Otter Planet  [Vertical Slice]
Game Designer

Client: Habitatique and Learning Games Network

Shipped Vertical on PC via itch.io.


An Otter Guardian must save the universe by bringing balance to a planet's ecosystem that has been ravaged by the Takers.

Overview
The player find themselves on a planet left in ruin. They will explore the habitat and discover what organisms lived there, what happened to them and what they need to survive in this habitat.


Learning Experience Goals

  • teach the player the complexity of ecosystems
  • show the player that all parts of a habitat are connected to each other
  • demonstrate to the player how diversity of our flora and fauna will be our first line of defense in the fight against climate change
Process

The inspiration planet served as the main feature of the game that surfaces lots of hidden relationships, teaching the player how these creatures interact with their environment and their needs to thrive. Using hex grid puzzle gameplay, the player was tasked with a description of the creature they were researching and descriptions of traits a creature may have. The player would place trait puzzles into a larger shape of the creature in order to connect what traits the creature possessed to contribute to its environment.



Scenes from An Otter Planet

Vian Nguyen

Contact
Linked.in
Itch.ioPika Blog
Currently seeking
Educational Game Design roles
Interactive Experience Design roles
Serious Play Community of Educators and Devs
Research Assistantships for Education and Play Labs

 

About Vian Nguyen

Vian is a queer Vietnamese-American game designer and interactive artist. They are interested in game design as a means to facilitate spaces of feeling, self-reflection, and noticing the world around us all. They have a deep curiosity in innovating play’s ability to teach care, empathy, and understanding in players.

They've previously worked at Deck Nine, Harmonix Music Systems, Epic Games, and Filament Games.