Clare Pearce - @FishTaod
A fast-paced City Builder, in pocket-sized world.
Projects
Space Ducks: The great escape
A cosmic puzzle adventure in a ruthless galaxy
In Space Ducks: The great escape, help a lost tribe of duck-people in their millennial quest for a stable world!
Complete challenging Sokoban-like puzzles, by moving the Space Ducks in the right sequence, in order to reach the power source their ship requires and travel to the next planet.
But tread lightly, as walking on loose ground will propel into space what ever is standing on the other side. One duck's progress could mean another duck´s demise!
And even if a duck goes solo (years of living on precarious planets have turned the ducks into a somewhat callous people), remember that their is no escaping gravity and that one false move could bring your mission to a crashing conclusion.
Available now on Steam and Nintendo Switch!
Get the press-kit
Genre: Puzzle Platformer, Sokoban, Logic
Team: 3
Launch: May 2022
Platforms: Steam, Itch.io, Nintendo Switch
Production: 4 months
Player testing: 2 qualitative beta tests ~5 players /beta
My role: Game Designer, Level Designer, Artist, Technical Artist
Tools: Aseprite, Krita, Blender, Git, GodoEngine+GDScript, GLSL
Concept Art- Space Ducks, an existential adventure?
General Design Principles
Core Statement
‘Space Ducks: The great escape’ is a humorous puzzle game about the trials and tribulations of an ill-fated people of duck-men, doomed to roam the galaxy in search of a better home.
Themes
The game explores themes such as :
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The arbitrary nature of the laws of physics. Or in other words:
“what if the laws of physics were different?”, -
The hope for a better tomorrow,
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The feeling that the « grass is always greener on the other side of the hill »,
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Life choices that lead to leaving people behind,
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...
Design Pillars
The main pillars on which we should focus our efforts are:
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“Thinky-ness”,
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Retro console atmosphere,
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Accessible puzzles,
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Scalable difficulty,
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Humor.
Full design document here (working document).
Level Design Process
Along with frequent player testing and iterations, the level design process followed the following general guidelines:
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List mechanics and distribute them along level progression,
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Describe each level's solution in one short sentance,
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Make sure each level has a clear purpose (teach, reinforce, palette-cleanse),
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Prioritize levels working around one mechanical or emotional moment.
Level design tool built with the Godot Engine
