Selected Games
Researches & Other Works
Links
Selected Games
Researches & Other Works
Links
This is the game that started my game-design practice. I designed its central mechanic, wrote its world and characters, and contributed to game feel and audio implementation.
It placed 144th out of 1,597 entries at Ludum Dare 54.
Play on itch.io ↗
It placed 144th out of 1,597 entries at Ludum Dare 54.
Play on itch.io ↗
The Prompt
The theme of Ludum Dare 54 was “Limited Space.”
A literal reading—simply giving the player a confined level—felt too broad. A battle royale, an escape room, or almost any game with bounded levels could satisfy that interpretation.
Instead, I separated the two words.
“Limited” became a restriction on where and how an action could be performed. “Space” referred both to physical space and to the Space Bar.
The Space Bar can only be used in limited spaces, and in limited counts.
From Theme to Mechanic
Platformers felt like a natural starting point for a team in which most members were making a game for the first time. The genre was familiar, easy to communicate, and built around one universally understood action: pressing Space to jump.
Modern platformers expand that vocabulary with abilities such as dashing, teleportation, and gravity reversal. These abilities usually belong to separate buttons and gradually become tools the player can use without restriction.
I wanted to reverse that assumption.
In Space Bar Porter, movement is not an unlimited right. The Space Bar can activate jumping, teleportation, or gravity reversal, but each ability is restricted by the space the player currently occupies.
A familiar platforming input therefore becomes a limited resource—and platforming becomes a puzzle.
Level Progression
6 screenshotsIntroduces the controls with a generous allowance of 100 Space Bar uses.
The Space Bar limitation begins to shape the route.
Apparent routes become dead ends, demanding more careful planning.
Focuses on dashing and teleportation.
My favourite level: the goal can be reached with only two Space Bar presses.
The final challenge combines route planning with platforming execution.
Gameplay
A / DMove
SPACEJump · Teleport · Reverse Gravity
Six levels test different movement restrictions. Some reward route planning; others demand timing and execution.
Several spaces support multiple solutions, including low-input routes that use fewer Space Bar presses.
World and Narrative
Yes, there is a plot.
Play as Bro, a chronically underperforming otaku courier at Sam Express. When the Moving-Verse is threatened by the Still Force—a phenomenon that freezes movement itself—Bro is sent across three spaces to deliver cargo and recover the world's lost abilities.
One delivery. Three spaces. No job security.
Each delivery leads Bro to the eccentric rulers of Jump Space, Gravity Space, and Dash Space. To keep her job, she must restore jumping, gravity reversal, and teleportation before the Moving-Verse becomes completely still.
Tomorrow is in your hands. Probably.
Characters
5 filesPorter / Sam Express
A lazy otaku courier whose job depends on this delivery.
Boss / Sam Express
Stern, impatient, and definitely not that other Sam Porter.
President / Jump Space
Wants to make Jump Space great again.
Fox King / Gravity Space
Rules under the literal and political weight of gravity.
Chancellor / Dash Space
Powerful, dramatic, and still asking what love is.
Narrative Design
The lighthearted, meme-aware story deliberately contrasts with the game's restrictive mechanics. Its characters turn abstract movement abilities into memorable places, conflicts, and voices.
I developed the world, characters, dialogue, and narrative progression. The three-region structure also gave the level-design team a clear thematic focus for each movement ability.
My Contribution
Core Design
Interpreted “Limited Space” as both physical space and the Space Bar, then developed it into the central mechanic.
Narrative Design
Created the setting, characters, dialogue, and three-world progression.
Game Feel
Worked with the lead programmer and proposed input buffering to improve responsiveness.
Audio Implementation
Integrated part of the audio and replaced an unsuitable Wwise setup with Unity's built-in audio system before submission.
Working as a Team
Level design was primarily led by another team member, while I focused on the core mechanic, game feel, narrative packaging, and part of the audio implementation.
Our pixel artist established the visual identity, and the programmers translated the movement restrictions into playable systems. For many of us, this was our first complete game shipped as a team.
During the jam
Photos and video stills from the room where we made Space Bar Porter.
Player feedback and our response
I had worried that my sense of humour would not land with players from other backgrounds. Reading comments about the absurd dialogue and pop-culture references was reassuring. Players also picked up on the literal reading of "Limited Space" as a limited Space Bar.
Adam Gallina described enjoying the search for the simplest route through a level, which was the kind of thinking I wanted the mechanic to encourage. The controls sometimes got in the way: players described awkward momentum, missed jumps, and frustrating restarts.
I replied about the missing sound effects: they had worked in my own version, but broke when I integrated it with the team's work through Plastic SCM. Our follow-up changes restored SFX and volume adjustment, fixed the music playing only once, and corrected the reversed-gravity character display and ending dialogue.
When Gamester1128 thought an ability had stopped working, I explained the remaining Space Bar count, dash range and destination preview. Fan also replied. The player came back to say they had finished with one Space Bar use left. That exchange showed me where the rules needed clearer explanation. More visible counter feedback and less fiddly movement would be my priorities for another pass.
What Worked
- The platformer format was immediately understandable to jam players.
- Restricted abilities added puzzle depth without adding many mechanics.
- The humorous story and characters gave the game a clear identity.
- The pixel-art direction kept the short project cohesive.
What I Would Change
We spent too much of the three-day jam on open-ended brainstorming. Next time, I would limit ideation to half a day and test disagreements through playable examples.
Wwise was too complex for the project's scale and conflicted with our Unity version-control setup. On the final day, I replaced it with Unity's built-in audio system.
What I Carried Forward
- Transform a theme's assumptions rather than illustrate it literally.
- Treat familiar player actions as design material.
- Choose technology according to production constraints.
- Separate ownership when several people share scenes or systems.
This project introduced me to collaborators with whom I would later make several more games.
My first finished game—and the project that began my transition from writing stories to designing systems players could inhabit.