Slider is a game project led by Daniel Carr. Slider originally started out as jam game for the GMTK game jam and placed 21st out of 6,000 entries. Due to its success, he decided to significantly expand the game by leading it for a semester at the Georgia Tech VGDev club, in the Spring of 2022.
Slider is a 2D puzzle game based around sliding 8-puzzles where the tiles that you slide are actually pieces of the world that you can walk on. You have to slide these tiles to get around and to complete quests and unlock new tiles.
For Slider, I was primarily responsible for designing the desert world. I designed the puzzles and narrative for the world, iterating the design over many, many playtests. This was my first time designing puzzles for a game, and it was super informative figuring out how to create a satisfying puzzle. Slider in particular is no easy puzzle game, so I made to sure to really challenge the player's assumptions and think outside the box to get that "aha!" moment. In addition, I wrote the songs for the Factory and MagiTech world and took on narrative for the game as a whole, to try to tell a cohesive story.
Thanks to the dedication of our team, and especially our team lead Daniel Carr, Slider is the little game that keeps on chugging. We exhibited it at many games festivals like ECGC, Dreamhack, and GDC. One thing we never expected though was to be nominated and later win the "Best Student Game" award at the annual Indie Games Festival at GDC 2023. Being at that awards table as they announced Slider as the winner has got to be one of my favorite memories of all time. It really shows the dedication of Georgia Tech's VGDev club, and all the team members of Slider.
We finally did a full steam release in July 2024! Since then, Slider has gone on to receive more awards and acclamation, as well as tons of positive reviews. It is so awesome to see complete strangers from around the world find and play our little game. Some have gotten more into than I have! I've seen some crazy speedrunning tactics on Slider posted by strangers online. None of us would've expected Slider to make it as far as it has, and I am incredibly proud of our team.