1. Fenestra
A game by Lost Pigeon Studios

2. Overview
• The player controls a man who travels between
two worlds each time he dies. The man must
solve puzzles to progress through levels and
come to terms with his troubled past.
• Fenestra is targeted at gamers high school age
and above, particularly fans of puzzle games or
indie games.

3. Game Mechanics
Key Verbs:
Die Walk Jump Push Climb

4. Game Mechanics
The goal of each level is to pass through the door at the end. To do this,
the player must complete challenges that fall into a few large categories:
• Bypass obstacles
• Activate buttons
• Unlock doors

5. Game Mechanics
• Progress through the game is motivated by story
• Elements of the narrative are revealed in specific locations throughout
the game
• The player only receives bits and pieces of the story, and must
continue through the game to understand more

6. Game Mechanics
• Progress through the game is motivated by story
• Elements of the narrative are revealed in specific locations throughout
the game
• The player only receives bits and pieces of the story, and must
continue through the game to understand more
Sorry, but the princess
is in another castle...

7. Game Aesthetics
• Game takes place in a “present”
world and a “past” world
• Worlds have contrasting moods and
color palettes
• Character’s appearance changes
with world
• “Present” world is based on
modern urban settings, while “past”
world is more rustic and antique

8. Game Music
• Compose a pair of tracks for each level
• Each track in a pair corresponds to either the present or past world
• Paired tracks are nearly identical rhythmically
• Tracks of each pair differ in feel from each other via changes in timbre
and key
• When world switches, music switches to the track corresponding to
the new world in the exact same play position

9. Gameplay Demo

10. Level Editor
• Add and delete Entities with arbitrary art assets
• Change Entity properties dynamically
• Add scripts to Entities
• Set triggers for Entities
• Save and load serialized levels

11. Level Editor Demo

12. Design Challenges
• Integrating the event-based behavior of the level editor with the
update-based behavior of the game engine
• Picking and dragging of Entities in the editor
• Recreating physics objects with updated properties
• Serialization

13. Designing for Beta Release
Gradual addition of puzzle elements:
1. Objects that transcend both worlds
2. Movable death traps
3. Objects that re-spawn
4. Objects that only move in one world
As elements are added, puzzles can become more complex and far more
difficult.

14. Questions