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HANSEL & GRETEL

Hansel & Gretel - A Sweet Escape is an action-packed 2D-Platformer set in a funky, lighthearted take on the classic Grimm’s tale. The player takes control of Gretel and uses the destructive power of the witch’s wand to rescue her poor brother Hansel. To survive this fast-paced race full of danger they must overcome tricky physical puzzles or fail and try again.

MY TASKS:

Game Design

Level Design

Development

Project Management

genre:  2D-Platformer   —   team size:  3   —   time frame:  3 months  (2nd semester, HTW Berlin)

RESPONSIBILITIES

Game Design

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  • Creating a concise game concept by cutting out ideas and focusing on a limited set of essential core mechanics

  • Working out the interplay of the two siblings to generate urgent action and great pacing

  • Making players feel powerful and daring by providing a dynamic movement set and lots of opportunities for satisfying destruction

  • Setting up a live-die-repeat loop that gets a lot of playtime out of a small game space

Level Design

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  • Developing level modules which highlight the interdependence of the two characters

  • Arranging the level sections to create a good progression of mechanics and difficulty

  • Controlling the possibility space of Hansel's path to ensure clear success and failure states throughout the whole level

  • Working with the artists to make sure that the structural level can be properly translated into congruent environmental art

Development

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  • Being responsible for the entire technical implementation from programming to setting up the game in the Unity engine

  • Creating a custom Character Controller with a unique movement set, animation rig and ragdoll feature

  • Building a custom layered physics system for interactions between game objects

  • Setting up an asset pipeline to enable an effective production workflow for art pieces

Project Management

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  • Taking on the role of project lead and making sure the initial vision gets realized

  • Organizing meetings and work sessions

  • Managing workflow and production processes, creating task and asset lists and ensuring dependencies are met on time

  • Supporting and directing artists and helping out with critical tasks

Development Process Impressions

LEARNINGS

In this 2nd semester project I learned a great deal about many game design aspects, such as core mechanics, gameplay loops, structure and pacing. My most important design insights, however, were about controlling a game’s possibility space and how hand-crafted game content with predetermined solutions can limit player freedom and expression.

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I also realized the great importance of creating playable prototypes as early as possible to get feedback about the gameplay and difficulty levels. Even though we failed to do this, which prevented us from really iterating and polishing the game, the final result was still very popular among playtesters. I attribute this appeal to an interesting gameplay idea and a strong theme, supported by a captivating visual style.

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Since this was my first game development group project, I learned a lot about teamwork and coordinating the fields of design, technology and art. I experienced the advantages of utilizing the unique ideas and skills of each team member and keeping everyone engaged by promoting trust and self-responsibility.

Dev Diary Impressions

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