Snowbound
Overview
Snowbound is a 2.5D puzzle adventure game following the journey of a young stowaway trying to escape an autocratic city in a fictional 1920s Europe. Players must use stealth and solve puzzles to earn their freedom on the other side of the border.
See below for more detailed information.
Project Type
Team Project
Team Size
9
Role
Co-project manager, Lead Level Designer, Programming
Skills
Puzzle Design
Environmental Storytelling
Mechanics Design
C# programming
Project management (Agile Project methodologies)
Engine
Unity
Rookies 2025 Entry
Itch page
Level Details:
Goals
As a level designer my goal for this project was to use the level design to showcase what an individual being forced to flee their country might go through.
The gameplay, featuring a combination of environmetal storytelling and gameplay mechanics were blended together to help create this experience.
Level Design and Building
-
In pre-production, I initially struggled with adapting to designing levels in 2.5D, as I did not have access to the same creative freedom in layout design that I relied on in previous 3D projects. Additionally, the linearity of the train carriages accentuated these limitations.
-
This forced me to adapt by learning new ways of creating a cohesive and engaging user experience. As we moved from pre-production into production, the level design of Snowbound quickly became focused around using techniques such as set dressing, environmental storytelling and creating cutscenes to onboard players and hit narrative beats.
Environmental Storytelling
-
The intention behind using environmental storytelling was to teach the player about Tsurakow and the society within it. I also wanted to justify to the player, why the protagonist is trying to escape in the first place.
-
Since the game is set on a train, the player never gets to explore Tsurakow themselves. This led to me working with our Concept artist (See Credits) to specifically design propaganda posters and images to portray the corruption and impact the regime had on Tsurakow.
-
One key thing I learned from Little Nightmares was that having interactable items or images in the environment that are thought provoking, would encourage players to start thinking about the narrative more. This allows players to interpret the narrative in their own way which allows each individual to have a more enjoyable and personalised player experience.
-
Overall, this helped me to provide enough information to make the world feel tangible while also importantly leaving room for player interpretation.
Mechanics Design
-
The gameplay mechanics, featuring a combination of puzzles, quick qime events and stealth mechanics are all designed to help immerse the player into the narrative and experience of being a stowaway on a train. Each aspect of the gameplay helps to portray the danger, desperation and shear challenge someone might face on a journey of this magnitude.
-
The gameplay mechanics and narrative both took heavy influence from Playdead's Inside and Tarsier Studio's Little Nightmares.
-
Little Nightmares and Inside particularly inspired me as a designer because of how they find creative ways to use the 2D camera perspective to their advantage, for make a more immersive and naturalistic experience.
Playtesting and Iterating
-
Carried out multiple playtest sessions over the course of a 9 month developmeht cycle and implemented feedback between each session.
