Finding the fun

I ended up on a project to build a game featuring a time traveling robot. We've had some trouble 'finding the fun' in the concept - puzzle design ca be tough in 2 dimensions, let alone multi-layered 2D! We're all spending the weekend playing games, coming up with ideas on how to make the game fun.

One idea that sounds intriguing is a platformer version of double maze. Maybe instead of traveling through time, the robot is stuck in multiple times/dimensions simultaneously. Everything he does in one is reflected in the other. In each level the goal is to reach the exit in both dimensions at the same time - you have to simultaneously play two platformer games, basically. I can see a lot of fun puzzles you could do with this basic mechanic, from the really easy to the incredibly challenging. You could also mix things up in some levels - maybe some dimensions/times are backwards, so left is right and right is left. Maybe have some levels with other control or environment switches - no jumping, in one dimension you can only move left - that sort of thing.

I've got a REALLY basic engine thrown together, borrowing from some recent work I did to build an Entity System from scratch. Thank goodness I don't throw away code! I'm having some trouble integrating the Farseer Physics engine - I think it might stem from unit differences between the two. I hope to have a REALLY rough prototype together by Tuesday to play with my group to try out the concept.

UPDATE: Success! Farseer is now behaving - it was, indeed, an issue with how I was converting between screen and world coordinates. Next up: how to build two worlds?

I'm continuing the hunt for other concepts in case this one doesn't pan out. Some inspiration:

Layer Maze - http://pipkingames.com/flash/13592/
A maze in a 3d cube, where you can see only a single layer at a time

Neon Layers - http://armorgames.com/play/1778/neon-layers
Switch between 3 sets of neon lights to reach the exit