C#
Language
Unity
Engine
80+
Team Size
Systems Design Lead
Level Design
Producer
Contributions
Among snowy peaks, shifting sands, and mossy ruins, a forgotten kingdom quietly crumbles, join our tiny explorer as he sets things right.
Koa can’t jump, but with a quick mind and a fearless heart, he’ll twist and tilt puzzling worlds, dodge ancient traps, and piece together the past; one clever step at a time.
An old curse has begun to stir, unraveling the Kingdom thread by thread.
Lost civilizations. Ancient puzzles. One tiny explorer!
Project
Koa is a puzzle game focused on small, puzzle-box style levels. Developed as a cross-discipline collaboration between the Design, Production, Development, and Art courses, the project required strict scope management to accommodate a large team.
With a 3:1 ratio of designers to programmers, our primary strategy was to design a small selection of simple core mechanics with high systemic interplay, with a subset of zone and level specific mechanics. This approach allowed the wider team to build diverse, complex levels by combining baseline rulesets with one or two unique zone mechanics, rather than overwhelming our programmers with requests for bespoke features.
To maximise our limited programming resources, we relied on combining minor mechanics to create unique puzzle challenges. For example, torches and braziers act as core triggers throughout the game to open doors or move platforms. However, in the Ice Zone, we introduced a localised 'Blizzard' mechanic. The blizzard freezes the player over time, requiring lit braziers for warmth, but also instantly extinguishes a carried torch if the player steps into the wind. This systemic interplay allowed us to create entirely new puzzle dynamics using our existing, narrow mechanical scope.
My Role
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Mechanics Design Lead: I directed a pod of three designers to establish the game's core systems while the rest of the design team split into smaller groups focused on specific zones and level layouts. I collaborated directly with five individual zone groups to scope and refine their unique mechanics, ensuring strict alignment and systemic interplay with the core mechanical baseline.
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Confluence & Documentation Management: I managed and maintained our live design documentation, ensuring that feature specifications remained clear, consistent, and up to date across all pods. This standardisation was critical to ensure the programming team had actionable, unambiguous logic to implement without bottlenecking development.
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Level Design Implementation: Expanding beyond my core systems role, I actively contributed to the level content of the game by designing and implementing two complete puzzle levels for the 'Grasslands' zone.
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Production & Final Delivery: As the project approached its final milestones, I stepped into a production role to reinforce the communication pipeline between the design and programming departments. Clarifying system hand-offs during the crucial final integration phase to ensure we delivered a polished build on our deadline.
Tools Used
Confluence, Trello, Unity, Visual Studio, Blender, Maya, Excel, Power Point, Slack