The Concept

Brain Agents is an upcoming mobile/PC title by Night City Games – in association with non-profit STRYV365 aiming to help children develop good mental health habits. The game is a third-person sci-fi platformer that tasks players with taking control back of their space ship from a computer virus. Plans are to start pilot programs in schools this fall – using a curriculum based around a five point program to help kids navigate mental health struggles.

Level Design

I designed four missions out of the game’s thirty. My two primary constraints were designing around the player being unable to jump, and working with a vertically oriented screen. (originally, the game was meant to launch on mobile platforms only)

Each level is distinct from each other both visually and gameplay-wise. My philosophy on level-based game design is based on games like Donkey Kong Country 2: every level should offer a brand new experience based around the game’s given move set.

Minigame Design

I designed new layouts for existing minigames, and I also helped with the development of several new minigames entirely. The challenge in developing these was making sure they were fun, short, but also were enforcing one or several principles of the CRAFT process for establishing good mental health habits.

In addition to my design work, I also served as an all-purpose programmer for the title after my initial four levels were completed. These include (but are not limited to) issues pertaining to the in-game camera, animations, input, enemy-player interactions, and more. I also was in charge of implementing certain features, such as allowing for keyboard control of dialogue options. I may be a designer first, but I find it quite rewarding whenever I can contribute my programming expertise as well.