Ok so hear me out…
Sortico is somewhat complicated to explain, but is quite simple in practice. In the game players are presented with a desktop containing several folders of varying names. Every few seconds the player is emailed a file. They then have to place the file in a folder while following 3 rules:
- Each folder can only contain 3 different types of file
- If you have already placed a type of file in a folder, all subsequent files of that type must be placed in the same folder
- If there are too many files on-screen the player starts receiving error messages and a game over is close
I’ve long had the idea that it would be interesting to have a filing game where the actual patterns didn’t matter, and so the player had to come up with their own system and then live to regret it. It is a mixture of a memory game, a decision-making puzzler, and a fast paced reaction game.
Sortico is designed to create absurd situations. Many of the files and folders are extremely abstract, and so players are often left asking whether “Love” should go in the “Mind” or “Friends” folders. Even for more straightforward objects, such as a “Sword”, the desired folder is often not available, or full (and so players are left filing it into the “Food” folder only for it to become a permanent problem). In my experience many players will practise a strange chant to keep their memory (“Fear is in the Mind, Burger is a Science, Bear is a Friend, Fish is Cool…”), which makes the game fun to watch people play.
My biggest concern was a lack of player understanding. As a result, I put a substantial amount of time into making an animated tutorial.
Ultimately, I am very happy with how this project turned out. It was one of the first games I made outside of game jams, and it was a great opportunity to learn a bunch of new tools and techniques.
Some additional notes:
- This game, like most of my 2d projects, was made in the Godot engine
- I initially planned to allow the players to name their own folders, but quickly realised that everyone would name the folders after what was in them and the game wouldn’t be any fun.
- The first design involved stacking shelves of a library, but I wanted to keep everything as simple as possible, and so the single screen system of a computer desktop worked better.
- The game originally used sounds from the windows XP library, but was changed to royalty free effects.
- There is both a folder and a file named “Friends”.
Tex Barnes 