Overview
Salaryman RESCUE! is a wacky VR-exclusive puzzle-management game. Players are charged with guaranteeing the safety of hordes of drunken salarymen as they meander through the streets of Tokyo. It's basically Lemmings in 1st-person VR.
Contributions
I was producer and a co-designer at UWU during Salaryman RESCUE!'s development. I was responsible for production efforts, task management, and achieving milestones. I co-designed the gameplay systems, designed the game's waves and puzzles, and maintained all game design documentation.
Production
Utilised Confluence, Jira, Excel, and Notion to manage game documentation, track tasks, create timelines, and facilitate brainstorming sessions
Coordinated interdisciplinary dependencies to ensure efficient communication of deliverables and mitigate potential bottlenecks
Worked closely with Leads to evaluate features, provide constructive feedback, and guide iterations for successful implementation
Supported the Art and Audio teams by organising and managing asset lists, enabling task prioritisation and reducing workflow dependencies
Systems Design
Wave system design
UFO enemy behaviour
Power-up & tool design
Salaryman behaviour design
Vending machine system
Economy design
Spatial UI/UX design
Puzzle Design
My mantra for game design in general is "show, don't tell", and I designed the waves for Salaryman RESCUE! with this in mind. Each subsequent wave was designed with the goal of introducing the player to a new concept or mechanic, and they began to gradually intermix with the goal of fostering emergent gameplay. New object spawns were specifically placed in front of the player in order to act as a 'trail of breadcrumbs', leading them to their next discovery. Spatial audio was used in the same way.