Really enjoyed reading through this. The line about realizing the emotional weight of dementia didn’t need a huge map, but instead needed a mechanic that actually felt like struggling to keep things together really stuck with me.
That’s such a cool way to think about scope.
Not just cutting things, but figuring out what actually carries the idea.
Also, “simple is a lie” made me laugh because I’m in the middle of a jam right now and am learning that lesson repeatedly. Something that sounds like “the player pushes a box” somehow turns into an entire evening.
I really liked seeing the little Godot solutions you found too. The Clip Children trick for the checkpoint is exactly the kind of thing I love stumbling across in development.
Same with toggling the collision layer when minions enter the gap.
Those little “wait…what if I just do THIS?” solutions are probably my favorite part of making games.
Really cool seeing how the idea and the implementation evolved together.
Thanks for taking the time to actually write about the problems and solutions instead of just showing the finished result!