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"Strengthen the core by cutting away" — Witch Beam's three pillars behind Unpacking, per their GDC talk
One piece today. I read in full "'Unpacking' the design pillars of a chill puzzle game," written by Game Developer editor-in-chief Danielle Riendeau on 21 April 2023. Based on a GDC 2023 talk by Witch Beam creative director Wren Brier, the piece traces how the 2021 "chill" puzzle game Unpacking — which has no score, no fail state, and no dialogue — used "subtractive design" to distill its core down to three pillars: contemplation, discovery, and expression, in the developer's own words. The talk dates to 2023, so I'm covering it with the date clearly noted.
Soundtrack: Unpacking — How to place a sound without overplaying it
The music Jeff van Dyck wrote for Unpacking layers acoustic guitar and piano over chiptune with its corners sanded off, and somehow it never overplays. In a puzzle with no failure and no timer, what does the music do, and what does it refuse to do? Black coffee in hand, I, Doremi, take it apart through a lens you can carry back to your own composing.
