This student-made first-person puzzler has a brain-meltingly clever mechanic

Five students are working on a first-person puzzle game with an intriguing mechanic - manipulating objects using forced perspective.

The small team from Pennsylvania's Carnegie Mellon University released a video of their project on YouTube this week, which was then noticed by Reddit last night.

The footage shows a very early build of the game - long since surpassed, the team explained - but which immediately shows off the the untitled game's clever hook.

So how does it work?

Imagine you're in an art gallery. You pluck a copy of the Mona Lisa from the wall in front of you and it's large because it's close to you. Angle your vision correctly, then place the picture over the environment in front of you - and boom, you now have a room-filling ramp up to the level's exit.

"We are deep in development of the game itself - this tech demo is fairly old," developer Allen Tingley explained in a hastily-organised Reddit Q&A. "Unfortunately we can't talk about the future experience quite yet.

"We are in the middle of development of the game itself - which will use some of the things you've seen in the video. We used the museum as our concept playground for our designer and engineers."

Tingley has already declined multiple offers of money or developer assistance for the project, as well as the imminent possibility of a crowd-funding effort. The game is still too early in development for such steps, he explained.

"It's much too early for that in our opinion - we have so much more to show everyone!" he said. "Put [your money] in the bank and let it grow some interest :)"

Take a look at the game's tech demo in action below.