Game Designer
Shamus Donaldson
Drip Drop Arena (Canceled)
Platform:
Mobile - App Store, Google Play
Engine:
Unity
Duration:
1 year
Team Size:
20+
Role:
Game Designer, Level Designer
Drip Drop Arena is a multiplayer party battle royale game where players control characters based on the Drippies NFTs and compete in a series of chaotic, physics-based obstacle courses and mini-games.
As the Game Designer and Level Designer, I played a key role in shaping the core gameplay experience of Drip Drop Arena. I was responsible for designing engaging mechanics, dynamic levels, and competitive yet accessible gameplay that kept players coming back for more. My key responsibilities included:
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Game Vision & Design Documentation: Developed the Game Design Document (GDD) and defined the core mechanics, physics-based interactions, and player progression systems.
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Level Design & Prototyping: Created multiple obstacle courses and mini-games, ensuring variety, challenge, and replayability. Designed layouts that balanced fun, fairness, and chaos for both casual and competitive players.
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Gameplay Systems & Mechanics: Designed movement physics, collision interactions, and player controls, refining the feel and responsiveness of character movement.
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Playtesting & Iteration: Conducted extensive playtests, analyzing player feedback to optimize level flow, difficulty curves, and engagement.
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Collaboration with Engineering & Art Teams: Worked closely with programmers to fine-tune mechanics and with artists to bring vibrant, visually distinct levels to life.
Through iterative design, constant refinement, and player-driven adjustments, I helped make Drip Drop Arena a fun, unpredictable, and highly replayable party game experience.
Gamevision
The vision for Drip Drop Arena was to blend the elimination-style format of party royale games with mechanics from classic party games like Mario Kart while placing a stronger emphasis on social interaction.
Core Party Royale Format
We retained the multi-round elimination format that defines the genre:
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30 players begin each match.
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Matches consist of three randomly selected race or elimination maps.
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After each round, only the top X players advance, with the rest eliminated.
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In Round 3, the last player standing wins.
This structure ensures dynamic, high-energy matches while keeping gameplay accessible yet competitive.
Powerups & Game Balance
To enhance race maps, we introduced powerups, initially giving all players identical powerups that refreshed every few seconds. However, playtesting revealed balance issues—powerups like speed boosts disproportionately favored leading players, making it harder for trailing players to catch up.
Solution: We randomized powerups based on player position, ensuring a fairer, more exciting race experience with opportunities for comebacks and last-second turnarounds.
Emphasis on Socialization
We wanted to go beyond matchmaking menus by creating a physical, interactive lobby where players could:
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Socialize between rounds, check out game updates, and explore different game modes.
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Feel like athletes preparing for a competition, with a locker room/warmup area theme.
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Enter matches through a stadium tunnel, with progressively louder cheers and lights, simulating the feeling of stepping into an arena.
This approach transformed the pre-game experience from a static menu into an engaging, immersive social hub.
Level Design
When I joined Gambit Games (formerly BlockTackle Inc.), it was a small startup, and the team provided monthly updates to investors to showcase continual progress. As the sole Level Designer, I was responsible for designing and building 1–2 maps per week in Unity to ensure steady content development.
With limited bandwidth from the engineering and art teams, new obstacles couldn’t be added frequently, so I needed to maximize the use of existing assets. This presented a design challenge:
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Fewer obstacles meant players could learn mechanics quickly, improving accessibility.
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However, repetition risked making maps feel too similar over time.
To balance familiarity with freshness, I took a showcase-first approach:
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Each map was built around a "showcase obstacle."
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This obstacle would serve as the core mechanic, allowing me to structure the level design around teaching and iterating on it.
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I followed Super Mario Galaxy game director Koichi Hayashida’s 4-Step Level Design process to introduce, develop, and escalate these mechanics—something I’ll detail below for one of my maps, TileDrop.
1. Introduce the concept in a safe environment
The featured obstacle in this race map was droppable floor tiles. When stepped on, a tile would either:
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Light up in a different color and remain solid, or
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Fade away, causing the player to fall and respawn.
To introduce this mechanic in a safe, low-risk environment, I placed a small grid of tiles at the very beginning of the map. Above the grid, a large monitor displayed a simple shape made out of highlighted tiles, making it immediately clear which tiles were safe to step on.
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As soon as the player stepped onto the first tile, it lit up, reinforcing the idea that stepping forward reveals safe tiles.
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With each additional step, the player would see more tiles light up, forming the shape shown on the monitor.
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If they veered off the correct path they would fall and respawn instantly at the start of the grid.
This early, low-stakes introduction ensured that players could experiment freely and understand the mechanic without frustration, as any mistake only cost them a couple of seconds.
2. Develop the concept further
To deepen the player’s understanding of the droppable floor tiles, the next grid was:
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Larger in size, increasing the challenge.
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Designed with a more complex pattern displayed on the overhead screen.
Unlike the first section, where players could mostly follow straight lines, this new challenge required:
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Branching paths, introducing decision-making and risk assessment.
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Jumping over false tiles, reinforcing timing and spatial awareness.
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Brief moments of memorization, as moving forward sometimes blocked the screen from view, requiring players to retain part of the pattern in their mind.
By escalating the difficulty in a controlled manner, this section encouraged more deliberate movement and problem-solving while maintaining a fair and engaging learning curve.
3. Introduce a twist
At this stage, the goal was to reinforce what players had already learned while introducing a new twist to test their mastery of the mechanic.
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The next grid was the same size as the previous one, but with an even more complex pattern displayed on the overhead monitor.
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Multiple branching paths required quick decision-making, and no matter which route they chose, players had to jump across multiple tiles, increasing the challenge.
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To add a layer of difficulty, the monitor would randomly flicker before turning off for 5 seconds.
This forced players to approach the challenge in one of two ways:
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Memorize the pattern while it was visible, maintaining speed but increasing risk.
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Play it safe by waiting for the monitor to turn back on, losing valuable time.
By introducing temporary uncertainty, this section tested pattern recognition, risk assessment, and adaptability, ensuring that players truly understood the mechanic before progressing.
4. Conclusion
To wrap up the sequence, the final challenge presented a smaller puzzle with the most difficult pattern yet. Unlike previous sections, where players had room to maneuver, this last grid condensed the space, requiring even more precise movement and memorization.
By this point, players had:
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Learned the fundamental mechanic in a safe, low-risk environment.
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Gradually tackled increasing complexity through branching paths, jumps, and momentary memorization.
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Adapted to uncertainty with the monitor flickering and turning off, reinforcing quick thinking and risk management.
This final challenge served as a capstone test, ensuring players had fully internalized the obstacle's mechanics before moving forward. The smaller grid and intricate pattern provided a satisfying, high-skill conclusion that rewarded player mastery while maintaining accessibility.
By the time they cleared this section, players had developed confidence in navigating droppable tiles, setting them up for more advanced challenges later in the game. The structure also encouraged replayability, as different approaches led to unique player experiences.
Collaborative Design - The Lobby
While most of my level design work in DDA was done independently—as I was the sole Level Designer—designing the lobby required close collaboration with the art and engineering teams to ensure it stood out as the first thing new players experience in the game. I began the process by creating a rough mockup of the lobby’s general layout and shape, tagging key areas to define their function. Each section was designed to be intuitive, engaging, and visually distinct, setting the stage for an immersive pre-match experience.
For each major area, I outlined the features, interactions, and technical requirements, ensuring alignment between design, art, and engineering.
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Game Design Notes: Documented step-by-step player interactions, such as:
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Store Example: Defined where the player should stand to trigger the store, when the button prompt should appear, and what modal window should open for purchasing.
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Engineering Requirements: Provided detailed interaction logic and UI behavior to ensure smooth implementation.
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Art Team Guidance: Compiled reference images and outlined specific asset needs (e.g., UI modals, decorative elements) to match the desired visual style and atmosphere.
