Giant Steps
*Giant Steps* is a puzzle game in a hexagonally-tiled world. Climb over hexagonal columns and rearrange blocks to reach the exit.
Play online on itch.io (web): https://lennartjansson.itch.io/giant-steps
Windows build download: https://www.dropbox.com/s/r0cq84revgn28hm/GiantStepsBuildLastDay.zip?dl=0
Source download: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ubiuvlbre1tb78w/GiantStepsGame.zip?dl=0
The idea for this game began with the feeling I wanted to create something involving a hexagonal grid. I could not think of a game in which the player issues direct movement commands to a character constrained to a hex grid. So, hoping it was at least somewhat novel, I ran with that idea and brought in a familiar block-carrying puzzle element.
Foremost, Giant Steps is an homage to Brandon Sterner's *Block Dude*, a TI calculator game that delighted me and friends for many hours in middle school math classes. I owe much to that game -- with the exception of some of the later puzzles, Giant Steps is more or less just Block Dude in three dimensions, with more hexagons :)
The name "Giant Steps" is a reference to the geological formation of Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland, a dramatic landscape of hexagonal basalt pillars that juts out into the North Atlantic. The shape and texture of the basalt columns was a visual inspiration for this game.
The name is also a nod to the brilliant John Coltrane album of the same name, which I listened to repeatedly during the development of this game.
Thank you to Cary Yang, who playtested an early version with ten puzzles on Saturday night and caught a broken puzzle.
Otherwise, this was a solo project. I used Unity 5.6 as game engine and development environment, and Inkscape and Blender for assets. The UI font is Roboto from Google.
Links
Play online on itch.io (web): https://lennartjansson.itch.io/giant-steps
Windows build download: https://www.dropbox.com/s/r0cq84revgn28hm/GiantStepsBuildLastDay.zip?dl=0
Source download: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ubiuvlbre1tb78w/GiantStepsGame.zip?dl=0
About
The idea for this game began with the feeling I wanted to create something involving a hexagonal grid. I could not think of a game in which the player issues direct movement commands to a character constrained to a hex grid. So, hoping it was at least somewhat novel, I ran with that idea and brought in a familiar block-carrying puzzle element.
Foremost, Giant Steps is an homage to Brandon Sterner's *Block Dude*, a TI calculator game that delighted me and friends for many hours in middle school math classes. I owe much to that game -- with the exception of some of the later puzzles, Giant Steps is more or less just Block Dude in three dimensions, with more hexagons :)
The name "Giant Steps" is a reference to the geological formation of Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland, a dramatic landscape of hexagonal basalt pillars that juts out into the North Atlantic. The shape and texture of the basalt columns was a visual inspiration for this game.
The name is also a nod to the brilliant John Coltrane album of the same name, which I listened to repeatedly during the development of this game.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to Cary Yang, who playtested an early version with ten puzzles on Saturday night and caught a broken puzzle.
Otherwise, this was a solo project. I used Unity 5.6 as game engine and development environment, and Inkscape and Blender for assets. The UI font is Roboto from Google.
