Flooded Folds
Team Size: 4
Project Duration: 2 months
Software Used: Unity
Languages Used: C#
Primary Role(s): Technical Designer, Level Designer
Flooded Folds is a cozy 2.5D isometric puzzle game about folding paper to reach the evacuation zone during a flood. The game was created in collaboration with Kyoto University students during a study abroad. It educates the player about the hazards they should avoid during a flood disaster.
You can play the WebGL or download it on our itch.io below!
Process
Pitch Video
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Pitch video and rapid prototype shown in video helped visualize the project.
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At first, we planned on having three longer levels to showcase each hazard, but we switched to shorter levels to:
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avoid forcing the player to move a lot (it's the least interesting part of our game)
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make deaths less punishing
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improve the pacing of each level
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De-emphasized flood mechanic by not including it in certain levels and increasing the time it took to overtake the player in others. It punished players for experimenting and trying to find the solution.
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Collecting stickers and character customization features were cut due to time constraints. They were the obvious choices because they were not part of our core gameplay loop.
Early GDD Snippet
Contributions
Technical Design:
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Designed and implemented paper folding mechanic
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Planned and developed tile/fold selection along with their associated UI elements
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Re-engineered player movement to use Slerp (spherical interpolation), allowing it to handle more cases reliably
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Refactored pathfinding code provided by other programmer
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Implemented player animation
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Created designer-friendly prefabs for rock/landslide hazard
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And more!
Player Movement
Player movement: this movement was originally modeled off tactical tile movement systems like Fire Emblem. Because each move raises the flood counter and/or could lead to walking into a hazard, we wanted to avoid accidental movements leading to death. If I had more time, I would add unique patterns to the different tile states (reachable & selected) to ensure they are better distinguishable for colorblind players and against backgrounds with similar colors/values.
 Bridge |  Platform |  Catapult Player |
|---|---|---|
 Tile/Fold Selection Code Snippet |  Paper Fold Code Snippet |  Shelter |
Full Playthrough
Level Timestamps (Open in new tab):
Level Design:
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Collaborated with other level designer to create and refine level design guidelines document
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Iterating on levels built with Unity Probuilder
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Close cooperation with programmers responsible for other hazards
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Created foldable paper prototypes as a tool for playtesting & brainstorming sessions
Post-Mortem
What went well:
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We created a cognitively accessible user experience! Our tutorial levels and systems were given ample time.
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We created an environment where our non-native English speaking team members understood what was required of them and could avoid being overwhelmed.
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The game is a reflection of our time studying in Kyoto. We are proud of it!
What went wrong:
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The level design process started late in development as features were being finished. I should have backlogged some of the features I was programming for after we had finished and tested levels with the existing, core features.
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This meant not enough playtesting before release. The places where our level design rules weren't applied became obvious during playtesting that happened after release.
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The Japanese localization feature should have been considered from the start or scrapped to avoid crunch.
What I learned:
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I gained a deeper understanding of puzzle level design!
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I was able to see just how important design documentation is for a coherent game experience.
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I have a better understanding of prioritizing features while on a tight deadline.
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I gained a deeper appreciation of playtesting.