PRODUCTION

This mobile puzzle game for mid-core gamers is the outcome of my graduation project. I put a lot of energy into coming up with a refined and original design adapted to the mobile platform and in line with our intentions of peacefulness and epiphany.

When starting the project, I wanted to be sure we would have the best interactions and gameplay bricks for our puzzles. Consequently, I broke down our main character, a spirit, into every characteristic it could have and the challenges and gameplay bricks it could imply. I then took responsibility for selecting the gameplay bricks, doing some Rational Game Design by defining and evaluating parameters (such as accessibility, versatility, synergistic capacity,...) for each brick we had in mind.

Level Design was the main subject I worked on. At the beginning of the project, I developed a Figma tool to facilitate the design of puzzles and save us a lot of time later on. Over many iterations, I designed the macro level design, which is made of interconnected puzzles, defining the overall navigation (pace), as well as the gameplay bricks and challenges the players will encounter over time (learning and difficulty). I also designed a lot of situations and puzzles, tweaking them all along the production according to playtests and the experience we wanted to convey. Besides, I determined and integrated all locking and ending conditions for each screen to enable our hint and torches systems to work.

I was also very implied in the design & tweak of the 3Cs. When we had defined the gameplay bricks and 3Cs of our character, I designed a 3C sandbox comprising all the possible situations and behavior, and listed them all in a table to test them thereafter. After a lot of QA testing, I notably tweaked controls to reduce friction as much as possible while keeping our versatile controls for wandering (tap or hold).

To foster epiphany in our game, I took responsibility for defining and creating the torches system: an audio and visual feedback rewarding the player for having completed a puzzle, as well as a sign indicating where the next part of the game is.

Finally, I supported the producer throughout production. Indeed, I defined a sprint workflow and set up a playtest plan, but my most significant contribution was the creation of a feature list, an asset list, and a sound list which were dynamically linked and used as references for production monitoring.