Hell Of A Shift

Technical Designer

Hell of a Shift is a 2D point-and-click satirical puzzle game that places players in the shoes of a new intern at a suspiciously hellish game studio. What starts as a quirky office simulator gradually reveals a dark twist: the player is trapped in the underworld, where career advancement is the only way to escape eternal damnation.

Reflection:

Hell of a Shift gave me the opportunity to design and prototype a cohesive gameplay experience that combines humour, storytelling, and systems-based design. As both the designer and technical designer, I focused on ensuring each puzzle served the dual purpose of entertainment and narrative progression. It also strengthened my understanding of balancing systems (pressure and progression) and designing user-friendly interfaces for branching tasks and dialogue.

My Contributions:

Game Design

Defined the core gameplay loop, progression system, and level structure.
Designed puzzle mechanics that represent exaggerated "workplace tasks" — including debugging, UI layout challenges, level assembly, and audio balancing.
Shaped the Pressure Management System, a central mechanic where player stress rises or falls based on performance, deadlines, and decision-making.

Technical Design

Created prototypes for multiple puzzles using Unity, including drag-and-drop tasks, dialogue interactions, and audio matching mechanics.
Developed documentation and diagrams for systems like the task flow, email interactions, and progression mechanics to support the development team.
Balanced the difficulty and pacing across the five in-game "workdays" to ensure an engaging and humorous player experience.