Game Designer / Technical Artist
Dreamland Confectionery
Creative Director, Lead Designer
Dreamland Confectionery is a comforting story-driven exploration adventure game about exploring, baking, feeding cute creatures, and reconnecting with a lost childhood dream. More and more of the world opens up as you gain the abilities of the creatures surrounding you,
Roles | Creative Director, Designer, Artist/Animator
Tools | Unity, Maya, Photoshop, Substance Painter
Duration | 2020 - Present
Team Size | 20+
1 - Player
Awards and Recognition:
❖ Showcased at Steam Next Fest Spring 2022
❖ GWB Game Awards Finalist 2021
❖ Showcased at Wholesome Direct 2021
❖ Featured at USC Games Expo 2021
Adventure/Exploration
About:
This project started conceptually as a pair school project in spring 2020. At this point, the game has gone through 3 major iterations and grown throughout each one. Get to know various whimsical characters and creatures, bake for them, and explore together with their help as you unravel a heartwarming story about growing up and navigating unfamiliar territory.
Outside of Unity, I:
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Used charting tools such as Figma to design the core game loop and build up our interconnected creature interaction, dessert crafting, and exploration game systems.
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Created game design macros, player progression flowcharts, game systems diagrams, and stats spreadsheets in order to specify and communicate each and every gameplay beat and feature for narrative writers, artists, and engineers.
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Used Photoshop to draft the level, complete with traversable
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Communicated with the Narrative team to design abilities and mechanics that fit the story we wanted to tell.
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Created scale metrics and visual/technical specifications for the 3D artists on the team to facilitate ease of integration into the grey-box level in-Unity.
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Worked with the usability testers to gather feedback on specific aspects of the game and iterate + tune.
Inside Unity, I:
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Grey-boxed levels and then implemented the final art assets once locked-in.
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Scripted in C# to rapidly prototype, test, and iterate new systems and gameplay mechanics.
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Implemented and tuned gameplay features as they were being delivered by engineers.
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Utilized Unity Timeline and Cinemachine to create cutscenes.
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Adjusted lighting and utilized Unity's post-processing packages to create stunning post-processing effects.
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Tested the game in-engine for bugs and issues, fixing small issues on-the-fly and noting down bigger bugs in the QA spreadsheet.
My Role:
As the Creative Director and Lead Designer of Dreamland Confectionery, I had a number of responsibilities both inside and outside of Unity.
> The following is a record of past iterations of the project. <
Early concept: Baking and Exploring
In its earliest iteration, I focused on the mechanics of growing smaller and larger and the opportunities for traversal that it opens up to the player as they look for new ingredients. This was created during Spring 2020.
Core Game Loop
New game design, Same core loop: first prototype
In the second prototype, we wanted to try making the world look wilder and make the characters more polished. The creatures you interact with also recieved a visual upgrade. This was worked on in Summer-Fall 2020.
Game Loop, Level Design Concepts, Art Style Boards
In order to convey the game's semi-open world level, I started out with sketching levels in various angles to efficiently convey the visualization of space. I also built art reference decks with my art lead to convey the look and feel of the space.
Introduction of Baking mechanics, Exploring with creatures' unique abilities
In the third iteration, we developed the mechanics of interacting with creatures and baking. This was created in early Spring 2021.
Narrative Design Implementation, Visual development
In the fourth iteration, we started integrating a linear narrative to the game's progression to bring out the sense of mystery and magic through the characters and world. We also revisited the first iteration's mechanical tie-in with the desserts and developed the feel of exploring and solving environmental puzzles using desserts' powers. This was developed in Spring - Summer 2021.
Initial Level Design and Art Concept for "Tree Interior" area
In order to convey the game's semi-open world level, I started out with sketching levels in various angles to efficiently convey the visualization of space. I also built art reference decks with my art lead to convey the look and feel of the space.
Environmental puzzle design, area designs
In our latest iteration, we further developed the environmental puzzle mechanics and added an element of puzzle platforming while playing with the creatures. The best parts of exploring, requests, and interacting with creatures are being brought into a culmination of a final big iteration of the game now called Dreamland Confectionery. This is being developed in Fall 2022.
UI/UX involvement
For this stage of the game development towards Beta, as the Design Lead, I got much more involved in the UI/UX process, our player persona, testing and researching, and iterating mechanics.
Mechanic breakdowns, Feature spreadsheets
