What I did
- Lead the design for a 5–7 person team (up to 10) and drive community building and teaser launch planning
- Manage the backlog and priorities as product owner
- Prototype designs directly in Unity 6 (C#) and deliver weekly playable builds within an Agile/Scrum workflow
- Run iterative playtests, compile player data, and turn the findings into design revisions
Problem
Early playtests found that constant scares stopped working. Players got numb to them.
Goal
Keep the horror effective inside a cozy, comedic, co-op storekeeping game.
Iterations
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- Before
- Scares came constantly.
- What we found
- Playtests showed players going numb to the scares.
- What changed
- Paced the scares out so each one has room to land.
Reflection
Scares need spacing to work, and the only way I found that out was by watching people play.
Design
Open Shift is a co-op cozy-horror comedy storekeeping game in development at Pentad Games. I am the lead designer, lead programmer, and product owner. It is entering beta, with demos built and teasers and community building coming up.
Process
In playtests, the constant scares stopped working: players went numb to them. I paced them out so each scare has room to land. I run playtests regularly, compile what players did, and turn it into design revisions. The team gets a playable build every week.
Outcome and lessons
Open Shift is still in development, so there is no final outcome yet. So far it taught me that scares only work when they are spaced out.
On itch.io
Gallery
Credits
- Sound Designer
- Phoenix Wiggett
- Lead Producer
- Tuvya Rackover
- Lead Environment & Prop Artist
- Rowan Temby
- Lead Character Artist
- Scott Accetta
- Character Artist
- Brandon Bell
- Producer
- Wyatt Doughty