Waking Giants
Project Type: Game jam group project
Teamsize: 9
Engine: Unity 2022.3.10f1
Tasks: Game/creative direction, project management, game design, level design, puzzle design
Project Details
Waking Giants was developed during the Global Game Jam 2024 with a group of students I often collaborate with during game jams and university projects called Emberwood. The theme of the jam was “make me laugh”, and one of the artists came up with the idea of a little hiker making sleeping giants laugh by tickling them when walking over them. I expanded this concept into a small puzzle game.
During the 42 hours of the jam, i worked closely with another designer to lead and direct the team, upholding communication. We designed the game and all of the puzzle interactions together and created 3 levels. After the jam, i playtested the game a lot, letting all kinds of people play and reworked all of the levels in my spare time, greatly improving the tutorial aspect of the first sections. If you want to play the older version, click here.
Work Examples
I documented all of the interactions in the game for the programmers, here you can take a look into a section of the Game Design Document: Waking Giants Feature List.
Level Design
The first playtests directly after the jam showed us that the pace of the levels was way too fast. The first level was a poor tutorial, showing the player the giant mechanic from only one angle and then bombarding them with all of the possible tile interactions. As a result, players did not understand under what conditions the giant would activate tiles.
Iterating Level 1
I completely reworked the levels. The first level now features primarily one type of tile that is within reach of giants, allowing players to see its interaction from all angles in a safe environment. The level concludes with a skill check to ensure the player fully understands the main mechanic.
Level 2
In the second level then, the pace is finally sped up. The level starts with a safe introduction of the tree-river interaction. Then elaborating it by adding the possibilty of failure, making sure the player has to understand to procede. The Level then slowly establishes a few more interactions, always first in a safe environment and then with danger. Finally, the level concludes in a puzzle that combines all of the learned interactions.
