Alien Video Game Scientist

Alan Robinson · 28 May 2025

System Requirements

Minimum

Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: 10
Processor: i5 7200u
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: Intel HD 620 iGPU / GTX 920M / Radeon Vega 3
Storage: 250 MB available space
Sound Card: Sound Blaster PRO
Additional Notes: Playable on most modern laptops, eg 8th gen Intel or newer, with options to reduce resolution/video quality to reach 60fps even on low end machines

Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: 10
Processor: Slightly better than potato
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: Intel Irix Xe iGPU / GTX 960M / Radeon Vega 8 / Steamdeck
Storage: 250 MB available space
Sound Card: Advanced Gravis UltraSound MAX 64 PnP
Additional Notes: Gamepad OR Keyboard & Mouse

About

A 3D platformer collectathon featuring puzzles, mazes, and a bit of speedrunning in a retro-minimalist package evocative of the PS2 era. Can YOU figure out how to grab all the things, and do it efficiently? Or, go at your own pace, and deeply disappoint the unseen snarky narrator.

An alien spacecraft just entered the solar system, but all that's on board is a video game?

As the world's Preeminent Video Game Scientist you've been tasked with solving this mystery. But you won't be alone; the unseen snarky narrator will be at you side the whole time, making sure you don't get all the credit and glory.

Gameplay

Each level is a navigation puzzle: how do I find the exit while collecting all the necessary or optional objects along the way, some of which may be hidden, or hard to reach? Levels are small & bite sized, but open ended with multiple paths. Find a fast enough path to unlock extra rewards, or just muddle thru for a casual experience.

Speed running: optional but encouraged

Causal/chill vibe players can enjoy the entire game at their own pace. BUT, for more challenge and some competition try to beat the in-game time trials or even complete in the Steam Leaderboards for each level.

Features:

Not a precision platformer
Death just means quick travel back to the last (user specifiable) checkpoint
Mazes always have a tell, leading you in the right direction (But wander randomly, if you must)
Soundtrack can be muted AT ANY TIME (but we hope you won't want to)
Plays equally well with mouse or gamepad (all brands should work thru the magic of Steam Input)
Verified to work on at least ONE Steam Deck
38 hand-crafted levels

Our GAMEPLAY: a philosophical treatise

A good collectathon lets you choose: the best path to get to the end, which collectables to get, and how efficient to be about the whole nonsense. That's the philosophy behind our levels: , which may not have been discovered yet (or even intended by the designer). Because large sprawling open world levels can get tiresome, with a lot of backtracking or getting lost, for extra challenge, collect all the things and do it (relatively) quickly**. Rather than competing against a world leaderboard with ever diminishing odds of ever placing, our speedrun challenges are designed for a moderately motivated and moderately agile player to achieve given some planning, knowledge of the level layout, and at most a few retries to get it right. about which regions to visit first, where to place the re-spawn point, etc.