CONGRATS TO RATS
Producer, Level Designer, QA Tester, UI Designer, Narrative Designer
Responsibilities:
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Designing the specific layout in the level.
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Writing the script for the narrator.
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Placing obstacles in the level that are not part of the kitchen geometry.
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Setting up volumes for the unique camera system.
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Writing the game design document.
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Leading the team in stand up meetings.
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Implementing art assets as part of UI.
Design Process
Level Design
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Our 3D artist was the one who designed the kitchen counters and other fixtures, and so he created the environment and the general path the player would take through the level. My job was then to place objects in that path, to add challenge and engagement to the level. As a team we had agreed on what everyday objects we wanted to include in the game, so that gave me building blocks to work with.
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I built the big set pieces I wanted to do first, such as the maze and the sink, first by building the critical path through them, then adding deviations like dead ends and doubling back in the present maze, or multiple paths in the sink, then continued adding objects not meant to have as big an impact on gameplay, decorative and flourish pieces.
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I used a similar method when making the staircase on top of the refrigerator, first building the critical path to get on top of the cabinets, then filling it out, adding boxes to hide the empty space under floating platforms, replacing boxes with jars to vary the presentation, and adding switchbacks. I found myself coming back to the staircase again and again, either to add something new or to adjust the position of an object to make platforming easier.
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Another big set piece was the falling knives, which began with a near harmless demonstration to show what was coming up. I placed the trigger hitbox for a knife far away from where the knife would fall, and a piece of cheese inside that hitbox. This way players would cause the knife to fall, and learn falling knives were ahead and what their sound cue was, without being killed by something they didn’t know existed.
Technical UI Design
Technical
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Our programmer was a godsend, as he made a sort of modular camera system. I was able to place a prefab in the scene with a track for the camera to move on, bounding boxes to keep the camera from moving somewhere it shouldn’t, and an activation box to move the camera onto the track when the player enters the zone. This made it exceptionally easy for me to implement, as I would need to move the prefab into place, then the individual pieces, resize them to fit the area, and test to see if it works properly.
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I ended up making about 9 camera zones, making a new one for anytime the player begins moving in a new direction or anytime there was a dramatic shift in height, this allowed the camera to follow the player in a smooth way, without awkward angles that would result in confusing controls.
UI Design
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I also took the assets our 2D artist made and implemented them in the main menu and pause menu. She had 3 versions of each button, the default, one for being hovered over, and one when the button was pressed. I made a canvas, placed the main menu buttons in their place and adjusted them to the right size, layering each version on top of each other. I assigned each sprite to a game object in a script, and deactivated the non-default sprites until their trigger was activated, either hovering or clicking the buttons. I repeated the process for all the pause menu buttons, added a translucent black sprite behind them to bring the focus away from the brightly colored environment or player, and deactivated everything until the player brought up the menu.