Gameplay designer on a small team touching everything from game mechanics, level design, coding, art, VFX, audio, UI, UX…
I was part of developing live content for 3+ years, from several new campaigns to special events, and I led a complete overhaul of the in-game hub and menu.
I’ve seen the full process of development many times over and understand how to get a release ready, all the way from early prototyping to bug-fixing.
EPISODES
I’ve been part of designing most of the “episodes” (smaller campaigns):
“It’s Snowtime”
“A Hole New World”
“Among Golf”
"Slime Time"
Having developed live content almost since the beginning means I’ve had a big part in developing the scope and shape of an episode.
Trial and error has taught us to lean on our strengths and favour comedy over storytelling – which is why you find an update about holes and hotdogs, and a winter update about two turtles looking for pizza (it makes perfect sense, trust me!).
*It’s Snowtime"
“A Hole New World” – an update about holes (and hotdogs?)
“Among Golf” – a parody on Among Us
DAILY COURSES & SPECIAL DAYS
We designed daily level packs for the different days of the week, and special days that celebrate anything from New Years to International Cat Day. These smaller updates are faster to make and make the player feel like the game is alive.
Staying innovative in a game with such a vast array of different mechanics and gimmicks is not easy, but the key is to define whether a level is more about a joke or about challenging gameplay, and letting that be the focus.
HUB & MENU
One of my bigger responsibilities was to design a completely new, playable hub. The concept was to create a space that felt alive to showcase new content continuously getting added. This is the first place you see when you open the game, and it lets you explore the different types of gameplay.
Some of my main considerations included:
- How many options do you have?
- What do you see on the first screen?
- - What does it look like in portrait as opposed to landscape resolution?
If the player has too many options they might not know what to choose, and it’s important that new content is obvious from the very first screen.
I also re-designed the menu flow, taking into consideration the many different platforms, screen resolutions, and control inputs available.
[portrait vs landscape view for the hub]
[from left to right: hub gameplay, wireframe for iOS, settings menu]