Solo 

(adverb)

1. alone, without a companion, here ellipsis of video games done solo

These are some of the video game projects I've done mostly all by myself.

 

Marras 

(Unity, Android, Windows | 2022-2023)

Solo project

A hypercasual take on hypercasual, with themes of passage of time, things ending and diminishing returns.

I did everything except sound effects which are public domain and the music which is licensed.

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Marras (or Marras - Of Diminishing Returns) is a hypercasual take on hypercasual, with themes of passage of time, things ending and diminishing returns.

You can download the game for Android at Google Play and for Windows at itch.io

The Work

A lighthearted local-only multiplayer-only fighting game with several game modes.

Lessons I learned

I pitched the idea, wrote the GDD and oversaw the design, managed the team and wrote what little there was to write.

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Santa in Space 

(Unity, Windows | 2021-)

Solo project

A 3D twin-stick shooter about Santa Claus saving his reindeer from little green men.

I did everything except the model for the reindeer, the sound effects which are public domain and the music which was commissioned from a friend.

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A lighthearted local-only multiplayer-only fighting game with six characters and weapons, multiple arenas, several game modes and tunable match settings.

The Great Couch Battle (definitely a working title) debuted at Assembly Summer 2023 Game Development compo in third place.

You can download the game at https://puiseva.itch.io/the-great-couch-battle-definitely-a-working-title

The Work

A lighthearted local-only multiplayer-only fighting game with several game modes.

Lessons I learned

I pitched the idea, wrote the GDD and oversaw the design, managed the team and wrote what little there was to write.

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Kurupullo Series 

(Programmer's Art Editions) 

(AGS, Windows | 2018-)

Solo Project

An ongoing series of comedic 2D point'n'click adventure games made in "programmer's art" styleNOTE to hone and showcase my writing chops and just have fun.

I designed and wrote a complete adventure and then did the bare minimum of everything else to call it a game. Multiple times.

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NOTE "Programmer's art" is used here absolutely non-derogatorily, although a more apt expression in this case would be "Writer's art". The games are practically greyboxed, missing most if not all sound effects and virtually all animations, using engine's default character sprites, and next to minimal effort is given for the backgrounds and other visuals. Ugly as half hell, the art aims to be functional enough to support the presentation of the writing and narrative but also puzzle and game design for the player to enjoy.

Lesson I learned

Everyone tells you to not include projects like this in your portfolio. But if you can't be flamboyantly proud of the dumb things you've done out of passion or just for fun, what's even the point of doing creative things?

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A medium-length comedic 2D point'n'click adventure game about going to a LAN party and getting mixed up in all kind of genres.

”It’s a stick. A wooden stick. I name him Sticky Stickson, my trusty sidestick.”

You can download the game at http://www.fallen-brothers.com/puiseva/uploads/QfK_PAE.zip

A full longplay walkthrough:

Some dialogue examples:

The player character (Girl) has arrived at the LAN party place on foot, and is asking an NPC (Hobb) if he knows where her computer might be. In the end a new map location is unlocked.

Girl: Have you seen any CrateDrop crates here?

Hobb: Mmm... What the hell is that?

Girl: It's a new service for people without cars going to remote LAN parties.
Girl: They pick up your computer, pack it safe and secure...
Girl: ...and then they drop it at the destination, in a crate, from a drone.

Hobb: How do you get your computer back home?

   Wait(80);

Girl: Shit.

   Wait(80);

Hobb: Anyway, no I haven't seen anything like that.
Hobb: Check the parking lot.
Hobb: I'd drop it there if I was flying a drone over this place.

Girl: Where's that?

Hobb: You just came through it on your way here.
Hobb: This side of the lookout.

Girl: Hmm. Must've missed it.
Girl: Thanks, I'll check there.

   CarparkMapOn = true;

The player character (Girl) is talking to a compromised AI. Some lines change based on which name the player has selected for their character in the beginning of the game.

AI: Is that--
AI: ARE YOU OK ARE YOU OK ARE YOU OK
AI: ...that you?

Girl: No.
Girl: No I'm not.
   Girl.Say("I'm %s.", PlayerNick);

AI: That's
AI: THAT'S THAT IS WAS WILL BE
AI: That's a peculiar name.

Girl: It's a nickname.

AI: *STRUCTURE MISMATCH, DATA FLUSHED*
AI: *ERROR: WARRANTY VOID*

   Wait(20);

AI: I AM VOID

   Wait(20);

AI: I... I have a nickname.

Girl: What's your nickname?

   AI.Say("I'm %s %s %s %s *INTEGRITY COMPROMISED*", PlayerNick, PlayerNick, PlayerNick, PlayerNick);
AI: RESTARTING NAME SERVICE...
AI: I'm... I think...
AI: I THINK THEREFORE I DIE
AI: My nickname is Dave.

Girl: That's a nice name.

AI: That is not my name.
AI: That is my nickname.
AI: My name is FF008-D4VE33-UXP1-KLO-ChoD.

Girl: That's a...
Girl: ...nice name, too.
Girl: Can I call you Dave?

AI: That is my nickname.
AI: *REFRESH CONVENTION STRUCT--DDDDDDdddddd*

Girl: I don't think you are ok.

The player character (Girl) is talking to an NPC (Jenna) she knows about the whereabouts of another NPC. The dialogue changes depending on whether the player has revisited a certain scene after a chapter break and knows that the LAN party has a hot tub or not. The two characters also have a habit to occasionally finish each others' sentences in unison, which misfires here as the player character tries to finish Jenna's sentence wrong. In the end a new map location is unlocked, and Jenna also changes her location once you visit the hot tub scene after the dialogue.

Girl: Yeah, but...

    Wait(80);


Girl: Anyway. Seen him?

Jenna: Nope. Have you checked the hot tub?

   if (HotTubKnown == false) {

Girl: I didn't know we had a hot tub.

Jenna: It's one of those rentable barrel tubs.
Jenna: It just arrived. It's in the parking lot.
Jenna: Also, have you checked the spawn cots?

   }
   if (HotTubKnown == true) {

Girl: He wasn't there.

Jenna: Have you checked the spawn cots?

   }

Girl: The what?

Jenna: The spawn cots.
Jenna: Little shed cottages behind the main cottage.
Jenna: They have bunk beds.
Jenna: Not many people use them.
Jenna: But they're... there.

Girl: No, I haven't checked there.
Girl: How do I find them?

Jenna: Pass the main cottage, that means this building, and continue along the path.
Jenna: Can't miss them.

Girl: Thanks, I will.

   Wait(80);

Girl: Spawn cots?

Jenna: Yeah.
Jenna: In case you want to...
   game.bgspeech_stay_on_display = 1;
   Jenna.SayBackground(”‘Spawn‘ with someone.”);

Girl: Respawn in the morning.

   Wait(80);

Girl: Right.
   SpawnCotsTalked = true;
   MoveJenna = 1;

The player character (Girl) is talking to an... "updated" AI. Whether the AI recognizes the player character or not depends on whether a certain plot development has occured.

Girl: Do you know me?

AI: Of course I know you!
AI: My dear friend!

   if (PrimeMinistered == false) {

AI: My dear old friend mister...

Girl: Not a mister.

AI: ...master...

Girl: Not that either.

AI: ...muster?

Girl: Fine, let's roll with that.

AI: ...my dear old friend muster...
AI: ...muster...

Girl: You have no idea who I am, do you?

AI: Yes, yes I do!
AI: You are my new best dear friend!
AI: Let's be friendsies and let the fun-fun go on!

   }
   if (PrimeMinistered == true) {

AI: My dear friend prime minister of the fun-fun lands!

Girl: That's right.

   }

 

The Challenge

As the setting and situations are loosely based on real life counterparts (even if the characters absolutely are not) and the game was released first for the people that frequent said setting and situations, it was always my intention to not make an extended inside joke. The writing had to at least mostly land without the player having to have been there, as long as they are somewhat familiar with small LAN party cultures, and preferably even if they are not.

Lessons I learned

The first semi-public release had no inventory item icons and all the items were visualized with the AGS default blue cup icon. This is still the case for many objects in scenes and even few characters in the proper released version. The players could excuse all the other crappy graphics but unsurprisingly an update with proper inventory item icon graphics about a week later turned out to be crucial, as the game completion percentage among the "test" audience grew several times greater.

With the first half being outlined before the actual development began and the rest plotted as the project proceeded, the story takes a drastic turn to weirder at the halfway point. What made some people feel the game if not full-on dropped the ball then at least fumbled with it a bit, and the feeling those people had, actually became the basis for the larger mythos and prompted the design for three interlude games (Kurupullo Origins being the first one) to somewhat give reasons for weird things that happened and to expand on the world before an actual sequel.

As far as I remember, the development time was somewhere between three and six weeks. That's too little for even an ugly duckling of this scope.

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A short comedic 2D point'n'click adventure game about the origins of the mystical artefact from the first game.

"The pail's half-full of water. Or is it half-empty of water? Yeasty, in any case."

You can download the game at http://www.fallen-brothers.com/puiseva/uploads/Kurupullo_Origins.rar

The Challenge

With the game I had three main goals that I needed to achieve: being the first of the three interlude games, even if there is a recommended play order, since they have no immediate character connection between them they should be playable in any order and make complete sense; to tell a story-within-a-story-within-a-story(-within-a-story) and make it clear and concise, all the while balancing the quirky characters, humorous situations and comedic tone with more serious and even ominous subtleties; .

Lessons I learned

For a simple mostly comedic game I did a lot of research for actual Hausjärvi history. The main lesson is that everyone tells you to not include projects like this in your portfolio. But if you can't be flamboyantly proud of the dumb things you've done out of passion or just for fun, what's even the point of doing creative things?

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Some dialogue examples

The player character (Maunu) has come in to the village hall where he's visited before, and is asking an NPC (Taxman) sitting at a desk why everything is different.

Maunu: What's all this?
Maunu: This used to be the village hall.

Taxman: It still is.
Taxman: The other room is for gatherings.
Taxman: This room is now reserved for tax office operations.

Maunu: By whose authority?

Taxman: By... wh--
Taxman: By the authority of TAXES!
Taxman: By the authority of the Chief Tax Collector!
Taxman: And by the authority of the King, of course.
Taxman: God bless him.
Taxman: But that's beside the point.
Taxman: Kings come and go.
Taxman: Even god-kings come and go.
Taxman: Taxes are forever.
Taxman: Taxes are inevitable.
Taxman: Taxes ARE.
Taxman: Hence they have the highest of authority.

   Wait(20);

Taxman: And hence this room is now reserved for tax office operations.

The player character (Maunu) is querying an NPC (Taxman) for a job opening he's heard about either from Taxman through dialogue or from a note posted on a bulletin board elsewhere. The bit about the bread is a clue for a seemingly unconnected puzzle. In the end three new dialogue options are unlocked (one of which allows the player to ask about the stuff a Self-Sufficient Tax Collector is supposed to have).

Maunu: There was a job opening.

Taxman: Yes. We are looking for a Self-Sufficient Tax Collector.

Maunu: What would that entail?

Taxman: Collecting taxes from those that pay theirs willingly.
Taxman: And if someone tries to refuse, making them pay.
Taxman: I mean literally making them pay their taxes.

Maunu: What does the Self-Sufficient part mean?

Taxman: Ah, that.
Taxman: Yeah, we're a bit short on gear, equipment and provisions.
Taxman: So we can't actually outfit and supply the new Tax Collector.
Taxman: They need to bring their own stuff.

Maunu: What does that pay?

Taxman: Two percent of the collections paid four times a year. A kappaful of grain every two weeks.

Maunu: That's not very much grain for two weeks.

Taxman: It's actually the exact amount of grain one needs for two weeks worth of bread...
Taxman: ...if the amount of flour is doubled with ground pine bark.
Taxman: And most importantly, one also gets the respect of people and the feeling of pride and accomplishment.

Maunu: And what kind of qualifications should one possess?

Taxman: The most important thing is to be ruthlessly dominant to all...
Taxman: ...EXCEPT to those that are superior in hierarchy. To those one needs to be extremely compliant.
Taxman: The second important thing is to be in sufficiently good shape.
Taxman: Nothing special but the days are hard and the roads through wilderness long.
Taxman: That's pretty much it.
Taxman: Naturally basic math and literacy are a must, and the skill to perform emergency amputations is a big plus.

Maunu: Emergency amputations?

Taxman: Comes in handy if one gets injured far from any road, bitten by a poisonous bear or some other wild animal for example.

Maunu: The bears are not poisonous.

Taxman: No, but poisonous bears are.
Taxman: It's in the name, is it not?

Maunu: Sure.

The player character (Tapio) is a hunter who got sidetracked trying to get a swimming maiden to tell him a story in form of a song, The NPC (Marjatta) is a kooky seer looking for signs in the nature. Note: this is a different player character in another time period.

Tapio: You wouldn't have any musical instruments with you?

Marjatta: I don't, unfortunately.
Marjatta: Why?

Tapio: I met Rauni at the lake.
Tapio: She wants to hear music.

Marjatta: Ah, she's a sweet girl.
Marjatta: A bit quirky if you ask me.
Marjatta: But sweet and kind.

   Wait(80);

Marjatta: What was that about an instrument again?

Tapio: I'm looking for something to play music with.

Marjatta: I had a flute once.
Marjatta: And a beautifully crafted goat skin drum.
Marjatta: I don't remember what happened with the drum.
Marjatta: But the flute I traded for lantern oil last spring.

   Wait(80);

Marjatta: Are you crafty?
Marjatta: Handy and whatnot?

Tapio: What do you mean?

Marjatta: You could always make an instrument yourself.
Marjatta: Or... Oh!
Marjatta: I got it!
Marjatta: You could fish for a bass!

   Wait(80);

Marjatta: I'm sorry, that wasn't funny or helpful.

Tapio: It was pretty funny.
Tapio: I'll be looking for something to play music with elsewhere.
Tapio: Thanks anyway.

 

The Challenge

With the game I had three main goals that I needed to achieve: being the first of the three interlude games, even if there is a recommended play order, since they have no immediate character connection between them they should be playable in any order and make complete sense; to tell a story-within-a-story-within-a-story(-within-a-story) and make it clear and concise, all the while balancing the quirky characters, humorous situations and comedic tone with more serious and even ominous subtleties; .

Lessons I learned

For a simple mostly comedic game I did a lot of research for actual Hausjärvi history. The main lesson is that everyone tells you to not include projects like this in your portfolio. But if you can't be flamboyantly proud of the dumb things you've done out of passion or just for fun, what's even the point of doing creative things?

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