“All for a Toy” is a stealth/puzzle mod developed for Hello Neighbor.

Puzzle Flow Chart

After playtesting the game and developing a concrete understanding of the various puzzles, the movement mechanics, and the functionality of the neighbor character, I created a puzzle flow diagram. This diagram began with the final objective and was create in reverse order, meaning each element required to reach the final objective was further broken down into sub goals/puzzles.

Designing the Map

Utilizing the flow chart, I was able to identify the types of puzzles and challenges I wanted the player to face, and therefore design the house interior and exterior according to those challenges. The house I designed was two stories in height, and also featured an exterior yard and exterior tool shed. With this design, my main goal was to develop a seamless experience where the player didn’t have to guess how the puzzle was connected, rather they had to focus on the challenge itself. This required scripting and various scripting elements to amplify conveyance.

Scripting and Conveyance

Conveyance and Lighting

Lighting played an important role, not only to develop the tone, but also to assist the player in locating the next objective. When making color choices, I focused on principles of color theory. This meant using warm light as the overall background color tone, and adding a sudden cool color near an objective. This cool color was implemented, for example, as both a light and color of the objective object, depending on the room and objective.

Lighting was also used more literally for objects that had multiple states. For example, the magnet mill (attracts objects out of the players inventory) has two states, one when it’s enabled and can attract and one when disabled. I implemented a script where a light changes color from red/green depending on the state of the magnet mill. This script was used throughout the mod for all objects that had multiple states. The design reason was to add a second form of conveyance to assist the already existing audio feedback. The final objective involved enabling all four valves, and they way this was conveyed was through the use of this lighting system.

Conveyance and Materials

During playtesting, I discovered testers were unable to notice when objects were magnetized by the magnet mill. This was both true for new players and experienced Hello Neighbor players, and because of this, testers were surprised to find out their inventory was missing. To solve this recurring piece of feedback, I implemented a custom material that swaps with the default material of an object upon magnetization. This immediately alleviated the difficulty testers had.

Conveyance and Stealth

Part of the design for this mod focused on stealth gameplay moments. A common issue that I found during my own personal playtesting of the game before development and a recurring theme online was the inability to sneak around the neighbor and know where he was. When designing this mod, I made sure each space had multiple flow paths and furniture to sneak around to avoid the neighbor. To amplify this, I scripted a custom pair of binoculars that, when raised, generate an outline around the neighbor through any object/wall. This script functioned on a post process custom render depth material that was toggled through the two states of the binoculars. This feature allowed players to focus more on the puzzles and the challenges rather than the surprise of the neighbor. It also allowed players to implement a stealth strategy that consisted of planning a move, executing the move, and recovering behind cover.

Reducing Inventory Clutter

During the development of the mod, I wanted players to retain only what was core to solving the puzzles. Vent travel was an important, secondary part of sneaking and travelling, however it required the player take the vent cover off and keep it in their inventory. To mitigate this clutter, I create a custom vent hatch that rotated on a hinge, both open and close. Therefore, the vent cover was part of the environment as an interactable object and no longer became part of the inventory.

Other Conveyance Elements and Scripts

In the base game, the valves operate in two states, open and close. The feedback when either state is active is a sound. Continuing with the theme of providing alternate forms of feedback to the player, I attached a particle system that toggled based on the state of the valve, adding a visual form of conveyance. Similarly, I used the same system of toggling between states from the binoculars and implemented custom text that delivered clues to players who were stuck. This not only served as a clever way to provide players with hints, but also added to the environment/visual theme of the mod.