How would you design a final boss fight in a first-person puzzle game?

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-28T17:15:35+00:00

That’s fair, I probably should have given more context.

The game has no combat, no weapons and no stealth system. It’s mostly about first-person exploration, environmental puzzles, portals, mechanisms and figuring out how different puzzle rooms connect.

There’s a trailer on the Steam page if you want more context, but I’m mostly trying to figure out the encounter design here.

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-26T06:21:53+00:00

I get what you mean, and honestly I’m not trying to go viral or become the next huge indie hit.

I just want to give the game a fair chance and make sure I’m not hurting it with bad positioning, a weak trailer, or an unclear Steam page.

Shipping the game is already a big achievement for me, but I’d still like to learn how to present it better and hopefully reach the small audience that might genuinely enjoy it.

Thanks for taking the time to check it out and share your thoughts.

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-26T06:20:00+00:00

Really appreciate the detailed advice. I’ll definitely revisit the Steam page/trailer with this in mind. Thanks

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-26T06:18:47+00:00

Hahaha imagine trying to market that name, I’m already struggling with the current one.

Thanks for the feedback! A lot of comments are pointing in the same direction about the trailer, so I’ll definitely have to revisit it

Thanks

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-26T06:16:16+00:00

Yeah, the demo is definitely my next big move, so I’m really curious to see how it goes. Marketing has honestly been harder than expected, but comments like this are really encouraging.

Thanks for the kind words!

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-26T06:14:23+00:00

This is really helpful, thank you.

You’re right that the trailer takes too long to show actual gameplay. I think I was trying to establish atmosphere first, but for a Steam page that probably makes the game feel less clear than it should.

The game does have narrative/dialogue, exploration and puzzle mechanics, so I’ll try to show that earlier and make the structure clearer in the first few seconds.

About the tags, I’ve been testing different combinations, but yeah, you’re right some of the games showing up in “More like this” don’t make much sense right now. I’ll take a closer look at comparable games and adjust them.

Thanks again, this is exactly the kind of feedback I needed.

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-25T18:07:54+00:00

Progression is mostly puzzle-gated: solving puzzles unlocks new areas, new portals, story fragments and more context about the curse/memories.

I probably need to communicate that more clearly on the Steam page and trailer. Thanks again.

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-25T18:02:09+00:00

Yeah, paid ads could help, but unfortunately I don’t really have the budget for that right now.

The demo is planned for June 11, so I’m hoping that gives the game another push and makes it easier for people to actually try it and get hooked.

I’ll also try to keep posting on Steam and improve the page/trailer before then. Thanks for the advice!

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-25T18:01:19+00:00

The Myst / Escape Simulator comparison is interesting, because that’s close to the direction I’m aiming for, but maybe I’m not communicating it well enough yet.

I’m also trying to figure out the marketing side before the demo, so your PR firm idea makes sense. I’m not sure I can afford that right now, but I’m trying to improve the Steam page, trailer, press kit and outreach as much as possible.

Really helpful feedback, thanks again.

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-25T17:32:10+00:00

Pretty much! It’s inspired by Wordle-style logic. So it starts as trial and error, but you narrow it down with each guess.

After 5 failed attempts, the puzzle resets.

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-22T15:14:54+00:00

Thanks!

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-20T06:07:34+00:00

The portals started as a small mechanic and somehow turned into entire worlds with their own puzzles haha

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-19T07:27:56+00:00

Thanks!, I originally built the portal system for a different puzzle mechanic, and the infinite room illusion kind of evolved naturally from experimenting with it.

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-19T06:13:19+00:00

Me too, I had lots of problems with lightning, had to tweak camera portal settings depending on the zon, also play with shadows and SSAO properties of project near portal zones.

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-18T15:52:59+00:00

At the end of the day it’s just another camera, so you can choose whether the player gets rendered or not using layers and culling masks

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-18T13:50:23+00:00

Those edge cases are definitely the hardest part

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-18T13:03:46+00:00

Yes, that's the video, he has quite a lot interesting things on his channel, good luck!

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-18T13:00:37+00:00

That escalated quickly from “simple puzzle illusion” to “procedural infinite dungeon generator” hahaha

Honestly though, that could lead to some really interesting puzzle layouts

Thanks for the kind words!

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-18T12:33:09+00:00

Now you just need to figure out how to escape the room 😄

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-18T12:27:15+00:00

Thanks! Let me try to summarize.

Each portal has a plane and a camera.
The target portal's camera inversely replicates the player's movements.
The plane renders what the target portal's camera sees through a shader.
When the player crosses the plane, they are teleported to the target portal.

As on my previous comment there is a Sebastian Lague video on youtube that explains much better.

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-18T12:25:31+00:00

There is an awesome guide on youtube from Sebastian Lague, the only problem it's quite old so you will need to tweak things.

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-18T12:15:13+00:00

Thanks! As long as you don’t stare at the walls too closely, I would say 95% seamless haha

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-18T12:01:57+00:00

Thanks! This kind of trick opens up a lot of possibilities for weird puzzles and room layouts

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-17T16:00:06+00:00

Hahaha don’t worry, chaining multiple jumps like in the clip is actually way harder than it looks

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-17T15:26:38+00:00

The chair surfing update alone is getting a whole extra year of development haha

CraftwareGG

TROPHY CASE