Thales Naval Warfare Game
The Thales Naval Warfare project is a game that is under developement at Thales Netherlands Hengelo, part of Thales Group, to introduce new employees and career fair attendees to maritime warfare dynamics and Thales’ mission within this sector. The game lets the player take control of a ship and its equipment to complete single-player or co-op missions of varying scales.
The game aims to introduce its target audience to the importance of radars in naval warfare. While the game is not accurate to real-life naval warfare, it still represents the dynamic at play, which allows players to understand why radars and weapon systems are crucial in this environment.
I have had the opportunity to work on this project on two separate occasions: once for a standard internship and the other for my graduation assignment.
Team Size: 3
Project Duration: 2 x 5 months
Role(s): Game designer & team lead
Project Type: Internship & Graduation Assignment
Tools: Unity, Figma, Jira, Confluence, Git
My Work
Third Year Internship
In this role, I focused on improving gameplay, strengthening core mechanics, and ensuring the design aligned with the product owner's vision and the needs of the target audience. I also managed project organization and team communication, taking on multiple responsibilities due to the small team size.
Key Contributions:
Radar & Identification Systems: Redesigned to encourage strategic decision-making and reinforce tactical depth by testing mechanics, aligning with the project vision, and iterating on feedback.
User Interface: Improved clarity and intuitiveness, leading to a better player experience during playtesting.
Interactive Tutorial (Figma Prototype): Designed a mission-based onboarding experience where players defend a cruise ship from pirates, introducing mechanics step-by-step in a more engaging way than the outdated video tutorial.
Playtesting & Feedback: Organized sessions with Thales employees and students, using questionnaires to gather insights that directly shaped design decisions.
Documentation & Workflow: Created and maintained design documentation, set up workflows, and facilitated meetings to keep the team aligned and future development consistent.
Skills & Tools Developed:
Prototyping (Figma), Cinematic design (Unity Timeline & Cinemachine)
Structured workflows, documentation, and iterative design
Applying design thinking to solve gameplay challenges
Task prioritization and incorporating user feedback into development
This internship strengthened my ability to combine creative design with structured processes, preparing me to tackle complex design challenges in future projects.
Graduation Assignment
In my role as game designer, I focused on creating a ship designer feature that would make naval radar systems more understandable and engaging for career fair attendees while keeping the gameplay fun and accessible. My contributions spanned research, ideation, prototyping, and testing, with an emphasis on connecting gameplay to educational goals.
Key Contributions:
Ship Designer Feature – I conceptualized and iterated on a ship customisation system that allows players to configure radars, weapons, and systems. The design balanced gameplay impact with educational clarity, ensuring players understood the strategic value of radar.
User Interface Design – I developed and tested two menu layout versions (A/B test), creating interactive Figma prototypes to evaluate which design was more intuitive, faster to use, and better at conveying complex information.
Player Research & Testing – I conducted surveys, playtests, and pre-/post-game assessments to track players’ understanding of radar systems, adjusting the design to fit their needs and prior knowledge.
Stakeholder Collaboration – I aligned the feature with both educational goals (teaching radar importance) and stakeholder expectations (promoting Thales’ role in naval defence). This required balancing technical accuracy with accessibility for a non-expert audience.
Iteration & Documentation – I applied the Double Diamond design process across three iterations, refining the system through prototyping, evaluation, and player feedback.
Game Design Skills:
Systems design (linking customisation to gameplay impact)
Educational/serious game design
Usability testing & A/B testing
Research-based design (benchmarking and player testing)
Iterative prototyping and evaluation
Tools & Methods:
Figma – Interactive UI prototyping
Unity – Understanding of existing systems and constraints
Google Forms – Designing and analyzing questionnaires
MoSCoW & Idea Evaluation Matrix – Prioritization and decision-making frameworks
Double Diamond Design Process – Structured approach to problem-solving
