Responsibilities
Issues, Playtesting, Actions, and Results
Mechanics Design
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Designed the Defect mechanic, which allows the player to “defect” enemy units to their side using the unique ability Hail through a formula that directly compares Bell’s stats to those of the targeted enemy.
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Designed the Critical Hit mechanic, which uses a formula that takes in a unit’s stats to generate the probability an attack will be a Critical Hit.
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Designed the Defend Action, which uses a formula that takes in a unit’s stats to generate the percent of damage that will be nullified if a unit is attacked.
Systems Design
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Designed the types of abilities the player will have access to in the game: Pilot, Mech, Activated, and Passive.
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Designed the Clarity system, a point-generation + limit break-esque system that controls each Mech's ability to use Activated Abilities in combat.
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Designed the ground work for a multi-faceted mechanical progression system, which governs Poetry Upgrades for our main character Bell's stats and purchased upgrades for NPC pilot stats and Mecha stats, using two independent forms of currency: Scrap gained by salvaging the Mecha of dead enemies and Recruitment Points gained by Bell convincing enemy soldiers to join their side using the Defect mechanic.
Content Design
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Designed and implemented 12 unique abilities for Mechs and Pilots using a proprietary system made by the Programming team for making abilities in Unity with C# scripting.
Level Design
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Designed and prototyped levels and combat encounters using paper and pencil and our proprietary Board Editor system in Unity made by the programming team.
User Interface Design
General
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Supported and collaborated with the programming team to develop the proprietary Board Editor in Unity, a system designed to enable developers to quickly prototype level designs and abilities in editor outside of runtime.
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Wrote comprehensive gameplay loop documentation for onboarding new team members and maintaining the continuity of the game’s design
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Attended bi-weekly development team meetings
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Ran weakly design team meetings
Concept Statement
Habit of Force is a fast-paced, turn-based tactics game with rich storylines and unique battling mechanics where you level up through poetry. Pilot a mech, fight enemies, and use your words to save the world!
Development Notes
Habit of Force is a turn-based tactics RPG currently in development by Sabrefish Studios, led by Brandon Sichling, a professor in the Game Design program at Northeastern University. I began working on Habit part-time in January of 2023, when I primarily worked on combat balance and ability design. For combat balance, I started by working with the development team to define what each Mecha and Pilot should feel like in combat in an ideal environment before creating spreadsheets to find numbers that achieve those ideals in Unity. For ability design, I've focused on creating abilities that enhance a mech and pilots' place within their combat niche and archetype, making them feel mechanically distinct while aligning with each pilot's personality. Starting in July 2023, I began working on Habit full-time as the design team lead. Since then, my goal has been to design and iterate on the core systems in Habit relating to mechanical progression and combat. The anchor of my design methodology has been to create a dynamic possibility space in Habit where players can express themselves and experiment with gameplay mechanics to find fun, engaging, and thought-provoking play styles and strategies.