My Contribution

• Directed the game in a team of 6 people and planned the production pipeline, including 3 artists, 2 designers (including myself), and 1 programmer.

• Designed and documented the game loop and player mechanics with Figma, effectively communicating design elements to the team.

• Designed the level using Unity and used Excel to help analyze the number of interactions within the level.

Tag A Quack started as a fun little tag game I made with the team during the 2025 Global Game Jam event. The team decided to continue developing the game for entering Thailand Game Talent Showcase 2025. Although the game didn't get chosen into the competition, the development journey is very valuable to me.

The theme for 2025 Global Game Jam was bubble. We spent half of the first day brainstorming about the game and somehow started exploring racing games such as SpeedRunners, then moved on to a game of tag inside a slippery, bubbly bathroom.

OG Level Design Problem

After the game jam ended, one of the problems I and the other designer spotted is the first map we submitted for the game jam version was way TOO BIG. It causes the camera to zoom out to the point that it makes it hard for the players to focus on where their characters are. In addition, it takes longer for the tagger to catch up to the runner, making it less engaging to chase the runner and lowering the stakes for the runner, which is not exciting enough.

Gathering Data

I made a quick level wireframe in Figma with different map sizes and layouts, then set up an onsite playtest in the university with everyone from the DDCT's program.

They all faced the same problem after playtest sessions: the flow felt limited once they ran into the wall. Some players mentioned that they disliked small maps due to limited space for movement and strategy and would love bigger maps more. Increasing the map size helps a bit, but with more platforms inside the map, the problem still remains, and a large map with only a few platforms would make the space too empty, which is not our goal either.

Ideation

I went back to look at the game references to learn how they solve their problems. One of them is Brawlhalla.

Their small maps didn't make the player feel limited since the player could still dash and move around mid-air freely. However, even the map with more platforms didn't feel limited to walk around either since most platforms are two-way.

That's it! If I add two-way platforms into the game, players wouldn't bang their heads against the platform while running anymore. Plus, Unity offers a component for making two-way platforms, making it cheap to implement as well.

Two-way Platform Test

I discussed it with the programmer, and we added two-way platforms into the game. We then use the same group of testers as the last test session and conduct an onsite playtest.

Players are moving around more freely. Platforms that used to be an obstacle, which limited their movement, turn into a new dynamic where they can trick each other going up and down to different levels.

Improving Dynamic Variety

During this state, the level went through a bunch of rapid prototyping.

Eventually I noticed that players develop a strategy of jumping around the top platforms to stall time. However, they were hitting the ceiling a lot, and I wanted to encourage the player to glide in the air more so that the game also has a mid-air chasing dynamic.

I tried removing the ceiling of the map, creating more rooms for gliding midair. Players now both chase each other, jumping between platforms and gliding midair. These create a variety of dynamics in the game, keeping the game feel fresh every match.

Alpha Launch

The game was submitted for Thailand Game Talent Showcase 2025 along with a demo walkthrough we made for the competition.

Conclusion

This project taught me to analyze and view user comments from multiple perspectives. Players want big maps, but as a designer, I know that it won't solve the problem from the root. The project also let me take what I learned from the level design class and put it into action. The biggest part would be how I learn to improve my rapid prototype.