Responsibilities

Systems Designer

• Designed and owned the creature capture mechanic, player feedback system, social system, and creature training mechanic during pre-release

• Designed initial account progression and creature stat mechanics

• Worked with artists to create 3 new explorable areas in the game; the Parlor Room, Curator Shop and the RID Rooms

• Regularly collaborated with other designers to discuss current sprint goals and designs

Economy Designer

• Performed competitive and feature analysis for social and economic features

• Paper designed daily player activities to drive healthy, economic gameplay

Postmortem

Cinder was a race against time for every feature while the project attempted to gain a following. During the early development, some elements were bespoke simply to get them into the early players’ hands. While this allowed us to get features out to players faster, it prevented any real iteration on mechanics without requiring full reworks. This coupled with slow pipelines for content support left some designs dead in the water.

If I were to revisit the project, I would focus on getting the smaller and modular pieces ready and viable rather than piecemealed elements. It would slowdown the release cycle but it would allow for better, stable content to get to the players sooner.