Tyler

Tyler is a 2D tile-based puzzle game I originally built in 2012 as part of my undergraduate degree — but I never treated it like “just a student project. I treated it like an indie project. 

A full, small puzzle game made in XNA/C# (Monogame now), inspired by those ice tile puzzles you’d find in early Pokémon games with a little Portal and The Stanley Parable energy too. I took that idea and scaled it into a full-on dungeon, where each floor introduces new mechanics and weird little surprises: portals, timers, invisible tiles - the whole lot.

There’s no combat, no death, no lives. You can’t fail - just get stuck. Reset and try again. It’s "designed for flow, not frustration". At least, that's what I said in 2012.

And yes, the voice you’re hearing? That’s Kevan Brighting, because with my TSP inspiration I had to hire the narrator. I somehow convinced him (with my tiny student budget - my own money) to voice our entire sarcastic script. Never hurts to try!

The tone is dry, occasionally meta, and slightly unhinged. The game’s about a character called Tyler, who’s chasing his lost heart, stolen by his absconded princess (girlfriend), and maybe something else. I’m not sure he knows either.

I’ve left the design mostly untouched since its original 2012 form so expect some rough edges, a few “early dev” moments, and one or two narrator jokes that didn’t age super well. But I’m still proud of it. 

If you love weird puzzle games with too much ambition, I hope you enjoy playing it as much as I loved making it (with my incredible lead programmer Gideon van der Merwe).

CREDITS

Engine Programming
Gideon van der Merwe

Gameplay Programming
Adam Jerrett

Game & Level Design

Adam Jerrett

Writing

Adam Jerrett

Art
Mitchell Horn, Adam Jerrett

Voice Acting
Kevan Brighting (The Stanley Parable)

Music Contributors
Adam Jerrett, Blacknote, Dferociousbeast, Clock, Fluffatron, Shadojjim, Chikowski

Sound
Adam Jerrett