In Too Deep
For my Game Project 1 course in September 2025, our assignment was to build a 2D game. I’ve always been a bit of a deep-sea enthusiast; while most people are obsessed with outer space, I’ve always been fascinated (and genuinely terrified) by the mystery of the deep ocean. Bingeing YouTube videos on the Mariana Trench sparked an idea: I wanted to build a game that captures that raw sense of unknown, claustrophobic dread.
My initial inspiration came from Dave the Diver, but I stripped away the restaurant management loop to focus purely on the ocean dive itself.
Originally, I envisioned a heavily combat-focused game where you fight off marine predators. However, after pitching the idea, our lecturers advised us to dial back the combat and give the player minimal defense instead.
That feedback actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise; it shifted the genre from a standard action game into a tension-filled survival/exploration experience. Without heavy weapons, players can't just fight their way out. Instead, they have to rely on evasive maneuvers, managing limited light/oxygen, and reading creature behavior to survive the depths.
My Role & Responsibilities
As the Lead Designer and sole designer on our team. I took ownership of the overall design direction across every stage of development. Working in a small team meant wearing multiple hats, requiring me to bridge the gap between creative vision, system mechanics, and technical execution.
1. Gameplay & System Design
I was responsible for designing the core gameplay loop and shaping the overall player experience. To pull off the claustrophobic dread of the deep sea, I built the survival mechanics around resource tension and minimal defense:
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Oxygen & Energy Management: Created a ticking-clock mechanic that forces players to balance risk vs. reward when diving deeper.
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Minimal Defense & Evasive Tools: Designed non-lethal defensive mechanics such as a Tranquilizer Gun and a Boost to encourage escape over fighting.
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Salvage & Economy Loop: Balanced the loop of scavenging ocean items to sell back on the surface, funding diver upgrades.
2. UI & UX Design
I designed all the wireframes, user flows, and final UI layouts. To keep the UI grounded in the game's narrative:
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Designed the menus to look like a retro monitor/computer screen mounted on the player's boat.
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Kept the HUD minimal during dives to maximize immersion, relying on environmental cues and diegetic gauges for oxygen and depth.
3. Narrative Design & Worldbuilding
As the sole writer and narrative designer, I established the game's lore, world, and pacing:
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Wrote the full game screenplay and narrative arc.
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Designed the quest flow and main objectives, aligning mission beats with the player’s mechanical progression.
4. Level Design
Designed the 2D underwater environments with spatial psychology in mind:
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Layouts were deliberately built to feel disorienting and cavernous, evoking feelings of isolation, claustrophobia, and the unknown ("the abyss effect").
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Utilized lighting contrast and visibility limits to heighten the horror and tension.
5. Quality Assurance & Direction
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Led regular playtesting sessions to identify bugs, balance issues, and pacing dead zones.
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Worked closely with our programmers and artists to iterate on feedback, ensuring every system, visual asset, and feature stayed true to the creative direction.