What Is It?
Sickeningly Sweet Jam Simulator is a Game Production II class project. Over the course of a semester, I worked with a team of 9 to create a 3D walking sim about getting a good review before your jam store goes out of business. You'll use a variety of ingredients to make the perfect jam for every customer. While it's cute in appearance, its designed to creep the player out and make them feel bad for being creeped out.
What Is My Role?
As Lead Designer of SSJS, I led meetings with the design team where we reviewed tasks and gave each other immediate feedback on our work.
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My responsibilities include:​​
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Delegating tasks
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Collaborating in design meetings
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Communicating with production
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Hold team decisions to pillars
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Presented progress to professor
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Hosting writer's rooms
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Writing dialogue
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Level design
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Playtesting
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Giving feedback
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Iterating level layout
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Incorporating environmental storytelling
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In addition to playtesting the game myself, I found play testers, led playtesting sessions, gathered and analyzed data, and made decisions on what to improve on in the next milestone. I regularly gave presentations to our professor on behalf of the team on what we learned from our playtests and what we'd be changing moving forward.
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I spent a good deal of time in engine iterating on the level layout. I worked on shrinking the kitchen to be quick to move through and putting ingredients in places that lead players to make interesting choices.
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In addition to working in engine implementing art and iterating on level design, I worked as a writer. I created and maintained the world bible as well as writing dialogue for characters. I created character sheets with essential information to communicate with art and ensure that their design was in line with their functionality.
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The project was an opportunity to learn from another producer. I walked away with new tools to use in my future projects.
