Julia Redden
Game Designer
Engine: Unreal Engine 4
Role: Associate Game Designer
Team Size: ~70
Platform: Meta Quest VR, PlayStation VR, PC, PlayStation 5, XBox, Switch
Project Snapshot
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted 2 is the sequel to the terrifying VR experience that brought new life to the iconic horror franchise. As a brand new Fazbear employee you’ll have to prove you have what it takes to excel in all aspects of Pizzeria management and maintenance.
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Help Wanted 2 is a compilation of job simulation minigames with larger story implications for fans of the series.
Game Designer
I designed, implemented, and refined five separate minigames start to end with a small team of five developers, including myself.
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There were two mini games in the series of Arts & Crafts, and three minigames in the series of Salon.
Arts & Crafts
Game: Arts & Crafts was a series of three minigames. In order of difficulty, they were: Arts & Crafts. Each minigame centered on the player making crafts with Sun by following a diagram on the computer screen to paint pictures or make puppet pals. Arts & Crafts Loft introduced a flashlight mechanic and Moon. In Loft, the power goes out, and the player has to use a flashlight to see their art and to ward away Moon, but the flashlight has limited charge and needs to be periodically recharged lest it go out at a crucial moment.
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Design Goal: To take full advantage of the VR platform by creating a very hands-on experience for the player with easily understood mechanics with replay value.
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Details: To keep things simple and straightforward, we put three buckets of primary color paint (and in Loft, a bucket of sparkly paint and a bucket of cyan battery acid) and numbered the colors to assist colorblind or otherwise visually impaired players. We briefly tried to make drawers the players could open and close to access craft supplies, but we found that players didn't look down and would get frustrated and confused. Instead, we introduced the craft cabinets, which had clear symbols on them, and a dart gun the player could use to choose which craft supplies they want, and a rope to pull if the player wants to select supplies that aren't displayed.
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What I'd do differently: I was really happy with how the primary gameplay loop turned out in these games. Players grasped the mechanics quickly, and we were able to add flourishes that made the game significantly more fun. (For example, there is glue. You can eat the glue. This upsets Sun greatly.) If I were to go back with more time, I would like to add more flourishes like that, like maybe being able to touch the paper shredder when it's running and 'hurt' yourself or paint Sun's face to his great displeasure. The edge FNAF has over similar games is that there is a colorful cast of beloved characters, and I believe that leveraging that to allow the players to troll their favorite characters goes a long way making it more fun.
Glamrock Salon
Game: Salon was a series of three minigames. In order of difficulty, they were: S.T.A.F.F. Makeover, Glam Makeover, and Roxy Repair. Each minigame centered the player getting characters 'ready' for showtime by following a diagram on the computer screen to apply makeup and accessories. Glam Makeover introduced Roxy's rage mechanic, where she would get angrier the more the player looked away from her, and Roxy Repair made this more difficult when Roxy would have periodic tantrums that require recorded affirmations to calm her before she attacked.
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Design Goal: As in Arts & Crafts, to take full advantage of the VR platform by creating a very hands-on experience for the player with easily understood mechanics with replay value.
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Details: Since there were similar mechanics between Salon and Arts & Crafts ('painting', following a diagram on a computer screen, picking up supplies/accessories and putting them were they belong), we were able to reuse a lot of the systems we'd created already with only minor tweaks. Instead of giving the player a craft supply cabinet and a gun, we gave them a turning table of mannequin heads with their different accessories. Since we had a larger array of colors in the makeup palette than the paint buckets, we found that some playtesters were struggling to differentiate between them, which we accounted for by shaping the colors differently and adding patterns. This doubled as an excellent accessibilty feature for color blindness.
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What I'd do differently: If I were to design this again, I would like to make a version that increased difficulty by requiring the player use the appropriate brushes for different kinds of makeup. In day to day makeup application, there are separate tools for the application of blush, eye shadow, and lipstick. I believe that this extra mechanic could be conveyed by the brushes being presented in different cups with relevant symbols, and the extra thought required to remember which brush is which and where they are would add another layer of difficulty and mastery that a player could engage in.