Schell Games

[{"content":{"poster":["file:\/\/xv6dopa5uywfjyxw"],"source":["file:\/\/uzlqvpphri8d1hmp"],"title":"What We Learned | Puzzle Sculpt","subtitle":"Powered by NotebookLM","description":"Audio summary of this blog entry created by NotebookLM and edited for clarity and length by humans"},"id":"004b1d7f-bce3-461b-9b21-46e64236e6c8","isHidden":false,"type":"audioBlock"},{"content":{"pagetitle":"","contenttype":"WebPage","entity":"","canonicalurl":"","summary":"In the What We Learned series, we dive into the details of a specific game and explore everything from working with the client successfully, what went well, and continuous improvements for future work.","keywords":"","datepublished":"","datemodified":"","faqs":[]},"id":"178333e8-1cb6-4755-8d7f-ef5166d896a6","isHidden":false,"type":"aiSummaryBlock"},{"content":{"text":" In the What We Learned series, we dive into the details of a specific game and explore everything from working with the client successfully, what went well, and continuous improvements for future work. Today, we explore Puzzle Sculpt . Ready to work with Schell Games on your next great game idea? "},"id":"291b5c8b-e772-4c26-b0bf-7e4106fc1006","isHidden":false,"type":"textBlock"},{"content":{"link":"https:\/\/schellgames.com\/contact","text":"Contact Us","class":"","id":""},"id":"1bfa4216-0afd-4694-9889-a6b048915488","isHidden":false,"type":"buttonBlock"},{"content":{"location":"web","url":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=PMVp_4r1tY8&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fschellgames.com%2F&source_ve_path=OTY3MTQ","video":[],"poster":[],"caption":"","autoplay":"false","muted":"true","loop":"false","controls":"true","preload":"auto"},"id":"adbe50bb-8838-41c4-855f-9b16bf429584","isHidden":false,"type":"videoBlock"},{"content":{"level":"h2","text":"What Went Well","customid":""},"id":"5a5d1b0f-b993-48a2-8e40-8044032b1e5b","isHidden":false,"type":"headingBlock"},{"content":{"text":" The success of Puzzle Sculpt all started with a great team. The Puzzle Sculpt developers were a small but mighty bunch. As with many video game projects, hardware and scope changed throughout this process, but the team was surprisingly agile, able to pivot Puzzle Sculpt to an entirely new device. The passion our Devs had for the game came through in the final product. More than 100 puzzles and 50 decorations ended up in the final release, but, more importantly, is that the team remained together and strong throughout. That high morale made it easy to overcome the rest of the game dev challenges that came their way. Another fantastic learning from this project was the relationship between the team and our internal QA. Usually QA comes on board at specific times during the design process, but for Puzzle Sculpt they were much more hands-on earlier in the process. And this had great results, culminating in a great player experience that makes this game easy, and stress-free, to enjoy for players of any skill level. "},"id":"284eb025-0998-4066-8c81-c402524be903","isHidden":false,"type":"textBlock"},{"content":{"text":" Packed with Content: 109 Puzzles, 55 Decorations that overdelivered on the contract Agility: Small team was agile, able to pivot easily as scope, hardware, etc. changed Morale: The team loved the game, morale stayed high Teamwork: Working early and often with internal QA "},"id":"ca2f0706-2123-44de-bc3d-5ee053dbb9f0","isHidden":false,"type":"listBlock"},{"content":{"location":"kirby","image":["file:\/\/nbskheuswgzre17f"],"src":"","alt":"Puzzle Sculpt MR screenshot showing digital fruit items in a physical kitchen","caption":"","link":"","ratio":"","crop":"false"},"id":"d0c46d4f-230a-4dc4-93a5-ba5b96cf4c74","isHidden":false,"type":"imageBlock"},{"content":{"level":"h2","text":"What We Solved","customid":""},"id":"e46a9040-67d7-4f8a-9aa0-4d4c8446ad58","isHidden":false,"type":"headingBlock"},{"content":{"text":" As with any game, Schell Games also had to solve a number of challenges that crept up during the creation of Puzzle Sculpt . As we noted above, the pivot from the original game idea to Vision OS was a unique hurdle for our team to overcome, mostly due to availability. In short, it's difficult to make a game when everyone on the team doesn't have access to the device you need to play it on. Did that stop our team? No way! We had to be smart about testing features and pushing updates to make sure it didn't bottleneck our processes. By changing our internal structures, we solved for these potential hang-ups and kept Puzzle Sculpt on schedule. And this same concern needed solved again during playtesting. Normally, we just send out demo copies of the game or special releases in already established stores like Steam or Meta. Here, we had to bring people to the studio or find others who already owned Apple Vision Pro to test. It was all doable, but processes had to grow and adapt quickly to ensure we got enough playtesters to meet our standards. Localization is a concern as old as the video game industry itself, and it snuck into the project as well. Specifically, we wrote out a beautiful tutorial level with a lot of text. It was perfect! It was...English. And all that ballooned the scope of this tutorial level when it needed translated into other languages, specifically Arabic and Hebrew. "},"id":"952402b7-ff31-4ea0-847d-e96aa0d0901a","isHidden":false,"type":"textBlock"},{"content":{"text":" Hardware: Tough to make a game on hardware that isn't released yet Playtesting: Couldn't use our normal playtesting methods Localization: Translation of the tutorial into Arabic and Hebrew "},"id":"cd0b629b-92d7-48b2-89a4-dea9b5b5105c","isHidden":false,"type":"listBlock"},{"content":{"location":"kirby","image":["file:\/\/f0t79mjftaqz3iby"],"src":"","alt":"Puzzle Sculpt MR screenshot showing gameplay puzzle-solving in a physical living room","caption":"","link":"","ratio":"","crop":"false"},"id":"a14e6254-410e-40f1-b46a-935a8ada236f","isHidden":false,"type":"imageBlock"},{"content":{"level":"h2","text":"Working with Apple","customid":""},"id":"ec25b0ea-98d4-40e3-9171-fdfe8bd0a919","isHidden":false,"type":"headingBlock"},{"content":{"text":" At Schell Games, we love working with clients of all sizes, from start-ups to companies as big as Meta and Apple. And we loved making game specifically for Apple Vision Pro with Puzzle Sculpt . Of course every company is going to say that, but we MEAN it. We meshed so well with Apple's QA and Marketing teams, integrating into each other's processes and working in lockstep through post-launch activities. The end result was a product that was thoroughly tested and something both teams believed in. Puzzle Sculpt was a better game because of how we were able to work together. Finally, one of the best things we learned about working with Apple, is that you need to WORK WITH Apple. That meant using the device to the best of its abilities, and not trying to retrofit anything we made before. And the results speak for themselves. Apple Vision Pro is a fantastic platform for building games, and had hidden gems our dev team kept discovering through the process to make Puzzle Sculpt even better. "},"id":"a6c7f3c9-5990-43a2-86ce-246d55ce407b","isHidden":false,"type":"textBlock"},{"content":{"text":" Make it FOR Apple: Work with! Don't try to use something built for another platform Hidden gems within Apple Vision Pro (like casting shadows) Fitting a game to a new device and their audience A Great Team: Had great experiences with Apple QA and Marketing teams "},"id":"1f178d52-13b4-4cbb-aac5-24c8961ecb2c","isHidden":false,"type":"listBlock"},{"content":{"location":"kirby","image":["file:\/\/36o9cepjh3q8xha5"],"src":"","alt":"Puzzle Sculpt MR screenshot showing a person petting a physical pet in-game","caption":"","link":"","ratio":"","crop":"false"},"id":"f940d5a3-5c68-4b3e-8003-b00e0d14510e","isHidden":false,"type":"imageBlock"},{"content":{"level":"h2","text":"Work with Schell Games","customid":""},"id":"d62a2fb8-9fb8-4413-99e6-048fcc42dcc8","isHidden":false,"type":"headingBlock"},{"content":{"text":" Ready to make the next great video game? Concerned about the fact that you're launching on a new platform or piece of hardware? Want a client relationship that overdelivers and works directly with your internal teams? We're here for you. Learn more about Schell Games, see why we're the top choice to partner with, and then let's get in touch ! "},"id":"f424624e-da1e-41af-af88-99c0da27979c","isHidden":false,"type":"textBlock"}]

What We Learned | Puzzle Sculpt

February 18, 2026 · insights

Related Articles

Mixed Reality, Puzzle Solving Fun

Let's work together.