Don't Get Fired

April 2025 - May 2025

Co-Creator

Game Designer, Developer, 3D Modeler,

UI Artist, Narrative Designer

Project Details

Six week pair project creating a game from initial game pitch to completion using Unity.

Game Overview

A Task management game where players navigate around an office floor completing tasks for their coworkers and trying to stay out of sight of their fire boss. Every instance of being caught away from their cubicle, failing tasks, and ignoring requests brings the player closer to getting fired and losing the game. However, successfully completing tasks for others increases the chances of the workers banding together and revolting against their cruel boss.
The game visually plays with the dull, vintage aesthetics of old corporate offices, while also introducing a cast of charming plant-based NPCs and a playful overarching narrative commenting on capitalism and contemporary work culture.

Play Now On Itch.io

As a designer and developer, my goal was to create a suspenseful and witty game that balanced a stressful yet fun player experience. Building on the initial concept of a boss made of literal fire in a hyperbolically demanding workplace, I focused on curating a game that left players giggling at dialogue, screaming at near-loss encounters, and enjoying the mindlessness of navigating a space with a seemingly endless to-do list.

My contributions included:

Task System
- wrote the game's core system from scratch using C# in Unity
  - created scriptable objects and classes that passed key information (NPC, task station, state of task, etc.) between scripts
- iterated on the system to incorporate timers, randomization, and trigger dialogue
Game Balancing
- play tested and tweaked code daily to correctly balance task time, length of boss patrol and task breaks, and dynamic changes to those values mid-game
Narrative Design
- decided on overarching narrative
  - turned an infinite task management into a witty story of an anti-capitalist plant recruiting co workers to revolt
- wrote both reusable and personality-tailored conversation dialogue for all characters
Environment Building
- established layout and design of office floor based on agreed style and aesthetic
- 3D modelled every environment piece in Autodesk Maya
User Interface & User Experience
- designed game UI and created assets in Adobe Illustrator
- tested UI with players and iterated
  - programmed and designed indicators for tasks offscreen