As a game designer on We of the Woods, I pitched gameplay features, wrote design & pitch documentation, and designed and prototyped game systems in Unity. Of these systems, I lead the development of the roguelike progression system, the dynamic eco'system', player controls, and procedural level generation.

 

The woods are vast and diverse.  The level generation system is designed to encourage exploration, empower emergent gameplay, and lead the player to story locations without feeling unnatural or obviously 'generated'. For this system, I analyzed procedural generation systems seen in Spelunky, Rogue Legacy, Diablo 3, and others to use as a framework for our level design. I pitched, designed, and prototyped methods to create an open, natural feeling world, rich with puzzles and resources.

 

At the beginning of each game, players must choose from a random pool of animals, each with additional enchantments and curses. They play as their selected animal until they die before breeding or being slain by a creature of corruption. This ensures the player develops mastery with multiple animals, explores a diversity of playstyles, and understands of how each animal affects the ecosystem and future playthroughs. 

 

The eco'system' encouraged mindful resource management and introduces unique challenges to the player. As a rabbit, breeding a lot will cause a boom in the rabbit population. During the next playthrough, predator populations will increase while plantlife dwindles. With the increase in predators and loss of available food source, rabbit populations will plummet the following playthrough. Each time the player's actions will cause ripple effects that will affect future playthroughs, a clever player will keep track of these changes and select animals that benefit from these fluctuations!