Game Designer / Co-Project Manager
Unity · C# · Puzzle Design · Level Design · Mechanic Design · Narrative Design · Production

Released on Steam — November 2025

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Vextorial is a puzzle game built around complex spatial mechanics, navigating a 3D space as a 2D creature, requiring players to understand and combine multiple systems to solve increasingly challenging puzzles.

I contributed to approximately 1.5 years of development, including six months FTE focused directly on level, puzzle and mechanic design. During this time, I designed 100+ puzzles, contributed to the game's narrative progression, prototyped mechanics, coordinated development across disciplines and led the team's UK Games Fund pitching process.

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DESIGN CHALLENGES

Vextorial presented three key design challenges:

• Balancing challenge and frustration — creating puzzles that were sufficiently demanding without discouraging players.

• Teaching complex systems — introducing mechanics in a way that allowed players to understand and apply them without becoming overwhelmed.

• Supporting different skill levels — creating progression that allowed players with different puzzle-solving abilities to enjoy the game.

These challenges shaped my approach to puzzle design, progression and playtesting throughout development.

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PUZZLE DESIGN METHODOLOGY

I developed two primary approaches to creating puzzles for Vextorial:

1. Teaching and Evolving a Mechanic​​​​

• ​The first approach began with a mechanic the player needed to learn. I would ask -

  • "How can I teach this complex mechanic without overwhelming the player?"​​

• For example, when introducing gravity shifting, I structured puzzles around three stages:

  • Introduction

    • The player is placed in a simple, isolated environment where they can understand the mechanic in a controlled context. An early puzzle might simply require the player to rotate gravity to reach the level exit.

  • Expansion

    • Once the basic interaction is understood, the puzzle increases in complexity. The player may need to perform multiple gravity rotations, using the same platforms from different orientations to reach the exit.

  • Twist

    • Finally, the mechanic is presented in a new context. For example, the player may need to rotate gravity on a different plane of the level before returning to the original plane, where their previous understanding of the mechanic must be applied in a new way.

    • This structure allowed me to introduce complex mechanics gradually before challenging players to apply their knowledge creatively.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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2. Combining Mechanics

• ​My second approach involved combining two existing mechanics within a testing environment and looking for unexpected or interesting interactions.

• Once I identified an interaction that created an interesting puzzle opportunity, I would build obstacles around it to encourage the player to discover and use that interaction as part of the solution.

• One example involved combining plane switching, gravity switching and blocks that change between transparent and solid states when gravity changes.

  • The interaction allowed players to change the parity of these blocks by performing a complete rotation around a corner of the level cube. This created a puzzle mechanic that emerged from the interaction between existing systems rather than from a single mechanic in isolation.

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ITERATION & PLAYTESTING

Iteration became a cornerstone of my design process throughout development, with playtesting used to identify where our assumptions about the player experience were incorrect.

One of the earliest issues I identified through playtesting was that players' differing puzzle-solving abilities had a significant impact on their enjoyment of the game. Players who became stuck on a particular level could become frustrated enough to stop playing altogether.

Threshold Progression

To address this, I championed and designed a new Threshold Progression system.

Rather than requiring players to complete every level sequentially, I designed a level-selection hub where players were presented with several levels and only needed to complete a threshold to progress.

For example:

5 levels available → 3 required to progress

This created several benefits:

• Players could leave a puzzle they were struggling with and attempt another challenge.

• Players retained a sense of progression even when a particular puzzle exceeded their current ability.

• More challenging puzzles could be introduced as optional challenges without blocking players who preferred a more accessible experience.

• Players who became frustrated with one challenge had another route through the game rather than a reason to stop playing.

This was one example of how playtesting directly influenced the game's systems and progression design.

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CROSS-DISCIPLINARY DEVELOPMENT

As Co-Project Manager, I regularly liaised with different areas of the team to coordinate development and ensure deadlines were met.

This collaboration also allowed me to expand beyond level design into mechanic and narrative design.

• I created the overarching narrative progression for the game and designed how story information would be delivered to the player. Programmers and writers then implemented these designs, allowing the narrative systems to become part of the final game.

Within my own design practice, I also created rapid prototypes of mechanics to test ideas before committing development resources.

• One example was the gravity flipper block introduced in Act 3. I prototyped the mechanic to validate the idea before creating production tickets for the development team to implement the fully developed system.

• This approach allowed design ideas to be tested early, reducing unnecessary development work and giving the wider team clearer specifications to work from.

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PRODUCTION & FUNDING

I took ownership of the team's pitching process for the UK Games Fund, creating the pitch deck and developing the presentation strategy.

To strengthen the pitch, I sought advice from members of the game development community and used online resources to better communicate the project's strengths, including its mechanical design, volume of content, artwork and narrative.

The team successfully secured UK Games Fund support, which funded the bulk of the game's development.

This experience strengthened my ability to communicate design ideas, advocate for creative decisions and present a game's strengths to an external audience.

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OUTCOME & REFLECTION

Vextorial released on Steam in November 2025, following approximately 1.5 years of development.

The project taught me that good design is not only about generating ideas — it is also about recognising which ideas are worth pursuing within the project's constraints.

One principle I continue to carry into my design practice is “kill your darlings”: being willing to remove ideas you care about when they no longer serve the project, particularly when doing so prevents scope creep and protects the quality of the final experience.

Vextorial gave me experience across the full design process, from generating and prototyping mechanics through to level production, playtesting, iteration, multidisciplinary development, production and release.