Puzzles & Passport Design

Puzzles & Passports is a casual match-3 puzzle game for mobile platforms. With a charming travel theme, it tasks players with exploring famous cities from around the world while completing levels.

I worked on this project from July 2021 to February 2022.

My Responsibilities

• Designed hundreds of new puzzles, taking them from paper designs to shipped levels

• Composed levels for a wide variety of player types and skill levels

• Iterated levels based on playtesting with team members and feedback from the game's community

• Balanced levels using live player data to hit key metric benchmarks

• Concepted new limited-time events and mechanics to improve the game's travel theme

Level Design Philosophy

1. Levels are created as part of a comprehensive progression plan, pacing out puzzle mechanics and increases in challenge, strategy, and difficulty

2. Level balancing draws on a mixture of live user data and qualitative feedback to deliver adjustments that improve performance

3. As often as possible, levels should delight players through clever layouts and interesting mechanic interactions

4. Variety is essential to the game's long-term health. Levels use flow, pacing, layout, and puzzle mechanics to deliver a wide array of experiences

Gallery

Events Design Philosophy

1. Events should encourage player interaction with larger game systems through compelling small-scale loops

2. Events need to be intuitive and accessible, enhancing the player's experience with as little friction as possible

3. Events should use a variety of reward structures, timing, and duration to excite players of all types

4. Events need to match the light-hearted and cheery nature of the game

Event Example: Explorer's League