Dreamland Journey
Dreamland Journey is a game about a young boy who wakes up in a dream in which his negative emotions have taken the form of monsters that need help with a problem. The game is split into 4 different levels, each with their own unique environment and mini game which the player has to complete to resolve the monsters emotion.
The goal of project Dreamland Journey was to create a game that could be played by 6-8 year old kids at a small exhibition for students to show off their games. The challenge however, was to include interpretations of 4 monsters drawn by kids from a primary school in the area into our game. Through the partnership and communication with culture and art center Concordia, we were able to organise playtest sessions with the children that drew the monsters for our game. At the end of the project, the game was played by the kids in an event shared with other teams.
Team Size: 8
Project Duration: 8 weeks
Role(s): Game Designer & Team Lead
Project Type: Children's mini-games
Tools: Unity, Figma
My Work
My role in this project combined both design and production responsibilities:
Game & Level Design: I was responsible for brainstorming, prototyping, and designing all four levels and their mini-games. Each mini-game was tied to the emotional theme of the monster while also carrying a simple real-world lesson. For example, in the “anger” level, players needed to respect the monster’s personal boundaries to calm it down. Since the target audience was quite young, I focused on rapid prototyping and testing to refine the difficulty and flow to be age-appropriate. Each level was also designed with increasing difficulty in mind, to keep the player's flow as they get better at the level's mechanic.
Production & Team Leadership:
With a team of eight, I took on production tasks such as leading daily meetings, facilitating communication, and ensuring discussions led to concrete decisions. I also managed the project schedule, adapting plans when needed and keeping everyone aligned on deadlines and priorities. This was especially important given the scope of the project, which involved four distinct environments and mini-games.
Reflection
Dreamland Journey was both an ambitious and rewarding project. It challenged me to balance creativity with structure; designing engaging experiences for children while also keeping a multidisciplinary team on track. I’m proud of how it demonstrates my ability to contribute to both the creative and organizational sides of game development, however this project also highlighted how important it is to dedicate enough time to testing and refining designs for the best results. This was in part due to the fact that I spent too much time worrying over my team lead responsibilities and I had to learn how to balance my game designer role and team lead role.
