Puzzle Game ‘Layers’ Was Created in a Single Day

Layers is a color-matching / reflex game that zips along quicker than a greased weasel in a henhouse. Like most twitch games, its rules are simple to pick up on, but the experience itself is hard to put down. The …

By
Share this
  • Share this on Facebook
  • Share this on Twitter

Layers is a color-matching / reflex game that zips along quicker than a greased weasel in a henhouse. Like most twitch games, its rules are simple to pick up on, but the experience itself is hard to put down. The graphics are clean and nice to look at, and the game pieces fall with a pleasing “clack” sound.

But Layers also serves as a good reminder that even games with spartan visuals and one-touch mechanics take a lot of work to put together – especially if the developer puts themselves on a crazy deadline.

Layers is the product of a challenge: An answer to the claim that a game cannot be produced and polished within twenty-four hours. Layers’ post-mortem reveals a single day is enough time to put together a decent game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gDtOm-mqSs

More importantly, the post-mortem outlines how hardcore deadlines are sometimes necessary to repel feature creep or “the good idea fairy” – that annoying little muse that hovers around every creative person and whispers suggestions on how to make things bigger and better while simultaneously steering the projection question away from the finish line.

You can download Layers for free on Google Play. You can also play the game on a browser via its main site.

In the early aughts, Nadia fell into writing with the grace of a brain-dead bison stumbling into a chasm. Over the years, she's written for Nerve, GamePro, 1UP.com, USGamer, Pocket Gamer, Just Labs Magazine, and many other sites and magazines of fine repute. She's currently About.com's Guide to the Nintendo 3DS at ds.about.com.