Concept

MIRROR: Refracted Reality is a 3D puzzle / platformer type game based on the concept design of 'Portal'.

During the game, the player is given a weapon called “ML3” capable of firing a mirroring material, and through the use of reflections, certain obstacles/platforms must be made 'visible' or 'invisible' so that the player can continue with the game.

Obstacles/platforms can only change state as long as one keeps sight of their reflections.

Game Mechanics

• Reflections:

Reflections are the most important mechanic in the game, thanks to a lines trace system the machine can determine when the mesh of a mirror is displayed or not by the player and at what precise point.

Rays hitting a mirror are reflected and if at least one of them hits a reflected object then it is determined whether this object should change state (be made 'visible' or 'invisible').

Reflected objects:  they are all those objects or structures that have the ability to become visible or invisible to the player's eye but also to be physical or not, this ability comes from the fact that one of the monsters belonging to the mirror dimension has contaminated them, thus making them part of its dimension.

These objects have the ability to change into two states:

• Visible and physical state: the object in question is both visible to the player's eyes and physical, so he can use it as a platform to reach otherwise unreachable points, but above all to know where it is located, so that he can plan where to place the next mirror if necessary.
• Invisible and non physical state: the object in question is both non-visible to the player's eyes and non-physical, so he cannot use it as an interactable object, and in addition he doesn’t know where it is located.

These objects can either be of normal or inverted state and the change of state is relative to the current one:

• Normal:  the basic state is invisible and non-physical.
• Inverted: the basic state is visible and physical.

• Shooting:

Shooting is the second most important mechanic as only some levels have mirrors already positioned.

The player is given a weapon that can shoot a ball of mirror material that sticks to the walls evenly to form an actual mirror.

A maximum of three mirrors can be fired, once finished if you point your sight towards the placed mirrors they can be sucked back into the weapon.

Not all surfaces allow for the creation of a mirror, surfaces like glass will let the mirror slip down not creating it so it cannot be used.

The gun can perform four different actions based on the situation the player is facing: 

• Add mirror: the player can shoot to create a new mirror by aiming at a valid surface with nothing on it;
• Suck mirror: the player can shoot to an already placed mirror to suck it into the gun and get a projectile back;
• Enlarge mirror: the player can enlarge an already existing mirror by aiming and shooting directly at it, mirrors can be enlarged more than once making them bigger and bigger every time;
• Remove mirror: the player can suck up and recover mirrors by pointing at them and pressing the suck button. If it is a single mirror it will just disappear while if it is an enlarged one it will be shrinked to the previous dimension;

• Interactables:

Within the game, there are a bunch of different interactable object, some of them are just secondary and used only to give additional information about the story while other are used directly in the game to overcome some obstacle or progressing with the levels:

Collectibles: a bunch of different collectible items that can be devoted to activating or restoring either power or activatable items, or notes that contain activation codes or some part of the game's backstory:

• Keycards;
• Notes;
• Fuses;

Objects: activators used either to interact with activatable objects or to search for codes to enter into terminals::

• Buttons;
• Levers;
• Terminals;
• Computer emails;

Activatable: their activation or deactivation depends solely on the interacting objects or fuses used to restore their connection with the power source:

• Hydraulic pistons: 
• Industrial fans:
• Elevators:
• Cranes;
• Doors;

• Enemy AI:

There is only one monster in the game, capable of switching from the mirror dimension to the player's normal dimension.

The first appearance of the monster happens in one of the tutorial levels, where the player is forced to bypass the monster's containment chamber in order to get a keycard, at that moment in time the creature appears dead on the ground.

Once freed, the monster will return to its mirror dimension, and a bar representing the character's sanity will be activated.

Sanity drops when the player stares at a mirror for too long, and if this reaches zero the monster may appear from one of the fired mirrors, it will attempt to capture and eat the player or take him into its dimension.

User Interface

Game UI on figma: https://www.figma.com/proto/ahAhGd71QqG5drcL08zQJX/UX---UI-Flow?type=design&node...