Emilie Simond - Game Designer
-
Design of the core mechanics and game loop
-
Design of all of the rooms and puzzle
-
Design and implementation of signs and feedback
-
In charge of final decisions for the design team
-
In charge of the game pitch
Whispers of the Doll House is a cooperative murder mystery with roguelite elements. Players must split into teams to explore the ever-changing manor and discover clues within a set time limit to solve the murder.
However, the manor hinders their progress by switching rooms, adding new ones, and setting traps. Once the time is out, players must review their clues and vote for the culprit.
Core game mechanics
I played an active role in the ideation process, contributing to the definition of core game mechanics and the overall game loop. I was instrumental in designing the various rooms of the manor, including level design elements and traps, and implemented the majority of these designs in Unity.
Our goal during this part of the project was to create documentation dissecting the mechanics, player skills, parameters, level of difficulty, and goals. We wanted to detail how these mechanics would work but we also aimed to balance difficulty and the different player skills.
Level design
Having done this work of dissecting the mechanics was a huge help when designing the levels and their different puzzles. This helped to balance the number of players needed in the room, visibility, interactions, and complexity of each room.
Signs and Feedback
During the design process, our main goals were to establish the manor as a fully-fledged entity and to foster cooperation between the players. We turned the manor into a threatening entity through impactful signs and feedback in collaboration with the programming and sound design teams, such as screen shake, light flickering, and SFX to heighten tension.
Elements like the timer, procedural generation of the manor, room shuffling, and randomized appearance of trap hallways added layers of urgency and unpredictability.
Lastly, we fostered cooperation by forcing players to split and creating puzzles that required the collaboration of two or three players.