Repossesion

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Repossesion is a game where you play as a Ghost to possess household objects to dirty up the place.

The objective is to make earn points by making messes before getting captured by the Ghost Cleanser.

Squeaky Chair Games

This game was made by a Team of 15 consisting of Programmers, Designers, Artists, and a Sound Designer.

Made entirely remotely during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Gameplay Designer

I built the core Gameplay Mechanics. My focus was on our 3Cs Design and moment-to-moment gameplay.

Props

Possessible Objects

to play as

Escape Minigame

UI minigame when caught by the Cleanser

Ghost Vision

Tactical mechanic to aid the player

Props

My main role was working with Programmers to develop the props that the Ghost can possess. We followed a tight pipeline for prop creation.

Process

Every prop followed the same iterative Design Process.

Think of Household Object - What would you find in a house and how could it be fun to control?
Document Abilities - What can the player do with the object?
Document Needs - What will the object need from Artists and Sound Designer?
Prototype - Quickly script a prototype of the object.
Playtest - Rapidly playtest the object with all other mechanics in the game.
Iterate - Adjust the object based on feedback.
Optimization - Pass the object off to the programmers so they could optimize it and makes sure it works perfectly with its intended mechanic.
Finalize - Artists add any final textures/SFX needed.

All Playable Objects

Toilet Mechanic: The toilet has to be unhinged from the ground. Once it's disconnected, it sprays a flurry of water all over, leaving wet stains around the house.	Paint Can Purpose: Paint is shot out of the can to splatter huge messes on the walls, floors, and other objects!	Guitar Mechanic: The guitar plays a sick solo that causes the Cleanser to stop in his tracks and rock out with you
Dresser Mechanic: Shoots our drawers that can deal heavy stun to The Cleanser. The dresser breaks once all the drawers have been shot out.	Cookie Jar Mechanic: The cookie jar floats around and can leave cookies around. If The Cleanser sees a cookie, he will pick it up and eat it, distracting him for a few seconds. Once all the cookies are used, the jar can roll around until it takes enough damage to break.	Piano Mechanic: The piano has quite an appetite for The Cleanser. It can chomp him Super Mario 64 style to stun him for a few seconds.
Washer Mechanic: The washer shoots bubbles that leave stains on everything it touches. The bubbles will also home-attack the Cleanser, stunning him for a short period.	Toaster Mechanic: The toaster fires toast at The Cleanser to stun him for a moment, leaving toast all over the ground.	Dryer Mechanic: Floats around and shoots ash and lint particles that stain the walls.
Box Mechanic: Can be rolled around and pops out a random object when opened. The player will automatically possess the prop that pops out.	TV Mechanic: Turning the TV on lures the Cleanser to it, distracting him so the player can run off and destroy things undetected.	Sofa Mechanic: The Sofa is a slow moving object that can knock over many un-possessable objects. It can also be used to block pathways, forcing The Cleanser to find you another way.
Sink Mechanic: Shoots a stream of water that stuns the cleanser when he walks through it. There’s a timer for how long it stays active and a cool-down timer after it stuns the cleanser.	Roomba Mechanic: The Roomba can be used to move undetected by The Cleanser.	Cup Mechanic: The cup can be flung at a high speed to either hit The Cleanser and slightly stun him, or move extremely fast to get out of harm's way.
Bookshelf Mechanic: The player can pop a book out of the shelf and possess it. Once the book is used up, the player can choose to teleport back to the shelf to possess another book. The shelf breaks once all the books are used.	Book Mechanic: The player floats around as a book collected from a book shelf. By pressing the action button, pages get ripped out of the book and are left on the floor. Once all the pages are ripped, the book breaks and falls to the ground. Once the book is on the ground, the player can choose to unpossess it where they are, or teleport back to the bookshelf.

Escape Minigame

I designed a Quick Time Event when the player gets caught by the Cleanser.

This mechanic was added to add more tension when getting caught. Rather than a sudden "YOU LOSE", the player has a chance to escape.

If the player messes up 3 times, they lose the game.

The timer gets shorter and shorter every time the player escapes.

Eventually, it gets way too fast to be possible.

Retrospective

This mechanic was quickly thrown together as a band-aid solution. It feels a bit out of place for the rest of the game.

If I were to rework this game, I would remove this for a more interactive sequence, such as mashing keys to get away.

This would open up accessibility design to toggle mashing, holding, pressing, and more.

Ghost Vision

I developed a mechanic that allowed the player to get more information about the game, and tie into the theme of Ghosts.

The intention of this mechanic was to support the player that made sense in the world and make all information easily readable.

While active, the player can:

See all possessible objects (blue)

See where The Cleanser is (red)

See breakable objects (yellow)

And a tool tip in the bottom left, that gives a hint as to what the object can do, without outright telling the player.

Repossesion

Squeaky Chair Games

Gameplay Designer

Props

Process

​​​

Think of Household Object - What would you find in a house and how could it be fun to control?

Document Abilities - What can the player do with the object?

Document Needs - What will the object need from Artists and Sound Designer?

Prototype - Quickly script a prototype of the object.

Playtest - Rapidly playtest the object with all other mechanics in the game.

Iterate - Adjust the object based on feedback.

Optimization - Pass the object off to the programmers so they could optimize it and makes sure it works perfectly with its intended mechanic.

Finalize - Artists add any final textures/SFX needed.

All Playable Objects

Toilet

Mechanic: The toilet has to be unhinged from the ground. Once it's disconnected, it sprays a flurry of water all over, leaving wet stains around the house.

Paint Can

Purpose: Paint is shot out of the can to splatter huge messes on the walls, floors, and other objects!

Guitar

Mechanic: The guitar plays a sick solo that causes the Cleanser to stop in his tracks and rock out with you

Dresser

Mechanic: Shoots our drawers that can deal heavy stun to The Cleanser. The dresser breaks once all the drawers have been shot out.

Cookie Jar

Mechanic: The cookie jar floats around and can leave cookies around. If The Cleanser sees a cookie, he will pick it up and eat it, distracting him for a few seconds. Once all the cookies are used, the jar can roll around until it takes enough damage to break.

Piano

Mechanic: The piano has quite an appetite for The Cleanser. It can chomp him Super Mario 64 style to stun him for a few seconds.

Washer

Mechanic: The washer shoots bubbles that leave stains on everything it touches. The bubbles will also home-attack the Cleanser, stunning him for a short period.

Toaster

Mechanic: The toaster fires toast at The Cleanser to stun him for a moment, leaving toast all over the ground.

Dryer

Mechanic: Floats around and shoots ash and lint particles that stain the walls.

Box

Mechanic: Can be rolled around and pops out a random object when opened. The player will automatically possess the prop that pops out.

TV

Mechanic: Turning the TV on lures the Cleanser to it, distracting him so the player can run off and destroy things undetected.

Sofa

Mechanic: The Sofa is a slow moving object that can knock over many un-possessable objects. It can also be used to block pathways, forcing The Cleanser to find you another way.

Sink

Mechanic: Shoots a stream of water that stuns the cleanser when he walks through it. There’s a timer for how long it stays active and a cool-down timer after it stuns the cleanser.

Roomba

Mechanic: The Roomba can be used to move undetected by The Cleanser.

Cup

Mechanic: The cup can be flung at a high speed to either hit The Cleanser and slightly stun him, or move extremely fast to get out of harm's way.

Bookshelf

Mechanic: The player can pop a book out of the shelf and possess it. Once the book is used up, the player can choose to teleport back to the shelf to possess another book. The shelf breaks once all the books are used.

Book

Escape Minigame

Ghost Vision