Santa's Workshop Whirlwind
It's Christmas Eve and none of the presents are done! Millions of children will wake up presentless if nothing is done about it!
Developed by Mark Auman, Hue Do & Carlin Ho
Roles on Project: Lead Designer, Programmer, Producer & Art
About Santa's Workshop Whirlwind
 Santa's Workshop Whirlwind is a VR game designed for the Meta Quest 2 Headset. Players play as an elf who has found that they along with the rest of the elves have been put to sleep for the whole year by the antagonist of the game, Krampus.Â
As one of the elves, it is up to you to grab toys children request off of conveyor belts, pack them into gift boxes and then throw them down chutes. Complete all the gift requests before time runs out in order to save Christmas! Be wary, as Krampus is still up to his mischief and will try to corrupt fellow elves to and stop you from completing your goal...
Summary Of Work & Contributions
Developed pre-production artefacts including the game design document, concept art, toy icons, and level design diagrams
Developed the feasibility prototype showcasing the core mechanics and gameplay loopÂ
Created a production roadmap and oversaw project management
Refined level design, implemented the tutorial, naughty elves, and different difficulty modes in final version of project
Game Screenshots
Outcomes From This Project
This project was my introduction into VR development. It allowed me to learn to not only design and develop within the limitations of VR, but also work with the affordances allowed by it. I enjoyed coming up with an idea that would work well in VR and capitalise on the actions/controls only possible within that platform. This project also provided me the opportunity to further my production and project management skills as I was able to formulate a development plan for the game that took into account my team's skills and the limited timeframe we had to complete the game.Â
Our team ended up doing quite well on this project, and were given the opportunity to showcase the game at the 2023 and 2024Â QUT Immersive Games Festivals, a Reality Labs Games Showcase Event, and the 2023 QUT Open Day. After this unit, I was then hired at QUT as a Research Assistant to help work on the QUT ARC Mars VR Project.
My Process
This project was originally developed as part of the IGB388 – Design & Development of Immersive Environments unit at QUT. In this unit, we were tasked with first individually conceptualising and designing a VR experience, making a feasibility prototype of that VR experience, and then working in a group to fully develop one of the three prototype VR experiences our team members had made.
Early Concept Development Work
When coming up with our ideas, we were advised to keep our ideas simple and novel, ensure that it made use of the affordances of VR, and to do research by playing existing VR experiences to get a sense of what was possible with the platform. After playing through various VR experiences, I found just the idea of being able to grab and throw stuff to be very novel and fun, and so I wanted to base the VR experience around these two simple interactions.
My first idea was to have the player work in a factory where they would have to pack orders for customers by grabbing items they had ordered off of conveyor belts into boxes. I felt that the context of this idea, however, was a little bleak, so I decided to spin the idea a bit to make it more appealing.Â
Instead you would play as an elf in Santa’s Workshop who is packing toys for children to receive on Christmas. With this initial idea, I got to designing Santa’s Workshop Whirlwind. Shown above is some of the original concept art and design artefacts I made for the game's design document along with the pitch video for Santa's Workshop Whirlwind.
Feasibility Prototype Development Work
After completing the design document, I put together a feasibility prototype to showcase the core mechanics and basic gameplay loop of the game. The following videos showcase various core aspects of the game being prototyped.
Greyboxing of level layout to get a sense of the space and scale of the level
Testing of gift box throwing mechanic
Testing of verification of correct toys in gift box
Gameplay loop testing under timed conditions
Reflection On Feasibility Prototype
I enjoyed prototyping these various elements and creating a system linking them together to form the core gameplay loop. Being able to walk about and interact with the environment that I had made myself was also novel experience with this being my first foray into VR development. Therefore, even though the mechanics of my game were quite simple, the way they interacted with each other, the player, and the environment at large I found was quite engaging.
This prototyping phase also allowed me to identify flaws in my original design. For example, with the way the gift chutes were originally laid out, it required quite a bit of exertion to throw the presents into the chute. To make it easier to throw gifts into them, I lowered the chutes and angled them slightly.
Roadmap For Further Development
After completing and submitting the prototype, we were to work in groups to further develop one of VR experiences. Santa's Workshop Whirlwind was not originally chosen as it was deemed too developed to allow other members of my team to equally contribute to the remainder of the project. I felt that there was still a lot that could be done with this project, and so I proposed a roadmap detailing all the tasks that could be completed by each of the team members should the project be reconsidered for selection.
After presenting this roadmap, the decision for which of the projects we were to work on was left up to the members themselves. As a group, we discussed each project, evaluating which project would best fit our development skills and schedules. We decided to continue working on Santa's Workshop Whirlwind to make it a full VR experience. My teammates Carlin and Hue would assume the roles of Lead Artist and Lead Programmer respectively, while I would assume the position of Lead Designer. I also assumed the role of Programmer and Artist, as I would help Hue develop the systems of the game and assist with some art/modelling tasks with Carlin.
Further Game Development Work
Over the second half of the semester, my team and I worked on further developing Santa's Workshop Whirlwind. Each week we added more features and systems to the game, fixes to the existing systems in the game, and revamped the art. Here are some videos showcasing snapshot builds of the game and my contributions to them.
In the first sprint I focused on quality of life improvements for the initial prototype such as refining the level layout and teleportation mechanics to make the throwing of gift boxes and movement around the workshop easier for the player.
In the second sprint I added in the AI for the elf NPCs that roamed the side of the workshop, including the naughty elves that have a small chance of spawning and causing havoc for the player.
In last two sprints, not much programming work was left, so I focused on refining the environment and user experience. Along with refining the naughty elves AI, I also added screens to show the top requested toys on a conveyor belt to improve the user experience, as well as modelled proper models for the gift chutes.
In the final week, further refinements to the elves and revamps to the environments were made. I also worked on adding in a tutorial as well as further toys, however, due to time constraints, some of these toys had to be cut.
Final Game
Here is a video showcasing gameplay from the final build of the game exhibited at the QUT Reality Labs Networking & Exhibition Event at the end of the semester. To date, I feel Santa's Workshop Whirlwind is the most well-rounded project I have worked on that demonstrates my capability in design, programming, and the ability to plan and manage a project. Additionally, it allowed me to demonstrate some basic art and 3D modelling proficiency.