Level & Design Philosophy
This project was driven by a clear constraint: creating a game that a two-year-old could understand and enjoy. Inspired by my child’s fascination with tractors and heavy machinery, all mechanics, controls, and visuals were designed to be simple, readable, and immediately rewarding.
To avoid frustration, the game was built as an endless runner where failure simply restarts the run with no penalty beyond resetting the timer. Instead of moving the player forward, the environment and obstacles move toward the vehicle, creating the illusion of motion while keeping input minimal. This allowed the game to feel active and engaging without overwhelming the player.
I focused heavily on visual feedback to make interactions feel clear and satisfying. Movement, collisions, and obstacles are exaggerated and highly readable, reinforcing cause and effect and supporting learning through play rather than punishment.
The result is an experience built around accessibility and clarity. While simple in scope, the project shows how clear audience targeting and intentional constraints can shape mechanics and overall design.
Learn more about my level design process here.
Level Design
Levels were designed with clarity and predictability in mind so very young players could understand the space without explanation. The environment itself communicates where the player can go and what is safe or dangerous through simple shapes, spacing, and exaggerated visual cues.
Hazards are introduced gradually and presented in familiar, repeatable ways rather than sudden or unfair threats. For example, pipe-like obstacles close in on the player in a readable and predictable pattern, giving time to react and understand cause and effect. This supports learning through repetition, even when a mistake leads to a restart.
To keep interaction intuitive, level design and input design were treated as one system. Movement and world responses align spatially, reinforcing cause and effect so players can focus on steering and reacting rather than understanding complex controls.
Throughout development, I iterated through observation and informal playtesting, watching how players responded to obstacles, speed, and visual signals. Based on this, pacing, obstacle placement, and visual clarity were adjusted to keep the experience accessible and engaging.
Learn more about my overall level design process here, or click “Read more” on the images for an in-depth explanation of the design.
Game Design
Game design was guided by a clearly defined audience and strict constraints. The goal was to create something a very young player could understand without reading or prior knowledge of games. This meant designing mechanics that were forgiving, immediately readable, and focused on interaction rather than challenge.
The core loop was kept simple: steer, react, and keep going. A key challenge was avoiding frustration when mistakes occurred. Instead of traditional fail states or progression systems, each run restarts without penalty beyond resetting the timer. This made mistakes feel safe and encouraged repetition, which suited the target audience.
Input design played a major role in accessibility. Early tests showed that controls could become a barrier, so input was mapped spatially to match direction rather than traditional keyboard conventions. Combined with clear visual feedback and strong cause-and-effect responses, this helped players quickly connect their actions to what happened on screen.
Playtesting showed that players often needed a few runs to fully understand the game. To address this, I increased visual feedback, clearer collision reactions, and stronger responses to obstacles. These changes improved readability from the first run and supported learning through play.
This project reinforced how intentional limitations and clear audience targeting can shape strong design decisions. By focusing on accessibility and clarity, the game became more inviting without losing its sense of fun.
Problems & Solutions
To keep controls simple for very young players, I chose not to move the player character forward in the traditional sense. Instead, the world moves toward the player, creating the illusion of forward motion. This required C# scripts to control road movement, obstacles, and pacing while keeping input minimal.
This approach allowed players to survive longer without precise timing or complex controls. A simple timer provided a light sense of progression. While the target audience did not focus on it, older players during testing found it added a subtle sense of competition without affecting accessibility.
Early playtests showed that players sometimes needed several runs to understand what was happening. To address this, I leaned further into visual feedback. Movement, collisions, and obstacles were made more exaggerated and readable, helping players quickly understand cause and effect and making the experience feel more playful.
One technical challenge was making the road feel like it was moving naturally. I experimented with different solutions for simulating motion, including scrolling materials at runtime. By separating visual movement from player input, I maintained performance and clarity while reinforcing the illusion of motion.