Position: Level Designer, Scrum Master
Engine: Unity
Date: September 2025 – May 2026
Choo Choo Boom Boom is an arcade-style on-rails shooter that interprets the genre in the most literal sense possible. Take up arms in a repurposed commuter train with cannon strapped on top of it to combat against a giant, extraterrestrial hand attacking your city. Utilize different weapons to counter the boss’ attacks, help civilians, and save the day.
Developed for my senior capstone project, The first half of this project’s development was focused on preparing the game to make it through a greenlight process. We wanted the game to feel similar arcade-style on-rails shooters, but put more of an emphasis on player agency to make the game feel more engaging. We did this through track switches: a mechanic that allowed the player to move to a higher track to deal more damage at the risk of taking more damage, or lower to heal and obtain buffs, rather than deal damage. Because of this, one of the biggest things I wanted to focus on was making the track loop and offer different paths to the player. This helped the game feel less repetitive on repeat playthroughs, and also gave room for players to learn about the different paths and master the game.
Post-greenlight, some changes were made to the scope and design of the project that affected the level design. Most important was that we decided to make the track linear, rather than looping. Originally I pushed back against this because I feared it would take away the player agency we wanted to focus on originally. However, I was able to reimagine track switches in a way that kept player choice, allowing players to play into their own playstyles and adapt to what is happening on any given run.
Looking back, I learned a lot from this project. Due to the constantly shifting scope and direction of the game, there were a lot of times where I had to make sacrifices for the game or the team. And being able to navigate those situations is a very important skill. It also taught me a lot about the processes of level design itself. Another big issue for me was, given the tools we set up for laying out track, it was very difficult to make small changes to the level after it was created. Going forward, I now know to look for situations issues like these could pop up, and nip them in the bud before that happens. All in all, though, it was a very rewarding project that a lot came out of. Especially the kick-ass arcade cabinet we built.
Collaborators
Design: Benton Lane, Carter Marshall, Daphne Sophinos, Elliot Morneweck, Lindsey Bellaire, Sam Cassidy
Programming: Alex Bianca, Brandon Salvietti, Tristan Schonfeldt-Aultman
Art: Hal Phillips, Heirloom Luong, Olivia Santmauro, Taylor Harrington
Sound Design: Morgan Smith