grounded in reality with cogs and machinery, while also sprinkling some magic dust on top. The level presented here is called “The Passage”, it’s the very first level from Origins and it also used to function as a tutorial thanks to its simple mechanics and the cool cutscene. We called it the passage, because it mediated not only the player to the world of Doors, but also mediated us, the Big Loop team, to the world of the magical and extraordinary.
And while you may be saying “There is absolutely nothing magical in this level, I’ve played the demo”, yes you are correct. The Passage proves a different point here. Up until this point, we were used to creating doors that had real-life mechanisms - every cable had a source and every weight had its rope, but coming into the Workshop, we learned that fantasy and magic are not your enemy - they are your friend. We started incorporating more and more elements of wonder - the Lovecraftian kraken and a time-turning clock are just examples from this category..
Thank You for reading this week’s Behind the Doors. Don’t forget to join our Discord to get notified about all our future posts and announcements, as well as chatting with the team and community! If you enjoyed our demo and want to see more from Doors, check in with your favorite puzzle streamers, because plenty of them are already playing an exclusive 15-level version!
A Doors Journey + GIVEAWAY
Hey there! Steam’s Next Fest is here, which means we will be streaming all week long
Without further ado, here are the stream levels you can watch right now:
Toxic Tales
Murder Motel
Infernal Fire
Arrow & Sword
Pirate Bay
Asian Fall
The stream is going to be the perfect combination of demo levels you have already seen AND 3 brand new exclusive levels from the full game. Speaking of the demo, it is playable right now and as much as we love watching someone play, playing it yourself is a MUST in our book ;)
Now comes the fun part — we’re doing a Giveaway!! Join the stream to find out how you can win free keys for Doors: Paradox when we release it.. Of course, if you enjoyed the stream and are interested to see more from Doors: Paradox don’t forget to wishlist it, so you can get a notification when we release it!
A Doors Journey + GIVEAWAY
Hey there! Steam’s Next Fest is here, which means we will be streaming all week long
Without further ado, here are the stream levels you can watch right now:
Toxic Tales
Murder Motel
Infernal Fire
Crystal Fortress
Pirate Bay
Asian Fall
The stream is going to be the perfect combination of demo levels you have already seen AND 3 brand new exclusive levels from the full game. Speaking of the demo, it is playable right now and as much as we love watching someone play, playing it yourself is a MUST in our book ;)
Now comes the fun part — we’re doing a Giveaway!! Join the stream to find out how you can win free keys for Doors: Paradox when we release it.. Of course, if you enjoyed the stream and are interested to see more from Doors: Paradox don’t forget to wishlist it, so you can get a notification when we release it!
Doors Trilogy registered for Next Fest!
Doors Trilogy has signed up for the Steam Next Fest!
This February from Monday 21st to Sunday 28th Steam will celebrate upcoming games! You can play the demos, look at sneak peeks and even join our special Doors stream throughout the week.
We're very excited to be able to participate in the n-th installment of Next Fest! Thank you Steam and we're looking forward to seeing YOU there, as well ːsteamhappyː
As always, we are plugging our Discord, reminding you to try out our Demo, wishlist Doors to get notified when it's released and keep being awesome!
