Alien Burger Maker

You are a chef in an alien burger restaurant. Make odd and unique burgers for the hungry aliens before the destruction of their planet.

Developed: June 2018 - August 2018

My Role: Project Lead, Designer, Programmer

Type: University Project (team of 3)

DESIGN DECISIONS AND PROCESSES

Alien Burger Maker, was a game we made for Liminal VR. They make short experiences to create certain emotions. For this project, we were told to make an energising experience. Something that people can play to make them feel pumped and ready for their day.

This was done through a number of different ways.

Gameplay

• With the ingredients falling constantly, the player is always grabbing them and serving burgers to the aliens.
• The addition of needing to squirt sauce onto burgers and add the top bun, encourages movement of the arm.

Progression

• The game has more and more customers come to the window at once as the game continues on, increasing the speed and multitasking that the player has to do.
• Ingredients spawn and fall faster as the game progresses, emphasising the speed.
• At the end, the game finishes off with a grand finale. The restaurant launches into the air, drills through the planet and then watches it as it explodes.

Theme

• The game has a wacky/abstract/hyper-realistic theme to it. This takes the player out of the world they know and puts them into one with different rules and unknown expectations.
• It's a very colourful game. With the aliens, ingredients, environment, etc. This is a very saturated and fun game to look at.

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Nesting Instinct

During an ongoing storm, you (a flying squirrel) and your babies have taken shelter in the nest. Although as the storm continues, your babies grow hungry. In order to feed them you must go outside into the storm.

Developed: April 2018 - May 2018

My Role: Project Lead, Designer

Type: University Project (team of 9)

DESIGN DECISIONS AND PROCESSES

Nesting Instinct, was a university group project based around the idea of home. The game presents home as a place of safety, yet requiring the player to leave their comfort zone in order to feed their flying-squirrel babies.

There are 2 distinct areas in the game. The nest and the outside. The nest is calm and warm, while outside is dark, cold and daunting. There were various different ways these 2 feelings were accomplished.

Nest

• Soft, orange colours to emphasise that this is a warm place.
• No ambient storm noises, just calm guitar music.

Outside

• No music, just ambient wind, rain and thunder noises.
• A dark purple atmosphere, with stark lighting.
• Dark fog covering the ground, with red eyes fading in and out to give the player a sense of being watched.
• An ominous, red moon.
• Snakes hiding in some trees, which puts the player on their toes.