GDC 2018 session - Gorogoa: The Design of a Cosmic Acrostic

In this 2018 GDC session, Buried Signal's Jason Roberts presents a broad tour of the complex design process that led to 'Gorogoa', and the potential of the mini-genre to which it belongs. What is the fantasy at the heart of the game's story and gameplay, and how is it rooted in real world emotional and spiritual drives? How does that core fantasy relate to the genres that contributed to the design DNA of 'Gorogoa', including point-and-click adventure games and multi-panel comics? How did the storytelling and puzzle design survive the dense labyrinth of interlocking visual, narrative, and gameplay constraints? This talk answers these questions through a high-level look at the meaning and formal properties of the game's mechanics, as well as detailed accounts of how individual puzzles and scenes were constructed.