Museum of Mechanics: Lockpicking
Dim Bulb Games · 2022 · FPS, Immersive Sim, Education, Puzzle, Simulation
PC
Mostly Positive71% · 52
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About Museum of Mechanics: Lockpicking
Welcome to the Museum of Mechanics: Lockpicking, an interactive,
meticulously recreated selection of lockpicking minigames from a variety
of genres across the history of games.
This isn’t a game with a story, or an ending; it’s not possible to ‘win’. It is also not a long experience, but one you will hopefully want to return to.
A Word from Designer Johnnemann Nordhagen
As a game designer, you often find yourself doing research on how other games do things - it's a good way to get ideas, see what works and what doesn't, and build an understanding of the space you're solving problems in. Usually this research involves buying a lot of games and playing until you get to the part you want to see, if you can remember the games that have it!
How nice it would be, I thought, if someone collected all the reference for particular ways of doing things in one place. Thus was born the Museum of Mechanics, and the first entry: Lockpicking. Many genres and types of games include lockpicking minigames, so I thought I would do an exploration of a broad swathe of them and gather them together in a single place. This is the result. I hope you'll join me in exploring the different ways this has been done through the history of games.
meticulously recreated selection of lockpicking minigames from a variety
of genres across the history of games.
FEATURES
- Challenge yourself against locks from dozens of game worlds
- Compare your skills with other players via Steam leaderboards
- Unlock the complete set of Steam achievements for mastering all the minigames
- Beat "The Door," a fiendish set of ever-changing locks from every exhibit in the Museum
- Read analysis on each minigame from a professional game designer
- Go deeper into the design of each game with our archived source code, and even implement them yourself, should you catch the lockpicking bug!
This isn’t a game with a story, or an ending; it’s not possible to ‘win’. It is also not a long experience, but one you will hopefully want to return to.
A Word from Designer Johnnemann Nordhagen
As a game designer, you often find yourself doing research on how other games do things - it's a good way to get ideas, see what works and what doesn't, and build an understanding of the space you're solving problems in. Usually this research involves buying a lot of games and playing until you get to the part you want to see, if you can remember the games that have it!
How nice it would be, I thought, if someone collected all the reference for particular ways of doing things in one place. Thus was born the Museum of Mechanics, and the first entry: Lockpicking. Many genres and types of games include lockpicking minigames, so I thought I would do an exploration of a broad swathe of them and gather them together in a single place. This is the result. I hope you'll join me in exploring the different ways this has been done through the history of games.
What Steam players say
Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.
✦ AI summary
Players appreciate this project's unique concept as an educational exploration of lockpicking mechanics across different games, with genuine interest in its preservation and design analysis value. However, most agree it feels more like an unpolished tech demo than a finished product—with rough visuals, inconsistent minigame quality, stiff controls, and limited content that doesn't justify the price for casual players, though supporters acknowledge the solo developer's effort and hope for future iterations on similar mechanical museums.
Buyers beware, this is very much a tech demo with little to no polishing. The various lockpicking minigames are well re-created (props to the dev) in terms of mechanics, but the visuals are very rough or lacking. It also seems like the minigames would've benefited from more customization to better assist video game designers who wish to explore and compare the different mechanics.1 found this helpful
Absolutely fascinating project. I love that this exists. Makes clear the design and contextualisation that goes into the question "how can a game allow a player to pick locks" I would so love if this, or other devs, were inspired to do more of these and we could have a series of "museums of mechanics".
Very intriguing game for anybody interested in game design. A bit rough and lacking in polish, but it was made by a single guy so i can't really fault the dev there. Looking forward to any sequels exploring different mechanics
hardly a game, its an interesting premise, but its an empty shell with almost no content
Video games as an art form suffer from a lack of informed discourse and a profound challenge in making themselves available, in whole or part, available for academic reference and review. This particular instantiation is clumsy; the museum looks like default asset store models, controls are stiff and cannot be remapped, the minigames themselves are glitchy and inconsistent in quality, and the placards veer far closer to personal anecdote than a curator's neutrality. That being said, this is vital work for preservation and analysis, and I deeply hope the devs continue in this vein. $10 is a bit steep for a half-hour though, y'all don't even have a gift shop where I can buy a tote bag.
Really cool concept, though not the best execution. Some of these seem much easier than the originals, and some harder. It would also be nice to have the instructions given before the timer starts on the timed ones. If you're looking for a game, it's not one. But it's a really cool idea for recording mechanics. I wish it were more polished.
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