Themed Entertainment For Games
Kitchen Kauldron
Kitchen Kauldron
(Page WIP)
Three player arcade style cooperative game where you work as a team to prepare the bizarre orders of wacky and weird folks throughout the magical multiverse.
Project Details
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Role: Lead Developer & Game Designer
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Duration: 14 Weeks
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Team Size: 7
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Software: Unity, Photoshop
Contributions
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Gameplay programmer
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Co-gameplay designer
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Bug fixed and recorded changelogs.
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Ran playtesting sessions & collected feedback notes.
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Designed chef game
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Co-designed barista game
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Co-designed server game
Extra Recognition
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Nominated for awards at IndieCade 2022
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Winner of People's Choice award for alternative controllers at GDC 2023
Gameplay Trailer
The Chef Game
High level Overview
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Make the food items that are shouted to you by your server.​
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Leap Motion camera tracks the player's hand movements.​
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Pick up, chop, sear, and fry ingredients before the customer gets fed up and leaves.
Side by side video of the alternative controller & the video game
Design Process
Initial Prototype
Our first question was how would we achieve 'chaotic, silly, food prep based gameplay' and subsequently, how we would build it in Unity; that is, what would we use as a controller and what would the gameplay look like?
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Originally I thought we'd use a mouse to grab food items, and I made a silly ragdoll frog that you could drag around with your mouse before coming to the conclusion that although it was silly to play with, it didn't feel right... and so it was back to the drawing board.
First iteration (showing Leap Motion)
My primary gameplay reference was Surgeon Simulator for doing real world tasks in a simplified, goofy game environment.
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As for how we'd build it and what the controller would be, I had some experience using Leap Motion a preexisting hand tracking device with accompanying software, and the team liked the aesthetic of it & so we decided to lean into hand tracking as the unique controller for the chef game.
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So I spent a few hours building out a quick prototype to show the team that watching your hands moving around in 3D space was novel, silly, potentially chaotic and that it could be fun.
Later Iteration with Buckets & Snapping
Originally you'd reach up into your UI to grab and spawn ingredients/tools. Although it worked, the UI was not themeatic and so I created a new iteration that used buckets as the 'buttons' that would spawn ingredients.
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This way, you simply reach into the bucket and pull out the desired ingredient.
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I also added snapping so that when you grabbed ingredients, they'd snap to your hand to make it easier to grab ingredients.
Alternative Controllers
The chef has three alternative controllers in the chef game:
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Leap motion - hand tracking software that tracks and displays the player's real life hands on a screen
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Tree stump tools - physical firewood hollowed out to fit wiring and act as buttons that correspond to tools
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Magical cookbook - a physical book with glowing symbols (buttons) that correspond to recipes​
Tree Stump Buttons
Magical Book
The BARISTA GAME
High level Overview
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Make the drink items that are shouted to you by your server.​
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Press the buttons on your espresso machine to keep liquid levels up as they drain over time.​
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Blend, stir and shake your orders once liquid levels are within the right parameters.
Side by side video of the alternative controller & the video game
Design Process
Initial Prototype
Our first question was how would we achieve 'chaotic, silly, food prep based gameplay' and subsequently, how we would build it in Unity; that is, what would we use as a controller and what would the gameplay look like?
​
Originally I thought we'd use a mouse to grab food items, and I made a silly ragdoll frog that you could drag around with your mouse before coming to the conclusion that although it was silly to play with, it didn't feel right... and so it was back to the drawing board.
First iteration (showing Leap Motion)
My primary gameplay reference was Surgeon Simulator for doing real world tasks in a simplified, goofy game environment.
​
As for how we'd build it and what the controller would be, I had some experience using Leap Motion a preexisting hand tracking device with accompanying software, and the team liked the aesthetic of it & so we decided to lean into hand tracking as the unique controller for the chef game.
​
So I spent a few hours building out a quick prototype to show the team that watching your hands moving around in 3D space was novel, silly, potentially chaotic and that it could be fun.
Later Iteration with Buckets & Snapping
Originally you'd reach up into your UI to grab and spawn ingredients/tools. Although it worked, the UI was not themeatic and so I created a new iteration that used buckets as the 'buttons' that would spawn ingredients.
​
This way, you simply reach into the bucket and pull out the desired ingredient.
​
I also added snapping so that when you grabbed ingredients, they'd snap to your hand to make it easier to grab ingredients.
How The game works
1. The server shouts at the barista as drink orders come in, telling the barista what to make.​
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2. Once the barista hears an order, they must press a button to toggle between one of three drinks that they can make.
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3. Once the barista has selected the drink they want to make, each of the three liquid levels will show indicators that tell the player the liquid levels must be within a certain volume.
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4. The Barista then must press a button associated with each of the liquids. Holding the button will cause the liquid levels to rise. When the button is released, the liquid levels begin to slowly drop over time.
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5. Once the barista has gotten each of the three liquid levels within the proper parameters, the barista must use their other hand to process the drink with the tool that corresponds to the recipe they're on... so their other hand will either stir a cauldron, hold down a blender, or shake a shaker until the drink is done.
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6. The barista then presses a button to their right to submit the drink to the server.
Alternative Controllers
The barista has three alternative controllers in the barista game:
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Espresso Machine - A machine placed over the player's head with 3 neon strip lights coming out of three buttons that correspond to liquids.
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Cauldron - A cauldron with a stirring spoon coming out of it much like a joystick. Rotating the spoon clockwise or counterclockwise constitutes 'stirring'.
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Shaker - Cocktail mixer with resin ice cubes and a button inside. The button is pressed when the ice cubes are shaken with enough force to press the button.​
The Server GAME
High level Overview
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Take customers orders before they lose all their patience and leave.
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Massage a crystal ball to move the diviner and read the minds of the customers.
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Relay the customers orders to your chef and barista.
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Submit the food and drink items as they're given to you.
Side by side video of the alternative controller & the video game
Design Process
Initial Prototype
Our first question was how would we achieve 'chaotic, silly, food prep based gameplay' and subsequently, how we would build it in Unity; that is, what would we use as a controller and what would the gameplay look like?
​
Originally I thought we'd use a mouse to grab food items, and I made a silly ragdoll frog that you could drag around with your mouse before coming to the conclusion that although it was silly to play with, it didn't feel right... and so it was back to the drawing board.
First iteration (showing Leap Motion)
My primary gameplay reference was Surgeon Simulator for doing real world tasks in a simplified, goofy game environment.
​
As for how we'd build it and what the controller would be, I had some experience using Leap Motion a preexisting hand tracking device with accompanying software, and the team liked the aesthetic of it & so we decided to lean into hand tracking as the unique controller for the chef game.
​
So I spent a few hours building out a quick prototype to show the team that watching your hands moving around in 3D space was novel, silly, potentially chaotic and that it could be fun.
Later Iteration with Buckets & Snapping
Originally you'd reach up into your UI to grab and spawn ingredients/tools. Although it worked, the UI was not themeatic and so I created a new iteration that used buckets as the 'buttons' that would spawn ingredients.
​
This way, you simply reach into the bucket and pull out the desired ingredient.
​
I also added snapping so that when you grabbed ingredients, they'd snap to your hand to make it easier to grab ingredients.
How The game works
1. Customers come in and appear on the hotbar at the top of the screen.
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2. The player must rotate their crystal ball to guide a magic sigil (custom cursor) to the customer to select them.
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3. When the customer is selected, the player must guide their sigil back towards the giant thought bubble with a question mark in it.
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4. Each customer's thought bubble has a specific, invisible point inside of it where the customer knows what they want to order.
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5. As the sigil gets closer to the invisible point, the SFX coming off of the cursor will get louder. The particles around the sigil will become more erratic, and the meter next to the thought bubble will begin to fill... all of this is positive feedback.
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6. If the sigil gets farther away from the point in the thought bubble, all the effects mentioned in (5.) will reverse.
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7. Successfully guiding the sigil to the point will reveal the customer's order.
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8. The server must then shout the order to their co-workers.
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9. If the server's co-workers send a completed food item in, the server simply must press a button to their right to submit the item to the corresponding customer.
Alternative Controllers
The server has two alternative controllers:
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Crystal Ball - Allows the server to discover the order of customers​
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Your Voice - The server must be a confident communicator, always shouting at their co-workers what to make next.
