Julia Redden
Mission Designer
Engine: Unreal Engine 4
Role: Level/Narrative Designer / QA
Team Size: 20
Platform: PC, Steam
Project Snapshot
Kibbi Keeper is a pet simulator for the PC in which players tame cat-like creatures called kibbis and solve puzzles to find more kibbies, toys, and lore. Featuring a three kibbi species, three elemental kibbi abilities, seven unique areas, twenty unique lore collectables, six toys, and a fully unique soundtrack; Kibbi Keeper is fun for the whole family.
Level Designer
As one of three level designers (including our lead), I designed and implemented three out of seven unique areas, drafted the tutorial, acted as a level design representative to collaborate with artists on creating the modkit, and devised the Ice Kibbi's unique puzzle system and collaborated with programmers to make it happen.
Narrative Designer
I was the only level designer working on narrative design and wrote all the story-related text in the game.
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All the story text totaled 20 lore tablets. I worked closely with my lead and Game Designer to make sure the content adhered to the game's overall vision and functioned well in teaching players about how to work with the kibbies.
Quality Assurance
I reported 77% of all bugs from our entire team, and I was the final line of defense when it came to game breaking bugs or level streaming errors.
Ice Kibbi Puzzle
What made the Ice Kibbi unique was that it could run on water. Our design goal was to incorporate this and other kibbi powers into the puzzle the player needed to solve in order to tame the Ice Kibbi.
To do this, I designed a simple puzzle that used the Ice Kibbi's water walking and the Earth Kibbi's power to create an earth pillar. The Ice Kibbi had preset flee points, and it would run to avoid the player. The player could only catch the kibbi by blocking its path with an earth pillar and chasing it into a corner.
The right hand photo shows the nodes in the editor, made after collaborating with the programmers to bring the design to life.
