Group size: 9
Game engine: Custom
Mouse Trap! is a 3D Adventure Hack n' Slash game developed during my junior year in 2022. The game was built on a custom engine that my teammates from the school's programming degree had created from scratch.
Play as an adventure mouse residing in a HDB flat where the owner is angry at you for taking his favorite cheese. He had hence decided to purchase the latest mouse exterminating device: the KETBOT-300 to eliminate you! Traverse through puzzles, defeat enemies, collect resources to set up harpoons, traps and ziplines to conquer the map and emerge victorious!
My roles: Lead Designer, Level Designer, Environment/Props/VFX/UIUX Artist
As the lead designer, my job was to maintain a detailed game design document with a list of game's requirements. Along with communication, this was crucial for the programmers, as they have to understand the gameplay elements and mechanics needed such that they could create the necessary components so that I could build the game levels in the engine's editor effectively.
In the early phases of the game, my primary role was to work with my designers to prototype the game out in Unity Engine as a proof of concept for our lecturers and programmers. This also acted as an opportunity to iron out any technical concerns or limitations that could arise from gameplay. This was a huge learning point for me as I had to make multiple iterations to the design of the game so as to make it feasible for implementation into the custom engine.
I was also responsible for creating and building the game levels across the game, which are the bedroom, playroom, kitchen, and living room of a HDB flat. As the sole level designer, it was essential for me to create interesting interactions and a sense of progression for players. With playtest sessions and feedback from my team and lecturers, I was able to fine-tune the levels and eliminate unnecessary complexity and noise, thus allowing my players to stay focused on the objective at hand: to evict the robot cat and restore peace in the HDB flat.
In addition, I had also designed the game's UI and created various models for the game, such as tiles, walls, player safehouses, furniture, and kitchen props.
Key Takeaways
Being my first 3D custom-engine game project created in school, I had learnt to work within limitations and understand that workarounds and iterations to the game's design are needed to create a feasible product with limited time and resources. This project had also taught me the importance of not only communicating with my fellow designers, but also with the programmers who are creating the tools that we need for building a game.
Mouse Trap! Game Trailer.
Mouse Trap!'s custom engine's editor with ImGui interface.
