Grandpa's Gone

Grandpa's Gone was a submission to the Games 4 Social Impact 2023. Grandpa's Gone is a multi-level puzzle game, with a central mechanic that enables you to switch between the body of a young boy and the body of an old man in order to solve puzzles, navigate the environements and make your way through each of the levels. This is mostly a point and click computer game, where you interact with the environment by hitting the keys on your PC. There are five levels in total, each presenting a different theme that is integral to the overall story.

A live version of Grandpa's Gone can be found here.

Game Premise

Follow 10-year-old protagonist Carl on a body-shifting adventure as he embarks on a mission to save his mysteriously vanished Grandpa Rick! Help Carl learn to control his new body-shifting abilities in order to solve puzzles, get through obstacles and complete the 5 stages of this point and click game in order to find his Grandpa! Will you be able to find Grandpa Rick? Or will Carl have to come to terms with where his Grandpa really went?

The gameplay for Grandpa's Gone revolves centrally around the concept of age. Young Carl's body is able to jump high and move faster throughout the environments, meanwhile Old Granpa Rick can solve puzzles and unlock secret doors by utilizing his knowledge. The game is mostly story based and encourages exploration of each of the five levels.

Technical Details

Grandpa's Gone was developed using the Unity game development engine, utilizing the C# programming language. Unity provides a powerful and flexible platform for creating both 2D and 3D games, making it an ideal choice for the multi-level puzzle game experience envisioned for this project.

The game's source code is openly available on GitHub. Feel free to explore, contribute, or use it as a reference for your own projects.

Check out the demo on itch.io to experience the unique gameplay mechanics and visually striking world firsthand.

Art Style

Grandpa's Gone stands out among other games of its kind with a unique art style and fully animated player. The game's aesthetic mostly features thick lines, a limited color palette, and simple faces, which creates a visually striking and distinctive world. Similar to other point and click games, Grandpa's Gone has a simple artstyle, but a complex and meaningful story which allows for the player to interact with the characters and story in a deeper way.

Conclusion

Grandpa's Gone is an engaging game that explores grief with a unique blend of exploration, puzzle-solving, and humor. Its quirky premise combined with its distinctive art style sets it apart from other games. The central mechanic of the game, switching between a young body and an old body, allows for a unique and creative gameplay experience, along with the story's message about growing older, letting go, and accepting when the people in your life leave unexpectedly.

If you are looking for a short, point and click, puzzle game with a lot of heart and a good story, Grandpa's Gone is definitely worth checking out.